Three things worth waiting for

This has been my view for the last two weeks solid. Ziggy likes to stare.

The other night I finally finished my last sewing project for the craft fair on Saturday. What sweet relief as I switched off my sewing machine for the last time. It's going on vacation for the rest of the year for sure.

Last weekend one of my best buddies took me for High Tea at The Empress.

Now, this is indulgence at it's finest in my opinion. It costs around $50/person but it's worth it. We got the best table in the room - right in front of a big fireplace.

You start off with strawberries and cream and mimosas.

Then you move on to a special Empress tea blend and 3 tiers of finger sandwiches, truffles, scones and other fantastic items of goodness. It's something I've wanted to do for years and it was well worth the wait.

At work I've been holding out for a wider monitor. I had the typical square size monitor since I started and when you are using Revit - this sucks. At one point I was offered a wider monitor but it was smaller vertically than the one I had. Something told me to wait.

Well, last week it all paid off. Long story short, this is what I ended up with:

The photo doesn't do it justice - that thing is 18" across!

Book Review #4

It's that time again - I've read four books since the last post. I blame this low number on all the crafting I've been doing for the craft show.

Anyway, I'll begin.

Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

What can I say other than: genius? If you've been reading my blog you know he's my favourite and after a rather disturbing/emotional read before this I found myself running back to Hardy almost like a security blanket. Which is interesting because his books are nothing but heartache and wretchedness.....but there is something so beautiful about it. It's hard to explain. Not my favourite book of his, but incredible nonetheless.

The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall

This was a book recommended to me by my boss. It sounded kind of like Memento so it peaked my interest - I don't normally read books like this. It was umm.....interesting. It totally gets you hooked from the start, and keeps the pace throughout the book - but it's confusing. At times I wasn't sure what the hell was going on and in the end it wasn't totally explained, but I guess that's part of what makes it good. Overall, I would recommend it.

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy - James Anderson

Sometimes I get an itch for a good murder-mystery, so I head to the library and randomly pick off the shelf. I like my murders classy - a big house with lots of interesting people locked up in it, someone is shot with a revolver in the music room and a smart ass detective shows up and explains it all at the end. James Anderson delivers. I really enjoyed it. I'm planning on reserving another of his books for the beach in Cuba.

The Secret of Annexe 3 - Colin Dexter

Yawn. I brought this one home because sometimes English murder mysteries are really good. This one was boring, the characters not engaging at all and the story just didn't run the way I like. The murder wasn't even that interesting. Don't bother.

I'm reading an awesome book right now (I'm back on to novels for the moment) so it will be the first of my next batch of reviews. Cause I know you guys all run out and get these books based on my advice.

Ha. Ha.

Spanish Class

Esta mucho viento hoy en Victoria.

I've been meaning to tell you guys about the Spanish classes we are taking for a while now - we only have two classes left! Our teacher is hilarious and speaks pretty good English but we can tell it's her first time teaching a Spanish class. Here's why:

In our first class she taught us how to say simple things like 'Good morning' and 'How are you', please and thank you.

The next class she wrote a whole bunch of words on the whiteboard like dog (perro), cat (gato), sandwich (bocadillo), ice cream (helado).

But she hadn't taught us words like what, where, when, you, I, he, she etc. so I was having a hard time putting the language together if you know what I mean.

Then in one class she told us to write down some simple sentences. This is the English version of what I could come up with based on what she had taught us:

Ice cream dog sandwich.

While looking through the library I found this book - The Cat in the Hat Dictionary in Spanish!

It's actually been pretty helpful! She has JUST taught us how to conjugate verbs so we're working on that, but we don't know many verbs yet.

Jo tengo un gordo problemo gato.

My First Craft Market!

The other reason there has been lots going on here.....I'm going to be selling my bags in a craft market!

Rawbean and I both applied to it and we both got in!
We'll be there on Saturday November 27th.

The first thing for me to do was to order new fabric and finally get some business cards. Everything was shipped super quick which was perfect. Here is the fabric I ordered before I cut into it. Don't you love seeing piles of fabric before you cut into them?? (Again sorry about the crappy photos, but you get the idea...)

So I'm going to have 8 market bags (the big ones), about 15 or so Buttercup Bags and a whole bunch (20? 25?) coffee cozies to sell. I've been sewing like crazy and have a bit of a pile now.

Here are the market bags including the one on the far right which is in my shop right now. I have three more to make.

Here are the Buttercup Bags. I'm going to make about 5 or 6 more.

The other thing I'm going to sell are coffee cup cozies. Super simple, no snaps or buttons - just the sleeve that will slip around any size coffee cup. I have 6 of them started but they sew up really quickly so I'm not too worried about it.

Rawbean and I were hoping that we would get to have our tables next to each other because as if that wouldn't be a total blast! So today I called the organizers to ask if this was possible.

Turns out they already planned to have us side by side.

As. If.

Lots going on here

Just a quick update - mostly photos - on what's going on around here. This place turns into a madhouse this time of year.

The poor Bad Room Mate - he actually puts up with a lot from us. We put scary things (rats, giant flies, giant ants) right next to his food bowls at Halloween. That stupid skull - it jiggles and makes a weird noise when you touch it or bang something nearby. It has long garbage bag hair. So it sits right next to Ziggy's food bowl.

Oh - did I mention that it's eyes light up?

You guys know I can't bake cookies right? Now this is weird....and you won't believe it....but I make these cookies every Halloween and they always turn out. Maybe it's the mental decorations that inspire me to bake things properly?

Don't you dig my eyeball lights and skull mugs?

Work was fun this year too - I organized a costume contest and there were prizes! Almost everyone in the office dressed up. My favourite costume was Captain Kirk but guess what? I won first prize with the Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes I made a few years ago! A workmate and I donned the red jumpsuits for the day.

