She Out.

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tiny little creative in a madmad day

f PLUS w

Home sweet home!

I had a lot of fun in Cali and working the F+W booth and class was great. Everything went well except for the fact that I left all the prep stuff for the *very* cute demo in a folder on my desk at home. I realized it on the plane to Cali and promptly ordered a gin & tonic and resisted crying. I thought perhaps there was a chance I slipped it into my luggage without even remembering, but when I checked at midnight it really was true. We managed to rig something up by Monday, but it ended up not happening because instead I signed about a gazillion books.

When K & I went to pick up our badges the lady asked us for the company name. "F and W" we answered. She seemed to be having some trouble with the computer and proceeded to pick up a pamphlet. "OH. You mean F PLUS W". We exchange a look and a smile. Another lady says "What was the company name?" We turn our heads in unison "F PLUS W" and burst out laughing.

Awesome sushi and so many funny stories. A lot of laughter and walks through the romantic palm tree forest. Sunshine! So much scrap stuff that I'm feeling all rejuvenated. So good to see scrap buddies. The cutest Claudine and her inky fingers. Converse=best shoes ever for convention center. And the black flats weren't bad either. No camera means I'm relying on Morgan and K to email me photos. So I stole one from K's blog.

A'ight. Back to work.

Gratitude: Seeing my honey's gorgeous face at the airport last night at midnight after 7 hours of airports and travelling.

xog

i can't work

it's not because i let jaxon and carmichael stay home instead of go to daycare (no school).

it's not because i went to the mall with them so they could use giftcards and get yet another game for their DS(s?)

it's not beause it's a pretty nice day and i'd rather be outside.

it's because of thisbook.

and this magazine.

and this one.

and this one.

i couldn't choose, and i always get to treat myself to magazines for airplane rides.

yipeee!

now the challenge is to save them for the plane. but really, i won't read FOUR on the plane...

xog

Grateful for new rags...

biiiiooootch!

I know I shouldn't call Ali a biotch, but I can't help it. I've so pared down the blogs that I read. For many reasons, but mostly just to get removed and get my head out of the computer. And also I have zero time available for that stuff. Not only that, but I've completely reduced shopping for scrap supplies. Like months and months (and sometimes months) between trips for anything except adhesive (still addicted to my sweet-ass cheap-ass tombow). And that's nice because every several months I'll reallyreally know what my favourite products were from the last round of releases. Not the current one, but the one before that and sometimes probably the one before that. Then I go and read Ali's blog, thinking perhaps she has a little bit of insightful wonderful inspirational creative tidbit, and instead she's talking about her latest favourite things. BIOTCH. I resist these things! WhatEVER.

OK F&W booth demo prep is complete (totally looking forward to seeing the DareBook larger than life!!) and I'm looking forward to seeing some friends from crazyscrapbookworld. And today we had Indian food for lunch and it was so yummy. Jaxon sprained his ankle yesterday (fell down the stairs and twisted it heading to the cafeteria for lunch) so this morning we went to get x-rays. Not fractured. Thank GOD. Some nice swelling, a good bruise, and a little hobbling. Nothing some TLC can't cure. Also enjoying Momo falling asleep in the perfect position in my lap while I work. So lovely.

OK bedtime. Who knows what tomorrow holds.
Gratitude: for something tomorrow may hold...

xog

sick as a dog

Where does that saying come from?!? Anyway, that's me. A throat infection that made its way to my stomach. Charming, no? 2nd day of antibiotics and I'm feeling so much better. Do you ever feel like you want to die for a minute when you're that sick? UGH.

Worked til late again today. Trying to catch up (what else is new) and maybe even get ahead so I can get the chance to play this week.

Dren and I have been watching Boston Legal on DVD. We sort of lost track of it when our schedules were off so we're picking it back up that way. Love the no commercials part of watching TV on DVD. I mentioned Parker Posey in my last post and she appeared today in the episode we saw! Neat little coincidence, I thought.

