Month: August 2005

bookmark_bordera million bucks I don’t have

Posted on by Christine Elias

A nice new house downtown? A million bucks I don’t have.

A few days ago I had lunch with two friends in the Beach. Part of the afternoon involved walking around and looking at houses. (The other part involved ice cream and shopping…overall, a very fine day.)

I could live there (it’s delightful) but I won’t anytime soon. My taste runs a bit more modern but there is also the matter of the mortgage. Plus there’s the fact that houses are a lot of work to maintain (been there, hated that).

There are house people and there are the other folks. I am an other but yet I dream and cry a little when I think about shrubs.

I dream of a funky modern house in the downtown core. And I wonder, could the answer be a laneway house?

There seems to be a movement…

JAX Property Developments Inc.

JAX Property Developments Inc. is a growing company specializing in infill housing and custom homes. We are continually striving to offer value to our clients through exceptional design, planning and construction practices.

Super exciting stuff but they don’t seem to have any pictures of completed projects. All the images on the site seem to be renderings. But I know there are a few in my city, I’ve seen them.

There is a growing number of professionals and citizens who believe in the efficiency and urban pragmatism of building on underutilized and forgotten laneways in Toronto’s downtown neighbourhoods. As an alternative to the old housing stock or condominiums, the creation of laneway housing within Toronto’s downtown is the next logical step in building a safe, efficient and vibrant city.

Please can I be one of these professionals and citizens (can I even dream to be both!) who believes in laneway housing.

I can live in an alley. I can! I will. Please, I need more closet space.

I want this very badly. I am willing to stick to a budget.

bookmark_borderStill thinking about the wedding

Posted on by Christine Elias

So, I’m still thinking about the wedding. I forgot to mention that it wasn’t an all-Macedonian wedding. One of the matrimonial participants was Portuguese.

The Portuguese can dance. It was so peppy— all fast and spinning … I have no idea what that type of dancing is called. Salsa? Latin? Whatever it was — it looked super fun. I wish I could do that.

I’ve read that the ancient custom of passing around the bride’s shoe during the reception and stuffing it with money to help the young couple with their honeymoon and to help them start their new life together is still very much alive. But I did not see this shoe-business. I mean, we still do the pig dance thing. I would’ve enjoyed the shoe stuff.

The food was also Portuguese, which is fantastic. I especially enjoyed the midnight seafood buffet. And such a nice wine with dinner. Very light and summery.

The only hard part about the wedding was the long day. It started in the mid-afternoon and I was not tucked into bed until nearly 1:30 am. That’s longer than I spend at work. I was exhausted by the end of it.

Anyway, enough about weddings. The season is almost over and I won’t be going to any more for at least a year. Which means I better start thinking about appropriate wedding attire. I better get myself a cute little outfit and some sparkly shoes. If I start now, I may be able to squeeze into something really tiny and chic.