October 31, 2014

Jamie 

This fall has been full of beautiful days, perfect for walking and exploring. This puppy thought so too - in fact, he constantly found the world so interesting that he did not (not even in the slightest) pay attention to a single thing that his very patient owner had to say.

Shannon
Although I follow far fewer awards shows than I used to, I still love to follow The People's Choice Awards because you always know what it is: a popularity contest. The transparency is a welcoming factor to me for some reason. And I love that you can actually vote (no geo-blocking!), but then there are some categories where it's hard to pick favourites. Thank goodness for this round of voting you can select 5 choices!

Suzie

Yesterday was supposed to be a crafting day but I got all frustrated. I couldn't sleep last night so I spent a ton of the day having to rest. Then, it just felt like I had no time because of all the cooking I had to do. Then, I wanted to spend time watching videos and prepping for my big trip to Michaels when I realized, it's official, my crafting room is just out of reach from our wireless connection. I ended up getting a headache and having to lie down. Again! I think there might be just too much pressure to allocate a day to crafting. And OMG, why did this publish???

October 30, 2014

Jamie

Today was a complete wash for me! I filmed the Behind the Scenes and was literally falling asleep while I was editing it and getting it up and out there. It was pretty much a "stay in bed" kind of day and I am really, really hoping to feel better soon.

Shannon
I've been having a lot of fun playing little games on my phone, but recently I've been stuck on the same level for days and it was driving me bananas. And both of the games I play, I couldn't get past a level! I almost gave up, but decided I would just enjoy playing the level over and over again until I got the happy face of victory. And today I did. With *both* games. Finally! Woohoo :)

Suzie

My Old Navy purchases arrived! And funny, when I went through everything I realized, hey, that's my palette! Strong bold colours (with that diner green I love and some stripes). I finally have colourful long sleeve shirts! And the shirts are quite long which is so nice, my other shirts are all dull colours and short. I'm getting there and what deals I got! Cheaper than Value Village!

October 29, 2014

Jamie

It was so great filming stART with you - and chatting afterwards. I'm so glad we have this regular time to check in and hang out. And man, can we do Halloween on the fly or what??

Shannon
I had a total blast recording stART yesterday! Right before we started I let out 1 little curl from under the kerchief, and this was what it looked like in the in between. :)

Suzie

Yesterday was a total roller coaster. Had the most amazing time with you two at stART, went out to White Rock and then played a high school zombie board game. After we left the game we kind of witnessed an accident. Reg helped the guy who got hit and I tried to help keep the driver calm. Long crazy day.

October 28, 2014

Jamie

It was a beautiful day to get out and vote yesterday. The leaves are shedding their leaves and Toronto has shed its mayor. It's funny because the Osho Zen card yesterday was "Change". Perfect timing, once again!

Shannon
Event of the day was easily the Toronto Election. I voted! And it was close by. Yay.

Suzie

I haven't been sleeping and am finding it hard to get time to do stuff but I managed to make snicker doodle pumpkin cookie dough.

October 27, 2014

Jamie

A surprising take on Art Day: we spent some time on my sewing project! I've cut out the very last piece and so we are ready to move into next steps. This is such a voyage of discovery. I'll be sharing more on stART when we film tomorrow!

Shannon
My reading journey with Tender is the Night is going so well! I dove into Book 3 and I'm so close to the finish line! It's completely ironic that I'm not terribly enjoying the book, but the process of reading it will stick with me for ages.

Suzie

I look at this photo and I think, hey, those aren't Shannon or Jamie's hands! They're mine! And they're kind of knitting, LOL. I went to the Geek Crafts group and physically it was daunting to sit for four hours and mentally learning how to knit was brutal and I felt kind of stupid but my teacher was amazingly patient. I was quiet for most of the day but opened up by the end. Reg came and we chatted as I worked on my pink bracelet. My hands hurt all night but they were find by the morning. I was shocked! So I did it, yay!!!

October 26, 2014: Random

Jamie 

Nothing says random like a chance encounter with a cute doggy on the street. Hey, I think this is the same spot where I posted another random dog a couple of weeks ago, LOL! This must be the spot!

Shannon
I knew right away that this would be my random pic for this week, random channel and random show and totally made me smile!

 

Suzie

Saw this in my hood the other day during a walk.

October 25, 2014

Jamie 

Yesterday was, for the most part, an incredibly productive and wonderful day! I worked on the Full Frost Moon dreamboard workshop and headed out to film the welcome video in this wonderful spot. It was just perfect when this white cat wandered by; I thought s/he represented the frost to come! The downer in the day was some computer issues that slowed everything down to a halt! Luckily Justin was able to eventually figure out a solution and I was back in action again!

Shannon
I finally figured out where "My Favourite Genres" in GoodReads is. The odd thing is, these are the ones they picked for me, based on the books on my lists. Some make sense but... travel? comics? suspense? All very confusing. I had fun picking the ones that actually ARE my faves. Oddly, I don't think of books in terms of genre that much, but this good me wondering what is considered a "classic" and that sucked me down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia big time! I might ask for some advice on that one.

