grateful (COUNT=1397)

1. He shared this picture with me
Him: Looks at the cute owls
Me: Why do you think they are owls?

2. Discussing Big Salt with Blair @ Taverna Mercatto; maybe South Core is okay after all!

3. Watching Big Chill (his mum’s fav movie): I often wonder whether I am more honest with friends made recently or friends I’ve known for decades; it’s probably easier to question the here and the now with old friends since we have a common frame of reference; at the same time perhaps we feel compelled to be consistent with the person we once were

4. Coffee with Tanya @ Crafted by Te Aro followed by

5. Ava Roth @ Loop Gallery followed by

6. Walking along Bloor Street like we used to

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no like button

Pinterest is killing off its ‘Like’ button and I think this is the best idea ever. I was thinking of liking Teresa’s Pin. Instead, I will blog it!

When I think of Chinese design, I think of mottled shades of brown and gray with a touch of red. Less stylized than Japanese design but more comforting. Yet most places in China these days is a mess of color a la Times Square. This Pin gives me hope that Chinese design will return to its roots.

img src=claraalcott

favorite places and spaces

Maybe not traveling is not a realistic resolution for me. Maybe I can constrain myself to the thirty countries that I’ve been?

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1. Not visiting Gabon to swim with surfing hippos

2. Not visiting Pakistan to drive the Karakoram Highway (see above)

3. Not visiting Spain to see The Alhambra

4. Not visiting Denmark to walk the Aarhus Art Museum

5. Not visiting Sweden to stay at the Nordic Watercolor Museum

So where will I go?

5. Will visit Italy to stay at the Geisler Hut

4. Will visit Japan to walk the Kumano Kodo

3. Will visit China to check out design spaces in Shanghai (see below)

2. Will visit US to eat BBQ at Hemingway South Carolina

1. Will visit Canada to hike Newfoundland

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grateful (COUNT=1379)

Qing sent a wonderful block print postcard of the dry garden from Ryoan-ji

I’m not the most zen person but when served a glistening piece of ocean trout (@Nami), I cannot help but contemplate the ebb and flow of the flesh (and the shingle roof of the temple) (and the quiet tsunami of our daily lives)

img src=Christopher Tweed & fujiarts

10% complete

My year of traveling without traveling: 10% complete. I tried watching LeRoy’s Waterloo Bridge but couldn’t stand the melodrama. I did enjoy Rossen’s Alexander the Great. Mum & Dad are visiting Greece this September.

I’m happy to be in Toronto.

A stop light was installed at Yonge & The Esplanade. In general, I dislike stop lights since they suggest that I need to stop. But this one suggests that I stop and gaze at the CN tower. The next part of my daily walk to work is through the Calatrava Galleria which always always sends my thoughts soaring.

On weekends, we walk through smaller streets with smaller structures but there is always something engaging if we choose to be engaged.

grateful (COUNT=1358)

1. Had to work both days this weekend but it was nice watching the snow from TD center

2. Met up with Tanya for chai at simit & chai

3. His parents got some blood orange olive oil at Collingwood Olive Oil Co and it’s amazing with arugula

4. Lunch with Lisa @ new downtown location of Forno Cultura

5. Lunch with AJ @ Pizzeria Libretto on University: “turning every stone in the universe”

grateful (COUNT=1353)

Architecture tour thru Regent Park with Jeanine & Jess (effort needed to convince the city to pay for a particular material reminds me that no job is easy)

Amazing earl gray tea cookies made by Jess

First day lunch @ Tutti Matti with Chris & Jess

Brunch @ The Commodore with Denise

BBQ @ Carbon Bar with Marc-Andre (probably not surprising that it’s not as good as STL)

Work Happy Lunch @ Three Brewers with Michael

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