cowgirl you got that something...

en plein air

2011-04-11T15:34:00.004-04:00

So I have this lovely spring wedding to go to in the next couple of weeks and so have been on the hunt for a new dress. I wanted it to be super girly and spring-like, plus I wanted it to hide any and all post-baby body flaws still lingering around. Enter the En Plein Air dress from Anthropologie. A quick hemming, some new shoes and perhaps a shawl for the ceremony and here's an ensemble that this lady is more than thrilled with! Part of me wants to get little white gloves to fully complete the "Peggy Olson" feel of this dress.

Now the real question though -- do I make it easy on myself and just go with a simple nude heel or do I go on a hunt and try and match shoes to one of the colours in this dress??

crazy stupid love

2011-04-11T14:02:00.002-04:00

Seriously, there is nothing about this movie that should appeal to me. The title is bad, the story looks so predictable - even the trailer music is bad. And yet, at the 2 minute and 21 second mark this movie became my must see film of the spring.

a girl and her dog

2011-03-30T21:21:00.004-04:00

Here is a scene that takes place pretty much every day in our house. Lu messily eating something and Sadie waiting, waiting for her to either drop said messy something or hold her hand out in a request for her to clean her fingers. A great deal of concentration on both their parts...

And before you ask, yes, it seems lately my couch pillows are always strewn about like that.

marmalade magic

2011-03-30T20:49:00.004-04:00

So maybe you're like me and when you think of marmalade you think of this strange bitter jelly eaten by old ladies at tea time. That pretty much sums up what I thought of it and I never really knew what to do with it. Well enter a great savoury recipe to change my opinion and colour me a marmalade lover. This orange ginger beef was easy and just over the top flavourful and loaded with gingery goodness. Also, I'm sure since the marmalade I used was homemade by my neighbour Brittainy that it just made things that much yummier. I swear, the next time I've got a cold, this dinner is gonna be what heals me. It just tasted like a big bowl of healthy.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 blade simmering steak, boneless, about 1 pound or .5 kg
2 onions, chopped
1 knob ginger, rinsed well, unpeeled, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of Soy sauce
1x10 ounce can of beef stock
1 cup of orange marmalade
1 cup of orange juice
1 tablespoon of five-spice powder (optional)
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bag of baby spinach
1 cup of bean sprouts
1 bunch of green onions, chopped

Preheat the pot over a medium high heat then add the oil. Sear the steak on both sides until evenly browned. Add the onions and ginger and stir for a few minutes until lightly browned. If the pan starts to burn, add a splash of water and continue…
Add the soy sauce, orange juice, marmalade, beef stock and five-spice powder. Rinse the cilantro well then thinly chop the root end of the bunch, add to the pot. Reserve the leaves. Bring all the ingredients to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid and continue simmering until tender, about 1 hour.
When the meat is tender enough, break it into smaller chunks. Split the spinach and bean sprouts evenly between four bowls. Stir the green onions into the broth then ladle into each bowl. Top with a sprinkling of the reserved cilantro leaves. Enjoy!

r.i.p elizabeth

2011-03-23T09:27:00.003-04:00

I mean honestly, look how beautiful this woman was. It's staggering really. I'm still desperate to read Furious Love, the book that tells the love story between her and Richard Burton - a couple known to kick everyone off movie sets so they could get busy. Now that was a real Hollywood couple.

the suburb

2011-03-22T21:56:00.002-04:00

Seriously loving Camilla Engman's adorable little art project - so easy and simple and yet so adorable. I can imagine making a whole little village of houses with some rugrats on a rainy afternoon.

cupcake birds

2011-03-22T20:19:00.003-04:00

Meet the cupcake birds Trudy and James - fantastic paintings by the uber-talented Lisa Congdon. Sound familiar? Yes we like her a lot here and have talked about her great art before.

for lu

2011-03-22T20:10:00.002-04:00

Every time Sadie eats her dogfood she always has to come and "tell" us about it. She'll walk in from the kitchen and wiggle her way over to one of us, tail wagging, bum wiggling, licking her lips and she'll bury her head in your lap, happier than anything. While she does this I say stuff like "Did you eat some food? Was it delicious? Oh I bet it was so delicious! So good!" etc etc. The more I say stuff like that, the happier she gets. When she's done with me I'll say "go tell Marc how good your food was" and she'll trot over to Marc and repeat the whole song and dance.

Yesterday you were laying on the floor kicking your feet and cooing away before your bedtime and after Sadie "told" me about how good her dinner was I said "go tell Lu how good your food was" and she trotted over to you all wiggly and happy and leaned over you "telling" you about her delicious dinner. Of course you laughed at her and the more you laughed the more her tail wagged - like your laughing was the equivalent of us asking her if her food was delicious.

I love that you have a dog and that Sadie has a baby.

kitchen tub?

2011-03-18T14:44:00.003-04:00

I know a lot of people would think that a working bathtub in the kitchen is kinda gross but I gotta say, I love it. I can imagine cooking dinner and having Lu splashing away happily in her little kid-size tub. Or doing some afternoon baking alongside a happy kid having a sunshiney mid-day bath. And forget having a highchair - just strip the kid down and let her feed herself in the tub - perfectly positioned for a post-dinner hosedown!

But seriously, this is from a pretty amazing home in Toronto - there's a full house tour over at The Marion House Book and I highly recommend checking out all the pics, they're pretty amazing. I think when I'm in Toronto next month I'm going to find this house, befriend the owners and use that tub. Here's a few samples:

puffball pouf

2011-03-18T14:39:00.001-04:00

So VivaTerra is charging $148 for this Puffball Pouf stool. I could totally make this...

vintage nursery

2011-03-18T14:34:00.002-04:00

Seriously loving this vintage nursery tour over at Ohdeedoh. I've tried to use a lot of vintage stuff in Lu's nursery (my old baby furniture and baby toys, art repurposed from other places in the house, old family pieces etc) but this nursery really gives me something to aim for. I love the handmade fabric garland and keep seeing it everywhere - I'm gonna have to learn to sew and fashion my own I think.

Also the lucky girl who gets this room, her name is Poesy and I just love that.

ultimate loyalty

2011-03-16T20:41:00.004-04:00

We've all been seeing some pretty amazing video footage coming out of Japan these last few days and here's one from our canine friends. Even with everything around them falling apart, with no food or help coming their way, this dog refuses to leave the side of his injured companion. Good news is both dogs were rescued by the videographer. Dogs are awesome, hands down.

turkey and leek pie

2011-03-16T20:05:00.004-04:00

Marc made this for dinner tonight - Turkey and Leek Pie courtesy of Jamie Oliver. So delicious and pretty much Christmas in a dish. The only thing that would have made it better was if we had the leftover stuffing to toss in there as well. I think while Marc is at work tomorrow I will secretly make another pan of it and eat it all myself before he gets home.

three potato four

2011-03-16T11:20:00.004-04:00

I love creeping the Three Potato Four site/blog and imagining what great antique finds I could snap up and stash in my place. This week 10% of their sales will be donated to rescue efforts in Japan. I mean, it would be silly to NOT shop there now right??

in case you need more reasons...

2011-03-16T11:02:00.002-04:00

Ryan Gosling on this blog - no surprise here. But in case (for some strange reason) you needed a final push to get on the Ryan Hotness Bandwagon, here's a shot of him lifting his old dog into his van. How can you not fall in love with a guy who carries his senior citizen dog around??

I mean, honestly.....

danny and annie

2011-03-15T21:52:00.003-04:00

This short film fills my heart with warm fuzzy love and then breaks it in half. I often imagine Marc and I as an old couple - happy in our life, remembering how we met and how we fell in love, lovingly mocking each other and our silly habits. Thinking about being that same old couple, dealing with the time when one of us leaves the other one, well I can't even imagine it. This couple tells their story in a way that leaves me hoping that when the time comes, we will still be as in love as we are now.

It's more than a little bit of a tearjerker though so have some tissues handy...

kitchen stalking

2011-03-15T21:33:00.002-04:00

I've added this kitchen picture to the old memory banks for sure. The bones are pretty much my ideal kitchen - it just needs a little sass, some vintage lights, and a bit more colour and I'd be drooling.

welcome back

2011-03-15T20:39:00.010-04:00

Please forgive me blogland??? I know it's been forever since I've checked in but I've recently decided that my new project will be to try and write at least once a week, ideally every couple days. Obviously with a wee one taking up my days, it's hard to find the time to surf the web period let alone find even more time to post pictures, tell stories and, quite frankly, try to sound clever about just about anything.

I'm gonna try and still write about all the same things I used to but I will admit now, as much as I don't want to be one of those women who have a baby and it becomes all she talks about, this blog will definitely be taking a bit of a turn towards things kid-related. I can't help it. Kid stuff is kinda important now and my internet searches, in addition to celebrity gossip, now often include things like "hip baby clothes" and "handmade baby toys." I've found some pretty cool stuff and I'm gonna wanna share that stuff too. So please just bear with me and I'll try to post often, show you pretty things, and will try not to be 100% baby-centric.

But if it seems I'm not holding true to my promise to post more often, just try to remember - if you had a face like this staring up at you, you'd be hesitant to spend time on a computer too.

luella mae

2010-09-23T16:24:00.004-04:00

Welcome to the world tiny new girl!

On September 20th at 6:48pm, we had our perfect little girl Luella Mae. She was born at home with the help of 3 amazing midwives and a full soundtrack of Neko Case. 7'7 lbs and I think a good chunk of that weight is her hair.

We are exhausted, spaced out and kinda clueless but we're also probably the happiest two people around. I won't say that we are now a complete little family cuz we were absolutely a complete little family before.

I'll just say that now things are changing and that's turning out to be a pretty amazing change.

my pregnancy survival guide

2010-09-08T10:49:00.013-04:00

So as "the day" quickly approaches, I decided to write about the things that really got me through this pregnancy. And despite all the moans and groans I've shared throughout this whole thing, I must admit that I really did love being pregnant and think I'll miss it a bit when it's all over. Yes there's a lot about it that was hard to tolerate but most of it was really something else. I loved my round belly, if I was having a crappy day at work she'd somersault around or poke a little foot out, I loved watching my belly move around late at night, I loved lounging on the couch with Marc's hand resting on my huge belly like it was a pillow -- all in all your body does some pretty amazing things and if nothing else, you are never bored.

Anyway, to get me through the less than fun times, the following things really saved my butt:

From the Hips: This book is really the only pregnancy book you should read. Under no circumstances should you go anywhere near "What To Expect When You're Expecting" -- it's the worst book ever! "From the Hips" has lots of real stories from real women and approaches everything frankly and honestly as opposed to WTEWYE which pretty much terrifies you.

