February 18, 2012

Jamie

Shannon and I hung out at my place tonight and ate this Thick and Hearty Split Pea Soup from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen. Tasty! It was particularly exciting because Shannon found an ingredient I've never been able to find anywhere ever: liquid smoke! It was totally delicious.



Shannon

Haha, and that is what the soup Jamie made looks like! It was definitely yummy and a huge highlight of the day. Thanks Jamie!

Suzie

I am so happy that not only did I get to spend $10 on some cool crafting supplies at the dollar store, I actually walked there on my own! I have been slowly getting out of the house and out for walks, which is February is unheard of! Not to mention the time of year but it has been very hard for me to get my cardio back from having pneumonia so this was great motivation. If I ever really get the hang of resin (I have started emailing the company about my clouding issues) I think these will make the cutest foodie pendants ever!

February 17, 2012

Jamie

But the real question is: does art save Bob Harper? Hehe! I was a bit worried reading the description of Bob's intense approach to yoga that it wouldn't respect what I love about the practice and would just be aggressive. I've only had a bit of a look but so far that's not the case. Plus Bob's love of training and his expertise really comes through. I haven't had a chance for even the briefest look at Jenny Doh's Art Saves but I'm really looking forward to it.

Shannon

Spent a day training and was treated a welcome surprize of a beautiful, nutritious and delicious lunch. Learning & lunch. Works for me :)

Suzie

I spent a big part of Crafty Thursday (formerly known as Creativity Thursday) trying to figure out how to make a video in iMovie. It hurt my very own skull as I turned my Ice Resin photo tutorial into a slideshow with music. Super steep learning curve but as Shannon always says, you only have to do it for the first time once. Thank god!

February 16, 2012

Jamie

Yesterday Justin and I had the treat of wandering through Kensington Market as we did groceries for Mom. There's always something to look experience and explore in this pocket of Toronto. It's hard to see but this community centre was full of what looked like huge, colourful puppet heads. Of course, I had to pull out my camera.

Shannon

I know this probably looks like nothing that interesting but for me it represents a HUGE sense of accomplishment as I recently just got through a HUGE backlog of reviews after a few delays including being sick for a huge chunk of January. But I am now officially up to date and I plan on enjoying it as much as I can! Victory Dance!!

Suzie

Yesterday I decided I was finally going to do it, I dyed my own hair for the first time! The highlighted area really picked up on the red from the "Dark Warm Brown" colour which was perfect, exactly what I wanted to have happen. Thanks Jamie for letting me know about L'Oreal's Healthy Look product, it was so easy to follow!

So glad my hair didn't turn green, LOL.

There are so many fears right now that I can't deal with that tackling small ones like this on my own gives me some sense of personal accomplishment.

February 15, 2012

Justin and I had a fabulous time at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) for Valentine's.

The Maya Exhibit was wonderful - I feel so inspired artistically by what I saw (no photos allowed in there).  I was also truly amazed by the dinosaur exhibit, particularly remains from Ontario. Imagine a Mastadon here!

Shannon

So I ain't much of a romantic, but I am a Twi-fan and lookie what came out just in time for Valentine's :) And because it's not just about sparkly vampires, I also picked up the Indonesia action film Merantau with Iko Uwais (he's soooooo awesome) and from director Gareth Evans who won me over last September with The Raid at TIFF. Can't wait to check it out!

Suzie

I took Valentine's Day off. No blogging! Well except here but you know what I mean. I thought the best self-love challenge I could do would be get me to face some of my crafting fears that keep me small. So I actually read the manual for my drill press and my vise and experimented. I ruined a few things which did not break my heart. I am just staying open to disasters, as long as those disasters don't physically hurt me. I learned a ton and feel so empowered!!!

February 14, 2012

Jamie

I think Justin and I have started a new tradition! We're taking Valentine's Day off but instead of going out for dinner today, we went out last night! No crowds. No overpriced menu. Just the two of us, an old favourite restaurant and a lovely, leisurely, romantic evening.

Shannon

Yes, I know .... The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift just *screams* Valentine's.
Huge Thank You to Jamie for surprizing me and sending me this, and for surviving me pretty much going into a tizzy over last week after a really long, awful day where what kept me going was being able to finally see this film on TV.
And then it wasn't on.
Now I can watch EVERY DAY if I want to! YAY!!

Suzie

Jamie, I finally invested the $3 to get the ap you recommended Insight Timer for meditation. The only problem? I had my iPad on mute and didn't know it! I was sitting there for probably 10 minutes thinking to myself, I know it's gone on longer than 5 minutes. Too funny, LOL. So I did it again later on for just 2 minutes and realized it has a starting bell. Love that you can make notes afterwards, it's awesome.

I meditated in my crafts room because my stress has hit the roof and I love this ap! Totally worth the money. Three bucks for sanity? I'll take it.

Looks like Jamie is full of surprises eh Shannon? Nice! And I'm going to see The Woman in Black tonight. So romantic for Valentine's Day! :)

February 13, 2012

Jamie

The snow and cold made it a good day for tea and reflection. My table still holds the holidays: a Christmas tablecloth that evokes Latvian dinners, a tall vase that holds our anniversary's white lilies and roses. Journal time helped me get clear on what this year holds for Jamie Ridler Studios and what resources will be required.

Shannon

One of my Sunday rituals is to go for coffee to journal, make lists and plan for the week.
I find an immense difference in my day and my week when I do or don't do it.
If I don't do it, I feel grumpy and overwhelmed and even though I'm out of the house for a couple hour I still end up overall being more productive than if I had just stayed home.
It's weird, but it works.
And I like things that work.

Suzie

Guess it was a paperwork kind of day. We had lots we had to go through and while we took breaks we watched High Fidelity and the new show Smash which I liked more than I thought I would.

Rewind: February 12, 2012

Jamie

Rewind: I can't believe it was only 3 years ago that we renovated our kitchen. This is the 'before' shot. You can tell by the removed handles on the drawers that we were about to make a change. It was such an interesting process and today it's really reminding me of how far we've come.

Suzie

As you can tell, I'm having a really rough time. It reminds of those horrible years in high school. Somehow I got through that and I'm going to try and celebrate the fact that this latest cycle from hell is going to end. I ended today realizing that my Ice Resin pendants are totally cloudy and just all-wrong because it's so cold and damp here. I think I'll go back to the kitchen for a while. I can't deal with any more failures.

Thanks for the support Jamie & Shannon! We were with a family member all day Saturday who was recovering from surgery. To come home to your comments here meant so much to me!