Toronto Shopping 101

First lesson of shopping in Toronto is to AVOIDE the Eaton Centre AT ALL COSTS! There is not one unique store in the awful place. The reality is, that the Eaton centre sucks your soul! There are other malls in TO is that is wha tyou are looking for, I really like Yorkdale Mall, it is one level but very large and with basically all the same shops as the Eaton Center but without the crowds and the soul sucking.


I also really like to shop on Queen St W. This area is perfect for those who really love to shop but hate malls. There are lots to look at and great deals.

Bloor street/Yorkville is of course la creme de la creme of shopping in Toronto. That is where Holt Renfrew, Chanel, Hermes and Tiffany's are located. The staff of these stores are not to snotty and don't mind people window shopping which I am happy about!

Toronto has great shopping with lots of unique places to visit, but more often then not people go to the Eaton Centre and then they hate Toronto!

Sheila Lukins

She was one of the women behind the silver palate cooks books. She passed away on Sunday at the age of 66.

Now of course I understand the current frenzy around Julia Child...but for me my Julia was Shelia. It was the go to cook book in my mothers kitchen. I loved sifting through it, looking for something for mom. The smell of the pages...the interesting drawings...we literally used the book so often we had to by a new one because the book fell apart. I still of course have that book that is so difficult to use because it is in pieces. But I love it, I love my moms handwriten notes in the margins explaining a reciepie as wonderful or not worth the effort.

It makes me so sad that we have lost this gift to the culinary arts. I wished their store still existed on the upper west side, how I longed to go to their tiny shop and sift through the piles of goodies they had waiting for purchase.

These women are people I would have loved to meet and discuss with, I of course was never so lucky but she will forever be a huge influence in my kitchen. She lives on in her pages, in the food and in my home.

Tonight I think I will be cooking from the silver palate...

Blogs

I mean I love to write in my blog...it is my outlet. My personal rant.

But does anyone read it. I supposed most people do not, in this world there are millions of blogs of people speaking about lots of things, cooking, fashion, hunting, biking, travel.I suppose very few people will read a blog about my journey and why I happen to be feeling on that particular day.

When you search for me in google my blog does not come anywhere near the top. But I don't really write this for money or popularity...this is my expression. I feel like it is so important for each person to have their own outlet...about their life, family, friends, interests. You need something personal that you put out there 100% and say yes this is who I am and this is what I think.


What a freedom we have in this world today to write this information and put it out there and wonder if maybe someone stumbles across it and has a read...at the very least I know my little twin will read and that makes me happy!

Tattoos

My office is all a twitter about getting inked....I personally have never done such a thing


A women I work with put it so elegantly I think, it make even me (girl who is terrified of getting a tattoo).

She said "I can't imagine dieing without leaving a mark or altering my own body in some way" I thought it was a very unique way to look at tattooing and I think it certainly beat the "well think about how it will look when I'm 50" argument.

1/4 life crisis

I know people talk at great lengths about going through a midlife crisis...but what about when you have a 1/4 life crisis..

It 100% happens to most 20 - 25 young adults....well that is just the thing, are you an adult? Are you still supposed to enjoy the freedom of your twenties? Should you be career driven..what if you still have no idea what your career should be. Is it time to be thinking about settling down and getting married starting a family?

There are so many pressures. Family pressures to bring home the babies, social pressures to climb the latter and not settle down too quickly.


All of it is so stressful it could give you an ulcer.


I think it is such a weird place to be...I know I want to one day get married but I don't think I am ready yet, but I do find myself lingering at the bridal magazine section. I want to climb the corporate latter, but I struggle with maintaining the proper work life balance. It is a constant battle...a struggle to find that perfect balance for each individual person.


I think that is the real challenge, for each person it is a different struggle. Each person has different things they are trying to figure out and what they are trying to achieve.

Maybe that is why people say they loves their 30's so much?

Summer time...

Is almost over...


But there is still so much to discover. September is supposed to be beautiful and I fully intend to finish my summer activities list

1 -- Toronto Island

2 -- The distillery district

3 -- Crush Wine Bar

4 -- Sotto Sotto

5 -- CNE

Wow there is still so much to do!

Short Weeks

How great is it to come back to work after a long weekend and realize you have already made it to Tuesday. The whole week is actually like a weekend. I am always more pron to go out at night, head to a movie, or do a bit of shopping. I wish I only ever worked 4 days a week. That would make me very happy. I think it would help to balance my life actually. I feel like on a 4 day week I actually get time for me and my life.



It really is wonderful.

Long Weekends....

Easily the best times of the year...you feel for that one day that you can stick it to the man and not work, not get up early and just relax. This of course rarely happens because you feel like, oh my gosh I have a day to be productive.

Glorious

I will be escaping to the thousand islands to relax...hopefully.

Fingers crossed!

I need to learn about photography....It has to be one of the most beautiful art forms. You capture the beauty exactly how you see it...no artist would be able to really fully capture the beauty all around us, each and every day!

Hmm ok but where to start...currently I own a olympus camera...It is not great...I need to look to get a new one...Dan's aunt is a professional photographer....maybe she will show me.

My sister started her own blog

It is filled with wonderful recipes with her own little flair...She is just fabulous! It is called Eat Love Laugh and it is 100% worth the read!


She is so sweet!

Toronto stinks....literally

I have quite literally never experienced a stench like the one I am currently smelling in Toronto. The garbage men are on strike and this city smells awful!!!!! I literally almost vomit when I head to work each day. It is awful.


I am worried that our city which is normally so beautiful and pristine will end up buried in a pile of rotting garbage. I feel like every day when I go home I have to wash the stink off of me. It makes me sad that the bottoms of my shoes have to touch the pavement.....Flip flops are not an option this summer!!!

