The NEST--Project: Priceless

Celebrate HER: mini post--launch party

2012-03-03T21:37:00.000-05:00

Celebrate Her 2012 kick started today with a launch party at the Patrick John Mills Gallery in Hintonburg. We'll be blogging in more detail as we go, but for now, enjoy some eye candy:

The Patrick John Mills Gallery

Body painting art.

Amanda Cottreau with Rob of Sweet Chili Designs

Photographers, hard at work!

The registration table, with sponsor goodies incl CheeCha Puffs!

Cool upcycled robo dino!

A much bigger robot.

The audience watching the dancers.

Niyamah Collective: interpretive dance.

Singer, beltin' it out.

Check out the Celebrate Her 2012 events page and see what else you can come join us for all week!

Date Night: Whales Tohora at the Museum of Nature

2012-03-03T11:12:00.001-05:00

This week, Brian and I had the distinct pleasure of being invited to attend the grand opening of Whales Tohora, the new exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature, in Ottawa. We readily agreed to attend, and what a lovely evening it was. We recommend visiting this exhibit, here for a mere six months, with your sweetheart, kids, or by yourself.

The exhibit, put together in coordination with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, is simple, beautiful, and moving. Entering the museum, our first sight was of the giant life-size whale hanging in the front tower, something that had been promised in the architectural sketches when the museum was being rejuvenated but hadn’t yet been in place. It was an awe-inspiring spectacle, and while I did hear a museum staff explaining how they’d managed to navigate the giant into the space, I opted not to listen. Sometimes it’s better to let the magician have his secrets.

When we first entered the exhibit space, we found ourselves in a giant room full of whale history. I was thrilled with the amount of Maori artifacts, carved pendants, tools, and ornaments made of whale bones; it reminded me so much of the love and respect that the North American Aboriginals had historically shown for the buffalo. To revere the mighty beasts for their beauty, as well as their ability to feed an entire village, and to use the entire animal so that nothing is wasted…this respect for a natural resource is always humbling to witness.

One of several theatres.

This show has something for the young and the old. Brian played the two interactive videogames, first trying to lead a dolphin through the dangerous world of the ocean, and later building the perfect dolphin before trying to navigate it through an obstacle course. He also climbed through the to-scale model of a whale heart, almost getting stuck halfway through as this is surely meant for tiny people.

Whale skulls.

We examined the numerous whale skulls, amazed at their size and diversity. Various audio-visual setups take the museum visitor on a journey undersea where a whale stalks a giant squid; another allows them to listen to the whale riders tell their stories.

Big boy.

Of course, the centrepiece of the exhibit is the pair of full whale skeletons, with the large one coming from a 58’ male sperm whale, and the smaller one (still giant) belonging to a 32’ female. The entire exhibit was well-balanced between presenting historical, ecological, and biological information. We really appreciated that the whales were not presented as simple, benign animals; rather, their hunting abilities and their carnivorous diets were fairly portrayed.

The area I found hardest to look through was the section on beaching, followed closely by the section on human invasion. Photos and footage of whales stuck on beaches, torn up by propellers, and hunted by whalers were hard to stomach; but I appreciated how these issues were presented, without the usual sensationalism—no twelve foot-tall signs dripping blood or anything.

Maori carvings.

Overall, the entire exhibit was a fair, broad look at whales and humanity’s interaction with them. I felt awestruck, humbled, and amazed all at once. I have had a fascination with Maori culture for many, many years, so it was wonderful to see some carvings and artifacts in person; the natural beauty of the whale remnants, sleek white skeletons and giant, broad curves, was complemented perfectly by the ornate, intricate, art nouveau-like carvings of the Maori.

When we’d seen everything there was to be seen, I found myself reluctant to leave the space. With all the excitement, I knew we’d only managed to digest a small fragment of the information and visuals that were in the space; but we vowed to return with my little cousins, who will provide Brian with someone to challenge him to the videogames next time.

From start to finish, we thoroughly enjoyed our night at the museum. From the reception—with the incredible edibles catered by Thyme & Again, and the delicious New Zealand wines provided by the NZ consulate, as well as the witty speech by the New Zealand high commissioner—to the tiniest whale tooth presented behind crystal clear glass, every part of the evening was magical. We heartily recommend you check out Whales Tohora not only because it’s beautiful, but also informative, and a lot of fun. As Brian says, “Where else do you get to climb through a giant whale heart?!” I’ll just remind you, he almost got stuck…leave it to the kiddies, perhaps, though it was hilarious to watch him struggling while various dignitaries smirked and simultaneously looked tempted to try it, too.

And now, some more eye candy...

A wonderful date night!

Whale in the front tower.

Fantastic displays.

Mom and Dad!

My shoes for the evening. My favourites!

Brian, in silent awe of the beautiful displays.

One of the theatres for audio-visual treats.

A magnificent building.

The NZ pinot noir that Brian and Mom enjoyed.

Month of Me: birthday day review.

2012-02-29T13:15:00.000-05:00

My Month of Me is wrapping up at the end of the upcoming weekend. Yes, I acknowledge that this will make it more of a Six Weeks of Me. It was a weird month and there were scheduling difficulties. Anyway, I’m enjoying this ‘me’ stuff so much that I may just keep right on doing it.

This post is just a brief one today, though, highlighting my birthday day itself. I had posted to say that I would be doing the 10 Photos project—one photo an hour for 10 hours—for my birthday, and I did it. I missed a spot here or there, usually when I was having the best times, of course. What’s that old quote? “It’s the good girls who keep diaries. The bad girls never have time.” But I think I got enough to illustrate how my awesome day went.

Gift #1: typewriter charm from Brian. Love! Presents in bed are the best kind.

An hour later, birthday pug Mr Darcy comes to get me out of bed.

By request, Brian finally shaves his mountain man growth. Another present for moi.

Lunch of sushi with my sweetie!

Down at Magpie in Westboro to pick up my Pyrrha (gift to myself); and Brian surprised me with a dino pendant!
Meanwhile, I fed the staff chocolate covered ginger.

Shopping with birthday money...3 garments, good for work AND play.

A stop at my BFF's house to watch River Monsters.

Mom and Dad give me their gift: archery equipment to learn with Brian and Dad!

Dinner with parents at the new Mill Street Brew Pub. I was too busy eating to take a photo, so here's the dino pendant
that Brian got me as gift #2.

Comedy club with Brian and parents. Front row seats meant that everyone got harassed, high-fived, and hollered at.


Bonus pic: Mom & Dad at the comedy club.

Bonus pic: me and Brian at the comedy club.


Unexpected gift: Brian made the bed. (It looked better before, but I jumped on it in glee.) Confession: there was another gift in the bedroom. But I'm not showing you.

So all in all, a fantastic birthday. Probably my favourite so far, actually. Adventurous food, a plethora of presents, comedy club laughs...and time with my biggest cheerleaders. It felt like such a great way to start off my new year. I've got more reflections brewing, so stay tuned for another post about the Month of Me before long. In the meantime, I'm trying to just enjoy the afterglow of being spoiled rotten; and I'm trying to stop hesitating before programming my age into the elliptical machine.

Come one and all: Celebrate Her 2012 begins!

2012-02-26T21:59:00.001-05:00

We've got a couple pieces of news from the Celebrate Her 2012 headquarters, so let me quickly update you!

First off, if you missed our previous blog entries, you may be asking, "What is Celebrate Her?" A quick reminder: Celebrate Her is a week-long fine-arts fundraising and awareness campaign benefiting Ottawa's Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC), “Amazing Women” and local artists running from March 3rd thru March 10th. And the two of us here at the NEST have been dubbed the official event bloggers, hurray!

ANNOUNCEMENT 1: THE SCHEDULE IS POSTED!
Head over to the Celebrate Her website, and see all the wonderful arts events going on this first week (and a bit) of March. The week starts off with an art crawl through the Wellington West/Hintonburg/Centretown areas, with a launch party to follow. As the week progresses, you will see there are slam poets, author signings, musicians, and tons more happening, with at least one event happening every evening over the eight days. Tickets are Pay What You Can, with a suggested amount of $10; the Grand Finale, of course, will be the place to be, and tickets start at $35. We'll be live tweeting and Facebook reviewing as many of the events as we can possibly get to, and blogging about our favourite moments. Stay in touch with Celebrate Her via twitter and facebook to be sure you don't miss a moment.

ANNOUNCEMENT 2: JORDAN IS NOMINATED!
From the site: "Celebrate HER presents a week-long Amazing Women photo installation open to the public from March 3-10, 2012. This series was conceived to recognize and honor women in our community who live to love, inspire others and affect positive change." Anytime we recognize extraordinary women for their contributions and hard work, I'm excited...but this time, I'm super excited because I've been nominated, too.

Brian secretly nominated me, and I know that may seem like, "Oh, well, obviously her husband nominates her", but this means more to me than anyone else nominating me ever could. Brian read me his nomination letter, and in it he called me his hero. To have your partner call you their hero is one of the most gratifying experiences I think you can ever have. More than anyone, Brian sees the literal sweat, tears, and quaking anxiety attacks that go into my many projects and volunteer efforts. He sees how I labour over blog posts, fundraisers, or event coordination equally. He has watched me transform myself from quiet mouse to roaring lion (okay, but I'm getting there), and he thought enough of it to nominate me for recognition. I have a hard time with praise, but I hope he knows how much I am moved by this gesture.

CELEBRATE HER: COME ONE, COME ALL.
Everyone, regardless of gender, is invited to the Celebrate Her events. I hope we see many of you out there, and that you come say hi to us. I love it, always, when the 'fun' is put into a fundraiser, and we sincerely believe you'll experience just that at the Celebrate Her festivities.

Turning 30: Birthday Day

2012-02-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday. We are half-way through, and this is the first chance I've had to write a quick post. I will be taking a photo every hour (like we've done, along with many others, for the 10 Photos challenges on holidays past), and posting them on Twitter. Later, I'll write a post about the day and how the Month of Me has been going...but for now, you can follow along on Twitter by clicking here. Or, you can search for hashtag #jordanbday .

Hopefully your weekend is turning out as spectacular as mine is.

Fridays with bri: How to cut a Bell Pepper

2012-02-24T06:54:00.002-05:00

How to cut a bell pepper… The hardest part of cutting a bell pepper is cutting it so none of those tiny little seeds get in the way. I believe that I have found the best way to cut it and I guarantee that you won’t have to clean up more than a couple of those stray seeds.

Step one: Start with a sharp knife, a rinsed pepper and a clean cutting board. This will make the cutting so much easier.

Step two: Cut around the top of the bell pepper to separate the two halves buy doing this first step it allows you to remove all the seeds in one go. And pull out all the white sides on the inside of bottom half of the pepper.

Step three: cut off all the green edges of the top half, and discard the seeds.

Step four: cut the bottom portion in half, then in half again. Then continue to cut them into fingers; you can choose to stop here or cut them into smaller pieces.

This is by far the simplest way to cut a pepper with no mess that I have ever found!

Shoes Shoes and more Shoes: Brian reflects on shopping.

2012-02-20T20:49:00.001-05:00

Amidst the challenges Jordan has been having in finding herself some shoes (more info see the rebranding post), I have also been looking for a more formal-yet-casual shoe for myself. I have decided that with my wife’s redesign in full swing, I should at least try to not wear cheap skateboarding shoes or that pair of shoes beat-up work shoes anymore.

A fantastic pair of 150$ shoes that I LOVE; thanks Aldo...

I must say that with all the shoe shopping we have been doing, it seems women have it rough. All these different styles, and it seems that all of the shoes for women are designed to be uncomfortable…but trying to find nice men's shoes is starting to be just as difficult. It seems like every shoe I look at, especially dress shoes, are elf-pointed; you know the ones? It feels like you could impale the person waiting in line at Starbucks just by stepping on their heels. Or I find some I like but they cost 150$ plus tax. I'm gonna start saving now because these are amazing shoes: check them out they are by Aldo's new line 'Mr B's Gentleman's Boutique'

Brian's new shoes from HushPuppies, 75% off!

The good news is that I have found an amazing pair of shoes, and best of all they were on sale. During the hunt for both of our dream pair of shoes, we both had extremely specific wants; mine were as follows: brown, dressy, comfortable, cowboy boot-like, something I can wear with jeans as well as a casual suit, not too expensive and certainly not elf-pointy. The pair of shoes I found are all that except one thing: they are not brown. And they still aren't the Mr B's, but they are incredibly comfortable and will go with more of my outfits.

SHOE SHOPPING TIPS

With all the headaches and pains from trying on shoes I believe that we have come up with some helpful tips on how to shoe shop…

Wear the socks and the bottoms you are going to wear with the shoes:

This is pretty obvious, but you need the proper socks. They affect the size and comfort of the shoe. The bottoms matter just as much; I still have the image of Jordan holding a scarf at her knees, and her pant rolled up to above her calf, so she could see what the shoes looked like in a skirt or dress. When men wear a pair of dress pants, they fit much differently than jeans, so wear the appropriate ones. And: please, please, please match your shoes to your belt.

Don’t get distracted:

There are so many styles, shapes colours and do-dads with shoes, so know what you want. This will make your life so much easier and limit yourself. Don’t spend 12 hours looking at shoes because you’ll start to forget what you’ve tried and if the person you're with is not shoe shopping, they will be very bored. Jordan gives me her phone to play with while she tries on shoes…

Pick your shoe shopping partner well:

The shoe shopper extraordinaire--as long as I'm kept occupied.

If you're with someone who will never say you look bad in anything, you probably have the wrong person for shopping. Be ready to have some honest opinions thrown your way because a good second opinion goes a long way.

Thanks designbuzz.com for this... shoe?

Don’t expect one shoe to do everything:

This one has probably been the biggest discovery of this whole process. We have realized that one shoe doesn’t necessarily go with jeans, a skirt, a fancy party dress, a suit, and your pjs...and isn’t under a million dollars. This is something you have to let go. Accept that you will need to buy more shoes--and that's not bad!!! And with the pressure off, when you do find that perfect shoe, it truly will be a special thing.

The last piece of advice I can give you is very simple:

Relax; they're just shoes.

Friday's with Bri: Pulled Pork Adventure

2012-02-16T22:49:00.000-05:00

PULLED PORK A LA BRIAN

Pulled pork, the wonderful crock pot meal! It's a delicious creation that I have never tried to make before, until now; with all the different recipes out there I decided to combine and conquer, and create my own. So here it is:

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

You will need about 15 min of cooking time and 7 hours for total cooking.

All my ingredients

Pork Shoulder – 1.5 lb

Green Pepper – 1 bell

Onion – 3 cloves

Butter – 1 tsp

Watter – 4 cups

Spices and seasonings used
Basil

Lemon salt

Savory

Chipotle

sage

“Smoke”smoked niseko sesame dip mix

Diana Sauce

pork chopped in to large pieces

The first step is to chop the pork shoulder into large pieces. By doing this you make the crock pot cooking faster and the meat will come out nice and tender. When cutting meat remember to cut it on a plastic cutting board; wood boards are porous and will soak up the juices so keep your wooden boards for the vegetables

Melted butter

After chopping the meat, coat it with your spices. Don’t be afraid to over-coat the meat and really get the spices rubbed into it. Then melt the butter in a frying pan and place in the meat to start the browning process. This is an important step because it starts to cook the meat...and if you are cooking for someone who worries about that all

Look at all that seasoning yumm

the time (like I am with Jordan) this is a very good idea. While the meat is browning, chop up the vegetables: we used green peppers and garlic.

ADDING TO THE CROCK POT

When the meat is finished the browning process, take it out and place it in the crock pot. Then put the chopped vegetables into the same frying pan for a couple minutes to make them nice and tender, and to help loosen some of the pork bits.

Next, add a little bit of water to the pan to loosen the meat that was left behind in the pan and add the mixture to the crock pot. Then add the rest of the water, plus half a bottle of Diana sauce; stir and let cook for 6-7 hours on high.

