a wedding planning in disguise

one of my best friends in the whole entire world - jake - got engaged recently, in south america, to his amazing girlfriend (fiance? weird) kim. he had been asking for ring advice, and had been planning and planning, and when they left for their two month trip, i was giddy.
then i received the phone call - he did it! they were engaged, and elated. we were all so ecstatic, and couldn't wait to celebrate with them upon their arrival home. and THEN i received the email from jake - asking myself and 5 lovely gentlemen to stand beside him on the day he gets married. hurrah! female groomsman sounds to be my destiny.
so, here it starts. 2 of my favourite people in the world AND i'm being asked fashion advice? uh oh. we have a mere 4 months to pull this wedding off, and as i'm sure you all know enough, i'm dying to organize the whole thing. but instead, i'll simply stick to responding to his queries - like, 'how do we coordinate outifts so people don't have to buy a ton of new stuff?' (uhhhh hello mismatchy wedding party?? my DREAM to be in a wedding party like this!).

so, sorry guys. needless to say, i've been all over pinterest and wedding blogs to try to help this couple (who probably don't want, and definitely don't NEED my help) plan their wedding... and i've been inspired.
on another note, how can i force them to let me plan EVERYTHING? ideas welcome.
a few of my favourite ideas:

jake, kim - need a wedding planner? call me!

images:   men's wedding party   //   bottle centrepieces   //   layered cake   //   cheesecake desert table   //   umbrella tables   //   the man's bar   //   mountain wedding

the link we share with stars

(warning... vent. that leads to something wonderful. i promise).

you know when sometimes, you try to have an amazing night, but you fall asleep to thoughts of (new, unfamiliar and not welcomed, btw) self-doubt, and reminders of the sad/bad/shocking news you got that evening, and then you wake up late, and you realize you don't have time to wash your hair, and then you miss the streetcar by mere minutes (but you can't run to catch it because of your back injury, and poor choice in shoes), and then your subsequent streetcar ride involves a woman swearing a lot into her phone (which doesn't impact you, other than to send you into an even further negative tail spin). and then, you arrive at work late, and your back is throbbing, and you still don't know what you did to cause this horrendous twinge in your neck, and you remember that there are 4 emails you forgot to send the day before, and you spend the morning doing work that someone else should have done, and it seems everyone wants to call you to yell at you. and then you look at the clock and realize you don't have time to even make your morning tea that you love/adore/NEED... and you sit. and your eyes are puffy. and you're STILL thinking of all that self-doubt (perhaps unfounded, but still there), and the sad/bad/shocking news you got the evening before. and you sort of want to cry - not for any good reason, but for a lot of little reasons. 

and then. 

and then, you somehow, miraculously, end up finding project: stellar. by ignacio torres. and it's beautiful. and reminds you that regardless of how yesterday, and today, and maybe even the day after that goes.... we share a link to something so beautiful. always. and sunrays, and cosmic dust, and all those wacky things that just make us happy - they'll always be around. always. and no matter how crummy a day goes, you can walk outside, and (even if it's rainy) get a little peak of the sun. and at night (even in the city) get a little peak at the stars. and all becomes ok. 

'this project began from the theory that humans are made of cosmic matter as a result of a stars death. I created imagery that showcased this cosmic birth through the use of dust and reflective confetti to create galaxies. the models organic bodily expressions as they are frozen in time between the particles suggest their celestial creation. In addition, space and time is heightened by the use of three-dimensional animated gifs. their movement serves as a visual metaphor to the spatial link we share with stars as well as their separateness through time.'

the universe is made up of a bajillion small tiny things... and perhaps small bits of those are the matter of ancient stars. and if that's so, it means that we are all made of stars (ahem, moby). and if we're already made of stars, what's stopping us from creating spaces of our own - spaces made of glitter and dust. 

i'm not sure there are any more words for this... so i'll just let this speak for itself.

so. i stand up. and i get my tea. and i pretend my eyes aren't puffy. and i let the phone ring a few times extra. and i plan to go for a walk at lunch. and i think of the stars.

