Black History Month at Vaughan Public Libraries

Vaughan Public Libraries is kicking off this year’s Black History Month with a series of art exhibits featuring the works of Black History artists Celia Wilson and Samar Smith. The educational experience will continue with a visit from author Sandra Whiting, who shares legends and folktales from West Africa and the Caribbean in celebration and promotion of ethnic diversity.
www.vaughanpl.info

Toronto’s Interior Design Show – IDS13

From January 24-27, designers from across the globe gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the renowned Interior Design Show. A hub of experimentation, creativity and design synergy, IDS brings the Canadian and international design community together for a gathering of global proportions. Inspirational exhibits featured emerging and established designers, and highlighted international interior, architectural and product design trends. Canadian-made design stars, including Vancouver’s Douglas Coupland and founder of Dwell Studio Christiane Lemieux, were on hand, while Toronto’s Andrew Richard Designs unveiled a stunning new collection.
www.interiordesignshow.com

Forget Not

Mary Morganelli often turns to art to express her emotions. Her recent painting, Forget Not, is a conceptualization of a mind-blowing disease — visual and spatial confusion, a struggle with memory and time, the remnants of one’s identity, a fragility of mind — that is both debilitating and permanent. The man represents her father who, along with a tidal wave of individuals diagnosed annually, has grappled with Alzheimer’s disease over the last five years. “My father was always the type to always be smiling; he loved life no matter how bad it was. Now he doesn’t know anyone anymore. It’s awful,” says Morganelli. The King City resident hopes to shed light on the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s on the individual and his or her family, as well as raise support for the Alzheimer Society of York Region, which helped to arrange care for her father at Maple Health Centre. Dubbed the “Silver Tsunami,” Alzheimer’s is an impending crisis that is a cause of concern for leading global experts. The Alzheimer Society predicts that 1.1 million Canadians will live with dementia by 2038 — that’s one person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or related dementia every two minutes. “My father’s condition has made us more aware of how devastating it is for other families that struggle with Alzheimer’s.”
www.mariellart.com

Legoland Discovery Centre At Vaughan Mills

Imagine your favourite childhood pastime come to life. Opening March 1, Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operation, invites Lego lovers to Vaughan Mills’ Legoland Discovery Centre, the company’s first-ever project in Canada. Complete with a 4D cinema, brick pools, Lego rides and more, the approximate 34,000 sq.ft. indoor playground will build the perfect day of fun for families.
www.legolanddiscoverycentre.ca

The Pollination Project

What would you do with $1,000? Supporting individuals eager to put their social conscience in motion, The Pollination Project doles out a grand to today’s change-makers — individuals with ideas that will touch the lives of others — each day of the year. Whether your idea will benefit your neighbour, the environment, animals, social justice or community health and wellness, the non-profit organization aspires to nourish your intended good deed with financial support. Calling on individuals in our community to manifest goodness in the world through individual action, founder Ari Nessel, a Dallas-based entrepreneur, explains that almost everyone has the capability of spreading hope and change, no matter the size. “The Pollination Project believes not that we need more Mahatma Gandhi’s or Martin Luther King Jr.’s in the world, what we need is individuals — large amounts of people — who are making small changes in and around their community.” To kick-start change in your community, apply for a grant at ThePollinationProject.org.

Canada’s Bridal Show

Brides-to-be gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on January 4, 5 and 6 at Canada’s Bridal Show. From the latest in wedding wear to fresh décor themes and gush-worthy venues, exhibitors unveiled those perfect touches that make wedding days special. Celebrating all things bridal, the innovative show introduced a Bride Rewards Program, allowing ladies-in-love to receive points on purchases made at the exhibits. One lucky guest won a $5,000 wedding cake designed by special guest Cake Boss Buddy Valastro. Mark your calendars for the next Canada’s Bridal Show this upcoming September.
www.canadasbridalshow.com

Pantone State of Mind

Spring is in the air, and Pantone’s Fashion Colour Report has you in the know for all the season’s hottest new shades. Hopscotch your way through a spectrum of lights and brights.

