The end of an era

After years of renewing aozora.ca I finally decided to pull the plug and let go of the domain. I don't know why it was so hard for me to save $50 a year and not renew the registration of the URL, but somehow I couldn't let go.

Seeing that my last post was almost 1.5 years ago, I think it's time!

If you are reading this and want to keep up with some of the stuff that I'm doing, you can find me here!

In February this year, we would have celebrated 11 years of intermittent blogging. That's over a decade! The internet has changed so much since then. Thanks for the ride!

clear night and shooting stars... aozora tomorrow.

a new layout for a kind of new year

I finally updated the layout of this blog and while I don't think I'll be posting as much as I used to, I'm hoping the fresh look will encourage me to post a bit more often.

I've recently started listening to The Happiness Advantage. In it, Shawn Achor, positive psychology researcher, outlines 5 things we can to do become happier which in turn will help us be more successful at work. It's interesting because he finds numerous studies to backup all his points.

Some take-aways from the audiobook so far:
• neuroplasticity can allow us to become a glass half full person
• ... which can be accomplished through practice
• happy people live longer
• when you get out of a negative mindset, you start to see opportunities all around you

There is one daily exercise the author recommends which is to think of 3 things that made you happy that day. By doing this, he says that within a week or two you'll start to seek out all the good things in your daily life, notice them more, become happier and start to see opportunities (even out of what may seem like dire situations). So here goes!

Three Good Things

1. Finishing up a big web project
   
2. Having fun fidgeting with Blogspot and my new custom layout by Pugly Pixel (it's a free download!)
   
3. Very cute, pink roses from Andre

I'm about half way through the audiobook and can't wait to finish it.

some firsts

holiday card sketches

why yes that is a beagle on a bicycle!

i have been insanely busy, in a very, very good way these past several weeks. this has made me feel very productive on the business front, but i am starting to feel a bit burnt out.

so for the first time in the history of freelancing full-time, i'm going to shut down happy D designs for a full two weeks. i'm so excited but i'm also a little nervous to do so.

my clients have been notified and i hope to get some relaxation and rejuvenation time in so that i'm itching and roaring to go in the new year.

until then there are a few big projects to tackle, lots of small jobs to complete, a holiday card to finish, christmas shopping to be done and lots of stuff to be mailed. ... but i'm feeling really good about everything, which is a first during this time of year!

i hope that this momentum continues for me in the new year!

shhhhh

i have a secret to share. i have a strange nickname - it's pickle.

andre gave me that nickname because i love pickles. all sorts of pickles.

in japan there are so many different types of pickles and so many different vegetables get pickled. but my love for pickles isn't exclusive to japanese ones, i even love the lightly picked radish and carrots that you get at pho restaurants. that being said, dill pickles are at the top of my list (but only when it's home made - i hate those mushy ones at delis or sandwich shops).

so when shana presented me with her homemade, canned dill pickles in exchange for my crab apples, i could have cried.

my mom used to make homemade dill pickles but for some reason when i got into high school she stopped canning things. shana's pickles remind me of my mom's recipe. yum yum. i've been eating them as a snack these past 2 days.

maybe next year, i can sweet talk my way to get shana to teach me how to pickle!

glorious weekend

a weekend filled with lots of bike rides, dog walks, fall colours and poutine!

with the super crisp autumn air, it was a perfect fall weekend.

ambrosio evolution

my new italian rims




blue rim tape!

i had a sad accident on my bike about a month ago. on my way to my freelance gig, i ran over a huge gap in sewer grate and POP! the rear wheel on my grocery-getter (so christened by andre) went flat. it was partially due to rider error - i should have taken caution to avoid that gap but the rush hour traffic was going fast and close and i didn't want to veer too much to the left - and partially because i didn't have my tires nicely inflated.

and because my tires were under-inflated my alex rim was bent and severely scratched when i hit that sewer grate. so much so that the mechanic at hoopdriver said that there was no way true the wheel. the damage was that bad.


removing the tires off of the old rims


removing the tube

i was initially sad that i had to shell out money on new rims, but after installing them (with help from andre ... no matter, with more practice i won't have to rely on him for help with my bike) i'm actually happy i made the investment.