Stappj: While my morning sickness was relatively manageable compared to some other pregnant women I know, it still levelled me a few times. Stappj, which is an Italian bitter, did wonders to take the edge off the nausea. You can find it at pretty much any Italian grocery store.

Milk: Now I drink milk by the gallon at the best of times but with this pregnancy, I went through milk like nobody's business. Not only was it often the only thing I wanted to ingest but it also worked wonders on my heartburn. Oh the heartburn...

The Alpha Mom Weekly Pregnancy Calendar: If you're anything like me, you'd likely be desperate to know what's going on in your belly from week to week. These kinds of calendars are super easy to find online but often read like a medical journal and are zero fun. Amalah's calendar is honest, funny and no holds barred which is exactly what I wanted. Marc read them too actually so he could know what this tiny person was up to for the week.

Maxi dresses: Being pregnant during the hottest summer our town has had in 50 years was a challenge. A really, REALLY big friggin challenge. Needless to say, that meant that dresses were a must. For me, my feet and legs swelled up really early on in this pregnancy and showing off my newly puffed up limbs wasn't real high on my list so the maxi dress really was my saving grace. Cool enough for the summer, easy to throw on, it hid all the stuff I wanted to hide and with the right accessories they're easily adaptable for pretty much every occasion.

Pre-Natal Yoga: Of all the things that saved me, my pregnant lady yoga is really high on the list. I learned ways to sit and relax that helped my aching hips, learned ways to get the baby in the right position, learned some tricks for labour etc. But mostly it gave me an hour to just sit and breathe and, cliche as it sounds, really forget all the stress that comes with being a big fat pregnant lady.

Swimming: Whoever invented swimming should be given some kind of really big prize. Best. Thing. Ever.

Walking: I tried to walk as much as I could and surprisingly, walked to and from work right up until I was 39 weeks along. I even managed to hike through most of it -- I think we took our last hike when I was 7.5 months pregnant. Even though some days are harder than others and some walks feel like the worst idea ever, I really think they work wonders on your hips. Just keep an eye on the crazy swelling - after a walk my feet would balloon up like mad.

President's Choice De-Alcoholized Beer: Again, being pregnant during the hottest summer on record made me really miss icy cold summer cocktails and chilled beer. Thankfully one night Marc came home with some fake beer for me and my summer changed. The small pleasure of being able to crack a "beer" alongside Marc on a hot summer night did not go unnoticed.

Birkenstocks: Never in my life did I think I'd be going on about Birkenstocks on this blog. They are ugly, totally uncool, certainly not pretty or cute in any way but sadly, they became the only shoes my ultra-swollen feet could tolerate. They're crazy comfortable and soft and my feet were finally able to tolerate more than 20 minutes of walking. So my feet were happy but still totally ugly and uncool.

mayer hawthorne

2010-09-03T20:58:00.000-04:00

My friend Richard introduced me to Mayer Hawthorne last night and this video totally seals the deal for me. Apparently he plays all the instruments on the record himself, it's crazy catchy white-guy motown pop, and this video also show's he's quite the hapless dancer. I'm 100% sold.

happy 90210 day!

2010-09-02T21:20:00.000-04:00

In honour of this special day celebrating the original (and best) Beverly Hills, 90210 I bring you the classic Brenda and Kelly "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck" clip.....

you again cast fight

2010-08-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

You Again Cast Fight from Betty White

Saw this on Lainey today and it's totally worth sharing! So funny and even funnier because Kristen Bell IS known to be pretty much exactly like this in real life.

day of kelly!

2010-08-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to my fave lady Kelly!! She's pretty much the greatest ever so her birthday is a pretty big deal. I'd say I hope you're toasting the day but I know that's a given. Please drink something icy and fruity just for me!!!

Happy Birthday!!

yurt love

2010-08-20T20:48:00.000-04:00

I pine for a yurt somewhere fabulous therefore this picture makes me endlessly happy. Marc and I will be off together next summer with the bambina and doing some yurt camping in Algonquin Park is top o'the list.

omg...

2010-08-18T21:48:00.000-04:00

...the new season of Gossip Girl starts very soon packed with plenty o'gossip, silly/fabulous clothes and a seemingly alive Chuck Bass? Please tell me our bambina will allow me some quality G.G time...xoxo!!!

guess who's 2?

2010-08-18T10:13:00.000-04:00

Happy 2nd birthday to our first furry baby!

ah animals...

2010-08-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

I break radio silence to bring you penguins chasing a butterfly. Pretty feel good if you ask me!

But don't worry, the butterfly escapes one hairy situation only to land in another and make a daring escape!

day of marc

2010-08-08T14:36:00.001-04:00

Wishing the happiest of happy birthdays to Marc - pretty much the greatest guy on the planet. Thanks for taking such good care of me these last 9 months, I know it hasn't always been a treat. You certainly make being the coolest cucumber in town look easy. For your birthday present this year, I shall birth your child.

I kid of course! Being a great wife also means I got you a great gift!! See you by the cake!

luxury camping

2010-08-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

I bet if more trailers looked like this more people would like camping. How could you not feel like a queen?? I, for one, might never leave my trailer. Instead handsome servants wearing tiny clothes would bring me yummy things to eat and pretty shoes to approve.

via JumpedShip

good indeed

2010-08-03T20:05:00.000-04:00

Goodness I love this! This is the winner of Good's "Take a Picture of Someone Doing Something Good" photo contest. I would've voted for this pic 1000 times.

weekend round-up

2010-08-02T20:53:00.002-04:00

Well not only am I coming off my weekend but I'm also coming off a weeks vacation so that would explain the lack of blogging etc. As is my norm, when I'm on vacation I tend to vacation from everything -- internet included. That means no blogging, no blog reading, no celebrity gossip perusing, very minimal email checking -- everything. The tech check-out is one of my favourite parts of being on vacation -- no hard feelings though blogland!!

Spent my week off staying pretty low-key but not really by choice. Been hit pretty hard by some third trimester nausea (which is super common but I had no idea was coming) which unfortunately laid me up on and off during the days. Not to mention it was crazy hot this week and I'm just getting too ginormous to be able to handle this heat very well. Anyway, it was still a good week off but was also a prime example of why I hate taking time off by myself and when I have nothing to do -- I just end up sitting around fussing with tiny things feeling like I'm getting nothing done. Sigh...

Anyway we kicked off my last weekend of freedom by a last minute fancy dinner at Ristorante Verdicchio. What a treat! Especially when it was so unexpected! We even got serenaded by the resident guitar and accordion players -- when they saw my giant belly they started playing a lullaby for us. It was really sweet. We're trying to take advantage of this remaining time alone before the baby comes and time is running out!!

Saturday most of our day was taken up with the most mundane errand EVER!! All I need is a double curtain rod for the nursery -- I don't want it to be black, it has to be deep enough to accommodate the depth of the original window casings in our house, and I'd like it not to be like every other piece of drapery hardware you see everywhere. After all, it is a nursery so why not find something unique right? Well apparently not. Every single double rod we found (when we found one at all that is) were either black or silver, too shallow and butt ugly. So after scouring the city for hours we came home with nothing at all. Grumble....

Came home from our fruitless errand and drowned our sorrows in a yummy dinner. Marc wrapped up some chicken in some bacon and tossed it on the BBQ along with some grilled sweet potatoes and some roasted corn on the cob. It totally helped to forget the frustration of the day.

Sunday we spent most of the day in the nursery attempting to put it in some kind of order. As it stood before, all of our mountain of baby stuff was "stored" on our guest bed as Marc still had woodwork to finish up in the nursery. Well with houseguests coming this weekend (for my baby shower -- EEP!) it pretty much dictated that we start moving stuff over. We moved around furniture, folded mountains of tiny clothes and blankets and just generally tried to make sense of things. Not sure if we totally accomplished that but at least the room is starting to look like maybe a baby might live there. And our houseguests won't have to fight their way to the bed in the guestroom. So that's a bonus too.

Took a break to visit the farmers market where we scored some perfect sweet plums and sugar pears -- perfection! Hit home in time for Marc to get in some gardening (farewell lettuce garden -- thanks for a great summer!!) then I made us a simple pasta dinner with a shredded zucchini and tomato sauce. Yum!!

Monday turned into a day of organizing -- organizing of epic proportions! What started as a conversation about how we hate this dilapidated lazy susan in our kitchen ended in a total kitchen re-org. The lazy susan is now totally abandoned (thank you god!) and everything has been moved around to places that make 100% more sense. Silly but I feel more productive in that kitchen already. Rewarded all our hard work with Marc's homemade grilled burgers and some ginger ice cream. Now I'm so tired I can't even see straight. Gonna hit my pj's and watch Mad Men and spend some quality time with my pillow.

Back to work tomorrow -- thanks for the long weekend love!!!!

summer shoe

2010-07-21T20:46:00.001-04:00

I love these Campers. If only my feet didn't resemble sausages at the moment....

These though? Well these little darlings might just fit someone else I can think of. Someone we might meet in about a month and a half...

kitchen vignette

2010-07-19T22:40:00.000-04:00

Hello perfect kitchen.

*via Home Sweet Home

how soundly would you sleep?

2010-07-19T22:10:00.000-04:00

....cuz I know I'd be a wee bit anxious about any sudden movements. Love the aesthetic though...

wedding succulents

2010-07-15T21:43:00.000-04:00

A wedding bouquet made up of only succulents = so pretty.

*via Craftzine*

river and sky

2010-07-15T21:33:00.000-04:00

Here's where I'll be this weekend -- bring a tent and come on out to the River and Sky Camping and Music Festival!! Tis the prettiest festival around.....

too early for christmas?

2010-07-13T20:11:00.001-04:00

I hope not cuz I'm already totally smitten with these deer bowls over at Mex Chic.

family tree

2010-07-12T22:12:00.000-04:00

Love this idea for a family tree. Simple, unique and lovely. I might have to "add to cart."

*courtesy of Cozy Blue's Etsy shop*

vinyl cafe

2010-07-12T21:15:00.002-04:00

In case you missed it on Sunday, this week's edition of The Vinyl Cafe was especially fantastic. Recorded on Manitoulin Island (our little island backyard), it had great music courtesy of Jim Bryson and a Dave and Morley story about losing their dog Arthur that made me cry and cry. Click here for the podcast if you feel like busting out some tissues.

portland wedding love

2010-07-12T20:03:00.000-04:00

I know I fall in love with a lot of weddings but this one might be my most favourite wedding ever. Kelly and Joseph had a wedding in the woods in Portland and it is cut straight from the cloth of my fantasy wedding. As a little girl I never, ever dreamed of my big white wedding in a church with all the trimmings. I only ever wanted a small, homestyle wedding on the dock of our family camp. That was never able to happen as my grandfather sold the camp when I was in my early teens - something I consider to be one of our great family tragedies. But I digress.

