November 30, 2012

Jamie

It's been a lot of early mornings for me this week. I'm trying to glide through all of the "to dos" that are here as we come to the year end and the year start, not to mention all the changes and growth that are happening in my business. It's a very intense time. So I'm staying with my practices of morning pages, meditation and moving, and breathing my way through the mountains of work. I'm trying to be with it exactly as it is, not bringing any additional stress or worry to the mix. Like Suzie said in stART, "It's not crazy. It's just big." 

Shannon
I had another jaunt out to the library yesterday and I'm so digging going, I even took pictures along the way. It was a little nippy out, and I should have worn a hat or at least something with a hood. I think ALL winter gear should have hoods! They often keep me warmer than hats.

Suzie

We have not had a real snowfall here yet so I bundled up and got some groceries for the next week. What a difference sidewalks would be in my life. I went into Joe's looking for winter walking pants and they didn't have them. The ones I wear I got in Vancouver! The elastic bands are going and I have to keep pulling up my pants as I walk and shop.

I didn't think I hung onto "stuff" but it is clear to me now that I really do not spend money on stuff I want and like if I have old stuff, even if it is falling apart. So I put the pants in my donations pile and until I find a good new pair I will wear long johns and my light Mec hiking pants. I think one of the reasons I hate going out in the winter is how crappy it makes me look. I can change that!

November 29, 2012

Jamie 

I've been getting up early to work on getting things done as so much is happening for December and January. It's been a hectic time and I worried I wouldn't have time to make a dreamboard. But I always make time to make a dreamboard! Thank goodness, I was able to sit for a whilelast night and discover what's percolating under the Full Frost Moon. I'm looking forward to spending some time  thinking about what it's saying to me.

Shannon
Late Add but wanted to get my dreamboard in, it's been several months since I created one but it just felt right last night (and I ran across a bunch of magazines while cleaning up this week - woohoo!). Colour story is very different than I usually have, a lot... softer. Weird!

Suzie

Yesterday was about getting the last big pain-in-the-ass appointment out of the way. It took much longer than I expected and we had to drive home in the dark but thankfully the snow held off. I can't help it. I just hate going out this time of year. I keep saying appointments are done and I can stay home but stuff keeps coming up. Arg!!

November 28, 2012

Jamie

I'm getting up at 6:00 these days to work through all of the to-dos. Instead of my regular newsprint pad I wrote them all out on a huge one, the size of flip-chart paper. So much is happening and it's really exciting but I'm finding I need to take time to catch my breath and stay true to my basic practices, like meditation. Jinx kept me company and it was lovely.

Shannon
Although all my vlogs are complete and all the films have been watched, I'm still dotting a few i's and crossing a few t's off the Bondathon and hoping to do 1 wrap up post with links to all the reviews. I think I rushed through the end of it a bit, which way have been the first time I've ever done that!

Suzie

I had weirdness with the taxi calling to get to the hospital yesterday for my last round of tests for the year. One good thing about this test is I didn't have to sit in the unending sea of people waiting indefinitely for their number to be called. Although I did have to wait a long time but it is over! I am so happy. A year's worth of appointments and tests scrunched into four months. Funny, we are supposed to get our first snowfall today. Sort of like the universe is saying, stay home and play Suzie. You are in for five months of cabin fever, might as well enjoy it. (Sadly we have to go out today but you know what I mean...)

November 27, 2012

Jamie

As promised, I've been making lots of booties! I've been working with the yarn that I have on hand but have indulged in another order. These are finally starting to feel like I get them :) I love crochet projects!

Shannon
Toasty tootsies for me thanks to these awesome slippers from Jamie!!! Yippee!! I love 'em :)

Suzie

Yesterday I took over 200 photographs. I keep waiting for a day where the sun isn't absolutely blaring into my window creating harsh (yes, kind of cool) lighting. A plethora of sunshine in November when the sun is low and jamming in through my window is not something I am used to. Normally I wouldn't complain either but with the sun going down at 4:30, there is only so much time and opportunity. So I went crazy yesterday and just got it done.

BTW, Brie experts, does Brie sometimes taste like mushrooms to you? I haven't had it in a while so I'm not sure what's normal anymore but these mini cheese wheels tasted mushroomy.

November 26, 2012

Jamie

LOL, it looks like two of us went to the same movie this weekend ;) I am so glad that Shannon, Justin and I got out to see Skyfall. I really enjoyed it. And I continue to say that reserved seating is the greatest development in movie-going since stadium seating!

