Saturday, November 14, 2009
My Little Corner of the World
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Bonne Fete!

Today I am celebrating my best friend Lisa's birthday. It's a milestone birthday and I would be remiss if I didn't share with the world what an amazing human being she is.
Lisa is sweet, funny and smart as hell. (We lovingly refer to her as "the brain on legs".) She is patient, compassionate and honest. She's the first person I call with good news or bad and really, I think of her as my sister and mentor, not just my friend.
She's been with me through thick and thin. She's come with me to all my infusion and chemotherapy appointments. She's kept me company, put mean medical staff in their place and held my hand alot. She's made me laugh when I felt like crying, looked after my dog so I could get away to AF for a break, brought me chai lattes on early morning hospital runs and so, much more-this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Lisa is my rock and I think everyone needs a friend like that. I am really, really blessed to know her and today I celebrate her life and the fact that she makes the world (and my world) a better place, simply by being in it.
Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you, for all that you are and all that you do. You are precious and irreplaceable. xox
Saturday, November 07, 2009
iLike
Kina Grannis' beautiful cover of "The Call" by Regina Spektor. This is just one of those magical songs where the combination of the lyrics and the music is so amazing. *loves*
And for those of you who haven't heard, Teesha has posted a series of tutorials on youtube. The first 4 part series is on collage and the second is on lettering. I've really been enjoying watching them. Obviously, I already know how to collage, but it's always interesting to me to see someone else walk you through their process.
What's especially great about Teesha's tutorials is that she shows everything-what works and what doesn't and how she fixes the parts of her work that she doesn't like, as she goes along. I appreciated the honesty of that. It just goes to show that not even someone as accomplished as Teesha likes everything they do and she doesn't always get it right the first time. Art is about being willing to take chances and make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of the process-as an artist, you just have to be willing to see them in that light.
I came across a book called Scraps that I almost bought the other night. The cover caught my eye and I stood at the check out counter for 10 minutes waiting to buy it before I became so annoyed that I set it down and a copy of the current Art Journalling magazine and left the store. I had a brutal headache and there was a single clerk working the checkout (while there were several other staff wandering the store aimlessly) and she seemed to be intent on taking an eternity with the customer ahead of me for no apparent reason. Normally I am pretty patient but I wasn't feeling good and I just couldn't stand it anymore. I am sad now that I didn't buy the book-it was full of eye candy and interesting instruction and ideas. I'll have to go back when I have more time and patience and try and find it again. Maybe I will go to another location and scout it out-perhaps the customer service will be better elsewhere.
I am gearing up for what is going to be a marathon week. Monday I am working the election and the remainder of the week is tied up with running back and forth to the hospital for MRIs, follow up for my broken wrist, treatment from my pain specialist, a consultation with an anesthetist and then minor surgery next week. Certainly not my idea of fun and you'll forgive me if my blog is quiet for a bit while I deal with all this stuff.
I went to Olympic training for Event Services on Thursday evening. It was alot of fun and now I have a better idea what I will be doing. It's going to be an interesting job! There's still more training to come that will be specific to the venue I will be working at and we will be getting our uniforms and accreditation soon.
After training on Thursday night, they gave each of us, as our parting gift, a box from the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation. The foundation donated CPR kits to everyone, so we got an "Annie" in a box, along with a training manual and DVD to learn CPR at home. It made me laugh-go to the Olympics, get an Annie in a box! It never hurts to refresh your CPR skills, I suppose. You never know when they're going to come in handy. Luckily I've never had to use mine, but I am glad I have them all the same!
I've finally started my Olympic journal. I am doing it a little at a time as I attend events and have things to add. They mentioned at training that we would get pocket maps of our venues during games time and my first thought was "Oh good-EPHEMERA!" *laughs* You know you're an artist when...
What do YOU like right now? Share with me your little gems of artsy goodness!
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Chipping Away

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
This Is Our Day!
It just so happens that my husband has the day off today, so we're going to have lunch together, which is a rare treat during the work week. He came in this morning to see if I was awake and then made me brekki. His mum and dad were just down for a visit so we have a fridge full of farm fresh (brown) eggs, so we had skillet strips, eggs and toast with tea. I could get used to this! *laughs*
So here are some things I love about my husband:
-he has a soft and gentle heart
-animals and babies love him
-he will help anyone in need, most of the time before they can even ask
-he works hard
-he is an excellent dad to our son and fur kid
-he actually enjoys shopping
-he has impeccable taste in jewellery
-he's very easy going (he's a Libra)
-he enjoys putting food on our table the old fashioned way-he grows a good portion of it organically
-he's married me twice (we renewed our vows on my 30th birthday)
-he shows his love for me every day
Happy Anniversary to my one true love. xox
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Manual Dexterity Zine
Friday, October 16, 2009
Gratitude Week Day 4
This morning, the last day of Gratitude Week, actress Helen Shaver shares her thoughts about addiction and homelessness and how we are all connected.
And to second what Helen said, here is my story of how we are connected:
19 years ago, before my husband Peter and I were even engaged, we were walking down Robson Street, a trendy shopping district here in Vancouver to meet a friend of mine for dinner.
Along the way, there was this homeless guy coming towards us, weaving badly, reeking of booze and filthy. I cut him a wide path and kept walking and talking to Peter. I was half way down the block before I realized he was no longer with me and I was talking to myself.
I turned around to see where I'd lost him just in time to watch him clap the homeless guy on the back with a big smile on his face and ask him how he was doing. I stood there watching them talk and then as Pete emptied his pockets and gave the guy all the money he had on him. They said their goodbyes and Peter jogged to catch up with me.
It turns out that this homeless guy was his elementary school friend, Randy. He'd known this guy since Kindergarten. It really struck me that even though this guy was obviously so down and out, Peter just saw his friend underneath all that and treated him as if nothing were wrong. In that moment, Peter showed me the sheer kindness of his heart, his loyalty and compassion-all the content of his character and I knew that this was the man I was going to marry.
Years later, my husband ran into Randy's brother by chance and learned that Randy had lost his legs in a train accident (I believe he'd taken to riding the rails and got hurt doing it.) and later on, after years of addiction, passed away. My husband explained to Randy's brother about the day he'd last seen him and how throughout our marriage we'd always said that Randy was our raggedy angel and thought of him often, as he was the reason I'd married my husband.
Randy's brother was almost in tears because it meant so much to him to know his brother whose life had never been what his family envisioned for him had deeply touched and affected ours. Randy's life had had meaning and purpose that his brother had never been aware of before. I think it changed the way he thought about his brother and that was able to happen because someone stopped and looked Randy in the eyes and validated him as a human being.
I usually share this story with someone to illustrate what a beautiful a soul my husband has, but I share it today to let you all know that each and every person out there on the street, whether by cruel twist of fate or by choice belongs to someone, somewhere. The pain of being homeless is not limited to that single person on the street. These people are not worthless pieces of garbage lying on the curb. They are human beings and they need a hand up, not a handout.
So if you're like me and are tired of waiting around for someone else to do something about the problem, if anything my friends or I have said here on my blog this week has touched you in any way, please go the the Gratitude Week website and donate $1. Just ONE dollar. That's it. Economic times be damned-we can all afford that $1. It's nothing by itself, but together we're going to transform people's lives. That's the power of $1.