Jordan is smelling the wonderful creation

Pulling it with a fork

You’ll know it’s done when you can put a fork through the pork easily. Remove the pork from the pot and begin to tear the pork with a fork. The juices that were left make an awesome au jus sauce.

FINISHING IT OFF

We put the pulled pork on wonderful multi-grain bread, and paired it with an incredible mixed greens salad with ranch dressing; we dipped the sandwich in the au jus sauce.

It made for a simply amazing dinner and definitely something I would try making again. The best part: the slow cooker did all the work, so I was able to sweep and mop the floors...which meant when Jordan got home, she dubbed me best HouseHusband ever.

YUMMMM

Month of Me: rebranding the caterpillar

2012-02-16T14:14:00.000-05:00

REBRANDING: NOT JUST FOR BIG BIZ ANYMORE.

Me, graduating 2007 from social service worker program.

I have been in the process of rebranding myself for a few months now. Well, maybe to be fair, I should say that I’ve been contemplating my rebranding. It began when I was successful in gaining employment outside my college field (social services) and within a field I desperately wish I’d studied in (marketing/communications). I decided that this was a sign: I could recreate myself from the hodgepodge muckitymuck that I had managed to assemble during the first 28 years, into something happier, cooler, and smarter in my 29^th year and beyond.

FIRST STEPS:

The idea of rebranding usually is applied to a company or, well, a brand. I think people can rebrand themselves, as well. I had to look at the same questions that a business would look at, a few being:

-What concepts/labels/words are you currently associated with?

-Which of those did you choose for yourself, and which were chosen by your audience?

-What concepts/labels/words would you rather be associated with?

-What are you selling [or doing, being, offering, creating]?

-What’s your look-and-feel?

When I asked myself these questions, I wasn’t happy with the results. So the first step was to run my butt off to get into marketing/communications (check!), and the next step was to start examining my image. I tried to figure out what labels or words I’d apply to myself, and found that the list of ones I had chosen were short and sort of ambiguous, whereas the list of ones thrust upon me were very effective in boxing me in:

Me, 3 yrs ago, taking a plane solo for the 1st time.

Self-proclaimed labels:

-creator

-achiever

-loyal

-funny

Labels given by others:

-social worker

-wife (or fiancée)

-disabled

-homebody

-perfectionist

-anxious

YOU ARE WHAT YOU ALLOW.

I looked at the question mark that was my self-image and thought, no wonder I feel aimless. Remove the label ‘creator’, and my self-image was synonymous with a well-trained border collie. Meanwhile, I’d been spending my time living within the constructed labels given to me by my surroundings: an anxious, disabled social worker, presumed straight and in a long-term relationship, who doesn’t like to go out at night and is anal-retentive. Now, I know that I helped people to begin associating me with these labels through my own actions—I’m not blaming my sorry state on them—but what’s frustrating is that the people around you like to keep you in your designated box, often by accident. Friends get used to not inviting you out; people stop chatting with you about same-sex rights; no one asks you to proofread their work because you’ll rant about semicolons.

REINCARNATING:

Rebranding is hard because you have to do things that may be the entire opposite of what’s expected of you…and no matter how positive these actions are, people will have an initial uncomfortable reaction. The trick is to stick with it. Walk your talk. Make your own box. My new box ideally reads:

-cool non-straight married chick

-communications wizard

-social media padawan

-blogger extraordinaire

-writer and will-be author

Me, 2 yrs ago: first day of roller derby;
went on to play for 18 months.

-woman of wry wit

-loving soul

-breadwinner

-organizer (most notably, of SoCapOtt)

-adventurer (at her own pace)

-Brian's sweetheart

-meditator

-pragmatic

-spiritual seeker

-visioneer

-multi-tasker

-assertive

-best friend

-introspective

-introvert (and proud of it)

-amateur chef

-healing body

-healing soul

-happy spirit

-agent of change

-solution-finder

-risk manager

REALISTIC GOALS: I'M NOT ELLE MACPHERSON.

Now, it’s important to recognize your limitations during a rebranding process. If Coke tomorrow wanted to become the new recommended drink of the Diabetes Association, they’d be shooting themselves in the foot. Likewise, I recognize that there are certain labels that may never apply to me (at least not in this incarnation): ‘warm’, for example, has never been applied to me; ‘laid back’ is another foreign concept. But ‘enthusiastic’ was practically made for me. Recognizing the inalienable truths about ourselves makes us stronger, because by recognizing our weaknesses, they become strengths. An introvert who pretends to be an extrovert doesn’t last very long—I speak from experience.

ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES: SHORN NEAR-BALD AND SHOELESS.

I’ve had some setbacks. Last week, before I started my new job, I went out and spent some Month of Me money on getting a haircut and work clothes. My regular stylist is off on mat leave, and I’ve been travelling around the city trying to find someone who’ll still cut my hair like a rockin’ punky-emo-hipster-21-year-old, with little success. I went to see my mother’s stylist this time, though, as she tends to be creative. Her creativity resulted in a Vulcan bowl-cut with straight-across bangs that she then cut into different 1-inch lengths, like piano keys across my forehead. I demanded she fix it, and she removed the blunt ends to my bangs but by the end of cutting, I was left with tufts—I’m not exaggerating—all over a nearly-shaved head. I left in tears. My hair is a big part of my image—my brand—and while I don’t mind crazy hair, this was out of control. I looked like I’d been shorn with a bowie knife to avoid lice during a post-apocalypse scenario. With so little left, I can’t get it recut, so currently I’m attempting to style it attractively.

I bought pants, a skirt, some shirts, and a some shoes for my new job, too. I found this pair of shoes that made my heart sing: they work equally well with pants or a dress, which women know is as hard to find as the genuinely perfect Little Black Dress. I bought them on sale, and wore them to work on my first day…only to discover I’d bought them a half-size too large. Calls to the company were fruitless; size 9’s were sold out nationwide. I returned the shoes that evening and began tearing through shops looking for a replacement, to no avail. I ended my evening sobbing on the couch, trying to explain to Brian that this wasn’t about two pieces of leather strapped to layers of rubber…this was about my failure at revamping my public image. I would now be headed into work in my old Converse chucks and my sorority-prank-styled hair.

BACK ON THAT BRANDING HORSE:

But I rallied. I have decided that lipstick is a part of my image, and I’ve been experimenting with types. I am enjoying the mix-and-match process of getting dressed in the mornings, and when I finally calmed down, I revisited the Aerosole store and noticed a pair of shoes I’d forgotten about: a pair that I love more than the first ones, even though they’re a bit too tall for my walking abilities. Regardless, they were on sale for the same price as the first pair, and they’re gorgeous. And they 100% suit my envisioned public image.

I’m taking great big strides towards my personal rebranding. I’m at that awkward stage where I’m still in my cocoon, one wing extended out, dripping and unpretty. But I’ve still got eleven days ‘til my 30^th birthday; that’s when I’ll really hit the ground running. Oh, but not in these shoes; I’ll have to bring my Converse along.

Feed the Fire: Advice on keeping it hot.

2012-02-13T13:40:00.001-05:00

It’s Valentine’s Day week, and while we here at the NEST don’t believe in a commercialized day of romance, I did think it might be a good time to give you a brief spot of advice. February is a dismal time of year, where spring taunts you with smatterings of rain or above-average temperatures, but generally it’s still dark and miserable outside. The only difference indoors is that you can control the heat and the majority of sitcoms have new episodes. But if you have a special someone in your life, you can remake February into Cuddle Month. Here are some tips for keeping the home fires burning.

flickr.com

STRESS KILLS ROMANCE.

I heard a study done long ago that showed how women and men responded to times of stress. The study—a little too simplistically divided along the genderline, but interesting nonetheless—stated that women will have a reduced sex drive in times of stress, because they biologically recognize this isn’t a good time to be reproducing. For men, the study said, the stress response is the opposite. Apparently on a biological level, men are spurred on to create more babies in a time of stress, to prevent the decimation of the human race. My experience has been that these rules do apply to people, but may not apply to the appropriate gender. You may find yourself, a male, who has no sexual mojo at all, or you may find yourself a gal with a burning desire to grab your mate. Worse yet (and this is my world), both you and your partner may both be the stress-cancels-sex types.

Be aware of your own stress reactions. If you know what’s happening you can consciously take steps to reduce the stress, or at least be able to talk about the romantic lull with your partner. In the meantime, find other things to do with each other that feels like intimate time.

source: Life as a New Wife

LITTLE THINGS COUNT.

Remember high school? Remember French kissing at the movie theatre and how awesome that was? As adults, we get very focused on the…ins and outs…of sexual encounters. What a waste of all the wonderful ways we can be close to each other. Try getting really close to your sweetie and not kissing…just feel the electricity. When s/he starts to smile a devious little grin, I guarantee your toes will curl and you’ll feel seventeen again.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE.

What are we supposed to give to a woman to say “I love you” this month? Chocolate and flowers, right? While I am never opposed to gifts of chocolate, this may not be every girl’s deepest desire. Likewise with men: not every guy really gets the big deal with lingerie. This Cuddle Month, try doing something you actually both enjoy. It’s okay if that means going to bed at 9pm after watching old Matlock episodes—it’s your time together, whenever you make it happen throughout the year. Be adaptable, and learn new favourite things to do with each other. The right activity, even one as everyday as going to a museum, can become a special, intimate ritual for the two of you. A trip to the Nature museum with a box of Jr Mints, two headphones in one Ipod, and a secret kissing game everytime an animal has a silly name…now, that’s a hot date.

source: homorazzi

REACH OUT.

Touch is crucial in a relationship. Your partner may not be a fan of constant contact, PDA’s, or kissing in the middle of go-go-go days, but a caress on the arm or back can send a wonderful message of love and support. As a task-oriented person, I’m still learning how to do this. I’m putting a lot of effort into reaching out and squeezing Bri’s leg when we’re driving, or ruffling his hair when we’re sitting on the couch. A cautionary note, however: not everyone likes having their hair touched. My rule: no mussing up my hair til 10pm or we’re settled in for the night. Otherwise my 20 minutes of hairspray and hot iron were for naught.

GIVING IS AN ART FORM.

At Christmas, we did a post about the art of gift giving as a guest post on the UsedEverywhere blog. I suggest you reread it. There are many times in a year when we may find ourselves in a position to offer a token of affection to our sweetie; work hard to learn how to do a good job of it. And receivers: learn to show your appreciation. We’re not all the jump-up-and-down-squealing type, but a few extra hugs that day or even an email at work the next morning may be a great way to say thank you and ensure the gifting continues.

photo by Adam Pap

RELAX.

Last piece of advice: stop worrying so much. Some people thrive on a date night schedule or gift-giving schedule, or even a ‘cuddle’ schedule. Some people have the natural ability to consistently make time for tender moments. Usually, we fall in love with someone opposite of ourselves. We all need to stop judging and condemning ourselves for not living up to a cultural image of red hearts, satin sheets, and teddy bears. Communication is key, and kindness is crucial. Forgive yourself for sucking if you suck, and forgive your partner too. Then get to work; if you’re like me and Brian, you’ve got nothing but time to practice getting it right.

Fashion Survivor: 6 pitfalls in spring fashion 2012.

2012-02-09T10:21:00.002-05:00

I feel so passionately about this topic today that I'm reprinting this post here, as well as where it will originally 'air', on the UsedEverywhere blog. For the wellbeing of women everywhere, I beseech thee: stop torturing yourself with clothes.

I don’t usually talk much about fashion in my writing, but this upcoming season of clothing has me worried. I feel like, as a classically educated image consultant, it’s my moral obligation to stop a lot of women from making themselves look terrible in an effort to conform to the fashion world’s newest obsessions. Let’s see if I can help you avoid some pitfalls this spring.

Ralph Lauren 2012...or Dorothy, Rose,
and Blanche
from The Golden Girls.

PASTELS ARE THE DEVIL’S PLAYTHING.

Everything in the stores lately seems to be a shade of beige with some pink or taupe mixed in. More recently, looks like we may be seeing some minty greens and yellows, too. Pastels are uber feminine—and remember, there are lots of ways to be feminine, but pastels are the fashion equivalent of a giant mammary gland. They also tend to be less slimming than their rich-pigmented colour cousins. If you choose to play with pastels, be cautious. Throw in a pinch of it with some other crisp tones: a soft pink top with a bright white cardigan and blue jeans.

THE ‘IN’ COLOUR IS A LOT OF COLOURS.

source: chicinspector.com. Like a maxi pad commercial.

Usually every season, there is one or two popular colours. Last year, Kelly green was in—not for long enough, in my opinion. But if you didn’t like green, there were still other colours around to choose from. What’s dangerous this season is that the fashion industry has fallen in love with an entire pallet—faded pastels, as mentioned above—and this means it’s hard to get away from the trendy clothes, and find yourself something that flatters you. A couple seasons back when chartreuse was in, I managed to creep around the periphery of the stores and find some other colours choices…but I worry that this spring won’t allow for that. We’ll have to see. A good trick: if you try on the current colour trends and (like me) hate them on you, spend this season shopping second-hand. Last year’s spring clothes will be out at the consignment stores and you can find some items in the right colours for you.

BATWING IS DRIVING ME BATTY.

Smart Set. Like a big tarp.

Everywhere I look, shirts seems to be batwing or simply square-cut. Even sweaters! These styles of tops immediately add ten unintended pounds to most women...not in any specific helpful area, but just in an ambiguous mass around your torso. I’m sorry, you may like these shirts, but you must be very careful and very critical when you try these on. I have bought one wide-sleeved shirt this spring for myself, and it was because the body was still completely fitted—meaning that you could still see my small waist and well-bra’d bust. If you really want to try this style out, look for the same thing: shape somewhere in the garment to help the eye recognize your curves. Or, if you just can’t resist, compensate for the bagginess with very fitted pants.

JEANS.

source: nibblypig.

I think we’ve all learned by now that leggings are only pants if you’ve covered your bum with a top or tunic. Good. But skinny jeans continue to be worn around by girls with luscious backsides. If you’ve got meat on your butt or thighs—this is most of us, girls—skinny jeans should be worn cautiously. You can end up making yourself look like Miss Piggy, with all your mass at the top of your pants, and little piggy hoofs…especially if you’re wearing a slender shoe. If you really want the skinny jeans but are a normal woman who isn’t ‘H’ framed with perfect thighs, throw a long shirt or tunic over. Think of the jeans as leggings.

WASTED WAISTS.

Suzy Shier. It's even akward
in this marketing shot.

Suzy Sheir. Elastic hell.

Elastic waists and belted waists are in. I’m sad for anyone who isn’t a stick insect, including myself. I am an hourglass-shaped gal myself, leaning towards an ‘H’ frame, and when I try to wear these waistlines, I often end up looking like I have a bun in my oven because of where the waistline visually divides my body. If you’re anywhere over 108lbs, you will likely have this trouble, too. I know it seems like a tiny belt or elastic at your waist, around your belly button, is going to show off your waist, but it doesn’t. Your clothes should visually lengthen your torso (where most of us feel the most square or round), not divide it in two awkward pieces. If you insist on wearing these little belts, wear them low on the low part of your hips; they will at least draw the eye past your belly. If you insist on wearing the elastic waistlines, I don’t think I can help you.

This is who those clothes are for: photoshopped
carb-free 17 year-olds with twig legs.

GENERAL ADVICE.

Put on the clothes you’re consider, then back up. Look at yourself from a distance in the mirror, and squint or unfocus your eyes. Do you look square/wide/round/shortened? If so, it may not be the right outfit for you. Don’t feel pressured to buy styles that are thrust upon you by the fashionnati; they’re typically designing for scrawny 16 year-olds—the models they spend their time with and think are ‘real’ women. If you happen to be a human giraffe, more power to you…enjoy all the clothes the rest of us can’t wear. But for the rest of us: hold your breath and pray for better selections next season.

