Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New!

(Gift from Deb)

This is it! The final hours of 2009! YAY! I have to say that this year has been incredibly rough not only for me, but for many of those I hold near and dear. I am more than happy to see the hind end of it and to usher in 2010, which is shiny and new and full of promise. Let's hope it's a kinder and gentler year for us all!



Meanwhile, I've been taking it easy and just spending time with my family and friends and trying to get things back into some semblance of order. Our tree came down a couple days ago, as it was shedding like crazy and we felt it was time. I've also been tidying up the studio. My desk was piled high with wrapping paper and ribbons and all sorts of stuff left over from our Xmas preparations. It's nice to be able to see the work surface again! Perhaps I will be inspired to actually make something in the next little while!



So seeing as it is the last day of the year, I thought I would go over some of the highlights of the year. Here's what was good in 2009:



-Artfest in April with my friends. It's always great to see everyone and to be amongst people who "get it". It's also refreshing to spend time in PT. Townsend, Wa., which is just the loveliest little seaside town. I could quite happily live there.



-The I *heart* Zines Exchange. It took me most of the summer and fall to get my submission together. (Let's hear it for long lead times!) but it was very satisfying to finally attempt my very first zine and I loved the returns I received. I learned alot and I would like to do more zines!



-The 12 Days of Xmas Exchange which is in its 3rd year. I debated whether or not I was going to host it again this year, but when I thought about how much fun and joy everyone gets from it, how could I not? It was indeed worth it.



-Being accepted for the Olympic Games. It's been quite the journey so far with in-person training, volunteer events and taking online e-courses. The games are now a mere 38 days away!! (I start Feb. 8th, Opening Ceremonies are Feb. 12th.) I finally have my ID and uniform and am getting ready for venue specific training now. I can't tell you how exciting this is!



-The World Police & Fire Games. This was something I decided to do out of the blue over the summer. I thought it would help prepare me for what the Olympics might be like and also it was a wonderful way to give back to the men and women who serve and protect us each and every day. I met some wonderful people and had some amazing experiences. I had several meaningful conversations with people from half-way across the world, I got to enjoy a Trooper concert and see the Snow Angels flying over the stadium at the closing ceremonies and so much more! I also learned how to dispatch a fleet of 35 cars for VIPs, which is no mean feat!



-My son graduated high school with honours in May and our family and friends got to celebrate that wonderful event. It's hard to believe he's less than 6 months away from being a grown up!



-My son and I got to see Jann Arden's Free concert in November, for free which was alot of fun!



-My husband and I happily celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary in October. YAY! I am very proud of that!



And the final thing that's worth noting about this year is that tonight, New Year's Eve, marks the 20th anniversary of my husband and my first date! I'm picking up our favourite Chinese food and we've got a stack of new dvds to watch. Our son is going out with his girlfriend for dinner, so we get to have our own cozy "date night" at home, which suits us just fine!



I haven't given much thought to goals or words or anything else to mark the new year yet. I'm pretty caught up in Olympic preparations and some pressing personal stuff, but I do really want to reclaim some of my creative life. The last two years have been fraught with serious health stuff (and still are) but I know that I will feel better on the inside if I can find some energy to be creative. Don't we all feel better when we make time and space to be our authentic selves? I feel like a part of me has been swallowed up by trips to the hospital and treatments and drugs and all that soul-sucking stuff.

So what am I going to do about it? Well, my mother-in-law, bless her heart, always sends me a cheque for Xmas, to spend on a gift for myself. This year, her gift to me, my gift to me is to take Mary Ann Moss' Remains of the Day online class. I signed up this evening and an email from Mary Ann with my access codes and such, came lightening fast. I am just printing out my PDFs before I go watch movies with my husband.

Several of my friends have taken her classes and I've heard nothing but good things about it. Everything I've seen come out of her classes has been wonderful! I think this is a great way to jump start my commitment to my artistic self in 2010. I think I am worth the investment. How about you?!? If your curious, go check it out!

