My two bears

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

These are my two bears, the darker one is an original Gerber TLC bear from the 80s.

James found the lighter one a few years ago on the Internet, he’s an original from back then, but had never been sold/used.

We’ve have a lot of fun and adventures together.

Maria and Molson

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the day I arrived to Toronto. There have been lots of adventures.
Here’s for ten more!

I finished James’s mittens. I made them with one skein of Dream in Color, green.

I thought I had enough yarn leftover to knit him a hat too but I was not even halfway through and realized it was not going to be enough. So right now I’m unraveling it. I’ll keep the yarn to use in case he loses one of the mittens, like he did with the ones I made him last year.

7. What is Fatman’s call to fame?
Fatman first appeared on the blog on June 10th 2004, when I saw him lounging in his balcony wearing his speedo. Here is what I wrote that day:
“During the heat wave yesterday, I could see from my window in the building across the street a really fat man, in a speedo, white as a snowman, lounging in his balcony. What an unpleasant experience.”
I saw him a few more times that month, on June 19th reading the Toronto Sun, June 23rd in his trunks, and a few more times along the years. I used to post pictures of him in his balcony, you could never really see his face. But when my blog got really famous with lots of people reading it all over Toronto (I know, who would have thought that this same blog was so famous), I realized it was an invasion to this man’s privacy and I took down the pictures. I don’t have them anymore.

8. What does Maria do for a living?
a) Currently has no job
b) Statistics
c) Programming Java
d) Market research
e) Programmer at the CBC

I actually have been working in Market Research since 2002.

9. Who is Maria’s favourite musician?
a) Madonna
b) ABBA
c) Cher
d) Elton John
e) Liza Minnelli

I just can’t stop going on about Elton John. I absolutely love him. I saw him in Mexico City in 1992 or something. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much then as I would enjoy it now, I just know much more about his career now. One of my main dreams is to see him live again.

10. What is Maria’s favourite game show?
a) Let’s Make a Deal
b) Jeopardy
c) Wheel of Fortune
d) The Price is Right
e) Press Your Luck

Jeopardy. One of my dreams is to be on that game show. I don’t think that’s going to happen, though.

11. What is Maria’s favourite activity for New Year’s Eve?
a) Drinking
b) Eating
c) Raving
d) Sleeping

Sleeping. It’s always sleeping. It’s all I want to do. All the time.

12. How many siblings does Maria have?
I have 2.
My siblings

Last Saturday I had my birthday party, featuring the return of the Maria trivia.

Here are some of the answers.

1. Who is Maria’s favourite gay actor?
a) Elmo
b) Rupert Everet
c) Neil Patrick Harris
d) George Takei
e) Sean Hayes

C. My favourite gay actor is Neil Patrick Harris. I cannot stop going on about him. I just think he is so talented, he can act, he can sing, he can dance, and he is just awesome!

2. According to Google Maps, in what neighbourhood does Maria live?
a) Parkdale
b) Niagara
c) Liberty Village
d) West Queen West
e) Undefined territory

E. My neighbourhood is not classified under Google Maps!

3. What is Maria’s handle on twitter?
It used to be NakedKnitgirl, but I changed it due to getting so many spam followers due to the word “naked” on it. Now it’s MolsonIsMyDog.

4. What is Maria’s favourite restaurant?
My favourite restaurant is Amico’s Pizza, the place where I held the party!

5. What was Maria’s major in University?
a) Political Science
b) Marketing
c) Italian
d) Statistics
e) Home economics

A. Political Science, but I now work in marketing doing statistics. Hence the tricky question.

6. In 2004 Maria started a blog called Garlicster. Who was her partner in this venture?
a) Photojunkie
b) This Boy is Toast
c) Accordion Guy
d) Metrogeek
e) She had no partner

B. Garlicster started during a GTABloggers meetup at C’est What? Where This Boy is Toast and I decided that it may be fun to do a blog that was all about garlic, and because we thought we just didn’t have enough content for it, we did it in a format in which people could send their recipes and tips about garlic, and in turn we would like to their blogs and mention them. It’s been now seven years and Garlicster is still up and running.

From 2011 Birthday

The first Maria Trivia happened in 2005 on my birthday. We all went to Hemingway’s and 30 to 35 people competed to be my best friend. Here’s a link with pictures from back then.

It’s November again and I just had my birthday and I decided to do a new Maria Trivia.

Let’s see if my two readers know any of the answers. Post on the comments if you want to compete. I’ll publish the answers soon.

Maria Trivia
Thank you for participating in the world-famous Maria Trivia. Please fill out the questions below. No cheating!

1. Who is Maria’s favourite gay actor?
a) Elmo
b) Rupert Everet
c) Neil Patrick Harris
d) George Takei
e) Sean Hayes

2. According to Google Maps, in what neighbourhood does Maria live?
a) Parkdale
b) Niagara
c) Liberty Village
d) West Queen West
e) Undefined territory

3. What is Maria’s handle on twitter?
_____________________________

4. What is Maria’s favourite restaurant?
_____________________________

5. What was Maria’s major in University?
a) Political Science
b) Marketing
c) Italian
d) Statistics
e) Home economics

6. In 2004 Maria started a blog called Garlicster. Who was her partner in this venture?
a) Photojunkie
b) This Boy is Toast
c) Accordion Guy
d) Metrogeek
e) She had no partner

7. What is Fatman’s call to fame?
____________________________

8. What does Maria do for a living?
a) Currently has no job
b) Statistics
c) Programming Java
d) Market research
e) Programmer at the CBC

9. Who is Maria’s favourite musician?
a) Madonna
b) ABBA
c) Cher
d) Elton John
e) Liza Minnelli

10. What is Maria’s favourite game show?
a) Let’s Make a Deal
b) Jeopardy
c) Wheel of Fortune
d) The Price is Right
e) Press Your Luck

11. What is Maria’s favourite activity for New Year’s Eve?
a) Drinking
b) Eating
c) Raving
d) Sleeping

12. How many siblings does Maria have?
_____________________________

13. What does Maria spend so many Saturdays at the hospital?
a) She is a weekend neurosurgeon
b) She has a second job as a janitor
c) She volunteers at the gift shop
d) She has a secret preference for hospital cafeteria food
e) She is the “normal” control in a psychology study

14. What would Maria rather do on Saturdays?
a) Sleep
b) Cook
c) Go to St. Lawrence Market
d) Clean her apartment
e) Demonstrate at City Hall

15. Unlike the Mayor and his brother, Maria very well knows who Margaret Atwood is. What is her favourite book by this celebrated Canadian author?
_________________________

16. Maria starred in a movie directed by which Canadian:
a) David Cronenberg
b) Sarah Polley
c) Alan Zweig
d) Atom Egoyan
e) James Agnew

17. Maria’s mitten lost his mate. What happened to him after he couldn’t find him?
a) Was thrown into the garbage
b) Now lives in the closet
c) Ended up drunk and panhandling on Queen Street
d) He found a different mitten and is now part of a mixed couple

18. What is Maria’s kryptonite?
a) Wet sand
b) Lobster
c) Whey
d) Chicken
e) The TTC

From 2011 Birthday

The High Tides

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

Here’s James playing with his band, the High Tides.
He always has so much fun.
At Graffiti’s, Kensington Market.

TTC Vodka

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

Accordion Guy holding a bottle of homemade vodka, the 504, named for the King Streetcar.

Accordion Guy’s Birthday Party

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

Here we are, having a great time at the party.

Halloween 2011

Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

We went to a Halloween party last night. I went as 1986.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network