Even the orchestra is beautiful!
I love that I got all three of the girls in one picture. They were all chilling out together last night and the camera flash didn’t seem to bother them at all. Unlike the red laser pointer that makes them all go crazy. Sorry about that.
I told the women at my (last) quilting class about them. I sound like a proud mother. I just wish there was something I could do for Donna’s lumps. Poor old girl. She’s been doing a lot of resting lately and I know she’s an old fish…
Since I was tagged twice to do this, I figured I’d better get the ball rolling. Mostly I feel like my life is an open book so there won’t be much new stuff in here or any real surprises to anyone, but I’ll try.
(And the description of the process, from Ashley’s blog to help us understand:
“Shipley has hit honoured me with a blogging baton award. Ms. Ship has a great blog herself where she often tells hilarious family tales and shares pictures of her gorgeous baby (who I am desperate to meet before she goes off to college). Honest Scrap is blogger pat on the back by a peer or quite possibly it is the “friendship cake” of the blogosphere. And I have given out my share of friendship cakes, let me tell you.
Now I get to share with you ten things you may not know about me, and nominate some other bloggers who I lurk, who will in turn do the same.“)
1. It looks like Shannon and I just might be allowed to get legally married. While I don’t want to actually start planning and be hideously disappointed yet again, it’s exciting to know that the ball that had been sitting in someone else’s court for years has finally been put back in motion. I have a huge file of pictures of pretty dresses and cakes and stuff to inspire me so I might start looking at those again soon.
2. I no longer have a best girlfriend. That long term relationship ended almost a year ago for a bunch of sad, silly reasons. We haven’t done the return of borrowed items yet (and I think we’ll just cut our losses) I can’t see it ever going back to the way it was, not even remotely. I used to be sad about this but now it’s gotten down to a weekly blip where I think, oh, I should call her and…nevermind. I miss the comfort of it, the familiarity, but I don’t miss the last little while where I felt judged constantly.
3. I have pretty good health over all and for that I am grateful. I don’t rock the boat by taking vitamins or anything, but I do exercise twice a week. And when I am stressed my body does do fun stuff, like seriously twitching eyelids. My ex would notice my eyelid dancing and he’d back off out of fear.
4. I get migraines. I think half the time they’re stress related and the other half they’re…just bad luck. Sometimes I get one because there’s a neon light flickering and I look at it the wrong way or it could be a very bright light, the sun suddenly in my eyes or a camera flash. My migraines don’t actually hurt, but I get a weird visual effect that means I can’t read or watch tv or do much of anything. Usually a couple aspirin help it go away and laying down in the dark helps too.
5. I am a technophile. It’s taken me a long time to realize and admit that, but it’s true. I love all my tech toys and my fingers itch to fiddle with my iphone, looking for new podcasts to download. I also love my sirius radio, kindle and ds. These are the things I pack on every trip I take.
6. For years I kept my hair short and bleached it blond. Now that it’s long, I like it much better and I can’t remember why I had it short for so long.
7. The last opera I saw live was a performance of Turandot, almost 4 years ago. I miss live opera very much and I see it as an extension of the years I spent going to rock concerts weekly.
8. The older I get the less likely it is that I will ever have a baby and I’m mostly ok with that inevitability.
9. I think about our trip to Panama every day and fantasize about living in the Kuna Yala territory.
10. My secret career goal is to become an ornithologist but I have no idea how to begin that process and will most likely keep it filed in my dream category.
Nothing profound, sorry. Now I pass the torch on to Shannon, Jana, Corrie and Ryan.
This is what we looked like…a long time ago. My mom’s had short hair for so long that I can barely remember this look at all. I do remember wondering who she was for a while when she did cut it off. And I still have that kilt, I could go poke it right now if I felt so inclined.
I look exactly the same now. More pictures of a similar ilk to come.
