31 December 12

It was a fairly quiet NYE, just a smallish party at the house. I didn't even drink much, just a couple of beers and of course the Orofino sparkling we opened at midnight. Mostly we chatted & ate snacks, while watching disaster movies on mute with ambient music in the background (which was surprisingly interesting and epic).

30 December 12

29 December 12

I went to the Gogol Bordello show with Sarah, Steph, Tamara, and Valerie. Also ran into Kayla and Laryssa while we were there. It was my fourth or fifth time seeing them and they were just as incredible as ever. There's something about the energy at their shows that just feels totally different from any other concert I've been to.
I got home not too late, around 1:30, but I stayed up until 3am reading a book and eating Smartfood.

28 December 12

After work I met up with Iain and we had a beer and some food at Six Acres (and in doing my portrait I accidentally photographed this stranger at the next table). Afterwards we were going to go to the Alibi Room for another round, but when we got there they were closed for the holidays. Instead we bought beer at the liquor store by my house and drank it while watching Super Troopers and Cannibal! The Musical with Steph.

27 December 12

26 December 12

Freezing cold all evening and then crawling into icy sheets.

25 December 12

I love my family. Christmas is one of my favourite days of the year because it's not too often I get to see everyone all at once. This year was a bit hard to face, with Alex gone and Alice still in Florida. But we're all still here for each other. Plus, you know, all-day drinking.

24 December 12

I spent the day baking cookies and wrapping gifts. Tony and Joanne stopped by with presents for Jeff and me, including a chocolate tree from Thomas Haas, a negative scanner, and most extravagantly, a Nikon D600 (I'm trying to actually learn its mysteries before using it regularly, so my recent pictures will still be from the D5000).
In the evening we had dinner at Yvonne's as usual, and it was quite nice and we stayed so late that we didn't make it to my parents' until after 11:30. It was strange, without Alice, but we still managed to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas! with the appropriate amount of questioning its physics, noticing bizarre bits of animation, and quoting our favourite lines.

23 December 12

Jeff, Iain, & I had to go downtown. Two days before Christmas. Thankfully we got there fairly early, 10:30ish, and parked under the library with lots of empty spaces. We finished after not terribly long (and the daunting lineup at Chapters actually moved surprisingly quickly) and then treated ourselves to Japadog for lunch.

22 December 12

I was trying to photograph myself blowing smoke rings, but it didn't really show up too well and I just looked like I was making weird faces.

21 December 12

Sarah was having her annual winter solstice party and although I wasn't really in the mood for a party, I dressed up and hung out for awhile, chatting and eating food. I went to read a book in bed before everyone had left.

20 December 12

19 December 12

We had no snow on our drive up the I-5; in fact the journey was quicker and easier than most times. But upon crossing the border there were all kinds of traffic fiascos because apparently it had snowed eight inches or something that day. The Port Mann bridge was dropping icy deathbombs on people's windshields and they had to close it down for almost half the day, what a nightmare.

18 December 12

This is what Mom and I left Powell's with.
In the evening we went to a majestic beer store that Sarah knew I would like, and then we had the most incredible vegan dinner at Portobello. I thought Maddie was going to cry with joy.

17 December 12

The Fossil Cartel is the greatest place ever.
We spent the day Christmas shopping, and at the end of the day we went for delicious Lebanese food.

16 December 12

After driving all day through a terrifying rainpocalypse, we finally arrived in Portland. Sarah met us at the hotel and happily chauffered us to a pizza place in her neighbourhood, Dolce Vivi. It was super tasty and they had vegan pizza so that Maddie's insides wouldn't die. Afterwards we popped into the hotel restaurant's lounge for a drink. I had some kind of pear sidecar thing.

15 December 12

I was Tamara's date for the Shaw holiday party and she told me to babe it up, so I went for the 'sexy librarian' look. My only complaint about the night is that I did not win any amazing prizes, and it took them a long-ass time to get to the part where we ate dinner. But other than that it was a pretty good time with a lot of free booze. Val and Sean were there too of course, and we also ran into our internet friend Clayton, who works with my uncle Mike at Global.

