Little Scottsdale Break

Enjoying a post Christmas/New Years/Wedding time-out in Scottsdale w Alfie and Elan.  After a couple of days of serious hiking and restauranting I finally pulled out the sketchbook.  Here's the view of the poolhouse from their condo. 

The Start Of Nothing New

All For Only $3.99

 Text says:
My 2013 challenge for myself?  As a reaction to rampant consumerism (mostly my own) I've dubbed 2013 "The Year Of Nothing New".  No purchasing anything new, non-consumable, that will one day end up in a landfill.  Possible?  Well, if it was easy it wouldn't be a challenge.  My first perceived 'need' was a handheld lemon reamer - tired of dismantling and cleaning my citrus juicer after every lemon juice moment.  After striking out in 3 thrift stores, Caede and I headed to Value Village.  There I found the exact reamer I wanted in a $3.99 grab bag with an apple corer, cheese slicer, latte foamer and ginger bread man cookie-cutter, none of which I already had.  I even went looking for the perfect gingerbread cutter before Christmas and came home empty handed.
Was meant to be.

Look at how perfect this little copper fellow is!

So far so good.  Although... It is only January 6th.

Stay tuned.  

What's a Knitting Social?

Got invited to a "Knitting Social" the day we got back from Whistler.  Why I thought I could fit this in when it we were just home, recovering from Christmas, and getting married in two days I don't recall.  It was, however, a totally fun and relaxing afternoon.  The girls knit while I sketched and we drank tea and prosecco and nibbled on chicken wings and really great baking.  Very girly.

That card on the far left is the wedding invite I gave Julie.  Fun to see it hanging alongside all her holiday cards.  She was spending the day after this gathering making my INCREDIBLE wedding cake.  Check this out.

There are better pics of this masterpiece.  I'll upload them when I get them.  It was an unbelievable work of art.

Black's Pub, Whistler and Doot, doot, doot lookin'...

Out the backdoor.  I'm perched on a barstool in the kitchen catching the view.  Greg is cooking up our new favourite 'feed a large crew' breakfast; giant bags of 'hash' from Costco with a flat of eggs and a pound of bacon.  We've had sooo much family around all year (which I love!) that we've become pretty proficient at feeding them.  Costco helps. 

I love the light up here, and the crunch of fresh snow.

This sketch was done at Black's Pub in Whistler Village.  We sat and had burgers and beers while half the kids went to see Django in the local theatre.  After living and working up here it's fun to be here just as a tourist.  Lots of action.  

Fam Mortal Kombat Tourney in Whistler

I finally knocked the cobwebs of the sketchbag, picked up a new watercolour sketchbook (thanks Opus sale) and started noodling again.  These have been busy times, plugging a wedding (ours) right in the middle of our busiest season.   And here, in the middle of it all, between Christmas and our New Years Eve wedding, we decide to do a family (yes, all 16 of us, not counting the dogs) trip to Whistler.  The kids are holding a massive Mortal Kombat tournament.  They gather around the TV and whoop like a grey cup game 7 as they digitally pummel and pounce on each other.  Our job seems to be shovelling enough food onto the table to keep it all humming.  It's gorgeous up here, a total winter wonderland.  Yogi is in heaven, romping around in the snow, having all these people to scratch his belly.  We're all sleeping here in the house.  It's a bit crazy, but good.