Swoon for a SIGG

So, in my jaunt through Pacific Mall, this SIGG bottle caught my eye. It's so pretty, but the price tag is brutal. I guess it is a limited edition bottle, and there are Swarovski crystals on it, but still.

- picture courtesy of sigg.com

Pacific Mall pre-Chinese New Year

It's also been awhile since I've been to Pacific Mall, although not as long as it's been since going to Niagara Falls.
In high school, I used to go pretty frequently and although I'm a little older and my taste is a little bit more refined (I hope), I admit that some of those Sanrio products are quite cute. At least I have the self control not to indulge.
Anyway, we were there just before Chinese New Year and so the place was decked out for the occasion.

Niagara Falls

I don't even remember the last time that I went to Niagara Falls. This is the first time that I've gone in the winter time (I think). It's absolutely breaktaking.

The CN Tower

I like the CN Tower. Especially at night when it's lit up. It's usually red and white a la Canada, but on special occasions they change the colours to match the event. Also, on the hour they do funky things with the lights.




And now, a montage of different colours of the CN Tower.

From up top of the CN Tower

I mentioned before that I got to be a tourist last week in my own city. Ever since moving back home, I feel like I'm discovering the city that I grew up in a really finding out just how wonderful it is. These pictures are from an excursion to the top of the CN Tower.

The ice/snow makes it look like it's one whole mass of land as opposed to islands. Sometimes I sit and watch the planes take off from the island airport and I'm reminded that I need to try out Porter Airlines.



They keep a path in the ice for the ferries. I think the ice looks really cool.






I love skyscrapers. I love the skyline. I love this city.







I'm going to go skating here. The view is the best.






Two things:
1. It's pretty high up.
2. I'm still pigeon-toed.






I get pretty much the same view from my condo, except obviously this one is a lot higher.






Yonge-Dundas square is quite impressive. There are lots of lights and a scramble. Maybe this will be the place to be for Earth Hour.




Lookie lookie. It's so pretty. Swoon.

Pictures from a city I love

These people are pros

This is impressive.

Being a tourist

The best thing about hosting an out-of-towner is that it gives you an added push to get out and about in the city.
I love being a tourist.
I still need to organize my photos, but once I do, I will write a little bit about some things that we did.

London (July 6th - 10th, 2007)

My travels to Scotland ended with a couple days in London.
Although I've gone to London a couple times already, there's still a lot of things that I haven't seen in the city and surrounding region.
Here's the brief synopsis of this specific trip...
Of course no trip to London would be complete without trips to the theatre. I'm not sure why I haven't gone to see a show here in Toronto, but hopefully I will be rectifying that soon enough. Anyway, while in London, I ended up seeing Cabaret and Avenue Q. I actually saw both shows in the same day, courtesy of matinees.
I also went to Kew Gardens and continue my love of walking and nature.









...Chinatown, which was quite uninteresting. That's what happens when you grow up in Toronto.

I visited the British Museum for the first time, mainly to see the Rosetta Stone.






While in the museum, I found the other compratriots to the chessmen from Scotland.





The British Museum is beautiful. The architecture and natural lighting really makes the atrium stand out. The displays were nicely done and I think the ROM is heading in that direction. All of the artifacts and specimens in the new galleries at the ROM seem to be floating in the glass cases.


























I also went to the opera. Rigoletto. It was fabulous and of course I splurged on good seats.







I toured Kensington Palace and all of these years later, Princess Diana's death still seem to effect people.



So a couple days - a bunch of tourist stops. Doing the usual rounds as well. Shopping on all the regular streets. Marks & Spencer. Primark. Lusting over stuff in Burberry. Thinking professional at Thomas Pink. Going to Harrods and Selfridges. Taking the underground here, there and everywhere.
This is a great city.
I think that might have been the fastest trip recap that I've done on this blog.

