[i] LoveLife

I'll drink to that!

In the olden days - when I was in my mid twenties - my girlfriends and I would have fun parties where we would do photoscavenger hunts. That was an awesome time where we would assemble teams and race around town collecting a list funny digital photos of ourselves doing silly things. We would reassemble at a specific time and review the photos while laughing our guts out and enjoying adult beverages. It was a guaranteed good time. In my late twenties - we even allowed boyfriends and husbands along for the ride. FUN TIMES.

NOW. I have this fantasy about A NEW good-times GAME - now that I am in my early thirties. I propose that (either individually or in teams) you would be given 3 stray kittens, a Costco grocery list, a shopping cart with a wobbly wheel and a time limit. You would need to collect the groceries WHILE KEEPING THE KITTENS IN CONTROL. And doing it very quickly while lots of people watched and got in your way and all that jazz. If you made it out with all three kittens and a good portion of the things on your Costco list - YOU COULD DRINK WINE TILL YOU PASSED OUT you would get a prize. You couldn't stuff the kittens in your pockets either.

I'm not gonna lie - I would be fabulously good at this game.

Today: Costco with my kittens girls. We are going to play outside for a good portion of the day BECAUSE I'M GOING TO ATTEMPT TO WASH THE FLOORS. And clean the bathrooms and do the stuff that says COMPANY IS COMING! COMPANY IS COMING! Because company is coming and a long weekend full of happy parties is upon us! Hurray!

GO!

Poster-palooza + other random facts.

Printed. These are two of the many posters I got back yesterday. (These are iPhone photos so they are not awesome - but I kind of dig the grain.) I decided to stop imagining what I would like to put on the wall and START CREATING the things I wanted to see. That's what I do. The poster on the left goes in the living room and the poster on the right is one of the three that will go in Poet's room. The girls also got new YOU-ARE-AWESOME posters and they picked the colours and animals themselves (which was crazy). I have another couple of posters for the library, the toy room, and the master bedroom. Bathroom + mudroom stuff is coming today. I feel like I'm checking things of my list. My goal is to get house90 to the point of awesome while we are here so that we can enjoy it. I learned that at our last house when all the good things were finished days before we put it on the market... That was a kick in the junk if ever there was one. But, lesson learned.

RANDOM FACTS.

DAVIDsTEA is on my destination list today.
Calculating how much gravel we need for the backyard changes is a scientific challenge.
I'm designing a new deck even though I am not a deck designer.
I'm jonesing after some new leggings.
I'm painting the green porch door.

Today: I am on another mission. I'm working on a great DIY + finishing another painting. I'm also hanging posters and prints. Buying vacuum filters. Spray painting things like I'm trying to get myself high. Trying to forget that I have an ENORMOUS STASH of dark chocolate. I'm going to pretend that I know how to use a power drill and put up some hooks. BUSY. DAY. And before I do any of this good stuff I should probably shower.

GO!

Six reasons to LOVE RIGHT NOW.

Another weekend for the good books! June has been so much fun for us as a family - we are finding a groove and it's making life really enjoyable around these parts. Summer is sweet when you wait so many months under the snow. CanadaPost is still not delivering mail so as fun as June has been for our family - it has been a bit on the stressful + disappointing side as there are many posters and prints stranded somewhere in the system. But since I can't do a thing about it - I'm trying very hard to direct my postal anxiety towards noticing the things that are SO GREAT right now.

1. PENN. We visited a firehall on the weekend because one of our good friends is the best fireman in the world. I can say that because it's true. He spoils our girls (and their good friend Lucas) by letting them tour his truck and beep the horns and spray the hoses. THAT'S. SO. AWESOME.  Penn just LOVES the firehall and it makes my heart smile to see her whizzing around checking out cool things like axes and hydrants. (Thanks Jared!)

2. OUTSIDE HOUSE90. Dan has been burning the candle at both ends. June is his busy month at work and when he gets home he races around like a beaver - building gates and trimming trees and tending to his gardens. That guy is awesome. He was busy on the weekend building us some pretty cedar gates in the first step to getting house90 in shape on the outside.

3. POET. I'm SO glad we went for a third small person. She's really amazing and I cannot even imagine life without her. She's been sleeping through the night. Eating babyfood. Swimming. Jumping. And I'm not sure if I mentioned it: SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. That's a dream come true. Poet is definitely my favourite kid of the three. (I'M KIDDING. I totally like Penn better. Unless she's freaking out and then I will go with Poet again)  ;) (TOTALLY KIDDING - I LOVE THEM ALL EQUALLY.)

