[i] LoveLife

Mama down.

Stomach flu is so not cool.

He just wasn't into it.

It never goes quite like I pictured it - but, we had fun. We didn't get him into any crazy outfits because he was too jacked up on marshmallows to catch. In exchange for his sort of good sportsmanlike behaviour the girls and I made a special gong-show trip to the mall to buy him three new squeaky toys which he promptly de-squeaked. Fine then, you crazy dog.

He looks like such a serious turd - I always feel like he's bummed out in pictures.

But, bummed or not - he was pooped from all the ruckus. And so was Crash. And the girls. And quite frankly - so was I. We are in the throws of a messy stomach flu around here. Well. I should say that THEY are all in the throws of a messy stomach flu. I'm the barf catcher and cleaner. Just when the girls appeared to be feeling a little better - Dan went down heavy two nights ago - and men are the biggest babies around. My mom and dad caught it before they left us. Even the dogs. I have yet to catch it. Which I fully appreciate means my turn is coming - ten fold. Gross.

Today: hopefully less barf and more good feelings. My TO-DO list is long enough to make me feel like I might start to cry. I'm looking forward to seeing the sun set on February and hitting things hardcore in March. Vacations always mess with my momentum. Booo. Spring is so close I can taste it... but, that could be the coffee. Laundry, Costco, sledding, groceries, disinfecting and redisinfecting. It's time I sat my butt on the exercise bike and got my life back in order. It feels like I've been saying that for three years now I AM ON IT. Well sort of. After Backyardigans. ;)

GO!

Happy first.

Shhhh. Hump day around here and we are in stealth party mode. Norman has NO IDEA that the girls and I are throwing him, at Pilot's request, an epic princess first birthday party. He is going to be SO PUMPED when we dress him up in a birthday outfit to take some happy snaps. He's going to just LOVE the pipecleaner leash Pilot intends to tug him around on all day. He probably really will love being the centre of attention and eating a couple of marshmallows (who doesn't?). I'm also positive he's oblivious to the fact that his birthday is just the excuse we were waiting for to reuse all of our party gear and do the place up. Norman, you lucky pup.

But, seriously - I really like that little dog. I never thought I could love a pup that wasn't a boxer. I have fallen for the French Bulldog breed. Small, but tough. Little, but big. He's fun. He's a phenomenal cuddler. He's direct. He doesn't lick (I hate dog licking). He likes winter as much as I do. He snores like a frickin' freight train. He's pushy + crafty + stinky. He has a sweet tooth for expensive wooden kids toys and puzzles. He has delighted me as much as he has exasperated me. (He was the ONLY little one that didn't barf on me yesterday and for that I am grateful.) Happy birthday to our cute Frenchie named Norman.

Today: we commemorate our youngest and most mischievous turd. Hopefully he is as pumped about this as Pilot. I hope to get some girl-tribe-and-canine-unit pics to help me remember how much fun we have around here. I just realized that I am seriously going to BUMMED when my companions grow up and move on. I'll deal with that later. Right now, I need coffee.

GO!

Back at the roost.

One of the highlights of our quick trip to Kauai was definitely beaching with a Hawaiian Monk Seal. (They are on the endangered list and I love learning about them.) VERY COOL and very much one of the things that made me think about what makes a great trip. What makes a good trip to you? I've had the opportunities to do more than my fair share of tropical travels and as nice as any hotel/resort is - it's not the part that interests me. I like to get to know the guts of an island. The mysteries. The histories. Sometimes that makes me fall head over heels (like Maui) and sometimes it's just too much for my little heart to absorb (like St.Lucia). Either way - I have plenty of Kauai photos and stories to go through over the next little while before I put another fun trip and another intriguing island on the shelf.

Roosters everywhere. Like EVERYWHERE. Roosters are so weird.

The ever-friendly bottle-nosed dolphins.

Me-and-him time. (Another thing on the endangered list.)

