102nd post!

Clearly I was paying attention to post count lately and 100 is just too common of a celebratory number for blogger. So, 102 it is!

That being said of course, this post will be remarkably similar to most of my previous ones. To pretend to celebrate though, I am going to start off by showing some work by Laurent Craste, a maker in many mediums whose works I have just discovered and now adore.

Iconocraste au bat IV (2012)

Porcelain, glaze, baseball bat.

Dépouille "à la scène galante" I (2012)

Porcelain, glaze, nails.

Iconocraste au pic (2010)

Porcelain, glaze, pick.

All of these pieces are part of his "Abuse" line, and according to a recent interview of him by Dirty Magazine he says that he had "always been fascinated by the phenomenon of vandalism, especially the ransacking phases that accompany revolutionary insurrections, when the works of art are destroyed because they incarnate an ideology, or symbolize a specific social class... and at the same time I am also totally fascinated by the destructive impulse, the violent nihilistic action." I'm looking forward to my next trip to Montreal where I can hopefully see his work in person.

Otherwise, I've been on a Dollarama kick lately, and I've slowly been collecting pieces to try and updo my hideous dining room chandelier. In a perfect world I 'd like to get it to look like the one from Urban Outfitters that I was coveting last year, and that don't have anymore. Just as well, couldn't afford it anyway. So far, I think I've got most of the dangley bits, mostly from the craft section of Dollarama, of all places. I need to work on the center and the dishes around the "candles." Apparently they are actually called "Bobeches," and I think if I find some glass ones, they can be painted in glass paint to retain that see through look. Ideas a plenty!

Sexy colour explosion.

More ice rink action! Since my friends and I could never afford to go to a Leafs game (and I'm a Habs fan anyways), we took advantage of a recent Leafs viewing party hosted by the ACC here in the Tdot. The leafs were actually playing in and against Ottawa, one of my other home towns, so we watched the game live on the jumbotron. My friend was super excited about watching a Leafs game at the ACC, despite the fact we weren't really, and tried to sit at ice level. We threatened him with our chiropractor bills for the busted neck we'd have from staring up at the screen all night, and we took pictures at ice level instead before moving further up to much better seats.

Yep, he's excited.

Sadly, about 20 seconds after I said "looks like we'll have some overtime tonight" to my friends, Ottawa scored in the last minute of play and won. Montreal won against the Islanders that night, so I'm happy regardless.

We're mid-way through February already, eh?

I've been staring at archival supply websites for days. There's been a lot of math going on for the past few days. Somewhere, there are several teachers laughing. The highlight to this torture is that I am getting paid for it. Not enough, but it's something.

January was an interesting month, and generally speaking, a good start to 2013. The job hunt continues, but I may have some freelance jobs and part-time projects on the horizon, so that's something. I've been volunteering a lot with two organizations (actually in my field no less!), so that's been keeping me busy. Parts of the apartment are cleaner from the January Cure as hosted by Apartment Therapy, but generally I ended up ignoring it. While an excellent idea, I think a lot of the challenges were meant to be done in a day, but in my apartment could not be. Cleaning my room would, and still is taking a long, long time. It doesn't help that I received another load of stuff from the homefront that needs to find a home. Thanks Mom. That being said, the principles were sound, and I'll probably take them forward. The outbox was used quite a bit though, and on a recent run to Goodwill we unloaded several bags of crap out of it.

Goodbye 11 bags/boxes of crap!

Otherwise, January, and bits of February have been a mix of food, skating and fashion (surprisingly). A bunch of us actually own our own skates and try to get out to the fry rinks fairly regularly in the winter. At one point in my life, two or three years ago, I was an okay skater. Then I fucked up my knee, while skating. In a desperate attempt to not plow into the poor guy who had crashed in front of me, I ended up going down pretty hard. I hadn't and haven't quite mastered the art of stopping on skates just yet. Usually, at least once a winter, I land on that same knee and it makes me psychologically skittish about skating on it for the rest of the winter. It's an asshole like that. We've tried out a few extra rinks from our usual Nathan Phillips Square (for all you Tdotters), specifically the Natrel Rink by the lake for a friend's birthday earlier in the month. It was unbelievably warm that night, so I ended up skating with the coat open and just a T-shirt underneath. Until I fell on my knee and called it a night. Bastard knee. 

Hi Dan!

Also, since I'm a Ryerson Alumni, I get access to free skates at the Maple Leafs Gardens! It's the one awesome thing about Ryerson owning the Gardens! Yes, I'm fully aware it's actually called the Mattamy Centre; don't care. It will always be the Gardens. Somewhere out there there are some photos of myself and a friend having some fisticuffs at centre ice in Leafs and Habs jerseys at a recent free skate. It was pretty awesome.

Also, in the month of January, a fashion blogger I follow, Karen of CurvyCanadian, had her official opening for her brand new plus size store! Pretty freakin' excited pretty well covered my thoughts on this news. Your Big Sister's Closet is located on 3126 Dundas West in the Tdot, and she has a really good selection of established (to me) and unknown (to me) brands.

These were the best photos of the day.. little busy going from rack to rack, drooling to myself.

I did actually buy a few things! This lovely bag, and a great belt with a pair of giant gold clamshells for buckles. I also attempted to look fashionable when I went to the opening, and I think I did well. I can't prove it, because my attempt at change room photos failed miserably.

She keeps her facebook page up to date and is frequently posting pictures of new stock and some of her fabulously dressed clients. I shall be heading back soon, I gather she's planning on getting some swimsuits in, and it may be time to look at getting another one.

FOOD. I was going to get there eventually, not to worry! The past wee while has actually been filled with cooking, and some new recipes, most of which I didn't photograph! My enthusiasm for doing that lately has been low, not sure why. That being said, I recently discovered the amazing blog of Helga Von Trollop, and her recipe for Spinach Parmesan muffins. They were dinner that night due to the sheer luck of having all the ingrediants! 

 In retrospect, i should have added some garlic. Meh, next time.

With any luck, I can attempt to blog more often. Or at least on a vaguely regular schedule.