A Very Long Day

June 21st. Longest day of the year. Nothing makes that feel more true than spending it in economy class on a transatlantic flight.   I'm tout seul, an hour and a half from Amsterdam. The in-flight entertainment system is reminiscent of the Pong machine my dad proudly brought home to us in the 70's.  Dear KLM, technology is advancing; you should look into it.  If you find yourself in this spot, wrestle with the outdated controller and navigate your way to the Anthony  Bourdain TV show on Amsterdam.  I always love Anthony, but the show is even better when you're on the cusp of arriving in the highlighted location.  It looks like they must send a scout crew or two into a city before he arrives. I imagine they make their recommendations and he goes from there. In this particular episode it's kind of apparent that he gets stuck with a couple of bad choices (he's hungover and eye-rolling for much of the episode) and so they insert footage of the places he wished he'd gone instead. Limited time with the talent on the ground I suppose. I decide to re-watch the episode so I can write down the good suggestions,  but now that I've insulted the in-flight technology the controller is completely not cooperating with me. Oh well. I do remember the show opens with the host talking about how the anticipation of a trip being just as wonderful at times as the journey.  Yep oui.  I've had so much fun surfing, booking, wandering around on google maps. Not that our journey's all planned out ( it's not) but I've kind of got about a two month head start on this adventure.   Here's hoping the real thing is even more wow-y than its virtual counterpart. 

'Bound' for France!

 Oh how I love my new sketchbook!  I made it (with the help of this youtube video) using an old French hardcover book I bought for 25 cents at the Centre Culturel Francaise here in Vancouver.  I recovered it with this gilt brocade paper I bought at Opus on Vancouver Island, and filled it with my favourite watercolour paper, some solid coloured paper for line drawings, and a fun collection of patterned papers that I have no idea yet what I'll do with.  That, I suppose, is part of the adventure. 

I've been planning this book, and this trip, for months now.  Some little bug climbed into my ear about a year ago and said "Hey, Canadian girl, it's time you really learned how to speak French".   I signed up for a French class at the Cultural Centre here in Vancouver, found a language buddy to practice with (bonjour Florence!) and started listening to 'Learn French by Podcast' everyday on my endless jaunts to and from our stores.   

 Voila, un an plus tard, here I am prepping and packing for my big French adventure!  It's the pay-off for a year of hard work.  I leave this Friday (only two more sleeps!) and arrive in Lyon the following day.  I'll spend two weeks there doing a language immersion course that I found at Cactus Language Training.  When that's done, I'll meet my husband Greg in Paris for another couple weeks of adventure.  It's been so fun to plan.  All of our accommodations are either through airbnb or homeexchange.com.  Not a single night in a hotel in over a month of travel!

I'm pretty much packed, thanks in part to the fab blog HiP Paris, and am so excited.   I'll try my best to sketch and post as I go.

A bien tot!

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.