when i first started riding with the new rims, it felt like i was pedaling a entirely new bicycle. it was so smooth it felt (and still feels) like butter. the aerodynamics on the rims must be so well designed that it just cuts through the air with little effort.

i love them <3

autumn yummies

as a child, i detested beets. i would describe the taste as the same as eating dirt. to me they were the equivalent of eating a mud pie.

thanks to the good food box, we always get beets in our hampers come late summer and fall...and now as an adult i love them! i feel like i have to make up for lost time and i buy them even when they aren't included in the box!

my fellow beagle friend and blogger shana recommended a citrus beet recipe that i tried earlier this fall. it was delicious.

this week, i made a variation on the shutterbean recipe above. here's my version:

• 5-6 medium sized beets (boiled and then skin removed by just rubbing it off! rubber gloves are recommended. sliced)
• 2 navel oranges (sliced along the boats)
• tons of parsley
• a fresh herb mix (mint, basil, lemon basil, dill)

dressing
• 2 tsp honey
• 2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• a pinch of sea salt and pepper

mix together and voila! a yummy salad that will last a week or two thanks to the apple cider vinegar.






my fresh herb mix was prepackaged. i picked it up from kind organic's booth at the dufferin grove market. the package wasn't labeled so i'm not sure of the exact contents but it was really delicious.

i tasted: basil, lemon basil, mint, a lemony mint (?) and parsley ... but can you identify any of the other leaves?

more from my little jungle

who knew that 4 little tomato plants would produce so much fruit? i can't imagine how many more tomatoes i would have, if i had spaced them out properly and if the yellow tomato plants received more sunlight.

lately i've been harvesting tomatoes almost every other day. i've frozen a bunch and wanted to try drying them but partially thanks to reading no impact man, i can't get over the amount of energy that is required to oven dry them.

the bottom photo is the result of 1 hour of slicing, carmelizing and 2 hours of baking: heidi swanson's spiced tomato gratin.

i halved the recipe and it still was a lot of gratiny goodness for andre and i to devour over a week. sadly, i thought that by halfing the portion, i could bake for half the time but that was not so.

my little urban jungle

as you can see, my little garden plot has grown into a mini jungle and since these photos were taken, it's kind of gotten out of hand. all the stems are growing over each other and despite the bamboo stakes they are toppling over.

last year, my little garden was a bit sad with very few tomatoes harvested. so this year, with the help of a lot of organic compost, the 4 tomato plants became large bushes with lots of tomatoes growing.

the basil is doing really well too and is probably 4 feet tall now.

lessons learned for next year:

• leave waaaaay more space between the plants so that they don't end up growing on top of each other
• get thicker stakes
• trim the sucks

a most satisfying weekend

finally, despite questionable weather, we were able to have a cupcake ride on the day that it was originally planned for. i don't know why, but i get wracked with guilt when i have to call a rain date to postpone a ride ... it must be the japanese in me. so to have a ride on the set date felt like a big (weird) accomplishment.

i had such a relaxing, fun time with lovely ladies on the toronto islands. we fought the ferry crowds and landed at hanlan's point and then biked the width the of the island and also explored the residential area and some interesting nooks and crannies.

for more of the report, check out my blog post on the cupcake ride blog.

today, i hung out at andre's dog school in the morning and took photos of extremely cute puppies and smart dogs. and then in the evening hung out with some friends that are moving away from condo land on queen west into a house of their own by degrassi street!

i was also able to squeeze in some cleaning and reading.

i think i'm ready to face the work week!

it's ice-cream season!

some of my favourites for this season!

cupcake ride press!

wow! in less than 24 hours my little cupcake ride facebook group went from 16 to 54 members!

why?

we got some press in the toronto star!!