And before I go, I want to wish each and every one of you much happiness, good health and prosperity in the new year. May your blessings be many and your trials be few and may you find that something that feed your soul.

Thank you for coming by here to share in my life. I appreciate it! xo

Suiting Up!

Well the day has finally arrived! I went and got my Olympic ID and uniform this afternoon!

Yes, this is the place!

I bought myself the official backpack. There's nowhere to store personal items at the venues, so they came up with these backpacks for us to keep our things with us at all times. This was not included as part of our uniform, so I paid $55.

The backpack has a zipper that you unzip to remove the Olympic rings and underneath is the Paralympic agitos. They designed it so that you can covert the backpack and uniforms and use them for both games. This backpack is a limited edition, available only to volunteers. It's quite nice-lots of big pockets and comfy straps.

This is the polar fleece vest.

And the stitching on the back.

Here's the jacket. (Sorry if the pics are dark-it's night time here, so no natural light in my studio!) The jacket has a ton of pockets and a nice deep hood. What you can't see is that there is a wave pattern on the surface of the jacket. I have to look closely to see it.

This is one of the removable patches on the jacket, which gets replaced with the agitos for the Paralympic Games.

The back of the jacket has iridescent markings. Again, the rings will be converted for the Paralympics with a snap on conversion kit bearing the agitos.

Shirt #1 is plain turquoise.

The back.

Shirt #2 has the wave pattern on it.

The back.

The pants are navy with turquoise stitching. These are the city pants which are unlined.

The toque...

...which says "Vancouver 2010".

The accreditation booklet that explains the ID passes and related information.

The pocket guide which is chock full of information we need as volunteers. It has everything from maps, to sports info, to relevant venue info. It's REALLY well put together and in addition to be useful for the games will also make a great keepsake.

My goodies. On the far left is a peek at my ID pass. I didn't want to show it all because it has personal info on it, but you get the gist. It has a pretty lanyard that it hangs from. This will get me into my venue as well as on public transit for free during the games.

They gave us these reusable cloth bags to haul our booty home in.

My last stop at the accreditation venue was a booth where a volunteer greeted me in French with "Parlez-vous Francais?". I responded with "Oui, je parle un peu de Francais." which apparently was the appropriate response he was looking for. He gave me the "Bonjour" pin, which means anyone looking for someone who understands French at the games will know they can talk to me.

French and English are not only the two official languages of Canada, but also of the Olympic movement. I was born in St. Boniface, which is the largest French speaking population outside of Quebec. I started French in kindergarten. While I haven't used it in years, I understand enough to be helpful. I also have basic Spanish, which I picked up from living in Barcelona, Spain. It will be really nice to put my language skills to use! I used them a bit in the summer at the Police & Fire Games. It's always nice to see someones face break into a smile when they realize you understand them in their own language.

As part of our welcome kit, we got this great steel mug.

The mug has this latch mechanism in the handle so you can clip it onto your backpack. It also locks the liquid in, if your mug is full so it won't spill. I will get alot of use out of that!

They also gave us a packet of special postcards. I haven't pulled them all apart to look at them all yet, but I like what I did see!

They also included a pin. This is the second one they've given me. I got one a year ago when I went to the initial training.

So...that's it now till the end of January when I go to do the venue specific training. I think at that point they will give us the yellow sleeve that we slip over our right arm to indicate we're events services personnel. (I refer to it as "the sexy yellow sleeve".)

Only 47 more days till my Olympics begins! February 8th (when they open the venue for rehearsals) is not that far away! It seems more real now, having put the uniform on and being issued my ID. I am so excited!!

I have one more thing to share. When I opened up my jacket to see what kind of pockets were inside, I found this patch stitched on the left hand side, right where it will rest on top of my heart. It says "With Glowing Hearts. Des Plus Brillant Exploits." which is a line from our national anthem in both languages and the theme of our Olympic games. It was like a little secret, tucked there for each of us to find.

