Goodbye Blogger!

I did like this blog, but I couldn't take Blogger screwing up on me anymore. Even though it took forever to get it set up, I've finally done it and moved myself over to Wordpress. So here's my new space:

www.sideaction.wordpress.com.

Might even get a special URL for it, but let's take one thing at a time, shall we? See you over there, lovelies!

A must have!

I want the whole collection, even if they look suspiciously like the Pantone mugs.

A flower-arranger I am not

But I did my best.

This is part of a bouquet of flowers my husband gave me for our 13th wedding anniversary. It's just over two weeks later and they're still here. I was about to throw them out, but I noticed many of them are still thriving, so I put fresh water in the vase, cut the stems, and rearranged the ones that still look good.

How long will they last? No guarantees from this girl, who once managed to kill a cactus. Tune in next time!

Open Letter to a Salesman

Dear Guy at My Front Door Holding a Clipboard:


 Yes, I saw you come up the walk, but no matter how many times you ring the bell and knock, I'm still not answering because I don't feel like talking to you.


I know you heard me call upstairs to my kids, but that was because I forgot I was pretending I'm not here.

House Rules #1

Many moms say that the bathroom is the only place they can get any privacy, or any peace. I can't say that I used the bathroom as my refuge from the world/family when my kids were little, but I have had strict rules about bothering me in the bathroom. Even if I had a screaming newborn or crying toddler, when I was in the bathroom - too bad for you. I never let my kids in the bathroom when I was in there, and I never let them talk to me through the door while I was in there. I still don't.

Besides, who wants to have a conversation with someone while they're having gross bodily functions? Sick. So the rule stands. If mom is in the bathroom, don't talk to me, don't stand at the door, don't even push notes under the door. I won't respond. It's my time.

Digging out

Between deadlines at work, big changes at my other job, doing my taxes as a self-employed contractor, trying to keep my kids in some kind of routine, and trying to figure out goddamn Wordpress, I'm failing as a blogger.

However, my intentions are pure and I fully intend to keep up once I get through this latest hump. There's so much to look forward to, including a 3-concert extravaganza this spring, and lots of hiking plans for the summer (I'm hitting the Grouse Grind for the first time!)

Don't go away. You won't be sorry.

In Blogging Limbo

Blogger sucks and I'm not loving the template limitations I have on Wordpress without paying, so I'm not sure how long this is going to take. Rest assured (because I know you're worried, right?) that everything will be up and running soon enough and I'll be back to regular posting.

Corridor of Fun

The thing I love best about this hallway leading from the kitchen to the stairs is that almost everytime I head upstairs, I can take a run at it. But it doesn't work so good after a few drinks on a Friday night, though.

On Hold

I'm setting up my new blog at Wordpress. It's taking a bit of time, (it has to be just right, you know,) so be patient, my darlings, and I'll share the new link as soon as it's ready. (As if you can't guess what the new link is...)

Back again soon.

Stubborn Piece of Sh*t

After less than two weeks, Blogger is dead to me. For the second time, I spent an hour on a post only to discover half of it missing when I went to publish.

So suck it, Blogger. Readers, you can find me shortly on Wordpress.

Love Your Pantones

Colour is such a fascinating topic, but it wasn't until I took courses last year in Adobe inDesign that I learned how much I really love it. I'm so grateful that I have two jobs that let me play with colour and design, and even though colour matching can be a complete headache (and expensive!) there is something irresistible about how erratic, unpredictable, surprising and beautiful colour can be. When something looks warm and inviting in one kind of light, it looks the complete opposite in another setting. Kind of like a bad relationship that you just can't give up.

So I just joined Pantone's fan community, and frankly, I'm wondering why I never did this sooner. I check the website periodically and I follow @mypantone on Twitter, but for some reason this didn't hit my radar until today.

Pantone colour matching and the organization itself has a really fascinating history, one that is based in my favourite historical time period, the mid-20th century. Before Pantone colour matching system, there was no colour standard in graphic design, an unthinkable concept nowadays. And it all began when a young man named Lawrence Herbert was working at a commercial printing company. He began simplifying the company's ink stocks and did so well that he eventually was running the company, renaming it Pantone.

As someone who relies on colour and works with branded designs a lot, I love this system and it makes it a billion times easier working with printers in various formats.

Plus, if you are a colour nerd like me, you mght enjoy some of these:

LOVE these. I own the bottom one, second from the far left. (Got mine from the Seattle Art Museum.)

