my big yellow fridge

11-13/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for...

Sunday brunch

hot lemon water

this weirdo for taking care of me while I've been sick.

Which is why I'm lumping days 11-13 together! Despite feeling under the weather, I managed to make it out to Sunday brunch at TOCA with some friends at the Ritz-Carlton. Didn't want to miss out on ayce lobster tails and crab claws - not to mention the all you can drink mimosas! Mmm...

10/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for this little fur ball.

... even though he's pretty stinky and only climbs into my bed when he's cold. Oh and he's also developed quite a temper in his old age.

9/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for a tradition that 4 ROMers started a decade+ ago.

Despite our increasingly busy lives, we still manage to meet (for the most part) once a month to venture off to an all you can eat restaurant and stuff ourselves until we are physically ill. Over the years, our stomach capacity has definitely dwindled, but to be honest, the food has always been secondary; it's the company that keeps this little tradition of ours alive.

8/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for this giant grape that is as large as a small plum.

I think I might be slightly obsessed with larger than normal food...

♥ j

7/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for the evolution of my taste buds.

Although I still crave a good greasy fry up, I'm happy that my taste buds have settled down over the years to enjoy healthier options. Back in high school, when I thought of breakfast, I would immediately think of a sausage McGriddle - not a bowl of oatmeal with fruit. As I slowly got rid of the junk, I think my body adapted and stopped wanting the junk (most of the time). Who knows what my taste buds will crave in another ten years!

♥ j

6/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for finally passing stage 36 on Soda Crush (even if I only got one star)!

I've been stuck on this stage for days and it was driving me nuts cause I'd always come so close to completing the level. So, when I finally finished it (with a few moves to spare), I was ecstatic! It really is the small things in life...

5/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for this monster of a honey crisp apple that fueled me through the afternoon at work.

(Just keeping with the theme of the gigantic foods that I consume)

♥ j

4/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for this giant Korean sticky rice donut.

For someone who has random cravings, I love how diverse (and accessible) our cuisine is in the city. Although, I'll admit I can probably have one of these giant donuts every day...

♥ j

3/365 day of gratitude

2015-01-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for friends, old and new.

I was reminded today of how easy it is to reconnect with old friends. Even though I sometimes go months without talking to certain friends, and as cliché as this sounds, we always seem to pick right back up where we left off... over some good old hot pot.

♥ j

2/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I'm grateful for spontaneous boba dates.

Especially when the person who's taking me out is lactose intolerant and can't even have the good stuff. Tea dates just make me feel warm and fuzzy (in both the figurative and literal sense). The free popcorn is just an added bonus.

♥ j

1/365 days of gratitude

2015-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

One of the promises I made to myself for 2015 is to be grateful for even the smallest things in my life. Which is why I've decided to join in on the 365 days of gratitude band wagon.

Today, I'm grateful for being able to capture this fuzzy photo of lights.

It may just be some dangling Christmas lights, but for me, it is much more symbolic as this was the photo I took right before Nathan proposed. How appropriate that this would be my day 1 of many days of gratitude to come. Can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!

♥ j

cinco de mayo

2014-05-05T19:30:00.000-04:00

Kidnapped to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Planeta Mexico with some churros and ice cream. Mmm...

♥ j

may the fourth be with you

2014-05-04T17:00:00.000-04:00

With our lightsaber freezies. Nathan gave me the evil colour...

♥ j

one sweet day

2014-04-27T13:00:00.000-04:00

To celebrate Lillian's birthday, we kidnapped her and brought her to chocolate paradise: Dunk 'n Dip (241 Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga, ON L5G 1G8). We ordered the waffles, pancakes, and turkey waffle club. With the except of the sandwich, everything was drizzled in chocolate (you got to choose between white, milk and dark chocolate). I think the waffle club would've been a lot better if they used the same waffles as their dessert waffles. Other than that, the service was great and we were stuffed and full of sugar by the end of the afternoon!

I also tried Kombucha tea for the very first time. I figured I needed it after all the junk I ate. It was actually pretty tasty and reminded me a bit of grapefruit. The tea was served in a giant mug that was as big as a bowl and came with 3 mini cookies on a skewer.

The next time I visit, I am definitely going to go for their fondue. And maybe some of their cupcakes and macarons. And gelato.

♥ j

upcycling challenge: cardboard

2014-04-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to drag Nathan over to work on an upcycling challenge I entered at work! I wanted to use something that is readily accessible and also easy enough to work with so that I wouldn't need to buy more tools or supplies than what I already had at home. So, I decided on cardboard. I had found an image of a cardboard fruit bowl online that looked simple enough to make and was really excited to get started. Initially I had asked Nathan to draft something on AutoCAD so that we'd have a template to work off of. Little did I know that it's not quite that simple and may require more time than I had (the deadline for submissions was in 3 days) - oops. I was ready to just dive into this project and just build piece by piece, but thankfully, Nathan did a bit of research and found the people who made the original cardboard bowl (SEMdesign in the Netherlands) and they actually e-mailed us the template!

The result, was more than I had expected (although a bit stretched out cause we used thicker cardboard). It was actually quite sturdy considering we only put a few globs of white glue between each sheet. Fingers crossed that I win the contest at work! I guess I should share the prize with Nathan...

♥ j

a chilly picnic

2014-04-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

One of my most favourite things to do in the spring (and all year round, actually) is go on picnics. Normally, Nathan would organize this and take me out, so I thought I'd surprise him this time around and pick up all his favourite picnic foods! Pictured above are his lactose-free cheddar, cured meates, pâté, jalapeño crackers, apple cider, mini focaccia, pickly beans and roasted red peppers. I brought him to our usual date night spot at Mainstreet Unionville, but had to take shelter under a small gazebo as it started to drizzle.

