I GOT AN APARTMENT!!!!!

Woohoo! Oh happy day! I have a place to live in Californ-I-A! See above for the floor plan. Sweet sweet relief!

Farewell to Barrie

This weekend I said goodbye to my Barrie/Toronto friends as it's the last opportunity to see them until Christmas... See photos below for fun times. Luckily it's not so much a "goodbye" as it is a "see ya in a few months", and according to most stores who are already laden with back to school and Halloween stuff, Christmas is barely a few weeks away... Ciao all, I will miss you!

Fun Times at Cam's Parents' Condo

Trailers are fun

Two weekends ago, July 23-24, I drove down to the Row Ontario championships with the boats for the kids' big regatta. Good ol' Golf happily pulled along 6 boats, stretchers, riggers, and oars on a trailer down to Welland. I curse myself for not taking a photo of the hilarity that was me parked between two 18 wheelers at a truck stop, and I curse myself several more times for not taking any photos any of the million other times that there were opportunities with the trailer fully loaded. This is all there is. Note the goose protesting the ridiculousness of me pulling a trailer with my car.

Kiki gets a hair cut

Hot summer months, moving to California, and my evil nature caused me to get Kiki's fur cut off. Here he is saying "don't look at me!". Man, I laughed. And then I laughed some more. There was also some uncontrollable giggling. He's nowhere near as big as I previously thought thought, wow, he must've lost pounds!

"Oh fine, I'm cooler this way anyway"

Ain't no tribute band like a GNR tribute band

Randomness in Barrie keeps on getting better and better! What happiness should we stumble upon last night but Guns n F*in Rosez - "North America's Best GNR Tribute Band". So good in fact, that they even had a snake. They were actually very very good - "Ax" had the Axl squeal down pat, and besides that he looked 80, that "War" (Slash) had a wicked awful mullet, and one dude wore a white woman face mask and a chicken bucket on his head - the show totally rocked. I'd even see them again - especially at the low low price of $5! Worth every penny I tell ya!

ahhh, GNR

November Rain

An appropriate costume change for this song. Man was he ever into it!

Big snake

Nothing caps a show like a great big snake on stage. I mean really, does it get any better?

Russian Pirate at Rib Fest?

Aside from meat, there were other gems at the rib fest last night - the best of which was the Russian pirate captain selling dollar store quality dolls and t shirts from his boat moored in the harbor. Of course he had a cat on his boat. He says "yar" to his cat, while his cat watches ducks and is secretly embarrassed for the captain who is unsuccessful in his t shirt and doll selling business.

Rib Fest!

Becky and I hit up Rib Fest last night in Barrie. There was a lot of tasty "meat" as well as tasty meat. Mmmmmm meaty... Funny, no pictures of us... We were too busy looking elsewhere I guess!

many many meat stands... how to choose?

there was sweet corn

and kettle corn too!

SWEET CORN!

this woman is enjoying her corn

ribs all gone

delicious!

where is everyone?

After devouring ribs, pulled pork, corn and ice cream - we felt the urge to go and see the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Even though it was the premiere night, the theatre was TOTALLY empty! Not a soul in sight - even 5 minutes after the show was supposed to start! Incredible! Was Barrie THAT dead? Why wouldn't they play the movie for just the two of us? Why did no one want to see such hilarity and bizarreness? What was going on?

There was a reason why the theatre was so empty...

As it turns out... we might have been in the wrong one...

More shoe photos... as requested

Here are some more images of my completed shoes.

Making Shoes

Last week I took the awesomest class ever with Sarah Rotering, shoemaker (or cordwainer if you feel like using a term that no one else has heard of). It was fantastic! Sarah is a fabulous teacher, the course was worth every penny - and I even commuted from Barrie to Toronto for it every day (yuck).
We made everything from start to finish, gluing, hammering, designing our way from bits of leather to complete actual custom-fit wearable shoes. What a fantastic experience!!!

If anyone is interested, please find her website here: www.roteringshoes.com

Below are photos of the process, including the final end product!!!