birthday month continued: cake or bust!

So it's pouring rain, it's chilly and I think I may have spotted hail. May, you are very unkind. I did have an interesting birthday in that I worked it over at Got Craft? and I made out like a bandit. Best spring show ever! So, not a bad birthday windfall there. Thank you to all those people who came out and said hi!


In other news, I'm totally purse hunting. And I'm picky. One, it needs to be a cross-body bag, anything other than that and I'd feel weird and probably lose it in a jiffy. Two, it's got to hold enough stuff and have pockets. My first pick as a good all-round bag is this one from Boden. It's perfect for Vancouver (ie. rainy days), has lots of great pockets and a cute pattern. I'm also looking for something more "grown up" and would like a nice leather bag. I did find a nice bag by Relic (the cheaper division of Fossil) which was ideal except the only colours available in town were gold, white and brown - and it's not leather. The brown is okay, but boring. Red or mustard would be nice! I loved a few of the leather Fossil bags online, but when I went to a department store downtown and tried them out, the cross-body straps just weren't long enough for this tall, long-torso'd gal.


And because I'm already talking about things I want, why not mention a few things that I already have and love! My iphone 4 is amazing. I used to feel cooped up waiting for an email from a client and now I can get things down outside the office and get my emails on the go - a productivity win! It's amazing and I've barely scratched the surface of all the things it can do. Tied to my iphone are these headphones by urbanears. I got them at Walrus in town and they are incredible. They stay in my ears when running and the sound is great. Plus the colour is fab - I got yellow which is a darker mustard than the photo shows so I feel old-school in a Sony Walkman kind of way.

Despite the rain and all the work I've been doing, I'm looking forward to this Saturday to hang out with my friends for a belated birthday celebration. I wish it could involve a picnic or a bike ride, but the weather just isn't co-operating. Instead it will be a lovely dinner out with the loveliest people around. Not bad, I think. Oh, and you better believe that there will be cake.

hello spring, let's make it sunny!

Oh hello, I'm still here - on occasion. I figured an update was in order and why not talk about these lovely sandals. They're Worishofer sandals which have always been grandma sandals but because a few celebs have been wearing them - they are now "fashionable". Whatever, I think they're cute and more importantly, I'm hoping, comfortable. I do so much walking and in the past have wrecked my feet by wearing shitty shoes without support. Now, I'm all about the comfort. I got them from Amazon and I was so surprised at how quickly them came – I ordered them in the wee morning hours on Tuesday and they're on my feet today. They do fit small, so if you want a pair, order a full size up!

This is also my birthday week. I'm not too excited but that's because I'll be doing Got Craft? on Sunday, May 8th (my actual birth date - take note). It will be a fun event and I hope to sell a lot of cards - including a bunch of new ones that I have in shop. However, because I'll be shilling, it's not going to be very birthday festive. But that's okay, I'm going to figure out something birthday-fabulous the following weekend. Maybe something involving picnics and cocktails and cake. Yes, that sounds just fine.

I'm not sure what kind of cake I'd like this year, but I did spy a tasty chocolate and peanut butter dacquoise in last month's issue of Bon Appetit. But what I'd really like to try is to decorate a very frilly cake like this one. I love how it looks so much.

Oh, and unlike the title of this post, it is sunny (and thankfully, has been for a few days here and there). But c'mon, we need some serious springtime taking place in Vancouver. Just saying.

the home, anew

I love these honeycombed vases that I spotted on Cafe Cartolina. They're from West Elm and I think they'd make a lovely addition to our home as the colours are pretty much my favorite. I've been thinking a lot about home lately. We love where we live and while it's not perfect by any means, it's suitable for the next few years or longer. We haven't put much thought into decorating and there's still boxes in our dining room corner that have been here since we moved in nearly four years ago! Shameful. Our hallway is lined with books to give away (but we're taking care of that as our local library now has a book sale cart where all proceeds go to the branch) and we've got too much clutter laying about.

We need to clear out and reorganize our storeroom. In its current state it's pretty hard to find what we want.

Our bedroom has the least amount of thought put into it. Through the generosity of a friend, we got a great lamp that nearly matches a lamp that I've held dear too for many years, so I figure this is a good start to get moving on getting the bedroom to a lovely, restful state. I'm being ruthless in the closet area and starting a pile of clothing to give away. I'd love to find a nice duvet cover, fabric for the window curtains, a lovely wooden antique headboard, and a couple night tables and call it done. But due to the amount of money I want to spend (ie, not much), it requires a lot of patience and craigslisting.

