The Weekend: Brian looks naked, and we shop for owls

It’s Friday, and we are eagerly looking forward to the weekend. I think the weekdays themselves would be less onerous if there were midweek craft shows and midweek fairs, but Ottawa tends to work hard Monday to Friday, and save the partying for Saturday-Sunday. Well, that is if ‘partying’ means craft shows and fairs to you, like it does to us. What a jam-packed weekend we have coming up, all focused around two goals: 1) ‘Stay Acquainted’, and 2) ‘Improve Thyselves’; and with craft shows aplenty, our focus on 'DIY' shifts from our own handiwork to the handiwork of other indie cool people. We really hope you'll join us at these shows, and if you see us please say hi!

STAYING ACQUAINTED: GLUE GUNS AT DAWN

If you don’t know yet, Brian and I are craft show-aholics. Yes, this is definitely one of the reasons I married this particular human. He will get up at the crack of dawn with me in an effort to score an early bird swag bag, and when anyone asks him how his day is going, Brian will answer, “Fantastic! I’m at a craft show!” So even though this weekend is a little hyper-saturated with shows, we will be hitting up two of them. The first is Handmade Harvest, a wonderful show in Almonte just outside the city. This show boasts some of the coolest crafters around, and this year it’s running from Friday night, through Saturday. You can check out their Facebookpage here. One of the best parts, sticking to Project: Priceless’ ongoing frugality endeavours: the show is only $2.00 to get in.

The other show we are of course hitting up is Urban Craft, the little monthly craft fair that takes place at the Great Canadian Theatre Company on the first Saturday of every month. What’s wonderful about Urban Craft this month: you can pick up your Craft Passport for the city’s first-ever Craft Crawl: simply attend four or more of the local shows this holiday season, drop off your stamped passport, and be entered for prizes. As I was going to be at all the shows anyway, this was an easy thing to get excited about…but on some level I think it was extra great because it made me feel less like the only crazy craft groupie out there.

Between these two shows, we hope to find some cool owls and deer for our new bedroom motif (folkarty, orange, and Caribbean blue)...

IMPROVING OURSELVES—WELL, ACTUALLY, THE WORLD

Brian has shaved his face. It’s tragic. He looks twelve years old, and I can see his upper lip. I feel like he’s walking around naked…which isn’t weird for Brian (a hater of clothing) but he seems really naked. I’m not a prude or anything, but I feel like we’re seeing his face’s private parts. I miss his scruff so much, the soft tufts of fur on his lip and chin that made him look like a cross between Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Three days since he shaved, too, there’s only the barest whisper of five o’clock shadow now starting. All this for a good cause: Movember. (See Brian's Movember page here.)

Yes, ladies and gents, Brian has joined up with the Dawg FMMovember team, and is baring it all for men’s health. His Movember page tells the world, he’s doing this in celebration of his grandpa, who fought and beat prostate cancer, and he wants YOU to donate to the cause. We’ll post some photos on our facebook page, on Twitter, and here on the blog as the month continues. Meanwhile, I’m going to fashion him a mustache prosthetic ‘til his own grows back.

SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND...

Between these two awesome craft shows, plus National Capital FitDay which we blogged about yesterday, there's lots of opportunities to bump into us this weekend. Don't be shy; we get hello's and questions from people all the time, particularly at the moment when our mouths are stuffed with free jelly samples. It's a law of nature. We're pleased as punch to see you and we're always happy to hear any ideas for our newlywed journey! And now that I've posted a pic of Brian's bald face, you'll hopefully recognize him still...