bianca's new art site

bianca is modest and for some reason didn't want to share her new website here!

please visit her new site that showcases her beautiful work: bianca loves art

3rd toronto girls' cupcake ride!

since my last cupcake ride report, my little facebook group has grown to 150+ now!

tonight on a bike month bike ride (andre and i participated in a west-end community gardens bike tour) i met a girl who saw the cupcake ride group back when there were only 6 members and decided not to join because she thought the group was created just for friends!

i gave her a promo card and asked her to join the group so that she can get details on our upcoming rides.

AND! in other exciting news, my friend has started a bay area cupcake ride as well! if you know of anyone in the san francisco, orinda or berkeley area, please send them the link!

an actual website is in the works and ms. sonya will be joining me in updating the site with cupcake ride news.

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so the 3rd cupcake ride is this sunday!!

sadly we had to push the date back to be on father's day, because of thundershower forecasts, but hopefully we'll still have girls come out for a long, but fun ride!

it's ice-cream season!

some of my favourites for this season!

madrid in february

feels like a long time ago, but things i remember:

• eating the most delicious tapas at the mercado (market) de san miguel
  
• picasso's guernica and velazquez's las meninas (still can't believe i've seen them in the flesh, after studying them in books for so long!)
  
• being asked to stay after the prado (the art museum) closed to take part in some promotional filming -- still no idea if we made the cut!
  
• eating dinner at 9pm every night
  
• the magnificent crystal palace in retiro park
  
• dipping freshly made churros into thick hot chocolate -- the place to have it has to be the chocolateria de san gines, a dedicated chocolate con churro hang out
  

more photos here

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