Author's note: Listen, gals; if you have a deep love for one of these fashion items, more power to you. Rock your 'en vogue' clothing and love yourself...that love with shine through and we'll all think you're hot! The only person who has to love your style is you. But if you're cramming yourself into petal pink and jeggings because you think you have to, let this post be a battle cry: no more uncomfortable, disproportionate, skin-tone-ruining clothing!

Month of Me: a weekend of tea and craft

2012-02-08T10:13:00.002-05:00

I know it’s midweek now, but I’m still glowing from my weekend. It was a 48 hour period of Month of Me activities (my birthday month of self-indulgence), and I can’t stop talking about it. The highlights: High Tea with my mom, and a killer felting workshop with Annie Bananie.

TEA FOR TWO: THE TEA PARTY ON YORK STREET

In preparation for my birthday month, I purchased a social coupon (you know, off a site that does group coupons, if you will), for The Tea Party on York Street in the Byward Market. I’d been in there only once before, just to peek around while on a stroll with Brian, so I didn’t remember much about it except that it was located in an ancient house on the edge of the market. Anything Alice in Wonderland themed is guaranteed to catch my eye, so I bought the coupon--$20 for a High Tea for two—and invited my mom along.

We headed down to the market, parked, and walked down to the little house. As we stepped inside, the place was rockin’ busy. A dozen charmingly mismatched tables were crowded with cheerful diners enjoying all sorts of (unexpectedly) Indian lunch foods. I have made a note to come back and try the tandoori tofu because it looked delicious. We were led to our tiny reserved table in a corner by the front window, and while we waited for our server to come see us, we perused the shelves of tea cups, teapots, and china all available for sale. A two-tier Alice in Wonderland themed tea tray caught my eye and I may have to go back for it.

The server brought us our teas in big pots, chosen by us from the wall of labelled glass jars. The tea was lovely, and I was pleased to see the wide array of non-caffeinated options they had. Settling on a concoction called Jamaican Chai, I was delighted with the spicy aroma mixed with tropical undertones. Mom chose an anise-based tea called Angel Wings which she enjoyed very much, being a fan of strong flavours. A few sips into our tea, our tray of squares, scones, and sandwiches arrived. We were surprised to find none of the ‘usual’ tea sandwiches—no tuna, egg salad, or ham here—but a wide variety of unique flavours instead. My favourites included a roasted red pepper with hummus, and a tomato with some type of baba ghannouj. The scones were superb, served with a pot of jam, and the squares were all made on-site…no pre-packaged date squares here.

We munched away happily, lingering long after our sandwiches were done, pouring more tea from our big pots and gossiping. When it was finally time to go, we went to the cash to buy a tea cup for Mom, and received the last part of our social coupon deal: two little bags of tea to take home. I grabbed a bag called Yoga Spice, and Mom grabbed a green tea. We headed out, satiated and promising to return for a full lunch.

FELTING WITH ANNIE BANANIE

Happy crafting Jordan.

Sunday found us at the workshop of Annie Bananie, local crafter extraordinaire. Annie Bananie is no stranger to us: she helped us out with the wedding project by offering a workshop for our wedding party to make felt rosettes, which we used as decorations in our centrepieces. Annie and I have kept in touch, as I adore her felt creations. This incredibly talented yoga teacher, Singing Tree daycare owner, and arts instructor is one of those wonderful people you feel blessed to have met. To my utter joy, she feels the same about us. So when Annie invited us to come to her felting workshop, wild horses couldn’t keep me away.

Another woman's work.

You can see the whole tutorial on Annie’s blog, including photos of Brian and I working our butts off; but in a nutshell, let me say this: the seven hours you spend in this workshop will simultaneously be the most exhausting and the most rewarding thing you do all week. The morning started off with a brief Kundalini yoga-based meditation. This is something outside my comfort zone, as Kundalini involves chanting and singing, and I’m not really a public singer. I rock out in my car, but to sit in a circle and chant ancient Sanskrit is something outside my box. I did it, though, and Brian was a trooper too, only once disturbing the group when he got carried away with his yogic spine rotations and hit his elbow off a shelf. I held it together and managed not to burst into giggles…sometimes Brian is just like a Great Dane puppy, all feet and tail.

We started out felting project, laying out the white felt that would become the back of our hanging. I had planned to make something about 2’ by 3’, but Brian kept quietly laying out more wool, and before I knew it we had a piece about 4’ by 5’. Annie encouraged everyone to work as large as they liked, and I shrugged, figuring it would be a centrepiece in our house somewhere. We argued back and forth over the image we’d create and finally amalgamated our two ideas: toadstools and owls.

The other workshoppers remarked on how brave we were to be doing a project like this as a team. I have to admit, there was a few times where I had to deep breathe and not snatch the wool away from Brian, rearranging things until they looked ‘right’. But as the image started to come together, I had that wonderful moment where I can see how much cooler the product is going to be because it was a collaborative effort. We finished laying out our image, ate a homemade lunch of pea soup and ArtIsIn bread (provided as part of the workshop), then began the process of felting the wool into one big mat.

Rolling the snake with our feet. UGH.

When Annie encouraged us to work on a big piece, the one thing she failed to tell us was that it would mean more work at the felting stage. Another woman who had created a smaller piece finished felting her mat and left around lunchtime, while we were still layering colours of wool. The process of felting the wool involves soaking the project with soapy water, stepping all over it, and then rolling it into a tube and rolling that tube back and forth along the floor. Because our piece was so big, the usual technique—laying your hands on it and rolling it like a big Play-doh snake—was proving ineffective. Every time we unrolled it to peek, fibres were still lose and easy to pluck. So after about an hour of using our hands and arms, we switched to using our feet.

One hour of rolling the mat with our hands, then two hours of rolling our mat with our feet, and finally we were done…or at least, I didn’t want to roll it anymore. We took our piece home, rinsed it in the shower to get rid of the soap, and tumbled it in the dryer for a bit to finish the felting process. It was still wet, so we layed it out on some garbage bags and left it to dry.

Other workers' creations.

Ready for water.

My legs ached for two days after this project. I got a better workout from rolling that damned wall hanging than I have ever gotten from roller derby. It was exhausting, but the final product is something pretty extraordinary. There is nothing pretty about our owl and mushroom scene, especially because the owl’s eyes sort of felted in different ways and he looks a bit drunk. But it is a collaborative expression of our nest: Brian as the owl, brightly coloured and a bit wobbly; then me as the hedgehog (a last minute addition to the piece), because as much as I call Brian a Great Dane, Brian calls me a hedgehog: cute, but rolls into a spiky ball when provoked. So there is Brian the owl, with Jordan the hedgehog, hanging out in a field of mushrooms. It probably sounds silly when you read it, but this hanging is truly a visual representation of our little world.

I fell in love with felting at Annie’s workshop. I find myself plotting new designs, examining our piece to see how colours blended so that I can plan my layers out better next time. I don’t think I’ll make such a large piece again because the rolling sucked so badly; but guaranteed, I’m going to be felting again soon. As an artist who typically works in paint and pen, the less precise, more expressive motions of felting was again outside my ‘box’, but as these things so often are, it was wonderfully rewarding. We can’t thank Annie enough for having us along, and we heartily recommend you all sign up for the next one. Annie is planning another wet felting workshop in the warmer weather, to potentially be held in Wakefield out on a beautiful piece of land…but if you can’t wait that long to get your hands on Annie’s workshops, other ones will be coming along soon and can be found on her blog.

IN SUMMARY: A JORDANESQUE WEEKEND, INDEED.

Tea and shopping with mom…tiny triangle sandwiches…time with my sweetheart…and a new art medium. It doesn’t get much better than that. I would say this was a highly successful Month of Me weekend. Let the games continue!

Celebrate HER: Ottawa business gets a chance to support!

2012-02-06T09:13:00.001-05:00

We love supporting local business, and we love it even more when those local businesses support local happenings! So I’m sending a plea, far and wide, on behalf of a wonderful organization: CelebrateHer is looking for sponsorship by local businesses of their awards packages for outstanding women. If you have a business, or know a business owner, read on! Crafters, restaurateurs, masseuses, hair dressers…you name it, we want you to get involved!

You may recall that Brian and I are the official bloggers of the CelebrateHer 2012 events, but in case you missed our post about nominations (which are still open!), here’s the project in a nutshell: Celebrate HER is a non-profit organization developed to make spaces where women can be recognized and celebrated for their achievements. The team is planning a week-long arts-based fete that will span several neighbourhoods of Ottawa Central, while communicating nationally with women (and supporters of all genders) via social media channels.

Amanda Cottreau, fearless leadress of the CelebrateHer org (and a fantastic musician, by the by) is challenging local companies to show their support of outstanding women by providing goodies to put into the nominees’ gift bags. Sponsors like Lilac Lingerie have donated gift certificates, while artisans like Dmitry Kulakov has donated a guitar (for a fundraising raffle), and UsedOttawa.com (yes, I helped with this one) donated yoga mats, gym bags, and other great swag to go into the gift bags. CheeCha Puffs has just gotten on board, donating their healthy puff snacks as well as water bottles and golf shirts. There are various categories of women being recognized, and sponsors can choose to donate enough for a few women, or all 21 nominees (and counting--nominations close Feb 10th.)

It’s a great way to get your business name out there, and a great cause to support. The week of art performances, concluded with a soiree on the last night, will round out the festivities taking place between March 3^rd-10^th, 2012.

UsedOttawa yoga mats...namaste.

You can follow CelebrateHer on Twitter or Facebook, and check out their site—created by the talent at Sweet Chili, and also donated.

Fridays with Bri: KoKo meets Wine!

2012-02-02T23:33:00.000-05:00

THE VALENTINE'S DAY KOKO - NEST PAIRING MENU

Koko Chocolates is a local Ottawa chocolate company, ownedand operated by the warm and lovely Jen Winter, ‘a self-proclaimed chocolatesnob’ [as stated on the Koko website]. Koko has been in business since 2008,taking the city by storm and becoming a household name synonymous withdecadence. We met Jen and her truffles during our wedding project, and Jordanhasn’t let Jen out of her sight since. With Valentine’s Day rolling around, Iknow that Jordan doesn’t like to receive gifts or tokens on that day…however,she would never turn down Koko truffles. From that knowledge sprung the idea: Iwould create a wine pairing menu to go with Koko’s fantastic flavours. With Jenon board, and Jordan happy to help with the tasting, we’ve done our homework,and now present you with the Valentine’s Day Koko-Nest pairing menu.

I chose to pair a series of truffles with one white, onered, and one rosé wine, allowing you to choose your chocolates based on yourwine colour preference…or vice versa. Showing up at your sweetie’s door withone perfect bottle of wine and the accompanying truffles will impress him/herto no end.

Note: each wine has aVIN number. VIN is specific to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario—this numberisn’t relevant for people outside of the province.

WHITE WINE PAIRINGS:

Wine: Toasted Head Chardonnay, 2009. $17.95 VIN: 594341

photo from LCBO.ca

An oak-agedchardonnay, aged in barrels for 8 months~giving the wine flavours like vanilla,caramel, and butterscotch. It has a sweet, fruity flavour, and hints of toastedgraham crackers. This wine is a bright straw colour, beautiful in a fine glass.The flavour lingers in your mouth for about 30 seconds (aka ‘a medium finish’),and there’s a weight to the wine…likethe difference between water and 2% milk. It pairs well with the chocolatesbecause, for a white wine, it’s got enough flavour to hold its own in thepresence of chocolate, and due to the oak aging process, it won’t beoverpowered by the rich treats.

If this wine isunavailable: ask your local wine store for an oak-aged white wine with mediumbody and hints of vanilla and caramel, and subtle fruit notes. (You’ll soundsuper savvy, too.)

Chocolates to pair with the white:

White Vanilla Rum: Rich white vanilla chocolate ganache, flavouredwith dark Jamaican rum, dipped in dark chocolate. Brian’sbonus notes: This truffle is rich—but not overpowering—with coconut andrum flavours. It has a medium length, meaning that it lingers in your mouth forabout half-a-minute. Use the white wine to accent this chocolate and bring outthe almond flavours.

Triple Chocolate: Layers of rich white chocolate and milk chocolateganache, enrobed in dark chocolate. Brian’s bonusnotes: This truffle starts off with a splash of the creamy whitechocolate insides, then the dark chocolate coating takes over. It finishes withthe milk chocolate and some caramel notes. Slightly buttery hints of hazelnutplay around your mouth before the flavour fades away, about thirty secondsafter the first nibble. This truffle won’t so much complement the wine as pair with it, so literally eat thistruffle in small bites while you sip your wine.

Milk Caramel: Milk chocolate ganache flavoured with caramel and asplash of brandy, dipped in milk chocolate. A friendly truffle for the lessadventurous.

ROSÉ WINE PAIRINGS

Wine: Barefoot White Zinfandel Rosé, $9.95, VIN: 79384

photo from LCBO.ca

This is a smooth,sweet wine with flavours of peach, strawberries, and pears. It has a shortfinish, meaning that it doesn’t linger very long on the tongue. Its highacidity means you’ll taste the wine on the tip of your tongue like a lemon. Thepear flavours will hit you near the back of the tongue. It’s a good wine fornovices, and a great crowd pleaser. If you bring this, everyone is going toenjoy it whether they like red or white. (Except, of course, your uncle thescotch drinker.)

The only downside tothis wine is that it’s only around during the winter, so if you can’t find it,ask your vintner for a wine that has sweet pear notes with a low-to-medium bodyand a short finish. Again, you’ll look pretty cool.

Chocolates to pair with the Rosé:

Margarita: Dark chocolate ganache infused with lime and tequila,garnished with a sprinkle of sea salt. Brian’sbonus notes: This is Jordan’s FAVOURITE truffle. The smooth chocolateflavours are twisted together with the whammo punch of lime, and a sweet orchidundertone. It’s a sun-shiney bright flavour palette, with the saltinessamplifying the tastes. This truffle is to be eaten along with the wine; therosé will bring out more of the citrus flavours in the ganache.

Raspberry: Raspberry and dark chocolate ganache with a touch ofChambord Liqueur. Brian’s bonus notes: Thistruffle has tart, sour cherry notes, and a genuine raspberry taste—nothing‘Swedish Berries’ about this treat. It has a short finish, leaving the mouthpromptly. This is really going to play off the sweet flavours of the rosé, tobe eaten before or after the wine…but you may lose some of the wine’s noteswith this one.

Cinammon Love: A seasonal offering for Koko. White chocolateganache turned a romantic pink, infused with cinnamon tea and fresh groundcinnamon. Brian’s bonus notes: a sweet, richbite with a tart beginning, with warm heat from the cinnamon, wrapping aroundyour throat. This is a very different chocolate than Koko’s usual style, notquite as smooth but offering up a sweet punchy cinnamon heart flavour. The winewill complement this one very nicely because of the astringency (bubbliness) ofthe wine.

Passionfruit: Dark chocolate ganache flavoured with realpassionfruit. A neat twist for the chocolate-meets-fruit lovers.

RED WINE PAIRINGS:

Wine: Lindemans Bin 50 Shiraz, $11.95, VIN: 145367

photo from wine-searcher.com

This was the firstwine I ever suggested to Jordan, and it remains her favourite. I suspect she’llget the VIN number tattooed on herself someday. This wine is a ruby-purplecolour, with floral and blackberry notes. It has hints of eucalyptus and sweetspice, hitting the middle of the tongue with the fruit flavours. This wholewine is centered around its fruit flavours. This wine won’t dry out your mouth,and doesn’t burn on the way down; yet, it still leaves your palette draped in avelvet coating. It literally tastesruby, with a full-bodied, long finish that lingers for up to a full minute.Everyone that I’ve recommended this wine to has loved it, including Jordan’smom who usually drinks very dry malbecs. In general, Shiraz (aka ‘Syrah’ is aperfect pairing with chocolate.

If you can’t find thiswine, ask your vintner for a fruity, smooth Shiraz or another red wine withhints of blackberries and subtle spiciness.