This wedding is exactly the wedding I would have wanted.

Of course there would be dogs....

I love the idea of a wedding party travelling through the forest.

I love the way her bouquet looks like she picked it on the way to the ceremony site. I'm also ultra in love with her perfect birdcage veil.

Picnic blankets everywhere -- best idea!!

And this. This is my favourite wedding photo of all time.

Photos by the truly gifted Leah Verwey.

weekend round-up

2010-07-12T19:30:00.000-04:00

Strange weekend I think. Typically I'd have spent this entire weekend at our city's annual music festival, the Northern Lights Festival Boreal but this year there were about 50 different things that kept me from being a festival bug for 3 days.

Friday we pretty much spent our entire evening running a pile of errands that we'd been putting off. Picked up some more flowers and herbs for the garden, bought the best skirt ever that I'm thinking I might wear for the entire rest of this pregnancy and just did a whole host of other tiny things. Got home in time for this lady to make some toast and crash out. I know, I am a wild party.

Saturday we made it out to the festival for the day at least but I was pretty under-whelmed with the whole experience. They had to change venues for this year and I just felt like it was really lacking in the atmosphere that usually makes the festival so wonderful. Being a huge fat pregnant lady didn't really help me get into the spirit of the whole thing either though so it was kinda an uphill battle for me from the start. With the extreme heat, zero shade, and no chairs I was just not a happy camper at all. I tried hard but just couldn't bring up the festival love I'm afraid. Headed home around supper time for a giant sun-stroked fueled nap and made it out again for the festival after-show at the Townehouse which perked me up considerably. A little Cuff the Duke will make any gal smile I think. Oh and we also watched Moon with our dinner -- what a great movie!!! Clearly talent does run in the Bowie family....

Sunday I slept in like crazy, we took Sadie to the lake for a swim, ran some more errands and were home in time for the World Cup Final game. And snacks!! Yay for Spain! Ole indeed!! Finished off the night with a truly delicious dinner courtesy of Marc (he made one of Mario Batali's recipes for beef with these super yummy vinegar potatoes) and some True Blood watching.

dogs = awesome

2010-07-09T21:34:00.001-04:00

A Corgi who only likes to be spoken to in an English accent. Love.

maxi summer

2010-07-05T21:04:00.000-04:00

This summer I've found myself living in maxi dresses for a few reasons: 1) They will fit me through this entire pregnancy. 2) They are insanely comfortable and cool in these sweltering heat waves. 3) They allow me to sit on the ground however I please without having to worry about giving anyone a crotch shot. 4) They can be easily dressed up or down. 4) No part of the dress is squeezing me, pinching me, flying up in a wind or otherwise exposing any area of myself that has swollen with pregnancy. All in all, the maxi dress might be my summer pregnancy essential. Here are some over at Modcloth that I'm currently coveting even though I only have about 10 weeks to go.

sloppy joes

2010-07-05T20:40:00.001-04:00

So with every pregnancy comes strange cravings and mine, while there hasn't been anything ridiculous like ice cream and pickles, I am finding myself wanting foods I never usually eat. Like hotdogs for instance. Normally I never eat hotdogs -- I don't like them, I don't agree with them on a moral level, I just generally think they're despicable. This pregnancy I've had 2, one of which I bought on the street. Go figure.

Sloppy joes is another one. Last week brought a viscious sloppy joe craving and I remembered seeing what looked like a delicious recipe in that Ellie Krieger "Foods You Crave" cookbook that I have and happen to love (blogged about in the past here and here). So out came the book and out come some pretty damn good sloppy joes -- and healthy to boot!

I highly recommend this recipe if you're looking for some childhood comfort food that's also easier on the waistline.

Recipe here!

weekend round-up

2010-07-05T19:26:00.001-04:00

Well it was the Canada Day long weekend (not technically but yes if you were smart enough to take the Friday off) so there were lots of good times/good food/good naps to be had if you knew where to look!

Thursday being Canada Day I was found where I can be found every year and that's the annual Canada Day multi-cultural food fair (after a nice morning hike with Sadie of course). We noshed on some African stew, some Korean dumplings and some Filipino noodles and veggies and topped it off with a gigantic homemade ice cream sammich. Followed that by an afternoon of sunny patio drinks with some friends and you've got yourself a pretty decent mid-week holiday!

Friday I was off solo (Marc being one of those silly folk who did not take the day off) so after my morning conservation area visit with Sadie (again!) we hung about the house being domestic and trying to shake the pregnancy dizzies I seemed to be saddled with most of the day. Evening saw us having dinner with friends Ben and Fran (Ben's in town all week working on his next short film) and their Aussie pal Christina. A very detailed dinner conversation focused solely on ice cream sent us careening to the nearest gelato place post-dinner and thankfully we made it there with mere moments to spare before they closed up shop for the night. Summer night gelato might be the best summer idea ever.

Saturday was the beginning of our crazy heat wave. And by crazy I mean crazy. Way too hot for this gal and her baby belly to be sure!! Thankfully, Marc had early morning blueberry picking plans so he brought Sadie along with him into the bush thus tiring her out for the rest of the day. And he came back with 4 litres of berries after only 2 hours of picking! These blueberries are mostly destined to become perserved blueberries in brandy for the winter but the rest of them have been ending up in my new daily smoothie routine and some even ended up in our dinner that night -- Marc made a pretty delicious blueberry balsamic BBQ sauce concoction!

Sunday guess what? Still way too hot for this mama-to-be but a last minute invite by some friends to join them at the shady, breezy conservation area with the pooches and kidlets proved to be a nice reprieve from the stifling heat of the "city." Jeniva has a lovely Portugese water dog and a brand new 5 month old Chihuahua named Lupita that is just the cutest thing. Watching Sadie eyeball Lupita was pretty adorable I gotta say. The end of Sadie's snout is the same size as Lupita's whole face!! Anyway, Sadie decided that that day was her day to finally learn to swim and as she launched herself off a dock you could see her re-thinking her plan for sure. The thing with Sadie is that she'll happily go into the water but when she can't touch she begins flailing her front feet like she's fighting her way out of hot lava while her back legs do nothing at all and she sinks like a furry black stone. This time, after really giving herself no other option, she flailed her front feet like crazy and slowly, verrrrry slooooowly, made it back to shore, soaked and terrified, but on shore. Oh Sadie, a Labrador you are not....

Here's a pic of Sadie before she decided to launch herself off the dock. Back when she was having fun with the whole swimming thing.

So all in all, a pretty great weekend if not a little on the warm side. Boo to back to work!!

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for July 1st -- Canada Day!

2010-07-01T18:11:00.003-04:00

CKLU 96.7 fm

6-8pm (18:00-20:00)

italics denotes a new release

* denotes Canadian talent

Our annual Canada Day show!! All our fave new and old Canuck greats!!

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!

The Beauties -- Tired Fired Blues -- The Beauties *
Broken Social Scene -- Chase Scene -- Forgiveness Rock Record *
Royal Canoe -- Saw An Arrow -- Co-Op Mode *
Forest City Lovers -- Keep The Kids Inside -- Carriage *
The Acorn -- Cobbled From Dust -- No Ghost *
The Salteens -- Don't Break My Heart -- Moths *
Eric's Trip -- Run Away -- Forever Again *
Sarah Harmer & Jason Euringer -- Blue Moon of Kentucky -- Songs for Clem *
Jason Collett -- Sorry Lou -- Here's to Being Here *
Cuff the Duke -- Take My Money and Run -- Cuff the Duke *
The New Pornographers -- Failsafe -- The Challengers *
The Sadies -- A Simple Aspiration -- New Seasons *
The Constantines -- The Long Distance Four -- The Constantines *
Danny Michel -- Tennessee Tobacco -- Valhalla *
Hayden -- The Van Song -- In Field and Town *
The Wooden Sky -- Call If You Need Me -- If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone *
Gordon Lightfoot -- Steel Rail Blues -- Gord's Gold *
Immaculate Machine -- You Destroyer -- High on Jackson Hill *
Feist -- Past in Present -- The Reminder *
The Statues -- Fine Tuned -- Aux *
The Band -- Ophelia -- Best of the Band *
Sunparlour Players -- John Had a Bell & Whistle -- Hymns for the Happy *
Teenage Head -- Tearin' Me Apart -- Teenage Head with Marky Ramone
Jim Guthrie -- You Are Here ( Do You Exist?) -- Now, More Than Ever *
Nathan Lawr -- Bury Me Blues -- Secret Carpentry *
Joel Plaskett -- Every Time You Leave -- Three *
Rock Plaza Central -- Anthem for the Already Defeated -- Are We Not Horses? *
Amy Millan -- I Will Follow You Into the Dark -- Masters of the Burial *
The Weakerthans -- Confessions of a Futon-Revolutionist -- Fallow *
Chad VanGalen -- Molten Light -- Soft Airplane *
Julie Doiron -- Yer Kids -- Woke Myself Up *
Two Hours Traffic -- Close Up To Me -- Isolator *
Metric -- Stadium Love -- Fantasties *
The Queers -- Punk Rock Girls -- Don't Back Down *
The Arcade Fire -- Keep the Car Running -- Neon Bible *

happy canada day!

2010-07-01T17:24:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone is as happy as this guy is on Canada Day!! Mine is going pretty darn great if I do say so myself! Bit of a lay around this morning with Marc which has been pretty rare these days considering usually by the time morning rolls around my bladder is well-past "explosion" mode. Followed that by a great morning hike with Sadie where she managed to get good and muddy then washed off nice and clean in the lake, back home to freshen up and walk downtown for our annual multi-cultural food fair (where we stuffed my patriotic face full of African stew, Korean dumplings, Filipino fried noodles and veggies and a very Canadian giant ice cream sammich), then on to sunny patio drinks with some friends, home for a quick nap then off to do my annual Canada Day edition of Hot Bunny Radio.

Phew....

animal alphabet chart

2010-06-29T20:30:00.001-04:00

Continuing our theme of yesterday, check out this great print of Anna Bond's painting of an animal alphabet chart. Since our much-loved arctic animals print from yesterday is sadly out of stock, perhaps this will fill the void?