It made me all teary to know that each one of us, who has committed ourselves to serving our country and the athletes and citizens of of the world for this games, will wear this sentiment close to our hearts. It's perfectly reflective of the quiet patriotism that is so much a part of who we are as Canadians.

My heart is glowing with anticipation. Bring on the Games!

I *Heart* Zines Exchange

The Zines have landed!! I finally have the returns from the exchange I was in, in hand, thanks to Rose who accepted our mail in Pt. Roberts to speed things up and to Penn who made the trip across the border to Rose's house yesterday afternoon. YAY! This is the mother load of artsy goodness!

Of course you will want to see each one up close, so let's go through them, shall we?

Odd Ball Charm by Alma Stoller, our hostess.

Art Journals: The Zine by Kara Klein.

Greetings by Emily Pruitt.

Stationary & Envelopes Note Conversations by Lisa Schrameki & Shalene McCollum.

Aging Artiste by Samantha Blythe.

Fig. by Michelle Takacs.

The Inner Eye by K. Grace Howes.

50 Ways by Pam Crawford.

Z is for Zine by Sarah Davis.

Mother Rubber Art Zine, Issue #1: Strawberry by Dawn Nguyen (Whom some of you might know by her maiden name, Shepherd.)

So there were 10 zines in the exchange and then Penn, Rose, Misti and I also exchange privately because you can never have too many zines! Here are the ones they traded with me:

Time Management for Creative People by Rose Momsen.

What Art Mail? by Misti Ko.

From This to That by Penelope Harris.

I think I am going to have to get a basket to keep all my zines in because it really is quite a collection. I haven't read any of them yet. I am trying to decide when to do that-whether I should save them for Xmas day or the week between Xmas and New Year's or...??? I want to savour them one by one.

I really enjoyed making my zine, Manual Dexterity, which looked like this:

Penn told me to open my Xmas card that was in with my zines, so I did and these 1 inch buttons she made at a class last Monday were inside.


Aren't they cool? I collect 1 inch buttons. We're going to have a button making party in the new year. I am already scouting out images to use. Penn always makes me the coolest things. Thanks Penn!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Xmas!

We finally got our tree up on Wednesday night. My son and his girlfriend did the decorating, while I ate a late dinner and watched.

This is a bottle brush tree star that my pal Deb gave me a couple years ago. I just love it!

I not exactly sure where this vintage deer came from, but I suspect it's been in the family for some time.

Our tree is made up of two kinds of ornaments: handmade and those given to us by family and friends. I don't have anything else on there-no glass balls or that sort of thing and I like it that way.

My friend Liz sent me this one two years ago from England. She just happened across it and it's the name of the exchange I host every year, so it's perfect! She's so thoughtful!

Of course what would my tree be without some mixed media ornies? This one is made from tin. It was fun watching my son's girlfriend's reaction as she found each of our ornaments and hung them. Each one has its own story.

Here's one I made ages ago. I found the pattern in a Better Homes & Gardens quilting magazine. There are four different wool felt sneauxmen and I made a bunch to give away. I kept a couple for myself.

This one was a gift from Tricia. She is so darn talented! She makes the coolest ornies every year and sells them at her co-op gallery.

An altered cabinet card ornie from Deryn. She gave this to me when we first became friends. I love that my tree is a celebration of the people I hold dear.

A ceramic piece from my childhood. The velvet is wearing off poor old Santa! It's used to hold candy canes, but I don't have any yet.

A friend made this wool felt mitten. I love mittens and sock ornies. This is a rather large mitten, though you can't tell by the photo. It could be used as a stocking.

This is a wool penny rug I made. I it was fairly quick and easy and I enjoyed doing it.

And here is my tree, all lit and pretty! Indy keeps going over and nudging his presents with his nose. (I guess they smell good!) So far he's been good about not touching anything-he just likes to sniff everything. He should have been a sniffer dog at the airport!

Good dogs get pressies from Santa. Last year we let him open his own presents and he had a good time tearing the paper off. So far he's got three with his name on them. (Yes, he's spoiled!)

I showed you mine, now show me yours!