Sideways

So...it's been awhile since I posted. It's really a case of "Life is what happens when you're busy making plans." I had a NMO relapse and had to have a round of IV steroids in early June and then two weeks ago today, my husband suffered a major heart attack at work. Our lives have gone sideways, so we are kind of in a state of shock still and trying to recover from the scare. Fortunately he had immediate surgery and is recovering, though his heart rate is still wonky. I am trying to deal with what's immediately in front of me, in an attempt to try and keep my stress manageable.

I had just done this revamp of my blog header and template the day before all hell broke loose and then didn't get a chance to actually post. Since I had a sliver of time today, I thought I would do a quick update. Without further ado...

Teresa posted this really interesting book on her Instagram and I was so intrigued I had to run off to the book store to find it. It's really good and reminds me of a zine in so many ways. Fun stuff! I'd love to see more books done in this style. The aesthetics of it is so appealing and it feels like you are almost peeking into someone's mixed media journal in a way. If I was going to write a book, I'd like to do it this way. Someday...

Speaking of zines, I wrapped up the zine exchange I was hosting. I now have a beautiful box of inspiration. So much good stuff!

This was my contribution, the 4th edition of Manual Dexterity. My plan was to have a few copies available in my Etsy store, but with all the health stuff that came out of nowhere, I just haven't had the time. I will have copies for sale eventually and I'll post here to let anyone who is interested know. I just can't say exactly when that will happen right now.

I've been puttering in my 101 year old journal. Some days it's nice to sit down for half an hour and make something. I have just been flipping to a random page and going for it. Slowly but surely, the pages are filling up. I am so in love with this journal.

I have been enjoying exploring my new neighbourhood with Indy. This is part of the green belt one minute outside my door. I feel so lucky to just be able to pop into the woods any time I feel like it. We live in an area that, according to my best friend has a very high incidence of bear sightings, but so far, no luck. I am not afraid of bears-I took a bear aware course years ago, but I do have respect for them. I am always mindful that our paths could cross any time I am out and about and I will be prepared to act accordingly. I don't want any bears to come to any harm because of me.

On Father's Day, we went up to Whistler for the day because we felt the need to see things like this.

And swim in Lost Lake.

 And eat amazing food like this (The BEST fish taco)

And this from La Cantina, our favourite restaurant in the village. My son had never been before and is a foodie so it was fun watching him taste a bunch of different menu items.

My friend Amy very sweetly sent me this book when I was having trouble sourcing it locally. It just arrived this week, so as soon as the weather cools down a bit, I am going to dive into painting. Can't wait. It's so hot at the moment that I don't think my paints would stay open long enough for me to get them onto the canvas. By the way, the author, Tracy Verdugo is turning 50 and so she's giving away 22 spots in her upcoming online class. The details are here. I've been entering daily because I'd LOVE to have the opportunity to expand my painting knowledge. Paint for me is joy and I'm on a mission to invite more joy into my life. I have my *fingers crossed*!

Maureen made this gorgeous paracord bracelet and sent it to me. That was a good mail day-perfectly timed to lift my spirits. I love how chunky it is and how comfortably it wears. It has a really great magnetic clasp so I can manage to put it on and off myself. (This has become a big issue with my jewelery-with my hands so numb, working closures has become a major problem.) I really love this piece and have been wearing it pretty much non-stop. Maureen is a local BC artist-you should check her out!

I have also been super busy with advocacy work. It seems I just get one project done and another pops up. I have shared a big announcement on NMODiaries this week. I have a guest post up for the MS Society of Canada and I'm working on something else that I can't talk about right now. It's so great to be able to have opportunities to contribute and make a difference. I really do love advocacy work. It's the work of my heart.

So..as you can see, life has been rolling along, despite the major bumps and potholes. We are coping. I am going to try and post more regularly over the summer. 

Hello TO!!

Last week I flew to Toronto to meet with the Canadian MS Society's Personnel Grants committee. It's mind blowing that it takes the same amount of time (just over 4 hrs.) to fly 3/4's of the way across Canada as it does for me to drive through the mountains to my in-laws' in the interior.

Along the way, I got to see two of the Great Lakes-Lake Superior (left) and Lake Huron (right). When we were landing in Toronto, I was stunned to discover there was no snow on the ground!! Here I'd purchased brand new snow boots just for this trip and there was nothing! It's a good thing I'd packed a pair of shoes. Crazy!

I took the Rocket bus from the airport to Kipling Station to catch the subway (left) into downtown. It reminded me alot of the subway in NYC. So different from our skytrain here-it's a much older system and runs almost entirely underground. I was also surprised that they have actual people sitting in the subway to collect fares, rather than having automated ticket machines like we do in BC.