Available at the always lovely Rifle Paper Co.

acrtic animals

2010-06-28T20:06:00.001-04:00

I LOVE this screen print from Banquet's Etsy shop! We seem to have a bit of a "woodland creatures" thing going on in the nursery and I just think this would be perfect to add to the mix! Adorable forest creatures mixed with "fun facts" from Canada's far north? Come on...

manchego with honey brown butter sauce

2010-06-27T18:14:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago some friends of ours hosted a tapas dinner party and each guest was responsible for bringing one tapas course along with a matched wine. This afternoon as we noshed on a giant wedge of Manchego I was reminded that I never blogged about my contribution to the party! I was super pressed for time that day and didn't have any time to prepare any meat etc so off to the Fromagerie Elgin to procure a huge piece of Manchego. On the food network website I found this insane recipe for Manchego with Honey Brown Butter Sauce that was possibly the easiest thing I've ever made that packed the most flavourful punch. Make this for a dinner party and I swear people will be foaming at the mouth. I ended up cutting the cheese into little pieces instead of pouring the sauce over the whole wedge only because I thought it'd be easier (and less sticky) for people to manage.

weekend round-up

2010-06-27T17:52:00.004-04:00

Well this weekend brought my last weekend of holidays (for a bit anyway) so we had to make sure and say farewell on a high note. Started my Friday bright and early by taking Sadie out to the conservation area for a big hike and a swim -- all by 9am too I might add! Laid low Friday night cuz we were both pretty wiped so we feasted on a dinner of fancy cheeses and sundried tomato hummus. Yum!

Saturday we were out and about early with Sadie again only this time we shared the bush with all the anti-dog people in town it seemed. My favourite was the couple pushing a baby in a stroller (who had their own dog too I might add) who told us both times we ran into them, that they didn't want Sadie anywhere near the baby, despite the fact that Sadie showed zero interest at all in their precious baby. I mean, if she'd been rushing the stroller or something I'd totally get it but she wasn't even aware they had a baby at all. Perhaps they should've paid more attention to their own dog that was straining and pulling on their leash? Or if you're so worried about dogs around your baby, how about you don't bring your baby to a place where dogs are always running off leash? And the best part was that her husband, who was the one pushing the stoller, was totally chill about the whole thing and was all smiley and stuff while his crazy wife was telling everyone with a dog to keep them away from the baby. Jeepers...

Spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of some errands (new insurance deal = boring!) and getting ready for the 2nd annual Savour The Street event put on my our local restaurant association. We went last year for the inaugural event and had such a good time that we had to head down again this year. Basically they close down a street downtown, lay out one big long table that seats 250 people, and a pile of the local restaurants provide a course each. You eat all night under the sunset and there's music and even a loot bag! I'll go just about anywhere if I'm gonna get a loot bag! Last year we went alone but this year we went with 3 other couple friends of ours and did it up in style. Rolled ourselves home with the biggest, fullest bellies ever.

Sunday brought the unfortunate reality that I have to go back to work tomorrow so that meant doing buckets of laundry before the evening rains came. Sadie thankfully avoided any of the anti-dog folk by spending a good chunk of her day in the bush with Marc picking blueberries. I bowed out as picking blueberries likely the last thing I want to be doing right now at more than 7 months pregnant. My sense of balance is pretty much non-existent these days so I think I would've spent more time falling into the bushes than doing any picking. Thankfully I married a champion blueberry picker so he came home with a giant overflowing container full of deliciousness. The plan for these berries you ask? Some will be smoothie ingredients for sure, some will be muffins and the rest are destined to spend the fall in a big container of brandy getting all boozy and delicious.

Tonight I'm spending the evening with some pasta and my super yummy homemade garlic bread and the premiere of the new season of Entourage. I'm really hoping this season isn't as supremely shit-tastic as the last one was. At least someone over at HBO finally realized that Vince needed to cut his AWFUL hair....

anniversary vacation

2010-06-25T11:22:00.024-04:00

So we're fresh back from our anniversary vacation! This year obviously we had some travel restrictions what with me being 100 months pregnant and all so we decided to lay relatively low. A friend of Marc's offered us his cabin in Southampton for a few days (for free!!) and it was just what the doctor (and my poor swollen feet) ordered. When in doubt about how far you can push your pregnant belly, always opt for a few days of sitting on a gorgeous beach I say!

Took a ferry cruise around Georgian Bay - this is the famous "flower pot" on the aptly named Flower Pot Island.

This is Georgian Bay just being gorgeous.

I mean honestly, Ontario's got the best stuff...

...like shipwrecks under 2 metres of water!

The beach in Southampton that was about 20 seconds from our door.

Me and the belly at about 7 months.

Pretty flowers.

Our beach's sunsets. Crazy beautiful.

With light like this, how could we not take sparkly pictures of each other?

This was a weirdly hazy evening -- gave everything this fuzzy look.

Our teeny tiny slice of heaven in the trees.

Our annual contribution to our "us kissing in fun places" photo file.

Lake Huron rocky beaches.

How we spent the entire day - picnic, blanket, beach, perfection!

Getting some sun on the bambina -- she loved it and wiggled away the afternoon.

The beach houses with the dunes and sand going right up to their doors. Heaven...

The sunsets were insane. We took about 1000 pictures.

That's the Chantry Bay lighthouse. It's also a bird sanctuary.

All in all, a pretty lovely few days. A quick escape together was just what was needed before the fall when things will take a turn for the crazy!!!

body necklaces

2010-06-24T19:04:00.002-04:00

I've been seeing body necklaces popping up all over lately and I gotta say, I am not a fan. It just seems a bit too much like body armour or something. Why not just wear a big chunky statement necklace and be done with it? This just has too much of a medieval flare to it and I can't bring myself to get on board.

Thoughts?

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for June 24th

2010-06-24T18:15:00.003-04:00

CKLU 96.7FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!!

Sonic Avenues -- Out Of My Head -- Sonic Avenues (VINYL)*
The Jam -- In The Midnight Hour -- This is the Modern World
Beach Boys -- God Only Knows -- Pet Sounds
The Breeders -- Drivin' on 9 -- Last Splash
The Raveonettes -- Chain Gang of Love -- Chain Gang of Love
Dr. Dog -- I Only Wear Blue -- Shame, Shame
Mike O'Neill -- What Happens Now -- What Happens Now
Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir -- Oh Sorrow -- Fighting and Onions
The Zombies -- I Love You -- The Best of... (VINYL)
Willie Nelson -- Dusty Skies -- You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker
Wilco -- Blue Eyed Soul -- A.M
Neil Young -- After the Gold Rush -- After the Gold Rush *
The National -- Terrible Love -- High Violet *
She & Him -- Brand New Shoes -- Volume 2
Palace Brothers -- RIding -- Horseshoes & Handgrenades Vol.2
Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins -- It Wasn't Me -- Rabbit Fur Coat
Sugar -- Gift -- File Under Easy Listening
The Sadies -- American Pageant -- The Sadies In Concert Volume 1 *
The Damned -- Fan Club -- Damned, Damned, Damned
Forest City Lovers -- Minneapolis -- Carriage *
Metric -- Handshakes -- Live It Out *
Born Ruffians -- Come Back -- Say It *
Wooden Sky -- Angels -- If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone *
Broken Social Scene -- Meet Me In The Basement -- Forgiveness Rock Record *
RIco Bell & the Snakehandlers -- Money to Burn -- Horseshoes & Handgrenades Vol.1
Pavement -- Unfair -- Quarantine The Past
Sally Seltmann -- Dream About Changing -- Heart That's Pounding
The Gaslight Anthem -- Bring It On -- American Slang
Tokyo Police Club -- Breakneck Speed -- Champ*
Black Keys -- The Only One -- Brothers

NOTES THIS WEEK:

Sending out the Beach Boys to Marc as a belated anniversary "s'up"
I super heart that Mike O'Neill song...
Who's loving the new National record? I think we all should be...
Great Broken Social Scene & Pavement show at Toronto Island Festival!!!
How great is that Gaslight Anthem song?

happy anniversary

2010-06-21T18:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Anniversary to us! If I had to make it through this last year by myself, I know for a fact I would have thrown myself out the nearest window. You continue to make every day better even when that doesn't seem possible.

This next year will be the best ever and I find myself often in disbelief that we even get to have the year we're going to have and all the years after it.

Lovin ya.....

cake stands

2010-06-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

Am loving these gorgeous cake stands from Vessels and Wares. The one with the changeable ribbon might be my fave. I also love the idea of a tiny "happy birthday" cake stand with just enough room for one little cupcake just for me.

somewhere

2010-06-15T21:03:00.000-04:00

A friend sent me this trailer today and it's got everything in it set to make me happy. 1) It's Sofia Coppola who I love. 2) Music by Phoenix who I also love. 3) That Elle Fanning kid who's done pretty darn great with stuff I've seen her do. 4) Stephen Dorff and frankly any girl my age had a Stephen Dorff thing at some point. 5) It's all father/daughter relationshipy stuff which these days is obviously enough to make my heart go all hippy dippy.

she & him live!

2010-06-11T20:41:00.000-04:00

Had the extreme pleasure of seeing She and Him for a third time the other night and despite the show being at one of my least favourite venues in all of Toronto, the show was incredible. They closed the show with their version of "Roll Over Beethoven" and turned the whole place into a 50's sock hop -- probably one of best cover choices I've seen a band make in a very long time. Got to see the show with a pile of good friends and family so all in all, no complaints from this lady (except for my swollen SWOLLEN feet which would likely have lots to complain about were you to ask them).

"I Was Made For You"

"You Really Got a Hold on Me"

"This Is Not A Test"

"In The Sun"

Here's their really great cover of Joni Mitchell's "You Turn Me On I'm A Radio"

peanut butter tahini cookies

2010-06-08T20:47:00.000-04:00

Could it be? Two of my favourite things in one cookie AND it's delicious?? Peanut Butter Tahini Cookies courtesy of My Diary of a Foodie. Yes please!

yoga

2010-06-07T21:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight I had my very first pre-natal yoga class and am feeling so good I figured a feeling this good deserves its own post. Lately I feel tight, sore, fat and achey -- basically a cocktail of pleasurable feelings like that. I used to take yoga once a week when I belonged to the YMCA and have missed it ever since I cancelled my membership. Another pregnant friend of mine suggested to go to this class together and I'm so happy I did. Now I feel all loose and earth-motherly and ready to tackle anything. And the kid? Well she seems to be happier than a clam -- she's wiggling all around in perfect baby contentment.

