the theme for 2007

Each New Year's Eve I set a theme for the year to come.

2006 was "Takin it by Storm" and that worked out fairly well. I climbed Grouse Mountain five times. Chris and I committed to spending the rest of our lives together.

2007 is "Set 'Em Up and Knock 'Em Down!"

Once Upon A Wedding

Once upon a time, on a crisp October day, Princess Caitlin was sitting on the sand, looking out at English Bay. She was enjoying the warmth of her tall, non-fat, caramel macchiato, when a handsome Prince carrying a grande americano came and sat beside her. Nervously, the Prince pulled a magic silver bell from his jacket pocket. With a face the shade of snow, he thrust the magic bell toward the Princess and out fell a fabulous diamond ring. Then the Prince asked the question so many girls dream about for most of their lives. “Um, Caitlin? Will you marry me?” “Yes,” she said, “Yes.” With that, the Prince and Princess floated away on a cloud of soon-to-be marital bliss.

Then they began sharing their news with others.

While I (Princess Caitlin) was still daydreaming about “the rest of my life”, friends and family began to bombard me with questions about the wedding. All they wanted to talk about was “the big day”. Everyone had advice, suggestions, tips and expectations to share. I hadn’t even begun to think about the reception, or the dress, or the flowers, or the cake – I was at a loss and quickly becoming overwhelmed.

In a panic, I spent $60 on wedding magazines. I scoured the web for ideas and researched all the “necessary” items. I immersed myself in the “shoulds” and the “how-tos”. I was manic about finding the perfect favour to brand our relationship: are we a box of truffles, or a cedar sapling? Sapling. Am I a bouquet of wildflowers or a single sunflower? Sunflower. Are we roast lamb or grilled bison? Bison represents our Manitoban roots. Bison. We need a signature drink? Ok. Are we gin and tonic, or rum and coke? Well, are we saying that we’re fresh and clear, or sweet and syrupy? Isn’t Uncle Jim allergic to gin? How does rum connect conceptually with the cardamom-scented butter cake filled with fig conserve and orange-blossom cream?!

Speaking of fig conserve, where did I put the clipping of those cute jam jar favours? Three times I ran from end to end of the apartment. I tore through piles of magazines, stacks of printouts and collections of loose notes. As I slumped huffing and puffing on the sofa, a shrill siren of warning went off in my head: this was no way to ensure an exquisitely unified event! If I intended to be the truly gracious hostess - the hostess whose elegant arbour, monogrammed matches and spectacular fireworks display all worked together to create a harmonious guest experience – I could not allow this type of mismanagement! I cancelled my appointments for the remainder of the day and sped off to the local art supply store. I bought a gorgeous leather-bound scrapbook and raced back home. Four and a half hours later, I was a disheveled but satisfied wedding planner. Now that all images and ideas (including the cute jam jars) were displayed together in one place, I could surely prevent dissonance between the wine selections and pew bows!

Finally it felt like everything was in my control. I had a beautiful vision of what our happy day would look like, and I was ready to start making it happen. With my lovingly compiled wedding scrapbook in hand, I began to phone around and accumulate quotes for the invitations, the cake, the dinner, the liquor, the tables and chairs, the tent, the dress, the suits, the flowers, the photographer, the rings, the favours, the music, the marriage license: the basics. After a pleasant conversation about the impact of adding coriander to a standard maple-citrus glaze, I sat down with a coffee and my quotes and began to crunch some numbers. I added the numbers once (oops, I’ll try that again), twice (I had better double-checked the individual quotes), three times (surely I must be miscalculating), four times (I got up to walk around the room before calculating for the fifth time). Then I realized there was no mistake.
Suddenly I was suffocating inside the cloud of bliss, rather than floating happily-ever-after atop. As I stared at the number, the dresses in my mind began melting into a giant marshmallow puff, the rings merged into a single blinding orb, the honeymoons condensed into one looming palm surrounded by infinite neon blue water. I needed to lie down.

Lying on the ground with my legs slightly raised (to prevent shock), I said the number aloud: $27,000. I made sure to enunciate each syllable clearly. Twen-ty sev-en thou-sand dol-lars. What kind of pressure would I feel if I were to invest $27,000 in a single day? Everything would have to be perfect: twenty-four straight hours without accidents, compromises, disappointments, pimples or inclement weather. $27,000. I would feel so obligated to enjoy every possible second that I would likely make myself sick in the process. I don’t want to be sick on my wedding day. This day is only going to happen once. I will not make myself sick on my wedding day!

