[i] LoveLife

Housekeeping.

 
Thanks for the birthday wishes. I appreciate them all. It was a beautiful day.

The main reason I came to Whistler with Dan was to have some time to work and get my thoughts in order. Last year when we came out we had an amazing hotel room with a fireplace and a couple of couches and a jacuzzi and a full kitchen and a blacony overlooking the mountains. Which was inspiring beyond belief. This year, the reservation Gods burped in our mouths and we are in a pretty tiny room. Which is not all that inspiring or condusive to spreading out to work. Which is bad + good.

BAD: because I have a lot of stuff that I want to get to get done. And to catch up on. I was counting on some time to focus and dive into writing content for my art show on SEPT27. And a couple of workshops in between.

GOOD: because I am in an amazing location and should probably not hole myself up in a tiny room letting life get away from me while I think about my TO-DO lists and mountains of work. There are real life mountains out there FOR GOODNESS SAKE. Enjoy them!

Today: Dan and I are off on an afternoon adventure. The rest of the week will be about NOT working. It will be about PLAYING. And living. And opening my heart to new goodness. Because there's plenty of time for working.

GO!

Peekaboo.

We are in Whistler, BC tucked into a pretty mountainside this week. And by we I mean just me + Dan. And by tucked I mean that we're here with a purpose. Dan has a conference. I have a date with my laptop, paintbrushes + coffee to get in some work for my upcoming art show. And SCRIPTschool. And other things.

Today: is my birthday. I am going to use that excuse to only work till mid afternoon and then wander around the village and shop. Did I say that? Ooooops I meant sightsee. ;)

GO!

Love in an elevator

We made it safely on LEG1 of our journey. This leg was 9 hours by car where we land in the heart of the prairies in my hometown. Dan and I are preparing for LEG2 tomorrow: 2 provinces by air. Which will take us to LEG3: 2 hours + 2 thousand feet from sea level by bus.

Today: repacking and asking myself why my brain malfunctions whenever I need to put things into a suitcase. Seriously. I pack all the things I would never wear. Grrrr. I'm also off to snoop around some art stores for things to play with. SCRIPTschool is gearing up to be awesome.

You registered?

GO!

Good times ahead.

If something like this pretty note interests you - then we are like minded that way. I LOVE brush script and I'm offering an online class called SCRIPTschool. It's more than just scripty stuff with a whole lot of learning to do about brushes and styles and paints and papers and all that jazz. Once I started compiling the info - I realized that there is a lot going on in something that looks as simple as a flick of the sumi. And it is SO fun!

You can read more + register here.

You can snatch up a SCRIPTED mini print set here. They are going fast.

Today: we are off on our 2nd annual summer holiday. By car, by plane, by bus. The prairies, the mountains, the ocean. I'm SO excited! Our trip will end with a bang and I'll be posting from the road. You can follow me on Twitter here! (I am not very interesting, but I make up for that by making regular things look cool). First leg: 9 hours by car. I am going to need some very strong coffee.

GO!

SCRIPTschool is open.

Oh man. It smells like BACK-TO-SCHOOL around here. I love that. I am so excited about this course. Brush script is one of my favourite things and I have put together a fun course that is so full of information and tips that it's mind boggling. AND SUPER FUN. It starts on SEPTEMBER 12 and is a laidback, no-pressure, go-at-your-own-pace kinda gig. Like brush script. I'm sharing it all.

The first 10 people to register also get a free SCRIPTED mini print set. Cool. (EDITED: the first ten people have been awarded their mini-print sets.) In preparation for my art show - these sets will only be available until the end of September and a few of these script-beauties will only be available through this set.

Today: I am working out bugs and the girls and I are getting to know a sweet new nanny in hopes that she will be the glue that helps us keep-it-together around here.

GO!

Coming soon.

I will be offering a mini online-class for those interested in exploring brush script + art with sumi brushes. It's so fun. I hope to have the registration ready for this week. Class release: SEPT12/11 Woot!

Ink + changes.

Today marks a series of changes over here. Exhale. It is very much the closing of an important chapter in our lives and before we take a look to the future - I am hoping we can all focus on really appreciating the goodness we have been reaping. Oh, I'm sure that the next chapter will be grand, too. Super Grand with a capital G. But, let's give credit where it's due + mark the big changes approaching.

Pilot starts every morning preschool (wow, time has flown!)
Penn is about to be making her own decisions every morning without her big sister.
Our nanny is off to bigger things + we are welcoming a new one.
My Pilates instructor is off to bigger + better things, too.
Our family dynamic will change a wee bit.
My art show is front and centre now.
Poet is on the verge of crawling.
The blog will change a bit, too.
Even house90 has changed with the backyard transformation.

Today I give a slow nod to letting go. Exhale. My small people are getting on with things and even though crawling is just a small step - it's a big step in becoming more of an actioning member of the world and less of a baby stuck to my hip.

Today I am grateful.

Today I am nostalgic.

Today: I am working my butt off. After 4pm it will be 4 weeks of chaos before I will be settled into a solid groove. I look forward + backward - like a highway drive. Future bright ahead of me and the sunset in my rear-view.

GO!

GO + get.

Good morning! What a great weekend indeed! We have been spending time working in the backyard. And by we I mean definitely not me. I mean Dan. In the last 30 days Dan has done so many things I don't even know where to start explaining. Building gates, building fences, building a kick-ass deck... planting trees, moving sod, planting grass, transplanting vines, hanging a tree swing... it's pretty amazing. I didn't do any before photos but trust me - the change has been pretty amazing. And we aren't done.

Three cheers to Dan because he's pure awesome.

Left-to-right:

PHOTO1: Poet loves to hug.
PHOTO2: A glimpse at Dan's new deck creation and the boat sail shades.
PHOTO3: The Winnipeg skyline from my favourite dog park.

(I am loving the Instagram app even more now that Blurb is doing Instagram books. Too cool. That sure makes it easy.)

I have been working on my sumi script. and when I say that - I mean I have gone through over 150 pages of 11x14 paper which I am sorting and finishing for all kinds of things. I hope to go through 150 more pages before I'm done. So inspired by black + white + fun these days!

Today: I am out + about running on full cylinders to crush a bunch of things in to a few hours. I am working hard to get some new stuff up here and hopefully the minutes and seconds (before our awesome nanny goes home) will align into magic. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE.

GO!

Happy piles + font fix.

It's Happy Hour here in my studio. FOR SO MANY REASONS. But, mostly because my spark has returned and my vision for the pieces for my upcoming art show are falling into place. (And we found a great new nanny!)

Happy PILES: The top shot is a photo collage of how I like to work. It may look a little messy. I sit on the floor and fan things out around me. It's actually quite an intricate system that includes "drying piles", "garbage piles", "beautiful piles", "redo piles", "idea piles" and many other sub-piles. It may look a little wonky and it definitely makes working at a desk impossible. But, it works for me.

The bottom part of that graphic is gonna show up around here next week. Among other cool things that will be popping up this month.

FONT FIX: The fonts from yesterday's post didn't really want to work for everyone. CLICK THIS LINK TO Download KB-fontpack This SHOULD download a ZIP file with all three fonts. I hope that helps! The link will only be live until next week.

Happy Weekending.

Butterflies + painting.

Usually reserved for carnivals and special occassions we have made painting our faces as regular as brushing our teeth. And why not? Life is too short to over look the magic of make-believe. Butterflies, lady bugs, tigers, puppies, monsters, skeletons, kittens...Non-toxic face paints from Snazaroo are easy to remove and super fun for the painting mama to apply. True love is butterflies AND painting.

I'm working on something here. Be right back, Friday.

GO!