Can there be a class every night please?

summer no bake lasagna

2010-06-07T11:53:00.000-04:00

Saw this Summer Lasagna over at Framed and it's going on my "to try" list for sure! Especially on one of those nights when it's so hot the thought of cooking makes you want to cry? This lasagna requires no baking! And nothing is better in the summer than fresh tomatoes and zucchini with a little fresh ricotta thrown into the mix. Talk about a bit of summer heaven on a plate!

Click here for the full recipe!

botanical wedding

2010-06-04T20:25:00.000-04:00

Oh me oh my, I want to get married again and have this wedding all to myself! DesignSponge posted this feature on Jill and Matt's amazingly beautiful wedding and I couldn't love it more.

All these messy wildflower looking bouquets? Lovely!!

DIY seed packets as wedding favours - we used wildflower packets ourselves but these are just too darling. I love the birdsnest idea!

They handmade hair accessories from vintage silk flowers and every guest took one and wore it for the ceremony - swoon!

Save the date cards made to look like vintage botanical cards.

They had ties made special for the groomsmen and had their names embroidered on the backs.

And the cake topper which is probably my favourite thing of all.

Married again please!!!

birth plaque

2010-06-04T20:04:00.001-04:00

I love this idea. If my parents or grandparents had birth plaques I would absolutely hang them in my house. I'd love to get one made for our belly-dweller in the hopes that someone will want to hang on to it as a keepsake.

I also love the little bird plaque for outside the room. Cuz everyone should have their room labeled I say....

Available at Rae Dunn's lovely Etsy shop.

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for June 3rd

2010-06-03T17:57:00.003-04:00

CKLU 96.7FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!

Jenny Lewis -- The Last Messiah -- Acid Tongue (VINYL)
Wilco -- Monday -- Being There
Dinosaur Jr -- On The Brink -- Without A Sound
Duane Eddy -- Three-30-Blues -- Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel
Nathan Wiley -- Long Gone -- Bottom Dollar *
The Juliana Hatfield Three -- My Sister -- Become What You Are
Pretty Girls Make Graves -- Pictures of a Night Scene -- Elan Vital
Pixies - Caribou -- Surfer Rosa/Come on Pilgrim
The Beauties -- Without You -- The Beauties *
Bonnie Prince Billy -- Wai -- The Letting Go
Jenny Omnichord -- Lifeline -- All Our Little Bones *
Teenage Fanclub -- Metal Baby -- Bandwagonesque
Broken Social Scene -- All to All -- Forgiveness Rock Record *
Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band -- White Shoes -- Outer South
Johnny Brunette & the Rock'n Roll Trio - Buttefingers -- Tear It Up: THe Complete Legendary Coral Recordings
Black Keys -- Never Gonna Give You Up -- Brothers
Bap Kennedy -- Vampire -- You Can Count on Me OSR
Damian Jurado -- Best Dress -- Caught in the Trees (VINYL)
Lily Frost -- The City Seems So Far -- Viridian Torch *
The Flying Burrito Brothers -- Older Guys -- Sacred Hearts & Fallen Angels
The Sadies -- Tell Her What I Said -- Darker Circles *
The Beach Boys -- Caroline No -- Pet Sounds
Young Rival -- Just Can't Stay Here -- Young Rival *
Townes van Zandt -- High, Low and In Between -- High, Low and In Between
Basia Bulat -- Heart of My Own -- Heart of My Own *
Plants & Animals -- American Idol -- La La Land *
Pavement -- Frontwards -- Quarantine The Past
She and Him -- Lingering Still -- Volume Two (VINYL)

NOTES THIS WEEK:

Man, Acid Tongue is one record I never,ever tire of...
Dear Duane Eddy -- best album title ever!!
The Beauties live are ridiculous -- find them and see them!
That version of Never Gonna Give You Up makes me all sway-y..
heading to see She and Him on Wednesday!! Youpee!!!!

mocktails anyone?

2010-06-01T21:12:00.001-04:00

Know what I'm really noticing as the weather heats up? Restaurants and bars have terrible selections of non-alcoholic drink options for those of us "in the condition." I'm getting really tired of drinking ginger-ale or plain ice water. Even around the house I'm trying to be pretty creative with the evening drinks to avoid just downing sodas and gallons of water to quench this never-ending pregnancy thirst (thanks for not telling me about this part pregnant friends!). Poor Marc has been gallantly mixing club soda with pureed blender fruit, making me smoothies every 5 minutes of the day and I've upped my already copious amounts of milk-drinking to a galactic level. And I must give props to Stappj, the Italian bitter soda company, for single-handedly saving me in my first 3 months of morning sickness.

However despite all our efforts, I still find myself endlessly searching for new beverage options for me and this super-thirsty belly dweller. Here are some options I know I'll be busting out this summer...

Dragonfruit Smoothie courtesy of Angelolli

Pineapple Kiwi Smoothie courtesy of Notecook

Strawberry Balsamic Berry Spritzer courtesy of A Cozy Kitchen

Hibiscus Pomegranate Tea courtesy of Chez Cayenne

Homemade Ginger Ale courtesy of Food Mayhem

Blackberry Lime Spritzer courtesy of Craftzine

Strawberry Lassi courtesy of a 1/2 Food Blog

Root Beer Float courtesy of Five Second Rule

Blueberry & Banana Smoothie with Agave and Yogurt courtesy of Honey, What's Cooking

Strawberry Vanilla Agua Fresca With Honey courtesy of Vanilla & Lace

Raspberry Mojito (virgin for me of course) courtesy of A La Carte Kitchen

pudding

2010-06-01T19:44:00.000-04:00

Not that I would ever turn down pudding but quite frankly this pregnancy is making me crave pudding on a minute-to-minute basis. From fancy homemade pudding to the kind straight of the tiny little rectangular box -- I takes what I's can get. Here are a few making me drool...

Butterscotch Pudding courtesy of Eggbeater

Split Level Pudding courtesy of Sassafras Cafe

Vegan Chocolate Pudding courtesy of The Kitchy Kitchen

Chocolate Pot de Creme courtesy of The Urban Baker

Banana pudding courtesy of Freeing My Martha

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for May 20th

2010-05-20T17:57:00.005-04:00

CKLU 96.7FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!

Shotgun Jimmie -- You've Changed -- Paint It Pink EP *
Monsters of Folk -- Man Named Truth -- Monsters of Folk
Violent Femmes -- Old Mother Reagan -- The Blind Leading the Naked
David Bowie -- Lady Stardust -- Ziggy Stardust
The Salteens -- You Stood Out From the Crowd -- Let Go Of Your Bad Days *
Broken Social Scene -- Texico Bitches -- Forgiveness Rock Record *
Willie Nelson -- Undo the Right -- Crazy: The Demo Sessions
The Lemonheads -- December -- The Lemonheads
Yeasayer -- Love Me Girl -- Odd Blood
Sarah Harmer -- Uniform Grey -- You Were Here *
John Doe & The Sadies -- Are the Good TImes Really Over For Good -- Country Club
Dr. Dog -- Jackie Wants a Black Eye -- Shame, Shame
Elliott Brood -- Oh, Alberta -- Tin Type *
Plumtree -- Tropical -- Mass Teen Fainting*
Hannah Georgas -- Chit Chat - This is Good *
Ronnie Spector -- Don't Worry Baby -- She Talks to Rainbows
Big Star -- Try Again -- #1 Record/Radio City Remastered
Nathan Lawr & the MInotaurs -- Footsteps -- A Sea of Tiny Lights *
Camera Obscura -- Anti-Western -- Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi
GIrls -- Ghost Mouth -- Album
Eric's Trip -- My Bed is Red -- The Eric's Trip Show*
Jenny Omnichord -- Thinking Of You -- All Our Little Bones *
Billy Bragg & Wilco - She Came Along to Me -- Mermaid Avenue
The Avett Brothers - Causey Commentary -- Mignonette
The Avett Brothers -- SSS -- Mignonette
The Salteens -- Frequency -- Moths EP *
Amy Millan -- Finish Line -- Masters of the Burial *
Kate Nash -- I Just Love You More -- My Best Friend is You
Neko Case -- Thrice All American -- Furnace Room Lullaby
The Replacements -- Johnny's Gonna Die -- Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out the Trash
The Black Keys -- Next Girl -- Brothers
She and Him -- Me and You -- Volume Two (VINYL)

Notes this week:

Played some old Salteens to gear up for the new Salteens record -- back in 2003 we here at HBR pretty much wore out the station's copy of Let Go Of Your Bad Days. Super pumped for the new record...
Willie.....such sweet summer night music...
Ditto for you Miss Harmer...
Love this Dr. Dog record STILL. Think that means I should buy it...
Mass Teen Fainting is going in the car this weekend for listening FOR SURE
Nobody writes sweet songs about babies and pregnancy better than Jenny Omnichord...
Had to play that strange Avett Bros exchange cuz it made me laugh earlier today..
New Salteens!! Little EP as a preview of the full record that comes out in August
The new Kate Nash record is worth it just for the inside tray photo...
I've been waiting for She and Him on vinyl. Waiting and waiting. So patiently...

interspecies reunion

2010-05-14T21:06:00.000-04:00

I will likely *totally* blame this pregnancy for the weep-fest that happened when I watched this super sweet video of a researcher being reunited with a gorilla he raised and released into the wild.

today is my birthday....

2010-05-04T20:01:00.002-04:00

...and in three and a half months it'll be her birthday.

babies

2010-05-02T21:16:00.000-04:00

Oh man, have you seen this trailer for the movie "Babies?" I don't know if it's just cuz I'm pregnant but it's killing me with it's cuteness. The Namibian babies at the beginning actually make my belly twinge they're so friggin cute!! And the very last scene in Mongolia? Laughed right out loud. From what I've read the movie follows 4 new babies from Namibia, Mongolia, San Francisco and Tokyo...from birth to their first steps. It's set to release on May 7th and I'm gonna try and track it down in Toronto this week. Knowing me lately, I'll probably need a tissue..

happy monday

2010-04-26T20:04:00.000-04:00

Dogs = awesome. Dogs sleeping on donkeys = awesomest.

happy friday

2010-04-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

Sweet jebus....

valentino

2010-04-23T20:56:00.000-04:00

Diane Birch's "Valentino" video is just adorable.

english seaside dress

2010-04-22T18:23:00.002-04:00

Some leggings and a super cute pair of great flats? This dress could get a pregnant belly through a summer too no?

carnival tank

2010-04-22T18:01:00.001-04:00

I think this Carnival Tank would look super adorable over a big pregnant belly don't you?

