Double Wedding Ring Quilt.. quilted!

Double Wedding Ring Quilt.. quilted!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Yes, yes..
It took long enough. But thanks to my mom my double wedding ring quilt is completed and in a much fancier way than I could ever hope to achieve. For my birthday my mom had it professionally quilted and it looks so good on my bed! check out the detail below!

Double Wedding Ring Quilt.. quilted!, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

Thanks for a lovely birthday

Birthday flowers, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

My goodness.. another year older! and still in Toronto. hee hee.
I thought I'd share a few of the lovely things I received form my awesome family and friends. Thank you all so much.

Birthday gifts, a photo by girl from finito on Flickr.

even the wrapping on Andrea's gift was amazing!
Mary gave me her gift partly before my birthday... an amazing summer dress and some winter/fall fingerless gloves which I used right away. I will take a picture.

Did you get up for it?

Bridesmaids and page boys, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

So how many of you got up early Friday morning to watch the wedding? It was on at a (reasonable) 6am here in Toronto - but I know that Mary was up at 3am in Whitehorse.
I for one, am glad I saw it - the dress the hats - everything was lovely.
I'm including some of the official photos from the official British Monarchy flickr site.

The Official Royal Wedding photographs, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

also you should check out the full size version of this one - for Harry's expression alone

Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

the full size version of the above picture is so cool - check out the people in the fountain they look so happy

The Royal Wedding Cake, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.

finally I couldn't leave it without mentioning the cake! wow! definitely check out the larger version for all the details and there is also a set of the just the cake. pretty amazing!

Dance Break!

dancedanceTO from dancedanceTO on Vimeo.

The story goes like this...
I was out for pie with my friends Naseem and Connie. We were sitting around chatting, laughing and eating when the subject of an amazing video that Naseem had made came up. It is an inspired by "Insipred by Iceland" homage and it is fantastic. Someone (not me) suggested we do one for Toronto and we all laughed and said YES! That's the best idea ever. I didn't think they would follow though.
but these friends..
they follow through.

And I am so glad we did it.
We filmed from November through March (taking a very generous break for Christmas) and although most people are in sweaters and mittens I think the city is wonderfully portrayed.
I hope you'll love it too!

にほん

I have started Japanese lessons and have finally advanced to the stage of writing journal entries. I'm pretty excited about it. My sentences are still quite basic but I thought I'd share some of it anyways.
Last week I wrote this:

2/25

This morning I listened to the radio at home.

:: image :: 

me: good morning... 

This afternoon Tabby bought coffee at the coffee shop.

This evening I watched tv at home. 

2/26

I washed my jeans this morning.

This afternoon at home I read a book.

Mary and I talked this evening. 

goodnight!

:: image :: 

arrow: older sister 

Here are some entries from this week.

Speech bubble: Good evening Mr. Masa!

3/2
This evening I bought tickets at the station. I am taking the bus home.
:: images :: 
me: good evening 
arrow: is this a zombie?


3/3
This morning I read the paper. I am going to the hospital.
This afternoon Tabby is going to the bank. I am going to eat my bento.
Holly took a car to come to the cafe. Holly and I are chatting.
:: images :: 
light hair: Tabby 
dark hair: Holly

UPDATE
this post was originally written before the earthquake and subsequent disasters in Japan. I've been sitting on it for a week now waiting on events and the thought of taking better pictures.. wondering what to append to the post.
my heart goes out to all the people in Japan and those with family and close friends there. They are in my thoughts and prayers. My friends in Japan as well as the friends and families of my Japanese teachers and classmates are all safe. For that I am really thankful.
There are lots of ways to help and I would encourage people to think about making a donation to an aid organization working there. Many creative people are pitching in... Hello Sandwich is selling her gift wrapping zine with all proceeds going to the Japanese red cross and there are raffles here and here benefitting the same cause. Two of my favorite web art dealers are raising funds 20x200 and tiny showcase have amazing prints and there are a slew of other artists doing the same.
If you want to donate directly to a charity I would encourage you to read this article and research a charity to give to (granted this is from the US but most of what they say is applicable to us).


[better pictures to come]

granite

so I'm not sure about posting this - as I'm likely the only one excited about the fact we got to pick out our granite for our countertops. But have a look ...isn't it great?!

house (paint) update

Patrick and I stopped by the house today and they have painted! how exciting! The photos of the main space (from Patrick's iPhone - sorry for fuzziness) were taken from the living/dining room looking to where the kitchen and front door will be. I'm really excited about the colour - a kind of blue spruce. You just never know how it will look on a massive wall when you are looking at a chip. The facing wall and pretty much the rest of the house is a light beige. The red (a rosy/coral terracotta) is the feature wall in the bedroom.

You can see the bamboo flooring stacked up - it is acclimatizing to the indoor temperature as it is -30C outside.