Shannon

SKYFALL time with Jamie and Justin!!!  Soooooooooo awesome to finally see it and cap off The Bondathon!  And it was great!  I'm so glad I ended up doing the Bondathon for this film over Quantum of Solace (which is one of my *least* favourite).  I'm still dotting some i's and crossing some t's with a few vlogs left with the thon, but it's been a wild, long ride!

Suzie

Got to Value Village on the weekend and there wasn't any good yarn. I have a feeling that they must have had a sale recently. I also found out after shopping there for two hours and getting all sorts of cool stuff that if something doesn't have a price on it, you can't buy it. It has to go to the back, be priced and then put out again the next day. I was so pissed! That meant more than half of what I picked up I couldn't buy. And, with the high prices of clothing (most sweaters were $12), I am more of an online Old Navy shopper now than ever. BTW, I am keeping the ON peacoat. They don't have it in tall and it's the only one I have ever found that comes close to fitting.

November 25, 2012: Rewind

Jamie

Well, since it's Dad's birthday, I thought I'd share this celebratory moment. He shoots, he scores - in table hockey up at Whitby! I think it's pretty cool that we all went there together. It's a good memory. And check out that Kate Bush shirt, Suzie!

We stumbled across Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol last night (which I have never seen) and I got all nostalgic and missing you all already for Christmas this year! If I knew for sure we were not moving next year, (which is highly unlikely), I would totally splurge and come home for Christmas. I think it's why I get so Bah-Hubuggy because I miss you all so much. I love our Christmas together no matter where we are. As long as we are altogether. So if I come off a little extra Grinchy this year, you will know why.

November 24, 2012

Jamie

So... my niece introduced me to The Spice Kittens. I am a little embarrassed by just how much I have watched these four, their mom and Foster Dad John since she did! It is amazingly compelling to watch them jump around and play. The chat is fascinating too. A whole culture has developed around Sage, Pepper, Basil and (I haven't heard the fourth one's name yet, hehe)

Shannon

I was so excited to see that they had On Demand FOR FREE a big fight I missed ages ago from when I first started watching The Ultimate Fighter (in reruns) where the coaches were Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck.  I remember being so mad at the time because the finale is so much longer than the regular show that they didn't end up airing it in repeats, although this fight might not have even been included.  Anyway, with a HUGE new fight with GSP last Saturday, they had a bunch of older stuff available for free to watch, and that means I got to see it!  FINALLY!  It was intense.  Lol, I'm sure you guys LOVE when I post about MMA!

Suzie

Sorry about adding TWO photos! LOL. But I wanted to show you how I found a spot for the drill press and my vice and now I can bring out my toaster oven and proofer so I can make clay and Ice Resin pendants safely in the crafts room and keep my kitchen separate. Did you know there are hardly any Es in Alphas Bits? I am having a hard time making Hexed pendants without them!

November 23, 2012

Jamie

So... I'm meeting up with my friend Annabel for a glass of wine and I'm there early so I stop into Indigo. There's quite a buzz in the air, quite a few people around, and I'm like, "Hmm.. I wonder who is going to be here?" Pete flippin' Townsend, that's who! (No pun intended) I couldn't believe it. He arrived just in time for me to take a picture before I headed out to meet Annabel.



Shannon
I got out to the library yesterday (I even did a Library Loot Vlog!) and got a whole bunch of exciting stuff. Looks like Gobo finds it exciting too! I should try and keep him a little more away from the library books because other people will read them and ... like .. allergies & all. But that will be next time! This time I'm set on enjoying the moment!

Suzie

My crafts room continues to be a disaster. Even a dumping group for my clean laundry (which I have put away). I think I have to really give it a once over before I can expect myself to want to spend time in here. I really do not like mess. Project number 1? Move my drill press to my bookcase and get my mini toaster oven off the floor. Just doing that would make a big difference.

November 22, 2012

Jamie

Clearly Jinx is trying to figure out my crochet pattern. Maybe she'll make me some booties for my birthday!

Shannon

I finally finished The Vampire Academy Series!  That took years!  Mind you I've had this one kicking around for a bit.  I am thrilled to have finished it and I really enjoyed it.  It's great to get back to reading.

Suzie

I think yesterday just ended up being too dark to take photos of my beet soup. I had this torta and hummus with it and the soup was so subtle I couldn't taste it. Sounds like I will be doing a reshoot and re-tasting today!