Naturally, we finished everything.

♥ j

another new year to celebrate (Songkran edition)

2014-04-12T22:00:00.000-04:00

An amazing day was had with friends, good food, good music and water guns as we celebrated the Thai new year. Since we couldn't travel all the way to Thailand, we joined in on the party on this side of the pond with the help of Khao San Road (still one of my favourite Thai restaurants). I was pleasantly surprised with the food that was available at the festival. Junk served up some fantastic pork belly skewers - $6 for 3 which is a steal when it comes to food festivals! It was also quite an experience drinking milk tea from a clear plastic bag (a first for me).

Aside from the food, the actual water fight was a blast! At first I had my reservations about squirting random strangers with a water gun, but once I got into it, I didn't really think about it anymore. I just had one goal and that was to run around and get everyone wet! This is definitely a festival that I will revisit next year and hopefully I will win the Super Soaker raffle next time around...

♥ j

two for one

2014-04-08T00:29:00.000-04:00

Things have been a bit crazy lately so time to play catch up on the blog!

To celebrate International Macaron Day and the beginning of spring a few weeks ago, Nathan surprised me with this giant green macaron! Something that I really love about spring is the sense of renewal that comes along with it. It's almost like a second new year. A second chance to get those new year's resolutions rolling. One of the biggest challenges that I struggle with quite a bit daily, is my tendency to compare. I don't know why I do it, but it just happens so naturally. In a way, I think it's my overactive imagination, my ability to remember the smallest details, and my analytical brain that leads me to do this. I think, much like the winter frost, I need to let that tendency melt away so that I can make room for more important things in my life. Like giant macarons.

And yes, if you were wondering, the macaron was inhaled shortly after this photo was taken...

♥ j

a tea pot and a boy

2014-03-19T23:15:00.000-04:00

With all the craziness of holidays and birthdays and new jobs and work and work and work, Nathan and I haven't spent a whole lot of time with each other. Which is why our little tea date on the weekend was such a welcomed pause to our lives. We had Korean BBQ for dinner then spent the rest of the evening at Ten Ren's just talking. No plan. No agenda. No time constraints. It was quite reminiscent of our very first dates where we spent a lot of our time just talking about nothing, really. Sometimes it's just nice to slow things down a bit and enjoy each other's company - something that we were forgetting to do.

(fingers crossed these little dates will become a normal for us)

♥ j

/end hiatus

2014-03-06T23:41:00.003-05:00

Today marked Toronto's 180th birthday and to celebrate, Nathan took me out for a maple macchiato while I enjoyed some maple leaf chocolates he got me from the Old Firehall Confectionery. I guess this is more Canadian than Torontonian, but it's really hard to find blue desserts aside from blue jello and gummies. I also thought today was a good day to start back up my blog. It's been a whirlwind of a year, so to recap in a few words:

weddings

babies (not mine)
chopped hair

powerlifting

promotions

food food food

and of course,

tea

Life has been quite dandy if I do say so myself.

♥ j

quarante deux: bonne anniversaire

2013-05-19T00:28:00.001-04:00

Chère bff,

29 years ago, a little girl was born.
She grew up to be become a loving sister, a talented photographer, gardener extrodinaire and a create DIY enthusiast.
Most importantly she became a shoulder to cry on, an ear to rant to, a confidante, and a voice of reason and encouragement to another little girl who was born 63 days later.
Born half way across the world from each other, these two little girls somehow found their way to each other and bonded over their love for tea.

Happy happy birthday ma belle.

❤ pour toujours,
j

p.s I set my alarm to remind myself to say happy birthday when you were actually born. What ended up happening was me staring at my clock for 10 minutes waiting for the alarm to go off...

quarante et un: against all odds

2013-05-18T00:41:00.001-04:00

Chère bff,

A little blade of grass pushed through our newly paved driveway the other day.
How such a tiny fragile thing was able to break through the pavement was beyond me!
Like this blade of grass, humans are resilient beings.
Even when we hit a concrete wall, we somehow find a way to overcome it.
It won't be easy, but we need to have faith that happy days are to come.

Bonne anniversaire, ma belle.

❤ pour toujours,
j

quarante: radish tulips

2013-05-16T23:02:00.001-04:00

Chère bff,

Sometimes we get bad news.
And yes, it's awful and horrible and every terrible feeling there is in the dictionary.
But then in the midst of all that misery, we see how loved we are.
Like receiving tulips that look like radishes (because someone remembered you giggled at them once) as a cheer up surprise.
Being offered words of comfort and encouragement.
Or having someone get more upset than you at the cause of all this heartache.

Life may throw lemons at us every so often, but the people around us are like the sugar that makes it into yummy lemonade.

You are one of my biggest sugar cubes and I hope I can be the same for you :)

❤ pour toujours,
j

trente neuf: photography as inspiration

2013-05-15T22:24:00.000-04:00

Chère bff,

Just a reminder of how strong women are. We don't go down without a fight and fighters we are!

http://www.jaimemoorephotography.com/2013/05/09/not-just-a-girl/

(I especially like Helen Keller's quote)

♥ pour toujours,
j

trente huit: oh puddles

2013-05-14T23:17:00.001-04:00

Chère bff,

The clouds have been looming around and making everything gray lately.
If we look on the bright side, at least it gives us puddles to splash in!
But sometimes it's really difficult to find the fun in this dreary weather.
Let's focus on splashing in puddles rather than looking at the cloudy skies, shall we?

❤ pour toujours,
j