It is now a few weeks after that meltdown, I am using the wedding magazines as a footrest and the scrapbook as a candle plate. Once again I am in control of the planning. There will be fifty guests for a simple dinner at my parents’ farm. I will buy that beautiful vintage dress I’ve been eyeing up, my girlfriends and I will decorate with the gourds and flowers from my parents’ garden, friends and family will be asked for their best photos from the day, and my fiancé’s mom will bake a cake.

I have no desire to taint our marriage with the perfect wedding day. The more I became absorbed and obsessed by the wedding plans, the further I got from wife-to-be, and the closer I came to bride-to-be. As husband and wife there are so many wonderful adventures to come: travel to new and interesting places, the purchase of our first home, the birth of our first child, the celebration of our twenty-fifth anniversary, the celebration of our fiftieth anniversary! So, I will spend the next year in anticipation of being his wife and enjoy being engaged-to-be-married, with an emphasis on the “to-be-married”.

I am not a Princess. I am no Cinderella who needs saving from a wicked stepmother. I am no Snow White who is waiting to be awoken by my Charming’s kiss. I am the conscious, critically aware, independent woman, who is making a commitment to walk through life with a conscious, critically aware, independent man. That is much more valuable to me then “happily ever after”. The end.

"this is a story about a man named harold crick."

"and his wristwatch."













I fell hard for Stranger Than Fiction.
I fell for the brilliant cast: Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Will Ferrell and "Buster" from Arrested Development.
I fell for the magical direction: Marc Forster (Finding Neverland).
And for the sweet quirky story: Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction).

It's in the details: Karen Eiffel's depressing habit of using a saliva-soaked tissue to extinguish her cigarettes, the way Professor Jules Hilbert so slowly closes the door (literally) on Harold Crick...

the brilliant atheist

Copied from The Independent:

If you died and arrived at the gates of Heaven, what would you say to God to justify your lifelong atheism? VALERIE JACKSON, Richmond

I'd quote Bertrand Russell: "Not enough evidence, God, not enough evidence." But why is God assumed to care so much about whether you believe in him? Maybe he wants you to be generous, kind, loving, and honest - and never mind what you believe. (Richard Dawkins)

obadiah parker

an absolutely beautiful cover of the raunchy outKast tune "Hey Ya".



www.obadiah parker.com

sexual harassment and you

autumn and a woman named george

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
-George Eliot

in west philadelphia, born and raised....

maybe i'm just attached to Will Smith because I'm from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air generation. or, maybe this a sweet little flick that will make me laugh and make me cry.

shut up & sing

Who knew I was a fan of the Dixie Chicks?! We got home from the movie last night, and I immediately bought Taking the Long Way off iTunes! Hurray for courageous, thoughtful, talented women!!

inspiring independence

"I tell people I'm not blind," says Ben Underwood. "I just can't see."

remember

“We make war that we may live in peace.” -Aristotle

Dear Lego-Lovin 80s Kids,

check it out!

THAT's what babies are for!

try not to laugh.

ladysmith black mambazo

yes. i AM going to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo in concert TONIGHT!! not sure i'll be able to sleep. might spontaneously combust when they take the stage. will keep you posted (let you know if Sarah McLachlan decides to join them for their duet of "Homeless")........i'm SO EXCITED!!!!

boston and scorsese...

make a good pair.

the departed.
fantastic flick.
i was skeptical.
it was worthy of the hype.














best moment?
seeing marky mark curse out his big bro donnie d.

i want to be awake when truth hits

"Most people, sometime in their lives, stumble across truth.
Most jump up, brush themselves off, and hurry on about their business,
as if nothing had happened." - W. Churchill

(came to me via Sarah o' Sarahnomics)

marie antoinette

i will love this film.



meet her on friday!

red is genius. bono is genius.

yes, the majority of us are consumer sluts.
so this year, bono has made it super easy to give a little back
when we buy our gifts for the holidays.




products designed to help eliminate AIDS in Africa:
(mac, motorola, gap, converse, armani).

isn't red sexy?

obssessed?

a bit ... but it's INSANE!!!
check this out: girlpower - retouch

airbrushing on crack

why REAL women will never measure up. see portfolio > before/after.
(my armpits will NEVER look that good!)

why don't i feel gorgeous?

dove offers women an important perspective.

treadmill dance

i have erin to thank for passing on this bit of genius. thanks erin!