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 22nd

2010-04-22T17:54:00.003-04:00

CKLU 96.7 FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Emmylou Harris -- Amarillo -- Elite Hotel (VINYL)
Neil Young -- Tell Me Why -- Live at Massey Hall 1971 *
Thievery Corporation -- Treasures -- The Mirror Conspiracy
Joel Plaskett -- Demons -- Three *
Justin Rutledge -- Be A Man -- The Early Widows
Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues -- Amazing Grace -- Dark Was the Night
Hawksley Workman -- You Are Too Beautiful -- Treeful of Starling *
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion -- Torture -- Acme
Wilco -- You Are My Face -- Sky Blue Sky
Nathan Lawr & the Minotaurs -- Make Yourself That Moment -- A Sea of Tiny Lights (VINYL) *
You Say Party! We Say Die! -- Glory -- XXXX *
George Harrison -- Learning How to Love You -- Thirty Three & 1/3 (VINYL)
Dave Reachill -- I'll Take the Road -- The Dave Reachill EP *
Scarlett Johannson & Pete Yorn -- Search Your Heart -- The Break Up
Radiohead -- Thinking About You -- Pablo Honey (VINYL)
Feist -- Sea Lion Woman -- The Reminder *
Loose Fur -- The Ruling Class -- Born Again in the USA
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists -- Gimme the Wire -- The Brutalist Bricks
The Vinaigrettes -- P.S I Hate You -- Atta Boy Girl *
Kinnie Starr -- High Heels -- A Different Day *
The Fratellis -- Whistle For The Choir -- Costello Music
Plants and Animals -- American Idol -- La La Land *
Jenny Whitely -- Soda Machine - Jenny Whitely *
The Statues -- Attention! -- New People Make Us Nervous *
Jenny Omnichord -- All Our Little Bows -- All Our Little Bones *
Link Wray -- The Swag -- Rumble!
David Myles -- Out of Love -- Turn Time Off *
Elliott Smith -- Let's Get Lost -- From A Basement on a Hill
Sally Seltmann -- 5 Stars -- Heart That's Pounding
Regina Spektor -- Us -- (500) Days of Summer OSR

Notes this week:

hmmm......feeling very non-chatty tonight....
Farewell Nathan Lawr!! Sudbury's favourite adopted son! Take good care of him Guelph!
Dave Reachill eh? I like. Very pretty.
Radiohead for a very old friend I don't speak to anymore who lost his father today.
Pretty jazzed about seeing Plants and Animals this summer!
I do love me some Jenny Whitely....
Attention Europe!!! Eyes open for Sudbury's favourite punk band The Statues! Soon to be seen in a bar near you!
Man that David Myles sure can write a song....
Songs like "Let's Get Lost" make me really mad at Elliott Smith for killing himself. Big jerk...

happy earth day

2010-04-22T11:55:00.001-04:00

Hope we all walked to work today!!

*Earth Day cake pops via Vanilla & Lace*

kitchen envy

2010-04-20T20:18:00.002-04:00

Abby says this is her dream kitchen but in actuality, it's MY dream kitchen I think. I detest the idea of uniform cabinets and relish the idea of a kitchen that looks pieced together with amazing vintage finds. White subway tile which has been long discussed on this blog as one of my favourite looks combined with all the rich woods and mismatched over-sized lighting? I'm dying of kitchen jealousy.....

roasted broccoli

2010-04-20T20:12:00.003-04:00

Saw this recipe for roasted broccoli over at The Amateur Gourmet and I couldn't get home fast enough to make it. Turns out it's actually Ina Garten's recipe (which explains the insane deliciousness of it). If you're like me you likely have your tried and true way of making broccoli and while I'm certainly not abandoning that method any time soon (cuz it's super yummy) this is certainly a nice change. I never think to roast broccoli until caramelized and turns out it's also a great use for broccoli that may be a bit past it's prime since it doesn't matter how crisp it is if you're just gonna roast it at a high temperature.

This recipe is super worth the try -- it's dead simple and tasty beyond tasty.

Click here for the how-to!!

boy stuff for girls

2010-04-20T20:00:00.005-04:00

So Marc and I have always been of the mindset that any baby of ours would wear whatever was cute -- none of this only pink or blue nonsense. I've been randomly buying cute baby stuff for about a year now -- totally disregarding if I was in the boy or girl section of the store. And you know what? I'm totally cool with that. Even now that we know we're having a girl I'm still window-shopping in the boy section. Yesterday I bought a super adorable little sleeper that has caterpillars all over it from the boys section cuz I thought it was just too cute to pass up.

Am I going to get dirty looks from the other moms whose baby girls are decked out in nothing but pink from head to toe??? Is the idea of a little baby girl wearing a shirt with a truck on it really that offensive???

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 15th

2010-04-20T19:43:00.004-04:00

CKLU 96.7 FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!!

Royal City -- Can't You -- Little Heart's Ease *
Operation Makeout -- You and Me Geometry -- Team Mint Volume 2 *
Young Rival -- Just Can't Stay Here -- Young Rival *
Plumtree -- Scott Pilgrim -- Predicts the Future *
Dr. Dog -- I Only Wear Blue -- Shame, Shame
Parkas -- My Life of Crime -- Now This is Fighting *
Dressy Bessy -- There's A Girl -- Sound Go Round
David Myles -- People Don't Change -- Turn Time Off *
Rosie Flores and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts -- I Ain't Got You -- Girl of the Century
Ben Kweller -- In Other Words -- Sha Sha
Caitlin Rose -- Shotgun Wedding -- Dead Flowers EP
The Lemonheads -- Rule of Three -- The Lemonheads
Billy and the Lost Boys -- Between the Lines -- Breaking Down the Barrier That Break Down Your Music *
The Deadly Snakes -- High Prices Going Down -- Porcella *
The High Dials -- The House Where Trouble Sleeps -- Fields in Glass *
Blake Babies -- Rain - earwig
Plants and Animals -- Kon Tiki -- La La Land
The Jayhawks -- Settled Down Like Rain -- Hollywood Town Hall
Neko Case -- Rolling Stone -- A Tribute to "Nashville"
John Southworth -- Same Old, Same Old -- Sedona, Arizona
Huevos Rancheros -- Rocket to Nowhere -- Endsville!
Patrick Watson -- Fireweed -- Wooden Arms *
Melissa McClelland -- I Blame You -- Victoria Day *
Shotgun Jimmie -- Unlimited -- Paint It Pink *
Julie Doiron & Wooden Stars -- Sweeter -- Julie Doiron & Wooden Stars *
The Swell Season -- In These Arms -- Strict Joy
Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down -- She's Fantastic -- Phantom Punch
The Frenetics -- The Feeling She Deserves -- Grey Veins to the Parking Lot *
Destroyer -- Introducing Angels -- Trouble in Dreams *
Jason Bajada -- Home's Still Your Bones -- Loveshit
Beth Orton -- Carmella -- Daybreaker
Monsters of Folk -- Whole Lotta Losin' -- Monsters of Folk
Sally Seltmann -- Harmony to my Heartbeat -- Heart That's Pounding

Notes this week:

Yup, I'm still digging that Dr. Dog despite their awful name...
David Myles -- lyrics are really really great, produced by Joel Plaskett!
New Plants & Animals makes Tara a happy girl....
Sallt Seltmann - otherwise known as New Buffalo and "the other girl" that wrote Feist's "1,2,3,4" song. Good stuff....

baby cowgirl

2010-04-17T10:35:00.002-04:00

So this is the big news I suppose -- after a year of nothing but uphill battles and losses, it seems there is now a tiny girl renting out space in my belly!! Likely explains all the ruffley dresses I've been eyeing lately...

Due in September which means a long hot summer for this girl!! But on the plus side, that also means I can spend my entire summer in long flowy summer dresses which also means I get to shop for said long flowy summer dresses. All good things....

napping puppy

2010-04-08T21:24:00.001-04:00

I love how moving out of the water bowl is never an option for him.

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 8th

2010-04-08T18:01:00.003-04:00

CKLU 96.7 FM
6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent
italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!

Otis Redding -- My Girl -- Live in Europe (VINYL)
Joel Plaskett -- It's Catching On -- Down at the Khyber *
The Beatles -- All You Need is Love -- 1967- 1970
Whiskeytown -- My Hometown -- Pneumonia
Frank Black -- Don't Ya Rile Em -- Frank Black
Dr. Dog -- Station -- Shame, Shame
M Ward (and Zooey Deschanel) -- Rave On -- Hold Time
Curtis Mayfield -- Between You Baby and Me -- The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield
Billy Bragg & Wilco -- Secrets of the Sea -- Mermaid Avenue Vol.2
Guided By Voices -- Little Whirl -- Alien Lanes
Neko Case -- Andy -- Canadian Amp (VINYL)
The Statues -- Electric Fences -- New People Make Us Nervous *
Big Star -- Stroke It Noel -- Third/ Sister Lovers
The Replacements -- I Don't Know -- Nothing For All
Tanya Donelly -- RIver Girls -- This Hungry Life
The KInks -- A Well Respected Man -- The Kinks Greatest Hits!! (VINYL)
Yeasayer -- Strange Reunions -- Odd Blood
Dead Man's Bones -- Werewolf Head -- Dead Man's Bones
Immaculate Machine -- Small Talk -- Fables *
Young Rival -- Got What You Need -- Young Rival *
Johnny Thunders -- London Boys -- So Alone
Buddy Holly -- Tell Me How -- Buddy Holly & the Crickets (VINYL)
Sex Pistols -- No Feelings -- Never Mind the Bollocks
New York Dolls -- Private World -- New York Dolls
Patsy Cline - Heartaches -- The Patsy Cline Story (VINYL)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- Breathless -- The Lyre of Orpheus
The Faces -- Ooh La La -- Rushmore OSR
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists -- One Polaroid A Day - The Brutalist Bricks
The Wooden Sky -- Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me) -- If I Don't Come Home, You'll Know I'm Gone *
Aretha Franklin -- Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby) -- Young, Gifted and Black (VINYL)
Caitlin Rose -- Answer in One of These Bottles -- Dead Flowers
Link Wray -- Dixie-Doodle -- Rumble!
The Weakerthans -- (Past Due) -- Reconstruction Site *
Elvis Costello -- No Dancing - My Aim Is True (VINYL)
The John Henrys -- Little One -- White Linen *

Notes this week:

If Otis doesn't fix this awful day for you, well then I give up;
All You Need is Love also will make you happy in the slush;
Played Dr. Dog knowing nothing at all about it. The verdict? I am liking it a lot so far!!
Neko Case's cover of Andy is just ridiculous in its perfection;
Did a tiny little Malcolm McLaren memorial set;
I freaking LOVE that Nick Cave song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup, still love this Wooden Sky record - fingers crossed for summer festival appearances!
My latest love is this Caitlin Rose EP....

