Feeling Blessed in the City

Yesterday, I ventured downtown via subway to check out the Art Gallery of Ontario with two of my classmates. We have an architectural analysis project in which we are required to visit a building in the city, experience it, sketch it, and photograph it. We chose the AGO for its stunning addition by Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry.
The Galleria Italia was most impressive:

If you guys are ever in the Toronto area, I highly recommend it! It's so exciting to have such a vibrant and creative community at my doorstep.
How lucky am I that one member of my group is an amazingly talented professional photographer?

Also, how lucky am I that the same classmate made the amazing gesture of an early Christmas present?:

Such a nice, sweet surprise. I am so grateful to have a friend like him in the big city where I'm away from my family and it's easy to occasionally feel alienated.

Lastly, how lucky am I that I found a permanent part time job here already?!
The past few weeks I've just been doing some 'temp' positions.
 But now, I will be working at a 'big box' store as a flooring and decor sales associate.
Supporting myself throughout my education has always been a commitment of mine. I made it through one degree debt free with my own hard work. Here's hoping I can do it again!

The answer to my questions, SUPER lucky. I am so happy that God is blessing my life in so many little ways recently.
How have you been blessed lately?

My First Floor Plan

So, this assignment was a doozy.
It was for my Fundamentals of Space Planning class. We were required to draft a living room/ dining room combo, transferring a given room outline from a 1/4" scale to a 1/2" scale.
Then we had to provide a living room area with seating for 8 (Realistically speaking...whose living room readily seats 8 at all times?) and a dining table for six.
The fun part was inventing our clients (and budget woo).

The hard part? We have not yet learned how to do floor plans in my drafting class yet. We are still on lettering...
Awkward for all of us.
I spent all of last week figuring out my way through this drafting process with no knowledge!
I'm sure there are technical errors, but my prof is aware of our lack of experience with floor plans and hopefully will go easy on us. And I really like what I did. Any space with a cowhide rug, a sputnik chandelier and an  Eames Lounge Chair is pretty sweet in my books!

Right after we submitted this one, we got assigned another one! A kitchen this time.
We also need to do elevations (which we also have not learned yet eeek).
Wish me luck guys! This program is more intense than I expected.
xo