4. PAINTING. This is a look at a painting I finished on Friday for our dining room. I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to go up for sale because it's fallen off the wall 4 times already. What the EFF? I use 3M hangers and they are AMAZING. I rave about them. I have never had a painting fall off the wall, but this one is the exception. No matter how many hangers I use at once. Sheeeesh, I can take a hint. ;) I'll post more about this one tomorrow.

5. PILOT. She's three and a half going on thirty-two. She's a budding artist and I'm going to see what I can do to keep the world from snuffing that light out. She asks to draw about ten minutes after she wakes up and has a collection of drawings and paintings she's working on at any given time. What a great age and what a fun kid. It's cool to see her attempt the things that scare her (like jumping into the pool or driving the fire truck) because she sees Penn attack them with out fear.

6. COLOURS. I just LOVE this piece. It's a bunch of paint chips that I cut up and stuck randomly in a frame I had laying around. It's artsy without being too painterly. Simple as all heck, but I really dig the colours and I like having something to balance out all of the paintings. Happiness is art of all different forms.

Today: Dan's brother (plus his wife + cute son) are visiting from Florida for the long weekend and I am so excited! I have a long list of errands and things to do so that we can be happily prepared and the weekend can run smoothly. I have lots of work to do in my studio... there are two paintings on the go and I am loving the push to get house90 spiffed up for visitors! Hurray for the last week of June! Yay!

GO!

Dark + light.

LIGHT. I'm working on a couple of new paintings. One is very big. And it's nicer in real life because there's a texture that just doesn't come across in iPhotos. Oh, those darned birds. The crows are inspiring me again. I can't really tell why - but there they are. There is a darkness and a blackness to the feathers of a crow that find a comfortable home next to my favourite palettes of happy hues. Like a secret. I like that kind of yin-yang push-pull of the Universe. This particular painting has a spot waiting for her in our dining room. AND I WANT IT FILLED BY THE WEEKEND.

DARK. Dark chocolate. Dark wine. Dark coffee. Dark things are calling me. I had a great meeting with a radically talented artist yesterday who totally rocks DARK things. He's got a project and thinks collaborating a bit with me will create an interesting balance and juxtaposition. Very cool. I think he will add something grand to LINKwithlove.org - very cool indeed.

Today: I need to finish this painting, hang it, and get on with things. I NEED to feel some kind of accomplishment and see progress because I have been doing thinking and planning and that just feels like my wheels are spinning and I'm getting no where. I NEED tangible success to keep me going. NEED. I need MORE than just lists and coffee and feeling small + overwhelmed. Let's do this.

GO!

Something's gotta give.

I was waiting for a prescription last night and ended up wandering up and down the card isle for what seemed like hours. I love greeting cards. I picked out dozens with the intentions of posting my love and affection through the mail. But that brings me to Point No.1: CanadaPost is on strike. Which means if you ordered prints or other goodies from me - it is probably stalled out somewhere in the system collecting dust. And for that I apologize because it's killing me. I don't want to take sides. I just want everyone to be happy and I want the mail to be delivered efficiently and pleasantly so that I do not die early from the stress it is causing me. Which brings me to Point No.2: this KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON card begged me to pick it up because it was glittery. And I probably just need to KEEP CALM. However. I have mixed feelings about this poster/design. I love it. I loved it when it was less popular and I even own a big, beautiful matte version from a company in London... but I unframed it when the design started showing up everywhere and then formed all kinds of weird mutations like KEEP CALM AND SNAP ON. KEEP CALM AND DATE ON. KEEP CALM AND DRINK MICROBREW. Sigh. Which brings me to Point No.3: Microbrews are delicious. Which brings me to Point No.4: I should drink more beer and send more cards.

Dear Dan,
You are a lovely husband and after 5 years I'm still glad we got married. I am, however, having a little bit of trouble understanding why you throw wet dirty towels into the bathroom sink. That's so weird.
XOXOX

Dear Poet,
I'm so glad I stuck it out through those three utterly torturous weeks of letting you "cry it out" because you have been sleeping like a baby champ for the past 4 nights and I am clinging to the idea that we 'fixed' you. Allelujah! THANK GOODNESS. If you could have a chat with Penn that would be divine.
Love you.

