Gratitude

Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes!
I had a great day topped off with Chinese food ordered in and some movies. Decided against going out. Wonderful lunch with some friends was enough:)

Debra She Who Seeks is the winner of my birthday present draw. Yay! Thanks.

Now I am off downtown to get weighed for the "at home version" of Xweighted! The party is over.....or maybe I should say it is just beginning! First I am meeting a pal for pancakes! Then off we go for a fitness test and scales. Dum de dum dum.

January 8

What do we share in common?
Yep! Our birthday:)
"Da,da,da,da,da,da, You say it's your birthday?! Da,da,da,da,da, HappyBirthday to you!!"Sing it like John Lennon:)
I'm going to send a gift to someone today! Leave a comment and I will draw a name:).
Nods to David Bowie today too.

Yeah baby!

hot off the easel:)

Best Friends ORIGINAL available here
Print available on Etsy.

lunch and a prayer

This is Morris East. I have been wanting to visit for a while. It is a small place tucked away on a side street off Barrington. My neighbor and I have been trying to get out to lunch for weeks and finally we made it.

The food was really good. I had a sweet potato/squash soup and a toasted avacado, olive tapenade, roasted tomato and swiss cheese sandwich. Can you say yum? My lunch partner had one of their wonderous pizzas and it was AMAZING! Wood fired pear with maple aioli,blue cheese, roasted pork loin and charred onion. They are known for their Italian wood fired oven which was brought over from Europe. As much as I enjoyed my sandwich, next time I am trying one of their pizzas!

Sadly, our lunch concluded with the funeral of another neighbor from just down the street. A charming, sweet man who always had a cheery word and a smile for us. He was eighty years old and up until just a few weeks ago went every morning for a walk in Point Pleasant Park. I'll miss him

Mary's Cathedral Basilica. I took these after the service. I am not really a super religious person but these sanctuaries of prayer inspire me. I believe most religions inspire their followers towards the same goals of becoming kinder, more thoughtful, selfless individuals and I think there are many paths to get there. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. If everyone lived by this, just imagine......

cheep!

Gigi and robin chick. A picture from my childhood:) This wee bird fell from a nest or something, can't remember now... so we brought it in and made a lined box and fed it with an eyedropper and then put it back outside I think. Must ask my mum. Gigi did not know what to make of it! We were always rescuing small birds and animals.
Our family had two Siamese cats, Gigi was neurotic and twitchy, Topaz was round and cuddly. To this day I still miss them. They both had separate litters of kittens in my bedroom cupboard! I remember how as soon as they were able, they would laboriously pick up each kitten by the scruff of the neck, trundle over to my bed, leap up with kitten clamped between their teeth, deposit in the warm covers and go back for another. I loved it!

Snap!

This big spoon came from the set of the movie,The Shipping News that starred Kevin Spacey. At the end of a production sometimes there is an auction of props and things. A friend of mine who worked as the food stylist on that show picked up some spoons. I had helped her create a "squid" burger for one of the scenes. lol. We tried to make it look great with bits of dulse hanging out and deep fried breaded fried tentacles but Kevin refused to even try it. The rest of the crew and director did and pronounced them delicious! His was eventually made with chicken. All this for a ten second shot:)

I uploaded this shot to Shutterstock on the weekend. It was was accepted and already has a download:) I have not been very consistent at all with my microstock stuff and plan to try to get a few uploaded each week. It is another way to make some extra dollars and fun too. With a bit of work, you could do quite well! I wrote about microstock a while ago. There was some controversy recently about microstock taking money from professional photographers. The shot that triggered the discussion was just a jar of coins used by Time magazine for their cover. Ironically the issue was about tightening the belt. Personally, I think why spend "big" money on a shot of a jar, a classic "stock" picture. Spend the"big"money on shots that require imagination and presence.

If you take a look around some of the microstock companies, there are AMAZING images to be found now. The advent of digital cameras has made photography accessible to so many more people and they are really pushing the boundaries of what can be done.

Sunday

This is the "before" picture. Practically ALL my shelves look like this! Ah, January...the month that triggers resolutions, good intentions and lots of great plans. Can you guess what I am starting? That is if I can get off this computer and not get distracted by something else. I find that when I tidy up anything with words, I start reading.... :) oh yeah, where was I? Takes forever!

Our storm is over! What an event that was. I don't think I've ever seen such change in so short time. Raining, then snowing hard, then ice pellets and back to snow, now it is mild and everything is melting. Wonder what is in store for next week? Crazy weather everywhere!

Gretchen Rubin is someone we can all learn something from. She just published a book called The Happiness Project. I 'd like to read it. Last year she test drove lots of theories about happiness and this book outlines what she discovered. One of the things I thought was interesting is that "random acts of kindness" don't work. People invariably end up suspicious and nervous. Better to help out a friend in need or help out as opportunities present themselves. Random scares people. Hmmm. Good stuff to ponder.

les fleurs

Gypsy Flowers, small 5 x 7 on stretched canvas available here!
Felt good swishing the brushes around. I've got a few ideas in my sketchbook to work on soon:)

snowy saturday

It's a winter wonderland out there! So pretty, so terrible to drive in. Right now I can hear ice pellets pinging my windows. Today and tomorrow .... snow, ice ,rain, repeat. A real Nor'Easter. I've been watching the always cheerful Chris St. Clair on the Weather Network describing it. He makes it seem like fun:) Love that guy!

I was out shoveling this morning, good way to get some exercise in but whew:) Cleared off the bird feeder. Those little guys get hungry this time of year. I don't know how they manage in storms like this.
Made some mjuddrah yesterday for good luck. It is a Lebanese dish with lentils and rice and caramelized onions. Eating lentils on January 1 is considered lucky, attracts prosperity:) I think it is because they look like tiny coins. I will have some of that for lunch with chopped tomatoes and feta. Yum.

This afternoon I am going to try my hand at painting:) Finally!! I've been doing everything but....

January 1

It's here! 2010. We are on the other side:)

Ahhh, sigh of relief, back to basics..... it is going to be hard after all the indulging. My birthday is fast approaching too. It is my winter hat-trick, Christmas, New Year and then Birthday:)

Last night's meal was delicious, shared with good friends...... Chipotle pork tenderloin, penne with shrimp and asparagus, broccoli salad and then profiteroles with chocolate sauce for dessert:) Topped off with a decaffe latte and sparlking drinkies. Movie was Stone of Destiny, a quaint Scottish flick, finished off with Halifax Parade Square countdown, dazzling backyard fireworks and then Times Square countdown! Dick Clark keeps soldiering on:)

Hope you had a good night too:) What did you do?