Rewind: January 31, 2016

Jamie

In honour of Mom's birthday, I thought I would rewind to what was clearly a happy time for all of us!

Suzie

I honoured Mom's birthday yesterday with getting a smoked meat with sauerkraut burger when I went out to lunch with a friend after hanging out at Value Village.

January 29, 2016

Shannon
At Mandarin with Jamie for Mom's Birthday. They had a dumpling festival, and I think Mom would very much have approved of the dumplings.

Suzie

When I saw this flower yesterday on my walk (yes, signs of spring are springing) I thought of Mom and how much she would love it. I wish I knew what it was and really wanted to ask her. 

January 29, 2016

Jamie

Yesterday was a full and busy day! I did lots of work for Give a Girl a Journal, went to my singing class, headed downtown to pick up my glasses (they look good but I'm having some issues to resolve with them) and then out for an inspiring evening with my mastermind. All this in a little smattering of snow.

Shannon
I didn't take tons of pictures today, but I had to snap one of this as they have now updated the Barbie doll. They have added a whole variety of new models of all looks and ... sizes! They have actually made Barbie less skinny. And she can now wear flats. And some models even look short! Wow!

Suzie

These are not what the pinch pots are supposed to look like. They're supposed to be tall and thin like a tulip, LOL. That's OK, mine was weird and wonky, like me.

January 28, 2016

Jamie 

After a long day of work yesterday I headed out to choir. I was in a bit of a mood but it was still good to immerse myself in singing. Last night was Take it Easy by the Eagles. Not only that, I arrived a bit early so walked up the street a bit and discovered a treasure of a store full of journals, pens, stamps and washi tape. Oh, yeah!

Shannon
I realized I had gotten back in the habit of taking pictures of everything BUT MYSELF again, and I'm going to try and break that habit again! Wednesday are an easy one for that, as when Arrow is on I can post a Green Hoodie Day picture! I love my green hoodie! I might have had it from before when Arrow started though, hehe.

 

Suzie

Well I must still have some interest in food because I keep buying amazing cookbooks at the library. I treated myself after getting blood work done, picking up a Chinese cleansing kit and then going for a walk in the rain.

January 27, 2016

Jamie 

The highlight of yesterday was getting a chance to chat and catch up, both for stART and afterwards. Every chance we get to hang out is awesome!

 

Shannon

Yesterday was totally hang out with awesome women online day! First we recorded stART and got to catch up on things, and then at night I watched the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club hangout and drew while I listened. The book they chose for next month is FREE on Amazon for Kindle (Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic
by Meghan Ciana Doidge), and it looks very foodie inspired, and it's Canadian as far as I can tell. I wonder what it will be like.

Suzie

It is time to get tough and get rid of the things I don't need and ask for the things I want. Like Queen of Sheeba, as Jamie so aptly put. I pulled the Queen of Swords from the deck Shannon gave me and this has always been a power card for me. I just hope I can lift the sword and start kicking some ass again.

January 26, 2016

Jamie

Looking out the window is an important morning routine though where it takes place can vary. Sometimes the kittens favour the kitchen window. Other days it's the studio window. Today it's the front window. Perhaps they get a special joy at watching every one else go to work ;)

Shannon
I'm soooooooo excited about the new apartment! It's getting super close now. And look at all that light, even with it being dark outside. It's so amazing, I can not wait!!

Suzie

Reg tried to cheer me up by taking me to Michaels and look at the giant mug he found!

January 25, 2016

Jamie

It was so nice to get back to Art Day for the first time since before Christmas! In our Y is for Yellow class B is for Blue and we've been doing these wonderful exercises with blind contour and then adding value (the shading part). I find myself feeling sensitive with drawing, as always but also glad to have the opportunity to work that muscle and let it grow in strength.

Shannon
I'm continuing to have so much fun with Carla's Y is for Yellow Class. I love where there is an exercise that I feel like I could do over and over and over and over again.

Suzie

Reg performing Hallelujah at the Kung Fu party on the weekend. He was awesome!

January 24, 2016

Jamie

It's time for new glasses and yesterday we hit 5 different stores looking for just the right ones. This isn't a fab picture but it gives you an idea of the kind of risky pick I went with. The frames have every colour from yellow to turquoise and they are a bit large for my prescription but I put them on and for some reason they felt like mine. No matter what else I tried on, my heart went back to these ones. Hopefully they'll handle my lenses and look okay when I pick them up next week.