Dear LINKwithlove,
I think you're destined for good things. I do. Maybe if you were a little more edgy-cool and a little less "lovey-nice" I would get back a few responses from the 246 emails I've sent to different bloggers and folks around the world as I try to get the message out. Bring your A game, LINK. We have a world to change so let's DO IT.
Lovey and nice

Dear Norman,
You are so cute. I am taking lots of photographs of you because someday when you are not here anymore I want to remember you by your adorable face and not your stinky farts.
Good dog

Dear CanadaPost,
Please deliver the mail so that I can sleep at night and not feel tension in my jaw. And so I can get the capri pants I ordered online last week. Jeeez Louise. ;)
Yours truly

Dear Twitter,
#idonthaveenoughtosay
@kalbarteski

Today: I have high hopes for productivity. It's been humid so the mega canvas I am working on is taking forever to dry. I'm hoping to close that deal today and tackle the rest of my TO-DO list. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. Two more cups of coffee and that'll be more like FIND FOCUS AND SIT STILL. Okay! I'm on it.

GO!

Finding a groove.

Oh, hello. Eeeeep. I am guilty of having too many things on my plate right now, but take that to mean I AM NORMAL. I typically beat myself up about it - and then realize that it's not cool, but it's part of being a human. The ebb + flo. The tides of achievement + decline. Over-doing it + pulling back. Yesterday my designer muscles were itching to get some work up on the walls of a typographical nature. Not painted or hand-rendered... something crisp and clean and bright and sassy and sort of bold + brazen. We have a lot of blank walls. Partially because I like flat planes of matte colour. And partially because I don't like to commit to anything that isn't JUST RIGHT. It doesn't have to be perfect. It has to be JUST RIGHT. I'd rather border on boring than put-it-up-to-put-something-up. That's just me. I'm picky. The above three prints are on their way back from the printers today. No.1 is 24x36. No.2 is 12x12 No.3 is 16x20.

I was doing more than decorating when I was designing yesterday - I was trying to find my groove for a downloadable poster for LINKwithlove. It's really, really important to me. And sometimes when the stakes are high - I get all design-constipated and nothing appears. I usually try to distract myself with "loose/fun" jobs to get myself in the right frame of mind. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

(Speaking of LINKwithlove. THANK YOU for spreading the word. I tear up a little when I'm surfing the net and I see the badges on your blogs. That is amazing. We are just about at 1500 'likes' on Facebook and I'm grateful BUT I'm feeling a little discouraged. Thirty-nine MILLION people 'like' Lady Gaga. SURELY thirty-nine THOUSAND people feel it's important to LINKwithlove? My goal is 100,000 people committed to linking with love... Please help me spread the word.)

Today: Girl Tribe Day. We're still working on potty training. Penn is doing great at some things and is utterly terrified by others. Which probably means she just needs some space and the right distraction so she can acheive some success and find a groove. Oh, like Mama like baby I guess.  We're gonna hang tight on a gloomy Wednesday to see if we can't both find our magic.

GO!

The ladies.

 

Snaps. Every now and again the stars collide and I manage to get the 3 P's to sit still for a photo. Actually that's not true - I torture them into sitting still about once a week BUT every month or so we actually get something where at least two out of three are cooperating. Where at least two of them are not crying. At least one of them has a clean face. And they are clothed and semi-cooperative. These photos are from the weekend that saw us celebrate Father's Day for 48 hours. ACTUALLY - it's Father's Day around here 24-7 and I'm pretty sure there is a release of confetti + doves when Dan comes through the door after work. By them AND ME. These three P's are hopelessly in love with their Dad. And I hope that there comes a day when they realize just how lucky they are to have a father who is head-over-heels in love with them, too.

We love you, Dan.

Today: is the kind of day when I need an assistant or a coxswain who could sit to my left with a bullhorn and just keep shouting out the next task so that I keep on going. Lately - I set out on my errands and get completely befuddled before turning around home. Here's to a more productive day than that.

GO!

Delicious DIY.

DIY didn't I do this before??? I almost let the month of June get away with a DIY. That's a DO-IT-YOURSELF project for the newbies. I'm not a overly talented in the kitchen, but there's been an idea brewing in my head for the last couple of months. I. LOVE. SWEETS. I have been razzle-dazzled by these new-fangled things called cake pops. I love them, but they seem like a high maintenance procedure if ever there was one.

This DIY is brilliant, but LAZY so I thought I'd call it The Brilliant But Lazy DIY. Because I'm sort of brilliant and lazy like that. ;) This DIY starts at a little place called Old Navy....

STEP1: go to Old Navy for a Father's Day present.
STEP2: pop over to Michael's on a whim because it's next door.

STEP3: Get sidetracked by the pretty French Bull stuff for cupcakes.
STEP4: Run into a super nice blog reader named Linsday and chat.