November 21, 2012

Jamie

It was a coffee shop kind of day yesterday! Art picnic in the morning and Creativity Coffee in the afternoon. I think homes, theatres, art galleries, spas and coffee shops are my favourite places to be!

Shannon
I really meant to take a picture of cat food, because that was my errand of the day but sometimes I get freaked out taking pictures in stores so that must have made me forget!  Lucky for me pre-buying-cat-food I snagged a pic of journalling at the coffee shop.  I tried to get an image of the holiday coffee cup sans-slip-sleeve but that sucker was NOT coming off.  I guess yesterday was a day to roll with it, no matter what happened!

Suzie

Yesterday was all about food! I made a beet soup from the True Blood Cookbook but haven't eaten it yet. It was a little thin so I am going to reduce it a bit first and then take photos of it. Lorraine's old Oster blender totally rocks, I love making soups and purees in it.

Beet soup has always scared me but it makes Russell Edgington reminisce so I had to make it! And yes, I will even eat it. :)

November 20, 2012

Jamie

I love these inspiration pictures that I have on the side of the bookshelf by my desk. The bottom one was sent to me by MarilynM, who saw it and thought it was my style. How right she is! And the top one I saw on Pinterest the other day and immediately fell in love. I've printed it large here and also have a smaller copy in my journal. What an amazing presence.

Shannon
The big excitement was getting out to the laundromat. WOOHOO! Clean socks again! The world is a better place. I usually do my morning pages when I do laundry and it was a quiet day there, and I was the only one there when I snapped a few pics and I realized I don't take a lot of pics of me anymore so I might try and do that for Tuesdays with a callback to the SPC Self-Portrait Challenge back from the years when we started blogging. I'll see. Also had a nice experience at the laundromat helping a lady understand what coinage works in the machine. She was very sweet, and it reminded me that even when we don't understand something, we can ask for help, even if we don't speak the same language (which we didn't!).

Suzie

Again, no photos. Don't feel you have to watch all my videos, LOL. I just seem to be doing them more lately but I will get back to my photos. I tried to do Shannon's trick with the piece of paper but it was too big. I gotta get one of those little thingies you have Shannon and small cards. So this is just a vlog with some updates.

November 19, 2012

Jamie

This weekend we really spontaneously decided to head down to the Beaches and hang out for a bit. It turned out to be a fabulous outing, including bumping into Vince from Haven at Starbucks! We didn't go up and say hi but I did give him a big "I recognize you and love your show but am totally respecting your privacy" smile. I hope he got that message, hehe. Afterwards, we walked a bit farther than we normally do and decided to stop for dinner at this wonderful Thai restaurant. The food was fabulous and we had a really good time. Sometimes it rocks to be spontaneous!

Suzie

Saturday was crazy! In a good way. We started off with Chinese food and then the D&D ladies went to a new cafe that is actually open on Saturday nights. It's the Choco Cafe and I treated everyone to a chocolate fondue and had some amazing hot chocolate. It's getting cold here and I'm still struggling with getting over my cold but it all kind of rocked and was worthwhile.

November 18, 2012: Rewind

Jamie

Looking at my old photos I found a series from a Friday night in 2007 that totally cracked me up. Shannon and I were just walking to the subway but I was obsessively taking paparazzi type shots of us every couple of seconds. All sorts of crazy, fuzzy, playful, wild shots ensued. I love this one and feel like I want to shift that picture up with my cursor so I can see Shannon scowling at the camera! All in fun, of course!

After a big storm on Vancouver Island in the winter I would sometimes brave the long walk down to the lagoon despite the strong wind. The water there is usually quite calm but not in the winter. Giant debris would be swooshed into the beach like these two giant logs with the water still crashing over them, undecided as to where they should end up.

I do not miss being without power all the time but I do miss the wild windy winters on the island. Even though the sound of the wind raging and shaking our little house would keep me up all night, I was amazed by the power of where we lived. Oddly, it made me feel quite safe but then I used to be enchanted by Nature's power and force.

November 17, 2012

Jamie

Well, you knew where we were going to be last night! Shannon and I had a great time at Breaking Dawn Part 2. It's hard to believe we were also there for the opening night of Twilight! What an adventure. One of the traditions that I've developed over the years is taking a picture of Shannon taking a picture of the movie poster, hehe. Looks like that will be continuing :)

Shannon

Okay prognosticators, you called it and here it is!  The big reveal, er... conclusion!  It was so awesome to see it on opening night with jamie just like the original film 5 years ago!  I can't believe it's been so long, and was a pretty freaking epic conclusion.  Still processing, but happy with just loving it for now :)

Suzie

Wow, I really haven't been taking a lot of photographs this week. It's been so dark, editing video just seems to be where I am at. This originally was double the length because I did start off trying to teach stitches and such (which is why I was so frustrated in stART) so I decided to make is more about why and how you make the brain slug this way. The second half is a speedy look into assembling it which nobody every shows in detail. I already had one woman say she liked it so yay!

