Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Let The Merriment Begin!

Phew! 



Papers are written,
Christmas cards are sent,
Exams are finished,
Time to start to the merriment of the season ahead :)

I'm looking forward to :

- Staff Christmas parties (I've got 4 to attend this year!)
- Novel indulging (I've got 3 I really want to jump into)
- Puzzle building!
- Craft making (I made the mistletoe featured above 
during a Dinosaur exam study break last night)
- Learning new skills (I went took at sewing class tonight, 
at a wonderful local shop called Spool Of Thread)
- Checking out neighbourhood lights with hot cocoa in one hand,
and my sweetie's hand in the other :)

Merry Christmas my loved lovelies :)
What are you looking forward to?

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Little Update and some Dinosaur facts :)

Sorry that I have been a little MIA lately,
but it has been for good reason...

- I've been hand crafting all my Christmas cards 
and working on knitting little gifts

- Attending pirate parties, dance parties, and dinner parties (with fog machines inside I might add!)...

- Signing up for a sewing class, 3 classes next semester, and booking my New Years vacation...

-Finishing 4 novels in the last month (3 for school and 1 for pleasure)

- Writing endless amounts of papers and studying for exams (just one more exam to go!)

- AND on top of everything else.... getting into the full swing of Christmas Cheer! 

To tide you over till I get to do a proper post, 
here is a little a learned about the dinosaur 
THERIZINOSAURUS! 

Creepy looking guy, eh?

- It was first discovered in the late 1940's during a joint Soviet -Mongolian fossil hunting expedition in the Gobi Desert. They only found gigantic bony claws, but in 1954 this dinosaur was named Theizinosaurus “scythe reptile”. More claws were found later in the 1950's – 60's in Central Asia, as well as parts of a forelimb skeleton and a few fragments of a hind limb.

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- Evidence shows that they had three digits on each of its 8 feet long forelimbs, and on each digit it had massive, slightly curved claws which were flattened and came to a sharp point. The largest of these claws was 28 inches long, and located on the first digit, which makes its claw alone longer than the average human arm and hand combined.
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- It has the longest know claws of any known animal, and possibly the strangest looking of all dinosaurs.

- It fits in best with the category of theropods, but more than likely was mostly a herbivore, consuming only plants, such as leaves, fungi, fruit and rotted wood.

-Therizinosaurus dates back to the late Cretaceous period, 75-70 million years ago. 




Sunday, November 11, 2012

Empowerment

The other night when I volunteered at my little movie theatre, I had the opportunity to view a film on the progression of women's art work from the late 60's into the late 80's and even into our modern day. The film was called "!Women Art Revolution" and centered mostly around female artists working in America, who were trying desperately to get their work shown across the country.

Watching the trials and tribulations of females before me, gave me strength and gratefulness for the power that women hold in this world today. We still don't have an equal footing on this globe, but at least we are given a chance to speak our minds, and have a say in what matters. If it wasn't for women like that, our freedom would be squandered, and we wouldn't have the opportunities that we are given so easily today.

It also make me look at the work that I have been doing in the last year with my Female Empowerment Club, and at how important that work is to do. The club may have dwindled a bit in numbers and productivity, but the concept and bonds between the women still hold true.

A couple of nights ago, I held my third Figure Drawing night at my home, which has been by far my favorite of the empowerment activities. Getting a group of lovely women together, to pose for each other, with such love and support backing them, means more to me than I can express. At that point it is not about body image, but about art, respect, and adoration for one another.

Even if this club doesn't continue on, and it changes course, and shape like the women in it. It will still be a big part of who I am, and who I am growing up to be.

I am a powerful woman, and I will never stop learning what that means to me. 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

One of the biggest things I have been trying to work on since living on my own, is working towards reducing my ecological footprint.

