yours truly

leave the car at home

You know, this just doesn't happen when you drive a car. I don't care how many people car pool with you. You just will not get a group of people who will beat box Phil Collin's "In the Air Tonight". And on the off chance that it does happen, there sure won't be an audience to video tape it.

something blowing in the wind

The full moon which rises closest to the Autumn Equinox is called the Harvest Moon.

It's tonight and luckily for us it's rising in Aries- which means to take a fresh start. So have one.

Like a breath mint after a night of debauchery.





Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin
We could dream this night away.

But theres a full moon risin
Lets go dancin in the light
We know where the musics playin
Lets go out and feel the night.

Because Im still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because Im still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.

But now its gettin late
And the moon is climbin high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin in your eye.

Because Im still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because Im still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

back in the day

Back in the day, I used to love to dance.

Back then, I used to ride my bike across the High Level Bridge and the North Saskatchewan River to Edmonton's Southside to dance the night away at the Commercial Hotel and listen to blues. I used go and drink water and dance and not much else. A few joints in the back alley and then I'd just stay and dance for song after song after song. I knew other people like me who just wanted to dance. If we sat one out it was on the steps of the dance floor.

Back then dancing was my only real form of exercise. That and smoking kept my 5'5 frame lean and svelte.

This video from french electro-pop band Yelle, makes me love it again.

Check this out.

lots of lilies on homecoming

ripples

The little box in the sky. A false cocoon against against the city down below. Lights flash in the horizon. Lightning strikes off in the distance. The big bolts of electricity jolt down from the sky. Boom. Boom. Floor to ceiling windows shudder from the sound. The rain swipes at the window in long sweeping strokes. Like a child with a whip too long to handle. Swish. Swish. Tiny pins tinkle against the glass. Sounds like ice crackling on frosty winter nights. Sheets woven from water distort the view causing the candy colored dots stream down and away like liquid ribbons of tail lights; swirling and oulining the arteries. The city thumps and beats. High above it all, the little box in the sky groans.

jet plane

I'm off to Toronto for the week to do work stuff. No personal laptop will be traveling with me so, updates are unlikely.

xo
Jill

redemtion

I take it all back. Call it a growing pain or a learning curve or maybe just a settling in to new digs.. but Dadeo's has made good with me and we're friends again.

I gave them another go and they came through in the ways I remembered. Accommodating friendly service where I felt like if I found 2 ingredients on the menu and asked if they would put them together and barter for a price, this could be a possibility. Doncha hate it when you see a restaurant with ice cream and orange pop but they don't have float and you ask them if they'll do one and they look at you blankly and say it isn't possible (and it's basically it's because it isn't programmed into their till service). Doesn't that just irk you? Well I've never found Dadeo's-Edmonton to be like that.

Dadeo's-Cambie didn't blink when I put my bike against the front window, walked in the "other door"; saying 'I hope you don't mind, I just want to be able to watch my bike and have a carefree dinner.' That's what we're all about, they said. And I felt it.

I ordered a Philly Cheese steak Po'boy with sweet potato fries. I opted away from the coleslaw and potato hash fearing a disappointment from before. I did talk to the owner about my previous visit and he apologized and quickly left to investigate the freshness. My Po'boy was fresh and yummy and delicious. A little bit soggy from the sauce but excusable. The fries were spicy and soft inside, perfectly partnered with herbed mayo but not quite enough to make it through all the fries.

I was welcome to sit as long as I wanted. The coffee was replenished, the table water tasted fresh and I had a yummy satisfying meal at Dadeo's. Along with a nice chat with the owner, they're coming along to being my favorite comfort food restaurant.

get on top

cream, originally uploaded by jill y.

runs in the family

cowlicks, crewcuts, stubbornness..and plaid shirts

triumph

From my apartment to my job is precisely 10.87 km by bicycle.

I have, in this week, cycled a total of:

10 commutes, or 108.72 km

or burned approximately 3,109.39 cal

or saved the planet of 25.66 kg of carbon dioxide had I driven a car or taken the bus.

My reward? A 1 hr massage on Sunday.

rawr

I bike to work most mornings. I set off sometimes on the same route. Sometimes I meander through neighborhoods. Today I was coming up a slight hill and I saw something run across the street about 1/2 a block up. It was large. I casually thought, 'was that a cougar? Nah'. But when I got up to the end of the street and a small SUV was driving slowly along the street, I saw what they were watching and what I had 'seen'.