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for April 1st

2010-04-01T17:59:00.003-04:00

CKLU 96.7fm

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!

Tom Waits -- Wrong Side of the Road -- Blue Valentine (VINYL)
Camera Obscura -- You Told A Lie -- My Maudlin Career
Kevin Drew -- Backed Out on the.... -- Spirit If *
The John Henrys -- Hit the Floor -- White Linen *
The Clash -- Spanish Bombs -- London Calling
Al Green -- Look What You Done For Me -- I'm Still in Love With You (VINYL)
The Queers -- I Only Drink Bud -- Don't Back Down *
Stars -- What I'm Trying to Say -- Set Yourself on Fire *
The Replacements -- Colour Me Impressed -- Hootenanny
Yukon Blonde -- Rather Be With You -- Yukon Blonde *
Bonnie Raitt -- Everybody's Cryin Mercy -- Takin My Time (VINYL)
Juliana Hatfield -- Only Love Can Break Your Heart -- Gold Stars
Teenage Fanclub -- December -- Bandwagonesque
Romi Mayes & the Temporarily Employed -- Mama Ain't No Fool -- The Living Room Sessions Volume 1 *
John Doe & the Sadies -- Help Me Make It Through The Night -- Country Club
Pavement -- Cut Your Hair -- Quarantine The Past
Cat Power -- Aretha, Sing One For Me -- Jukebox
Echo & the Bunnymen -- Bring on the Dancing Horses -- Songs to Learn & Sing
The Raveonettes -- The Love Gang -- Chain Gang of Love
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists -- Even Heroes Have to Die -- The Brutalist Bricks
The National -- So Far Around the Bend -- Dark Was the Night
The Who -- Shakin' All Over -- Live at Leeds (VINYL)
Neko Case -- We've Never Met -- Furnace Room Lullaby
Royal City -- My Brother is the Meatman -- Alone at the Microphone *
Social Distortion -- Angel's Wings -- Sex, Love and Rock n Roll
Jason Collett -- Long May You Love -- Rat a Tat Tat *
Bob Dylan -- Gates of Eden -- The Bootleg Series - Volume 6, Bob Dylan Live 1964

NOTES THIS WEEK:

Tom Waits sure is handsome on the cover of Blue Valentine...
Had to play a lying song on April Fool's Day I suppose....
Man do I ever need a song like Spanish Bombs on a great sunny day like today...
Also needed on a sunny day? Al Green....
Al Green to The Queers -- that's gotta be the best transition ever!
This new Yukon Blonde record sounds a bit Big Star-y...
In case you didn't know, I can TOTALLY sing like 1970's Bonnie Raitt...
What is it about Teenage Fanclub's "Bandwagonesque" that makes me feel all summery and great???
I got's me Pavement tickets for June!! Eeeeep!
New Ted Leo = toes tapping.

sadie the sled-puller

2010-03-31T20:27:00.003-04:00

This past winter Marc did an amazing job teaching Sadie how to pull a sled!! Here's some shots of her in action pulling my niece Emily and pulling Kaili's son Milo. She's so cute when she's pulling - like she's got a little job to do and it's time to be very serious....

sxsw 2010

2010-03-31T19:43:00.007-04:00

So SXSW 2010 has come and gone and so here's a bit of a photographic review of the whole thing. It was a really fun year but I did find that my heart just wasn't in it as epicly as it was when we went in 2008. But early spring in Austin is still quite a nice break from early spring in Northern Ontario, I'll tell you that much!!

Drove 25 miles outside of Austin to the Salt Lick BBQ - voted to be one of the top 10 best BBQ's in North America. It was so worth the drive.

I took this picture to show you how big my brisket sammich was in comparison to my can of Dr. Pepper. It was almost the same height. I ate about 1/8 of this beast.

Austin also has a cupcake truck. Pretty genius idea on a chilly Austin day even though the cupcakes are $3!

I was REALLY excited to see Big Star perform at SXSW but unfortunately singer Alex Chilton died on the first day of the conference. They did a memorial panel for him with a couple founding members of the legendary band. It was very moving.

Cheap Trick played. How can you not go and see Cheap Trick????

The SXSW guitar show. I took this picture just for all my boys back home.

Neko Case and Kelly Hogan singing backup for Jakob Dylan. As per usual they were perfection. Jakob Dylan? Meh....

One day we got to take a boatcruise sponsored by SOCAN. Yay for boatcruises on warm sunny days!!

My travel-mates Dennis and Mike along with one of our industry partners.

There were about 20 dogs playing at this dog park - my heart melted.

6th street in downtown Austin.

The Cheap Trick panel. I went and listened to lots of road stories...

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings at Stubbs - a highlight show for me.

Amelia Curran at the Six Shooter Records party. I love her so....

This is all the stuff I poured out of my delegate bag. Holy paper wastage...

That's about it for now -- it feels like it was 20 years ago so apologies if I've missed something important and super cool!!!

neko and jesse

2010-03-30T20:45:00.004-04:00

Did anyone see the episode of Spectacle with Elvis Costello a couple weeks ago? He had Neko Case and Jesse Winchester (along with the forgettable Sheryl Crow and Ron Sexsmith). Anyway, at one point Jesse sings the sweetest song ever and at the end of the song Neko is crying. Crying!! It's enough to make me cry! It's so good. I think at my funeral, I would like Marc to sing this song for me. And everyone would weep. Is that awful?

snow hotel

2010-03-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

In case you needed another reason to visit Finland, check out the Hotel Kakslauttanen. Who doesn't want to fall asleep under the Northern Lights under a warm and cozy glass igloo??? That looks like hotel perfection if ever I've seen it....

cutest photo-bomb ever!

2010-03-24T21:15:00.000-04:00

This made me laugh right out loud when a co-worker sent this to me today.

austin bound!!

2010-03-15T20:11:00.001-04:00

So I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Austin and SXSW 2010! I'll try to post photos and maybe some videos of what I'm seeing and doing so bear with me -- I'll be sure to do a full report upon my return though I promise. I plan to eat some BBQ, see some bands, watch some panel discussions, nap when I can and get to bed at respectable times. Wish me luck!!!

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for March 11th

2010-03-11T17:53:00.003-05:00

CKLU 96.7 FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!!!

John Doe & the Sadies -- Stop the World and Let Me Off -- Country Club (VINYL)
Islands -- Humans -- Return to the Sea *
Cub -- So Far Apart -- Come Out, Come Out *
The Minus 5 -- Dear Employer -- Down With Wilco
Paper Cranes -- Rabbit in a Snare -- Vice compilation *
Jason Collett -- Rave on Sad Songs -- Rat a Tat Tat *
Frank Black & the Catholics -- Do You Feel Bad About It? -- Frank Black & the Catholics
Feist -- Gatekeeper -- Let It Die *
Cat Power -- Metal Heart -- Jukebox
Basia Bulat -- I'm Forgetting Everyone -- Heart of my Own *
Bright Eyes -- Another Travelin' Song -- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Yeasayer -- Love Me Girl -- Odd Blood
The Travelling Band -- Sweet City -- (weewerk) is 6! *
Sarah Harmer & Jason Euringer -- Summertime -- Songs for Clem *
The Pretenders -- 2000 Miles -- Learning to Crawl (VINYL)
Neko Case -- Thanks a Lot -- The Virginian
Hollerado -- Juliette -- Record in a Box *
The Jam -- Non Stop Dancing -- In the City
The Damned -- Hit or Miss -- Black Album
The Weakerthans -- Reasons -- Reconstruction Site (VINYL) *
The Avett Brothers -- Ill With Want -- I and Love and You
Built to Spill -- Hindsight -- There Is No Enemy
Guided By Voices -- She Goes Off at Night -- Earthquake Glue
Sleater-Kinney -- Steep Air -- The Woods
Kate Maki -- Crossfire -- Two Song Wedding (VINYL) *
Blake Babies -- When I See His Face -- God Bless the Blake Babies
Yukon Blonde -- Babies Don't Like Blue Anymore -- Yukon Blonde *
Hayden -- Let's Break Up -- The Place Where We Lived (VINYL) *
Great Aunt Ida -- We Say No -- How We Fly *
Wilco -- It's Just That Simple -- A.M

NOTES THIS WEEK:

A show starting with John Doe and The Sadies can't go too far wrong right?
New Jason Collett you say? I was wondering why it was starting to feel like summer...
I'm not feeling super chatty tonight - mainly cuz there are people in the studio with me and I'm not sure what they're doing other than making me feel uncomfortable...
Yup, I still want to put Basia Bulat in my pocket...
that Yukon Blonde song? I must acquire for myself!!!! My toes are tapping!!

in the sun

2010-03-09T19:16:00.000-05:00

1000 thumbs up for the video for She and Him's single from their next album Volume Two. I LOVE that Zooey really is kind of a terrible dancer. As if you need a reason to love her more.

Also - I want her hula-hooping dress please.

spring rains please

2010-03-04T20:00:00.000-05:00

I saw this adorable Millard Fillmore slicker and impulse purchased!! It's yellow and girly and has puffy sleeves and now I just want it to rain so I can prance about in it...

hot Bunny Radio Playlist for March 4th

2010-03-04T17:51:00.003-05:00

CKLU 96.7 FM

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!

