I think I am addicted to Craigslist

I may need an intervention.... I can't stop looking for deals on Craigslist. It's a sickness.

New Beginnings

Life is strange. You are moving along, thinking all is well; you've filled in your Q2 personal budget with all the regular revenue streams and expenses... then life gets strange. Yesterday was all that I knew; today is all that I must learn.

Well Hello Faithful Readers

Merry Christmas! It is 3.15am on December 22, 2008 and I braved the snow in my Toyota Echo to go to Metrotown to do my shopping for the entire Christmas season! Ok, I exaggerate, however, I will point out that other than most of the stocking stuffers that I am responsible for and 3 or 4 gifts, I was completely ill prepared for Christmas. Except of course, I did manage to get the tree and decorations done early. Priorities right? :)

I got up today, showered, prepared a list, dug out my car, cleaned off my driveway of nearly a foot of snow and headed out into the jungle.

But of course before I even got off my street, I first had to make it out of my driveway, and believe me that took a fair bit of tire spinning! Then once I actually made it out, a garbage truck came down our road and forced me into the snowy sides and that got me stuck for an additional 5 minutes of mind blowing, heart thumping frenzy before finally my tires stuck to some piece of the road and I was safely on my way again! Curse those garbage men!

Anyways, Metrotown was 'f&%ed up' seriously! Winners, had a 100 person lineup (no kidding) and some stores were closing their doors and only allowing a person in when a person left! How messed is that?

I arrived at just after 2pm, and I left the mall with all of my Christmas packages and groceries at 9.45 pm! It was amazing. Oh, and while there I ran into my salsa dancer and his friends! I've been invited with as many girlfriends as I would like to bring to a huge Colombian party on both Christmas eve and New Years eve - and it is a private after hours party so no being sent home at 2am! Salsa all night! yeah!

Anyways, the reality of the road conditions is that they are very good on all main arteries, but get off them and my little echo likes to spin around.

I went over to a girlfriends just after all of this and she made a kickass chicken dish - mmmmm spicy and sweet! It was truly delicious - props out to you Susan! And we watched some movies, drank some wine, and whined some more because there is nothing to do on a Monday in this City! I got home around 2am, dragged all of the groceries out, all of the gifts out, and realized that my fridge was disgusting! So I cleaned it and I got finished putting everything away at 3am. I am finally getting tired, but before I went to bed, I thought I should write in this blog because my good good friend Becca has been hounding me.

So Becca, Merry Christmas! I love you girl.

My Jolly Rancher Ring (aka Liu Li)

A new jewellery story opened up below my office building on Water Street in Gastown. It is called Chic Winds and they sell some interesting pieces of jewellery. One of the more interesting designs they are showcasing is Liu Li jewellery.

An ancient form of glass making from China's Kingdom of Yue, circa 462BC. There is an ancient and complex technique for creating a mold that can only be used once. Expensive, naturally colored glass material is turned into a paste under fire, it has to stay inside the mold for 9 days to gradually cool down. During this period it is very difficult to control the movement of the liquid paste and therefore identical replicas are near impossible to create. Each piece once cooled is then put through a polishing process so that the final artwork can take upwards of 20 days of meticulous craftsmanship to complete. Because of the difficulties and the delicate nature of these techniques, the success rate for classic style Liu Li is less than 70%. No wonder in ancient times that Liu Li belonged exclusively to China's royalties.

But today, it belongs to me; one more happy single-hood present to myself.

I finally sewed the last stitch

Last Tuesday, I sat with Carla and Lisa and over some terrible soya pizza puffs, mini halloween chocolates, and Pelegrino I finished the final stitches which were in the Welcome sign just above the sewing machine. I guess, I could also sign it with my signature, heleno.

Now I need to wash, stretch and dry, mount and frame it. Then all that is left is Christmas wrap, a bow, a card with a big kiss to mom!

I will post a photo of it when it is framed.

Rowan and the Mighty Fraser

I took a new friend for a drive here a while back and realized it has been too long since I brought Rowan down to the river. So today, with my Canon Rebel hanging from my neck with a plastic bag in pocket incase of rain, we started off. It has changed a little from the last time Rowan and I took a stroll down here, but remarkably not that much.

There was a lovely little cubby hole that looks like lover's lane from all of the used condom wrappers lying around, but it offered a great lookout place to watch a bald eagle perched on a topless tree about 40 feet from his nest.

We also met a Beagle, who wasn't too friendly, and an australian shepherd named Mel who was extremely friendly. Rowan and Mel frolicked while Jan, Marilynn and I discussed the beauty of living so close to the water. They live on a sail boat and own a larger boat that they offer for small trips. Nice couple.

Right after the frolicking the rains started so I wrapped my camera in a bag and off we headed for home. We were soaked, but happy. Now for a warm cup of soup and some toasty fingers.

This mornings skyline

As seen from my back porch. Isn't it lovely? I just had to grab the camera and take a shot. The first shot was with the flash, and the second one is without. Amazing how the camera picked up mostly the reds with a flash and mostly the blues without it. I love it!