Meeting up with old friends

This is something I LOVE TO DO. But in times like these it is tough. Because old friends who you haven't had contact with in forever mean that inviting them over for game night is just not an option! You have to go for coffee or tapas or drinks. All of which are fun to do but none are free.

I always think to my closest friends who I can invite over to play games, drink tea or simply gossip and chit chat for hours. These are the friends to hold on to in an economy like this. This are the friends that will help you get rich (because of all the moneyyou will save on eating out) and will be there for you no matter what. I have 3 friends like this maybe 4, and they are wonderful people!



They will also tell you if you ass looks large in a skirt and let me just say THANK GOODNESS for these kind of friends!

The worst part about being in your 20s

This can be summed up in two simple words...student loans. They are so expensive especially in North America. When you are in your 20s there is no possible way to make money to pay off the loans. I mean between rent and trying to buy a half decent business wardrobe (lets face it, ripped jeans and American Apparel T's do not cut it in the real world) how are you supposed to come up with $300 a month! Ok and lets take a step back here and think about what that $300 a month means. On a debt of between 20-25 thousand dollars paying $300 a month means you will have your loan paid off in 9 years. 9 YEARS!!! You will end up paying almost 10 thousand extra in interest. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Shouldn't a country want to invest in their youth...Youth are supposed to learn and bring the country new hope....in North America apparently we like to make it as difficult as possible....well I think we have not got a clue and our culture is the reason we are in this recession and therefore we should rethink a few things....maybe starting with secondary education....


Just a thought....

LA bound!

I always love going to LA. It is some place where you can pretend to be whoever you feel like at the moment. It is not my favorite city but it is always a nice escape from reality...


I will of course be on the star search.

Tax returns take FOREVER

Seriously.....it says it takes 6 weeks....we are going on like 10 now people.....It sucks when you are making so little money to begin with that you really need that check...especially when you splurged on the most beautiful pair of Marc Jacobs jeans!

Ok ok...now I am in no way going to be referring to myself as a irresponsible shopaholic like the one depicted in the Sophie Kinsella novels. But once in a while I just go a little wild, which is really fun but then I have to pay for it and it makes me sick to my stomach, I hate having any debt......not to mention the looming student loan hanging over my head (which consiquencly I do not think we should have to start paying back until 5 years after we graduate where there are more realistic funds at our disposal). It is all just too much! The stress of it all might give me an ulcer. I hope not though, because I couldn't afford the time off work.

Being 20 and at the bottom of the food chain is the least fun thing ever....

Club Monaco makes me happy

What a blissful lunch hour shopping...oh right I have no money. But Club Monaco has such nice chic little outfits. I am in desperate need of a wardrobe overhaul. So this summer my plan is to add wearable...re wearable pieces.

That is the trick really....what is available that you can pair with a million different things with and that looks great clean and polished always.....

Living in Toronto and keeping up with the fashions is going to put me in the poor house...hopefully I can find the right sort of balance :(

Sucess..sort of

Ok so I found a job....and it is in the field I was looking in....and I am completely over qualified to do it. I mean lets face it, I am writing the blog right now! AWESOME!

Being the positive person that I am, I will say that I think the people are fantastic and the atmosphere is great. I just wish I was doing something that paid more and was more challenging. Oh well!

Good news is the Hills start on Monday....I have been following Heidi Montage on Twitter and this chick hasn't got a clue. I mean she barely has a high school diploma and is making millions and is telling the world follow your dreams.....ok hear is the real deal...if you want to follow your dreams you should 100% do it! But it takes a lot of work, like I mean a lot. you have to be the first one in and last one to leave. If you want it you need to eat sleep and breath it! And you have to be willing to do a lot in order to get there!

Small rant but there you go...

Wow is it hard to find a job in this recession!

I am finding it so difficult to find a job. I have experience and a university degree with a double major. It shouldn't be this hard. I guess that is life thought.

Everyday I check Monster and Workopolis, I check the paper and listen to loads of people tell me I need to get in contact with this person or that. It is a hard thing to do, to put yourself out there.

It must have been a cool thing to graduate high school or uni and actually have jobs available for you to start climbing the corporate ladder. Today, you don't get those opportunities, and most people my age think they need to start with a job that pays 75K a year. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

I think the best way to find a job is through the people you know....well it is the easiest way...who do I know?

Remember in grade 12 when the guidance counselor asked you to plan your whole life...

It was the most bizarre moment. Who, at 17, has even the smallest idea where or who they will be in 4 years. Choosing if you should go to University or College, what program you should take. Maybe taking a year off would be your best bet...work to save money or backpack across Europe.



You know those people who I looked up to most back then were those who didn't go to university to take Arts or Business because they didn't know what else to do OR were to scared to do what they wanted to do. I look up to those who were able to say, "you know what I want to be a chef, or hair stylist." My boyfriend knew he wanted to be a pilot and went for it, now he is a pilot for Air Canada and he is only 22! I had a roommate who chose an engineering program because it started with the letter G and so did her name...but way more then that cute fact is that she is brilliant and really wants to be an Astronaut. Why can't more people in the world stand up and say what they want....and what they want to be. No matter how crazy the idea is or how difficult it is to achieve.

Well unfortunately I was not one of these people. I took business because I hate English and history...terrible reason! Luckily for me I ended up really liking marketing. I am still not convinced this is my ultimate dream career path. But I am also not convinced to say that it is not. I think I would really like to combine marketing with something I really love, like fashion or food. I just have to work really hard to get there....I mean who wouldn't want to work at a fashion magazine....I know I would!