Everyone And Their Dog
So... crikey! I used to complain that my family never came to see me here in Toronto (they're mostly in Windsor), but this week, they've ALL decided to come up! I've booked some time off work, and am looking forward to a nice five-day weekend. It's not going to be all that relaxing! Lots of fun will be had, though.. I'm sure of it! Here's what my upcoming schedule looks like:
- Friday night, wash and vacuum floors in apartment, meet up with James, Oriana and everyone for drinks somewhere (James just got word that he's getting a hasty hip surgery, probably in September; and Oriana's is back from school in London, England).
- Saturday, my brother Derek, his wife Karie and my nephew Evan arrive in the early afternoon. We're going to a Jays game, which starts at 1pm. My first baseball game ever!
- My best friend Stacey arrives! We'll have dinner with Derek, Karie, and Evan.
- Saturday night, Derek and Co. may or may not be staying at my place. We'll maybe go to a movie or something, since the forecast is calling for stormy weather (surprise, surprise).
- Sunday, say goodbye to Derek and Co., and then chill with Stacey aaaaaallll daaaaay loooooooong. Oh, and we might have to do some yard work, to prepare the back yard for the BBQ. I should also try and get all the peeps together Sunday night on a patio so Stacey can see everyone. Kylie will also be coming over to bake a birthday cake for Canada.
- Monday, the world is at my doorstep (I just booked this day off work). I should take a trip to the grocery store and the liquor at some point, so we can stock up for the BBQ.
- Monday afternoon/evening, say goodbye to the lovely Stace.
- Tuesday morning, decorate for the BBQ. BBQ is from 3-10pm. And then it's the fireworks!
- Wednesday, Dad and Shirl arrive early afternoon. We're going to see Dirty Dancing the musical that night. I'm totally looking forward to this!
- Thursday morning, say goodbye to Dad and Shirl, and then it's back to work. Meh!
Phew!
Labels: baseball game, blue jays, dirty dancing, family, photos, stacey, visit
Labor Day Fun
Friday: Eric's Birthday Party and Stef's Back Deck.
Saturday: Breakfast at Freshwood Grill on Roncesvalles.
Sunday: Alexei and Joelle's new apartment for pre-drinks, then the The Mod Club, and the James' place.
Monday: Cadillac Lounge for breakfast, and relaxing in Cowan Park.
Phew!! Damn fun weekend! Good thing I've got tomorrow off too, to recover!
Check out the rest of the photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenswift/sets/72157601841906558/I also uploaded photos from the
Medicinal Plant workshop I'm taking at the Brickworks, from
Maria's Free Party at the Duke of Richmond, and from
My Real 30th BirthdayParty (you have to check out Stef's photos to see the surprise party my friends threw for the next night!)
Labels: "weekend update", breakfast, concert, events, labour day, leisure, parkdale, photos, toronto
To Ottawa For Canada Day and Back Again
We went back up to Ottawa for Canada Day again this year, and it was awesome, as always! Check out the billions of photos I took (I'm officially out of the photo funk):
Labels: "weekend update", canada day, ottawa, photos, road trip
Back From the Cottage
I went up to Becky's cottage again for May 2-4 this year... I think it's going to be a tradition. A damn good one! Chilling out, maxin', relaxin', all cool. We spent the weekend sitting in the sun, playing with Rosie the dog, reading (Goblet of Fire, and Annie Leibovitz 1990-2005), playing sudoko (for the first time ever- that game is maddening!), watching the chipmunks and chickadees, cranking radios, playing asshole (I'm reigning prez) and of course, eating the fabulous food Becky's mom prepared for us. It was amazing, as always. Oh, and we saw Blue Rodeo at the Kee to Bala on Friday. The year of the concert continues!
Labels: "weekend update", bex, concert, harry potter, leisure, photos
Update Via Photos
Labels: "weekend update", photos, stef
Weekend Update
This past weekend was fun and tiring all at the same time.
Friday night we started out by pre-drinking at James' place...
And then we went to celebrate Colin's 30th at Lot 16. It was awesome to see all of his old buddies there, and the whole bar sang to him when the cake was brought out (I think most people at the bar were there to see Colin spin anyways). It almost brought a tear to my eye!
Saturday morning
Stef and I woke up early to go get some
free compost from the city...
Saturday night the weather was crappy, so I watched movies all day. The Princess Bride, some Sex and the City episodes (season three)... and I rented The Last King of Scotland and The Queen. Both were just meh.
Sunday Stef came over and we worked on the garden some more...
Sunday night I vegged out in front of the TV. Gotta watch The Simpsons!
The weekend continued last night with a BBQ at Clark's place. There was lots of meat...