Daniel Defoe

"to sink under the weight [is] but to increase the weight"

zen

is Buddha Board the coolest thing ever invented?
pretty close.

















The Buddha Board philosophy is as follows:

"Buddha Board is based on the Zen concept of living in the moment. You simply paint on the surface with water and your creation will come to life in bold design. Then, as the water slowly evaporates, your art will magically disappear leaving you with a clean slate and a clear mind - ready to create a whole new masterpiece."

It is meditative, soothing, completely forgiving ...and it's fun too!

Smooches to S&A for introducing this joy to my life!

kaki king

thanks to Miss Angela, i was in the audience when this musical tour de force passed through Vancouver! Kaki King is touring with her new album ...Until We Felt Red, bewitching audiences with her ingenious guitar and enchanting them with her angelic voice. She'll be hitting Toronto and Montreal on October 19th and 20th! See her website for details.

A. blogging slacker?

B. too busy to blog because i had the best birthday EVER, and this super amazing fella asked me to marry him!?!??!!!

here's a hint...

Stefano Pilati (Yves Saint Laurent)

"I hate the word perfection, because, personally, I feel it does not take you anywhere...Let's say today I found it, what am I going to do next?"

media spinning of Clinton's interview

Jon Stewart breaks it down for us.

what is WITH halloween?

Have these people never heard the well-known warning, "Never take candy from strangers"?! So let me get this straight... never take candy from strangers EXCEPT on this ONE day... oh ya, and ONLY if you beg for it first.










Look how confused the little bugger is!

if i had a million dollars

i'm no fashionista, but collection after collection, i fall in love with gianfranco ferre. ferre's architectural background inspires the precision and beauty of the lines in his clothes. like i was saying: if i had a million dollars...

who do i love?

I love Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu, Josh Hartnett, Stanley Tucci, and Ben Kingsley. See these fantastic actors in Lucky Number Slevin. See it for the clever dialogue (Slevin: I said the same thing that the guy with two penises says when his tailor asks if he dresses to the right or to the left. Yes.). See it for the incredible wallpaper, if for nothing else!

smack the pony

funnier because the bloke's name is Chris.

(thanks vaughn!)

meredith?

Yes. Tonight is the biggest night of my life.


(Tonight, Grey's Anatomy premieres its third season)

healing rwanda

this documentary will be available until the latest National is loaded Wednesday, September 20th at 11:30pm ET. Click "Watch the National Online" and skip forward to 28:26.

What of the survivors of the 1994 genocide of Rwandan Tutsis?














Nicole Pageau moved to Kimironko, Rwanda to help the women and children left behind: "The Tutsis are proud people. Those women are proud women. But their pride was...all gone because of what they had suffered. And I wanted them to be proud again. To be again, what they are."

Known as "Maman Nicole" by the widows of the village, Pageau and Ubuntu Edmonton have established a food bank, a sewing/knitting/embroidery cooperative, a community centre, and more, for the community of women and children. Pageau has "sparked faith and opened hearts once closed by fear and pain."

I am inspired by the work of this selfless and compassionate woman.

really blond white girls

"Caitlin Spencer" has been the name of a character in 2 less-than-horrible films in the last six years. In What Lies Beneath (2000), "Caitlin" is the barely present daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Spencer (Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer). In Take the Lead (2006), "Caitlin Spencer" is the rich white girl who finds herself more comfortable with the kids at Pierre Dulaine's inner city dance class. In fact, she delivers one of the classic lines of the film as she watches her peers at the fancy dance school: "It's like sex on hardwood."

So. Maybe I'm jealous about having to share my name, because I've rarely had to do so (it's not like my name is so generic as Jane Smith). But perhaps I'd feel better if "Caitlin Spencer" was the name of a super secret, super hot spy in a super slick, super stylin movie. Or maybe it's just that I'm thrown by the noticeable similarity between the two onscreen representations of my name:













Notice anything? Anything?
You guessed it. Bleached, refined, white bread!

According to Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (authors of Freakonomics), this is the predominant make-up of girls named "Kaitlin" all across the United States. So, fine, my name is one of the whitest girl names in America (I imagine the stats are similar for Canada). Oh, I'm not foolish enough to believe that my dark hair, and the minor trace of Cree in my blood exempts me from this pattern. But I guess I'm uncomfortable with my membership in that club. I have preferred not to consider myself any colour at all - to be colourless, rather than whitey mcwhite white. There are some pretty severe stereotypes about people with that particular skin colour, and I obviously have some discomfort being associated with them: privileged, elitist, and oppressive are words that come to mind.