(originally see on the jealous curator)

brownies like amazing goodness in my mouth. (vegan, too!)

on saturday, erin and i were literally itching for vegan cupcakes from OMG. and, when our adventure brought us to OMG too late - as they had closed early - we pouted a while on a bench. then, after all of our moping and sadness, we went about our day. upon arriving home, sitting, waiting for dinner, we both confirmed with one another - we could not LIVE without something choclatey for dessert. she had sent me this recipe a few weeks prior, and we decided to give it a whirl.... in our own style. 
listen. this is simple stuff. so much so that i have even considered making them on my own (and i do NOT bake). you don't need any fancy vegan ingredients - only flour, sugar, cocoa (or another substitute for cocoa, if you don't eat it), baking powder, salt, applesauce, maple syrup, milk (non-dairy), oil, vanilla and mixin's. this is the most non-vegan, vegan thing i've (erin has) ever baked!
for ingredients, we gathered up:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup plain, unsweetened soy or nondairy milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for coating the pan
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

first up... pre-heat oven to 350°F. and my main role (since baking is NOT my strong suit) - chopping chocolate bar and pecans for the brownies... choppy choppy. i like big chunks, but since the recipe calls for semi sweet chocolate chips, you could chop smaller to attain the same type of texture. however, i like nothing more than getting a giant chunk'o'chocolate in my brownie. 

mix dry ingredients in one bowl - flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt - and mix so it's all blended. the recipe says aerate. does anyone know what that means? probably erin. she just mixed it like crazy. so.... do that. important things to note: we used a HEAPING teaspoon of baking powder, just to give it some oomph.

then, wet ingredients - apple sauce, syrup, non dairy milk, oil, vanilla - into another bowl, and mixey mixey. now.... important things to note: we used 1/8 cup of maple syrup, almond milk, and canola oil. probably something wrong with that, but trust me, this worked.
then, fold the dry into the wet. important things to note: we added the chocolate bar pieces and the pecans at this point, instead of after folding the wet and dry, because it meant less mixing. less mixing, means more airy brownies (yes, we used pecans... i know, right? no walnuts - we used the rich man's walnuts - pecans - because they taste a million times more yummy).

use vegetable oil to coat the pan...... slippy slippy means more brownie in my mouth, and less stuck brownie in the pan. listen - this is to your (and my) GREAT benefit. then, the spreading of the brownie mixture into the pan, and the entry of said brownie mixture into the oven. and then, like a small child, waiting impatiently for the brownies to bake. whilst drooling.

then, we pull out. recipe says to bake for 35 minutes - we did 27. now, erin and i both have gas ovens, so the temperature is true - trust your oven. the less time, the better - just know that your brownies are done when you can pull a knife out of them without anything sticking to it. and when they smell like heaven. chocolate heaven. the recipe also says to let them sit for 30 minutes before consuming. i'm sorry - whoever the person is who can let these amazing morsels of choclatey goodness sit, and wait, without touching them for 30 minutes, is NOT a person who i want to know. so, we let them sit for 5. it was all we could handle. AND. important...... drink with red wine. i am convinced this made them taste better.

(look. at. THAT.)

so, in essence, we followed the recipe almost to a 'T'. however, we subbed a caramel sea salt chocolate bar chopped coarsley for the choc. chips, baked less, and enjoyed more. i would definitely use this recipe for a basic brownie recipe, and then try out different options - different chocolate, different nuts, some straight up caramel and sea salt (instead of just the chocolate bar).