Pantone chip cookies!! (via Design*Sponge)

Rubik's cube in Pantone (via IfItsHipItsHere - see more stuff on the link!)

Anyway, for joining the myPantone community, here's what you have access to:

You are now a member of myPANTONE. You will receive, via E-mail, a link to download your complementary issue of Before & After* magazine.
Being a myPANTONE member gives you the following benefits:

• Access to members-only articles
• PANTONE "X-Ref" online color system cross-referencing tool
• Exclusive offers and promotions
• Order status, tracking information and purchase history
• Free software updates
• Full access to our Help Center
• Online 24/7 access to our Knowledgebase
• "Ask a Question" page
• Access to myPANTONE Palettes online community, for color palette sharing
• Access to myPANTONE Forums

If you ask me, these are pretty cool benefits for a free membership. (If you love colour like I do, consider joining!)

Shucks.

My fellow blogger and partner in crime, queeniecarly, just summed up pretty succinctly our friendship and why I need her in my life in this post.

I have friends that I enjoy many different facets of my life and loves with, but few that understand all the parts together. The friends I can be sarcastic and catty with look at me blankly when I say that I'm annoyed by the apostrophe use in plural words, or misplaced modifiers. Or they understand my love of Pantone colours, but they are clueless when it comes to politics.

The Queen meets all these with a bottle of wine on top. Love this girl.

Part of the "Photos with the Band" series. Jimmy Eat World, July 2008.

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Hear the first single, Make Some Noise, on their website.

I'm stoked. May 3.

A Piece of the Past

I grew up listening to The Beatles. My mom was a superfan, and when I listen to albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver, I am taken back to our living room in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the late 70s. I can see the red carpet and red crushed velvet curtains, our brown velour furniture, the shale rock on the wall flanked by sections with mirrors that had gold designs over them. In front of the rock and mirror wall was our huge brown wood console stereo that contained a built-in 8-track player and turntable, where my mom would play her Beatles vinyl when my sisters and I were kids.

When Apple announced that The Beatles' tunes would be available on iTunes, I think a lot of people, myself included, were like, "Yeah, and...?" I mean really, if you couldn't get something on iTunes, you'd get it from somewhere else, even if that means buying a *gasp* CD and downloading it.

I actually have never owned digital copies of Beatles songs, I thought if I came across an album in the store I'd buy a CD and download it, but it just never was a priority. Plus, there's a part of me that has this weird resistance to doing what everyone else is doing, and if everyone else is downloading Beatles' songs because they're newly available on iTunes, I'm not going to, for some stubborn reason.

Anyway, last night I happened to overhear Girl, one of my favourite songs by the Beatles. I suddenly had a hankering to get a little nostalgic, and I downloaded Girl, Across the Universe, Something, Come Together, and A Day in the Life. My favourites. Listening to them, I was taken back to my childhood, with cousins and grandparents living down the street, Sundays at Nana and Grandad's house, playing in my cousins' backyard, my green swing set by the side of my house (I always wished it had a slide), my Mr. Turtle pool (that my next-door-neighbour, Karen, stepped in with her sandals on and cracked it, and I never forgave her,) and so much more.

Funny how music can take you straight back.

I Can Tell That We're Going to Be Friends

Tonight I was able to celebrate the graduation of the newest Print Futures: Professional Writing diploma program graduates. It was fun to see what the newest graduates are doing, since I graduated from the program last year. The added bonus was seeing everyone from my class who suffered through the workloads, the late nights, the confusing theory, and the job hunting woes. Even though I've managed to keep in touch with a few of them, some I hadn't seen since our graduation last April.

Tonight, nearly our entire graduation class had returned to see what the new grads were up to. It was great to catch up and have some laughs and remember why we all loved each other so much. There were only three people missing from our little band of 2010 graduates, but there were a few grads from previous years, (including one of my favourite girls, Amanda Lee), and we had so much fun!

I'm just sorry I didn't get photos of everyone. We left with happy smiles and plans to get together over the summer again.




Cody was the kind of sharp-dressed man you want to hug!
Romana and Tanya flank said sharp-dressed man. 

 


The girls, catching up

 


The beautiful Amy Wood, 2011 graduate,
shows off her portfolio

 


Kim and I squealed, hugged, and without a word I held up my camera and she posed. Click! LOL



Congratulations 2011 graduates!