2nd cupcake ride report

all photos courtesy of malena andrade of activitybubble.ca. of course i forget my camera on this special day

yesterday was my 2nd cupcake ride!

i pushed back the initial date by a week due to rain and it's a good thing i did! because we sandwiched the cupcake around bells on a bloor a massive ride-parade that is held annually to try to get the city to build bike lanes on bloor st.

we started at hot oven bakery where we all gulped down some scrumptious cupcakes and chatted with toronto star reporter chantal.

sadly we missed the star photographer by just a few minutes and our photo op with the hot oven bakery cupcakes, so the bakery gave us a pack of 4 complimentary cupcakes to take with us to high park (the meeting spot for 'bells on bloor').

at high park we got some flags for the ride/parade and then the group of maybe 1000 cyclists hit bloor street and we rode slowly eastbound to queens park (ontario's legislative assembly).

the 'bells on bloor' part of the ride took probably around 1 hour - 1.5 hours. there were so many people out: hardcore race cyclists in their spandex; lots of mountain bikes; families in crazy tandem bikes (one was a 6 seater bike with a chariot trailer and a child's seat so the whole family of 8 could bike together!!); lots of cyclists that played instruments while riding!

after the rally at queen's park, the cupcake girls left 'bells on bloor' and headed up to dessertlady to finish off our ride, where we indulged in a red velvet cupcake with creamcheese icing, but also some super yummy sorbets and ice creams. mmmm, earl grey chocolate ice cream with pear sorbet .... mmmmmmm

spring time in vancouver

as we are definitely enjoying summer in toronto, i was thinking back to how i really got to enjoy springtime in vancouver this past april/may.

when i arrived, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom (満開 = mankai) and i finally got to see my beloved tree-lined streets all pink and happy for the first time since i left vancouver. what an absolute treat.

then as the cherry blossom finished my mom's wisteria started to bloom and i was lucky enough to enjoy these beautiful flowers during my stay as well.

i was definitely in flower bliss.



other vancouver highlights:

• hanging out with b and the extra week we were able to have in vancouver, thanks to the icelandic volcano (which allowed andre, b and dom to hang out!! such a treat)
  
  
• i ran the vancouver sun run and beat my goal by 8 minutes (i finished the 10km in 1 hour and 7 min)
  
  
• spending time with my grandma
  
  
• living with hannah and chris a week before their wedding
  
  
• myae and i reading our teenage diaries together and realizing just how boy crazy we were ...
  
  
• seeing lots and lots of friends and wanting to become a hermit after
  
  
• beatles rock band with my fellow high-school era beatlemaniacs
  
  
• unearthing the beatles mural lori and i painted 14 years ago
  
  
• stuffing my face with awesome asian food
  
  
• as mentioned earlier, biking in vancouver with my honey
  
  
• but most of all, family
  

bike lanes are growing all over the city

.... my bike specializes in the nitty-gritty
new york city never had an equality, it's reality
economic duality
sci-fi wasabi - cibo matto

i'm so jealous of bike riders in vancouver. the city is literally glowing with bike lanes and bicycle awareness. if a street isn't a designated bike lane, more often than not there are bike icons with chevrons painted on the street to remind drivers to 'share the road'.

when i was just planning my trip to vancouver, i asked one of my bicycle road race friends if he'd be up to do critical mass with me. his response was that vancouver doesn't really need critical mass to create awareness because people actually took the long route and went through city hall to create all the bike lanes that exist in the city. that being said, he was still up for 'the mass' because a lot of cute girls seem to always show up.

anyway, we didn't end up doing critical mass due to rain, but i now know what it feels like to cycle in a truly bike friendly city.

so now, how can we get this kind of bicycle infrastructure in toronto?

hannah and chris' wedding

it was a fun celebration and a yummy luncheon. most importantly the bride and groom were happy with how the event unfolded and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

my amazing mother sewed the bridesmaid dresses and with the help of my aunt (who is a flower arrangement teacher in japan) arranged all the flowers, bouquets and boutonnieres.

and myae did the makeup!



she had maybe 3 hours of sleep at this point - but looks pretty nonetheless!



he is almost always this happy - seriously!



me and oba-chan (granny).



the talented make-up artist and her father.









i took a whopping 500+ photos - of which 50% aren't very good, but after uploading them all i can't be bothered to change the privacy levels. so if you'd like to view the photos email me and i'll add you as family on flickr!