Shannon
On the weekend, Marina and I recorded the last episode of Before the Dawn. It's been has been an amazing ride of 260 episodes over almost 7 years. I have so many good memories of hanging out, chatting movies TV and books from gushing over everything Twilight to Women in Film to adaptions, oodles of news and reviews over the many years. The episode will be up soon, and the video of our Google Hangout is here.

January 23, 2016

Jamie 

I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Suzie! I'm sorry we missed you when we called. I spent the day working on the newsletter and also continuing to work on bringing Give a Girl a Journal to Life. I love the look that Danette created for our logo! I've had fun getting ready to order postcards and stickers :)

 

Suzie

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it almost entirely on my own. I went to Value Village and thought I got 50% off but just got 20% off so the bill was more than I was expecting but it's OK. I learned that I really want to add colour to my wardrobe and since I was on my own, I indulged in sushi and tempura. I did get a free frappe from Starbucks which was cool. Reg and I ordered a pizza when he got home and we watched Spy. It was very interesting to go back to old dreams for my birthday. We're going to do more celebrating later, when he has time. He has become very busy!

January 22, 2016

Jamie

I couldn't be happier about how much better Escher is doing! I mean, look how close we are! It means so much that he feels safe enough to have this closeness and that he's learning to receive being pet more and more. He'll still get scared and swat but it feels like we're making progress every single day.

Shannon
Ah, waiting rooms. Nothing like being told "the wait is 2 hours" to make you feel all happy inside. After I gr-rr'd a bit, I tried not to be defeated by being annoyed but rather took to reading. I actually had a book I was totally keen to finish, but... it expired! So, I settled in to re-reading Romeo and Juliet. I read a good chuck of it during the (only) 1 hour wait, and finished it off at night. I'm surprized at how many passages were so familiar, lots of the stuff between Romeo and Juliet, but other lines like "A plague o'both your houses" and "These violent delights have violent ends". Amazing what sticks. Or more likely, what's re-iterated in other works.

Suzie

The meds are helping and thank goodness I can eat again. I can also stand and walk a little and made it to my first pottery class. Oh how I loved the feel of the clay on my hands. And playing with it. Embossing it. Sponging it down, cutting it. Shaping it. And they actually taught in the class and I sat at the front and could see what was happening and I didn't feel a lot of physical pain. It was the best thing to happen to me in a long, long time.

January 21, 2016

Jamie 

Another week at choir and the chance to sing David Bowie again - beautiful! I can't wait until the audio is available. After the main event they sang a song they had done a few weeks ago and it was so beautiful I thought, "I never want to miss a night. Not one."

 

Shannon
Okay so here is a bit of a reveal after yesterdays picture! I had so much fun with these exercises and especially loved drawing mountain goats (top) as well as muskoxs. There are so many cool Canadian animals out there, I feel like I could keep going and keep drawing them forever!

Suzie

Still been mostly resting and watching The Killing on Netflix. It is set in Seattle but filmed here, you can tell by all the rain, LOL. It's a dark show and I have to skip some stuff but it's good and I can't really do much these days but watch TV.

January 20, 2016

Jamie 

The Y is for Yellow class is starting with A is for Animals. Our first assignment is to do some drawing exercises, including drawing with our non-dominant hand. This is my left-handed gorilla and I love him.

 

Shannon
I'm having a lot of fun in the Y is for Yellow class that Carla is teaching this year, especially with looking up so many pictures of different animals as inspiration to draw. So much fun!!

Suzie

I FINALLY got out of the house! I got to my sleep doc and had to get out to get my prescriptions filled. This is the back alley walk that I take all the time and the mountains were so beautiful, I just had to take a photo. Even though the last few weeks have been hell, I always turn to them for strength.

January 19. 2016

Jamie

I have no idea how I took this screenshot of my phone but that's the photo I have for my busy Monday. It was a great day of getting things done and working with clients. This season alongside regular work the two big projects are Give a Girl a Journal and writing. It's exciting to dive in and get to work on both.

