get me the tissue

oh my god. teary again. i think i cry too easily. i KNOW i cry too easily. the bloody OLYMPIC commercials make me cry! but this time the tears are worth it: ian brown won the charles taylor prize. He won!!!! WALKER WON!!!!!!!!! so i'm sitting here with tears rolling down my face like a lunatic. this means people will read it. people will THINK. people will contemplate the different meaning/value of lives that at first appear to have little value. and what that means for all of us. I am so happy. mailing you your copy via amazon tonight. it is such a beautiful, sad, frustrating, hilarious, moving book. yea.

heavy heart

at Stace's urging, this private facebook message has been cut & pasted. (warning to anyone who knows stace - don't even TRY to say no to her, she's VERY persistent & persuasive)...

Ah Stace,

this is EXACTLY why I can't do the blog. Bursting to share my feelings on this and can't take the time to select my words carefully or edit - it will NEVER get posted! (OK, I eat my words here)

Just read on my twitter feed re: belleville woman being found. Not good. 10 years ago I would have felt sad for the family, scared for the woman, but then moved on.

Now I find it harder to move on. It fills me with terror - not for myself - if I was ever faced with a situation like that I think every once of fury I'd ever felt would be concentrated and unleashed & woe betide the bastard who attempted to hurt me.

I identify with the parents here - the anguish and sadness and helplessness they must be experiencing. It would be a horrid enough nightmare to ever lose a child through illness or accident, but the thought of them being hurt in any way prior to death just wrecks me.

would it be wrong of me to insist that the girls can't go anywhere without a huge snarling pet pit bull by their side? For the rest of their lives?

There's a calssmate of eve's (sophie) who's mom (julie) is ukranian. we were discussing the tragedy at pearson where the baby was dropped to it's death (another make me sick to my stomach moment) and Julie said there's some saying in ukranian (that I can't remember of course) that means, basically, "Your pain is our pain, we share your anguish" and that by sending love to the people in pain, we somehow help them carry the burden, or cushion the blow. I can't really imagine that it would help, but nevertheless, I concentrate on sending warmth and peace - to James Delorey's family, to the hundreds of thousands effected in haiti, and now to jessica lloyd's family. it could be a full time job.

sigh..... i hug my children tighter & inhale the scent of them & say a prayer.

DAY ONE

On the first day of christmas my cousin brought to me....

one week each season at the One and Only resort of your choice. AH, what the hell, I love you and I'm incredibly generous, so you can have a week each season at ANY resort of your choice! Some food for thought......

In an effort to honor the beauty in our own country, take a peek at this little beauty in BC (scroll down to the home on the bottom of the page) Ridge Homes. Yes Sara, I have no doubt that there are stunning places in Sask. and I know Stacey would completely relish the beauty of the prairies, but I didn't know where to begin looking. Please feel free to contribute to my fantasy.

We'd have to go together on this one most definitely:The Plaza.

Ah... a week of sleeping in, late night talks, sumptuous dinners (paelo of course, my CF friends!), walks in central park
the MET, MOMA, Natural History Museum, guggenheim.... what a week we would have!

Flavor of the day: resorts. Not travel, as much as I would love to, the thought of packing up my three kids & getting them on a plane to trek through jungles in costa rica, villages in italy, or beaching in Kerala is exhausting. I suspect it wouldn't be an easy for you either.

So today's offering is a relaxed week, 4 times in the coming year at a fabulous resort of your choosing. Pamper city (and I don't mean facials & manicures, I mean having someone else make your bed, cook your meals & clean up afterwards - bliss!).

xo

Virtual Christmas

So here at Christmas central, we're trying to scale back this year and save some money. The kids get inundated with mountains of toys from relatives (despite our pleas to keep it simple) so we don't go over the top with them. And I don't exchange gifts with friends, since most families we're close to are in the same position: with young families, or first time home buyers, or both. I think it's our demographic. And part of attempting to live more simply without the fret of intentionally wracking up mountains of debt. Of course, this never keeps me from WISHING of things I'd like to purchase for the people I love.