Suzie

Yesterday was customer appreciation day at the thrift store by the doctor's office I "applied" for. I wanted to see how long it would take me to get there. I walked quickly and got there in 15 minutes! I could not believe it. I ended up spending at least an hour and a half there looking over everything. Their prices are amazing and everything was half off so I went a little crazy, I admit. I can't remember having that much fun shopping since we all went to the church auction together. The walk home took longer (more hills to climb than go down) but I can do it. Yay me!

October 24, 2014

Jamie 

Whoa. I was just going to post this and share that it seems like there's this amazing bird magic around right now. I've seen a family of cardinals, a blue jay and this beauty within days of each other. And the whoa as I was uploading the picture and thinking about bird magic, I heard these lyrics in a song I was playing in the background: "Listen to the birds as they fly and we rise."!!!

 

Shannon
Oh, what a day. Was excited to get some vlogs recorded and ready ahead of time...only to have them record without audible audio. Sigh. I wasn't up for re-recording, and it totally bummed me out.

Suzie

Last night Reg and I went to our local gaming store and tried a D&D board game and had a blast. Although at first I was so overwhelmed and didn't understand one freakin' thing that was going on but I decided to relax and just go with it and ask lots of questions. I came up from behind and shot past everyone but then they all shot past by me and I was last. Which was just fine by me. A great night out after the chronic rain finally stopped. For a while.

October 23, 2014

Jamie

Yesterday was a very intense day. Everything slowed down as the events at Parliament Hill took over. I found it hard to concentrate on anything until it was clear (as clear as it could be) that the active events had drawn to a close. This was a moment in our history, a difficult one we will always remember. In the evening, Justin and I went to hear a series of speakers on the topic of Creativity & Failure after Michelangelo. It opened the door to an interesting conversation and a topic I'm sure I will continue to consider and write about.

Shannon
I got stumped on whether to post a pic today, and decided not to. The events yesterday were so disturbing, I didn't want to put anything to mark it up but I also didn't want to ignore it. What a day.

Suzie

After yesterday's disturbing events, I took the day off blogging and Reg drove me to a clinic that is accepting patients. I had to drop off what felt like an application form. Right beside it was this thrift store that even sold plants and crafting supplies! I hope it is a good sign. I like the area and I may actually be able to walk there from our place, in good weather. Fingers crossed!

October 22, 2014

Jamie

Last night we had a truly wonderful experience. We spent the first part of our guitar class sequestered way up in the closed off top balcony of a lovely theatre watching our teacher play. What a treat to have this access; it made for a special moment!

Shannon
I'm found another game on my phone to get hooked on: Candy Crush Saga. I was loving it, until I ran out of lives! Then it cries. You get more over time, but I watched that counter like a hawk until I could play again! It's like Bejewelled, but has a bit of a story and different kinds of boards that all have candy pieces. I hope it doesn't get me craving candy!

Suzie

Reg and I had a little adventure to White Rock yesterday (although this is a photo of Vancouver). It ended up being a bit of a waste of our time but the drive is always nice. We had a big storm coming and made it home just as the rain started to fall. As you can see, Vancouver does get some fall colours although it has been very grey and wet. I am good with that.

October 21, 2014

 Jamie  

Yesterday I braved the rain, I braved taking time out of my busy schedule and I braved going to the fabric store by myself! And I'm so glad I did because, as you both know, we didn't have enough fabric for my pattern and luckily, they still had some - though not very much! I'm delighted that I got what I needed before it disappeared! One more piece to cut and then I'm on my way! I wonder if I'll ever get to the point of sewing sequined material like this!! That's motivation for sure!

Shannon
I've been working on reading Tender is the Night for what feels like ages (and in actuality is months). I really want to finish it for the end of October, and I want to take some notes and jot down new on not-sure-of-the-definition words. So I set aside some time to actually do that today, and take an estimate of how long it took to read at the pace I wanted to read. Now I have a plan in action of how much I have to read a day to finish it before Halloween. Here's hoping it all goes according to plan!

Suzie

Our roses are still blooming! In fact a lot of the gardens around us are just flourishing right now. After a long bright summer, the fall rain has begun early but it is not cold so the flowers (and fruit and veggies) are very happy.

October 20, 2014

Jamie With the big trip to Auntie Laima's on Friday and then visiting with Dad on Saturday (he was in town for a couple of days), yesterday was a good day for some quiet recharging. A special shout-out to Jinx for her help with knitting!

Shannon
Resting was the plan for the weekend, and this was a common site while I got to it!



I have not been feeling well so despite getting a beautiful chinook I stayed home and the October firecrackers have officially begun and they were crazy-loud. Like jump out of my skin loud and I got it on film. Oh and I ended up working of my crafts room and finishing up like my seventh load of laundry so yeah, it probably would have been better had I got to the Halloween parade. Craziness! BTW, October is the only month you can privately buy fireworks in Vancouver and people use them to scare the ghosts away. :( Me no likey!!!