I love my name. I love the way it sounds and the way it looks. I own it. I'm proud of it. I love that at the time my mom chose "Caitlin" (1980), it was still relatively unique. And I love that I was named after the wife of her favourite poet: Caitlin Thomas. I especially love the connection to Caitlin Ryan of Degrassi Junior High (who you can bet was just as white as the rest of the "Caitlin" club). I've always adored my name. I have especially cherished its Celtic heritage, and its ability to tie me to my Scottish/Irish/Welsh ancestry....... I suppose I just never considered what colour the Celts were.

my favourite handy-isms

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because, man, they're gone.

I think a good novel would be where a bunch of men on a ship are looking for a whale. They look and look, but you know what? They never find him. And you know why they never find him? It doesn't say. The book leaves it up to you, the reader, to decide. Then, at the very end, there's a page you can lick and it tastes like Kool-Aid.

Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because what IS that thing?!

When you go ice-skating, try not to swing your arms too much, because that really annoys me.

Whenever someone asks me to define love, I usually think for a minute, then I spin around and pin the guy's arm behind his back. NOW who's asking the questions?

Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.

There's nothing so tragic as seeing a family pulled apart by something as simple as a pack of wolves.

If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy.

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to DisneyLand, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "DisneyLand burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real DisneyLand, but it was getting pretty late.

Laurie got offended that I used the word "puke." But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.

Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy.

I remember one day I was at Grandpa's farm and I asked him about sex. He sort of smiled and said, "Maybe instead of telling you what sex is, why don't we go out to the horse pasture and I'll show you." So we did, and there on the ground were my parents having sex.

If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at the enemy, throw one of those small pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think how stupid war is, and while they are thinking, you can throw a real grenade at them.

Instead of putting a quarter under a kid's pillow, how about a pinecone? That way, he learns that "wishing" isn't going to save our national forests.

a love note for my boy

trust sarah to be able to put it in words.

Rugby - Beach Club Grille

Yes. I've always loved going to the Rugby Club (950 W Broadway) because of the cheap beverages ($3.50 Cosmopolitan). But last night, I found the only reason I need.

Yes, the Grainy Dijon/Garlic/Tarragon Lamb Tenderloin ($13.95) melted as it hit my tongue.
And yes, the Roasted Asparagus ($5.75) burst forth with flavour at each bite.
And of course, the small Silken Chocolate Truffle Cake ($3.95) was creamy and just the right size.

But ohhh ... it was the few bites I tried of Christopher's New York Cheesecake with Caramel Drizzle ($5.95) that gave me shivers. Honestly. I was so into that taste, it was almost embarassing.

sexy had been gone for so long

and then justin brought her back.


















seriously. Justified rocked my body but this single makes me sweat.
sure J.T. is the new M.J., and some people think it's blasphemous to enjoy anything popular, but crank it up and start to move ... tell me that doesn't feel goooood.

Three Sisters - Anders Swanson

Anders Swanson recently participated in MuralFest 2K6: The Winnipeg International Mural Festival and Symposium. His entry:















For wounds will always play the fool. Wounds are compulsive liars. The way the wound appears on the surface is rarely an accurate identification of the full dimensions of the wound...Wounds cannot speak for themselves. And yet wounds are the evidence of stories of profound importance. If they are neglected, ignored or simply stitched up and forgotten, then we will get to the point where we can't look at ourselves. The wounds become deeper, less apparent, more structural, if you will, even genetic. Wounds that become apparent only in the second or third generation. The theater of wounds is a memory theater. Our failure to look at wounds now, and interpret them now, may lead us to give birth to a society of monsters. -Gregory Whitehead "Display Wounds"

my girl erin

Erin Nuttall is a force to be reckoned with, as far as I'm concerned. If that woman wants something to happen, she will make it so.

Example? Erin busted her butt with Steve Wilson and The Graffiti Art Gallery (Winnipeg, Manitoba), to put together a summer Mural Festival.














Taking art to the streets in this way, both legitimizes public art in general and returns accessibility to art that is more than decoration. Often murals are (under)used to beautify and cover up the corroding urban fabric, but they have the potential to achieve so much more: challenge boundaries, stir controversy, criticize policy, uncover truth...