DE. LIC. IOUS. delicious.
(original recipe here)

my weekend in summary

this weekend i took full advantage of all the sun, AND still managed to be incredibly productive. again. yessss....

surprise flowers at work; presents for birthday girls; haircut - bangs; saturday in the yard with erin and tonka, and tonka truck seeking snacks; the sun in the trees on a sunny saturday; pat measuring erin & pat measuring me - and trying to cheat me out of a few inches; our project fabric being cut; lots of lace; baking vegan brownies; the finished product; sunday to do list; cleaned and organized - and made better with flowers; sunny sunday with trashy magazines and a new pedicure; lounging.

friday: went and got a haircut, and then met the crew at terroni in the east end for my dear friend helen's birthday. had some great food, and chatted about a few of the crowd's upcoming marathon/half on the sunday. sat for about 2.5 hours, and really had a chance to enjoy the company of a few of her friends who i had either never met, or had not had the opportunity to spend much time with. after dinner, everyone parted ways, and i headed home. my friend met me at home, and we ventured out for a late night walk - enjoying the amazingly warm weather at 10pm. made sure to pass by a motorcycle that was sitting in waiting - to drool over - and to 7-11 for late night slurpees. then, arrived home, and put on  office space, and ate air popped popcorn. went to bed not too late, and got a great night's sleep.
saturday: woke up fairly early, but after a good amount of sleep. after cleaning and organizing some, got some things cleared out of my apt, and spent some time watching 'soldier surprises their family' videos (don't judge me). remembering how ridiculous i was being, i headed out to the backyard, where pat, erin, tonka (the dog), and i spent the afternoon in the sun. erin and i devised a plan to get our fabric for our next project, but, after determining we didn't have enough time for all the things we wanted to get done, settled on only mani/pedi's for the afternoon. headed out on our afternoon adventure - to the nail salon, where they told us they wouldn't have time until 7. so we wandered down to queen street, to our fabric store, to spend some time picking out fabric for our next project (exciting!), and me for a shirt project (which could be the turning point in my wardrobe). we made a quick stop at shopgirls, and then headed back down to OMG for cupcakes. unfortunately, they closed early, so we moped a bit in our vietnamese restaurant while waiting for our appt. consoled ourselves with spring rolls and thai beer. then, headed next door where we were treated like royalty by our friends at the nail salon, and indulged in horrible reality television while having our nails painted, and hands and legs massaged. finally ventured home.... for a great dinner prep of steak (for them), tofu (for me), grilled veggies, and french loaf (with pizzeria libretto chili oil that i had salvaged from a long ago takeout order). then, while waiting for dinner, we baked vegan brownies (oh, i know. you're dying. don't worry - recipe coming tomorrow). ate a great dinner, then GREAT brownies, and then watched entourage before heading to bed.
sunday: woke up early, again, and knew it was going to be a rough back day. nevertheless, laid in bed for a bit, but still got out of bed fairly early. went out to get some errands done - clothing donation drop off, pick up of old computers from their cleaning adventure, and then headed to the gym for some rehab. spent a significant amount of time there - and started to really get into the hunger games (since i have to do boring rehab on a boring stationary bike for a boring amount of time, i've taken to reading exciting books to keep me excited about it). then, headed home. spent some time making lunches and breakfasts for the week at work (which is something i'm super into lately - wow.... i'm a loser), and then wandered outside to enjoy the rest of the sunlight and the amazing day in the backyard. hung out a bit with pat, and read old issues of magazines i needed to catch up on, and ate my late lunch/dinner. then, when it started getting cold, headed back inside begrudgingly, and settled onto my couch for zombie movies and letter writing to friends. exhausted from the workout, and the sun (yay!) headed to bed too early to admit. to watch modern family in bed, and for a good sleep.
hope everyone had a GREAT weekend, and got outside as much as possible.... the next two weekends are going to be FULL, so it was nice to actually get a relaxing one before the madness begins!

happy monday!

only one thing helps...

this has been one of the worst fridays to date, starting with a charming message on my phone that made me furious before i even hopped out of bed. and yet, i then received surprise mystery flowers at work.

so, today, i am getting a haircut, eating good food, and telling the world that i don't care what they say or do - i'm still going to make it a good one. to a weekend of champagne, and being a woman. thanks bette.
have a good weekend all!

image from pretty stuff