It was a somewhat timid or cautious young female coyote walking along the sidewalk, who looked like she would give good chase and take a bite out of my leg if she caught up. Mesmerising, in the funny way you wouldn't expect to see an elephant walking down the residential streets.

All I could think of was poor little Ruby being carted away for some thing's breakfast.

high expectations

I went to Dadeo's and it didn't cut it. I thought about trying something new on the menu but I went with my old favorite- the blackened chicken po'boy.

The French roll was dry and not the 'so soft it will melt in your mouth' memory of the one's in Edmonton. The chicken was nothing special and god how I hate manufactured beefsteak tomatoes and their mealy texture. The potato hash had an odd indescribable taste, like the potatoes had been boiled in dirty water. Worst of all was the coleslaw which tasted like it was a week old or had been left out for 3 days. It was definitely off. Telling the staff only caused me to be marked and later avoided. I tried to salvage the experience by having key lime pie for dessert.

I've had it in Edmonton- a tasteful wedge of luscious lime on a light graham crust, decorated with shavings of lime zest. Light, fruity and not too sweet. This one? It was nearly a quarter of a pie, tasted like lime jello mixed with whipping cream and set in a soggy wafer crust, half of which had broken off. A measly dollop of warm soupy whipping cream decorated the plate. It was so sugary, it was a defining moment when I seriously thought my future my include diabetes.

Worst of all- after an evening of fairly inattentive service, was the cheque. They didn't take anything off for serving me sour coleslaw.

I'm afraid to say it folks, but I don't know how soon I'll go back to DaDeO's on Cambie.

opening the floodgates

Are you one of those people who just has to stay the hell away from Ebay or Etsy because you just shouldn't be left alone late at night with a credit card?

Are you one of those people who gets a 5 day adrenalin rush just waiting for the mail to arrive because you've bought something.

And are you one of those people that sees a pretty picture and then fantasizes being inside the pretty picture so much that you can't stand it and you go out of your way to make it happen?

Well if you are.. you don't want to see this.

a balancing act

trio, originally uploaded by jill y.

po'boy heaven

po'boy heaven, originally uploaded by jill y.

oh boy oh boy oh boy!!

I have just found out my favorite restaurant has come to Vancouver.

This is an unexpected serendipity as just the other day I was salivating at the memory of blackened chicken po'boy's and chicory coffee. I was fantasizing about sweet potato and corn fritters and St.Louis ribs. Don't even get me started on thinking about the Bananas Foster or southern bread pudding drenched in rum sauce.

Such a craving I was having, thought of a quick trip back to Edmonton was a serious consideration. This restaurant is definitely on the top 5 reasons why I would move back there. Now, I only foresee my boyfriend taking me out to dinner in the very near future but so delectable is this cuisine, a whole party might be in order.

my boyfriend has me addicted to ACDC

can you judge a bookshelf by the books??

1. On Photography- Susan Sontag
2. The World Encyclopedia of Cheese
3. Do It!- Jerry Rubin
4. Diane Arbus- Patricia Bosworth
5. Janis- David Dalton
6. Weegee's World- Miles Barth
7. History of Art- 5th edition
8. The Crack Up- F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. The Tao of Pooh- Benjamin Hoff
10. Johnny Got His Gun- Dalton Trumbo

The days went by like a blur. She reflected on a moment's thought and was she was glad it wasn't through the end of a bottle.

blur, originally uploaded by jill y.

switched sides

I have made a monumental choice in my personal computing status. Michael pushed me into it with the offer to offset the cost by buying the old one. Visions of headaches and Craigslist danced in my head. Other visions of transporting airily light and thin computing possibilities circled like vultures in my imagination. All of a sudden I realized that I too could be someone in a cafe, happily blogging away behind the glowing apple, because you know, this is an important thing in life. How I've longed to have eye glasses that make me look smart, a ironic tshirt, and a table in a window in a cafe where i can spend hours pretending that I "work from wherever". God I hope you know I'm kidding.

But the idea of matching my laptop to my ipod (insert more sarcasm) was too much too bear for much longer. I jumped and I jumped hard.

I am now the proud owner of a brand new sleek, pretty, stylish, light, user friendly, matches my Ipod, black macbook.

It let's me take pictures.

Like this one.How fun.