The candle just went out under my "rejuvenation" oil burner. I think that's a good sign it's time for bed.

xog

omg it's late

just finished a layout job. PHEW. increasing margins and flipping to a new smaller template for a 16 page DVD booklet layout = NOT FUN.

now it's late. need to get some sleep in order to wake up and get more work done.

i am in re-love with PARKER POSEY. hi. she is like, the cutest 30+ish-year-old. Queen of Indie. Need to filmography her immediately and watch everything she's done since the 90s. absolutely adored broken english.

going to Cali in a couple weeks! gonna see K! so 'cited! much to do and figure out. ha! it wouldn't be me if it wasn't in chaos.

paid so many bills this week. billsbillsbills. ick.

gratitude:
dinner with awesome company tonight @ hapa izakaya. too much food and just enough sake and sapporo. so much laughter my cheeks hurt.

that is all...
xog

thrift store boo-yah!!!

Poor Jax dude has been sick aaaalll week. These headaches keep coming and going...it's the same thing Carmichael had over Friday Saturday Sunday last week. He will go in to school, and call at noon for me to pick him up. Poor little buddy just crashes after expending every last little bit of energy. I kept him home today - he woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, crying. My heart just melts for him when he's sick. Party I feel sorry that he's in pain/discomfort, partly I want to make him feel better, and partly I love that he's kind of needy when he's sick. He's six...he's got boy stuff and friend stuff and lots of stuff to do without mama and so I kind of cherish being able to be close to him when he's sick. He had a great morning, and my friend Selma and I had a date to go to the thrift store today. So he came. It was super fun...he's a bit of a shopper and he wanted to look for cool t-shirts and hoodies. As we were leaving, S spotted brand-spankin new Dior shades in the glass jewellry/camera/sunglass/$5+goods case that also holds the cash register. Serious. And honestly, I usually don't really give a shit about brand names and stuff, but when I put them on and my eyelashes didn't hit the lenses, I was a happy girl. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and if you get really sick Dior glasses that should run you about $200 for $25, it's a good thrift store shoppin day. Then we went to a sushi place. J developed a headache but I thought a good part of it was due to hunger. He eagerly gobbled up a Cali roll (hold the avocado - WHAT!?? is that even my child!??) and had some miso soup and mango ice cream. Perfect sick day, if you ask me. And him.

xog

Ruth! - I can't seem to get contact info for you from the comments - can you please email me!?

she's a tired girl.

Or feeling old. or both.
A panic attack in the middle of the night (wtf???) and 3 crazy vivid dreams and one restless sleep later......I didn't venture out of bed until 9:30, had to pick Jaxon up sick from school at 12:30, tried to fit in a shower and some work and had a meeting tonight.
Phew.
A much as I'm dying for some creative time, I think I'm just headed to bed with Sudoku on Dren's PSP.
xog

hilarious!

I had Oprah on today, and she featured a The Container Store for one of the segments. I was immediately in love. Of course we don't have The Container Store here (of coure) but I want it. So I went to the website:


And I had to laugh. And then I thought: "it's a little teeny bit scary how much power Oprah has" I mean, love the girl, but seriously...she probably really could take over the world. Dren used to have a joke that Oprah and Martha are aliens sent to take over the world. I guess Martha got a little sidetracked from her mission. :)

Gratitude is back! (I really think I need it...it works!)
Sooooo very grateful for the first sunny day in a loooong time. Took Momo to the dog park!

meet Momo!