Cornelius has a few ideas for our office - getting rid of the wall shelves and instead creating a bookshelf of some sort. My main goal is to keep my desk tidy and clear of papers. We also want to achieve a paperless office, but that requires finding a tiny scanner for that purpose (we're looking on craigslist).

I am pretty happy with our living room. Our new couch is working out fine, though I'd love to find a couple of large cushions for the sofa and a winter set of curtains to help retain the heat in the winter. Also, it's time for an artwork shake up. I love the Lovely Design prints on our living room wall, but the artwork in our hallway, dining room and front entrance really need changing. Less collage dorm and more grown-up, please.

As for the kitchen, one of these days I'd love to paint the cupboards and add a nicer backsplash - but that is a huge job and I'm not sure it would be worth it since we are living in a co-op. Regardless, it's great to have goals for the house and I'm excited to make changes!

best books i read this year

Once again, YA fiction, food and non-fiction makes it to the top of my year end list. Only 6 books out of the near 50 books I read in 2010 get my emotional, totally unscientific 5 star rating. The above photo are books on my to-read shelf & I might be able to add one of these to my GoodReads list before the year is through.

What can I say...I'm a teenager at heart. Here are the top YA titles I read this year. All of them really resonated with me and I recommended them to friends. Engaging, compelling and full of heart.

How To Say Goodbye In Robot

What They Always Tell Us

When You Reach Me

The next 3 books aren't YA, but fall into the non-fiction realm. Eating Animals was outstanding and while it didn't make me vegan or vegetarian, it gave me a huge understanding about what eating animals really does mean. Hits on a personal level and leads you to greater pastures. The other 2 books I read around the time my mom was dying. One funny, one heavy and true. Both recommended reading.

Eating Animals

Prayer Requested

The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks

All my reads of the past year have been documented on my GoodReads account.

craft fair crazies

I'm a bit of a mess as I'm trying to get organized for the holiday craft fair blitz. Toque is December 3rd (6pm-9pm) & 4th (11am - 4pm). It's a fun show and it's for a good cause as part of the money raised goes to support the Western Front.

Got Craft is fair #2 and I designed the poster and postcard again (can I say it's cute?). I completed my swag and I must say I'm pretty excited as they look great. Line ups happen early for the swag bags (6am line ups even!) and the fair starts at 10am and goes until 5pm. It's always super fun and it's got such a great assortment of local vendors.

I get a one day "break" and then Tuesday I start moving into the new convention centre with my Hob Snobs collective pals. We'll organize and build up our booth Tuesday and Wednesday and then it's go-go-go for Thursday to Sunday for the One of a Kind Show and Sale. It's a big one!

I really hope the fairs go well and that I get to meet lots of my readers. Also I hope I sell a ton of stuff because that would make my bank account really, really happy.

Let the crazies begin!

hello autumn.

Well, it's fall now. The weather last week was nothing but amaze-balls. Sunshine, really warm and all-round wonderful. I rode my bike a lot, went for an 18 km hike up to Mount Garibaldi, and even went to see Caribou at the Vogue who were fantastic (any band with 2 drummers makes for a good show). But today is Monday and it's grey, grey, grey.

Luckily we're prepared for cozy indoor times as we bought a new couch. Well, new to us that is. It was an amazing Craigslist score and we love how it looks in our living room. And that lovely September evening light flooding into our place helped to make it even better.

I'm also super excited because soon I'll have a bunch of new cards in my etsy shop & they are all pretty wonderful, I think. Stay tuned this week for an announcement and a shop update.

on being alone

Thanks twitter I saw this lovely video, which is in part created by Andrea Dorfman (who is a Halifax film director that I love). I feel comfortable being alone and I loved that small break between boyfriends and roommates when I had my own little bachelorette apartment just off of Commercial Drive. That space gave me time to recover and grow and get to know myself a little better. I took my bike to local parks and read under trees in the middle of the day. I wandered new neighbourhoods alone in my thoughts. I went to matinees and loved being in the dark cold theater by myself with only a handful of others.

This weekend my husband will head off on a 2 week bike trip and I'll be left alone for the first time since we've been together. I'm slightly nervous that while he's out riding the mountainous roads that a bear will make a lunch out of his face or that he'll get smooshed by a careless RV driver – I want him returned to me in fine form at the end of his holiday. I will miss him greatly over those 2 weeks, I'm sure. What I'm not nervous about is being alone. It does feel weird that it's been about 8 years since I'll have spent days alone, but now that I'm thinking about it, I am excited about getting back in touch with the "alone me".