The "Little" Things in Life, Summer Patio'ing and Skyping my Dog

I had a realization the other day after a long afternoon of working out and running errands around the city. I came home exhausted, showered, got into my favorite sweat pants, grabbed a peanut buttery snack and plopped down on the couch to an Oprah show I'd been looking forward to. Ahhhhh! Then, an epiphany- I suddenly realized what an amazing moment this was, and not just in a 'the little things in life' kind of way. To me, as ridiculous as this sounds, this moment was truly as amazing as any other. 

The big moment on my wedding day, the moment I give birth to my first child, the moment I am nominated for an Academy Award..those will all be big amazing moments. But those kinds of moments are few and far between. If we can really appreciate the "small", every day life moments in the same way and on the same scale as the "bigger" moments in life, every day is amazing. What can seem like the small, relatively insignificant joys in life, I think are the joys that should be appreciated the most. 

You're laughing at me. 

No really! I'm beginning to take as much joy in: 

catching an awesome Oprah show in my pijamas or 

seeing this beautiful fluffy-pink sunset the other night while sipping on a hot foamy cafe laté or 

sinking my teeth into a soft slice of Brie or 

dancing to the Sister Act soundtrack in my kitchen or

laughing at a hilarious, unexpected joke

... as I do in anything else that would seem more extravagant. Maybe the level of exhilaration is different from "bigger" moments. But the amount that I appreciate and cherish those moments are more the same.

...ok maybe giving birth is on a different scale from the Brie. But you get what I'm saying. 

I think it has to do with mindfulness. Anyways, I just feel so lucky and appreciative for everything and everyone that I have and I am thankful to come away with this lesson, among others, after these last couple months away from home and I felt the need to express it.

How beautiful is this sky btw?

Summer is upon us here in Montreal! Annick and I have been spending a lot of time on the patios, including our own here, which Anne is pointing to.

How cute are we?

Snow's all gone in our yard and the grass is already getting green!

Walking to get groceries, really starting to look summery..

Stopping for coffee at the market. (Ugh, I dont like the way these sunglasses look. 

I'm never going to wear these again)

Annick pis son fameux thé 

Antipasti and wine on St.Laurent on the first day that hit +20 in Montréal

ECT...

Section 1 at the new Browns-all shoes between 800-1700$...insanity. 

More of a museum experience than shopping.

LWD Summer 2011? Didnt buy it......yet.

Hmmmmm.....yes or no? yes or no?.. Keep in mind, it has POCKETS.

Trial street-style snapshot-

Annick Marion, age 25

Occupation: Director of Photography

Black lace shirt and white beaded scarf: Club Monaco

Jeans: Gap

Jacket and purse: Rudsak

Boots: Custom made in Nicaragua

Golden pearly broch: Grandmother's

Motto: Harry?....I took care of it??!

My first Skype date with Bosco. Do you think dogs 'get' Skype?

Countdown to the 7D re-vamp of this blog-3 dodos.....

"Sauvage"-Learning the Hard Way

I learned two things the hard way this week:
1. When there's a theme-party in Montreal the common consensus is NOT to actually dress to it
2. In the smaller communities on the outskirts of Montreal racism is rampant and in the open

While these lessons fall into very different categories and levels of gravity, they both have one thing in common. The word 'Sauvage'.

LESSON #1
On Wednesday, there was a fundraiser for Annick's UQAM film faculty. The theme was "Sauvages". Annick explained that an appropriate way to participate in this theme would be to wear things like animal print, fur, ect.. So animal print I did!

 Leopard print jeggings to be exact. Along with my leopard-print cardigan, fur boots, tribal-style earings and two buns at the top of my head for ears. Upon arriving, to my horror, I was prettymuch the only one dressed this way. Sure there were a few with some esthetically pleasing tribal face paint, some feather earings, zebra-print heels....but H to T leopard print was all me and only me.

Annick, bartending the event

Joannie in the "jail". A tired party game to Manitoba wedding-social-goers, but a
very new and exciting concept to Quebecois.

That was about my fourth 'we're not in kansas anymore' moment since I've been here. Y m'semble que in Winnipeg, when there's a theme-there's a theme! It's dorkier NOT to dress up. So anyways, whatever regardless, it was an awesome night and in the end, I decided I was the cooler one for having dressed up. Even if they were jeggings. 

LESSON #2
The following day, I had a workshop for the Aboriginal Media Project I'm teaching in Deux Montagnes, just outside of Montreal, close to Kahnawake. After the class Pepper, who is the other teacher I'm working with, a (beautiful) very visibly native woman and I picked up some coffee at Tim Hortons for the ride back. We got a little stuck in the parking lot, trying to figure out which road we were getting back onto while three men, standing in the same parking lot were staring at us laughing. Pepper rolled her window down, laughed along and playfully said something along the lines of "Yes, we're lost-can you tell?!"

