Farewell July!

It has been pretty sweltering in our apartment this week and the idea of working on my hot little laptop has been the last thing I've wanted to do. So, mostly I've been wearing my new swimsuit (I got it in black and I love it) around the house and making/eating popsicles. These ones are strawberry peach, which were ridiculously delicious. B.C. seriously has the best fruit! I just peeled the peaches and blended them together before pouring them into the molds. I think next time I will put a little extra liquid to make them a bit more thirst quenching, but either way they were still pretty amazing. Such a great flavour combo!

It's a long weekend here in B.C. and there is a ton of things on, so I'm looking forward to having Richard at home and welcoming in August with the Pride Parade & Festival, the Powell Street Festival (just around the corner from us, hooray!), beach trips and some swimming. Thanks to some inspiration here, I did up my nails all festive like for the weekend and am rather pleased with the easter egg like results. Well, for this hand anyway, my right hand isn't anywhere near as good. I also realised while attempting this how completely impatient I am. The fact that I couldn't get myself a cookie immediately after applying the final coat made me a little antsy. Not so good at the waiting! I think I just forget too, when my friends treated me to a mani pedi before I got married, the poor women had to fix it twice before I even left the store!

Ok friends, I'm going to put some motivating music on and do all the boring house chores so that I can enjoy the rest of this weekend!

Hope yours is a good one!

xo

Oil Spill Response Market

Corella Illustration's Oil Spill Item

The opening of Poppytalk's current Oil Spill Response market fell right when I was taking my media break, and I feel terrible that I consequently completely forgot to post about this! If you haven't yet seen it, a bunch of artists have gotten together just like their regular markets but this time we've each set aside one item of while the full proceeds will go to Oxfam and their oil spill relief efforts. Poppytalk are also donating a portion of the table fees, and every bit helps so please consider some of these fantastic items if you're looking for a gift or just want to support Oxfam and the Gulf!

The market ends this Friday, and our donation item is still up for grabs. We're also going to donate 50% of all other items purchased through the market, just add 'oil spill response' in the message to seller so we know that's where you came from!

Film trials and tribulations.

Both Richard and I are pretty terrible about checking our phone messages, so over this weekend I found one reminding me to pick up a couple of films from May that I had completely forgotten about! One was from our Portland trip which I'll upload soon, and the other is full of shots from around our neighbourhood and walks I've taken. I'm still trying to figure this little camera out, next time I really need to take a notebook with me to note down what I'm doing on each shot because things are a little all over the place. The light meter only works sometimes (I think) and on both these films I got a number of prints that were entirely blue! I'm not sure if it is the camera or the film I used that caused this, but I actually like some of the 'bad' shots. Just have to keep trying, I guess!

I initially felt like this film was a bit of a dud, but I'm definitely starting to like some of the photos more and more. You can see the rest over here, if you like!

A couple of things;

- I made you a mixtape inspired by the lazy summer days we've been having.

- I love these little otchipotchi wall vases, found via Abby.

- This post over at All Buttoned Up has inspired me to make my own t-shirts. I have a hard time finding ones that fit me the way I like and are long enough (never long enough!) and I love the look of that last one!

Mail Bag #2 and some sentimentality to boot.

I got so many treats in the mail this week, including this dried flowers print from Erin which is just so beautiful. I remember seeing it for the on her website when I first got to know her and often coming back to look at it. Those colours! I'm going to look for a frame for it this weekend, along with a few others for some other prints I've been meaning to hang. Like this lovely Lizzy Stewart print I snapped up during the ML4U Gulf Fundraiser that also arrived today. I'm completely smitten with it, and all of her work actually. Aside from some of the bigger pieces that went quickly/I couldn't afford, this was the one piece I really wanted to get from the sale but when I first put it in my cart it let me know that someone else was in the process of buying it! Argh, so I just waited it out in case they changed their mind and eventually after about an hour or so of waiting it was mine.

It is so stunning in person, although unfortunately my postie is apparently unfamiliar with the 'do not bend: art print inside' concept. Nothing too bad though, and it should definitely smooth out when I frame it. She also sent note with the print on the back of this card to which Richard and I both exclaimed 'There's us!' when we saw it.

I think I mentioned that one of the things I found the hardest about taking a media break was the feeling of 'I! Am! Missing! Out!', which I did not like one bit. Of course though, the very task of trying to not ever miss out is exactly why the internet can become so totally overwhelming in the first place. This week being back online has made me realise that what I really truly missed was my friends. So much more so than the new hilarious cat video (speaking of, I've watched this and died laughing way too many times this week), political scandal or new fashion must have is the joy of virtually squealing, sighing or laughing about it with friends. It's both amazing and somehow totally normal to me that I would plan to meet up for drinks with or stay at the house of someone I've cultivated a friendship with online, and I actually consider myself really lucky to have that. I absolutely did not see the point of Twitter when I first heard of it, but now it has become a way of surrounding myself with all the people I love and who inspire me. Working from home means it's like having all these fantastic hand-picked co-workers right at your fingertips. I love it. As great and as valuable as unplugging was, so much so that I will most definitely do it again, I am very grateful that plugging in has brought me amazing friends who send me lovely things (of course not the only reason Erin is a favourite, that she is an all around lovely gal and makes me laugh a lot is pretty high up there, too), the opportunity to take part in meaningful collaborative efforts, the chance to be exposed to amazing art and creativity and just generally opened up all sorts of wonderful connections.

Haha, I just realised how sentimental I am sounding, and also like I've just discovered the wonderful world wide web. But, I'm sure you all understand what I'm saying! As always, thank you for reading this little blog 'o mine, I am so grateful to be able to get to know each and every one of you!

Happy Weekend, friends!

xo