Cloudy Morning

This was the sun trying to peek out of the clouds yesterday morning. It was a cold -5C. It warmed up to about 5C later that afternoon.  I just have some trivia for you today:

 I was at the gym and saw the cutest pair of polka dot winter boots lying on the floor.  The multi-coloured dots were imprinted on a camel-coloured suede material if I remember correctly.  I was tempted to take a photo of them for you, but then I decided it wasn't appropriate to be taking photos inside the ladies change room!

 I heard on the radio that Oreo cookies was celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special edition cookie.  'To celebrate, Oreo’s parent company, Nabisco (a division of Kraft Foods), has released a limited edition “Birthday Cake” Oreo. It features a simpler cookie design that hearkens back to the original, early 20^th -century Oreo logo, as well as that iconic vanilla frosting mixed with rainbow sprinkles.'

Earth Hour will be celebrated this March 31 at 8:30 p.m. Will you be switching off lights and major appliances for one hour?  I remember one year I was on vacation and I think I just lost track of it the next year.

Senior Role Model

Kay had this wonderful post yesterday about her 82 year old mom's typical day and I told her that her mom is a senior role model.  If we could all hope to live such a full life at that age!  Surely it must be the secret to a long, happy life.

And here is a car I saw yesterday in a parking lot.  It's not quite to my taste but interesting nonetheless!

In this same plaza, I noticed a security guard patrolling outside the local bank there. Then I remembered it must have been the one that was recently robbed in the past week. It used to be such a safe, quiet area. So I was speaking to a cashier in one of the stores and I asked her if she was scared. She said, 'not really...and she added...they didn't get much money as the tellers ensure they don't have that much on hand anymore'. It was good to know that nobody was hurt either.

I'm Wary

I'm learning about marketing as K is taking a marketing course at school this year. It makes me a bit uncomfortable going into the stores lately, knowing what I know now. I didn't realize marketers target their customers in such detail, they know so much about each age group and what their tastes are. I feel as if I can't trust them, as if I'm being manipulated. And I'm paying closer attention to the products, trying to discern the quality and whether it's in my best interest to buy the product.

A friend of mine told me she avoids shopping in Walmart because they don't have a good record of treating their employees well. They hire mostly part time workers to avoid paying too many benefits. It's not the only place that does that. Apparently Costco has a really good record. Their business is run as a non-profit (I think she said that) and the employees have a lot of benefits.

Last Friday morning we woke up to the fact that our internet connection wasn't working. It turned out to be a broken cable modem, it likely died from old age. I had a kind of panic, in fact I ended up at the library later that morning so I could log on and do a few things. I had to postpone an online bill payment, and hoped I wouldn't need to use Google for anything! Fortunately M was able to get a new cable modem by end of day. It seems the cable company is always short of these, but some happened to be delivered that afternoon. We also got new digital TV boxes as apparently the cable company is going completely digital and we would lose some channels otherwise. The cable company is always short of these as well because a lot of people need to upgrade.

Anyway, this is just some food for thought today!

Sunday Sketches - Pink

Welcome to Sunday Sketches! It's a fun art co-op, please visit the other participants!

My acrylic ACEO this week is entitled 'Pink'. Hope you like it.

Cute Florals

Here are some cute floral arrangements I noticed in a  store recently. I have 3 vases of a similar size,  I think I may search for some large flowers and try a similar single flower in them.  Not that I need any more flowers in my house!

Large Flower

And here is an interesting and pretty hanging topiary ball, perfect for spring!

Hanging Topiary Ball

Paint Party Friday - Silver Leaf

It's time for Paint Party Friday!  Please visit the other wonderful participants in this fun art co-op.

My acrylic ACEO this week is entitled 'Silver Leaf' as I was inspired to use silver and orange in my colour scheme.

Migrating Landscapes

Welcome to March!

We were downtown recently and happened upon this Migrating Landscapes Exhibition. You can read more about it here.

In this national project, young Canadian architects ages 45 and under were invited to  build models of dwellings that address their own unique experiences of migration.  Winners will go to the Venice Biennale 2012. 'The Venice Biennale in Architecture is the single most important and prestigious international event in contemporary architecture; it is to architecture what the Olympics are to sports.'

Well, you learn something new every day!