We had an awesome getaway with new and old friends and it was refreshing and good and all those things that a trip to Hawaii is supposed to be. Yay Hawaii!

Today: Oh man. Nothing like hitting the ground running. Me and my recovering-stomach-flu girl tribe are off to the Children's Museum and the grocery store and the tobaganning hill. We have to get out of the house so the cleaning ladies can come spiff us up. Our lucky-duck nanny is at the Olympics this week so it will be a multi-tasking-palooza around here to get back in gear and on track to close our February. I have emails upon emails to catch up on. And a lot of laundry. I also have delicious Kauai Coffee to fuel with but I can't stop wondering if it's too early for a mai tai.

GO!

Mahalo Kauai.

There's nothing like a week of sun, sand, palm trees and mai tais to get you all relaxed and ready to return to reality... I'm ready to go. My belly is full of papaya. My heart is full of aloha. My face is full of freckles. And as radically cool as palm trees and humpback whales are - real life is pretty awesome, too. I'm ready to get back to all the exciting things happening at home. Our small people. Our four-leggers. Even winter.

Aloha Kauai. Mahalo.

Aloha from Kauai.

Aloha! Dan and I took an opportunity to getaway to the island of Kauai for a short vacation without the girls and to spend time with friends who are getting married (at sunset tonight!). Three cheers for love and Hawaii. I'm excited + honoured to be the wedding photographer this evening and have been a wee bit inspired to rethink my decision to stop photographing weddings. Especially destination weddings.

Oh, what a beautiful day!

Happy love day.

All hydrated + stuff.

I wasn't all that artistically productive yesterday, but what I lacked in that area I totally made up for by drinking 30 litres of water from my wickedly cool ADD-LOVE SIGG bottles* and brainstorming all kinds of new ideas in my small brain. And making gluten-free corn bread. And doing laundry. And playing playdough. And toboganning with two toddlers and two dogs. And working with Penn on her walking. Oh, she made a lot of progress when I finally figured out the right bait. With Pilot - we used to hold up telephones and remotes and blackberries to get her motivated enough to walk to us unassisted. I'd been trying the same thing for Penn without much luck. UNTIL I TRIED MARSHMALLOWS. Watch out! She was running at me full tilt with the promise of a sweet treat (her + Norman both). Go Penn!

*Today is the deadline to donate to the Red Cross and have your donating matched my the Canadian government. (Thanks for the heads-up Jenn!)There were (at this moment) ninety-eight ADD-LOVE water bottles sold. I was really, really hoping to hit at least 100 bottles so that's kind of a bummer, but the good news is that I donated the proceeds ($200) and feel really good about that. There's still time - so buy a water bottle and I'll keep sending the $2 profit from each water bottle sold to the Red Cross Relief Fund for Haiti.

If you don't drink water, but you have an iPhone - you can also purchase an iPhone case designed by me and every ounce of the proceeds go to helping out in Haiti. All the proceeds. That's pretty cool. Uncommon is exactly that. All this goodness is making me thirsty. ;) (Touch + Blackberry Storm cases coming soon.)

BE-AWESOME YOGA MAT UPDATE: Ooooooh, they look GREAT! In about 6 weeks they will be printed on a new fangled awesome mat material and available for sale right here. I'll keep you posted. I am SO EXCITED. April 1st is the date to watch for.

Other good news: Maile's camera bags are IN and rolling! Yay! I am so excited about this!

Today: Oh, Friday. I am going to be rocking an errand circuit and eventhough it's dangerous I'm going to brainstorm good ideas while I drive around checking off important things on my TO-DO lists. Lots of cool projects coming up and I can't wait. My mom is coming to visit tomorrow. 2010 is officially radical and destined to get better. Three cheers for the Olympics! Three cheers for salty hot chocolate and snowflakes. Three cheers for the (long) weekend.

GO!

Reformed.