Chocolates to pair with the red:

Grand Marnier: A classic orange-flavoured dark chocolate ganache ina dark chocolate mold. Brian’s bonus notes: Thisone is extremely smooth for such a dark chocolate. It has sweet orange flavourswith smooth cherry and coffee notes that linger for a very long time. It isreminiscent of chocolate pudding in your mouth: thick, rich, sweet, andcomforting. This one will accent the red wine, bringing the spices to theforefront and smoothing out the sweetness of the fruity notes.

Thai Chili: Spicy Thai chili peppers infused into a rich darkchocolate ganache. Brian’s bonus notes: This is a full mouth experience. Clean and simple,with a cardamom start and a pepper finish. It doesn’t linger overly long, andtastes like a bittersweet chocolate in the back of the throat. This chocolatewill pair well with the wine due to the juiciness of the wine balancing the lowsweetness of the truffle. This is my favourite pairing in the list.

Italian Lover: Dark chocolate ganache, flavoured with amaretto andcognac. A sinfully rich treat; it manages, like all of Koko’s truffles, toimpart the flavours of the spirits without making you worry about passing abreathalyzer, like some chocolates on the market.

BRIAN’S CLOSINGTHOUGHTS

Chocolate has always gone well with wine. If you haven’t hada chance to try them together, buy a couple bottles of wine and some premiumchocolates (we obviously recommend Koko) and experiment. Don’t feel embarrassedto read the back of the bottle: usually there are some key, simple tastingnotes there for you. Look for wines that have a strong flavour but aren’toverly sweet—don’t hide the flavours of the chocolate behind, say, an ice wine.Because really in the end, the chocolate is the star of the show.

Koko Chocolates are available at Thyme & Again, VivaLoca, The Red Apron, and The Candy Store, all in Ottawa…or they can be ordered online. If you’re in Ottawa this weekend, Jen will be at the Urban Craft showthis Saturday—perfect timing for Valentine’s Day, or Anti-Valentine’s Day, aswe like to celebrate. Hell, just buy them because it’s any day; they’re thekind of thing I keep hidden in the closet for my next marital faux-pas.

You can keep in touchwith Koko Chocolates:

-at their website

-on twitter

-on facebook

Chocolate photo's from kokochocolates.ca

World, meet Sweetstitch: interview and giveaway!

2012-02-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

SPOTLIGHT ON AN INDIE ARTISAN: SWEETSTICH

If you don’t already know somehow, we’re indie business-obsessed here at Project: Priceless. With our love of all things handmade and DIY, we seek out the coolest local (and national/international) artisans to support. Recently, we discovered Sweetstitch, and wanted to feature the brand. We connected with owner Sue Redekop, and asked her a few questions about her business…and at the end of this post, we have our first-ever giveaway!

What is your name? :

Sue Redekop

What is your business’s name? :

Sweetstitch

How can people find you? :

www.sweetstitchshop.com

How did you hear about Project: Priceless--the NEST? :

Via twitter and the blog!

What do you make/do?:

I sew accessories with gorgeous fabrics, sourced locally and as far away as Japan…my focus is on handy dandy cute zipper pouches.

How do you fit in with the DIY/handmade world?

I love the handmade community and am so impressed by what is created from local crafters. It's a welcoming, supportive environment for the creative side of my personality.

We covet Sue's wreaths!

How do you fit in with the Eco-Economy concept? (Eco-economy=green but sensibly priced):

I try to use upcycled fabric as much as possible; I hate to see waste, so I’ll use anything from curtains to duvet covers, skirts, pants etc., and transform them into new creations.

How long have you been in business? :

Sweetstitch has been around for a year and a bit.

What is your favourite thing about what you do? :

I love the whole process of sewing, from picking out the fabrics to hunting fabrics down in second hand shops, and repurposing them into practical cute items.

What’s was your most unusual gig/project/product you’ve created? :

I was requested to make custom fabric boxes; that was quite a learning curve, sewing with really stiff fabric! I broke a few needles during the process.

How did your business get started? :

I started with a small holiday home show and received a great response, then opened an Etsy shop. Now Sweetstitch is currently in 8 shops: locally, you can find us at Flock Boutique, Workshop, and Adorit.

What warms your heart? :

I love seeing my daughter now create and craft and continue the tradition...she is so eager to learn! It's quite heartwarming and makes me smile.

If you're married/in a long term relationship: what's your tip for a happy romance?:

Have a sense of humour and don't sweat the small stuff…life is too short!

THE NEST’S FIRST GIVEAWAY:

Sweetstitch has been wonderful enough to donate one of her fabulous zipper pouches (with owls, to honor our pursuit of retro forest animal housewares) and two pin cushions so that we can run a giveaway this month. This beautiful pouch and pincushions can be yours…just follow these simple steps and we’ll draw randomly from the entries:

One entry—Facebook: Simply ‘like’ our Facebook page, then write on our wall (all the red writing): I want the sweetstitch pouch! (If you already 'like' us, just post the message on our wall!)

Bonus entry—Twitter: ‘Follow’us on twitter, if you haven’t already, and then post the following tweet (all the red writing): I follow @projectpricelss and you should follow them, too: http://ow.ly/8O3Jx ! (If you already follow us, just post the tweet!)

Good Karma points: To keep in touch with Sweetstitch, we invite you to ‘Like’ them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter!

The draw will take place on February 28, 2012, and the winner will be notified hopefully the same day. If the winner doesn't claim their prize within 24 hrs, we will re-draw.

Thanks for introducing yourself, Sue of Sweetstitch! It's a pleasure to meet you and your craft!

Turning 30: Jordan's Month of Me Part 1

2012-01-30T12:08:00.000-05:00

I’m turning 30 in less than 30 days. I decided a while back that the best way to ring in this major milestone was to follow in the footsteps of blogger Julie (of Coffee with Julie) by having a “Month of Me”. Julie took a month for herself and indulged in self-affirming activities for thirty days…my month has accidentally become protracted somewhat, however, and has really turned into “Six Weeks of Me”, but that doesn’t sound as good so we’ll call it a month.

WHAT IS A 'MONTH OF ME'?

What is my Month of Me? It’s the month where I treat myself with all the care, love, respect, and fun that I…well, that I should have been showing myself for the past thirty years more consistently. It’s my month to reaffirm that I deserve attention, love, generosity, and indulgence—from myself, not relying on anyone else’s affections or attentions. It’s a reminder that everything I need is already inside. I am my own best friend. (Now let’s see if I can learn to actually live like that.)

MONTH OF ME: PART I

The month began this past weekend, with our housewarming party. Well, ‘party’ may be a big word for a small gathering of, in the end, six people. We’d had a number of last-minute cancellations, which at first saddened me until I remembered that Brian likes big crowds, not me—so really, this was happier for me anyway. As the evening progressed, our family and friends engaged in conversation about everything from deer hunting to the Celestine Prophecy; I took a moment and just drank in the happiness. I think it’s a good sign when you can bring friends together who don’t know each other, and all of them like each other right away. It makes me feel like we’re on the right track. And coincidentally (or not), the people that came were ones that have been recently playing some important roles in our lives as confidantes, playmates, and spiritual comrades. So: house is officially warmed.

I also took a job offer for a new full time job that will replace both my part-time jobs. This wasn’t technically part of the Month of Me plan, but it worked out and allowed me to justify buying some new work clothes. I’ve worked for ten years with youth, so my wardrobe had narrowed down to include three pairs of jeans and a slew of printed tees. While I love clothes and fashion, the teens I work with feel I’m more approachable in casual digs, and I haven’t protested because I love being comfortable. But my goal is to rediscover my personal ‘brand’ and have it combine a professional image with my Pearl Jam-loving-gypsy-ragamuffin-rocker clothing personality. More on this later.

I was also supposed to go for a pedicure, but I spent my pennies on a lip waxing instead. I could go into great detail explaining, but suffice it to say, age brings more hair...and when the wax girl apologized for taking so long, explaining, "You just have so much hair!" I knew I'd made the right choice. Few people see my feet, but a lot of people would notice crumbs stuck in my mo.

WHAT'S NEXT IN THE MONTH OF ME:

The rest of the month is still being scheduled, but the plans so far include:

-high tea at the Tea Party with Mom

-a late Christmas dinner with my cousin (and former bridesmaid) Suzie

-a felting workshop with Annie Bananie

-a craft tweetup mid-month (I’ve never done this before and I’m STOKED)

-dinner at a Mexican restaurant for which I have a Groupon

-getting my hair cut

-using our prize for ARC the hotel: we won a 2-night stay last year and are going to use it

-sushi

-a special piece of jewellery for myself from Magpie (more on this later)

-dinner and a comedy club with my parents

-dinner and a movie with my friends

I feel funny looking at that list. Normally in a given year, I might do that list of things over the course of 12 months, not 45 days. But, where hitting thirty years may be an indicator to some people to slow down and start taking responsibilities more seriously, etc etc etc, I am the opposite. I lived a very austere, serious, and self-sacrificing first three decades, and I’ve promised myself more fun, self-care, and fancy-free time from here-on out. I mean, of course I still check to make sure that we have the resources to support these things…I’m not flying out to Cuba tomorrow for a month or anything…but I am committed to learning how to give myself a dose of the love and generosity that I have always been so willing to give to others.

So if you hear me justifying and rationalizing and defending my Month of Me, please comment and tell me to stop it. I will try not to rebut with equally defensive replies. And if you have suggestions of more things to do, comment below, or email or tweet! I should note, however, that all demands of bungee jumping or skydiving will be ignored. I’m thirty, not twenty-one.

Reflections on marriage: guest post reshared.

2012-01-27T08:21:00.000-05:00

Photos by Adam Pap.

Fridays with Bri is postponed this week, as Brian is otherwise occupied with a truck full of sleazy body pillows. That sounds worse than it is; he’s helping out our friend with a convention, and…well, I wasn’t lying about what was in the truck. Anyway, it worked out quite well, as there was a post I wanted to share and this turns out to be a great day for it.

I wrote a guest post for Wedding Republic’s blog this month, and it was up in two parts, for those who follow our tweets and got to see it. But I know that many of you didn’t, or might have only caught one half of it—which makes my inner author cry out in pain. I wrote this post far more candidly than I usually feel free to do, and I think the end result is pretty phenomenal. When I read it to Brian to proofread, we both got teary-eyed and started cuddling in Starbucks like a pair of teenagers. In any case, here is the post, whole and unabridged.

So…we’re married. We had a ten month engagement; we planned a fantastical free wedding (see our first blog) in that time, then had the party, and after a week of hanging around town on vacation, we began our new life as a married couple. After the new pots were put away, the dress was stowed, and the decorations donated to the next frugal bride, we were left with what we started with: each other. And more blogging, of course.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...

Does your relationship change after the big day? I think it does, though I’d argue that it changes slowly over the course of your engagement. Maybe the change is more apparent when one has a shorter engagement, like Brian and I did—I imagine the experience is different for some of you out there who are planning weddings 2-3 years into the future. But I could feel the change not too long after Brian popped the question…it was a subtle shift from being two entities, tied together by time spent in mutual activity, to becoming two entities, tied together by…well, everything.

We had a health scare last March, and Brian ended up in the hospital. That was probably the first time I realized that, as our engagement moved along, we were becoming two halves of one whole. Holding my sweetie’s hand as the doctors drugged him into oblivion, I found myself picturing the horror of going home to our apartment, alone, to a place that was supposed to be ours. Thank the heavens, Brian got better, but a few days after this ordeal I called one of my best friends and blurted out that I was calling off the engagement. Patiently, she asked me why, and I said that this was too hard; I hadn’t expected to feel like my life would end if my partner’s did. I told her I wanted to call it off because I didn’t want to face the sorrow of ever losing him. My friend, a long-time married woman herself, laughed and pointed out that I would effectively then be losing him right now. I could see her logic, and reluctantly agreed to carry onward with the wedding, eventually laughing at my own panicked reaction. But it was a significant moment, realizing that going home without Brian would be like going home without half of my self.

THE LITTLE THINGS...

That’s a pretty intense example of how marriage—and the journey of engagement—changes a relationship. There were more subtle moments, too, like the very last time we fought about leaving clothes around on the floor. I had been fighting with Brian about this for months, in particular because I was tired of discovering entire beaver dams of smelly socks tucked behind end tables and under the sofa. I found myself always saying that I couldn’t see how we could move forward with this marriage business if we couldn’t even get the sock squirrelling under control. Time and again, I heard myself threatening to break things off if these types of issues didn’t improve, because, “I wasn’t ready to stand before an officiant and swear to forever follow you around picking up your socks.” But that last time we argued about it, something shifted slightly and I had a new idea. I was on my handsfree mobile, driving home from work, as I chewed Brian out for the sock nest I had one again found behind the bathroom door in the morning, and I was about to warn him again about calling the whole wedding off…when I realized what I was going to say instead. “Brian, I’m not going to leave you if you leave your laundry around,” I said. “You’re not?” he asked, suspicious. “No,” I said. “I’m going to marry you like I said I would. And then I’m going to be with you forever. Forever, Brian. And you know what that means? It means that I will be there, every day of your life, nagging you to insanity about those socks. I will be there forever to drive you crazy. And I will never, ever leave.” There was dead silence from Brian, an eventual meek, “Okay,” and we haven’t had a sock nest since.

A DEAL'S A DEAL (IT SAID SO ON OUR CAKE)

Now that we’ve been married for a few months, there are more subtle changes I’ve been able to observe. First off, arguments are entirely different. I find we’re both more passionate about them, because we’re establishing the interpersonal boundaries that will exist between us for a lifetime. When you’re dating someone and haven’t made that ultimate commitment yet, you may fight pretty hard, but some part of you knows you can walk out any time you want to…whereas once you’re married, the idea of divorce—with its expenses, legalities, stigmas, and alimony payments—means that you’re going to stick to your guns and demand that you get to keep (and display) your limited edition 300 Immortals mask, even if the resultant fight means you sleep on the couch for a week. (Note: it is Brian who owns a creepy mask collection, not me.)

That same fear of expenses, legalities, and stigmas will sometimes be the only thing that stops you from strangling your spouse and throwing the hideous masks out the window.

WHEN YOU START PEEING WITH THE DOOR OPEN

There’s a deeper intimacy that comes with marriage, too, though. I think we were married about a week before we started peeing while the other person brushed their teeth. This is something I swore I would never do, but Brian likes to groom in the mirror and my bladder likes to go precisely when it wants to. For the first month, I insisted he run the water while I go; I have since then stopped worrying about it. It’s funny this was a concern in the first place, as we have already both nursed each other through stomach flus that were ‘cathartic at both ends’, to put it lightly…but peeing in front of each other was on a different level. Shortly after I took the plunge, Brian decided he’d do it, too; he undid his fly, started his business, and had to shove me out of the room with his free hand because I began nervously giggling. I’m over it now, but I think he took my tittering a little personally, as he gives me the evil eye if I so much as smile when he lifts up the toilet seat.

Every day seems to bring new matrimonial adventures. Amalgamating our student loans onto one credit line nearly made me puke, because this was the first time I would ever have shared finances with another human being, let alone with a man can’t even remember to brush his teeth before bed. I’ve discovered some of his less cutesy habits, like his uncanny knack to produce toxic flatulence at the worse times…like when I’m trying to sniff a questionable sock, or just as my boss walks over. Some of the infatuation magic now gone, I also get to observe with more candour some of his behaviours; for instance, watching Bri struggle with sweaty nether regions makes me glad I don’t have the type he does, and also makes me wonder why we women mate with those who do have them. I’m certain that Brian has seen beyond the infatuation magic, as well, and has even recently mentioned that he thinks it’s pretty crazy when I brush my teeth in the shower.