I have over the years made the switch to...
- Composting all my kitchen wastes, including coffee grinds, toilet paper rolls, dead leaves, and leftover foods.
- Only purchasing Avalon milk, so that I can return the bottles for reuse and support a local farm
- Only doing my laundry once a week, and using my drying rack indoors when I can
- Taking out my tiny garbage only once a week (sometimes every two weeks!)
- Recycling every bit of paper I receive, as well as carrying a coffee mug with me where ever I go
- I tariff my jars and buy in bulk as much as possible 
- Not purchasing cling wrap, and only using containers for my leftovers as well as amazing beeswax covering's for my food from a wonderful local company called Abeego
- NOT TAKING PLASTIC BAGS - This is my big one, as I really loathe the amount of plastic bags that are being used (and furthermore not being reused) in the world. I carry one of my canvas bags with me everywhere, and if don't have one, I force myself to carry my purchase in my arms.
(Photo from The Soap Dispensary Website)

Another thing I have just started since moving into my new home is making use of a great store which is just up on Main St, called The Soap Dispensary. It is a wonderful little shop that allows you to bring in or purchase reusable containers to fill up you liquid and dry soaps. I went in the other day and got my jugs of laundry soap, and dish soap filled up as well as purchased some ecologically friendly dish scrubbers, all for a mere $20! This really warmed my heart! To be able to purchase local minimal impact cleaning products, at great price while being able to reuse old bottles! What more could you ask for.

Next time I go in I am going to try their bubble bath, which they will scent for you with essential oil blends, and also try one of their wooden toothbrushes :)

I urge everyone who reads this to think about their ecological footprint, and the small ways that they can change their practices everyday. It will make the world of difference :)

What do you do to help your environment?

Monday, November 5, 2012

Christmas Is...

I know some of us will try and deny this fact until December 1st or later...
     But I cannot deny it any longer....
                CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!!

A Warmed House


The other night, I had my first housewarming of my lovely little apartment.
And it felt amazing!

 Since my apartment is very tiny
I chose to invite over only a small group of my friends (14 to be exact!)
for a potluck/soup social.

I really really do love my friends, 
and I love how even though I have introduced many of them from different 
walks of my life, they all seem to get along well together. 
I really pride myself on this fact,
and am proud of those I have chosen to associate myself with.
It took a while of not having a good friend network,
to really appreciate the one that I have now. 

We dined on my favorite sweet potato soup recipe,
harvest stuffed pumpkins, and all the lovely salads and casseroles pictured above.
Then when we were thoroughly stuffed, 
we remembered that we still had three kinds of pie to try 
as well as homemade cookies and mead. 

I am still eating the leftovers from the meal days later,
and feeling really warm in the heart and home.

Love Britt 
(p.s I also found out during the party that my "Having no real place to put my shoes" problem 
is only multiplied when I have a party and I need to put all my guest's shoes somewhere! 
Anyone have any space saver ideas?)


Saturday, November 3, 2012

Featured!


Hey lovelies,

   Just a note that my drawings got featured on one of the blogs I follow :) Check it out!

Love you all

For Simplicities Sake

I think it is wise, to be able to gather up all your worldly possessions into your favorite quilt,
tie it to a discarded branch, and travel onward.
I wish I had that freedom.
That drive.
That sort of passion filled romance for the unknowns, and just around the corners that life provides.

Don't get me wrong,
I love the simplicities of life, probably a trillion times more than the person next to you,
but I have a lot of the fear that goes along with making that jump.

Therefore I am taking this year ahead of me as a year to work on my goals, and those pesky fears,
and hopefully come out at the end of the year, with a bunch of those "I can't"s and "but"s wrangled under my belt and have them only fuel my fire for more adventures. 

Then after this year of degree achieving, license grabbing, sky jumping, "Britt" building exercises,
maybe I can make the plunge into the "real world" and go and grab some of that life for myself.

My Goals For This Year Ahead Include :

SKYDIVING 
ATTENDING BURNING MAN
OBTAINING MY DRIVERS LICENSE
FINISHING THE SUN RUN
COMPLETING A DUMMY BOOK FOR PUBLISHING A PICTURE BOOK
HIKING THE GROUSE GRIND
COMPLETING MY DEGREE
OBTAINING MY UK PASSPORT

 Even though some of those goals are a little on the larger side, I see them all as completely achievable in the next year.

