Photo Day

Some mornings I wake up and just know it is going to be a "Photo Day". I am not one to go about my day snapping photos of all I see, but some days I can just feel it in my bones, that driving force to capture beauty. It is quite like the thrill I feel for picking up the wooden tips of my knitting needles, or sitting in front of a sewing machine with a pinned project in my hands... I know something beautiful is going to come from it.

Last night I had my "Silent Movie" themed birthday party (which I will hopefully get photos up of later), but for right now I will start with the aftermath, for that is how I begun my day....

This may sounds weird but here goes... I kinda get a sick satisfaction about wandering around the aftermath of a party I've hosted... I get really excited to check out what people were drinking, see what they left behind, and find strange things out of place (like my fake mustache on the fridge, and spoons used for microphones by the record player). I love all of that. You can't be everywhere at a party, and this is my way to fully take it all in without all the chaos.

 My new favorite mug from my favorite lady <3

My new favorite tights <3

Wanderings and Farmers Market

(The last two photos were taken by a lovely,

and very precise stranger, 

who had a knack for photography)

 Picked up a new air plant terrarium for my window!

I indulged on leftover cheese plate goodies,

and the rest of the amazing film version of "Perfume".

After finishing getting my apartment back in order,

I hit a comedy showcase with one of my girlfriends,

and came back home to a relaxing night in :) 

 Now back to letter writing,

and bed times!

Good night beautiful people!

What did you do today?

You say its your birthday! Well its my birthday too yea!

Today is my 26th birthday!

I've come a long way in the last couple of years, 

in coming into myself,

my true self, 

seeing what I want

 and taking the steps towards making my dreams a reality.

This upcoming year holds so much hope and promise for me.

Finally finishing my degree, this semester will be a huge load off my mind.

As I have been waiting for this for such a long time, 

and am so proud of myself for going back and completing this stage of my life.

I am making plans for far off places after the summers end,

which will be a first of many new chapters in my life. 

By moving out on my own this year,

I have proven to myself that anything is possible when I put my mind to it.

And that life has a way of giving you what you want when you ask for it :)

For right now I am enjoying my birthday week of celebrations,

and getting jazzed about my 26th year on this planet :)

(Well 27th technically!)

Last night I started the week off with a dinner at my folks place,

where I was treated to a lovely home cooked meal,

and the darling company of my family :)

Drinking margaritas, 

dancing in the kitchen with my 81 year old aunt,

holding my 1 year old nephew,

staring across the room at my love in a bow tie I sewed him,

getting homemade cards, and new sewing scissors!

I am so blessed to have such a loving and generous family and

extended family that I get to be myself around. 

Today I was treated to breakfast in bed by my love,

a tour of the Bloedel Nature Conservatory with my family and Nate...

Then as per my birthday tradition,

we made our way down to the local train station,

slid some loonies into one of the only remaining photo booths in Vancouver,

and captured the day on film. 

I've done this for the past 3 years with Nate,

 and it was great being able to share this tradition with my family as well. 

 (Psst! Featured in the above photo is the necklace and matching earrings Nate got for me!)

 Then there was a late birthday lunch, 

where we were joined by my cousin and his wife,

who we barely get to see.

And then off home for Nate and I, 

to enjoy a night in :) 

We are now nestled in a blanket fort,

with champagne and a bouquet of fragrant flowers by our side.

About to watch another guilty pleasure,

and curl into each other for the rest of the evening.

Another birthday tradition that I have

is to light the above shown candle

only on my birthday,

and to meditate with it

and make some resolutions for the new year.

I bought the candle on my pilgrimage to France when I was 18,

and never lit it until 5 years ago when I decided it would make a perfect tradition.

That being said I think I am about to embark on that silence for a bit,

and say good night to you all in cyber land.

Good night!

and may all your birthdays be bright!

p.s. Sorry about all the photos being different colors.
I bought my camera last year, but it was only today that
I started messing around with all the settings it has to offer :P

Composting

Compost!

It has totally changed my view on how I look at garbage, 

and how we treat the planet.