The ONLY non-blurry photo I've caught so far...

soul-searchin

I'm really sad about Scrapologie. It was like a scrapbooking touchstone for me...a way to keep in touch with some of my favourite people and artists in this crazy little community. I love scrapbooking...I love it alot. It's just that I've kind of pulled away from it lately, to be honest. I've been in a creative rut in general...Christmas was pretty difficult for me this year. I've been spent emotionally and creatively. I want it back so bad. I've been dabbling in making jewellry again...that's been fun. And so now, as The Scrapologie Era comes to an end, it's a good time to re-group, get re-energized and also just have some time to relax and play for a bit. As you may have read, the dares is gonna take a quick hiatus as well. in support of the writer's strike, you know. and we are BACK with a vengeance on lippity leap year with a whole new bag of tricks.



and in the meantime, i'm having a blast moving into my new office and working out the work/play kinks.



this post via ae so hit home.

today Jaxon and I went to the park with Momo. What an excellent time. Jax insisted on going to the park with the Spiderman climbing thing ...the one that's near to the licker store. It always makes me feel like a fabulous parent when my child lists the "licker store" as a landmark near to the playground. ahem.

I kicked ass cleaning the house tonight. Seriously. Jaxon went up to play with Carmichael and I got busy on the house. De-cluttering, putting things away in the places they belong (such a weird concept, I know). Emptied and refilled and emptied the dishwasher (have I mentioned loving having a dishwasher?) All surfaces sufficiently tidied, candles up in appropriate spots, aromatherapy happening in my office. Ahhhh. Good times. And baaad backpain after!! Am I like 90!?

Jaxon and I are both suffering from exema this winter (at least I think we are!?). It's kind of irritating being itchy and dry all the time.

Alright. 10:54pm and I have just returned from the kitchen, where for some insane reason I felt the need to blurt out "who wants chocolate chip cookies!!??" to which dren replied "ah yeah...what kind of questions is that?" and jaxon replied "yeah, mama, what kind of question is that?". Little clone. A self-admitted little clone. God I love those boys. And our new little girl :)

xoxog

yessssss!

Project runway is back FI-NAH-LY!!!
And it's about as Devil Wears Prada-ish as could possibly be.

Totally productive, happy day. Figuring out possible solution to debt (wow). 40 minute walk with Momo (so good for me and it felt so good and the little munchkincrazygirl was so good and so cute). Made jewellry for the first time in SO long! Two necklaces. Funky and cute. Just have to add clasps and then they'll be good to go!

I also took a break in the afternoon around 3 and worked on a collage piece thing that's been going for a little while. I'm feeling a tad more pressure to pay it some attention because Momo seems to like to come in and chew on it. Hmmm.

And thanks to Project Runway, I did a fashion sketch too!

Soapiest Day Ever.: when you take the bar of soap and mix it with the bubbles in the bubble bath and go crazy with the best biggest amount of soapiest soap EVER. {excerpt from The World According to Jaxon}

today is the soapiest day ever.

We have all been totally consumed by the newest member of our family (who I currently have no photos of because of her keeping us so busy but also because it's winter and there's no light and the photos I took with a flash are icky). We've been talking about getting a dog for some time. It's mostly been Dren talking and me either tuning him out or saying "no." Once I gave in, he was online 24/7 trying to find us a dog. And as of New Years Day, we have a 9 week old lab cross. Her name is Momo and she's awesome. Photos soon!

I'm loving my own new office space. Burning all these yummy essential oils I found while cleaning and sorting, putting bits and pieces up and reorganizing...actually playing in my little spot.

I'm trying to restore some of that creative mojo that seems to have completely disappeared of late. Just rolling with it and doing different stuff. I'm reading a really cool little book a friend gave me for Christmas called Craft Inc. It's cute and chock-full of information and inspiration. Colleen and I went for brunch today and strolled down the Drive. Haven't done anything girlfriendy lately and it was really nice. We went into the new Barefoot Contessa...to die for! I love window shopping.

Just finished up a bunch of work in order to have an easier more relaxed Monday morning. Feeling really in shape. For work...not in general :) Walking the dog is going to be awesome for getting more exercise. It will be especially great when she actually wants to go out...it's too damn cold right now!

For one of the recent Dares I put together a gazillion tiny little thumbnails together in a little ring-bound album, all from 2007. I started with Jaxon's 2006/2007 school photo, and ended it with this year's. Gotta get all caught up with the Dares and some other projects!