Shannon
I know I've posted a fair amount about War and Peace....but this might be the last time because I finished it! I am still in a bit of shock that I did. 1,308 pages. Likely will be the longest book I will ever read. It was so good, a fantastic reading journey and although had some bumpy parts and took way longer than I expected it was totally worth it.

January 18, 2016

Jamie 

This was really the big deal of the weekend. What an amazing experience. You can catch quick glimpses of me here and there in the video. I'm wearing teal!

Shannon
The epicness of reading War and Peace is coming to a close. I have now finished all but the epilogues (not one, but two!), and in after that 100 pages I will be really finished! I can't quite believe it. I've really found it to be quite the reading experience to read something so long, and for so long. It took a while for the characters to stick, but once they did...wow. I feel like I really know them. It's going to be sad to let it go.

January 15, 2016

Jamie

Yesterday was a very big day. I wonder how the planets were aligned! For Christmas I got a gift certificate for a singing lesson and I went for my class yesterday. What an amazing experience. The instructor focused on looking for your unique sound and how you're personality comes out through your voice. It was very comfortable, close and I definitely want more!

Shannon
Going back to factory settings on my computer wiped the playlists I had created. So funny, I didn't think I saved ANYTHING on the hard drive...but I did! Ah well, it gives me the silly joy of listening to my music collection alphabetically.

January 14, 2016

 Jamie 

The cats are very much enjoying the snow. They love hanging out and watching it fall. Though one time we had a bit of ice pellets and wind and that kind of freaked them out! Every day I am amazed by how at home they have become. It's such a joy.

 

Shannon
I just finished the book Ongoingness, after being inspired to read it from it popping up on Brainpickings top books of 2015. It's a fascinating look at keeping a diary, and has quite an unusual style being a collection of short thoughts and reflections of keeping a diary for many, many years. It's a very different perspective that got my mind very really engaged from reading it.

Suzie

I made it to Open Studio. I only stayed an hour and a half but I did it.

January 13, 2016

Jamie 

I'm so glad that we got to test Zoom for stART and am excited that it looks like it might work for us. The easier the better! It was great to hang out with you both.

 

Shannon
I'm glad that this didn't affect out get together! Later in the day I got the computer woes big time, hence the late add. Still getting things back to normal, it's amazing how many programs you don't realize you use until you have to reinstall them all!

Suzie

It was great to get together for our tech day yesterday!

January 12, 2016

Jamie

I love how many photo opps the kittens give me! I took tons of photos just of Shibumi walking across my desk like that. You can also see my new water glass. It says, "Just a girl who decided to go for it." That seemed just right as I prepare the Give a Girl a Journal initiative.

Shannon
I've been enjoying sharing the new shows this week via Instagram/Twitter with a simple picture of the titles. I keep trying to think of ways to share and be engaged that aren't overly taxing. So far, this is one way that it feels like it's working!

January 11, 2016

Jamie 

Well, yesterday was our last official holiday celebration. Dad and Julie came over for our Christmas get-together and also for Julie's birthday. It was great to catch up, enjoy treats and open presents! One thing is clear - our family hearts books!

 

Shannon
I'm super excited to take Carla Sondheim's new year long class Y is for Yellow. I worked a bit this weekend on getting materials prepped for the year and looking forward to diving into the first class.

Suzie

It's been a rough time but I did get out for a walk with Reg in Central Park. It has been cold, you can see the back half of the lake has frozen, the seagulls are sitting on the edge. There was a guy who skipped pieces of ice across the surface and it made the weirdest "wooing" sound I have ever heard, almost like a theremin. Mostly rested this weekend but it was good to get out for a walk in one of my favourite places.

January 8, 2016

Shannon
I'm still working my way through War and Peace, and finished a section today which felt like a big win. I can feel the end in sight, and although that feels awesome from a completion perspective, it also feels pretty heavy from the book perspective. I'm almost feeling a little sad it will come to a close.

Suzie

I actually got out for a walk on Thursday. It was tough, still feeling crappy but I did it. You can see that there were white clouds below the mountains (just barely peeking out) and then blue sky and then grey clouds above the blue sky. Literally, a patch of light blue. I got some library books and got to the drug store so at least I got something accomplished before I lay in bed the rest of the day.