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Saturday morning headed out to Michael’s early because they were having an extra 25% off sale in the morning. We got big canvases for super cheap. I thought they were $9.99 for each pack of two, so we got two packs, but then they rang up as only $4.99, and then 25% off of that, so I made the cashier wait while I grabbed another pack! Immediately after we left the store I realized I should have gotten the bigger size, since they were so cheap. I really wish there was such thing as rewind of life.

Anyway, 6 canvases for $11 is pretty good. Now we can do tons of masterpieces. Scott has another video game-y one in mind, and I have a geometric series idea and also a melted crayon thing I saw on Pinterest that looks super cool. It needs a hair dryer though and I don’t have one. Rosemarie???

After Michael’s we went by the old house to pick up our mail and then to the farmers market. We spent too much money a coffee, a korean short rib taco, homemade ginger ale, strawberries, tiny peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes. I wanted to get some plants too, but we need to do a bit of research about what can grow indoors, in the dark.

We came home, and started the squares project. Then I decided we REALLY needed a level to do it so we hoofed it over to Metrotown to pick one up. We also got some Coldstone ice cream with a 50% off coupon. I had a cup with cookie dough, choc chips, caramel and fudge, and Scott had a mint one with brownie, choc chips and fudge. They were both very good, but too large, and neither of us really liked the chocolate chips. If we go back we will definitely share. On the way home we stopped by a girl’s apartment to pick up a desk chair I saw on Craigslist. It’s green and funky. She lived right around the corner so it was super convenient!

Scott made a pizza for dinner with sweet potato and lentils and some other things. He’s gotten quite good at making the crust, but the toppings were too carbolicious.

I just realized I never actually took any pictures of the other paintings I did, at the old apartment. I will, I promise! I only have one more week left of work (WOOHOOOOOOO) and then I will have lots of free time.

Sunday was mostly spent bumming around. We watched some Masterchef, the movie Paul, played Agricola, talked with Rosemarie, and now Scott is out at The Keg with some of his friends. I don’t know what he will get to eat there!

I also did some online shopping. We ordered this antenna thing to pick up free HD channels (bet you didn’t know about that!). Apparently there are 6 free HD channels floating around in Vancouver and all you need is an antenna to pick them up. You can get CBC, Global, CTV and three others that I forget right now. That’s all we need! We also ordered some new jeans for Scott and more of my favourite t-shirts for me. Yay!

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So there is this thing floating around the blog world right now called the Pinterest Challenge. A few girls, including them on Young House Love (a blog I read) decided to set a challenge where they actually had to make something that they had pinned on Pinterest. Stop-pinning-start-doing type of idea.

Scott and I just finished a project that I originally saw on Pinterest so it fits the brief! We are thrilled with the way it came out.

This was my inspiration:

Unfortunately there weren’t any instructions, so we struggled a bit at first with getting ours to work but still managed to finish in one day, so that’s pretty good. Here is my tutorial:

Things you need:

  • 12″x12″ scrapbook paper (I needed 66 papers)
  • masking tape
  • some kind of level
  • scissors
  • something to make the gaps uniform (ruler, cardboard strip, etc.)

First thing I did was rip open the pack of paper and lay out the squares in the order I wanted (random) on the ground. I wanted it to be somewhat balanced and definitely not two of the same colour touching each other.

The part I was most concerned about was getting the squares level, because i thought you would be able to tell if it was crooked in real life. We didn’t have a level so I started off just measuring it off the floor and ceiling. Unfortunately it seems nothing in our apartment if square, flat or level, so that was annoying.

A laser level would most definitely be the best tool, but those were too expensive so we just bought a regular long level. Made of plastic… total garbage… will return this week.

I originally planned to have the gaps in between the papers be 1″, but the level itself was 1.25″ and it was a lot easier to just go with that, so we could hold the level against the ceiling/bottom of the papers, make it level, and then trace a line on the bottom edge of the level. Scott held the level and then I squeezed in and drew the line.

Then Scott attached four loops of masking tape on the back.

And then I lined the top edge up with the pencil line, and the right sized gap on the sides. At first I used a ruler that was also 1.25″ wide as a guide, but after the first row I just eyeballed it. And it looks even to me! I erased the pencil as I went along.

I had to cut around the light switch and plugs, which was pretty annoying. Please don’t look too close at them, haha.