Slumdog Millionaire

I finally got to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was wonderful.
I've never seen a Bollywood movie, so I don't know if this movie goes under that genre - I suppose the only thing that stuck out to me as being typically Bollywood (from my limited knowledge) is the little song and dance number during the end credits.
Anyway, so this movie is based on a book called "Q&A" about a man who grew up in the slums of India and ended up winning the grand prize on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". The police and show bigwigs believe he somehow cheated to win the money.
The movie is in Hindi and English, but I'm wondering why there was so much English. I know the director was a British guy, but I always find it a little weird when a movie isn't in the the language that you think it would be in. It wasn't too distracting, however.
The music is nice. There was one piece of music that I'd heard a lot with a crowd that I wouldn't think to see this movie, so it was hard to have the two worlds collide in my head. But as I said, the music was well done.
I think I liked this movie because all of the parts were cast quite well. The youngest actors/actresses are quite adorable and effective at their parts. I also liked the story itself. Whether it be flashbacks, explaining events, stories that intertwine...it's all good in my books.

Finally, I'd forgotten about this until the end credits, so I need to watch the movie again to try to spot him. He actually sent me a screen capture of the film with him in the background. I remember reading his post about being in the movie, but every single thing he does is eventful, so I didn't really think much of it. He's an amazing person with an amazing heart, it seems fitting that he ended up in an award-winning movie to have yet another crazy experience to add to his collection!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie and I'm glad that I finally saw it.

- picture courtesy of www.foxsearchlight.com

Personalizing

I just spent some time adding stuff to my page to make it more interesting/personal. And then proceeded to delete all the stuff that I added. I don't really feel like sharing the various webpages and blogs that I peruse on a regular basis for various reasons.

Moleskines

Ooooh, I'm excited. I've just been looking into my options and I don't know which type I should get. I need to go to a shop which has a wide range of their stuff so I can compare.
Maybe I could get a couple of the city books and start lists for each city.
Maybe I should just stick with one of the basics.
I think I'm going to go shopping tomorrow!

Gotta look into this

I've got a ton of stuff to give to charity and every so often I've got time to add to the pile.
What I'm wondering though, is whether or not the places that I'm donating to will be reselling the items or giving them to those who need them and will use them themselves.
What's the best thing to do with the stuff that I've received in non-personal Secret Santa or similar type situations?

List making

It's no secret that I make lists. I attribute this to needing to be in control, needing to maintain a certain level of organization, being goal oriented, liking the feeling of success and having a memory like an old lady.
I shall be buying a Moleskine in the near future, which is the first step to making my "living my amazing life in the city" list. I do have a couple other very special lists on the go in other special books. I've had these lists for years and should revisit them soon. And of course there are the generico lists that I make every so often when needed.
I'm contemplating what kind of writing device I shall use.

Eating issues

So it seems I have this habit of eating everything on my plate.
My friends still marvel at how I managed to finish this plate of french toast at Atelier Thuet awhile back. This place popped up on my radar since reading about it here. They even mentioned the french toast. To my defense, it was really good.
Luckily, it hasn't affected me significantly in my life so far, but it is something that I'm now conscious of.
So, if you happen to serve me any food, please don't overload the plate.

I also find that if I eat a lot for a couple of days, I tend to not eat for a couple days afterwards. I'm pretty sure that this isn't healthy, but I just feel so full that I can't bring myself to eat. It's not that the thought of eating makes me sick, I'm just full and I don't tend to eat when I'm full (unless there's something on my plate). I discovered this eating issue when I was in Europe and taking advantage of eating local cuisine while traveling. I would often return to Neuch after eating some great stuff in a new locale and turn into a camel. Well, not really, because for me it's food, not water and also because it's just a myth that camels store water in their humps.

Another thing. I get the shakes if I don't get enough of the right nutrition in me. I may have eaten, but if I've only had stuff with no nutritional value, then I get shaky. Bagels and cereal are examples of non-nutritional foods.

They're not called "ugg" for nothing.

I'm pretty sure I've said this before.
Also, should I really rethink the idea of wearing leggings again? It was such a staple in my wardrobe in grade 7 and 8. I would have been wearing them this whole season if shops actually made good quality stuff instead of flimsy see-through garments. Yup.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone's had a great holiday season and spent time with family, friends and taken time out for themselves!
We're now in 2009 - it's going to be a good one!