(you're incredible miss nuttall! love ya!)

moderation in all things...

even in female body shapes.


















What is healthy?
Healthy is not a super skinny fashionista subsisting on coffee and celery alone. Healthy is not an overly obese diva dining each day on pastries and McD's.
Obviously, the average woman doesn't have the time or the money to invest in a Janet Jackson six-pack. That type of cosmetic "health" is unattainable and unnecessary.
So then what is the ideal?
What is the goal?

Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what the healthy version of me looked like, or how that healthy me felt. On June 2nd, I signed on to SparkPeople. In two months, my entire view of health and beauty has been transformed. It's difficult to appropriately describe, but my thoughts and feelings are so changed. It's like I've switched from PC to Mac - my operating system is so much more stable and better looking too! (he he ... such a Mac geek)

And now I know.
Healthy me is strong and sexy - in body and mind.
She's satisfied, not stuffed.
She has energy, and she wants to move!
After so long, she is confident and content.
Healthy me has achieved equilibrium.

So for me, health is balance and moderation.
Health is a bit too much and a bit too little, equalizing over time.
Health is not substituting a cup of coffee for a well-balanced lunch.
Health is not mindlessly consuming two pieces of pie during one episode of Grey's.

Maybe it's post-Atkins trauma. Maybe it's our societal system gently balancing after rebounding from extreme to extreme. That could be wishful thinking, but it does seem society's ideals regarding health are undergoing change. Super Size Me received a lot of attention when it was released. Dove's latest marketing campaign includes healthy images of women in their underwear. Catwalk organizers in Spain are banning unhealthy models from their runways. The epidemic of childhood obesity; the dangers of our dependence on carbonated beverages; criticism of the sedentary nature of our current lifestyles; these have all been hitting the news in the last few weeks. Perhaps this health revolution will be more moderate than the fitness craze of the 80s. Maybe the trend of lifestyle change over diet will be more than a passing fad. Moderation is so much more sustainable.

remembering my poppa

"Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head
Where ever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You will always hear me singing this song
Show me the way to go home"

















H. E. Buchanan died September 4th, 2005.

Dear "lycra clad street warrior",

You may be doing yourself a disservice by conscientiously capping your noodle with streamlined styrofoam.














"...This study suggests wearing a helmet might make a collision more likely in the first place..." Dr. Ian Walker, a traffic psychologist from Bath University, conducted a study that found motorists are twice as likely to drive closer to a cyclist (an average of 8.5 cm away) when they are wearing a helmet.

Walker suggests that "most adult cyclists know what it is like to drive a car, but relatively few motorists ride bicycles in traffic, and so don't know the issues cyclists face".

Though no one is recommending I stop protecting my skull when I take to the street, I will definitely reconsider the belief that my fancy red helmet provides me with the powers of invincibility.

merci beaucoup to my favourite procrastinator for finding this BBC NEWS article. *smooch*

water: the fantastic stupendous splendiferous magnificent miracle cure!

Yes. She is flawless.
No. It isn't because she drinks 8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day.





















I have continually found Snopes.com to be a trustworthy source of myth-busting. When concerned loved ones emailed pleas to postpone my trip to Thailand, after seeing "unbelievable" photos of the 2004 tsunami hitting the coast, I was able to dispel their worries with Snopes. When fear-mongering email forwards frightened my friends with "inconceivable" stories of car thieves rendering their victims unconscious with ether-filled perfume bottles in grocery store parking lots, it was Snopes that helped me to set their minds at ease. Snopes has continually come through for me as a source for critical analysis of rumors. From them I will even consider an argument I don't necessarily want to hear:

The best general advice (keeping in mind that there are always exceptions) is to rely upon your normal senses. If you feel thirsty, drink; if you don't feel thirsty, don't drink unless you want to. The exhortation that we all need to satisfy an arbitrarily rigid rule about how much water we must drink every day was aptly skewered in a letter by a Los Angeles Times reader:

Although not trained in medicine or nutrition, I intuitively knew that the advice to drink eight glasses of water per day was nonsense. The advice fully meets three important criteria for being an American health urban legend: excess, public virtue, and the search for a cheap "magic bullet."

Darn. Not since the Thighmaster; not since the Atkins' Diet; not since Kirstie Alley lost 200 lbs by dancing all day to Sir-Mix-a-Lot had I truly believed in the one-stop beauty shop. My faith had been restored when I jumped on the water bandwagon! Drink 64 ounces of water each day and your skin will glow, your body will tighten and people will like you a whole lot more? "Heck! I can do that", I said. That transparent liquid was flowing through my body like the Fraser River. Now this.