After that... Ive decided not to make any real plans just yet and see what comes up for me... possibly WOOFing, definitely living somewhere else for a while, maybe seeing St. Basil's Cathedral.... who knows... and that's the best part about it :)



Friday, November 2, 2012

Halloween Fright

Halloween has come and gone quickly
much like most of this year has so far. 

I felt as though I did last year...
Kinda hit with it all of a sudden
and ended up not planning too much of a costume in time.

I chose to be half Wolf half Red Riding Hood,
and it didn't really come out the way I would have wanted it to...
So instead of fretting over a loss of Halloween this year,
I am just going to put my efforts into creating an amazing costume 
for my best friend Karina's Pirate Themed Birthday Party next month :)

The whole holiday in general I kept pretty low key this year.  With my sisters party, and ghost train last weekend, I decided to spend actual Halloween night at my parents house hanging out and watching horror movies and knitting with my Mom :)





My Dad really does it up right for Halloween!
Two fog machines, plus fog machine bubbles, tons of decorations,
lasers, black lights, and he even had songs from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" playing.

I love handing out candy and seeing all the little excited kids in their costumes,
it really is my favorite part of the holiday :)
And it was made even better by all the kids getting super excited over the music and decorations when they came up to our house :) 

What is your favorite part of Halloween?

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Dream Boards

To me a home should be a place of :

INSPIRATION
IMAGINATION
CREATIVITY
LOVE

And so in order to achieve that with
my tiny studio apartment, 
I have worked hard to place inspirational reminders,
and creative corners throughout the place.

A good way to do so is by the use of
DREAM BOARDS!

Here is the first one I made around this time last year :

 Its a very simple dream board,
but it certainly served its purpose :)

I hung it by the door of my old bedroom,
and would look at every morning as I got ready to leave.

On it I put my dreams to :
GET MORE CREATIVE WITH MY KNITTING
TO TAKE A POTTERY CLASS
TO SEW MORE
TO CONTINUE WITH MY EDUCATION 
AND TO GO ON MORE ROMANTIC VACATIONS

And now I can proudly say that I have done all of that, 
and I continue to do that!

But since I have completed those dreams,
I knew it was time to make another one for my new home.






This new dream board expresses my goals to :
WRITE A CHILDREN'S BOOK
GO SKYDIVING
RIDE MY BIKE
SLEEP MORE
HAVE MORE GATHERINGS AT MY HOME
(KNITTING, SOUP SOCIAL DINNERS...ETC)
DRAW EVERYDAY!

And of course there is room for more dreams to add themselves 
as they are realized.

In the middle I choose to do use a recent photo of myself
that I received from a photographer friend of mine. 
It inspires me to continue doing photo shoots,
because I believe it is a good form of self love. 




This last board is just an board that I keep above my craft table
that contains happy thoughts, written goals that I want to complete before I am 30,
and craft goals that I am working on.

How do you display your goals? 
What are your goals? :)

Love Britt

Monday, October 29, 2012

Halloweek!


Its Halloween week and the ghoulish tidings are all around....
my mailbox has been filling daily with tricks and treats 
(the sketch right above was made my by talented sister!)

I went out on Saturday night to the annual Halloween bash
at my sisters in Port Moody
 Our friend joined us on skype as she recently moved to Ontario for school
 My sisters poor cat Willy in his pirate costume


 My childhood friend Coral dressed as Princess Mononoke!
She made the entire costume herself and her boyfriend Scott
went as No Face from "Spirited Away!"
 My sister said I could apple bob,
and thought it would be funny to just give me my own apple :)

Then on Sunday night
we headed to the Halloween Ghost Train
at Stanley Park!
 It just happened to be... guess what?
Fairy Tale themed!
That's right!
Everything in my life revolves around it right now :)

Happy Halloween Lovelies! 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Gotta Love The Inspiring Weather










I've been really enjoying the colours in my neighbourhood lately
(as well as the inventive pumpkins). 
I've also really enjoyed exploring the macro setting on my camera,
and seeing what that has to offer. 












After 
- delivering the paper
- capturing photos of wild animals
- having a nice little break at Aphrodite's Pie Shop
- looking up in trees
and admiring well thought out pumpkins.

 It was lovely to come home to a letter from this lovely lady! <3

Happy Halloween!