About time for a long winter's nap, methinks.

xog

december 29

i so miss blogging. and i miss lots of people too.
the holidays...times of love, joy, peace...always seem to creep up on me and then explode all over the place and then be gone in a split second. leaves me feeling spin-headed and much less-prepared than i had originally thought i was about 2 weeks ago.

10:22pm: just returned from jaxon's room, "putting the children to bed" for about mmm...the past FOURTY-FIVE minutes? (cousins Ella and Sophie are staying over, as well as Carmichael. The room is crowded indeed).

10:32pm: i hear Dren going in with the stern father voice. Yeah baby!

Our Christmas was OK. Christmas is getting different for me...I'm getting to be an adult I guess. We have always celebrated with my family. Dren's family is all on the East Coast...in Toronto. I think he wanted to go there one year and I gave him a look of complete horror. What!?? Leave my family?? At Christmas??? This year was the first year I thought to myself: Hmmm...Maybe it would be nice to visit his family at Christmas. Not that anything unbearable is going on with my family...it's just different. It's the first year I've had to do two Christmases. That kinda sucked. My sisters invited their dad and grandma to dinner. I swear to god right now I feel like I could write a soap-opera out of my life right now and I alwaysalways thought that I had the "normal" family.

Onwards and forwards. I had an awesome conversation with my mum about it all and it made me feel better. I actually have my own family now, and I can start new traditions. I can carry on the ones that make me happy, and I can take the things that have changed, process the changes, and deal with the sadness. But honestly...it's pretty fuckin weird when your family splits and completely changes at thirty years old.

The past two days have been spent moving my art&scrap stuff and my office from the dining "room" (it's so not even a room) and the living room to our third bedroom and moving D's "ofice" as Jax calls it to a little "manspace" in the living room. It's working famously so far, but I have such a ton of stuff to go through and cram into that little room. Where was it hiding before? Oh right...that's why we haven't eaten at the dining room table in about a year. So, lots to do but feels SO good for now. Dren loves the living room (he's got the movie channels now) and I love having my own space. Oh, and I love not wanting to throttle my child because he came in screaming and carrying on while I'm on the phone with a client. I have an office - hooray!

11:02pm: I realize I think I finally hear silence. Victory.

Goodfellas is on. I love this movie. Loving the reruns and movies due to the writer's strike. Feeling for the writers. Hell yeah they should receive royalties! Hell-OH???

I got a Palm. I love him. So much. wow. You all probably know how I drowned my Palm Treo in beer, yeah? So I have been whining ever since how I don't have peoples' numbers in one place, I don't know where anyone lives at a moment's notice, and above all, I don't have reminders and I don't have my calendar. Boohoo. I have a new cell - I had to pay $70 and they could hook me up under the current contract. Whatever. But ever since I have missed the features I used on that lovely phone...and so I asked Dren for replacement pages for my Dayplanner for Christmas. He said "OK...don't tell anyone else that idea...that is what I'm getting you." I'm thinking "Great, awesome gift babe...thanks for the surprise and can't wait". But of course...we all know Dren. The gift was a Palm Tungsten something or other with a wireless keyboard included!!! I can be all business-y and get back all those things I have missed so much and I don't need the phone because I already have one! But I gotta get it synched with my computer this time. Uh yeah.

It really takes a long time to go through art supplies and scrap stuff. Really. A lot of it is total crap but for the simple sake that it must be useful to someone at sometime just makes me hold onto it that little bit later. You know? Earlier tonight Colleen was here. Her sister got Carmichael a kitten for Christmas and so Colleen brought her down to introduce her to Sophie and Ella. And Colleen loves free stuff! So I went through 4 boxes of stuff and reduced it to not even one box. Then the useful stuff that she didn't want I put into a separate box to donate to Jaxon's daycare. SWEET!