Ah well. Somewhere inside I probably knew it was too good to be true. Though, I'm not going to stop drinking water altogether. I do find that if I'm feeling tired, a glass of water energizes me just as well as a cup of coffee (perhaps even better, because it isn't followed by that agitated twitching thing I get when brimming with caffeine). I suppose I don't have much use for all the extra sugar that I imbibe in the average fruit juice or soft drink. Water costs quite a bit less than most other beverages, and I enjoy saving money. And, when I get a headache, a glass of water generally subdues the pain (particularly when the headache is induced by beverages of the more costly variety). Also, a few glasses of water taste really good after an intensive hike or a hard bicycle ride. I guess from now on, I just won't bother lining up my 64 shot glasses each morning.

my girl sheena

so.
i've mentioned this incredibly talented young woman in a few other posts.
sheena grobb folks.
ya.
you recognize her.
this IS a blatant and shameless advertisement.
my opinion is that sheena is fantastic! and i'm out to spread the word.

the rocket

yes i dare say it, "this is a better film than Little Miss Sunshine."
the acting is genius and the shots are beautiful.
i saw it months ago in the theatre, but it has stayed with me.
go see The Rocket and tell me i'm wrong.






(important context of my claim: i get a rush from sports dramas, i adore hockey, i find Roy Dupuis incredibly sexy, and my dad taught me about Maurice Richard)

sweet sustainable style

from the Georgia Straight

you just ... hang around

(love you sarah *wink*)

kickin carry case

i've had it for 2 years, and i've just bought the new mini one. much better than a wallet i think.

seeking inspiration

Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality in your
own mind.
Bruce Lee

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Never, never, never give up.
Winston Churchill

Try not to become a [hu]man of success but rather to become a [hu]man of value.
Albert Einstein

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol

If you don't like something, change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.
Mary Engelbreit

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.
Cherie Carter-Scott

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
Mary Shelley

Every artist was first an amateur.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

salt

the tasting room.















a swell little joint. all the things i love.

a. ambiance: the brick wall, the long table, the wall-size black chalkboard displaying rotating menu options, calm candle-like lighting
b. affordability: $15/plate, $38/bottle of vino
c. comfort: unpretentious (servers wear jeans), as suited to groups of co-workers as to couples post-theatre
d. variety: cornichons, mango relish, ox tongue, organic salami, Irish blue cheese, port salut
e. quality: our pinot gris was delicious, the spanish almonds amazing, excellent service
f. portions: 3 plates between 4 people was plenty - we were satisfied not stuffed
g. experience: entrance off a back alley in the heart of Vancouver's sketchiest 'hood, nothing else like it in the city and it's hard to find!

wish i was a kid again

and i thought the books were cool!
this just came out on dvd:

Jealousy...

that dragon which slays love
under the pretence of keeping it alive.
-Havelock Ellis

i know he's a world leader

but come on.

day trip to Iona Beach

we cycled out to this remote bird sanctuary where the Fraser River meets the ocean and YVR planes take off for distant lands.

new work

by Terra Lund

we are an endangered species.

From Alfonso Cuarón, the co-writer and director of Y tu mamá también, comes Children of Men, a gritty science fiction movie starring Clive Owen, Michael Caine and Julianne Moore.

December 25th, 2006.

a blue whale has a tongue the size of an elephant

blue whales are believed to be the largest animals
ever to have lived on the Earth.

pretty dresses

and red carpet nostalgia

his voice is sublime

Last night I heard Salif Keita.
Hier soir j'ai dansé.

tumbleweed tiny house company

photography that dreams are made of

by cole rise

one photo/each day/for three years

"Based on one hell of a true story"

The World's Fastest Indian is the telling of the story of New Zealand hero, Burt Munro. Sir Anthony Hopkins is delightful to watch, I absolutely fell in love with the character. A good movie to inspire passion for life and plaster a big ol grin on your face.

new painting

painted this yesterday. reminiscin' over my prairie roots.

Island Way Sorbet

Bliss. A halved coconut shell filled with frozen coconut milk and a bit o' cream. It's divine! The Island Way sorbet line originates in South Africa and includes apple, lemon, orange, mango, pineapple and pina colada flavours. Mine cost $2.99 CDN at the local grocery store (Marketplace IGA, Vancouver).