March 31, 2016

Jamie

It looks like we both had the same highlight of the day :) Here's the view from the other side of the table! Today was also great because I had a half-day business intensive with Alicia Forest and really worked out the business model I want to grow over the next while! It's very exciting and feels really good. The perfect thing to celebrate with good company, cake and ice cream!

Shannon
Visiting with Jamie over cake, ice cream and tea was definitely the highlight of the day! Great company and relaxing good fun. And I didn't even know that there would be cake, what a total treat :)

Suzie

I love days where I can get out for a walk and pick up food for dinner and have some freedom with my schedule. Everything is so beautiful right now!

March 30, 2016

Jamie

I had an incredibly productive day yesterday! I was able to get a bunch of work done in the morning and then headed out for an afternoon of style. I went to my stylist for a haircut. We went for an edgy bob. Then I trekked down to Secrets from Your Sister for a new bra. I'll tell you, this store is a blessing. Not only does it do great fittings and have a vastly larger range of sizes than anywhere else, there's also a yarn-eating dinosaur in the window! Then I went out shopping for some spring shoes and in a heartbeat found two pairs I just loved at reasonable prices (which is good because bras are pricey). What a day!

Shannon
I did it! I finished Roughing It in the Bush! Oh my...it's almost been 2 years since I started reading this one, and I took lots of (long) breaks, but I often felt like I would never finish. Although a lot of it was dry, I really did get into the groove of it finally getting the message which was often not that hard as she was say "Dear Reader! I .... " and tell you the message. Now I've finished almost all the books I was in the middle of, and I'm not sure if I should jump into new stuff or tackle what's been on hiatus. Decisions, decisions....

Suzie

I am impressed that I could get Reg to smile so much for this photo! We had to drive out to UBC Hospital twice (long story, has to do with the sleep clinic) which is an hour away so our day was kind of blown. I insisted we have lunch out and get him a strong coffee at Starbucks afterwards. Then we came home and slept. I had a crap time at the clinic. They wanted me to go back to a sort of "normal" sleep schedule which, when I lived that way, gave me fibro and prevented me from ever working again. Still, I know they think they're helping and clearly, no one knows how to handle fibro or really understands it. Realizing there is really no hope from experts was quite devastating and them pointing out to me that I am unwilling to do their treatment was painful. Once again, my body is boss. Everybody else can bite me.

March 29, 2016

Shannon
I had a long day with an early start, and as such didn't end up taking many pictures but I did get one of the squirrel I see outside the window all the time. Or one of the squirrels. If there is more than one, I don't know how to tell them apart!

Jamie

Mondays are heavy-duty work days for me and I spend a lot of time at my desk and computer. Luckily the kittens can be very entertaining. They were beyond excited to see the first sign of spring: a robin, their tails beating hard against the chair. I don't know how we're ever going to have an open window; they are so going to want to claw their way out!

Suzie

A productive day at last! Went for a long walk, did some cleaning, laundry, had perogies for lunch...

March 28, 2016

Jamie

It was so nice to spend some quality time with Justin this weekend. It's quite an adjustment for us with him not working from home. One of the things we decided to do for Easter Sunday was bake a loaf of bread. With a food processor it was quite a simple task to make rye bread with caraway. Pretty good for our first try!

 

Shannon
The unpacking continue! I'm getting sooooooo close to done, and it's really hard not to push push push but I know I can't do that. So, slow and stead continue the race and this weekend saw me through lots of artwork. It's amazing how each image can bring a flood of memories. I will have quite the time figuring out what goes where. I have... quite a bit to go around!

Suzie

The long weekend was pretty quiet for us except that we got to see Batman vs Superman. I'm so glad my expectations were super low because I enjoyed the movie. It was FAR from perfect and Jessie playing Lex was pretty terrible but I knew all that going in so I could have fun. Except when I yelled at people for using their cell phone to take photos with its flash to turn it the hell off. I like to think I was the superhero for everyone in the theatre for that moment. I also learned that no matter what, I *heart* Superman big time.

March 25, 2016

Jamie

I had been really looking forward to getting out for the day, including getting a haircut. The weather did not cooperate. With rain and ice in the forecast for the entire day I decided to stay home and work instead. I'm sure even next week will be markedly different.

Shannon
The horrendous weather belayed my outside plans, but no shortage of things to do around here! I am getting down to the last stages of the boxes, with going through some one-the-edge-of-outdated tech, pretty stuff, and random clothes, sheets, bedding that's packed with anything oddly shaped. Getting closer to done every day!

Suzie

I can't believe I only have two clay classes left! We learn and do so much in a class, it is crazy. This week I got to do some surgery on my crappy lantern and also make this box. I decided to change the pattern's direction on the box's side from one side to the other. Very non-linear of me, which is not how I normally roll. Also had D&D. Thursday are fun but freaking exhausting!

March 24, 2016

Jamie

I'm glad to say that I made it out to choir last night, after quite a long hiatus. We sang In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. I was a bit nervous about getting out since I have Thursday early morning workouts but I made it! Looks like this will be my new routine :)

Shannon
I've got back to unpacking and this time it was my art supplies and stationary stuff. If you can believe, I found more blank notebooks and journals and sketchbooks. I feel like I could open my own store at this point! My next fun while-watching-TV task is to double check that the stationary and art supplies still work. I am looking forward to this one!

