The amazing wing tipped shoes!

     I was scouting for deals, on a Saturday at my local Value Village a couple of weeks ago. But only because there was a 50% off sale on all the clothing, starting on the Monday. Normaly I don't shop there, because the prices are mostly pretty high for a thift store... I mean really what are they trying to pull?! I think they were charging $40 for a pair of Ralph Lauren shoes! I realize that they were Ralph Lauren. But still, $40 for used merchendise? I could not bring myself to it *shakes head*..... Anyway, enough of my ranting. I was shopping around in the shoe section, and suddenly I came upon these great shoes! They were a vintage style, which alone is a big motivatior for me to buy them, but then I saw they were Steven by Steve Madden. And plus, they where made of leather (I can't stand those cheap synthetic shoes). But even after all this, I filpped them over to find stamped in gold on the nearly brand new soles: Made in Italy. They were $30 which is a little more than I would normaly pay. So I decided to stick it out untill Monday.

     When I got there on Monday, I rushed to find the fate of the shoes. And lo and behold, there they were! *sigh of relief* They even look like new! And if someone had worn them before, it was very briefly. And I got them for $15! Yaaaaay! :D If you really like them and would like to buy your own pair, you can buy some at PiperLime for $99. I paid nearly 10% of the regular price!!! I love bargain hunting!!!!

Mmmm... Cupcakes!

     My sister bought two cupcakes from Safeway the other day. As pretty and as delicious as they looked....they tasted terrible!! So because I have no school today, I decided to make some of my own!!! I love this icing recipe that I found at All Recipes. It is now my very,very very, favorite icing! It's light, fluffy not too sweet and has a sort of mashmallow like flavor (but not in a sickeningly sweet way). It's fantastic!! I slowly dripped the syrup into the eggwhites for the whole seven minutes. And it worked well. I think if you add the syrup too fast, it makes kind of runny. Because the first time I made it, it turned out more like a fluffy glaze. Once I tryed another recipe for a boiled icing, and it turned into a horrible runny mess.... then I thought the icing was too hot (this recipe never makes it feel really warm)  and that was maybe why it wasn't getting fluffy. So I chilled it in the freezer for a bit then tryed whiping it again.....well, let me tell you, I will never do that again! Chilling it in the freezer just made it a runny GRAINY mess! Yes...bad memories :P  I'm still not sure what happened. Maybe that recipe was more fussy and really did need the candy thermometer that it called for. Perhaps I added the syrup too fast? Anyway the icing seems to be keeping well in the fridge, I just wouldn't freeze it....again. 

Before spinkles...

After sprinkles!!!! (what is it about cupcakes with sprinkles?)

The Best Tap Dance Video!

This video is so very awe inspiring! Talent like that is hard to find these days *shakes head sadly*

Lunch!

     When I was in Edmonton visting the Alberta Gallery of Art, me and my sister decided to go have lunch. Everyone else who came (did I mention this trip was with the college?[and it was only $5 to go!]) went to fast food places. Very boring. So we decided to hoof it to China Town, (which was a couple of blocks over) wearing only our hoodies. Let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for warm coats. The moral of this story is... never listen to your sister when she tells you to leave your coat in the bus, in the middle of winter!!! So anyway we went in search of somewhere to eat. First of all we were not exactly sure we were going in the right direction to even find China Town. We were about ready to give up, and head back to the warmth of the AGA before we froze soild to the sidewalk.

Then, lo and behold I spotted this archway!So on we trotted.

Then we came to this place, but we were a little unsure of it. There was paint chipping, and bars on the little window to the left. It looked a little shady, so we went on our way.

Then we came to a little chinese grocery store. Where we bought Chinese newspapers for only 50 cents!

So we popped in to warm up and look around. (that guy looks freakishly a lot like my grandpa)

Food packed everywhere!

Then we came to this place. It looked safe enough, we were hungry, very cold and not about to walk any further. So we went in. One thing that was interesting to me, was that every table was covered with dirty dishes and leftovers. And it wasn't very busy; there were only two other tables occupied. We walked in and our waitress led us to a table, and started busily cleared it for us. We sat down and started looking through the menu. She came back and dropped off some hot tea for us. Ahhhh! Warmth for my freezing hands. Everything was well priced, so we decided to get three items: pan fried noodles with beef and sprouts, jelly fish with chicken and chow mein noddles with sprouts.

Yum!

Close up of the jellyfish. It had chile peppers(I think) in the sauce, and the chicken and jellyfish where on top of some crispy cabbage (steamed I think). It was served cold like a salad. It was the first time I tryed jellyfish, it was rather like cartilage and tasted like gelatin. It was all right, but I don't think it will be on my list of favorite foods anytime soon. I did like the cabbage a lot though, untill I got a mouth full of something really hot!! 

Here's the waitress and interior of the restaurant.