All done. I love it! I can’t help but keep seeing that optical illusion with the black blobs in between the corners of the paper. Definitely livens up our otherwise beige apartment!

Add me on Pinterest if you want: http://pinterest.com/jornakat/

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Watching Masterchef on our ridiculous new 43″ TV doesn’t require 100% attention so here’s another quick blog post! Double post day!!

We were lucky enough to get a free TV for signing a year lease on our apartment. It’s weird, no other places in Vancouver offer incentives. We don’t know why they gave us the TV but were happy to take it. So far we have not noticed anything horribly wrong with the place… I guess it’s just because it’s managed by a really big apartment company or something.

ANYWAY.

Our apartment shortly after moving in. It looks better now!!! I’ll post proper pictures after I’ve hung up our art and flags and things.

Last Wednesday we went out to Kits Beach to watch the fireworks competition. I thought we should watch from this side of the water because it was a weeknight and I didn’t want to get home too too late. Yeah it wasn’t as crowded, but we were a little far to get the full-on amazing firework experience.

Saturday night was much better. We decided to brave the crowds and go right to English Bay. We met up with Zsofi and Dylan and then went over and found a great spot right on the beach. We had a picnic dinner of extreme amounts of cheese and bread, and carrots and hummus. The fireworks were great and I really had an awesome awesome evening. There were several kinds of fireworks that were new to me, including sort of arrow ones that go upwards, and huge ones that blink on and off three times. Super cool, and seeing them in time with the music was really neat.

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Sorry for not posting in so long. As you may know, we had some issues with our internet company and it ended up taking a really long time for us to get connected. But, it’s finally done now so I’m back.

We are nicely settled in to our new apartment. It is definitely a lot bigger than our old place, and we have a lot more storage thanks to a big walk in closet with big shelves and a large shelf unit that we got off Craigslist for $50. We also went to Ikea with our moving truck and got a big desk for me and some chests of drawers for the bedroom (those cheap Rast ones….. I sense some DIY in the near future….) and a few other things. Thank you aunties and uncles for that!

The new apartment is very very quiet and the building is kept very clean. You can hear the Skytrain a bit with the windows open but it’s a gentle sort of whooshing sound and doesn’t disturb me. It is awesome being so close to the station, and the trains come every 1-3 minutes.

Since we didn’t have internet or TV it was a little dull at some points, so we tried to get out of the house as much as possible. We went to see the fireworks competition twice (more about this later), went to the movies, went to the library, shopped around Metrotown, uhhhh and more stuff that I can’t remember right now. We also played a lot of games (Carcasonne, Agricola and Dominion are favourites at the moment), and watched a lot of Mad Men. The weekend was a bit like being at the cottage really, with our lack of technology.

Anyway, that’s all for now, I don’t have time to edit any pictures right now so I should keep this entry short.

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Last Thursday we had a really fun impromptu night.

It all started at 3:45 PM when I got a text message from Brian saying that they were at a bar on Granville Island with $1.59 beers and that we should join him. That’s pretty close to my work so I was first to arrive. Scott headed over too. I don’t drink beer but they also had $4 bellini slush thingies too which were very tasty.

I only planned on staying for a bit, but we were having fun and the drinks were good and more friends kept arriving so we ended up staying.

Then another friend said we should meet him at the beach so we took a funny little ferry over to English Bay and chilled there for a bit, killing time.

Brian had been recommending this all-you-can-eat sushi place for a while and when I brought it up again he said we should go RIGHT THEN. So we did.

It was only $14 but you have to wait until 9:30 PM. Ack. Anyway it was decent for all-you-can-eat sushi, but definetely no Tojo. ;) Service was pretty bad- they kept not bringing us some things (like yam tempura) and that meant Scott and Morgan had nothing to eat for a very very long time. Also they didn’t have yam rolls for some reason.

I ate lots of salmon sashimi.

It was very difficult to get home from all the way in the west end of downtown. It was a very late night for me considering it was a weeknight, plus insomnia, as usual. I was tiiiired on Friday, but I can handle it on Friday’s because I know the weekend is coming soon.

I asked Scott at the end of the night if he would rather have all-you-can-eat sushi six times or Tojo one time. He said all-you-can-eat, but I say Tojo’s. What about you?