Eddie’s Philosophy on Time

It is Eddie's belief that time well spent is done in a relaxed position, with eyes closed. But only when it is he with the eyes closed. If not, it has been deemed appropriate to climb upon a sleeping human's head or gently prod their face until they awaken. At such times that is what shall be done with the time at hand.

Food Friday : Cinnamon Spice Sprinkle for Coffee

I love coffee, even moreso after I heard the results of a new study conducted by the National Institute of Health, that indicates that people who drink coffee extend their lifespans! (+15% for women and +10% for men). Read about it in this Time Magazine article entitled "Coffee: Drink More, Live Longer?", with the byline "coffee drinkers who really like their cup of joe appear to have a leg up in the longevity department."Yes, I do love my java, but there's a downside to this affair, in that I like it with sugar. And, at the same time that positive studies are coming out about coffee, there are negative ones coming out about ingesting too much sugar. But my mister, Nick, has come up with an excellent solution to my sugar-in-coffee desire.I bought him this stainless steel flour shaker (from Lee Valley) for Christmas, with the thought that he'd use it as intended, for flour, when he's baking. However, he immediately put it to use for something else. Over the past 4 months he has tweaked a seasoning mixture to sprinkle over a cup of coffee, that adds so much flavour that it reduced the amount of sugar I use!Here's his winning combination:One part each of ground ginger, all-spice and nutmegTwo parts each of cinnamon and unsweetened cocoa powderMix this together and put it in a shaker. A regular salt shaker would probably work, but if you want one like ours (which comes with a lid that's not in the picture), the link above will lead you to it in Lee Valley's on-line catalogue.

Embroidery on Paper : Making a Bookmark

ass="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7728" title="embroidered-name-bookmark02" src="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/embroidered-name-bookmark02.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="426">I first tried embroidering on paper in January when I made a thank you card seen here. I had done that one without much planning and just winged it by going freehand. I really enjoyed the technique and have since been interested in experimenting some more with it. So after I received the necklace I had won from a blog giveaway, I wanted to send a little something to thank her.I've always loved the look of cross-stitch, particularly the beautiful pieces stitched by my Aunt Joan. But I've never done it myself, and really wanted to have a go at it, so decided to cross-stitch some paper and make it into a bookmark.I found this neat site, Cross Stitch Writing Tool, that translates anything you type into a cross-stitch pattern, so I selected the Dublin Font and typed out Mary's name and some decorations on either side. My idea was to stitch the paper that had the pattern on it, right onto the card-stock I was using to make the book-marker. This would give the finished piece a little more sturdiness and weight, with the extra layer of paper in there. This meant I had to reverse the pattern so I could stitch right through it and the letters would be right on the front. I used Photoshop to flip the image and then printed it up.

What’ll it Be … A House or a Car?

We were out for a walk the other day. Full disclosure, we were going to the grocery-store-that-is-further-away-from-home because they were having a great deal on coffee beans. Yes, we go the extra mile to save some bucks. It's a double win ... some exercise gained and some extra cash in the wallet.

When we neared the store, with Nick quite a way ahead of me as I was stopping here and there and taking pictures, I passed this car. The girl sitting nearby on the bench laughed as I stopped short, Laurel and Hardy-like, and stepped back. Was that what I thought it was? Yes, yes it was. A car worth the cost of a house, sitting in the parking lot ... a Lamborghini.

Currently the average selling price for a whole house with a yard and multiple bedrooms in Toronto was $568k, with the country's average being $376k (these are Canadian dollars which are approximately the same as US$). This car costs in the hundreds of thousands, like $200k to $450k range. Apparently each one is completely handmade. To put it in perspective with another expensive car, a Porsche will set you back $75k to $200k. It's hard to wrap your head around, when most cars cost about $25k.

The girl on the bench and I struck up a fun conversation. Her: "Would you like me to move so you can get a better picture?" Me: "Oh no, it's okay ... Is this your car?" Her: "Yeah, I wish!" Then she offered to take a picture for me so that I could be in it. I declined but thanked her and went on my merry way.

Art Gallery Visit and What I Wore

ass="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7614" title="lace-shirt-heart-necklace" src="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lace-shirt-heart-necklace.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="641">On Friday evening I was treated to a visit to the art gallery to see a special exhibit of Picasso's works, which is currently touring around the world, because it's original home, The Musee National Picasso in Paris, is being renovated. So rather than store all the incredible art they decided to show the pieces around the world. I'm a huge fan of his work and was so excited to get to see it. I had seen this collection before in Paris once, but that was a long time ago.My friend Meghan is a member of the gallery so she brought me to a special showing that was open to only members and their guests, which meant that there was plenty of space around each work of art so we could really have a good look. Even though I've just seen it only 2 days ago, I feel like I could see it all over again, there is so much complexity and depth to the art, not to mention the sheer volume. Picasso worked tirelessly from his teen-age years right into his 90s.While I love the man's art I do have to say that there is one thing about him that bugs me. This was his penchant to go for woman who were so very much younger than he. I'm okay with an age different between men and women, but with him we're talking extremes. In the case of Francoise Gilot, the mother of two of his children, the age difference was 40 years! That just seems really creepy to me.As for what I decided to wear, I had to consider that I would be walking to and from the gallery and throughout the exhibit, so I knew I needed to wear flat comfortable shoes, and the best walking shoes I have just really don't go with a skirt or a dress. So, I decided to wear some jeans and make the outfit more special by adding some lace and my lovely new heart-shaped necklace that I recently won from artist and blogger, Mary Hone. Thanks again Mary!