Our Anniversary Dinner at Le Select Bistro

Here we are, out for our 16th anniversary dinner last weekend!Forgive me if you've already heard this story before, as I do tell it every year around this time : We were introduced by a mutual friend, Alison -- Nick had gone to school with her and I had met her at a place she and I worked.She told me about her friend Nick while we were out one evening, and how she thought we'd be perfect for one another. But I'd misunderstood something she'd said about him, which I took to mean that he wasn't the guy I was looking to meet at that particular time. So, I didn't follow-up with her about him. Then, a couple of months after our discussion, she called me up specifically to tell me about him again. She really thought we would get along well, and being the good friend that she was, she didn't want me to miss out on meeting this terrific person.She had recently started dating a man she liked a lot at the time, who she had been introduced to by a friend, so she wanted the opportunity to pay it forward. As it turned out, she and her man were married two months before we were, and they just celebrated their 16th, too.So, I agreed to an introduction, which came via an e-mail copying in both of us, 5 minutes after the phone was hung up. She made the introduction and then stated that her "job here is done."Note that this was 17 years ago, before internet dating sites existed, so meeting through an e-mail was not at all common. We chatted back and forth a bit, and decided to meet for coffee on the following Sunday afternoon. Also, digital cameras didn't exist yet, so we had no photos to exchange beforehand, making our meeting a true blind date. He told me he'd be wearing a red shirt, so that's what I was to look for.When I got to the cafe (Future's on Bloor Street), there were quite a few men sitting by themselves in the place. I stood in the doorway and looked around, but could see no red shirts. I did spot Nick though, not knowing that was him, and the thought ran through my head that it sure would be nice if my blind date was with that guy. Then, and I can remember this like it was yesterday, that guy slowly pulled down the zipper of his jacket to reveal a red shirt, while looking at me with a flirty little smile. So, he made me laugh before I'd even spoken to him in person.During our first weeks together, one of our dates was a romantic dinner at a French restaurant called Le Select Bistro, that was located on Queen Street West, just west of John, at the time.We were married one year after that first meeting, (well, minus a week because our venue of choice was not available on the exact one year mark). The place we held the ceremony, dinner and dance-party reception was a beautiful old mansion tucked away on an extremely dark and quiet street, that was Wellington at the time. It was at 424 Wellington Street and the place had a very bohemian gothy air that we both loved.The interior had lots of wood, a massive creaky staircase, crushed velvet drapes, and very moody lighting. It was run by a cool elderly couple, who told us they had originally used the building as a home-base to an art commune back in the 60s and 70s.Fast forward 16 years, to a couple of weeks ago when we were discussing where to go for our anniversary dinner. The obvious choice was Le Select Bistro. It was no longer located on Queen Street West, though. No, now it is located on Wellington Street, right beside the very place where we were married!

How to Make A Greeting Card and a Bookmark Combined

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/handmade-bookmark-with-pressed-leaves-inserted-into-handmade-greeting-card.jpg" alt="handmade-bookmark-with-pressed-leaves-inserted-into-handmade-greeting-card" width="640" height="427" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-30777 blk-brdr">Here's an idea for when you want to send a greeting card with a little something extra tucked inside. The card has a pressed leaf motif on the front, but when it's opened up, a secret bookmark is revealed.I've shown you this bookmark making technique before (in this post), where you preserve a pressed leaf under a layer of plastic - aka regular packing tape. This time I've added more texture with a layer of printed paper, that's part of a page from an old book.My book, an old paperback, was damaged when I found it, but I liked the vintage sepia colour the pages had turned with age, so I saved it and have used pages from it for several crafting projects (like these gift tags, this personalized bookmark, and these Valentine Cards). But if you don't have an old book you want to take pages from, you could use a piece from the newspaper or skip that layer.

A Celebration of Friendship at Snakes and Lattes Board Game Cafe

Julie and I met in a line-up (at this event), clicked over shared interests, kept in touch on-line and became friends. That meeting was three years ago, so last week we went out for our friendiversary!

At her suggestion we went to the Snakes and Lattes Board Game Cafe, located at 489 College Street at Markham. If you know the area, it's where Andy Poolhall used to be.