I was Thing 2.

I love this pumpkin, I think it's the best one we've carved yet.

We went to the party on Saturday night, but didn't wear the Spy vs. Spy costumes.

I know.

Brad nearly died when I told him that we shouldn't do it. And I was right - those costumes were way too extreme to wear to a house party with about 10 people in attendance. Maybe next year.

Um, where are my pants?

I. Don't. Shave.

My skin can't take it. I can't take it. (Sorry guys, this will be one of those posts. )

I've been waxing my legs for ten years now and for me, it's the only way to go. I found the most fabulous place in Vancouver and went there for years and became quite close with the owner. It was called Sanctuary Spa at the time but she has moved into a new space and is now Breathe Spa. Boy, was I ever spoiled.....

So, I've been looking for a good spa in Victoria for getting my legs waxed. I was referred to this place downtown that is run by a bunch of women and sounded great so I booked an appointment. The girl was really friendly which is super important but there were a few things that made me laugh:

1. Too much wax
When she's pulling the strips off my legs, she has to pull them towards me. But she puts so much wax on my legs that small bits of wax are flinging off the strips onto my sweater.

2. Decor (it's important!)
The building they are in is heritage and they haven't spent a lot of money on decor. They've tried though - which scores at least a few points. They just hung up lots of fabric on the walls and covered the ceiling with more drapey fabric.
Also on this note, she didn't keep her equipment very clean and organized. It was sort of thrown on this crappy shelf in the corner of the room....just not what I'm used to. The room we were in was also so small she couldn't even walk around the table.

3. We're all modest
The towel she gave me was the size of a hand towel. Seriously? I'm getting a half leg wax - could I have something a little bigger? And the best of all......

4. Where the hell are my pants?!
When I got there she gave me a basket and asked me to put my pants and my purse and stuff inside it. When she came back into the room I must have glanced away and didn't see where she put the basket. I didn't realize this until after she was done and left the room to let me change.

I'm standing in the middle of this tiny room with my socks on looking everywhere for the basket with my pants! I seriously couldn't find it. I started pulling the curtains back to check and was confronted with grimy walls, and lots of bookcases with TONS OF CRAP all over....but no pants. I finally found them underneath the table I was lying on.

So I'm probably going to go back once more and give her another shot but seriously....I'm super close to forking out $50 for a better experience in one of the more upscale spas here.

Copping out of the Cat

Remember how I said I was going to sew a Cat in the Hat costume this year? Well, here is the first and only progress photo.

I found the black fabric, and some white fabric and I have the hat. There was even a piece already cut out for the costume! I cut out all of the black fabric, but then I started thinking about the Tickle Trunk and seeing all the stuff I could just pull out and wear - so I talked Brad into Spy vs. Spy.

I don't know, what do you guys think? Is this too crazy a costume to wear to a party where we only know the hosts?

Wanna buy some cheese?

The last two days in the office were super quiet because more than half the office was out doing a design charrette. So on Thursday there were three of us there - three.

So I'm working away at my desk when I hear this loud voice saying hello. I noticed my workmate get up and go say hello to whoever was coming in, like he knew him. I looked over and there was a cute little man standing in the empty office waving at me. I didn't know him, but he seemed friendly enough so I waved back.

He gives me a huge smile, comes over to my desk, introduces himself, puts his picnic basket down and says to us (in a French accent nonetheless):

"Do you want to buy some cheese?"

Now, keep in mind that I've been off dairy for 6 weeks now. Remember all my dietary craziness? Remember this post?? I looked around at my workmates, looked behind me and said:

"Um....is this a joke?"

The little French guy laughed and started pulling brie, smoked cheddar and other delicious items of goodness out of his picnic basket and laying them on my desk as I was looking around for the hidden camera.

Turns out that he goes around to local businesses and sells cheese, prosciutto and pate from his bike. I bought a HUGE hunk of brie (I'm re-introducing it early next week) and prosciutto. He had an Interac machine and everything!

I swear, only in Victoria.

The Tickle Trunk is Open

I have a tickle trunk. I looks innocent enough right?



Actually it's out of control. There are at least 6 different costumes in there, lots of random things like vampire teeth , fake eyelashes, bowler hats and lots of different scraps of fabric for future costumes.

I even have costumes I have put together and never worn (Run Lola Run). There is stuff in there that I have no idea where it came from (orange clown wig?) and weird things like packages of toy cars......I even found a plastic doll hand. Just one.


This year we're going to a house party (woo hoo!!) but we won't know many people so Brad is a bit uncomfy going all-out and doing Spy vs. Spy.

So he is going as a bad surgeon - bloody scrubs (from the tickle trunk) and a severed foot and arm (from the Halloween decorations). I just have to make him a new surgical mask and cap.

I'm going as Cat in the Hat. I pulled the hat out of the tickle trunk and a giant piece of black fabric for the rest. It's all free, just lots of sewing. So you know what I'll be doing the next couple of weeks.

Over Stimulated

I have this strange experience every time I fly now. Whether it's a little float plane or a big jet plane.

Sigh, yeah.....when the plane starts to take off - I cry.

It's not like blubbering tears or anything, I just get super teary and then it passes.

Photo: Ted Topping

So anyway....the plane lands in Vancouver and I begin:

"Holy shit that's new?!"
"Woah, that rain drop is SUPER cool!!"
"A lego whale?!"
"Where did THAT building come from?"

Totally over stimulated and I haven't gotten off the plane yet. I guess I've been living away from Vancouver long enough that it seems super busy and crazy when I go back.

One of the meetings I flew in for was cancelled (??) so I dropped in to visit Rawbean and my old work mate R. for the rest of the afternoon. Flew back to Victoria on the last flight of the day. I love 'work days' like that, don't you?