How does it work?
- As our kitchen and garden waste breaks down in a compost heap, it releases a lot of heat. This heat helps to kill off any harmful bacteria that may be present in the decaying food. The compost that you are then left with is full of nutrients and then can be added to your garden to help plants grow.
- True, they are harder to keep in the winter as cold weather slows down the process, but it is still worth it to compost through the colder months.
- Compost can be make is just a mere 12 weeks!

 What can be composted?
- Lawn clippings
- Leaves
- Shredded stalks and hedge clippings
- Cut flowers
- Veg and Fruit scraps
- Teabags, and coffee grounds
- Egg shells
- News paper

What cannot be composted?
- Diseased Plants
- Plastics, glass, and other non organic materials
- Cooked food including meat and dairy
- Raw meat and fish, dairy and eggs
- Colored, glossy paper
- Pet droppings

The city of Vancouver will even take :
- Meat, fish, or bones
- Cooked food and oily food
- Dairy, pasta, noodles, rice, or bread
- Short branches and prunings (less than 10 cm thick, and less than 0.5 m long)
 (So it goes to show that every compost is a little different)

Important :
It is very important to have a good balance between materials that are considered "brown" and and those that are considered "green". If the compost becomes wet and slimy it means that there is too much "green" material such as grass clippings and veggie peelings. So you need to think about adding more "brown" coarse materials such as broken down twigs, wood chips, newspaper, or egg carton, to work on evening out the pile, and then make sure to turn it ever so often.

The city of Vancouver will even take :
- Meat, fish, or bones
- Cooked food and oily food
- Dairy, pasta, noodles, rice, or bread
- Short branches and prunings (less than 10 cm thick, and less than 0.5 m long)
 (So it goes to show that every compost is a little different)

What I do :
 I am lucky enough to live in a house that has a green wastes bin that gets picked up every week (and before that I lived in a house that had a big enough back yard for a large compost bin). This allows me to have a counter top compost in a stainless steel bucket (http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10025&cat=2,33140&ap=1) which I empty out about once a week depending on how much I am cooking. I really love it. There is no smell it is easy to use, and I feel much better putting my scraps back into the earth, rather than trapped inside I a garbage bag that will never disintegrate.

Benefits of composting :
- Less food waste remains in the garbage
- Ideal for people with gardens
- Produces liquid fertilizer for house and garden plants
- Makes you look differently your own garbage and recycling habits

Not to mention school...

I've been really busy these first few weeks of 2013, not to mention the fact that I am also taking 3 classes at school and working two jobs :P

So here is what I have been up to whilst neglecting my blog posting :

I've been crafting up a storm!

Sewing tote bags and fixing clothes,

Making cards and scrap booking,

Fixing up batches of my own soy vanilla candles....

Its all been really cozy

 Since the tenth I've been on a sugar free kick,

  to work on bettering eating habits.

One of my goals for the new year was to incorporate more veggies into my diet, 

and this has totally helped with that. 

No more impulse cookies and muffins at coffee shops,

and those late night chocolate bars. 

I plan on being strict until my birthday week on Feb 10th 

(then I will have some cake and goodies)

but I look forward to continuing on with the habits I am creating.

My best friend Mr. Chai 

took Nate and I on, on an unexpected late Christmas double date 

out to CASTLE FUN PARK!

At first I was a little skeptical of the name of the place,

but after finding out that they have two indoor themed mini golf parks,

bowling, batting cages, go karts... etc 

AND arcade games galore.

I was very excited to attend!

 Another lovely friend Travis

invited us over to his place for an intimate gathering 

of friends, and delicious French food.

His delightful girlfriend Seanna purchased him a French cooking book for Christmas

and he was so excited to share his culinary talents with us.

Seanna even cooked up a lovely salmon in Camembert cheese in honor of 

my pescetarian eating habits. 

There is something really magical about this group of friends.

We love to come together and share delicious food, 

and despite all our crazy eating habits we all manage to keep each other in mind when cooking.

Its really an honor to know them :)

I've been doing some little home improvements and really settling into my tiny space.