All in all, a weekend well spent. Here's a link to more photos:
Labels: "weekend update", bex, cooking, environment, events, garden, james, leisure, movies, photos, stef, television
Ride for Climate to Oakville
I finally got around to uploading the pics from the bike ride to Oakville we took this past weekend. It was awesome!
Here's a link to the set of Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenswift/sets/72157600130507755/
Labels: bike, environment, events, james, leisure, photos, stef
What The?!?
I was fiddling around with my photo blog,
Ravenswift Images, and I happened upon this:
It's crazy!! I guess it's like a wiki directory of websites... but it's weird to be included in something unknowingly. Hmmm, I wonder if I should add stuff to it? I'll have to investigate further.
Labels: photos, ravenswift, weird
Photos Photos Photos!!!
I finally uploaded all the photos I took while I was home... there's also some pics from pre-drinking at my place before Beth's birthday. Check 'em out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenswift/sets/72157600063868824/The theme of the weekend was photographs, actually. I pulled out a box full of loose pictures, tonnes of them from when I was a baby, and before that even. So many cute ones of me!! LOL... it was awesome looking through them with the whole family around. It ended up being a nice activity for us all before the Easter pizza arrived!
And I really couldn't believe the weather. We didn't have snow in Windsor for Christmas, but we had some for Easter? How ridiculous is that!
Labels: "weekend update", family, history, photos, weather, windsor
Wear What You Love But Never Wear
That was the theme of
Stef's girl's night on Saturday, and everyone had a great time picking out their outfits and explaining why they wore them!
I wore an old gray wool skirt that I haven't worn since high school- I don't know why- I guess I just didn't really have the occasion to wear it. Perfect for the party! I got the skirt at Value Village in Windsor years ago. I wore a purple linen shirt that my friend Shannon brought back for me from Brazil about ten years ago, and I had my black jacket that now has some pesky detergent stains on it. I also wore the new necklace that Stacey got me for Christmas this year, and of course- my
Fluevogs. Of course!
All the outfits were super... check out this link to see all the photos I took:
Labels: fluevogs, photos, stef, value village
Cool Things I'd Like To See
Stephen Lewis and David Suzuki: Monday, February 12th
Two Canuck heroes converse on the theme: If I were Prime Minister. $15/$20. Winter Garden Theatre. (Too bad the only seats left are nosebleeds.)
Evalyn Parry: Sunday, February 18th
Awesome multidisciplinary artist launches her new CD of folky witticisms at the Gladstone. $10.
(Evalyn is a friend of my cousin Allison, and I've seen her play before. She
is awesome!)
Julie Doiron w/ Woolly Leaves: Tuesday, Feb. 20thAt the Drake Underground, $15
(Julie Doiron is the chic from Eric's Trip... talented, talented girl)
A Visual Legacy: The City of Toronto's Use of Photography, 1856-1997: on until September 22nd, 2007The City of Toronto Archives, 255 Spadina Road, FREE
(the exhibition presents images that were commissioned by the City of Toronto or produced by the municipality’s official photographers between 1856 and 1997)
If anyone is interested in going to any of these events, let me know!!!
Labels: concert, environment, events, inspiration, photos
My Dream Job
I would LOVE to be able to say I did something like this...
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/video/2007/killerskill_video200703 
Of course it's
Annie Leibovitz... my all-time favourite photographer.
I'm definitely buying this issue of
Vanity Fair. I'm even considering getting a subscription, just to look at all the beautiful, beautiful photographs. Drooooooooooool.
Labels: inspiration, photos
Weekend Update
This week is dragging by for me, just like last week, but it also feels like I've been busier than normal. Could be the chaos that is work right now... I haven't even posted about the weekend yet! So here goes:
Friday was James' birthday, so we went tobogganing at Bickford Park and then to Dragonfly for a few drinks. After, we hauled ourselves up to College for some early morning breakfast at Mars. The craziest thing is, on the streetcar up we totally met up with
Julia and Kevin! If there's anyone I bump into on the TTC, it's Julia and Kevin. It's kinda weird actually. To see all the photos from sledding, click
HERE.
Saturday, Stef and I watched all the Harry Potter movies. Like I said earlier today to my co-worker- I'm currently Harry Potter retarded. So who should I spy on the cover of the National Post this morning? Daniel Radcliffe... topless. That's Harry Potter- spindly boy wizard- half nude. I don't know what disturbs me more; Potter's nipples out in the open, or the fact that I sorta liked it. Sheesh. What's more-
he'll be starring in a play called Equus, as a stable boy with an unhealthy obsession with his steeds, and in one scene, he'll be nude. With a horse. Yikes!