I started a night school course at The Workroom in Parkdale-the quilting sampler course. I’ve done plenty sewing in my life, but I will be first to admit it’s all been pretty slap-dash. Quilting is the polar opposite of slap-dash, you need to be very precise, measuring, cutting, pinning, all those things I’ve never been too careful about in the past. This is teaching me patience, for sure. The first block I made-in class-I wasn’t thrilled with. I realized, in hindsight, that the red/pink gingham fabric has elastic in it, BOOOO. And sew against shantung silk just made things go all twonky. So I started a new block, same pattern, tonight at home and it turned out marginally better. I still need to get a hang of pinning.
I also need to practice ironing. The second block I made used an old pillow case I had (the centre square) and a weird night dress I bought a million years ago (the pink/black triangles). The rest of it is new.
There was band practice tonight so Shannon and Ari built a nest in the tub and read more Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The looked super cute:
And I took a bunch of self portraits and this is the only one I vaguely liked.
I was going to write a long blog entry about the year that is just wrapping up, maybe answer a bunch of questions like Gillian does every year (now that is dedication!) but I found myself losing interest in answering them around #5. I just can’t lie on those things and telling the truth could get me in a lot of trouble, so why bother?
This is what 2009 was about for me: the absolute highest highs and the lowest lows. I experienced pure, unadulterated joy and rock bottom, brutal sadness. I felt about as angry as I ever have and fear to the point where I thought I might pass out. The longest non-family relationship I’d had ended and I’ve done more traveling this year than any other year of my life. I have loved, laughed, cried, cooked, knitted, sang, snorkeled, danced, skated and flown.
The word to describe 2009 is not ‘meh’ it’s the opposite of that, whatever word that might be. Challenging? Rewarding? Educational? I don’t know.
Anyway. I also figured out how to make pom poms the other day and I have made a bunch for all of us:
I know, eh? You thought those skates couldn’t get any cooler, right? Ta-da!
Also, pom poms for Ari’s ice skates, and one on the tip of Shannon’s xmas hat:
Since the Cuban authorities had other ideas about our vacation (Shannon called it 20 minutes, but it was really closer to an hour total on the ground there), I’ve had to figure out other ways to amuse myself while off work for a few days-other than wound licking.
I’ve done some more knitting-the shawl I started with the lovely yellow sock yarn is coming along swimmingly. It’s nearing the end and I have to figure out a nice way to edge it to tie it all together. I’m meeting Jana for lunch tomorrow and I’ll be asking her an enormous favour-that’s all I will say about that here. I ordered another ball from a different (Canadian) vendor on Etsy and was surprised-and a little pissed off-at how much shipping was: on a $14 ball of yarn, shipping was $9.50! Plus tax and exchange rate, it came to almost $28 total! Whereas the yarn I got from America? The shipping was $3. Crappy crap crap, right?
Because the dishes are almost done, I have also done a lot of cooking-so far today I have made vegan cabbage rolls and non-vegan fudge. I also made my first gravlax ever, which will be ready on xmas day so we’ll have something delicious to feast on. I have also unpacked, vacuumed and wrapped all the presents.
We’ve been trying to stay busy and not wallow in sadness about missing our vacation. I’ve been looking for a salt water public pool in Toronto (there’s one at the JCC but I was hoping for one in our area) to swim at and I think we’re going out for a very nice dinner tomorrow night. Then we’re going to lay low and wait for Ari to get home so we can celebrate xmas for realzies.
I filled my MP3 player with old mixed cds I made 10 years ago and it’s been making me happy. For example today, on my way to and from work here is what I heard:
2. ‘Girl You Know it’s True’ by Milli Vanilli
3. ‘Money Can’t Buy Me Happiness’ by Jelleestone (no video?!)
4. ‘Detachable Penis’ by King Missile (shitty video)
5. ‘I Can’t Go For That’ by Hall and Oates
6. ‘Valley Girl’ by FZ (this video is AWESOME!)
8. ‘You Suck’ by The Yeastie Girls
9. ‘Back in Baby’s Arms’ by Patsy Cline
10. ‘Boogie in Your Butt’ by Eddie Murphy (shockingly there’s no video for this amazing song, what a shame!)
11. ‘Freedom of 76′ by Ween (and Beevis and Butthead!)