It was about an hour from the airport to the hotel I stayed in, which was a Hilton right downtown, just a block away from St. Patrick's station. The photo on the right was my view from my hotel room.

Monday night, the Canadian MS Society took our team out for dinner at The Queen & Beaver. We had a lovely dinner and then everyone headed back to the hotel to rest up for the big meeting the next day. I won't go into detail about the all-day meeting on Tuesday-that's another post, but let's just say it was intense, hugely interesting and I came away with a full heart and a deep sense of satisfaction for the work our team did together.

Wednesday, I had the entire day to sight see before catching an evening flight home. My friend Jenna, whom I write with on NMO Diaries lives in TO, so we finally had a chance to meet. We had dinner together Tuesday night and then she picked me up on Wednesday morning and drove me all over the city. I really appreciated her taking time out of her busy life to be my tour guide. She did a fantastic job.

We started our day having coffee (tea!) at Casa Coffee in this cool little neighbourhood. Jenna said that in the summer, they close the street here to traffic and it becomes a funky street market. I love the indie of this coffee shop-it had a whole old school candy counter at one end and the ceiling was decorated with a ton of globes. The photo doesn't really do it justice. The conversations of the locals were highly entertaining-it's such a small space that you can't help but overhear what other people are saying. I kept catching snippets of things like "She was only wearing a g-sting and a fur coat..." and "Here comes the Russian Mafia!" and "I am totally dressed for fashion week man!". I had to keep my back to the locals because I couldn't stop laughing.

Here's Jenna and I in the coffee shop. I think I need a selfie stick!

 Afterwards, we made our way to the alley ways where Rick Mercer does his rants for his show. Of everything you could see in Toronto, this was the one thing I was most wanting to see. 

The lane ways seem to go on forever. There's so much amazing graffiti and I only managed to see a small fraction of it. Part of that had to do with how cold it was: -13C. It was too cold to be standing around for too long and taking off your mittens to take iphone photos. I might have fared better with my DSLR camera, (I can operate it with gloves on) but I opted not to bring it this trip. I did however record my own rant which I will be posting to Rick Mercer as soon as I get a chance to upload it. Silly but fun!

We did a drive by of the Hockey Hall of Fame, or as die hard Canadian hockey fans would call it, church. (Hockey is a religion in Canada.) Really cool building-Toronto has some gorgeous architecture. 

And then there was of course, the obligatory viewing on the CN Tower. Jenna very kindly offered to take me up, but as we were sitting there on the street, the observation deck was being swallowed up by clouds. No point in going all the way up to see absolutely nothing! I was fine with it-I've done the Space Needle in Seattle, so it wasn't really a big deal to not go up.

I loved the little trolley buses. This shot shows the old ones. The new ones look very much like Japanese bullet trains. I had hoped to find time to ride one, even briefly, but just didn't get to it. 

For lunch, we went to Trattoria Nervosa in Yorkville. It was a really cool Italian eatery. We ordered a traditional Italian pizza and a Caesar salad to share. The selfie (right) was taken in the entryway. I loved the medallion on the floor. The bike was just around the corner in front of one of the many trendy little shops. I had a great time visiting with Jenna and getting to know her. We'll see one another again in early March when we both fly to LA for NMO Patient Day.

Jenna dropped me off at one of the subway stations after lunch and I made my way back to the airport, just in time to get through an enormous backlog at the security checkpoint. Fortunately, I was able to go through an accessible line, which was a life saver. My flight home was rough-we had major turbulence the entire way and I didn't get out of my seat the whole time. Normally, I don't mind turbulence-that's how you know you're flying, but I was feeling a bit under the weather and so it wasn't as much fun as it normally would be. Fortunately, our flight arrived 1/2 hour early, so that kind of made up for it.

I really enjoyed my trip to Toronto. I'd never been before and that's now as far east in Canada as I've ever been. I plan to write about the actual work I was doing there for the Canadian MS Society, but it will be posted over on their site, when I do. 

So...I am home now and playing catch up with various things-laundry, emails, blogging, etc. (Oh the glamour of it all!) I have a few projects in motion that need my attention. I'll be making a list first thing tomorrow morning. No rest for the wicked!

Head's Up!

(Hands belong to my UBC Health Mentors Program students & I.)

Yesterday was so busy, I didn't get a chance to post here and let you know that my first post (which is about the NMO advocacy work I am doing) is up at NMO Diaries! Be sure to bookmark the site if you'd like to follow along!

Exciting News!

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a great long weekend!

I can finally share with you some exciting news: A few weeks ago, I was invited by three amazing women, Jenna Drolet, Erin Miller and Christine Ha to join them in writing for their blog, NMO Diaries. The invitation came as a complete surprise and I was very pleased to humbly accept. The official announcement is on the blog today and my first post will be up next Monday. If you'd like to follow along, you can find us here.