The Alberta Gallery of Art's new building

     So as I said in a previous post, I went to the AGA on the 5th. The new building looks spectacular! But unfortunately it is already leaking. Which is the reason that they even built the new building; the old one was leaking terribly. The lady who worked there was telling us, that with the new building they would be able to have better exhibits, because it has better environmental conditions for the art. The old leaky building was not good enough for all the really good art. I guess nobody has heard about the leaks in the new building yet. It's really sad....the AGA just reopened that week. You can find more information about the building here.  Some pictures I took of the building are below. If you wonder why I don't have pictures of the art, it's because they would not allow pictures to be taken in the gallery spaces. Arrrrgh!

The stairs leading up to the gallery spaces, the wall has the names of the donors writen on it. And it is also lit up from inside. It repersents the aurora borealis.

                                                      Looking down from the balcony.

The balcony.

Pictures of the building, that I took on our way back from lunch. 

The Murder of Crows. The first sound sculpture I have heard, and maybe the last. It was really neat how you could hear the footsteps going all the way around you, and how everything sounded so real. I kept turning to see what was making the noise, but then I realized it was only the speakers. There were 98 speakers all around the room. This sculpture really freaked me out though. I would not recomend it for children. If you would like more information,there's a good review of it at Shotgun Review.

"Be My Little Baby Bumblebee" is the best song ever!!!!!

I found this song when I googled my shop name Be My Bumblebee, to make sure no one already had it elsewhere. And now I love it! I think it shall be the theme song for my business! :)

The Robotic Chair by Max Dean

     On Tuesday I was thrilled to see the Robotic Chair in action! It was on display at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery, and was followed up by a talk given by the artist Max Dean. The chair was funny to watch, rolling around the stage, puting it's self back togather. But the most dramatic part of the performance, has to be when the front legs start to slide forward, then BANG! It clatters to the platform in pieces! It was rather startling the first time you see it.
     After we watched the chair a few times, we were directed to a nearby room for the talk. He was then introduced by Tanya Zuzak a former art teacher of mine, who curated the exhibit. She told us that Max Dean was invited to the Venice Art Biennale, twice! And just so you know, the Venice Art Biennale is like the Olympics of the art world. It's a really big deal. Then he started his talk by asking us "What do you think? What do you feel?" As he later explained, he is interested in how people react to his work, and how it interacts with people. That's is why he started with those questions, and also to give people the chance to change the whole direction of his talk. He told us that some people wonder why his chair is so simple in design. He said "I wanted something not spectacular", something we can all relate to. His chair looks quite ordinary, much like the typical chair you could find almost anywhere. Something that is quite a part of our everyday existence. Something I liked, is that he thinks it is boring to make wall art that you just look at, in fact he finds it to be "lame". And he also really got me thinking, is it the experience of looking at what's in a box? Or is it the concept of discovering what's inside, opening it, that's more interesting? I myself am not as found of wall art, as I am of something that offers more of a experience to the viewer. I was so inspired by him! And as tired as I was, I didn't fall asleep while he was talking, I was joting down notes as fast as I could (and I'm not much of a note taker) it was just that riveting! I really would like to hear another lecture by him if I ever got the chance. You can watch the video here, or a video done by a local newspaper about the exibition here.

The Little Dancer!

Last friday, I got to go on a trip to Edmonton, to see Degas' Little Dancer at the Alberta Gallery of Art. Or one of them, that is. You must understand, that there are so many copys, and plus there was a quite a few cast from Degas' original wax piece. The one I saw was apparently 75% of the size of the original. But it was still great! It was great to see in person, rather than just in pictures. Pictures are nice, but there are so many details that are missed. The part I liked the most though, was all of his drawings! Oh my lands!!! The way he handles line, tone and highlights is amazing!! My favorite, was a oil painting of a dancer with a blue tutu. The way the sunlight behind her filtered through her tutu *sigh* it was wonderful! I just stood for a while there taking it in. Then I looked around more...and came back to it. Sadly I don't have pictures, because they didn't allow photos to be taken in the gallery spaces *sniff*. But I do have pictures of the new building, which just opened last week. The other piece I really liked was of another dancer, in charcoal and white chalk. The way the light hit her left leg was stunning, for some reason I kept coming back to that leg and foot! You could tell that there were little wrinkles in her tights, and the way the light hit it *ahhh* wonderful!  The titles of those two were either "The Dancer" and 'Ballerina" or "Dancer" and "The Ballerina". I really should have brought my sketch book....drat.

My first tweet! + Pictures of my latest earrings!!!

     I was checking my email today, and there I see this one entitled "OH MY GOODNESS JANELLE!‏". So I opened it, and here my friend tells me someone tweeted about this choker/bracelet! She was really excited, but I think I still topped her in that department :) Shrieeeeeek!!!! (That was a shriek of joy by the way) I am so excited!!!!

     So now I will leave you with pictures of my latest earrings. I probably spent too much time taking pictures of them, but I love how they looked in the spot of light!!  And check out the great story that goes with them here.