12. ‘Living on Video’ by TransX
13. ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ by Grace Jones
16. ‘Poison’ by Bell Biv Devoe
Ok, so on my knitlist, here’s what I have going on-all at the same time:
From the left, I have 2 baktus scarves (the first one is some kind of sock yarn that I can’t remember the name and the second is more of the Misti Baby Alpaca Hand Painted Sock) on the go. Then a Calorimetry head scarf in Noro Silk Light (which looks super cute on), then a straight up green scarf in that super plush Lang Perl yarn, and then sock #1. I dread sock #2 although it can only be easier the second time around, right? I swear my brain’s been damn near exploding trying to figure out this pattern… And if you read this please DON’T TELL MY DAD!
Today I made cupcakes to celebrate Hallowe’en. Nothing like eating sweets on the way out the door to collect more sweets, right? I know Ari will share her bounty with us, she never likes ALL the candy she gets and she does love to be generous. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went out trick or treating, I handed out candy at my house in Windsor-a popular street due to the houses being so close together, easy grabs for candy hunters.
Anyway, these were supposed to be pumpkins, but they ended up looking like eyeballs so I changed my plans.
Kind of gruesome. Better than cutesy pumpkins, right? And yeah, it’s a festive tablecloth that I bought for Thanksgiving. There weren’t any that had an Autumnal feel to them, so I went with skeletons.
Other than that, I’ve been listening to the Harry Potter series as read by Stephen Fry, who I adore. I finally finished book 5, Order of the Phoenix, that was about 30 hours long all told. It was AWESOME. Now I am stuck into HBP which is even better, such a dark book. If you’re ever bored with Youtube, look for Stephen Fry doing an English quizshow called QI, it’s brilliant. Very, very funny.
ps. I got interrupted by groceries. What I meant to add was that the other reason I am enjoying the audio books is because I can get a LOT of knitting done. I’m working on my fourth copy of this pattern. I’ve modified it slightly, but it’s easy, fast and deeply satisfying!
AND MY SISTER HAS SWINE FLU! AGH! Poor old thing, Megs, get well soooooon! I love you!
I was thinking about writing a little about karma, but seeing as I don’t really believe in it, I will tell you what I DO believe in.
Love. From family and friends.
So I got a message from my friend Michelle who works for MAC makeup (and is on maternity leave right now) asking me and my other girlfriend Libs to come over and take away ALL her excess makeup. She said she had tons of MAC, but also Estee Lauder, Clinique, DKNY, Sean John, Bobbi Brown…My head nearly exploded from excitement, I mean, how much makeup laying around could she have? The message said that her husband wanted the space, it sounded like it could be a LOT.
It was a lot. A LOT lot. Four plastic containers of neatly organized makeup.
I brought wine. It was SO fun, so exciting and so hilarious going on a total greed rampage. I would have danced all the way to the subway after but my backpack was so heavy, I could barely move. Here it is full:
Tee hee. And you know how I love sorting things and organizing stuff? Bit by bit, here’s what I took home:
1. Odds and ends. This is a mishmash of perfume, lotion and anti-aging goo.
2. Clinique. It’s mostly lip glosses and lipsticks, but there’s also mascara, eyeshadow, powder and a toothbrush.
3. Estee Lauder. This stuff is so amazing, it is beautiful to look at, it smells great and it feels super glamorous. Again, this is mostly lip things, but there’s also 2 perfumes, nail polish, mascara, eye shadow, Fruition, powder…
4. MAC. Oh, how I love thee, MAC makeup. This is the regular day to day makeup I got, tons of lip gloss, eye shadow, pure pigment, foundation, liquid liner, mascara, nail polish.
5. Heatherette for MAC is beautiful, bright colours, very cute and sexy. And those patent lashes are KILLER.
6. Special edition MAC, brushes, fixer, powder, shadows and lashes.
That’s all. Heehee. Not to say that I will be keeping the lot to myself, no no no. That would be silly, everyone knows I don’t wear lipstick ever. No, I will be picking out what I love most and hoarding that (which will amount to less than a third, I guess) and the rest will be sorted into piles for xmas gifts and swaps.
Interested?
And lots of love and thanks to Michelle, who made this possible!