14 December 12

13 December 12

Steph and I went to the clothes swap at Laryssa's. We had a big pot of ginger tea and a big bottle of red wine which we drank in the living room while digging through the pile of clothes. Everyone went home with a few (or many) new things — I grabbed a dress, a skirt, a scarf, two sweaters, and two tops.
This picture is terrible.

12 December 12

Dad and Sharon came over for a dinner of maple & black pepper salmon, roast potatoes, and asparagus. And wine.
For my birthday, Dad gave me a bottle of Desert Hills zinfandel and two fifty-dollar bills.

11 December 12

Cleaning out my closet for the clothes swap. This top didn't make the cut.

10 December 12

Outtake from my 365. See the shot I chose here.

09 December 12

08 December 12

Jeff and I went to my staff Christmas party at the Holiday Inn downtown. It was ok; the new chief of operations made way too long of a speech and they made us play this dumb trivia game to decide which tables go to the buffet first, but the food was good, we all got two free drinks, and I got a lot of compliments on my outfit. On the bus home I had one of those run-ins with someone who obviously knows you and you have no idea who the fuck they are. Thankfully after a minute or two he introduced himself to Jeff so then I remembered I used to work with him at Urban Behaviour, many moons ago.

07 December 12

Some friends came over to play Cards Against Humanity and drink wine and generally have a good time. I was having so much fun I forgot to take my photo until after everyone had left.

06 December 12

05 December 12

On my birthday, I decided to start a 365 self-portrait project. I imagine most of them will end up here, but in case I shoot something better that day, you can follow them all on my flickr.
In the photo above I am eating a salted caramel chocolate donut from Cartem's, which I treated myself to after work. In the evening I went to Nuba in Gastown with Jeff, Sarah, Steph, Jesse, Liang, Kristina, and Chris. It was delicious and I even got presents! Jeff and I came home and had a scotch. It was a pretty good birthday.

04 December 12

Tried to Christmas shop, but got so exhausted after like an hour that I just went to the pub without buying anything. I had some beer and ate pizza and talked with Jeff.

03 December 12

The plus side of leaving work at 3pm: daylight.

02 December 12

I went for a haircut and then to the library and a bit of Christmas shopping. My head was cold.

01 December 12

I strung up the Christmas lights in the living room and put up our tiny 2' tree, which is about the extent of my holiday decorating. I found a wreath that was kind of nice but there was nothing to hang it on the front door with so I gave up.
In the evening I went to a belated birthday party for Kristina at her place, where there was much snacking and wine-drinking and inappropriate conversation topics. Also whenever I walk to their house from the bus stop (as opposed to driving with Jeff) I forget how outrageous that hill is. Not that I have any problem walking up hills, but this one is so steep that I am always somewhat afraid that gravity might actually fail me and I will go tumbling down into Hastings St traffic.

30 November 12

I'm a sandwich perfectionist. It takes me like fifteen minutes to make one.

29 November 12

A package of Australian goodies arrived, courtesy of a friend in Melbourne. I gorged myself accordingly.

28 November 12

These old-school Pittsburgh jerseys are so cool looking, I almost want to get one.

27 November 12

This was actually taken in October, on our trip to Squamish; I just never got around to putting in on instagram until a month later. And in my laziness/pain I forgot to take a photo on this day so it all works out.

26 November 12

Went to work and was less useless than I expected to be. Hand bruising up nicely.

25 November 12

Jeff and I were taking our old CRT television to the recycling depot and while we were setting it down it rolled onto my hand. 100 pounds of tv straight onto my hand meats; it was some of the worst pain I can recall in recent memory. It was still mobile, so I figured it was fine, but it was still incredibly painful and swollen after Jeff had to leave for work. I called Kristina and she took me to Burnaby General for an x-ray. The whole thing only took about an hour, and thankfully nothing was broken. Afterwards we went to the Old Admiral for beers and deep-fried appetizers.

24 November 12

Sarah and I went to the Portobello West market in Olympic Village, and it was pretty awesome. I bought a couple of Christmas gifts, and an air plant for myself. Afterwards we went for some food at Tap and Barrel, and after going home to drop off our crap and relax for a bit, we went to Danielle's art show just off Main St.