Oh, Thursday. This week has gone too fast and although I have not found time for everything - I am hoping that today will get me a peek at a proof for my new custom designed yoga mat. If all goes well - I might even be able to sell them on the blog - I'll keep you posted. I am not a huge fan of yoga - but, I am definitely a fan of black + white + awesome. I've also just completed my first 10 hours of private pilates sessions on the reformer. Which has been a pretty profound journey for my injured hips and my aching self. Thank you Gilian at Pilates Manitoba - you have completely reformed my sense of hope + endorphins. I am so grateful. I am hopelessly in love with reformer pilates and aching to workout as often as possible. (And to maybe join the circus.) Some of which will require me to have a nice mat to keep my self strong + focused + stretched. How perfect. Everyone needs a reminder to be awesome.

Today: I feel like baking and playing and cuddling these two small people. The cuddling part feels especially urgent right now. Maybe we will go on an adventure in the snow. Maybe we will just hang out and throw toys at Norman. Either way - I plan to do something memorable because quite frankly it just feels like that kind of day. But, with coffee and ridiculous amounts of small-people laughter. MAN THAT STUFF IS AWESOME.

GO!

The idea of permanent.

So. Let's just pretend that today is last Thursday. There were lost of questions about how Elise and I picked the prompts for GOventures. It took about 24.5 seconds. She threw out some suggestions - I threw out some suggestions and then we quickly, quickly, quickly narrowed it down from there. Not rocket science. Not pre-meditated. We picked broader ideas than last time. We knew were we asking others to play on Thursday and wanted that day's prompt to be especially challenging. Because challenging usually throws the doors WAY open to solutions that are varied + great. PERMANENT.

So if today is actually last Thursday - let me tell you about the solution that I was really working on for PERMANENT. I've been working on it for a decade. I've been thinking about a second tattoo for years - 10 years. I knew I wanted one - I could just never nail down what would be that PERMANENT in my heart - and I am not the type to pick something unweighted with significance. Don't get me wrong - I love Dan with all my heart, but a significant other is a choice we enter in to - and, unfortunately, can exit from. If you look at current divorce rates - it's not certainly permanent. That's not to be cynical. He's the most amazing thing to ever happen to me and that's no joke. That is to say that I feel like we are solid and forever and he feels like we are solid and forever - and I bet every single person who has ever experienced an earthquake felt the ground beneath themselves was solid and forever, too. But, when Pilot and then Penn came into my life - there was a significant shift in who I am. My love multiplied - for Dan, for the two new people that had chosen us. No matter what happened - they would always be my babies. If they lived. If I died. If they died. We will always be connected... and I am honoured times a million. They will always be those two complete and perfect miracles that changed my life - no matter what happened or what they did or what I did or what transpired in the pages of our stories. Our bond was permanent and it would be - on family trees and legal documents and memories and fibres and stamps of time - and within me. Why on my arm? My right forearm is the one that I see the most when I am painting. I often get covered in paint in that spot and I often leave the paint there because it reminds me that I was lucky enough to paint that day - and I am blessed with a gift. Perfect spot.

  Was this seriously for GOventures? Definitely not. In the past 6 months - I've made three tattoo appointments and bailed each time because the tattoo artist couldn't do EXACTLY what I wanted. I was very, very particular about the font and size. Last week I went to a shop based on a hunch the day before the PERMANENT post - thinking that if there was someone that I got a good vibe from, that could do EXACTLY what I wanted and that could do it that day - oh, what a sign that would be! All of those parts panned out except for the THAT DAY part. They could only do it THE NEXT DAY. Which was sign enough because it wasn't for GOventures. It was for me. (Big thanks to Cadence for bring the moral support I didn't know I needed and taking these sweet photos.)

What font is this? Ministry Script.

Did it hurt? Maybe a little.

Do I love it? It's hardcore - of course.

Today: Back to the TO-DO lists and the getting-it-all-done stuff. My goal is to empty my inbox completely by Saturday and that is a monumental task. I intend to finish the laundry and whip out the lists I made yesterday so that I can get back on top of things around here. First stop - COFFEE.

GO!