There, for a flat rate of $5 each, we had unlimited access to pretty well any board game we'd ever heard of, plus a whole bunch that we hadn't.

In addition to the games, they had an appealing list of snacks and drinks. We shared a platter of pita triangles with a variety of toppings and a cheese plate. To drink I had Cider and Julie, being pregnant and due to have a baby boy soon, had sparkling water and a hot chocolate. The service was friendly and the food delicious.

A Look at the Gift Shop for the Turner Exhibit at the AGO

This is a quick tag-along to yesterday's post about my recent visit to the AGO to see the J.M.W. Turner show ... Here is the little gift shop that is set up at the end of the exhibit, that you pass through in order to leave. It is so charmingly done, that I thought you'd like to see.

Since the art in the exhibit was created during the Victorian era (the last 15 years of Turner's life), the gift shop is set up to look like a salon from that time. And since the art was done by a British artist, the items on offer had a definite British air.

At the Art Gallery : An Exhibition of Paintings by JMW Turner

There’s a new major exhibition on at the AGO — JMW Turner : Painting Set Free, on display until January 31, 2016.Turner, known as "the painter of light", was born in the heart of London England in 1775. He lived until 1851, to the age of 76, which was a remarkable achievement in itself, considering the average age expectancy back then was only 38 years old. So, in today's years, this would have been as though he'd lived to be well over 100.But more noteworthy than his extremely long life, is the way in which he used those years, creating over 30,000 pieces of art. (I had to double check with our guide, to make sure I'd heard that number correctly). Being a child prodigy who showed his first piece in a prestigious art exhibit at the young age of 15, Turner never stopped creating, right until his last exhibit, the year before he died. It took 100 years for his extraordinary number of works to be accurately catalogued and accounted for.Turner's early life had been difficult, in that his younger sister and only sibling, had died at the the age of five, sending his mother into a state of mental disturbance that ultimately resulted in her receiving long-term care. So, he was sent to live with an uncle just outside of London, at a young age. However, he always maintained a very close relationship with his father, who lived with him and acted as a studio assistant until his death.In spite of having been offered a lot of money for the pieces that remained with him, towards the end of his life, (one account claims he was offered 100,000 pounds at one point, which would be worth 12 million pounds today), he chose to bequeath his unsold works to the state of Britain at the time of his death instead, so that they would be freely enjoyed by the people, rather than hidden within the homes of the affluent. This was a choice he was able to make because, in addition to being a talented artist, he was a skilled businessman, so he was able to earn a very good living for himself from his art, while he was alive to enjoy it.He was such a good businessman in fact, that in addition to being able to donate his work, he was left with a small fortune in cash and assets when he died, which he wished to donate to artists in need of financing. This dream to give to artists was not achieved however, because his extended family fought the will successfully.Today Turner is thought to be Britain's foremost landscape painter ever and over 300 of his paintings, plus thousands of his watercolours and sketches are owned by The Tate Gallery in London, (details of which can be found here).There is so much more of interest about Turner's life and art that I could go on and on, however, there is already plenty written about him on the internet, beginning with this Wikipedia page. Also, the 2014 biographical movie about his later years, Mr. Turner, directed by Mike Leigh, is excellent. See the trailer here. It's currently showing on Netflix, in Canada at least -- I'm not sure about the rest of the world. Now that I've seen these breathtaking paintings in real life, I plan to watch the movie again.The exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, includes 50 paintings, all on loan from The Tate. The paintings are works created during the last 15 years of his life, including three pieces that hung in the last show he lived to attend. The exhibit has already hung in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is the only one that will be held in Canada.Note that the AGO has extended their regular hours on Wednesdays and Fridays, to 9pm, giving you plenty of time to enjoy the art in the evening. Again, the show runs until January 31, 2016. Tickets may be purchased on the AGO Website.I don't think that I'm ruining anything by showing you some of the paintings here, because, of course, they are so much more impactful and stunning to see in real-life, but if you'd prefer your first viewing of them to be in person, stop reading here! (Note : These are not shown in the order in which they are displayed in the exhibit.)Leading the tour was the Interpretive Planner at the AGO, David Wistow. His vast knowledge and insight added so much to the experience of seeing these stunning pieces, and I very much appreciated being invited.