It Was a Gumboot Kind of Day

It was pouring rain this morning, so I threw on my trusty gumboots and dashed out the door to work. Traffic woes didn't give me time to change my footwear before my first meeting of the day, so I attended in dresspants and wellies. Unfortunately, I discovered afterward that I hadn't brought appropriate footwear at all, and the koi became part of my fashion statement for the day. But I got compliments galore, and even after the rain stopped and the sun came out, I was rockin the gumboots like it ain't no thing.

Thank you, Chooka!

Update: Okay, so this post got me thinking about my boots and I went to the website. And O.M.G. These are my next pair:

When a Diva Must Adjust to Change

I have been using Estee Lauder skin care products for 10 years this year. Before that, I was using soap and water (gasp) on my skin, and by my mid-20s I was already noticing the damage. So I switched.

But over the past decade, sometimes I buy a new pressed powder (Lucidity Light Medium, holla!) or moisturizer and they've changed the packaging. Usually it's not a big deal, like when it's for appearance. For example, the last time I bought moisturizer they had changed the shade of blue of the pump and it now has a gold lid, not a frosted white lid.

New packaging (left) old packaging (right)

At first I didn't like it and I was kind of annoyed. (Seriously!) But today when I went to throw out the old pump I compared the two and the new version is clearly better.

Sometimes the changes aren't for the better. One time last year I bought my usual pressed powder and was dismayed to discover that it had a gold inner ring now inside the compact. While the new packaging does look nicer, the decorative ring (as far as I can tell it is only decorative,) obstructs me from getting at the last bit of powder around the edges when I'm running low. Sort of a waste, or I have to pry the gold ring off to get the rest. (I'm cheap enough to do it too.)

Notice the annoying gold ring inside the compact.

Anyway, the last time I was on the website I noticed they have collectible compacts. And as soon as I saw this, I decided I MUST HAVE IT:

It comes filled with Lucidity pressed powder, and you can get refills! (And look - no annoying gold ring!)

And she's off!

New colour: Antique Earth, by Behr (Love!)

I have completed one wall. One coat. This is going to take longer than I thought. However, I should note that I bought an edging contraption that the lady at Home Depot said is a great seller and everyone loves it, but maybe I'm dumb, because every wall I edged with it was a mess. So I have been cutting in by hand, as I hate taping. And if I do say so myself, I'm pretty good!

I started around 4:45, and finished this wall just before 7, so I know I'll be able to finish the last wall, but the second coats might go into the late/early hours. But I have to give the ladder back, so it's do or die.

Here's the lowdown so far:

Number of walls left to cover: 1
Number of coats left: 4 (two on one wall, one each on two walls)
Number of times I got up and down on the ladder: a freakin' million
Number of slip-ups on the edges: about 10
Number of times I got mad at my kids for being annoying: 2
Number of hours they have been watching TV since: 1.5

My trusty iPod, Roxy LaRue, is spewing out pretty good tunes so far.

Song of this round: She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult

Back after the last wall is done.

3:06am:  Not quite done, but calling it a night and I'm running out of paint anyway. I did all the edging, but the last three walls need their final coat. It does look way better in here. So close, but not quite. :(

Besides, when the iPod starts playing Depeche Mode songs a second time after being on shuffle for 11 hours, it's time to end the show.

Making a Change

Tomorrow's post? Finishing painting my bedroom. I started Saturday before last but couldn't finish because I didn't have a ladder for the high walls. Now said ladder is ready and waiting, and tomorrow is a go.

Check back tomorrow for a play-by-play of the race to the finish.

Not. Happy.

I spent an hour writing today's post and when I went to preview it, I got a blank screen. I went back to edit the post, and half of my post is gone. Blogger, you're on probation.

Good Morning

I am not a morning person, and nor have I ever been. But mornings like today's make me think there is more to life than enjoying a good sleep-in. When I can fit this many things that I love doing into a four-hour period, it's a good morning. I had to drop Dev off at his friend's to go snowboarding for the day, and I had a hair appointment downtown. So we were up at 7:40am this morning, dropped D off, and Cam and I headed out.

I have been going to Morgan at Storm Salon for the past 16 years. I often think it's time to start seeing someone closer to home, but everytime I walk in, I know I can't do it. For example, the last time I was there, it was a Friday night the week before Christmas, and when I sat in the chair, Morgan asked, "would you like a glass of wine?" So while he did my hair, I enjoyed a glass of red with a stick of chocolate. Does it really ever get any better?