It was hard getting rid of all that work. I will be doing a step-by-step tutorial with the spats just to see what it's like and how I feel about it.

November 16, 2012

Jamie

I still can't quite believe it. The interloper came for breakfast! I saw him out back, scooting along hte fence. I opened the door, thinking for sure he was going to scamper away, but he came right over. It's certainly colder and for sure this is his first winter and he's looking over his shoulder more. Though, as I said yesterday, he's getting bigger and his fur is nice and shiny. I'm so glad he felt okay to come close and have some breakfast. Be still my heart :)

Shannon
Wow, epic week of re-watching and finished the re-watch with Breaking Dawn Part 1, and I continue to be impressed with how good this film is and how female centric and strong they go with it, although it can be a hard watch too. Vlog will be up over at my YouTube page sometime today and now I can't WAIT to see the final film tonight!

Suzie

I did one of my stART projects and finished a little video reveal of what I got at Beadaholique. So, I spent my day mostly at the computer. I also did a giant PC holiday treats box reveal complete with Christmas music and holiday sparkly text. People love seeing reveals so I thought why not? And I love doing videos. In fact I am loving them so much, I don't want to stop. I just hope people enjoy watching them as much as I like doing them.

November 15, 2012

 

Jamie

Yesterday I was walking home from co-working with Tanya and I had an interloper sighting. He's certainly growing up and looking all nice and shiny with thick fur, which reassures me that he's doing great. He seems to always be around this one particular house, as do a lot of cats in the neighbourhood, so I'm pretty sure there's someone here who feeds him. I'm so glad.

Shannon
ACK! Late Add for me and I can't not include this as it's my whole THEME of the week - rewatched Eclipse in anticipating of Breaking Dawn Part 2 coming out this week, and I am shocked to say I don't like this one as I remember. I was relieved at the time because it has no (or almost no) laughable moments like New Moon did, but I just don't like it as much as the other films. Who knew? I chat all about it in my vlog over here.

Suzie

Shannon looked so awesome for Hexed yesterday I just had to take a photo of her! And I am glad I did because it was the highlight of my day. :)

November 14, 2012

Jamie

I had a very social day yesterday. First out for coffee with my dear friend Amy who always inspires me. Then recording stART with you two - woohoo, more inspirational goodness! And then a chat with Sunny and then a Skype tea with my friend Cynthia. Feeling so blessed to have so many lovely people in my life!

Shannon

My Countdown to Breaking Dawn Part 2 continues with re-watching New Moon, and although I was frightfully disappointed in the film initially it appears I'm come to terms with it's shortfallings and now can enjoying it for the many awesome moments, and even laugh at the bad ones.  I share all about the rewatch experience of New Moon here.

Suzie

Getting to share my latest creation with you two yesterday was definitely the highlight of my day!

November 13, 2012

Jamie

Here they are! The very first thing I've made from a pattern: booties! I posted them late so the pic wouldn't be a spoiler for stART! I just love them, though they are a bit small. I'm playing with finding a yarn that feels like the just right one - and then I'll be making quite a few of these!

Shannon
I decided rather impromptu-ly to share my Twilight Saga re-watch in anticipation for this weeks release of Breaking Dawn Part 2. I knew I would re-watch the films but hey, why not share the experience along the way? It was really interesting to go back to the first time and it's amazing that watching it again, even though I know it so well, still *feels* the same way as watching it the first time. I think that is part of the magic of Twilight.

November 12, 2012

Jamie

I am so glad that we got out to the movies this weekend! I can't believe we haven't seen anything since you were here, Suzie! Though the reviews of this film seem rather mixed, I just loved it. In part that's because it's telling a story I love to hear, that we are all connected and what we do matters.

Shannon
I can't believe I'm already 2 seasons through my Star Trek: The Next Generation rewatch. It's been so much fun and I've really enjoying reflected back on each episode as I watch them but wowzers, doing a season sum-up takes way longer than I'd like! But I finally got my Season 2 archive and reflection done and I'm very happy with it. Now I can't wait for Season 3 to start later today!