Somewhere in between the fact that she was native and the fact she was speaking English, one of the men decided to say "Osti de sauvage" as we rolled away. Pepper slammed on her breaks and yelled that she'd heard what he said. I was in total shock. "Osti de sauvage" ???... "OSTI de SAUVAGE?" That is my grandmother's story! What is this, 1925? Needless to say I was fairly traumatized. Pepper laughed and said she was used to it around these parts. How awful! How gross! Where ARE we?

To freak 'em out a little, we scooped back into the parking lot, pulled up right beside them, rolled the window down and I took this photo. Unfortunately they were too stupid to mind.

wtf

Skyping, Miam Mardis and other Tidbits

Havent blogged in a while but its just that I hate my camera so bad. But until the 7D arrives this will have to do. So these are the best doughnuts I have ever eaten. Forget what you know about Krispy Kreme or Crispy Creme whatever. The Polish bakery at Marché Jean Talon makes what they call Ponçki. Biting into one is an amazing moment in life.

Out for coffee downtown with Annick. Magic hour light was so glorious that even my iPhone camera captured some of its magical'ness.

Last week's Miam Mardi'licious. I made Buddy Valastro's "Aunt Dianna's Tortellini Soup" pronounced 'ONT Dee-on-uz Toe-da-lini Sooop!' Here's the beginning of the bouillon. This is the first time I ever cook anything with beef.

An hour later, I rip the meat from the bones and put it back into the bouillon. Added celery, carrot, tomato, onion, garlic, potato and a few extra beef bouillon cubes and let this simmer for about an hour...

...once the carrots are tender, we add fresh parmesan-stuffed tortellini from my favorite little Italian grocery store at the top of the street.

Minutes later we have our delicious soup! Throw in some fresh parsley and top with a healthy sprinkling of Pecorino cheese. Mmm!

Served with Annick's Italian garlic sticks and some rich red wine.

PS-I also made some avocado/black bean brownies...still working on perfecting this one haha They were a little...pasty.

A few nights later-40's themed fundraiser for independent film in Montreal. As it turns out, half my wardrobe is actually 40s themed. I go for the quintessential 40s look...

...while Annicks opts for the sportier, Katherine Hepburn look.

Our walk home at 2 am through Marché St.Hubert: a mile long strip of 90s style formal-wear shops.

It's no wonder this woman is sad-her friends have been mercilessly decapitated. 

I was so afraid she was going to come alive when I took this picture.

Not sure what we were going for with this one...

More creepy baby mannequins. At 2 am the site of this really gives you an uneasy feeling.

The next morning-smoothies on a sunny balcony!

Saw this at Chapters-reality check!

Fantasizing at BCBG-again.

Picking up our baguette for the week at Premiere Moisson.

My now-famous toss. You MUST make this if you love pasta and cheese as much as I do.

Squeeze the juice out of a bunch of Roma tomatoes, chop them up, throw 'em in a bowl and sprinkle white sugar over them. Add green onion, garlic, salt and lots of fresh basil. Then, fold chunks of blue cheese and grated parmesan into warm, freshly cooked pasta. Once they've melted a little, use your hands to massage the pasta until it's coated in the blue cheese/parmesan mixture. Squeeze some lemon juice into the pasta and serve, topped with tomato-basil mixture and some fresh cracked pepper!

Usual garbage in Quebec-tire sticks or maple taffy sticks

Skyping! Here is my aunt Lollie (Carole) on her 50th birthday enjoying the cupcakes I sent.

Here is my mom at the 50th birthday party trying to be sexy

Lollie, tearing up...It was so hard not to be at this party...I am also crying

Skyping with Domi-expect the unexpected, like all of a sudden she's taken her shirt off while singing a Roch Voisine song.

Skyping with Jer-this photo makes me laugh so hard. He looks EXACTLY like my mom in this photo-look at the hair!!

 Kate Gosselin hahahahaha

Double Skype with special effects

More special effects-Domi

Casey, making a face in a shocking turn of events

A regular skype date with memere: watching her talk on the phone

My matante Suzanne doing her hunchback of Notre Dame walk haha

Double Skype, my mom and Suzanne

This week's Miam Mardi'licious....or Miam Mardushi. Annick actually made sushi. Watching her make it made me feel like less of a woman.

Avocado, cucumber, salmon, crab....

It was actually amazing sushi.

A delicious mango salad with her own peanuty vinaigrette

Miam Mardi Master.