Storm Salon, 77 E. Pender Street

We were early, and Morgan hadn't arrived to open the salon yet, so Cam and I went next door to Everything Cafe for some breakfast.

Cam was thrilled because they had cereal and milk ($3.00) with the mini-cereal boxes. She picked Fruit Loops. Most of the items offered were special coffees, desserts, muffins, sandwiches and wraps, as well as a daily soup. I am cutting down on carbs and sugars, so the only thing I could really have was the breakfast sandwich, ($4.00ish?) which had cheese, scrambled egg and bacon, but it came on a grilled bread. (I didn't think to ask for no bread, but whatever. -1 for me, I guess.) It was delish - I could actually taste everything in it, and the cheddar was sharp - yum!

The sun was coming through the window and we enjoyed our breakfast, the first people in the cafe.

Afterward, we walked down the street to one of the Chinese shops (we were in the heart of Chinatown) and poked around all the trinkets. We saw some pretty paper lanterns, and Cam was trying to decide if she wanted a Chinese fan or a lantern, and if the lantern, what colour - dark pink or lime green (her two favourite colours)? I suggested we decide after my appointment, and we go see if Morgan was there yet. She ran ahead, and when she looked in the window, she turned back to me and gave me the thumbs-up.

Morgan and I had had a great chat as usual. He and I were in the same French class in grade 9, and when I ran into him after high school when we both lived in Vancouver and he told me he was doing hair, I made an appointment and was so happy with what he did I never looked back. Today was no different. After two hours of chatting about Mad Men, his new home, and catching up on what's new, my hair looked much better. Cam and I went back to the shop and she picked the Chinese fan. (A black fabric fan with a cherry blossom branch embroidered on it, very pretty.) We were done so early that I had time to head over to Moe's.

I love Moe's. I bought my white leather dining room chairs there at Christmas time, and the staff member I dealt with, Gene, was awesome. Long story short, I got great customer service and I was able to get a something that I really loved for my new home. The purchase of the chairs also entitled me to a $100 gift card under a promotion they were running at the time, and I haven't been able to make it back to take advantage of it, so today was perfect. I got an email the other day saying they were having a no-tax sale this weekend too.

I love this slipper chair. Thinking about adding it to my bedroom. (Check out Cam's fan.)

I spent about an hour and a half in Moe's, and ended up getting a print for the house.

I liked this piece because I love art that depicts cities. It doesn't even matter what city, or whether I've been to the city. I'm drawn to the look of buildings, skyline and their surroundings. I also like the colours in this one - it had a little touch of turquoise in it, one of my favourites.

During the drive home, Cam fell asleep and my iPod played a clip of the Ricky Gervais Show - Best of Series 1. This is my favourite podcast, and the only one that makes me laugh out loud. I heard a particularly hilarious clip as Stephen read from Karl's diary, as Karl related his trip to Gran Canaria. His observations are so absurd, and Ricky and Stephen's incredulous responses and howls of laughter are half of what crack me up.

"There was a really fat bloke on the plane. He was playing on his PSP. While I waited to go to the toilet I looked to see what game he was playing. It was darts. He's that fat and lazy he can't even face playing a more active game on a games console."

The sun was out, and I'd spent the past four hours doing things I love doing! A pretty good  morning in my book.

I See What You're Doing

I opened the latest Sears flyer today to find this ad. I've noticed over the past few years companies are trying to encourage dumb acronyms, like Payless Shoes' BOGO - buy one, get one half off. They now simply call it "the BOGO" sale, with no explanation of what the acronym means, but it doesn't matter, because the public knows what it means.

Also a few years ago, the Bank of Montreal became BMO, and the Royal Bank of Canada, RBC. (I overheard a converstation between some girls in a store just yesterday: one said, ""where do you bank?" and the other responded nonchalantly, "RBC.")

I guess our society is more and more accustomed to shortened, faster ways of communicating, but it still hurts my heart a little to see our language whittle away to signs and signals like cavemen.

And you will never, ever, catch me referring to the "lowest price of the season" as "LPS".

Sullied

okay, I'll admit I only bought this song because it has my name in it. It's not a bad tune, but when I put it on in my car...well, look.

I'm back. There will be more.

Girl On The Side

I'm back, yet again. After about five weak blogging attempts, I have set my blog up on my phone, thinking this might make it easier to blog on the go. In fact, I'm lying in bed right now!

I'll be back later today with a game plan. To the top!

Bex