THE FOREVER FRIEND

There are other moments, too, that are definitively ‘married’. One I like is when Brian walks me down to the bathroom at night after we’ve watched a scary movie, and I know that for the rest of our lives, I will have someone to keep the zombies away. Or when he disappears to his computer for a while, and I find him surfing through the real estate sites looking for a house that matches my dream wishlist. When he knows just how to make the perfect cucumber sandwich, and when we can bemoan a bad batch of Kraft Dinner, but promise we’ll get it right the next time. The key part there: “the next time”. When you’ve made your vows, you can always say “next time”. We will talk it out better next time. We will compromise on that next time. We will go there next time. We will forget about it next time. Because that person is sticking around, so you can do it better/faster/smarter/right the next time. It’s one never-ending work in progress, this relationship.

And then there are the perfect, naturally perfect moments that are yours, together, forever. My favourite: nuzzling into the crook of Brian’s armpit at night, legs layered over each other’s like Jenga pieces, my hand on his chest, his breath on my head. Knowing that he will hold me like that, every night without fail…it fills me with a peace and gratitude I have never known before.

It definitely makes up for the socks.

The homemade granola brick failure: it's hard to be a hippy.

2012-01-25T03:15:00.000-05:00

Sunday afternoon, we decided to try making homemade granola bars at my parents’ house. I found this recipe, adapted from another recipe, by the very funny author of Meats, Roots, and Leaves—a food blog. I encourage you to read his post, as it’s very witty in a very short number of words. And somehow, because the post was short, and he was relateable, I got it in my head that I could pull off this recipe.

THE PREPARATION

We followed the instructions carefully. In a moment of brilliance at Bulk Barn, when we were buying our ingredients, I grabbed a measuring cup off the rack of ones for sale, and measured each thing as we went so we wouldn’t have too much or too little. As big granola bar munchers, we were curious to see how the price compared for homemade vs. store-bought. Our only difficulty was in measuring the honey: it was sold by weight (grams) but the recipe measured it in volume (cups). I Googled the rough conversion on my smartphone, and bought what appeared to be just enough or slightly more than needed.

Berry and chocolate chip mix.

At my parents’ house, my mom was excited to try the recipe, as she’s really into oats. I don’t know if she realizes this yet, but when oats are involved, she’s right on board. I read the recipe out to everyone, and Mom and Brian carefully measured out each amount into two separate mixing bowls. We could have done a simple combined double-batch, but Brian insisted we put white chocolate chips in ours, and Mom only wanted fruit. I figured a handful of chips wasn’t a big compromise: if Brian is eating a bar made of whole foods and healthy sugar levels, I’m okay with him adding a little cheat into the mix, though it did feel like we’d sort of ruined the whole point of making these things homemade. Ah, well.

We started off baking the oats, sunflower seeds, and almonds in our two CorningWare baking thingies, stirring every 3 minutes. I thought this seemed redundant, but later when we tasted our final product, it was totally worth it. We also used Mexican vanilla; we learned about this vanilla when we travelled to Mexico one time, and it is now something we ask friends to bring back for us. It has a rich, almost creamy flavour and makes everything ten times yummier. I don’t know if it technically matters, but the brand we get is Los Cinco Soles.

THE BAKING

Anyway, after melting the honey/butter/sugar mixture on the stove top, pouring it over the dry mixture, and mixing it all together, we baked the trays for the suggested 25 minutes. Mom and I then tried to sample our wares but found that they were crumbling into granola flakes; this is when Brian found us, swatted our hands, and said that the directions clearly stated the bars must cool. Unfortunately, between the honey and the density, the bars were still warm after dinner, and we ended up taking home our tray to cool in the fridge overnight.

THE SURPRISING END RESULT

And how did they turn out? Well, let me tell you. I woke up the next morning briefly, when Brian got out of bed at 6am for school…I get to sleep in ‘til 7:00. I usually rouse just enough to notice he’s getting up, then roll back over for another hour of dead-to-the-world sleep. This morning, however, was going to play out a little differently. A few minutes after Brian headed downstairs, I heard a strange scraping sound, which I assessed as being the sound of someone scraping the ice off a windshield; I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. But the sound kept up, scriss, scriss, scriss, making it impossible to doze. I lay there, half under, not sure what to do, until the sound changed to scrack! Scrack! Scrack!, like the sound of someone whacking something brittle. “Brian?” I called, “What are you doing???” “I’m trying to cut the granola bars!” he hollered. “Give it up!” I said, and he grumbled but stopped his hacking. A few minutes later, after he’d left and I heard the door lock, I closed my eyes for my last 45 minutes of sleep, only to hear our pug Mr Darcy downstairs, licking furiously at something.

When Mr Darcy licks—which he does constantly, licking the air, the floor, his nose, or his feet; or if you’re lucky, after picking his ears with his back paw, you may catch him sniffing his earwaxy toenails like a connoisseur before licking each one clean—he licks long, hard, and loud. Usually if I yell at him, he snaps out of it, looking startled and nonplussed; but this morning, he refused to stop. Forty-five minutes of incessant licking later, with no extra sleep for me, I climbed out of bed and headed downstairs. What I found explained everything. There was the hacked-at dish of granola bars: Brian had made a valiant effort to saw through the mess, but had succeeded only in dislodging chips and small layers of the concoction, most of which went spraying across the kitchen. Naturally, this is what had kept Darcy busy all morning: he had been meticulously and joyously licking up each and every oat, almond, and sunflower seed off the floor.

At least I didn’t have to sweep, though mopping up the pug drool seemed a non-negotiable.

Mom: always cleans up ASAP.

We’ve been eating the ‘bars’ as chips and chunks, or like this morning, when I poured a handful of the loosened flakes over my yogurt and blueberries. It’s still a filling, tasty snack, regardless of whether you can carry it in your hand or must employ a sandwich baggie when travelling. The tray would have yielded about 20 bars, and we made 2 trays…so that’s 40 bars for $23.00. If we were buying the premade bars of equal nutritional value, 40 of them would have cost us about 35.00, so there’s a savings there, no doubt paid for in time. (Certainly, I would have paid someone the extra $12.00 to reclaim my hour of morning sleep.) But what can’t be beat is the incredibly delicious flavour. I really don’t like the majority of granola bars on the market, but this stuff we made tastes like really crunchy blueberry crumble.

Mom and me!

I had to laugh, however, when my mom texted me the following day and said, “Did you manage to cut up your squares?” When I wrote back no, she ‘LOL’d and pointed out that homemade granola was still a tasty treat. I’m not sure what exactly we did wrong; I suspect my honey measurements were wrong and we needed way more, or we should have greased the pans better, or perhaps Mom’s oven, a notorious over-cooker, just was too hot. My best friend MJ recommended we line the tray with waxed paper next time, but I pointed out that that only would have allowed us to remove the entire brick in one motion, providing us, in the end, with nothing better than a home protection device with which to brain an intruder.

It was a good recipe, but I feel we’ve failed at becoming new-age hippies. Which is too bad, because I really want dreadlocks.

Turning 30: What the hell does it mean?

2012-01-22T22:24:00.000-05:00

I’m turning 30. It’s pretty overwhelming, moving from one rite of passage (marriage) to another (getting old). Of course, I’m exaggerating for effect here, but only just a tad.

Is this the face of '30'?

Turning 30 is a big deal. Thanks to our infantilization of young adults, turning 20 doesn’t seem to mean a thing anymore, nor does turning 18—an age which our culture used to imbue with so much special meaning. Because we are now delaying leaving the nest by several years compared to the generation before us, there’s no clear transition from child to adult at the turn of our second decade. But 30 has maintained its clout and it stalks the 20-somethings like a sort of leaves-you-living Grim Reaper.

WHAT'S IN A LABEL?

The truth is, I am finding myself the owner of a number of new labels, none of which mean a damn thing to me, but all of which mean a ton to the people around me. Last week at the start of a meeting with some major stakeholders at work, I mentioned I was recently married. This is a group of people who usually see my youthful face and my tattoo peeking out of my sleeve, and spend the next two hours doubting everything I tell them because I’m ‘so young’. (Note, for those who don’t know my appearance: I still get carded to get into Quebec bars, where the drinking age is 18.) But at the mention of my marital status, I could see their eyes retracing my face, trying to re-establish their first impression of me. Surely she can’t be older than 25, their eyes say; when I tell them how long I’ve been in the field, they squint at me again, realizing there’s just no way I was working professionally at age 15.

Does this constitute 30 yr-old behaviour?

THIRTY, PERSONIFIED

And now I’ve got a new label to add to my repertoire: thirty. It is truly the end of my youth, and you cannot argue with me on this one: even the government of Canada has capped the word ‘youth’ to apply to people 29 and under. At 30, my read is that I’m expected to have my sh*t together, and I should be on some sort of clear and established path. A successful 30 year-old, in my mind’s eye, has found her ideal hairdresser. She wears business attire to work that manages to appear professional while still being current and accentuate her figure. She wears understated pumps, has thrown out her last pair of novelty tights, and has discovered her own personal perfect shade of ‘nude’ pantyhose. She attends a fitness class two or three times a week, aside from her strict running schedule, and she drives a sensible car that is well-maintained. She and her mother meet up for lunch once a month, and she sees her father about as often, when she and her spouse stop by for a Sunday dinner. She has a pet befitting her work schedule—a work schedule that she knows she can only maintain for another couple of years, but she pushes her way through it so she can accomplish her goal of reaching upper management by 35. She knows the right kind of cleaner to use for every surface in her house (which is an adorable starter house in a neighbourhood that borders the city and the suburbs). She wears matching bra and panty sets, ones with satin and lace. She drinks white wine at dinners and martinis on holidays, and she has regularly scheduled Girls’ Nights at a trendy local lounge. She sleeps seven perfect hours a night, and supplements with wheatgrass.

Oh my god. I think Sex & the City has damaged my brain.

THE NAKED TRUTH: 30 WEARS PRINTED COTTON PANTIES.

'30' would never be this undignified. (Apple stuck in teeth.)

The reality is, I’m a month away from 30, and this is my life: I do not have my sh*t together. I’ve just realized that my education-designated profession isn’t fulfilling me, and I’m doing a 180, aspiring to be a social media/marketing/PR pro full-time. I found my ideal hairdresser, but she’s on mat leave and after another stylist mucked my hair up, I recently tried to fix it myself with devastating consequences. I hate business clothes and find that I’m attracted to a clothing style I’d best label as ‘ragamuffin’. I don’t wear pumps because I like to walk fast, so ballet flats or motorcycle boots it is. I cut up my one and only pair of pantyhose to make a piecemeal pair of compression shorts when I found my thighs were rubbing together in the summer. I do work out a lot, but I think I’m flunking out of pole dancing because, turns out, I’m terrified of heights, and eventually you’ve got to start hanging upside-down off the pole…and anyway, pole dancing isn’t what that ideal 30 year-old woman would be doing. I also hate running.

My car was made the year I graduated high school, and if a CSI team ever found it, they’d be able to determine my personal eating habits for the previous 30 days based on all the wrappers and chopsticks under the seats. My mother and I have never had a lunch date, partially because my job makes me work over the lunch hour, and partially because she already sees me at least once a week, when I stop by, overwhelmed with life and needing advice. My dad and I are the same story. I take Brian there for dinner often so he can have a properly cooked square meal.

I do have a pet befitting my work schedule, but once my tumorous, narcoleptic pug dog finally passes on, I am adamant that I want a border collie…one of the most active dogs you can buy. My work schedule is, I grant you, intense, but I already hate it and I don’t want to keep it up for another five years. Oh, and my crazy work schedule doesn’t promise any promotion is coming up, either.

10 secs after this shot, I got hit on by a teenager. I look young.

I don’t know what kind of cleaner to use on each surface; in fact, if a reader could please direct me to a food-safe counter cleaner, I’d be much obliged. My starter home is several years away still, and our starter apartment lists disturbingly to the left. My bras and panties never match, and in fact, most of my underwear has whales, flowers, or plaid printed on them. I can’t drink white wine, and martinis are gross, and I don’t know when I’d ever choose to spend a night at a lounge instead of spending it on the couch with a box of Jr Mints and reruns of 30 Rock.

I sleep past my alarm every single morning. And I barely remember to eat vegetables, nevermind remembering that wheatgrass is even a thing.

'30' doesn't use her face as a brake in snowboarding.

Okay, so I admit, my image of ‘30’ may be a bit extreme; but I’m relatively certain that the average person’s image of a 30 year-old woman isn’t me, wearing my ‘PUGS, NOT DRUGS’ tee shirt, roller skating to the Candy Store to stock up on licorice pipes (the admission price for advice from my dad). I have no idea how to be 30, and I don’t really want to say that there’s no difference between this year and the last. I’m ready to move forward into adulthood; I just don’t know how to do it.

What I do know for sure is that I’m not really ready to give up my whale-print undies.

To Be Continued….

Author's note: this post has inspired some other lovely bloggers to talk about their own experience with turning 30; read Lara Wellman's post here, and Amy Boughner's post here. Enjoy!

Fridays with Bri - 5 tips for guys

2012-01-20T15:32:00.000-05:00

5 THINGS FOR THE NEWLYWED MAN

I have learned some things now since being married and I wanted to share these with all of you out there, they are simple things you can do when your married or dating that will make your life so much easier... trust me:

Pick up your socks and underwear, don’t leave them in little piles squirreled away all over the house. By doing this simple thing it can make all the difference; as a man we are able to live in a bachelor apartment where the bed is a mattress placed on top of beer cases and all there is for a kitchen is a tap and a hot plate and one pot. Our wives and girlfriends are much more evolved life-forms, so by taking steps to keep their nest clean it means so many less fights and it really means less cleaning on the weekends.
Be open to their way of doing things. As both halves of a partnership you need to adapt and try things their way. This was the hardest thing I had to do; you get set in your ways of doing things and you need to be ready to change, especially because all of your decisions affect the other person now. If you are going to be out late call home so your wife doesn’t worry, if you want to make plans for the weekend, talk it over: maybe there is something more important or already planned that you need to do.
Never take your partner for granted. When you love someone so much it is very important that you appreciate them. There is a lot of give-and-take in a marriage and it is very important to say thank you, and let your partner know that you appreciate them and everything they do. This is especially important when I notice amazing things around the house, but I have basically just started to say thank you every time I see her because I know that I am thankful every day I come home and see her, and there are so many things in a day that go unnoticed but that really make our lives better. With that, be ready to do things to support her too.

Spend time together. It is one of the simplest things to do but always seems to be the hardest to achieve. Everyone has busy lives and they aren’t always going to line up, but by making sure that you spend time with you partner, everything on the home front will be so much happier. Yes, this means giving up going to the game with the guys; maybe instead take her out to a restaurant and sit where you can glance over every couple minutes to check on the score, or sacrifice it all together that one night. It means you're more likely to get the freedom to see the “big game” in the future.
Communication is the key. Men and women communicate differently and this can be one of the most important things to learn. When a woman talks to you, try “active listening”; this will save your marriage. When your wife wants to vent, do not under any circumstance judge her...she wants you to be there to listen. That’s it, don’t give advice, and don’t try to fix it--unless she specifically asks you to. Women process emotions differently than men. Men get angry, punch the guy, then buy him a beer. We are much simpler…whereas women are all about playing mind games, seeing all sides, over-thinking every point, needing to talk it out, while being emotionally-driven the whole time. These are just facts and when you can learn to accept it, then listen actively, you’ll be the one who she runs to to be listened to.

Now, there is one last piece of advice I can give you: every person is different. What works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another and that is what you need to accept during your first year of marriage. The first year is the exciting time and certainly has been the hardest time of our relationship, so taking these steps to make things work are seriously the best things you can ever do.

Update: on newlywed bliss and feathering the nest

2012-01-16T08:44:00.000-05:00


Old tenants used this room as a messy dining room; we're making it a living room.

We’ve been in our new place for six weeks now. Believe it or not, I think we’ll be throwing the last cardboard box out this Monday. Despite the grander size of the new place (or at least, it feels bigger because it’s two storeys of a real old house in Hintonburg), it took a long time to find homes for everything. I am typically unpacked from a move within two weeks, but it just wasn’t possible this time; because the new place is laid out so very differently from the old place, it wasn’t the usual simple matter of unloading a ‘living room’ box into the new living room. Each item had to find a proper home, sometimes in odd locations—my bakeware is in the living room closet, for example—and many ‘homes’ had to be built or rigged.

