A Fog

A fog rolled into town the other day and Ron & I seized the opportunity to fuck around with our new love - the Hipstamatic App for the iPhone. 

It felt like we were in The Exorcist!

Evergreen Brick Works

This past Sunday, my cohort and I visited the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.  Evergreen, a national charity, has changed the old Don Valley Brick Works from a collection of deteriorating heritage buildings into a gorgeous area of urban sustainability and eco-conscious design that is open all year long. 

As we walked around this amazing building a rather attractive and charming wood worker was working some wood.  Should have taken a picture of that.

All of the foliage was screaming with personality as we walked through the trails that circled some small but duck-filled ponds.

Having no idea what to expect when we walked into The Kilns building, we were greeted with an onslaught of art installations and graffiti.  A far more impressive collection than what we saw during the entire evening at Nuit Blanche this year.  At the end of this corridor was a screen showing a Werner Herzog short.  There were three more of these featuring various films that I believe were created for this project.

I felt like this place crept up on me out of nowhere and now I can't wait until our next visit!  Highly recommended.

xoxo
Amarina

So long summer, hello autumn

Alright, I don't usually share pictures of anything other than weird shit and jewellery. To honour an awesome summer that felt too short, I thought I'd share some of my favourite pictures that my man and I took over the course of the last few months.



"The Spaghetti Incident" - Oh man, I was so excited to celebrate the last days of this past Spring by turning on the oven to bake delicious! chicken! meatballs! yum! In anticipation of d.c.m.y., I had had an early lunch and was ravenous. I was also suffering from Class A Butterfingers, which reached a comic/tragic/sudden end when I smashed my newly plated dish of food INTO EVERYTHING. Tears, laughter and more tears ensued; this level of clutzy-ness is not foreign to me.



Just one of many beautiful shots Ron and I took on our long drive around Central California and beyond with my family this summer. Trip of a lifetime.



A major discovery: leaving Lake Tahoe felt like abandoning a home before you've moved all your stuff in. A return visit ASAP is in order.



I don't even know where to start with the ridiculous setting of this picture. Curiosity, BBQ corn on the cob and too much sun led my man, my brother, his girlfriend and myself into a "Classic Films on Ice" performance starring none other than former Canadian figure skating champion/grannie heart throb/aspiring singer/karate enthusiast Elvis Stoijko. Together with some extremely theatric singers and a bunch of amateur skaters, this solid gold team paid homage to such classic films as Top Gun, Moulin Rouge, Slumdog Millionaire with seemingly random choices like Shrek, High School Musical and my personal favourites Ghostbusters and Kill Bill, in which Elvis sported Uma Thurman's yellow unitard and went through a karate routine on ice. It didn't seem crazy at the time to honour one of our favourite overdone movie moments: Blue Steel!



Meet Yma. She's our darling cat who too often enjoys curling up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, the morning news and the remote. All I ask of her is that she washes a dish to earn her keep around here. Do you think she does it? Absolutely not.



I came home from a long day to a smiling owl on a steaming shepherds pie. Yet another reminder that I found my soul mate at a young age.



Ah! A mapless driving adventure led us to a beautiful and enormous flower garden on the lake. We decided to give our afternoon snack of muffins to the overfed and ungrateful squirrels who were clearly after something more decadent! I don't know how their tails remain so perfect when they're off doing squirrel things all day, my tail would end up all covered in tree sap.



Ron is the Tree Whisperer. He can negotiate the branches of any monstrocity, regardless of it's size.

It's been such an amazing summer, let's hope for an even better fall.

xoxo Amarina

Back from California and in it to win it

Ron and I are back and recovering from our amazing road trip around central California. It ended up being an onslaught on the senses, with the diversity of gorgeous landscapes, temperatures, people and escapades inspiring us every step of the way. Here's a rather messy representation of where our travels brought us:



Swimming and rock climbing in Lake Tahoe, driving through the desert and losing our brakes in the Sequoia National Park mountains, this trip could never be duplicated. We're starting to think that maybe California is where we need to be for awhile.



I've been spending some time reorganizing my goods for the Fall and Holiday seasons. Tons and tons and tons to come!

xoxo Amarina

Haunted Long Weekend Adventures!

Hurrah! I'm back and feeling great after a lovely long weekend with dear friends. Although I experienced various degrees of exposure to poison ivy, black flies, sunshine, tequila shots and malfunctioning scum spewing hot tubs (not in the tub at the time), the weekend was rejuvenating.

We were all excited to come across this dilapidated house on our way home and I thought I'd share these pictures.



This shot in no way represents how gross and scary this joint was, I half expected the Blair Witch to jump out and hypnotize me into the corner.



This darling little shack was full of old signs and interesting bird nests. We also had to be quite aware of the ground while navigating the patches of dog shit. That's my friend Eva, check out her fantastic blog here.

NEW! AWESOME! PIECES! Coming this week!

xoxo Amarina

Walking and Peeking

Now I would never consider myself to be a photographer, as my photography "skills" are limited to happy accidents. These two photos however, were taken on a random walk down Pape Street in my lovely Riverdale neighbourhood and I really really like them. I'm sure locals and those familiar with the area have wandered by this residence (maybe a residence? I took these shots through a semi-boarded up store front) and wondered what the hell is going on inside. Wait. Does anyone know what's going on here? Tell me, I'm dying to know! Is this some kind of landmark that I've somehow missed?

So in front of the portrait above is a case that I like to call "The Skull Factory" (pictured here) ignoring of course, that the skulls never change, nor have any new ones been added since I began peeking in the window. Here's where I get all detective on your ass: the plants seem to be well-watered and the skull display case looks shiny and dust-free while the exterior appears to have had it's last coat of paint in the 40's and has certainly seen better days. Who lives and/or works here? I need to know them.

Also, there is a small part of me that is fairly certain I'll wander by one day and see the soles of an old pair of boots (attached to feet) sticking out on the floor by the portrait. I've actually convinced myself that of all the locations in all the eccentric places in Toronto (some of which I've lived in), THIS is the place where I will accidently stumble upon a crime scene.

OK, this has been all very revealing. Have a great night, I'll be cozied up watching Project Runway Canada with the man and our cat-daughter!

xoxo Amarina