STEP5: Find sticks and melting chocolate and an empty tube pen and WISH YOU HAD THOUGHT THIS THROUGH and brought a Michael's 50% off coupon.
STEP6: Wonder how much you could have saved if you had a 50% OFF coupon.

STEP7: Wonder if the Government is reading your thoughts into the Universe when blog reader Lindsay comes running back into the store from the parking lot to see if you want her 50% off coupon.
STEP8: FIST PUMP! Resist the urge to hug Lindsay and make her uncomfortable.

STEP9: Stop at Tim Horton's on the way home for coffee.

STEP10: Buy Timbits and fight the urge to eat them all on the way home.
STEP11: Feel the idea come together.

STEP12: Melt the chocolate in the microwave while drinking coffee.
STEP13: Forget about the chocolate in the microwave.
STEP14: REmelt the chocolate.

STEP15: Stab the Timbits with the lollipop sticks and coat with pink melted chocolate.
STEP16: Amaze yourself with your speed + artfulness.

STEP17: Stop to kill an ant that crawled up onto the counter.

STEP18: Put your Canadian 'ghetto' cake pops on a plate upside down while trying to figure out how a real cake-popper would do this.
STEP19: Come up with a good-enough idea!

STEP20: Dribble melted chocolate all over the place and contemplate licking the counter.
STEP21: Remember the ant and change mind.

STEP21: Get Dan to poke holes in a box from the recycle bin.

STEP22: Come up with a plan to cover the flat-top cake pops
STEP21: Melt dark chocolate you find at the back of the cupboard and dig up coconut.

STEP22: Finish with a flourish!
STEP23: Jam cakepops into the box with holes and bend some of the sticks
STEP24: Realize that the box + cakepops is WAY TOO TALL to fit in the fridge and take the cake pops out of the box holes and lay them on their sides on the original plate.

STEP25: WHO CAN WAIT FOR THE CHOCOLATE TO SET? Hand out cake pops and beam with pride!

Voila! This is awesome. No one would even suspect that they were not painstakingly crafted with love and devotion in my own super kitchen. Delicious. The cake-type Timbits (which are donut holes for those who have never had the pleasure of a Timbit) work better than the traditional donut types... BUT EVEN THOSE WERE YUMMY.

Estimated time for this DIY: approximately 71 minutes including shopping at Old Navy
Cost: $12 ($3 for 20 Timbits, $9 for sticks, chocolate and a capsule pen for an unrelated project)
WOW-factor: SUPER! WOW!!
Difficulty level: 1 (stick, dip, wait!)
Frustration level: ZEEEEEEEEERO.
Level of ease: mega-easy
Results: Amazing cake pops in minutes. Woot! I think I will make them every weekend.

Today: BUSY. This week will be ridiculously on workdays and divinely unbusy on the Girl Tribe Days. I have a bunch of home projects on the go, a dozen commissions, a lot of work for Linkwithlove.org and six design projects crying for attention. I can't keep up. So, I must go right now.

GO!

Perspective vs. Balance

Half + half. It feels like one day I'm 'happy-new-yearing' and then the next it's June 17th. HOW. DOES. THIS. HAPPEN? Time flies. The last week has sent me into a tailspin and short-circuited my brain. Just a bit. Here we are gearing to start the second half of the year and I can't even REMEMBER the month of April - let along March or February. That's crazy. And it also prompted me to ask myself if I feel fulfilled or empty? A little of each. What's my perspective on that? Half + half? Or whole?

I'm not painting enough BUT I'm getting other projects done.
I'm not spending enough time with Dan BUT we are loving our small people.
I'm wasting too much time on the computer BUT hope the payoff success for LINKwithlove.org
I'm not making much progress at house90 BUT we are loving our space + neighbours.
I spent a lot of brain energy on art theft BUT that made itself into something good.
I'm not sleeping as much as I need BUT am afraid to wish it away too fast.

Oy. It's that age old idea of prespective vs. balance and I am going to step away from the computer this weekend in hopes of reconnecting with my little family and my self. AND some time with my feet up so my brain can stop spinning for just a short while and I can finish some DIY's that make my heart happy.

How's your perspective vs balance? 

Today: work my butt off so make relaxing this weekend a reality. If you haven't yet - please 'like' LINKwithlove.org on facebook to help form a strong network. Check us out and watch for a pile of new content coming next week. Good things.

GO!

Scrambled + over easy.

I am in the middle of a busy day. Actually, I'm posting from the car dealership because even though my baby has been having miserable night - someone has to do the glamorous stuff like groceries and car repairs and all of those fun things that make life run smoothly at home.

More later. I'm enjoying the (terrible) free coffee.

GO!