October 19, 2015: Random

Jamie 

I love that this feels really random but also is a picture that I took today. Justin and I went out for a walk and found this great window full of robots! What an unexpected treat - and totally random!

 

Suzie

This was in my Value Village today when I was shopping for clothes. I love the "heart" with LIKE beside it. I came home with sporty, gothic, bohemian clothes. I have come to realize, there are many sides of me. And that's OK.

October 18, 2014

Jamie 

What an amazing creative adventure we had this weekend! It was so special to go to Auntie Laima's and do everything from make lipstick to learn how to thread a sewing machine! Suzie, I am so glad that you could Skype in and hang out all day1 That is truly amazing. I'm so glad we all shared this time together.

Shannon
You both shared great pictures that captured the experience of the day of the visit to Auntie Laima's, so I thought I would share this snapshot of the recipe for the lipstick!

Suzie

I loved getting together with you three yesterday! And I especially love this moment of the video because we are all so involved in what we are doing. I am writing down the recipe for making lipstick and there you all are making it! So wonderful, thank you for including me. :)

October 17, 2014

Jamie

I was out and about yesterday for errands and appointments and it was a stunning autumn day. Everywhere I looked there were trees in golds and reds and orange. I notice how much I need some red in the mix for it to really feel like fall. It was a great day to walk about, camera in hand and enjoy.

Shannon
I found it very strange when GoodReads recommended to me The Girl with the Pearl Earring, not so much the book as with all the Those Books on my list it kind of make sense, but then I noticed it was because it is in "one of your favourite genres: Historical Fiction". Wha? I don't think of that as one of my favourite genres, in fact I can't remember every saying to myself "I should read some historical fiction, I enjoy it so much." Oh my. My reading life is being very strange recently! Or maybe it's just messed up metrics on the site.

Suzie

I know this won't appeal to either of you but I made pumpkin muffins yesterday. I had pumpkin pie filling and wanted to use it up and made this super healthy and moist and yummy muffins with it. I was going to make chocolate ice cream but then didn't have proper ingredients so… there you go! At least I'll enjoy them.

October 16, 2014

Jamie

I can't express just how glad I am to have made it out to Choir! Choir! Choir! last night. I have been feeling so exhausted and struggling to get back to healthy so I almost cancelled. I just didn't want to miss out and so started to get dressed... and felt a bit better. Met up with Sabine... and felt a bit better. Sung my heart out... and totally felt better! (I think it's also because I've figured out that part of the problem is allergies! I took some meds and I'm sure that helped too.) I can't believe it was so fun singing Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer!

Shannon
It was so excited to get out to Value Village today and take advantage of the 50% off books sale! I got this huge stack of 10 books for about $20, woohoo! I probably looked like a total weirdo in the store because I seriously smelled each and every book to test the dust factor. These ones passed the test! Hopefully they stay not crazy dusty long enough for me to read them. Sorry to keep you in suspense on the titles, but I wanted to wait until I do a vlog haul to share them.

Suzie

I had never heard of "Meet Up" until I moved to Vancouver. I discovered this group for food bloggers and they were meeting kind of near where I live on the night Reg was at school. I thought of the sauerkraut, braised cabbage, sausages and all the other foods Reg hates that I like and said, heck yeah! As I said on Facebook, it turned out to be a group of men who were all very nice but it was really hard for me to go. In fact I came so close to just staying home but I went and the food was great and the conversation fun. Oi! Personal growth hurts but is worth it sometimes.

October 15, 2014

Jamie

What a creative day yesterday! I loved filming stART with you both and with all that talk of guitar, it was fitting that last night we went to class. I noticed the piano studio next to us and had to take a picture!

Shannon
Thank you both for your encouragement during stART yesterday for getting back to blogging. I am happy to say that I have already posted of my blog, and I went totally old school and did a time capsule post which is what was speaking to me when I was looking back at old posts. I was concerned on understandability, but realized that now I have somehow formed the habit of re-reading through and editing the post. Crazy that. It does take a bit of time, but I think its is worth it. Who knew?

Suzie

Considering I had already done hair and makeup for stART I made this video which was a big mistake. I'm actually thinking of taking it down. I'm tired, unfocused, I don't even realize it's chicken when I thought it was turkey… If anyone thinks making videos is easy, they should watch this winner. Ugh!

October 14, 2014

Jamie

Yesterday was a great day. I managed to work in everything from posting to tidying to getting outside. Justin and I went on a great walk and saw three cats in the hood, including this sweetheart. I've met him several times but he has a newly inscribed tag so I now know his name: Tigger.

Shannon
It was so nice to do some art today! I really wish pencil drawings would show up better in pictures, but this is the best capture I got. They are hydrangea leaves. SO small, and so pretty! It was a lot of fun to draw.

Suzie

I got some time this weekend to work on my crafts room but it is still a mess. At least my window sill looks pretty!