La Traviata

I’m so excited, I got tickets for me and my mom to go see La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. It’s a production by Franco Zefirelli and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I have a DVD of Carmen, produced by Zefirelli, and it is amazing. I’m sure we are going to enjoy it live.
I’m also glad I’m going, since no one ever wants to go to the opera with me. A lot of people think it’s boring. I insist it’s because they’ve never been and don’t really know opera. Opera is dramatic, opera is romantic, it’s a predecessor to musicals. I love it. Plus Verdi is light, anyway (I probably wouldn’t want to go to a Wagner opera either).

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Going on vacation

Finally I am taking the 3 vacation days that I carried over from last year. I just bought my ticket to go to New York City. My mom will meet me there and we will hang out and take over Manhattan!
We are going to hit the Guggenheim and catch the Spanish painting exhibition. This is the main reason why I wanted to go to New York before March 28. This is the exhibition where a Goya painting was heading before it was stolen. More info about the stolen painting here (link). The painting has now been recovered and is now showing in the museum.
We will probably go to the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design. I am so looking forward to that one.
We are going to see one or two Broadway musicals, we love them. I still don’t know what we are going to see. Any recommendations?
Finally we are hitting at least 3 yarn stores in Manhattan. This is where I need help from my readers. Where do you recommend that we go?

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Big snow storm this morning

We woke up with a big snow storm. The snow was falling so hard I couldn’t even see from my window across the street.
The Westbound King Streetcar never came so, instead of walking all the way to King Station like I did last week, I took the Sherbourne bus all the way to Sherbourne Station. I didn’t want to walk again because I think that’s why I got sick last week, and I’m still not 100% well.
Funny how every time there’s a big snow storm the streetcar doesn’t come. I wonder.

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Djobi, Djoba, Cada Dia Yo te Quiero Mas

The Gipsy Kings were amazing. We had so much fun. First we stopped at the Flatiron for some dinner. Unfortunately everything on their menu has meat, so we couldn’t eat much. We ended up sharing a plat of spicy fries. Also they finally got rid of the NTN Trivia so, really, I probably won’t be going much anymore. We ran into Eric at the Flatiron, a long time reader of this blog.

Just before 8 we headed to the Hummingbird Centre for the concert. I had a great time. But, do you notice how there are 7 Gipsy Kings in the pictures? Well there were only 5 last night, I don’t know if the other 2 quit the group, or what happened. They were great, though. I love the “guitarra flamenca” and all the gitano stuff (I do take flamenco classes after all). They sang some slow romantic songs, they played some instrumental songs and they sang their greatest hits. Everyone was dancing and having a great time.

Afterwards we met up with Becky and Mike and went to Big Daddy’s for a snack and margaritas. We wanted to have some New Orleans themed outing since it was Fat Tuesday yesterday so Mike had a hurricane.
All in all we had a great evening full of good music, good friends and good drinks.

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Los Gipsy Kings

I am so excited. Tonight we’re going to see the Gipsy Kings at the Hummingbird Centre. James got the tickets as a Valentine’s Day gift for me. I’ve been singing all morning.
It’s one of the best gifts I ever got!

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Much sleeping and some knitting

Being sick is always a good excuse to catch up on your sleep (not that I need an excuse, but heck, I was sick). I slept almost half of the time during the weekend.
I am making the Cabled Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Winter 2006/07, it’s project number 15. I got 7 hanks of the organic O’Wool from Lettuce Knit a few weeks ago and I finally casted on last week but made no advance, since I was working hard on finishing the red top for St. Valentine’s.
On Friday I knitted for about 2 hours and then realized I had made a mistake about an hour before, so I had to unravel some of the advance. On Saturday I slept on and off until about 4 PM, and then I met Clarissa at Gabby’s for drinks and dinner.
Sunday I slept again. I woke up to clean my apartment (book club is meeting here tomorrow, thankfully we’re ordering pizza) and did some more advance on the cardigan. I have done about 10 cm of knitting so far.
I am excited about this project and feeling way better thanks to all the rest I got on the weekend.

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I’m sick

Last night when I got home after work I felt sick. I started sniffing and my sinuses were hurting. I had to skip flamenco so that I would be well enough to come to work today.
I have a cold and will have to skip tobogganing tonight at the park. I think it’ll be better if I stay in.

In other news, James cut all his hair off. All.Of.It!
He looks cute, photos soon.

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We had a great Valentine’s Day

James
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

We went to Golden Thai (on the corner of Church and Richmond) for some delicious Thai goodness. We ended up ordering the crunchy noodles, spicy eggplant and steamed rice.
After that we went to the Flatiron for a couple of cold ones. Note how I was still wearing the red top and James dressed up for the occasion, wearing a tie and such. He looked so cute!

Afterwards we went to my place to open our gifts. James got a corkscrew and a bottle of wine, since a few weeks ago I managed to break his corkscrew while trying to open a bottle of wine. After the initial panic of thinking we wouldn’t be able to drink the wine, James opened it with some manly tools from his toolbox. Now he got a new corkscrew and wine.
I got the best.gift.ever, tickets for the Gipsy Kings concert at the Hummingbird Centre next week. This is actually very special for us, because James likes to sing Gipsy Kings songs to me, especially the one that has my name on it (Baila Me). We are going to have a great time. He said he was so excited of getting the tickets, and he wanted to tell me for a week, but he kept the secret. Good for him.
Later we watched an Audrey Hepburn movie (Roman Holiday) and sipped some sparkling wine imported directly from Italy that my boss gave me for my birthday back in November. It was delicious, it had an aftertaste of chocolate that was so yummy.
All in all, an amazing Valentine’s Day.

Cap Sleeve Top

silk top
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

I finally finished the HandMaiden cap sleeve top last night. I wanted to finish it so that I could wear it today for Valentine’s Day.
I was kind of sick of making it. I used 4 mm circular needles and it felt like it was the neverending project. I was knitting and knitting and knitting. It took me about 6 weeks to complete.
But now I’m in love with it. It looks really nice, it is so soft and I’m quite happy with it. The colour is beautiful, and it’s red, perfect for Valentine’s Day!

Happy snowy Valentine’s Day!

Park
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

We woke up with 12 cm this morning. The snow is so nice and fluffy and clean. Everything looks white.
Here’s some pictures that I took this morning.







And for this Valentine’s Day:
“Don’t forget to love yourself.”
-Soren Kierkegaard

Happy Valentine’s Day!