Old tenants left holes and chipped paint.

Brian really took the lead and shone as my housewarming hero by putting up a pot rack, new shelves in the bathroom, and various other hardware/hardwired things involving screws, nails, and levels. This freed me up to focus on layout, organization, and style, and consequently, we’ll be settling into our new digs, box-free, with about 50% of our decorating vision already realized. Without Brian, I wouldn’t have made it this far, I can tell you. As the various troubles we inherited came to light over the first week (holes in walls and ceilings, crooked floors, no heat, etc), I would find myself despairing, but Brian would be there in a flash, with a hammer and drill, distracting me with more spacial planning details. Thank god for Brian, or I would probably be sleeping on a pile of dirty laundry surrounded by boxes, whimpering quietly.

We patched and painted...looking good!

It’s taken me six weeks to realize that Brian is best left to these ‘broad stroke’ type of tasks, and that it’s self-defeating of me to put him on small detail duty. Yesterday I stuck him in the dining room and told him to sort through and stash a bunch of computer cables, a socket set, and a tangle of extension cords. I came back two hours later to find he’d wandered off after sort of nudging the piles around the floor. I realized that these last finishing touches will be my sole responsibility, even though it inevitably means that Brian will one day go looking for those computer parts and will be pissy when they aren’t where he left them…yes, in the middle of the dining room floor.

BEFORE shot: Old tenant's junk room (above) is becoming my office.

But it’s important, I’ve found, to establish what your teammate is good at, and then just let them be good at those things. For example, if Brian had met me, dated me, and then upon marrying me, had demanded I become skilled at geometry, we would have had quite the fight. I can no more measure an equilateral triangle than I can perform my own dental work, and the same is true of Brian and little details. He is a big picture fellow, and the sooner I embrace that, the better we will both feel. This is easier in word than deed, of course; naturally, I am weary of labelling storage boxes and arranging knickknacks, but I am more weary of harping at Brian for not doing these things well himself.

New Years - nice to get out, finally!

In the interest of full disclosure, I can tell you this is not quite what I’d thought that our ‘honeymoon period’ would look like. Currently, I’m working about fifty hours a week, winning the bread that keeps us going as Brian works his butt off back at college, where he (thank the heavens) is enrolled through a government grant for EI recipients. Between Bri’s school, my two jobs, blogging, volunteer work, and unpacking the house, we’ve been stressed out and not really enjoying each other’s company very much. My television upbringing tells me that the first year of marriage should start off with me as homemaker in a circle dress, baking casseroles and welcoming Brian home, his skinny tie and briefcase indicating his status as a young executive climbing the ladder. At night, we should light candles to eat by, then go out dancing or at least out for drinks, before curling up in bed together…and the camera fades to black. Wink.

So far, the first five months has started off with me running all over the city with two jobs that have a lot of travel, coming home to a half-time house-husband who is stressed out with studying and way too distracted to do much cooking or cleaning. I come home, throw on his old shirt and PJ pants, and attempt not to burn a tofu stir fry, then we both spend the evening arguing about how we’re going to store a Christmas tree when we’ve already squished all my linens onto a shelf with Brian’s ratchet set. We do fade to black in the evenings…but not with any winking innuendo. I mean, we literally pass out, sometimes still wearing the wrong pyjamas.

Strangely, though, as I write this out, I don’t feel despairing or distressed; I feel kind of like laughing. I think I was, indeed, stressing about all this, until the new year hit and I started making some changes. For one, I’ve started jealously guarding my weekends, committing at least one of the days to fun time. This is crucial, it turns out, because—who knew—we apparently like each other best when we’re having fun. Dating is a funny thing, isn’t it? You invest a couple years spending time with each other, primarily engaged in activities that would be enjoyable almost regardless of the company…and then you settle in with that person and suddenly the majority of your time together is spent on miserable tasks like paying bills, cleaning dishes, or grocery shopping. Play is vital to a happy relationship, and that’s a hard thing for an A-type like myself to remember. Generally, I operate like a sled dog: the harder the work, the better I feel. Well, I’m learning that relationships need a gentler touch, though I still insist we play hard, too.

I digress. The moment just recently that made me laugh a bit about the pitiful state of our honeymoon period hit me while I was finishing up the dining room. For lack of a better space, we’ve put our book shelves in there, and I was admiring the neatly organized books when I noticed the layers of cardboard stuffed under the righthand edges of both structures. It dawned on me that Brian had stuffed about two inches of cardboard under each bookshelf in an effort to straighten them out, because the house is so ridiculously slanted. As I wandered around the apartment, I realized that over half of our paintings and photographs have been weighted on one edge with taped-on pennies and bolts. (It’s an easy trick, just tape them behind the frame, not in front.) Again, this is an attempt to compensate for the crookedness of the leaning house. It dawned on me that everything in the house was jury rigged in these improvised ways; that my lemons-into-lemonade apartment is held together with packing tape and good wishes. For reasons I do not fully understand, this made me sublimely happy. Perhaps because it’s really like a little nest now, made out of spit and branches and mud.

We’re having a small housewarming gathering to kick off my 30^th birthday month in a couple weeks. I think the place will be looking pretty swell by then. As for the two of us, well, I’m okay with the weird turn our newlywed journey’s been taking, but I’m pretty tired of finding upbeat ways of answering the question, “How’s married life?” as it’s posed to me a dozen times a week.

Maybe my answer should be, “Married life, like our nest, is off-kilter, exhausting, and held together with taped-up pennies.” After the circle skirts are stowed away and the casserole’s been eaten, isn’t that the bones of marriage, anyway? I shall strive to embrace my slanty little nest and my modern mishmashed marriage; it’s a little off-beat, but I think I like it.

Fridays with Bri: climbing at Vertical Reality

2012-01-13T16:10:00.000-05:00

Spider monkey in the light

FRI WITH BRI: ROCK CLIMBING FOR TOTAL WELLNESS

Fun, challenging, active, a little bit dangerous, and scary. When I am looking for an activity to do, I am always trying to fill most of these criteria and so far the one I've found that fulfills them all is rock climbing. Vertical Reality Climbing Gym has given me an outlet for this sport where I am able to take out my frustrations, problem solve, and stay active; it also allows me to get my heart pumping if I take a fall...

Taking a break on the wall

My rock climbing career started about 4 years ago. I must disclose that so far I have only climbed indoors, and when I say 'career' I mean that I attempt to go once a week with incidental long periods of no climbing at all. However, when I first walked into Vertical Reality on a whim four years ago and looked at the amazing setup at this gym, it was impressive. The friendly staff and the people climbing there were really encouraging...I've found the climbing community to be a friendly bunch. I have made a point this year to stick with my goal of climbing once a week. This sport has given me a way of relaxing and fully putting myself to the test, physically and mentally. And best of all, I have an amazing sense of accomplishment when I complete that specially hard route. It doesn’t take long to start to feel the effects: since DecmeberI have started to feel physically better and I have been thinking more clearly.

AN INTRO TO CLIMBING:

nice heel hook

There is basically two types of climbing: indoors and outdoors. I am focusing on the indoor aspect for my personal practice. While at the rock climbing gym, there is typically three types of climbing you can do: top rope, lead, and bouldering. Top rope is characterized by a rope tied to the top of the wall, and you follow the artificial route of manmade handholds while your partner holds the rope for you from the ground. In lead climbing you are 'leading' your rope up the wall, so you have to reach between your legs and pull the rope up to clips as you go; there's a rope down to your partner for safety, but really you're relying on fastening yourself to clips attached to the wall every few feet. And lastly, bouldering is done in a bouldering cave: indoors, this is a manmade cave with manmade holds laid out in routes marked with coloured tape. There's tons of padding on the ground, so when you fall you’ll land safely. This type of climbing has no safety rope, but you're never more than about ten feet off the ground. Bouldering can also be done outdoors, in caves or on the faces of rock bluffs.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

My typical trip to the gym is for a bouldering session; it requires the least amount of equipment, just a pair climbing shoes (and usually a chalk bag), and you don’t need a partner. You can even rent the shoes right at the gym. The climbing session is usually an hour or two, and I love it. The focus on detail challenges me mentally; the strength it takes to lift yourself off the ground at weird angles challenges you physically; and your flexibility is put to the test as you twist and turn your body to reach that next hold. Most people have gone to a regular gym, but this type of workout is so dynamic that it's an incredible change of pace...I find it similar to yoga, and almost meditative. The video bellow shows how the movements flow together, The routes are laid out using tape, so look for the orange tape as I climb, though many new climbers ignore the marked routes and just grab anywhere they can. In the vid, I climbed back down the route just so I didn't have to jump down, but usually I'd pull myself up onto the top ledge.

CLIMBING WITH MY PARTNER

Jordan frogging it up

Another great thing has happened in my climbing career: Jordan has started to climb with me. This has been a lot of fun. I getting to spend extra time with her; she gets some really great cross training for her pole dancing. She also gets to see me show off my muscles, which distracts her as she works through her fear of heights. This is a really fantastic part of climbing, especially in indoor climbing, because you can choose your landing and the height that you climb. Jordan has been improving very quickly, going from a mewling cat stuck 2 feet up a tree, to an amazing tree frog (that still goes no more than 4 feet off the ground, choosing to just climbing horizontally around the cave). These challenges and steps are the most amazing part of climbing and I know in a couple more months, after she takes her first big fall, she’ll be my amazing little spider monkey.

Vertical Reality

When you decide to go climbing be warned you will fall, and as long as you follow all the safety rules you will not get hurt. Come a check out the Vertical Reality gym; on your first visit, you’ll get a safety lesson and all the gear you need to be safe. If you already climb, check out the Vertical Reality Climbing gym and say hi when you see me there; I’d love to work on climbing with you.

I look forward to meeting you on the rock…

A video of me falling from about 10 feet

Better in an hour: framed greeting cards!

2012-01-11T21:50:00.000-05:00

FRAMED GREETING CARDS: THE CHEAP, EASY, AND SCRAPBOOKY WAY.

I wasn’t expecting to do another of these posts so soon, but I shouldn’t really have been surprised: with a hectic work week schedule, plus all the extracurricular activities that Brian and I get up to, it makes sense that many of our home makeover projects would take an hour or less to finish. The lengthier ones are coming, I know…but for now, these little projects make me feel like we’re getting somewhere with our new place.

Today, I will show you how to make a lovely piece of art out of a greeting card or other small print, without the expense of professional framing. For our project, I used two greeting cards designed by Ottawa’s Mad Mother Designs. We love the Edith Died Laughing series, and have wanted to frame these two adorable cards for a while, but were having the hardest time finding attractive frames of the right size. I had given up for a long time, figuring the right idea would come to me…and it did.

YOU WILL NEED:

-greeting card(s) you want to frame

-cool paper. We used scrapbooking paper left over from our wedding.

-scissors or an Xacto knife

-ruler

-tape

-string

First, I found two mats. These can be expensive, but you can find them in old picture frames; some really cheap, ugly, and even broken frames can provide you with lovely mats. In my case, I had made these two in high school: in grade twelve, I had a teacher who made us make mats for every piece. I hated it, because it’s miserable slow math-heavy work, so that’s why I’m encouraging you to find old mats instead of making your own. If time is money, your time is worth more than all the work it takes to cut a mat. So…I freed my old mats from the high school lino prints they’d been holding. Separating the mats from the prints took 5 minutes.

Paper lined up on the mat.

Next, I went through my stack of cool papers and chose two that had a Victorian feel, to match the greeting cards. When you see scrapbook paper on sale, grab a sheet or two; it’s a simple thing to store neatly away, and if you’re crafting you will, guaranteed, find uses for it. I picked one for each card. This would act as the backdrop to fill in the space around the card that was left empty by the oversized mat. I then cut the paper to be about the size of the mat’s empty middle, plus a minimum of .5” on each side. This is important for easy taping. Cutting the paper took 5 minutes.

Next, I taped the paper in place. This can actually be tricky. You want to be sure that, if there’s a repeating pattern on your paper with vertical and/or horizontal lines in it, they should line up in the frame correctly. If you mount your sheet of paper a little crooked, you will really notice if, like the black paper I used, you have clear light horizontal lines suddenly running slightly on a diagonal. I like to place a small piece of tape on the back of the paper and mat, then flip it over and double check how it looks. Once it looks right, tape all four sides of the paper into the mat. Checking and taping the paper took 5 minutes.

The next step was to prepare the greeting card. These cards have an artfully frayed edge on the opening side, which is a nice design bonus. I used tape to tape the card shut—I don’t want to risk any buckling of the paper by using glue, and while a glue stick won’t cause buckling, it will dry up and eventually stop working. Tape is just best, and I always prefer good ol’ fashioned, nasty sticky super-clear tape. Not that ‘magic tape’ nonsense. Who is it magic for? People who like sandy-textured plasticky unsticky tape, that’s who. I taped the card shut by making tape loops and sticking them inside the card. You are now ready to centre the card (carefully, now!) and tape it down to the scrapbook paper. I used loops of the super-clear tape for this. Taping the cards closed, plus taping the cards to the backdrop, took 5 minutes.

And lastly, we prepare the piece for hanging. Simply, I took some yarn (cut from the fringe of a scarf, as I didn’t want to go find my knitting box), made two fat knots, one in each end. I then tape the string behind the mat, being sure to have the knots either taped, or sticking out the far side of the tape. The knot will help the yarn not slip through the tape and let go. If it keeps slipping, you can tie a toothpick or piece of straw to the end of the string and tape that to the mat instead…anything that adds some grip. Stringing the piece took 3 minutes.

And voila, you are done. You now have a really cool piece of art that you can hang and enjoy. Finally, a greeting card that won’t moulder in your desk drawer. Oh, and best of all: next time you’re at an art gallery or museum and see a cool piece you wish you could own, this is a nifty way to have a small print of it at home. Some of you may be collecting Artist Trading Cards; this may be a lovely way to display your favourites. This entire project took 23 minutes!

One more bonus tip for you: if your piece hangs crooked no matter how many times you adjust it, tape a dime or penny to the edge that’s hanging high. With our crooked apartment, I can tell you that there are various pictures around here that now have bolts, quarters, and buttons taped to their edges. Ah, the joy of old houses. Our bookshelves are also shifted on one side by pieces of moving boxes.

Better in an hour: shelves can be cute!

2012-01-09T14:46:00.000-05:00

BETTER IN AN HOUR: THE KNICKNACK SHELVES ARE FINISHED.

As we work on our nest, I’ve discovered I have finished (or am halfway through) a number of brief projects that don’t quite seem to have enough ‘meat’ to them to make them into a blog post. So I’m starting a series called Better in an Hour. These are projects that take approximately an hour (maybe less, maybe slightly more), but make a huge impact on your living space. Today we will look at the shelves we just put up in the living room.

YOU WILL NEED:

-pieces of wood

-brackets

-screws

-tools

-paint and paintbrush

-glue gun, glue

-ribbon

-an hour, broken up into smaller segments

First, we went out and bought some wood at Home Depot. I find that proper shelves are really expensive, don’t you? And why?! What distinguishes one piece of wood from the next? What distinguishes the shelf from the board? I would argue: nothing does. So because it was the cheapest thing we found in the size we wanted, we bought two pieces of stair case wood. I’m sure it has a fancier name, but if you’re looking for it, that’s where we found it. It’s thick, non-warping plywood, with a paintable veneer on both sides. If you find a nice piece of solid pine or something, great…but with the final step of this project, we’re going to make the plywood look fantastic. Buying the boards took 10 minutes.

We took the boards home, and I painted them with the same paint we were using that day on the bedroom. I like to use house paint (versus art or craft paint) on household things because it holds up better; if you don’t have any lying around, look at the mistinted paints at your local hardware store. You can get a gallon for around six bucks, and there’s often tons of cool colours because people buy it, take it home, and realize no one should paint a whole room that colour. But since you’re going to use it on accents and furniture, it’s a win-win for you. Painting the boards took 10 minutes—doing two coats.