So here it is, I present to you: virtual Christmas. A list of the things/expereinces I'd LIKE to give you to celebrate the season if I was endowed with Oprah's bank account....

First off, flowers. A big fat bouquet (or a few small posies - have you ever had a fresh flowers on your nighttable or in the bathroom - wonderful). Fragrant ones, colorful ones, monochromatic ones - a new one delivered every fortnight. OK, see above photo, I still am not as adept as you at putting things in the right place.

Item number two. A little 'ole somethin' somethin' in the Blue Box. Just because it's fun. And the way that white satin ribbon slips off the box is like an announcement that something special is about to happen. In fact, I'll get us both one. Matching somethins somethins how 'bout?!

OK, apparently Tiffany's doesn't want me to download images of their precious (or I just don't know how), so here's a wee gift from me to you (and me to me) from my favorite Toronto jeweler, Anne Sportun....

Oh no... it's up top. you get the point.

point #1 - i suck at this technology business. lesson anyone? and

#2 i am too tired to attempt to figure it out right now with wee ones beckoning (who am I kidding, they're not beckoning, they're HOLLERING for me) and it's an hour past bedtime. Maybe this is going to be more along the lines of the 12 days of Christmas.... stay tuned, watch this space, more goodies to come.

xo

The Better Way

Stace,

OK, bear with me on this one. I know our blog is supposed to be about beauty and inspiration and culture and yadda yadda yadda. So I'm going to put forth the argument that this covers all three: the TTC. Yes, the Toronto Transit Commission. The buses, streetcars & subways that torontonians use to get around. I love it. Yes, you read that right, I love it. I feel as though I'm in the minority as usually people only whine and complain about our transit system. Is it comprehensive? No. Is it always on schedule? No. Granted, if I had to take it to work everyday, or if I was in a hurry, or was stuck on it in rush hour (especially in the summer, head firmly wedged beneath someone's less-than-fresh underarm) I may not be so enthralled. But because I'm an occassional user I can wax rhapsodic about it. I think it helps that my kids reignite the wonder & excitment of it.

I think my favorite is the streetcar. There's your fellow passengers, but also the carnival of everyday life that I pass by. It is a FEAST of humans: people of every size, shape, color, style, ethnicity is there. If not on the streetcar itself, then on the street. Because I'm not having to pay attention to other drivers around me I'm free to read, listen to a podcast, stare into space, or enjoy the scenery unfolding before me, eavesdrop - you name it. Maybe next time you're in TO we should hop on the streetcar to get to our resto of choice. A TTC date, all the gab with none of the hassel of driving (don't get me wrong - I LOVE driving - especially shift) but sometimes the slow way really is the better way. Wha'da'ya say - red rocket with me?

~ j. xo

Beautiful Spaces

OK Stace,

I've got to get off the music posts or this will change into a "music I adore" blog. So, for a change of pace, the beauty of choice today is... ta da... spaces. Not surprising given that being married to an architect, "spaces" take up a more than usual amount of discussion. You've seen our house. It's 100 years old & it took over seven full size dumpsters and a concrete truck IN OUR YARD to get it where it is now. And there's still a long way to go until "The Vision" is fully realized. Unlike you, I don't have a master bedroom. Hell, I don't even have a bedroom door! One day, it will be my dream house. I'm willing to wait. In the meatime, I absorb every shred of our neighborhood that I love and we look at these places for inspiration. So, without further ado, here's some beauties to feed the imagination...






Hard to include more. Apparently architects copyright many of their photos. Go figure. So these are my dream spaces. Clean lines (clean period). Austere. Simple. Nice details. Lots of windows. Preferably nestled in the woods. Sigh..... Ever creating one of these spaces, despite my desire & Peter's skills, it's highly unlikely. So for now I enjoy looking at these residences as beautiful art that fuels my rich fantasy life. Am interested to know what your ideal home would be like. Jennie xo