1. TAKES THE CAKE
Planning a spring wedding? Treat your guests to a lip-smacking creation from I Do! Wedding Cakes. Cake designer Olivia Nguyen knows how to craft a delicacy that’s unique to you, making your fete a deliciously memorable one.
www.idoweddingcakes.ca

2. WORDS OF WISDOM
Start your day with a positive kick by cracking open this charming weekly calendar. Stay organized and inspired while planning your 2013 adventures.
www.chapters.indigo.ca

3. HEAD IN THE CLOUDS
Bright and cosy, the Rosette Euro Sham from Anthropologie will infuse your home with energy and bring some warmth to your down time.
www.anthropologie.com

4. BRING THE BLING
Australia’s trendiest accessories boutique has pieced together this coral-toned beauty. Reminiscent of the beaches, cocktails and sunsets of summer, it’s a piece that’ll give you a tropical boost.
www.elkaccessories.com.au
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Food, Drink and Other “Likes”

With its eclectic blend of culture, flavour and activity, your local culinary scene is packed with edible adventures. From classic to modern, from bubbly bar scenes to rustic atmospheres, here’s a hand-picked hot list of mouth-watering mealtime destinations for you to sink your teeth into.

1. Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria
When co-owner Justin Lussier toured Italy in 2005, he fell head over heels for the fire-roasted pizzas he tasted in Naples. It was this delicious experience that inspired him and his two partners to bring Italy’s famous Neapolitan pizzas to Canada. Taste the phenomenon yourself at the highly acclaimed Famoso!
www.famoso.ca

2. Mill Street Brewery
Thirsty? Surround yourself with rustic charm, talkative friends and world-class beer at Mill Street Brewery in Toronto’s historic Distillery District. The deliciously unpolished style of Mill Street Brewery will add a kick of interest to your downtown dining experience.
www.millstreetbrewery.com
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Stefan Sagmeister: The Happy Show

Copies of Stefan Sagmeister’s Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far are carefully culled from a cardboard box and arranged like the Great Pyramid of Giza in the gift shop at Toronto’s Design Exchange. Handled like bone China, this inanimate book with content so far from idle has the razor-edged expression of irony. Its author, a wonder of the design world, is upstairs readying his highly anticipated exhibition for tomorrow’s big reveal. True to stereotypes, the New Yorker is running half-an-hour behind schedule.

It’s 12 p.m. and beside the shop, two men have just begun adhering life-size letters to a freshly painted taxicab yellow wall in an artery of the original Toronto Stock Exchange building. By the time Sagmeister is ready, the first six characters of his forthcoming exhibit’s title, “The Happy Show,” are revealed. A cheeky caricature of a copulating couple covers the face of an elevator, offering a taste of what awaits as its doors provocatively slide open to let us in. On the second floor, the man of the hour is heard though not seen, wrapping up his third consecutive interview. Visitors are cautiously welcomed by Sagmeister’s handwritten advisory: “This exhibition will not make you happier.”

The show is a sensorial glimpse of the designer’s decade-long exploration of that very emotion. This multimedia endeavour metamorphosed from maxims in his personal diary to a poetic book to a public portrayal of finding life’s ultimate purpose that will unravel in a feature-length documentary scheduled to debut in the fall of 2013. Sagmeister makes his mission clear through the words of French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal lacquered on one of the walls: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views.”
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Evanka Osmak: Courting Sucess

Evanka Osmak was standing at the centre of the Sky Dome in the spring of 2006 when she saw an opportunity. The budding Oakville-raised news reporter, who was working for an NBC station in Yuma, Arizona, had flown to Toronto to interview Blue Jays’ catcher Bengie Molina. “I thought, ‘OK this is my chance. I’ve got to say something, I’ve got to act,’” says Osmak, who aspired to return home and cover Canadian sports once her contract was up. Surrounded by veteran journalists, she stepped up to the plate and marched over to Sportsnet anchor Jamie Campbell. “I’m Evanka Osmak, I’m from Oakville but I’m working down in Arizona. Is there any chance I could send you my tape and you could critique it?” she said. Impressed by her confidence and charisma, he handed over all of his contact information and agreed to review her demo.

He never heard from her. Six months later, Campbell was hosting a holiday dinner at his family home when the phone rang. It was Sportsnet news director Mike English. He was combing the country for a female sports anchor and wanted to see if Campbell, who’s regularly approached by aspiring broadcasters, had any qualified leads. Campbell immediately recalled his conversation with Osmak, but her name escaped him and he had no contact information. The only thing he could remember was that she was raised in Oakville and working in Arizona.

“I said, ‘Look, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to spend no more than 10 minutes on the Internet and I will see if I can find her.’”

Realizing his chances were slim, he monotonously typed the words “Arizona Television Stations” into Google. His search rang up 40 or 50 news stations, but when he saw the word Yuma, something struck him. He clicked the on-air talent link and “up comes this picture of Evanka from Oakville, Ontario. I remember sitting there going, ‘I cannot believe how lucky I was to find her so quickly and so randomly.’”
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