Suzie

What a wet day it was! And we spent it driving all the way to Coquitlam to get our teeth cleaned at our dentist. Took all my spoons but the cherry blossoms on the way there were still in bloom so that helped.

March 23, 2017

Jamie 

This is my view the majority of the time these days! I am doing so much work at my computer, keeping Give a Girl a Journal moving along, starting to work on the book proposal and getting ready for Journal Club! All the while I'm trying my best to journal and do a little bit of making marks on a page.

 

Shannon
I had a long day, and smack dab in the middle of it I spend a good long time in a waiting room... waiting. I mucked up the courage to do some drawings of the people around me but, boy, was it challenging. I felt like self conscious and didn't want people to pick up what I was doing. One of the things that I really liked about it was that it was very much everyday people. I have gotten used to drawing a lot from magazines, online, TV, but those are all crazy super polished people in polished poses...which is awesome in it's own right but it was also awesome to just see... people. Really see them. It made for a very interesting day.

Suzie

This is the only day I have to do any extra foodie cooking and I needed to make a red pepper and potato soup for a post and I got it done! I don't know how I get so busy. I miss food!

March 22, 2016

Shannon
I had a bit of a restless day, feeling not quite up to unpacking (which I eventually caved at by shifting some boxes). Anyhow, which I was still disciplined enough not to moves stuff around, I spent some excess energy on making a cover for my current composition book. I really like how it turned out.

Suzie

Believe it or not, this is a magnolia tree! I don't see them very often but there are ones around here that are extremely deep pink and absolutely gorgeous. The cherry blossoms are fading away but magnolia trees are beginning to bloom everywhere.

March 21, 2016

Jamie

Yesterday was Art Day and also the first day of spring! I decided to take a quick peek outside and was astonished to see these tulips coming up. It feels like just last week we had snow. I had to ask Shannon if she'd be patient with me and let me cut these growing beauties out of the protective chicken wire. It pained me to see them strangling between the wires and so I had to get to the rescue. I think a few of the daffodils I planted are also showing up, which is very exciting. I heard rumour that there might be a bit of snow tomorrow but with all this tender growth I sincerely hope it turns to rain!

Shannon
A big project this weekend was getting the bookcases filled up. I had gone through my books during the week and it was really exciting to have them up on the shelves, both ones that are read and others that are unread. I'm still going through a lot of processing and deciding how I want things to be and it feels a bit weird for things to be different than I usually do them. BUT the one thing I'm loving is having 2 shelves of unread books as an at-home-bookstore. I wonder what I'll choose to read first!

March 18, 2016

Jamie

Yesterday I had the most amazing experience - introducing a group of girls in Montreal to journaling. It was a joy and an honour and absolutely fascinating. I hope the magical seeds of journaling have been planted.

Shannon

Another day of unpacking. I tackled the rest of the books, which included school texts (eep) and cooking, plus oodles of journals and sketchbooks. I think I left all the challenging book boxes until the end, some weren't too bad but others I felt like I had no idea what to do with. I was too tired to actually feel like I was making good decisions so I just got stuff out of boxes. I plan to do some sorting and shelving on the weekend, hopefully I will have a better picture of what I want to do with everything then.

Suzie

I love working with clay but to wedge/knead this amount took me five times before there weren't any air bubbles. I was sweating into my eyes, had to get help from the teacher... Ugh. Don't think I'll be making another lantern any time soon. That just about killed my shoulders.

March 17, 2016

Jamie 

It was an incredibly dark and moody day yesterday. One of those days when I'm glad to just be at home working. I spent the day preparing for tomorrow's Give a Girl a Journal session with a group of girls in Montreal! I'm so excited for them to get their journals and start this amazing journey!

 

Shannon
What a fun, full day of a lot of family goodness and good news! I wish I had a picture that represented all of that, but I ended up with most pictures of my books which I started to sort though. I wasn't able to do it all in one go, which I would have preferred but also have to acknowledge that it was good to stop. I have lots of books I'm excited to have out in the open and many I want to dive in and read, but I am surprized that most of the ones I want to keep are ones I've already read. I really thought it would be the unread ones I was excited for, but there are way less of those than I imagined. Wild!

Suzie

I submitted my caramelized onions photo to Gastropost and found out that it was in The Province Wednesday! It was a two-page spread and mine was in the bottom left hand corner. This is from the PDF so I went to the store and picked up a copy. There was only one left! So cool. I'm going to try and connect with all the other people who also submitted which I think will be fun. Wow, what a great day. Not what I was expecting!

March 16, 2016

Jamie 

It was so awesome to chat with you both for stART yesterday! It was absolutely the highlight. Our talk about Art History really has me thinking about how I can open up the conversation and hear more from people!