Little hooks for my mugs, rearranging my kitchen to get the best out of its large space (more pictures to come), knobs on dimmer switches, re-potting plants...

It's been a really pleasurable experience!

 Shows galore!

Our beloved local venue the Waldorf hotel

is on the brink of extinction so I've been hitting up the club twice 

in the last week for some amazing shows. 

The first of which was a massive Ice Cream Social multi room dance party,

which was to be the end of an era of me going every Monday that I could for almost the last year. 

I will really miss that night, but it also forces me to explore other dance nights this city has to offer.

The other show featured at the Waldorf was probably the best line up for a concert 

that I had seen in a long time.

Every single band, singer, magician, wordsmith, moved my soul.

From CR Avery, Jess Hill, Doctor T, Maria In the Shower, Taryn the Tailor, 

to the special guest appearance of poet Shane Koyczan, they were all astounding in their own right.

Not at the Waldorf but at an equally impressive venue last night we went and saw Herold Nix at the Club Push at Performance Works on Granville Island.

Now Performance Works on its own is not that impressive of a venue aesthetically,

but when done up like a loungey club where you can order bottles of wine to your table and listen to the bluesy styling's of a legend like Herold Nix, I was in awe. 

The other two bands Proud Animal and Twin River, didn't really do much for my taste,

but it was well worth the wait for the headliners thick smokey voice.

------------------

Other than that there have been copious coffee dates,

gym workouts and like I said homework and selling toys. 

Overall its been a stunning 2013 so far ;)

2013!

Happy New Year Ya'll!

Its that time again to look back over my last years resolutions,

and make some new ones for the year ahead!

Last year :

-Ride a horse for the first time (didn't get to do this summer)

-Dress up and go to the race tracks (Totally did! and it was amazing!) 

 -Start my own knitting group (Even though it only lasted around 5 months it was still an amazing group!) 

 -Knit my first pair of socks (Did not do but I did knit another cardigan!)

-Knit mustard yellow cable knit leg warmers

-Get my N (Still on my list of things to do for this year!)

-Have a special date night at least once a week!

-Make more often for others

-Practice random acts of kindness more often for friends and strangers

-Finish cutting out and sewing my heart quilt (Almost finished!)

-Scrap book Europe and San Fran trips (I've finished the San Fran one)

-Get Hot Air Balloon tattoo finished (Done!)

 Before!

 After! 

(Photo Cred : Greg McKinnon)

-Learn how to fix my own knitting mistakes (I've totally started catching onto this in the last few months!)

-Fly in a hot air balloon (Done!)

 -Read more than watch movies (Hard one to track, but yes I have!)

-Attend more local shows in my neighbourhood

-Make more dates with girlfriends (I've hung out a lot with my friends this year!)

-Move out on my own this year! (DONE!)

 -Attend a pottery class (DONE!)

 

Now for my goals for this year ahead!

- Feel more comfortable in my own body (It is silly to have "lose weight" on my list, but I think this is a fair one to state as I would like to feel more comfortable in my own skin)

- SKYDIVE!

- Run/Walk in the Sun Run

- Get my N 

- Finish my degree (Soooo close only 3 more classes to go and I start again tomorrow!)

- Keep my house tidy and clutter free (I am constantly down grading my clutter so I am not worried about that but I would be nice not to live in a mess while school is on)

- Save $100 a month for traveling! (I have already put away $100 for Jan!)

- Go to Bingo by my house (Nate and I have been meaning to go since I moved in here!)

- Work on being on time for work, school, appointments etc... (this also goes hand in hand with getting to bed earlier!)

- Get more creative with Letter Writing (anyone who knows me, will tell you that I am a very good pen pal, but I would like to challenge myself to send more art mail)

- Go out dancing more! (I've been hitting the local mod dance nights for the past while, and I would like to keep up with that and work on finding some more "off the beat in path" dance nights!)

Phew! I think that's a good start for now!

What do you want to accomplish this year?

Love Britt

xoxoxoxoxoxo etc...

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?

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.