Aug 28, 2009

Sanrio at McDonalds



At one point, Sanrio was my childhood obsession. I used to go to Rainbow Fair at Sharpstown Mall in Houston, Texas almost every other week (before it became super ghetto and Paul Wall opened his “grillz” jewelry store there). I had Sanrio pens, erasers, binder, t-shirts, backpack, wallet, watch, pencil case, calculator, hat, etc…you get the idea. I know, I was a sad child. I'm ashamed to admit this because I'm the same girl who hates flowers and stuffed animals. I always found them so impractical.

So when I went to McDonalds on Tuesday, I was completely shocked to see my childhood love, Kerropi. Seeing Sanrio happy meal toys made me feel nostalgic and ecstatic. They had Sanrio figurines and plush toys which included Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kerropi, and Chococat. The toy comes with a coloring pencil that is used to customize and color the figurine. It actually looks really bad when you color it, because the color is blotchy and rubs off. If you don’t feel like compromising your health or if you’re ashamed to get a happy meal because you’re too old, you can purchase it individually for $1.79.




I don't know if you can tell, but I colored his bow tie green. I gave my Chococat the full photoshoot treatment by adjusting the lighting and using printer paper to make the background white haha.



Instructions.

Aug 26, 2009

The Ex



The Canadian National Exhibition is an annual fair that attracts around 1.3 million visitors every year. This 131 year old fair is considered as one of the largest in Canada and the fourth largest in North America. At CNE, you can find dog shows, air shows, performances, rides assembled by crazy carnies, child labor, games that win you ugly toys, parades, deep fried everything, marketplaces and much more.

This year the fair boasts about its special guest speaker, the former 42nd President of the
United States, Bill Clinton. He will be holding an open forum at the BMO field to talk about Embracing Our Common Humanity. To be frank, I know in the past CNE has been able to book lame pseudo popular musicians such as Sean Kingston or Ray J, but I’m shocked they were able to get Bill Clinton. If Bill Clinton were to speak in Toronto I always imagined it would be at Rogers Center (the Dalai Lama spoke there in 2007) or at the Toronto Metro Convention Centre (earlier this year in May).



CNE was packed. All the cheapskates rejoiced (including myself) over the $1.75 admission fee on Friday.



“The original taco in a chip bag." Yeah, original and stupid. This is such a gimmick. There are some advantages though, chip bags are sturdier and chip residues may make the taco more flavorful.



Corn dog. $4. I know the looks of this long deep fried wiener coated with corn batter doesn’t entice people to put the whole thing in their mouth, but I assure you it tastes delicious



H. Salt’s Fish & Chips. $5.99. Fried Haddock with chips. I think I shaved off a few days of my life by eating this artery clogging fried yumminess. The good sized portion of fish was coated with a crispy and flaky batter. The only complaints are that the fries were slightly soggy and they didn’t have tartar sauce.



Cartman doll. If there was an award for “the biggest douche on TV”, Cartman would win hands down. He’s vindictive, shameless, and racist, but who doesn’t love that awesome-o fatass!?



There’s something ominous about this attraction. I can’t quite pinpoint what it is.



Ribs. I wanted to try this.



I will not, I repeat WILL NOT ever go on these CNE rides because you know what I value? My life! Every year, there are reports of numerous injuries at CNE. I saw a big cloud of smoke coming from a ride, that can’t possibly be a good sign. These rides are probably assembled and disassembled by creepy carnies with missing teeth and sinister expressions that give any onlookers the heebie jeebies.

See example below.


Call me a wuss if you want, but just looking at that picture makes me feel uneasy. I feel like I'm being eye-raped.


Aug 20, 2009

St. Jacobs


St. Jacobs Country is located just north of Waterloo and is a popular tourist attraction within the area due to its Mennonite heritage and shops. It consists of a farmer’s market, flea market, outlet mall and a street with retail shops. Fresh farm products are sold within the farmers market and the flea market sells miscellaneous products at a discount.


I stayed there for a probably a total of 1.5 hours. There wasn’t much to see and the only difference between St. Jacob’s Farmer’s Market and your typical farmer’s market is that some of the vendors wore Amish clothing. The St. Jacob’s flea market is similar to CNE’s (The EX) marketplace, but significantly smaller. The St. Jacob's Village is located 3km north of the St. Jacob's Market. It is a small street with a few retail shops, restaurants, and a bakery. It’s nothing special unless you are interested in Mennonite heritage or want to buy fresh produce. So would I ever come back? Probably not. St. Jacobs’s market was about as exciting as this post and the pictures I took, but I guess it was an interesting experience.


Click to enlarge the photos.



I got really close to take this....my face was 4 inches away from his nose. I was honestly afraid the horse was going to either lick me, suddenly lunge at my face, or just has very very bad breathe.



The outlet mall was very small with only a few stores.



Horse and buggy is mode of transportation for some Mennonites. I wonder how they cope with the blistering cold and snow during the wintertime. Dog sleds? (im jk!)





The food court. Who wants to ride the sausage express?



Those are some gigantic cinnamon rolls. The picture is kind of blurry because I was trying to quickly take a picture of her in her Amish attire without her noticing.



Have you ever wondered what Mario would look like if he was obese? Stick with mushrooms and lay off the big Italian sausages!



The inside of the farmer's market building.