le weekend.

coucou!

how was everyone's weekend?  mine was one with naps and jogs, a morning visit to the market, drinks with friends, apartment hunting, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookie making.  and eating.

mr. s. also made me paupillettes de veau (bought fresh from the market) with quebec-grown tomatoes and onions, which was absolutely delicious.  little bundles of veal stuffed with spices, browned and then cooked in a pot with tomatoes, onions and garlic.  let's just say there weren't many leftovers.

i've learned to stop getting my hopes up about apartments.... but we've seen a few hopefuls these past couple of days.  not counting the semi-basement on sunday morning which NOBODY MENTIONED was a semi-basement.  or the second floor one bedroom that was snatched 10 minutes before we arrived on sunday afternoon. c'est la vie!

friday and today, i had the absolute privilege of taking a break from my workday to eat my lunch outside, IN THE SUN.  it was wonderful beyond words.  and since my habitual metro stop will be closing for the entire summer (wtf?) i'm dreaming about summer bike rides now.  that is, after i spend all my savings on furnishing an apartment.  subletting with furniture included was a little nicer on the wallet.  

in other news....

i cut out oval shapes from an old map of the US and stole a few coasters from a bar on saturday night.  thinking i'm going to follow this tutorial and make me some nice looking coasters.

via almost never clever.

and i also snagged an old wooden mirror frame from the street tonight, with plans to sand/repaint/distress it and use it as a frame for either coat hooks, pictures, or a little blackboard/quote board.  ooh or maybe a little rack to hang pots and pans from..... 

hopefully it was a less sketchy street snag than the chair i picked up a few months ago.  which thank the heavens above, i didn't sit on.  one day i propped my foot on it to tie my shoe before a run, and it broke into 27 1/2 pieces.  guess that's what i get. 

have a lovely monday evening!

xo

alli

itchy.

i'm going to share a bit too much of information here, hang in there...

did you know... that i burned my forearm while making spinach lasagna rolls way back when, and the sucker is still giving me grief.  even worse than the burn, however, is the ridiculous rash i have from the BANDAID that i put over it (before reading somewhere that you shouldn't put bandaids on burns. oops).  who is allergic to bandaids?!?  when i stubbornly went to the pharmacy several days later right away, the pharmacist actually went 'ohlala' when i sheepishly pulled back my sleeve.  awesome.

so this raspberry colored awful thing on my arm ITCHES worse than you would BELIEVE.  with no relief from hydrocortisone, polysporin, nada.  running it under cold water seems to do the trick, but only for awhile.  alright. done with that lovely subject.

today i had the wonderful opportunity to work 8 hours, taking small breaks in the morning and afternoon to dodge puddles outside on the way to the library to snack on lunch and check out another book to add to my growing collection 

(i picked up wounds of passion by bell hooks).

after work, i got to visit three apartments that i know for a FACT, i would not like to live in!  each day i move a step closer to visiting every apartment in montreal.  i guess this is what i get for having found my current apartment, less than 24 hours after the search began.  tomorrow i'll likely add a few others to the list.  at least i'm getting to know my city :)

how did wednesday look where you are?  

and now for a bit of pinterest indulgence!

via my friend staci.

creative room dividers.

the pampered kitchen.

awesome christmas lights wine bottles.

via that kind of woman.

and can i puh lease have ceilings like this in my bedroom someday?

xo

alli

top score.

coucou!

i've been thinking about little stories to tell you for a couple days now.  i figure a rainy tuesday --which was filled with too much disappointing apartment searching, WAY too much rain, and hardly enough coffee-- would be the perfect to time to dwell on other, positive things :)

saturday afternoon a friend invited us to a fundraiser for a group of her students, held at a bowling alley.  i walked in the door expecting to see a bowling alley similar to any other i've seen in my life, but les québecois don't do bowling like the rest of the world apparently.  

loving the yellow bowling shoes, yes? here i am winding up for my next strike, even though what i really wanted to show you were les quilles, the bowling pins that i knocked over with....

the tiniest bowling balls i've ever seen in my life!  they don't even have any holes in them, and they're MUCH lighter than regular bowling balls.  which would explain my record score of 194...

it was so hilarious.  i would say it took some getting used to, but my first FOUR turns, i bowled strikes.  this was right after apologizing to everyone on my team that my bowling skills were extremely lacking.  false modesty?

after unlimited bowling for 3 hours, we headed to what i would call the quebec version of olive garden, with the added perk of a bread bar.  at said bread bar, you have the choice of lovely wheat, white, raisin (raisin?) or rye bread, as well as regular, garlic, tomato, or pesto butter.  you spread as much or as little as you want, grab a bar of tongs, and grill your bread to personal perfection before heading back to your table.  yom.

sunday was my favorite day of 2011 so far. 

I GOT A SUNBURN!!

a quick side note. this is not me celebrating the fact of an increased risk of skin cancer, but rather rejoicing in the fact, that

IT WAS A SUNNY 70 DEGREES!  

we took absolute advantage of the surprising, glorious weather, and went for a hike at Mont Saint Hilaire, a small town 35 minutes outside of the city.  we went on a short but intense hike (~1 mile, 1,200 ft altitude gain) up to the top where we could see a view of montreal in the distance and the st. richelieu river cutting through towns in between.  long trains crept along tracks next to the river, hugging the shoreline..

psst you can see these pictures and others, and entertain yourself with the general musings of a handsome frenchman, at provincecanadienne.blogspot.com.

i'd also like to take this last bit of the rainy day to say,

i love the classic simplicity of these camping mugs. 

although i don't think much could wean me from my moleskin ways,

these leather travel notebooks would probably be the next closest candidates.

and, you must click through to this blog.

a girl's photo diary adventures on the paris metro.

every few days she interviews a random person (or chien) on the paris metro, and takes their picture.

what an intriguing project. 

hope the sun is shining where you are!

xo

alli