New Designer on the Block

Today I went to Victoire, one of the cutest stores in Ottawa, and bought a hat made by my pal Amy! Her items are super soft, hand knitted and adorable.

Sorry for the super try-hard pose. It took forever to take a picture that actually showed off the hat properly, and I kind of dig random photo booth photo shoots.

You can find Amy's knitted goodies at her Etsy shop. And check out her blog. Woo to creative and business-savvy friends!

The Name Joanna

Joanna is a relatively common name, right? You would think so. And yet, I'm starting to believe it is as uncommon as Seven. Or perhaps I mispronounce my own name. Totally possible. While at camp it was really cool to ask a counselor to the end-of-session banquet. I had my eye on the hottest one. When I went up to introduce myself to him at dinner one night, he called me Jordana. Embarrassed, I didn't correct him. I was nervous, awkward and twelve.

When people call me Joanne, however, I'm quick to make the correction. I mean, c'mon, if your name is Julia and people call you Julie, you're going to correct them too, right? It's an entirely different name!

Most recently, I've been on the receiving end of the most interesting variations of my name, ever. There's a relatively new Japanese Izakaya in Toronto called Guu. It takes over an hour to get in. Ever prompt, I was the first to arrive and gave my name to the guy at the door who quickly wrote down "Jomammah for five." When my pals arrived, I told them to listen out for the name "Jomammah" - we shared a good chuckle. An hour and a half later, the waiter called out "Jomammah for five!" Not one hundred percent sure if I had heard correctly I screamed, "Jomammah, for five?? That's us!!" As we walked into the restaurant everyone around us was whispering about my name. Whatever, Jomammah was in the house, and hungry.

I order takeout from SushiGo every so often. Two of my recent receipts have read: Taranna and Carona. Sound out a T, a C, a J - the same? Nope. Regardless, I can't wait for the next name!

Want...

Wow! Do I ever want one of these scarves. I recently cleaned out/re-organized my closet (by recently, I mean back in September) and counted 50 scarves. FIFTY! Thing is, when I love one, I wear it all the time, so you wouldn't even know that I own so many.

Anyways, now I want to love this, forever and ever. Can I afford it at $118?? Nope. But I'm thinking about it... a lot.

Find it here

Almond Butter

Disclaimer: I am a great fan of Skippy Crunchy Peanut Butter - you know, the stuff that is really, really bad for you.

Nevertheless, in my attempt to be "healthy" this year, I bought almond butter at the grocery store the other day. It cost me $9 and when I opened the jar (a feat in and of itself) gross oily liquid spilled out onto my cupboard. As I attempted to stir the thick, grainy, brown goop, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Much to my surprise, almond butter is kind of delicious. It isn't too sweet, isn't too salty, and has kept me full since 10AM (yes, I woke up late, and yes, I forgot to leave time for lunch).

Here's to trying new things! Up next: a new man friend?

Eat Study Sleep

I should not have watched Eat Pray Love while studying for exams for the following three reasons:

1) It seems as if Julia runs off to Italy, India and Bali with no money - is that feasible? Because if it is, it sure is tempting considering that it "sleeted" today in Ottawa as I spent the entire day reading admin law.

2) As Julia ate her way through dishes of pasta in Italy, I downed a half a container of oliveri, pre-made, just boil it, tortellini and instead of feeling guilty, I just felt sad that I wasn't eating real pasta.

3) JAVIER BARDEM - now i want that. Where can I find a Brazilian man who cries while we ride off into the Balinese sunset? Oh wait, in Bali. And I would have to BE Julia Roberts. Dammit.

Cottage Weekend

This past weekend a bunch of us went up to Sarah's cottage to "study." Although we definitely got quite a bit of work done, we also relaxed, drank mulled wine, made good (and cheap) comfort food (pizza, grilled cheese, chili, cornmeal muffins), and trekked through the windy sand dunes outside of Picton.

A month and a half ago, on my birthday, I broke my brand new camera. After shelling out the money to get it fixed I decided that I better start taking advantage of my great new Sony and try to take cool and interesting pictures. Stark November cottage country provided a great backdrop for experimenting with the manual features, and I tried to capture different shadows and light.

Kathie Lee, Hoda and Study Music

US daytime television is truly spectacular. While drinking my coffee yesterday (in the very late AM) I watched Kathie Lee & Hoda on one of the many Today shows, and let me tell you, they are fantastically terrible. The two ladies consistently interrupt their guests (and each other) while sipping on white wine at eleven in the morning.

Kristen Wiig does a spitting Kathie Lee on a recurring SNL spoof of the show, but watching the real KL at work is truly inspiring. Definitely worth skipping the library for.

In more interesting news, I just spent the past few hours studying at one of my favourite Glebe coffee shops, Roast 'N Brew, with my brother's friend Daniel who introduced me to a great music website called Stereo Mood. You can pick your "mood" or "task" and the site generates a playlist conducive to said mood/task. A great change from the iTunes library!