 

Shannon
All the days are feeling whirlwind-y, I can't believe that yesterday we recorded stART, I got my physio in, and got up some movies on my bookshelf! I have left some space because this is just a select few that I picked out from storage. I also decided to keep one shelf for books read this year and my "project piles" because I will definitely be doing them in this room. they might find another home as time goes one, and I might want more movies out later, but for now it's just nice to have some awesome titles to look at. I wonder if I'll end up watching any of them.

Suzie

After we chatting for stART which was awesome!!! I filmed my video for SmartFood's new jalapeño & cheddar popcorn. I had upgraded my O/S and hadn't used iMovie yet and was frustrated to discover how little I could do now with the software. In particular, I could not insert photographs which I used to do all the time. I lost the intro which was done with photos... At least I figured out how to do the editing but not as good as it used to be at all.

March 15, 2016

Shannon
I was so much fun to have Danette over for coffee. We talked for hours and laughed a lot. Fun times.

March 14, 2016

Shannon
This weekend was a phenomenal one for forward progress in the apartment. I am so thankful that Jamie and Justin helped me out by painting the washroom and getting all my bookcases together. I am in total awe. I am absolutely in love with the washroom, it makes me smile every single time I go in. I can't wait to get stuff on the bookcases, but I need to rest a bit before I can work up to that!

Suzie

My friend Kris came over and we spent the afternoon making resin pendants! The hardest part is waiting for them to be done. Takes a lot of patience but is so much fun.

March 10. 2016

Shannon
I didn't take too many pictures today, so laundry rescue is what makes the cut! I had a bit of a tussle with the laundry machine yesterday, but eventually was able to find a go around to get the door to open. I tell ya, reading the manual has it's benefits.

Suzie

We are back to playing Reg's D&D campaign. My paladin from the other one met with the worst possible fate I could think of and it was very emotional and painful. I'm kind of glad I am back to playing my hippie-like gnome druid who dances to the beat of her own funky drum.

March 10. 2016

Jamie

Yesterday it was such a treat to get back to co-working with Tanya, especially by the fireplace and with the company of cats! It's been so long that we spent most of our time catching up but that did include business chats and so I think it totally counts ;)

Shannon
I did a second pass through my DVDs today and wow, it feels really weird. I wasn't quite sure if I was done and if not, what else I could do or wanted to do. It's still a bit sticky, but this is a set that I'm likely keeping because when I came up with some parameters of what to keep one was "if it makes me smile". These are all ones that make me smile. That was enough to get them through round 2.

Suzie

Yesterday the dreaded happened. My findings box fell over and stuff went everywhere! Such teeny tiny components went all over my floor and got completely disorganized within the box too. After it happened I just went for a quick walk to help my spirits and then came back and dumped it all in the box. It was so disheartening and depressing it ruined my whole day. I also dropped a cookie sheet three times, had a beverage I was photographing get knocked over and spilled all over my kitchen floor. What a total crap day.

March 9, 2016

Jamie

It's really quiet in the house these days and that is taking some getting used to. It looks like Shibumi kind of likes it!

Shannon
This was my view for most of the day. I had to cancel my plans because and needed a rest after all that unpacking. It's so hard to gauge in the moment how long it will take to spring back from something. But at least I got to catch up on a bunch of Nashville and enjoy watching The Voice!

Suzie

I actually got out for a walk today. Grey day but the rain held off. Went to the store and marvelled at the blossoms coming out. Picked up Parmesan and anchovies in oil for a pasta dish too. First relaxed-pace day with no appointments in so long, I can't remember. And my shoulder is improving too.

March 8, 2016

Jamie

It was good to get out and do some errands yesterday. I sent over a dozen journals out to girls around the world. I stopped by the vet and picked up some food. I discovered there's a new painting cafe in my neighbourhood (!!!) and I also so robots! What a great argument for being sure to get out and about!

Shannon
I spent a huge chunk of the day working though the boxes of DVDs from storage, and I sorted each box to Yes, No, Maybe for keepers, donaters and not-sure-yeters. Most boxes ended up in this ratio of 2/3rds keepers, most of the rest to let go and a few unknowns. I did each box pretty quickly, but I don't quite know where to go from here. Should I make up some parameters or do another pass? Pack up likely keepers up or leave them out to keep sorting though? Should I keep stuff I'll rewatch, stuff that has some meaning to it, or just decide more abstractly? Do I just donate the ones I'm letting go or of try to find a good home for them? It's feeling more complicated than I anticipated, and I feel like I could pose questions over and over and over and not move forward. I'm a little stumped on all that stuff...but I am super impressed that I went through so many boxes in one day. It lead to MAJOR couch time afterwards!!

March 7, 2016

Jamie

Art Day yesterday was fascinating! A part of the assignment was to do things the opposite of what you normally do, to try things you don't usually do. So that's why you see so much green in my work, lol! And I saw more pink than I usually see over on Shannon's palette! I also tried working abstract, which I found really hard to do but I did eventually see some shifts in the work. It was a good experience to have patience and not despair. I ended up with fresh experiences and new learning. Plus, great company and a fun afternoon!

 

Suzie

It has been a rough weekend with me injuring my shoulder so Reg took me to the beach downtown for a nice walk by the water and this was taken on our drive home. The trees are blooming all over the place. Spring is here!!! Poor Reg and his allergies though.