Holidaze

It's the second week of the school holidays here, and I can hardly begin to tell you how welcome the break has been. Richard came into school with me on the last Friday of school and we skipped out early to drive down home for a few days. I only teach the first three periods on a Friday, and my whole plan for the morning had been 'henna tattoos* and a shared lunch' so it was a pretty perfect end to the term. Driving the 6 hours out of the city was exactly what I needed, being able to both physically (hello, sleep!) and mentally check out once we got there.

It's been almost 7 months since we moved, past the magic 6 month mark (I remember being told, when you move cities to not visit home until you've been gone at least 6 months lest you never properly leave) and in lots of ways it feels like we've been away from Vancouver for much longer than that. Things have definitely taken longer to fall into place than we ever expected, and there have been many tears of frustration and doubt. However, after a term of teaching under my belt, having real furniture in the house and getting our workshop and studio almost all set up, I'm feeling pretty settled. In saying that, all it takes is a look through Jeannette's instagram feed or to think about the streets of Chinatown to feel quite a giant flood of homesickness. I am happy in the decision we made to move, but Vancouver still holds pretty tightly on to the part of my heart reserved for 'home'.

As I was driving about running errands yesterday, I noticed a store that looked like it was in the midst of getting ready to open, that had these beautiful Japanese textiles hanging from the ceiling and my heart leaped a little at the thought of going to check it out when it opens. Then I realised there were actually all these great Auckland (and beyond) places that I've been meaning to check out or places I've loved for a long time but should go back to and share them with you all here. So, this is my goal going into the next 10 weeks of school. I aim to pour all of my energy into my students and teaching while I'm at school, and then set aside time for exploring, documenting, friend-ing, making. A bit of balance. I think this will both help me be the best teacher that I can be (and have less mini-meltdowns in the staff room), and also give me room to celebrate what is really a pretty great place to live.

Oh, and time will also be made for sitting in a striped lounger on the deck with a book when the sun comes out. That's essential.


*Our art unit for the term was based around the idea of tattoo as symbolism and expression, so that wasn't a completely crazy idea.

In between.

I've discovered that I really love this week in between Christmas and New Years, it's so perfect for recovering from the holidays, thinking about resolutions, getting excited for the change of a new year, pottering about the house and indulging in being a bit lazy. Up until today, things have been dark and gloomy around these parts (I love how early it gets dark), lots of rain and lots of reason to hole up indoors. 

I just read this great post over at Jane's place and I can totally relate with her feelings of Christmas having to live up to the expectations of this perfect, sparkly day and the reality of how rarely that actually happens. Don't get me wrong, I actually really love Christmas, but the past couple of years I've found myself trying to make up for the fact that it's just the two of us by over compensating ever so slightly on the preparations. Christmas has always been a big celebration for my family, lots of traditions, lots of food, lots of decorations, and I love it. But with just the two of us, there's really no need for the amount of food I hauled home from the supermarket on Christmas Eve when I was freaking out that we had nothing special in the house. This year our tree was a branch we grabbed from the sidewalk outside our apartment with silver baubles strung on it and I didn't finish cooking our main meal until late at night (because of course I was also baking cookies, roasting a nut mix and making peppermint bark at the same time). When I sat (slumped) down to eat I honestly had to wonder why on earth I'd gone to all that trouble. In the end, I secretly love the fact that Christmas is just the two of us and that we can stay in our pajamas all day until we go out into the quiet streets and see a movie. 

In the end, our holiday has been a great one. This past in between week where neither of us have had to work has been so nice and relaxing. I've been knitting and reading for the first time in ages, and am completely unworried that we have someone coming to view our house tomorrow despite my lack of tidying. The sun made a glorious appearance today, and it looks like it will be sticking around to ring in the New Year. I (quietly) can't wait! 

How have your holidays been?

Holiday Weekend Sale!

Thanks so much for all your comments and notes about my previous post. It's funny, I had such a personal response to that passage and my time at the wedding that I didn't realise how much it would impact others, but I'm so glad it did! I need to print those verses out and display them somewhere in our apartment, all motivational saying like.

For those of you in the States, I hope you're enjoying your holiday weekend. I for one am having a hard time hearing all about the amazing food being consumed, I am definitely going to break down and bake a few pies this weekend! Partially to celebrate the holiday weekend and the beginning of the holiday season, but also to say a big thank you to everyone who reads this blog and supports our wee shop, we're having a sale! Etsy now has coupon codes (v. exciting!), so all you need to do is enter 'THANKS' at the checkout to get 15% off your order from now until Monday evening.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, too. We'll be living the craft fair/holiday season hermit life, but I hope to get out and about just a little bit!

Bits and pieces;

- Fieldguided and Sonja Ahlers collaborate on The Mini Meow. Such a perfect pairing of very talented people!
- Eastside Culture Crawl is on this weekend for local folks, I hope to make it out to some of the galleries in our neighbourhood and check out some art.
- Staying independent for the holiday season, I love this post over at Door Sixteen.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Vancouver got its first snow on the weekend, and I was just as excited as the wee girls I was with. Looking out the window and seeing a completely new city, blanketed in white is truly like magic!

I have finished, wrapped and sent my NZ/Australia presents (of course we were at the post office as it was closing...), and have vowed to have them ready to be sent by boat in October for next year. The house has been put back in some kind of order, we're putting our decorations up and dough for sugar cookies is chilling as we speak! Oh, I really really do love this time of year. Richard is also learning to love all the many Christmas carols I have been playing. Bless him.

And look, here he is. Just a wee thing with his big sister and possibly one of the strangest/scariest/most hilarious Santa photos I have ever seen.

I hope you are all enjoying some Christmas festivities where you are!