je t'aime ♥ montreal

Montreal is such a lovely city! next time i'm back i'll be speaking french. i felt like such a tool responding in english. there were several times i tried to play it cool and respond in french but then i'd get bombarded with questions where my responses were a mere "oui" or "non" most questions are closed ended right? Rosetta Stone here i come :) any who. i was only in the city for 2 nights and 3 days. day 1 was a freakin' snow storm, day 2 rain and sun, day 3 beautiful skies but of course we're leaving. if you plan on visiting this cute european inspired city go for july/aug. you can get around downtown on foot, transit, or better yet a bike. here are the photos
Old Montreal

Montreal has a sweet art scene

this city was undergoing a major face lift! there's construction on every other block.

the Palais des Congres de Montreal aka Convention Center

another sweet art gallery. the mannequins have inspired me for the new pad

a smart and fun idea: public transit on pedals. pay by the hour.

i'm on a train

as per "my word" i am posting this blog entry on a train ride back from Montreal. me and the hubby went for our US Visa interview yesterday here in Montreal and I was approved on the spot! which means I'll be able to move to NY as planned for June 6th! while out here we dealt with a random snow storm, rain and finally sun. this city is absolutely beautiful! when i get home i'll be able to upload photos from my camera...i forgot to bring a usb cable so here are some photo booth images :)

the hubby watching Big Love

lovely vintage buttons i purchased at an army surplus store

oh-so-cute!!!

i loves me my asian stationary! while in Markham and taking care of business yesterday i of course had to make a pit stop at Pacific Mall. and looky! i bought a bunch of 'gifts' code for 'no good reason'. but aren't they oh-so-cute!!!

up in the air

today i spent my day driving around town running errands and scouting locations. while stuck in traffic, bumper to bumper and getting mad at the world i looked up and saw this opportune moment leaving my silly worries behind me. coinky-dink i shot this since i just watched Up in The Air with George Clooney a few days ago.

i have a fascination with travel and thought i'd start a photo collection surrounding 'transportation'. lot's of fans including Mr. Taha love my vintage car shot.

inspired

my move to NY is just around the corner which means the inspiration boards begin :)
my hubby and i decided to tough it out in his place, which happens to be the grimmiest of all projects in Harlem :S on the bright side i get to save money and i always love a challenge :) i wish i had photos of the apartment on me but as soon as i'm down there i'll take photos and post. i can't remember where i found all these darling images. when i come across something i like on the web i just grab the photo and put it in my inspiration folder. i usually prowl flickr, apartment therapy, or a few of the design blogs i follow here on blogspot. i'd like to go for something playful and retro of course and similar to my vangroovy pad you can see here. but this time around i'm going for modern touches here and there... a little more refined frugal if you will :)
here are just a few images. my keyword searches include: eclectic, retro, bohemian, modern

la familia

i must say my family is DOPE!!!! a good few of us are talented artists and lucky me gets to work with the people i hold near and dear to my heart :) this project in particular was with my cousin Michael Madjus, another versatile artist but in this particular case art director and editor. he put together an educational video for the CN Tower and requested my 12 year old voice for the role of Victoria along with his brother Jeigh Madjus for the role of Luke. my other cousin Mathias Horhager did the illustration.

since i'm at it here's the crew:

Name: Greg Washington
Relation: Brother
Forte: Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Photographer
Sites: http://www.inqmnd.ca/ and http://www.anotherfaceinthecrowd.com/

Name: Jeigh Madjus
Relation: Cousin
Forte: Singer, Dancer, Actor
Sites: http://www.youtube.com/user/jeighmadj

Name: Michael Madjus
Relation: Cousin
Forte: Designer, Industrial Artist, Stylist
Sites: http://www.madjus.com/

Name: Mathia Horhager
Relation: Cousin
Forte: Illustrator, Writer
Sites: http://themissinggroovy.blogspot.com/

Modern Prometheus

plenty has happened in my 2 month hiatus from my blog. a huge chunk of that time has been the creation of my bambino of a movie :) it seems only fitting that I venture into this unchartered territory since I come from the worlds of photography and acting. my friend Cat and the rest of the universe have been nagging me to create a film project but i wasn't inspired by the suggestions. then one evening before going to bed it hit me! my gem of an idea. but as we all know ideas are useless if you don't act on them. so i'm now in the writing process. i've never been much of a writer. even my blog's strong points are in the visual department. my experience in writing include journal entries and cover letters for jobs. so i'm starting from the beginning. it took me a few attempts but i found a method that works for me. since this project is a feature film i wanted to know the story arc and see if it made sense. i wrote more or less every scene on cue-cards. this method is great! you get to rearrange scenes, fill in the blank, you name it. now that's complete i'm moving into the scripting department :) i made my first attempt and it's a little more challenging. in the meantime i'm reading scripts, watching movies and doing more research to learn the tools other talent use.
for those interested in getting into scriptwriting check out:
http://johnaugust.com
http://artfulwriter.com

let me be ya managa!

in other news...i've added Manager to my long list of job titles. i'm so pulling an Eric from Entourage with my cousin Jeigh Madjus who happens to be an amazingly talented singer. i shot and edited his first audition for Glee prior to the official myspace audition. we went for a very amateur-diva-gorilla-artist vibe. his official myspace video is coming out soon. i plan to take this viral and get everyone to watch it :) spread the love! check him out here and if you like him hit "like" and comment:

my word

thanks to my friend Ryan, i gave him my word i'd get back to blogging. my excuse? sometimes i feel my life may not be interesting enough to blog about but then again what the heck is twitter for? so let me do this now...I MAYA WASHINGTON WILL DO MY BEST TO UPDATE MY BLOG AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. ok! i put it out there so i can't go back :) as for the updates...
i finally have a life in the tdot that is Toronto. i also have a few extra dollars to drop on much needed items. i'm learning it's cool to pinch pennies but pick and choose. i'm finding it's better for me to drop the big bills when i want something to last a really long time. everything in moderation i suppose. i bought a wallet in ny china town for $20 and it barely lasted half the year. i made may way over to Kensington Market here in Toronto and found this beauty for $28. it's clearly not big ticket but it looks like it'll last. it's denim. i just love interesting finds!