A change of perspective

The past few weeks have been a bit tough.  The weather was struggling to move from winter to spring; a laborious transition. The ground was holding onto its seed and refusing to let it spring up.  I still have no job, though I did have one for a week and then left because I am NOT designed to work in retail.  The futility of selling overpriced items (beautiful and delicious as they were) to people who really didn't need them was soul sapping. It was such a strange experience because I LOVE the store and the people were really friendly and I don't mind hard work but every night I'd come home and say, "really?" Better not to be there I decided so here I am still searching. Job hunting can become a reason not to get out of bed.

This past weekend was like squeezing a pimple. There were some tears and snot but the relief of getting that out of my system meant that I had a clear enough head to make a decision to make Monday a better day. I had a few chores to do today and so I made it into a journey, took photos on the way and sent them to my friends (see below). I stopped in the most beautiful furniture store (one of many along King Street - just around the corner from where I live), oggled the $4,000 leather pouff and the $13,000 hanging chair, talked with Noel and sipped the sparkling water that he offered me. It was a charming 1/2 hour of my time in the company of a knowledgeable and well spoken gentleman. He gave me a tip on a place to go for a weekend, gave me his card and told me to pop in again. I just might because that furniture was breathtakingly gorgeous even if there was nothing in the shop I could afford. My eyes were satisfied after my visit. 

  

Next I had a coffee at Tandem, plus the best ever GF brownie for my lunch (OK maybe not the best choice but it was delicious). It's so good to enjoy the journey, the rest of which involved a banking transaction with the nicest of bank managers (thank you Ryan from Scotiabank), and the purchase of some on sale art bits and pieces for my grandies.

The last thing I purchased was a map of Canada. That's right a honking great big enormous map and I've put it up on the wall where we have to walk past it. Is it trendy, does it fit in with our decor? No, but it is there to remind me to change my perspective.  You see I have allowed the 4 walls of my small apartment to enclose me and shut me down.  I've seen Toronto as a confined space. What I needed to do was look at where I was in relation to the opportunities that Canada presents. Really, have you ever look at how enormous Canada is? It is HUGE and we are going to have a go at exploring it.  So the planning is going to start. I'm not sure that we are going to be able to do this without a car but lets see what can be done. Watch this space for the Canadian adventure.....

BTW, the other weekend we took the streetcar to the other side of the city to High Park because the cheery blossoms were out and they don't last long.  We could barely see the trees for the people, but they were beautiful, a gift from Japan.

After that we took the streetcar down Queen Street to the Loaded Pierogi for lunch. Lunch was delicious though the Pierogies themselves were not GF. I ate a couple just to taste what they were like - in the dumpling family.  They had beautiful toppings though, mini meals of tastiness all on their own. People have been appearing along with the spring weather and so there was a nice bubble of conversation in the restaurant and the lovely ladies next to us were happy to discuss their plates and then have a good look at ours once they arrived. A short walk to King Street saw us back on a streetcar for our ride home.

Now that the weather is warmer we have started to have an evening walk around the distillery. I have always been drawn to bright lights but this is seriously a pretty area to wander around. It's nice now that there are people out and about, sitting in the restaurants and in the outdoor areas. This is the nice side of city living.