Supergrass -- Alright -- Clueless OSR
Camera Obscura -- Other Towns & Cities -- My Maudlin Career
Whiskeytown -- Barlights -- Pneumonia
Calexico -- Gypsy's Curse -- The Black Light (VINYL)
Sarah Harmer -- Coffee Stain -- You Were Here *
Jenny Whiteley -- Heart of Gold -- Dear *
Jason Collett - Papercut Hearts -- Here's to Being Here *
Big Star -- Black Car -- Third/Sister Lovers
Elliott -- Pretty Mary K -- Figure 8
Jale -- Nebulous -- Dreamcake *
Tegan and Sara -- Hell On -- Sainthood *
Rock Plaza Central -- My Children, Be Joyful -- Are We Not Horses? *
My Morning Jacket -- Librarian -- Evil Urges (VINYL)
The Kinks -- This Time Tomorrow -- Lola versus Powerman and The Moneygoround Pt.1
Dinosaur Jr -- Keep the Glove -- Fossils
Uncle Tupelo -- Watch Me Fall -- Still Feel Gone
The Magnetic Fields -- Seduced and Abandoned -- Realism
Nathan Lawr -- Put Your Money -- Secret Carpentry *
Jenn Grant -- Don't Worry Baby -- Orchestra for the Moon *
Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band -- Ten Women -- Outer South (VINYL)
David Bowie -- Five Years -- Ziggy Stardust
Jenny Lewis -- Acid Tongue -- Acid Tongue
Thurston Moore -- Pretty Bad -- Psychic Hearts
Zeus -- Kindergarten -- Say Us *
New York Dolls -- Bad Girl -- New York Dolls
Blur -- Death of a Party -- Blur
Dead Letter Chorus -- Down in Your Valley -- The August Magnificent
Regina Spektor -- Us -- (500) Days of Summer OSR
The Pinecones -- I Think You're Blind (Starlit One) -- Sage *

NOTES THIS WEEK:

Started with the Supergrass cuz that's a song that ALWAYS makes me feel clappy and I needed something to shake the dust off;
That's it, I'm listening to "Pneumonia" in its entirety at work tomorrow. It's been far, far too long to go without;
Listening to Calexico makes me feel dusty...
Man, i haven't listened to any Sarah Harmer in a really long time...must be spring;
Let's take a 6 minute long Rock Plaza Central appreciation moment.....
Brand new Zeus!!!!! So good!!!! So far anyway. God bless advance copies...

annual oscar rant

2010-03-03T20:30:00.002-05:00

So maybe I need to rant about the Oscar race to help make me feel all jazzy again? Who knows but we'll give it a try. This year especially given my hate-on for Avatar? Oh yeah, I got LOTS to say...

Best Picture

Ok so there's 10 nominees this year which I think is just silly but what do I know? What movie do I WANT it to be? An Education. Which movie do think it will be if people vote with their brains? The Hurt Locker. Which movie will it be if the "drunk on special effects" public gets its way? Avatar of course. The way I see it, a movie absolutely should not be listed in Best Picture if it also doesn't have any acting nominations or writing nominations. After all, the best picture should be just that -- the best of all categories. Avatar can win every single technical category and that will be entirely justified. Even I will admit that. But the movie is written like a soap opera, the acting was cringe-worthy, the storyline borderline insulting. The Hurt Locker on the other hand? I think that if I liked it as much as I did - and keep in mind that I don't watch war movies as a rule and only made an exception for this cuz it was on TV - well that says a lot for me. The movie is crafted brilliantly from start to finish, it's heart-pumping, it's character driven and one of the best directed films I've seen all year. So it can win and I'll be happy even though An Education has a special place in my heart.

Best Actor

This category has got to go to Jeff Bridges hands down. Crazy Heart is a really, really good movie -- not an amazing movie -- but Jeff Bridges is totally what made that movie for me. And outside of The Big Lebowski, I've never really liked anything he's done. George Clooney? Well we all know I loved Up in the Air but he was nowhere near as good as Jeff. Not this time George..

Best Actress

Since I think Carey Mulligan is just the most adorable thing to grace a screen in a very long time and since I loved An Education so much, I'd LOVE it to be her. But unfortunately, we all know it's gonna be Sandra Bullock no matter how many times she says there's no way she'll win. The thought of Sandra Bullock beating out Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren though? That's just not right. Even though Julie & Julia was just an awful movie. And guaranteed she'll wear a bad dress. Ugh. I just think Sandra winning is the most boring and predictable choice ever.

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz, for me, was the absolute only good thing about Inglorious Basterds. But man, what a good thing he was. Just perfection.

Best Supporting Actress

Normally I can't fathom picking anyone over Maggie Gyllenhaal but she was just kinda "meh" in Crazy Heart. In my heart I want it to be Anna Kendrick but I just think she's way too new and still way too close to Twilight for people to vote for her. It's gonna be Mo'Nique for sure I think.

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow -- it just has to be, if only to save us all from the inevitable horror that will be James Cameron's acceptance speech. Did you hear him at the Golden Globes when in the midst of the Haiti disaster he said "let's have a hand for all of us -- let's hear it for us!!!" What an asshole. James can direct his movies but he should never be allowed to write them. I just wish someone would tell him that. Speeches aside, Bigelow made a brilliant film and deserves to be recognized for it.

Best Cinematography, Best Editor, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing and Editing, Best Visual Effects

This has to go to Avatar hands down. The other nominees shouldn't even show up. Or if they do show up they should just go ahead and get really drunk cuz they certainly don't have to worry about making a speech on international television. Even though I hated most things about this movie, even I must admit that it was GORGEOUS to watch and that fact frankly kept me from leaving the theatre. They crafted every single blade of grass, every flower petal, the night scenes are amazing and the technical team behind this film is truly, truly a gifted bunch and should get every single award they make. But that is all. The craftsmanship behind this film is what tricked people into thinking they were watching an amazing film. As my friend posted about this film "Artists: Working Hard So Writers Don't Have To."

Best Original Song

First of all, I think it's a total rip-off that the Best Song nominees aren't performing during the show this year. Seriously what's up with that?? It's the best part! Remember last year when "It's Hard Out There For a Pimp" busted out?? That song saved the whole telecast!! BUT, it's not going to happen so we must move on. My choice? Hands down, "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart. What a great song that is perfect for the film.

Best Animated Feature

It's going to be Up. Of course it is. Especially because it's nominated as Best Picture too and it's obviously not going to win that. And I guess I'm alright with Up winning cuz I've only heard amazing things about it. But I just loved Fantastic Mr. Fox SO much that my heart gets all happy when I think that maybe other people liked it that much too.

And that is all for me this year. I didn't see all the films this year. As I've said a million times, the Coen brothers are right up there in my top 3 favourite filmmakers so I imagine I'd be picking that film for Best Picture had I seen it but what can you do?

bad blogger

2010-03-03T20:23:00.003-05:00

Yup I'm a bad blogger and I think the above picture pretty much sums up why. I've been feeling like death on two feet for weeks now. I'm exhausted every minute of the day and when I sleep I either sleep horribly or I sleep like the dead and am unable to wake up in the morning. Work is busy so the last thing I want to do when I get home is turn on another computer. I can barely hold a conversation past 8pm so socialization has felt impossible.

But I'm trying to get back in the groove and I promise to try and be a better blogger.

*photo taken by Jordon*

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for February 11th: Anti-Valentines Day show!!!

2010-02-11T17:44:00.004-05:00

CKLU 96.7 fm

6-8pm (18:00 - 20:00)

* denotes Canadian talent

italics denotes a new release

CLICK HERE FOR PODCASTY GOODNESS OF TONIGHT'S SHOW!!!!!

Tonight is the much-loved (by me) annual Anti-Valentines Day Show here at Hot Bunny Radio! Enjoy lots of kiss-off songs and likely a few sad ones too...

The Beatles -- Not A Second Time -- With the Beatles
Blake Babies -- Take Your Head Off My Shoulder --earwig
Bob Dylan -- Idiot Wind -- Blood on the Tracks
Camera Obscura -- Careless Love -- My Maudlin Career
The Damned -- So Messed Up -- Damned, Damned, Damned
Eric's Trip -- Hate Song -- Forever Again *
The Jam -- So Sad About Us -- Setting Sons
Jason Bajada -- Sad Song About You #2 -- Loveshit
Jim Bryson -- Mean Streak -- The North Side Benches *
Johnny Thunders -- Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory -- So Alone
Julie Doiron -- Dont Wannabe/Liked By You -- Woke Myself Up *
The Knickerbockers -- Lies -- Quivers Down the Backbone Birthday Compilation
Langhorne Slim -- Hummingbird -- Langhorne Slim
Liz Phair -- Girls! Girls! Girls! -- Exile in Guyville
Nancy Sinatra -- How Does That Grab You Darlin' -- How Does That Grab You?
Neko Case -- Runnin' Out of Fools -- Blacklisted
Okkervil River -- Calling and Not Calling My Ex -- The Stand Ins
The Queers -- No Tit -- Don't Back Down *
The Ramones -- I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You -- Ramones
The Replacements -- Answering Machine -- Let It Be
Rilo Kiley -- Does He Love You? -- More Adventurous
Ryan Adams -- Come Pick Me Up -- Heartbreaker
Sarah Harmer & Jason Euringer -- Your Cheatin' Heart -- Songs for Clem *
She & Him -- Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want -- (500) Days of Summer OSR
The Shins -- Gone For Good -- Chutes Too Narrow
The Smiths -- Unhappy Birthday -- Strangeways, Here We Come
Supersuckers -- 400 Bucks -- Reverend Horton Heat/Supersuckers
Thrush Hermit -- Before You Leave -- Clayton Park *
Violent Femmes -- Fat -- 3
Ween -- Piss Up A Rope -- 12 Golden Country Greats
The White Wires -- You're No Good For Me -- Girly, Girly, Girly *
The 5.6.7.8's -- I Don't Need You No More -- The 5.6.7.8's
P.J. Harvey -- Who The Fuck? -- Uh Huh Her

NOTES THIS WEEK:

Blake Babies -- an annual favourite cuz it's got lines like "all my tears are gonna be from joy."
Oh Bob, "you're an idiot babe, it's a wonder you still know how to breathe..."
"I think I'd rather F**K her mom" -- if that's not an anti-valentines day line I don't know what is....
That Johnny Thunders song makes me wanna give him a great big hug. You know, if he wasn't dead....
That Knickerbockers song makes me feel much tougher than I am in reality...
"I'm dreaming of leaving of my demons and the first one I'm leaving is you." Damn you Langhorne Slim.....so harsh and so sad...
Every time I hear "How Does that Grab You Darlin'" I'm reminded of why it's one of my all-time favourite songs ever.
It's like, alien-like freaky, that Neko can hit those notes in "Runnin Out of Fools" and make it sound like nothin'...
Okkervil River: a song about dating and breaking up with a Hollywood starlet. Oh we've all been there....
You're right Ramones, I wouldn't to walk around with someone who didn't want to walk around with me.
Nothing's more romantic than a girl stealing all your records, sleeping with all your friends and then doing it all over again...
I think cuz "you're evil and you lie" is a good reason to wish someone an unhappy birthday;
Maybe the Ween is the song you don't play with the kids around. It's just for the grown ups...

hello new dresses

2010-02-10T19:59:00.002-05:00

Lord bless Kaili who made a very successful Anthropologie run for us yesterday!! Say hello to my new friends...

The All Seasons Shirtdress

The Reed Shirtdress