And now I'm looking up at a stand my dad made me many years ago so I could sell cards at craft fairs. It's gorgeous...of course. Everything he does is incredibly beautiful and well-thought out. It has plexi-glass fronts so you can see the cards through. I think I'll make little art pieces of something or other to put in the spots. That will be fun.

xog

i still have to shop.

not for everything, but all that little finish-up stuff, you know? today i will be visiting ToysRUs, Office Depot, Costco, and, lord help me, The Mall. Also the liquor store and the produce store. And it's 12:43pm. Yikes! Wish me luck - here I go!
xog

ponder of the day

If you download an audiobook from iTunes, can you still count it as "read"? I have a feeling I might have found a new little great thing! But I'm just downloading the first one now, so really, I don't know if I'll even like it. I think the narrator will have a lot to do with whether I can handle it. Christina Ricci reading a Gossip Girl book? The way she was reading kind of irritated me. Cynthia Nixon, on the other hand reading Lipstick Jungle...her voice appeals. I figure I'll start with a book just for total fun and see if I like it. So...can I count it as read once I've listened to all 6+ hours of it?

xog

i'm so into

I'm so into living my life these days.
I'm so into getting by on the small amount of energy I have.
I'm so into being home every day when Jaxon gets home and asking him "how was your day".
I'm so into going through my friends' purses and stealing:
1. Revlon Bedroom Eyes Powder Liner in "Plum Wicked" (because she never wears it), and;
2. L'Ancome Juicy Tubes Ultra Brilliant Lip Gloss in "Fizz" (because she has enough lip glosses)

I'm so into the multi-pack of Big Rock Brewery beer we have in our fridge. Yum.

I'm so into getting into the Christmas spirit. In fact, I started a mini album entitled "The 12 Days of...Me"

I'm so into The Dares again. I love the renewed sense of energy we're all feeling. Love it.


76:best improvement:i LOVE this page. Red Velvet Kit Club. MMM. Scrumptious.


77:letter to yourself XX# of years ago. mine's to me when i'm like 19. and it's in the lil envie. kind of deep and private. there's a sticker on this layout that we can't see anymore (it was showing but i hid it) that says "a major regret". that is how i sometimes feel. other times, i think...what the hell...i wouldn't be me if i didn't choose that.


79:and then there's the fantabulous hand-made dare from our one and only 2007 LSS winner, Julie. She's a creative girl, that one. I love seeing that. My hand-made came from one of the base/table-cover/experimental pieces of cardstock that happened to be on the table and/or in the vicinity when I was making my paper. Stamps, paint...you name it. The part that would probably be the most controversial in terms of "hand made" is the strip at the bottom...whatever. It's a starbuck's bag handle un-wound. I had a hand IN in...but hand-made...ultimately, no. So sue me ;) They still my girls...and yes, I still love 'em.

xog

momi love notes

goodbye, old post

And hello new.

In between working more than ever (and I thought working @ home would mean LESS hours - ha!) and getting a handful of hours of sleep a night, I'm thinking about working on this week's Dare, feeding my family (sort of), trying to remember to drink enough water, stealing moments to myself (like meeting KM for lunch yesterday and having her brave downtown Vancouver traffic/parking/construction to pop into the VAG...so important and fun to have moments like this...must remember), and reallyreallyreally trying hard not to end up committed. Ridiculous. Time management expert seriously needed. And a house-cleaner. And perhaps a winning lottery ticket.

Light at end of tunnel? What light? As a matter of fact, what tunnel?

I realize I am probably NOT self-disciplined enough to work at home...that is, I don't seem to ever shut it off. I will blame both my parents, self-admitted workaholics. That said, I'm enjoying it too. Walking Jaxon to school, along with random buddies that join us. Emptying the dishwasher on my "break" to get some water. Not buying lunch far too often. One tank of gas over the past 3...maybe 4 weeks!

That's it for now...back to work. I do want to bust out the wicked sponsor kit tonight while I watch Grey's. Moments for me, 'member?

xog