Once the boards dried, I got Brian to mount them on the wall. Mounting shelves is a whole tutorial in itself, but a boring one, so I’ll skip it here. Suffice it to say, watch a youtube video and no—don’t wing it. One tip: remember that if you have two shelves close together, you’ll want to mount their brackets the same way so it looks visually correct. Don’t put two brackets, six inches in, on one shelf, then put three brackets, four inches in, on the other. Get it? Good. Mounting the shelves took 30 minutes.

After Brian finished cursing, swearing, and fighting with the mounting job, I warmed up my glue gun, pulled out some ribbon I had, and began gluing the ribbon around the ugly plywood edge of the shelves. I aligned the edge of the ribbon with the edge of the shelf; because my ribbon is slightly wider than the wood, there’s a bit of a ribbon ‘lip’ on the bottom edge. But this doesn’t matter, because the ribbon is still flush with the top edge of the shelf, so things won’t snag on the ribbon as they’re added or removed from display. Gluing the ribbon took 10 minutes.

Give or take a few minutes for buying the ribbon—but I had bought mine while I was already out shopping—this project took 60 minutes. The result: we have two cute shelves where we can display some of our lovely oddities. The rocks, by the way, are from places I’ve travelled, plus places my friends have travelled. You can call me nerdy, but I say geology rocks. Wink!

Fri with Bri: a Friday drywall repair tutorial, and a scotch pairing.

2012-01-05T18:00:00.001-05:00

This year, Brian will be blogging on most Fridays, about his activities, musings, matrimonial experiences…and his wine, scotch, beer, and tea recommendations. This week, Brian teaches us how to repair holes in drywall, and finishes the weekend off with a fine glass of scotch. Enjoy.

This week I wanted to cover how to repair a hole in the wall… most people have them, lots of people hire someone it fix them but when you move into a new place in December, most people just want to have it fixed fast.

Now, I have to officially recommend that you hire a professional to do all repair jobs for you and we can’t in any way be held responsible for any damage or negative result that may occur through following this tutorial. There, that’s out of the way now.

another hole

I found the holes...

We of course started off by finding the holes and communicating the problem to our landlord; we asked for his permission to complete the work ourselves. When you are renting, this is a very good idea when you move in. Most times by offering to do the work you can get the landlord to cover the costs of the materials, and depending on the size of repair, you may even negotiate for a rent reduction. Sometimes it’s worth it for the landlord to ‘pay’ you a hundred bucks rather than wait weeks on end for a high-priced contractor to come in. It really depends on the repair.

When you are looking at the holes, note for how deep they are, what the wall is made out of, and how big (wide) the holes are. All of these factors with help you to decide what materials to use. Our walls are drywall and paint and the holes were no bigger than a quarter in diameter, so we could use basic drywall compound to fill in the holes.

scraped off paint

peeling paint scraped off

Make sure that if there is any paint chipping off around the hole, that you remove it. I used a putty knife to scrape off the flaking paint which exposed a very large area. This is an iimportant step, because you will otherwise end up with paint that continues to chip and peel, or there may be a visible line where the peeling paint is lifting. Jordan’s dad, Bill, came over to help with this process; we used a large putty knife to spread the drywall compound around and to smooth it out.

Tip: the smoother the surface when the compound is still wet, the less sanding to do when it’s dry.

I then had to start the sanding… ever hear the saying ‘Hindsight is 20/20’? Well, in hindsight I would have worn a mask and probably put a sheet around the area because the dust goes everywhere…. And I was spitting out dry wall dust for about a full day. After the sanding, be sure to get rid of any imperfections, ripples or bumps by running your hand along the surface to check for them. Then vacuum the floor and walls, as this helps to control the dust and makes applying the putty easier the second time. Jordan took a dry dishtowel and wiped at the repair areas to slough off as much of the dust as possible before painting. After applying any final coats of putty to any imperfect areas, sand one more time and then vacuum again when it’s dry.

Taping

Smooth putty

Once the final round of sanding is complete it is ready for paint. The nice thing about asking your landlord to cover the cost means that if they have any leftover paint they may opt to give it to you: we got to use the last of the ceiling paint that was originally used, which made painting the ceiling so much easier. This is the part of the process Jordan hates! She doesn’t enjoy painting big flat walls in single colours, preferring a canvas and free reign to create colourful images; I however love painting walls, and It was so exciting going to the paint store and having them use their computer to match the paint chip we had kept from the scraping process.

Warning: The matched paint is not perfect, so be sure that if you do paint match, you must paint the entire wall—not just a cover up the section you repaired.

For the bedroom, we went with a brighter colour but still in a similar tonal range. The one we chose was Bagel (which Jordan says sounds way less awesome than it is...it's a banana pudding type of creamy yellow). When you are painting the walls it is important to tape all the edges you don’t want painted, to paint the edges of the wall with a paint brush first, and use rollers over all of it. Oh, and move the furniture well out of the way. Be sure that you are spreading the paint evenly. If your paint doesn’t have a built in primer, really consider using a primer to reduce how many coats you need to do. We decided that a built-in primer was the best for our project as time = money, and with the built-in primer paint, we only needed two coats to get our colour right.

Tip: when you hear the roller going wub wub wub wub wub wub as you roll, it means you need more paint.

I recommend doing two coats of the paint on the wall, even if you are using a primer; it ensures that you have proper coverage and there is none of the previous colour coming through the paint. Read the paint to see how soon you can put on the next coat: if you put it on too soon, you risk actually peeling off the still-damp layer!

Once you’ve finished all your coats and they have dried for 24-48 hours, it is now time to remove the tape!!! This is my favourite part. I like trying to make a large tape ball :) The next step is to now tape off the ceiling in the same fashion, if there was any repairs done to the ceiling, and apply a coat of ceiling paint to the area. This step is also helpful for any mistakes that happen because of slipping rollers. Be sure to feather the paint out on the ceiling: it’ll help blend the paint tones together, even though it’s the exact same paint, as time does change the colour of white. Now take off the tape and add it to your tape ball from previous.

Tip: if you make multiple tape balls keep them close or your wife might throw them at you.

Last step is putting furniture back and cleaning up. Not only does this finish the job, but it earns you big brownie points if you do a little extra cleaning in the process.

source: glenfiddich.ca

BRIAN’S SUGGESTED IMBIBING: A SCOTCH RECOMMENDATION

Now reap the rewards of a job well done! I like to pair the reward reaping with a lovely scotch. This project’s scotch pairing was Glenfiddich, 12 years old, which has a beautiful golden colour with a full oaky aroma and a hint of peat; this scotch is nice because I find it has a smooth taste with a nice sweetness and a subtle smoky finish, very good for the beginner scotch Pairs best with a happy wife and a freshly painted room.

Celebrate HER: A call for nominations, and a reminder to pat your own back.

2012-01-05T00:20:00.000-05:00

It’s that time of year again: Self-Recrimination Time. You may better know it as New Year’s Resolution Time, but it’s the same thing. It’s that couple of weeks where we assess our progress as human beings to-date, then set ourselves obscenely lofty goals that, through their implementation, imply our accomplishments thus far are not quite good enough.

Women, especially, are excellent at setting newer, higher, and loftier goals, without taking the time to reflect and celebrate the successes we’ve already achieved. This is a trait that I, for my 30^th year on Earth, am committing to changing within myself: I want to become fantastic at celebrating my endeavours, my wins, and the bruises I get along the journey. I’ve been pondering this goal for a while now, so when I learned about the organization called Celebrate HER, I jumped right on board.

Celebrate HER is a non-profit organization developed to make spaces where women can be recognized and celebrated for their achievements. The idea is to “facilitate greater social responsibility within our community” by honouring the work of women who have risen above and beyond. The org is in its second year, and the team is planning a week-long arts-based fete that will span several neighbourhoods of Ottawa Central, while communicating nationally with women (and supporters of all genders) via social media channels. From March 3^rd to 10^th, there will be art performances, an installation, and a special wrap-up party where women, nominated by the public, will be recognized for their achievements in the fields of arts, business, media, and politics. Funds will be raised throughout the week’s festivities and will be donated to women’s initiatives within the city.

source: myspace

Amanda Cottreau—musician, singer, and songsmith—is the spark that ignited this special project. Amanda herself is an incredible musician: her voice has a childlike quality, soft and vulnerable, while her lyrics and instrumentals tell the story of an old soul. When I met Amanda, I could tell right away that Celebrate HER is her passion. A woman who has overcome adversity, walked a winding path, and found her salvation through music, she truly believes in the message of the organization: honour, empower, and rally women and their supporters.

Last year, Celebrate HER festivities raised over $2500 for women’s programming in the Ottawa area. This year, with more community involvement and an expansion on the number of activities through the week, Amanda hopes that the fundraising increases exponentially. But it all sort of begins with nominations, by the public, of women to be recognized. Celebrate HER relies on your word-of-mouth to let them know about special women in your community. For the purpose of the week’s main events, the focus is on Ottawa-based women’s achievements, but Amanda encourages nominations of women from across the country: they will recognize these national nominations through Facebook, Twitter, and other social mediachannels.

This is where you all come in, and this is where you gently shove those New Year’s resolutions off the table for a moment. Let’s pause briefly, at this poignant time of the year, and reflect on our accomplishments. Never mind the usual measures of achievement…a loss of weight, an increase in income, a lack of dirty socks left around the bedroom…let’s look at ourselves (boys, you can do this, too) and give ourselves some credit. There are many ways to be inspirational, successful, and wonderful. Maybe we rallied our neighbours to petition a local city councillor to clean up a neighbourhood park…or maybe we are marking twenty years as an MPP who has worked to advance the wellbeing of our constituents over those many years. Maybe we started crafting macaroni angels to raise money for a local homeless shelter…or maybe we completed Phase I of our business plan and began franchising our cupcake business in other neighbourhoods. Big or small, many women out there have made a difference in the past year (and perhaps many years previous), and these women not only need to acknowledge their own hard work, but they deserve to be recognized by the people around them. So take some time and consider if you may know a woman that you would like to nominate for recognition by Celebrate HER. When you have someone in mind, email Amanda and her team to find out more about how to nominate.

And for those of us out there who maybe spent the last year pursuing less lofty goals: celebrate yourself, too, girl. I can tell you from personal experience, I absolutely deserve a solid gold Oscar for thriving in a year where my little family suffered job loss, serious illness, a death, and even a condemned, mouldy apartment. No, I didn’t manage to lose my saddle bags, and noooo, I didn’t lead a rally to ensure free milk for every middle school student in Canada…but that’s okay. I got married without becoming homicidal in the process, I managed to survive being the sole breadwinner in the house, and I didn’t cry the last time the dentist put a needle in my mouth. Celebrate your personal victories this January, ladies. Set new goals, but not at the expense of acknowledging your successes to-date. And if you do know someone who has achieved something pretty fantastic, nominate her for Celebrate HER recognition this month. Chances are, she sees her victories as commonplace as you see your own; sometimes, we need a reminder from the people around us that our achievements were recognized, valuable, and valued.

I and my husband, Brian, will be blogging about the Celebrate HER festivities from the NEST, as we have the incredible honour of being the official bloggers of Celebrate HER 2012. I wanna see nominations for women from all of you! And if you want, send me an email about your own achievements this past year, even if they’re tiny. I promise I’ll write you back and genuinely give you a virtual back-pat.

Let your New Year’s resolution this year be a simple one: celebrate yourself. Celebrate each other.

The Project: Priceless Craft Tour, PART 2: supporting indie artisans by behaving like groupies.

2012-01-01T17:09:00.000-05:00

This is part 2 of our Christmas 2011 season Craft Tour. We attended about a dozen shows in the Ottawa area, and have reviewed them over two blog entries. This is part 2 of 2. At the end of these reviews, we've posted some advice for crafters and shoppers alike. This tour was absolutely exhausting, even for two craft fiends. We hope the info in part 1 and part 2 will help you connect more effectively with Ottawa's craft shows, while helping you to narrow down the ones that might most interest you.

And so, on with the reviews....

THE IDLE HANDS CRAFT SHOW—NOV 26^TH, 2011

UNIQUE PART: A lot of craft in a small space. This tiny show seems to pack more handmade into a single room than any other show of the season. Here’s the Idle Hands blog.

VENUE: St Luke’s Anglican Church on Somerset. It’s lovely church, and it’s a treat to visit it, but the consensus from these seasoned craft show groupies is that the show has outgrown the venue. Brian was nearly frantic with claustrophobia, between tables grouped tightly together and frantic shoppers who were eager to get their hands on the right Christmas gifts. This show has a reputation for being good, so it attracts a crowd…it seems like it may be time to find a bigger home, or a second room to branch into.

Annie Bananie!

Mad Mother Designs

VENDORS: Idle Hands also has a reputation for trying really hard to have a rotation of crafters so that the show is not identical every year. We give the organizers a thumbs-up for this, though it does require the savvy shopper to be aware so that you don’t wait all year to pick up an item from a crafter who isn’t there. At Idle Hands this year, we particularly enjoyed seeing Annie Bananie of the Green Toy Box, a multi-talented crafter who also runs a Singing Tree day care. Her felted creations warm my heart, and I want an army of her mushrooms. You can check out some of her wares on her new Used Ottawa seller’s list, www.anniebananie.usedottawa.com . We were also pleased to see Mad Mother Designs, a very cool artisan who makes these hilarious and wonderful prints of Victorian women, with a modern twist. We have a couple of her greeting cards at home that we plan to frame for our living room.

NOTES: Definitely a good show, with a low admission cost of $2.00. But given the wealth of shows to choose from in Ottawa, especially if there’s another Craft Crawl next year organized by Urban Craft, we both agreed we’d skip this show unless we knew it had expanded its space. There were a lot of cool vendors that we just weren’t able to enjoy as we got pushed along from behind by the crowd. But they do have Art Is In bread on site. Hmmmmmm.

HINTONBURG ARTISAN CRAFT FAIR—NOVEMBER 26^TH , 2011 (ANOTHER DOUBLE-SHOW DAY)

UNIQUE: The vibe. This was my first time at this show, and I just fell in love with it. The vendors were a mix of the ‘usual suspects’, with plenty of lesser-travelled talent. Down in the Hintonburg community, this show has lots going for it.

Brian with Sarah of Purple Urchin

VENUE: The Hintonburg Community Centre, at 1064 Wellington St., is a great locale for a craft show, albeit less showy than, say, the Glebe Community Centre. The vendors had tables set up all around and throughout the basketball court, so there was plenty of walking room and even room for further growth in future years. Easy parking, plus a kitchenette on site, means convenience for shoppers as well as crafters, who need parking and food, too!

Jordan with Liebchen Designs! Cutest bags around!

VENDORS: We enjoyed this show because it was a more eclectic mix than some of the others. There were the tried-and-true craft show troopers, like Purple Urchin and Liebchen Designs, but interspersed were all sorts of other, less established artisans. We particularly liked the clever jewellery and trinkets created by Indie.go, a newer face in the Ottawa craft market for us, and a favourite of the show…though Liebchen Designs has some of the cutest vinyl bags and accessories around town, and her work always steals the show for me!

Indie.Go

NOTES: If you’re looking for smaller production, more kitschy creations, this is a great show. If you’re looking for the finely-crafted ceramic vases and giant welded metal garden cranes, stick to the bigger shows. Though who knows what next year will bring! I like shows where I can find a range of items well under $20, and this was one of those craft shows. I’m certain you will see us there again next year.

URBAN CRAFT, DECEMBER EDITION—DECEMBER 3^RD, 2011

UNIQUE: Ottawa’s only monthly craft market. Continuously rotating crafters. No entry fee, and an easy way to keep stocking up on handmade throughout the year, regardless of craft seasons (Nov/Dec, and Apr/May). Urban Craft’s site: click here.

Flights of Fancy: so many cool things!