Moving on... Saturday night we went check out Sloan at Nathan Phillips Square. What a great show... way better than the show I saw at the KoolHaus back in November! First of all- I was able to bounce with the crowd since my back wasn't being a pain, plus- they played a bunch of they're older stuff, which was awesome, and also- Stef was here to see it (she was supposed to come to the KoolHaus, but was in Asia instead)! More photos HERE.
Sunday I did nothing. I was thinking about going to the AGO to see the Ansel Adams/Alfred Eisenstaedt show, but it looked cold outside. So I stayed in. And played Neverwinter Nights!
Labels: "weekend update", concert, harry potter, james, photos, sloan, tobogganing
Back on Track
I've got my photo blog back on track now... after a couple months hiatus. Once I got my new computer, I didn't have Photoshop anymore! But now, I do. So I'm back! Be sure to visit and comment:
Ravenswift Images
This one was taken on the way to Value Village on Saturday. That's really why I wanted to walk- to take photos. I haven't done a lot of shooting this winter- not sure why. But I can feel myself getting back into it.
You know what this means... I have to buy something new for my camera! A telephoto lens? A tripod? Who knows... there's tonnes of stuff I want. Ooh... I know- a
Gorillapod. That's what I'm getting. If we've got them in stock!
Labels: photos, wish list
House Guest = Energy Boost
Stef's staying at my place for a bit, and I'm really finding it's boosting my energy levels. Firstly, having someone stay as a house guest forces you to get up off your ass and clean... even though I was sick last Thursday, I still managed to clean at least the bathroom before she got here!
And so, on Saturday, we decided to
walk to Value Village. It's not like, a 90k bike trek or anything, but still! I took my camera along, and got a few interesting shots. We also walked through some neighbourhoods that I had never been in before (not entirely on purpose), so it was a learning experience, as well. You can see the rest of the pics I took by visiting my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenswift/We got to Val Vil and spent a good couple of hours browsing, laughing, trying stuff on, laughing. I scored a few good books-
Spadework by Timothy Findlay,
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields and
A Good House by Bonnie Burnard. I also grabbed a couple neat sweaters, some kitchen utensils, and James' birthday present! Sweeeeeeeet. We took the bus home.
Yesterday, we walked to Squirly's for some breakfast (well, brunch), and then ran some errands. And then, we watched the season premiere of 24. MAN! It's gonna be a good season. More violent then ever, but it's so fantastic, I can't help but laugh.
Labels: 24, books, energy, photos, stef, value village
Home from the Holidays!
I had a great time in Windsor for Christmas, with a couple minor speed bumps. The usual good cheer towards men, but no one said anything about good cheer towards ex-friends and older brothers!
There was this girl I knew in high school- Paula- and we were best of friends in grade eleven. After an argument about the moral ineptitude of making fun of a guy wearing a turban, she decided not to be my friend anymore. It was harsh, but it was 13 years ago. I saw her at Stacey and Chris' party on the 23rd, and she actually went out of her way to avoid me. Funny, eh? Whatev.
My brother was just being himself. And since I've been
extra sensitive this winter, I took his criticisms hard and let it bring me down. I have to stop allowing that to happen. Whatev.
Anyways- I took some pics during my time at home... here's a link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenswift/sets/72157594450192366/Labels: christmas, family, photos, windsor
Skating and Potluck
Friday we decided to hit the DJ Skate at the
Natrel Rink at the
Harbourfront Centre, and I decided to hit the ice as hard as I could with my left knee. Ouch! It was pretty painful... no more skating for me!! But it was awesome to see everyone else circling the rink, and to take some nice pics!
Yesterday we had our annual holiday potluck dinner. We ate dinner at Bex's apartment, and did presents and had drinks at my place. It was a nice evening and we had a great time- I haven't laughed so much in a loooong time! Good food, too- lasagna, stuffed peppers, enchiladas, apple pizza, hummous, cheese fondue, and lots of yummy cookies (including
My Hanukkah Cookies).
And finally, here's my Christmas Tree. It smells great. I bought it from a convenience store on Queen West near Dunn Street. Only $25! Isn't it cute! A little on the "charlie brown" side (there are filler branches in there), but really not bad at all. Thanks to
Bex for helping me walk it home through Parkdale singing Christmas carols!!
To see all the photos from skating and the potluck, click the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravenswift/sets/72157594424984509/Labels: christmas, harbourfront centre, photos, potluck
First TtVFs
I think it's hilarious I made this setup today. I had no plans to do this... I just woke up this morning thinking about one of
Carrie Musgrave's TtVF photos (Through the ViewFinder), wondering how she did it. I experimented a bit, then found
this tutorial. I rigged up what you see here... and it sort of worked. I need a longer, better macro lens, and I found it really hard to focus. I couldn't tell if my AF was focusing on the ground glass, or the actual subject. Anyways... click the following link to see the results!
Labels: photos, through the viewfinder, ttvf