VENUE: Urban Craft takes about 30 vendors and nestles them into the first and second floor foyers of the Irving Greenberg Theatre—home of the Great Canadian Theatre Company—offering an intimate craft perusing experience. Organizer and crafter, Krista Leben of Urbanite Jewelry, manages (with her better half, Robin, plus a melee of other worker bees) to pull together a very cool show in a relatively small space. The division between two floors makes it a comfortable stroll without too much crowding.

VENDORS: We love that the crafters are never the same twice. Well, some crafters are there on a semi-permanent basis, but there’s always something different from last time. This month, we took time to visit with Urban Craft veteran Flights of Fancy (aka Bombshell’s Closet), where we oooh’ed and ahhhh’ed over her newest fascinators. Creatrix and owner, Kate, made my fascinator for my wedding, and I have a few of her smaller pieces for everyday wear; she has a wonderful way with feathers and strong finishing abilities…which means you won’t be heading out to a party looking like you made your own hair piece in your basement with a glue gun.

We also got to try Major Craig’s Chutney, a new vendor for Urban Craft. Brian was wary when we first went up, as he’s never had chutney and doesn’t like pickled things; but he liked it very much, and ended up getting a jar of the jerk chutney to add to his dad’s Christmas gift.

NOTES: Brian and I plan to continue attending Urban Craft shows as often as schedules will allow. It’s a good small show for the craft connoisseurs out there, who don’t necessarily need 300 booths to find something they like.

CRAFTALICIOUS—DEC 10^TH, 2011

UNIQUE: Last show of its type, for the season. The vendors are tired but relaxed, eager to sell, and looking really excited for a rum n’ nog.

VENUE: St Matthew’s Church, 217 First Ave. A nice little space, though if the crowd had been thicker, it would have been way too tight. Again, like Idle Hands, even a small increase in traffic or vendors would be best accommodated by an increase in space, whether that’s a change of venue or the discovery of a second room in the church to use. Here’s the Craftalicious Tumblr account.

Broken Stick

VENDORS: I liked this show because there were quite a few new-to-me vendors, and some really cool upcycling vendors, as well. A fellow with a business called Broken Stick makes all sorts of home-related kitsch out of broken hockey sticks, for example. I got a scarf from a mom-and-daughter team called PanKiMade (the mom's reiki-infused knitting) and Tweal (the daughter's eco-friendly sewing); the mom knits the most incredible stuff and totally undercharges (lucky for me), while the daughter sews fascinating fashion pieces from recycled materials. It was a good show, with a few veterans but a really reasonable price range and tons of cool stuff.

Yakety Yak pottery--love love love.

Oh, and one of my new favourite crafters of the year was at this show, as well as several others over the season: Teri Anne of Yakety Yak is a funny, cool lady with a knack for pretty pottery. Her wares are heat-safe, microwave-safe, and oven safe, and her colours are just gorgeous. Check her out, she’s lovely, and happy to do something specific to meet your needs.

NOTES: I hope to hit this show again next year, and I hope it stays as homey and tiny. At the end of the season, with our heads full of so much craft, we were delighted to find ourselves in a small venue with a modest gathering of crafters. It was also really fun to chat with vendors like Koko Chocolates and Flights of Fancy, who were clearly just counting down the hours ‘til the end of the show, when they would get to go home and turn off the double boilers and glue guns, respectively. Best part: because it was so late in the season, I could spend some cash on myself without worrying that I should be looking for presents…I was already done my shopping!

AND LAST: ORIGINALS CRAFT SHOW, LANDSDOWNE PARK, DEC 10-18^TH, 2011

UNIQUE: Huge venue, hundreds of artisans, and a wider range of kitsch-to-classy crafts than the Signatures show held in November.

VENUE: This show takes place in the basement of the Landsdowne Park space, It’s a huge venue where the crew really knows how to set up, after so many years of putting it together. I don’t know what will happen to this show if/when the Landsdowne redevelopment occurs, but for now it’s a great space. There’s $5.00 parking, and it’s between $7.00-$10.00 for admission, but you can get a readmission pass to visit again throughout the show.

Laura Kingsbury

VENDORS: The majority of these vendors are ‘high rollers’, as I call them: swanky booth setups, custom lighting, shiny glass display cases. They allow for vendors to display for only half the days, so after the first weekend of the show, there’s a Monday when the venue shuts down and allows vendors to restock or tear down/set up. I heard from the Hawberry Farms dude that they drove all the way back to Manitoulin on the Monday to get more goodies for sale. We met a lovely painter named Laura Kingsbury who creates watercolour birds, feathers, and flowers. Her background is in wildlife biology, but she’s been professionally painting for three decades now. My father fell in love with one of her newest pieces, called The Emperor, and bought a print of it on the spot. What I love about Laura’s work is that she is unlike so many other Canadian wildlife painters: her work has brightness, vibrancy, and rich warm colours, which is very different from the usual grey, austere vibe of the average Canuck painter.

U.S.E.D. seatbelt bags

We also met Trevor Kehler from U.S.E.D. Recycled Seatbelt bags. These bags are made from—you guessed it—recycled seatbelts, and they are virtually indestructible. Made in Canada and based out West, we know you’ll be hearing more from these guys soon.

Artworx

And relating to my love of glass work was the Artworx Glass Studio. Deeni and Joe make all sorts of treasures with Dichroic glass (lovely stuff), including beads that fit onto your Pandora-style charm bracelets. Mom bought herself a dragonfly-patterned bead from here.

NOTES: This is still a great show. I have a deep love for the more grassroots style crafter, it’s true; but I have an appreciation for those who have perfected their craft and are now at a point where they can sell at a premium…though there’s still a wide price range from $5.00 to $1500 at this show. There are tons of artisan edibles, and we shop for sauces, jams, and candies here every show. Given the choice between the Signatures show and the Originals, I would head to Originals. The vibe is more friendly, the vendors are more varied, and the price range is more friendly.

THE END OF THE CRAFT SEASON: ADVICE FOR CRAFTERS AND CRAFT GROUPIES:

After visiting 11 major craft shows this season alone, we found ourselves with some key pieces of advice for both crafter and shopper alike:

FOR SHOPPERS:

-Start early in the season to avoid feeling like everything’s been picked over.

More Yakety Yak!

-Make a list and stick to it.

-Make friends with crafters; it’s easier to get in touch, and if you want custom work done, they’ll know your style.

-Bring a shopping bag.

-Just because there isn’t a price labelled on an item, don’t be afraid to ask; you may be pleasantly surprised.

-Choose your shows based on the space, not just the vendors: overcrowding sucks.

-Visit all vendors at the show before beginning to purchase. List your favourites as you go, then circle back.

FOR CRAFTERS:

-Put the prices on your items! We know it’s time consuming, and we know you’re nervous about your pricing. But you will lose out on timid shoppers who are afraid to ask you, and you’ll never know if they could have easily afforded your wares.

-Engage in conversation and be friendly. Opportunities for expansion, consignment work, or cross-promotion could be knocking at your door.

Liebchen Designs...mmmm!

-Have a business card, ideally with a photo of your goods on it.

-Have a website, blog, or Used Ottawa seller’s list.

-Get familiar with your fellow crafters, they’ll help you keep track of show applications and they’ll watch your booth while you pee.

-Develop a nifty booth setup, and avoid cluttering with too much product, or too much variety.

-If you make edible goodies, put out samples. This is what differentiates you from the grocery store.

-Be sure you don’t put out all your coolest stuff at Show 1 of the season, leaving you with nothing for that other show you’re doing the next day.

We want to say a huge thanks to all the lovely vendors who chatted with us through this adventure, and the ones that followed our journey and offered us samples and solace as we hit our 'craft wall' around show six. There were soooo many cool crafters that we met, and we could only highlight a few here, sometimes based solely on which photos turned out. We are always happy and eager to chat with more crafters, so if you'd like to tell us all about your wares, send us an email!

And for the shoppers out there: if there's specific advice or questions you'd find helpful for the spring craft season, or any other type of info, let us know!

We're in the finals: Canadian Blog Awards!

2011-12-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

Hello, one and all!

Further to our post in early December: we have reached the finals for a Canadian Blog Award, and are now asking everyone to vote for us in the finals! We have been nominated in the Creativity etc. category, and we hope you'll take a quick second to vote for us!

It's super simple:
1. Follow this link: http://polldaddy.com/poll/5787390/
2. Click on Project: Priceless.

That's it! If you'd like to familiarize yourself with our blog, volume 1 is the wedding blog, and volume 2 is the Nest (of course) blog; head to http://www.projectpriceless.com and follow the links to both. If you'd like to learn more about the Canadian Blog Awards, you can go to http://cdnba.wordpress.com/about/ .

Thanks, everyone! And hey: spread the word by sharing this info! Voting closes soon! We appreciate your support and readership. It's much more fun writing all this stuff when we get to hear you love it!

Happy New Year,
Jordan and Brian

Macaroni Angels: a DIY tutorial that will make you quake in terror.

2011-12-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

When I was about nine years old, my mom went on a Christmas ornament-making binge. This in itself isn’t unusual; Mom is very creative, though she doesn’t let it out nearly enough, and Christmas has always been an opportunity for her to shine. I remember that particular Christmas, however, because that was the year of the macaroni angels.

Mom slaved away for hours. Days, in fact. At the end of it, she had produced several dozen perfect little macaroni angels, made of four different kinds of pasta, white enamel paint, and wooden beads. I was too young to understand why I wasn’t allowed to help with this specific craft, and I have wanted Mom to do this one again now that I’m older and am certain I would be a better helper. So last Christmas, as the last two surviving macaroni angels were visibly chipped and damaged, I demanded we craft these anew. With a turn of good luck, Mom found the right farfalle, and we were good to go!

The last of the original angels.

In the end, this craft took:

-three days of crafting

-four adults working on them

-one-and-a-half tubes of smelly glue

-enough ingenuity to create something far more useful, like a cold fusion machine.

Let me walk you through it.

YOU WILL NEED:

-farfalle pasta

-penne rigatoni pasta

-gorgonzola pasta (or chop up macaroni into quarters)

-macaroni pasta

-E-6000 glue

-glue gun and glue

-wood beads for heads

-small beads

-white enamel paint (not acrylic)

-extra-fine tipped sharpie or other permanent felt tip pen

DAY ONE: ASSEMBLY

1. Use your E-6000 glue to:

-attach the head bead to the penne body,

-roll the head in the gorgonzola, after applying glue to the head, to make hair,

-glue on the farfalle wings,

-glue on the macaroni arms.

2. Let them dry, preferably for a couple days to be sure the glue is set and isn’t off-gassing.

If you are a sane human being, you will make one, maybe two dozen of these. You will do it in a well-ventilated area. If you are absolutely nuts (or are aiming to become nuts), you will assemble 100 of these angels; you will also do the gluing part all in one go, on a cold day when it sucks too much to open a window. You will do it with your mom while your husband and your dad play with powertools in the basement, until they come upstairs and find the two of you giggling uncontrollably after two hours of inhaling glue vapors. At this point, the men will demand dinner and you and your mother will continue to titter, and attempt to engage in witty quips, like, “What’s for dinner? I dunno. You’re for dinner!” At this point, both men will take the glue away and hide any unfinished angels. It brings new meaning to the phrase, ‘Angels we have heard on high.”

DAY TWO: BEADS AND PAINT

3. Pull out your glue gun and glue a bead onto the head of each angel. This is where the string will go through.

4. String fishing line through each bead and tie a good knot. If you still have E-6000 glue (and your partner hasn’t hid it on you), you can dab the knot with some glue to make it permanent.

5. Hang the angels off of a dowel, broom, or other stick-like thing. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it helps detangle the fishing line.

6. Dip each angel, one by one, into the enamel paint. You may need to take a paint brush and fill in little areas that somehow elude the paint.

7. Hang each angel onto a dowel, broom handle, etc. Beware: the angels will require more ‘breathing room’ from each other than they did before. Let dry for at least a day.

By day two, Mom and I realized we were outnumbered by the angels, and recruited Brian and Dad to help. How many A-type personalities does it take to paint 100 angels? The answer is four: one named Mom to dip and direct, one named Jordan to string the angels onto broom handles, and both to then harp at Dad to find more brooms, dowels, and sticks. Oh, and number four, named Brian, to quietly help string up angels, wisely keeping his mouth shut as the other three nag each other about the ‘right’ way to do this.

At one point, we realized we’d accidentally bought acrylic paint. Why is this bad? Because acrylic paint is water-based, and it made the pasta go soft, which meant that some of their stringing beads fell off. Along these lines of pasta storm troopers, we’d hear the occasional fwap as an angel fell several feet to the table top with a splatter. Dad started nagging that my bead idea hadn’t worked, and I said, “Whoa now, everyone! Out of dozens of angels, I only a couple have fallen. I think we need to look at the bright side here.” This caused me to break into hysterical giggles and point out the theological parallel: that another Creator had reportedly made angels and a few had fallen, and before this moment He was probably the last person to make the exact comment I’d just made. My parents, cool Christians indeed, had a good chuckle.

DAY THREE: FACES AND TOUCHUPS AND GLAMOUR

8. Inspect each angel, now dry (and no longer soggy, if you accidentally used acrylic paint), for any exposed pasta. Use a paint brush to fill in these little spots.

9. Grab your Sharpie and draw a little pair of eyes. If you look at our troops, every angel is a little different because no one could follow instructions; but I have more faith in you out there, so here they are: draw two smiles from two happy faces for eyes. Add some eyelashes if you feel like it. Now put the pen down.

We ended up having to paint over many of the angel’s faces and start again. There was just too much temptation for Brian, A.D.D. man that he is, to try out different faces. Somehow, whenever he veered from the prescribed eye-painting method, the angel would end up looking angry or unhappily surprised, like she’d sat on a tack. My dad couldn’t seem to get the knack, and my mother just kept painting the eyes the wrong way-up. I couldn’t believe it. The years have really mellowed my mom, who, twenty years earlier, made every angel meticulously identical. Her new que sera sera philosophy should have pleased me, but it turns out, I have inherited her perfectionist streak and so I found myself having minor heart palpitations as she handed over angel after angel with upturned eyes.

10. Hot glue fun things into the angel’s hands: harps, books, holly, pompoms, etc.

A bonus of mom’s relaxed crafting mood: she was totally on board with putting all sorts of nonsense in the angels’ hands. When Mom made these angels the first time ‘round, she painstakingly glued a piece of creased ribbon into each of the angel’s hands to function as a choir book. This year, Mom and I went to the dollarama and gathered all manner of tiny decoration. Technically, I think it detracted from the angels’ classy-ness, as I’ve always seen Mom’s angels as the pinnacle of Martha Stewart-worthy crafting. But it was more fun, and it was a nice splash of sparkle.

SUCCESS: A HOST OF ANGELS

Oh, Boba Fett, what have you done.

In the end, we had one hundred perfect little angels. Do you remember that scene in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones when Obi-Wan Kenobi sees all the lines of identical storm troopers that those weird tall aliens have been manufacturing? Take a good look at the rows of angels. Yeah, there’s a parallel there. What I loved about this craft was doing it with my mom. I agree wholeheartedly with her that this is not a kid’s craft, so I completely understand why I couldn’t help out when I was little, though even then, it was fascinating to watch her work. But now, as an adult, learning one of my mother’s secrets arts, the experience had a feeling of deep importance. I have inherited my mother’s ability to MacGyver a pile of sequins, pipecleaners, pompoms, and toothpicks into an adorable chotchkie; and for this I’m eternally grateful. Mom’s ability to craft something out of nothing has always been an enviable brand of witchcraft that I hope I will one day master as she has done.

Next year, we’re going to make new crepe paper angel tree toppers. Mom’s is twenty years old and badly torn, and I don’t have a topper at all yet. This will require no toxic glue and we’ll only be making a couple, so I suspect it will be less of a gong show.

But I did enjoy the gong show.

Adorable!

On the tree.

Dad, monitoring the troops.

Our little family, year 1!