happy NEW year!

gotta love it! I made a deal that last year was going to be a great year and for the most part it was. It had it's speed bumps, but I am choosing to remember the good, the grand and the great. started off 2007 the same way I will start 2008 by doing this. always a fun way to start off the year and to wish fellow runners "happy NEW year". took a drawing class in January and did my first ever still life. still hanging on the fridge! LOL! attended a few MAC classes to learn about my new puter. fun!

in february I completed my first ever half marathon. one of my many goals! such an amazing feeling!

march took me to vancouver for this with her. hosted by christina. such a great event where we were lucky enough to meet ali, donna and claudine. we met so many amazing artists and it was a wonderful break for the both of us.

april brought john here for our viewing pleasure. awesome!

may I was part of the most incredible exhibit. tons of work, but such an amazing experience! we were also fortunate to see jann. another amazing concert! And we did this 10 km with a friend of ours and it was the first 10 km race/run any of us had ever done. I know! I did a 1/2 marathon before doing a 10 km! LOL!

june we ran in this. a few of the girls from my running group joined forces to do this and it was so much fun to form a team and complete it together.

we started July off with 15 km. And we cannot forget the best part of July my bon bon for his first visit of the year.

august brought another birthday and the unforgettable 60 km.

september we attended scrapfest. here we met anam, vicki, kah mei, jenn. We also did the run for the cure.

october was of course my first full marathon. another huge goal of mine completed. then there was St. Louis with donna. crop for kids where we met Lance, josie and sally, kelly, and kristina also where we debuted our bags and had all the artist's sign them.

november we had our super saturday class and the trip to remember on the beach.

finished the year off with a repeat sweet treat and a surprise visit from my uncle.

whew! tomorrow we begin again and let me tell you this past year will be hard to beat! happy new year!

a whole lot of creatin' goin' on.....





I've been a busy little elf!  playing in an art journal for this project. I used to have a hard time letting go of originals, but now I enjoy it. I know some people make two of everything or take tons of pictures and do instructions. try this - make something and let it go.......

had lots of fun in the last few days pouring it out.....excited about the new year and new possibilities....and new projects!

silent night....

good news! in no particular order:

1. Sparky the wonder dog slept through the night!
2. two...count them...two completed desserts sitting in the fridge (tiramisu and pineapple delight: stick with what you know!)
3. presents are ALL wrapped
4. completed 13 km run
5. found the ultimate gift for ma and pa (digital camera/printer combo)
6. made my fave jello salad for Christmas lunch (I know *jello salad*, but this one is good!)
7. saw my "spicy italian" cousin today!
8. talked to mom and she actually made some sense!
9. bought super duper pillow and am actually looking forward to going to bed to try it!
10. lookie what I saw today!



....little baby Christopher who is now breathing on his own! yay! still in ICN so keep the prayers and positive energy coming!

and (drum roll please) the boy is joining us for Christmas lunch.....triple arm pump and pass the tissue!

three days?



ten days have passed since my last post. you are probably wondering if I did indeed run off with bon bon. sadly no...I have been here and as you can see I am reduced to drowning my stress in hot chocolate. yup! so whassup? lemme see:

1. I think my mom is losing her mind
2. I don't think dad is taking me seriously
3. Christmas shopping is done but alas a child is born today so more shopping
4. the two squares I made are both basically crap and I volunteered to do dessert?
5. PMS is here and those who get in the way will be hurt
6. it is friggin' cold outside, but hey I'm in training so RUN STUPIDEST RUN!
7. Mom's card was sent without enclosing the ultimate gift - a cheque! agh!
8. my dog keeps wanting to go outside at 4 am! is this an age thing?
9. my garage door opener broke last night
10. my son spends this Christmas with my ex

sorry....back to give, give, give and good things:

1. my mom may be losing her mind, but she laughs it off and says "I dunno" a lot
2. my dad is actually doing better than mom which to me is a huge surprise
3. my cousin had a baby boy today, premature, say a prayer, so far things are good "christopher giovanni"
4. I did eat the crappy squares and washed them down with the hot chocolate (a nice light snack)
5. sorry can't really twist this one
6. it is cold, but I love to run...helps #5
7. I will send mom two cheques for her birthday in a few weeks - done!
8. I love that little shit (diapers?)
9. we switched sides so I can still get in and out with a press of a button
10. hopefully D will have Christmas lunch with us (fingers crossed)

three more days and tons of fun stuff in between! after all there is the 14 km tomorrow morning at 8:30 am! yay! hopefully a visit with mom and baby in the afternoon. christmas eve with dolly and her family! bringing perogies and cabbage rolls which are so not crap! yay! movie? games? afterwards, who knows! I do know that it will be some serious fun with special friends. christmas day with my mom and dad and two uncles and hopefully "D". bringing salad and dessert (wish me luck!) christmas night with the kurjata's. bringing dessert (more luck needed!) looking forward to seeing all the kids! can I mention boxing day? too early? OK! merry ho ho ho to all and to all a good night!



and hopefully he sleeps through it.....

and we're off!


lost highway here we come! say hellloooo to my bon bon!

the wind beneath my wings....


aka the slap up side the head....thank goodness I have her! she was there with the smack I needed late last night as I was about to do something crazy. I dunno if it is the detox I am going through or the whole organic chocolate bar I ate last night. (I know! how do detox and chocolate bar end up in the same sentence?) anywho after spending an hour on the telephone with her trying to justify what I was about to do she reminded me that "tis the season for GIVING" and I needed to stop and think about what I was asking. was it not enough that I got to see him in July? was it not enough that I have two band shirts? is it not enough that she has to listen to bon bon all day in the studio? are three pairs of binoculars not enough? and here I go again to yet another show tomorrow night. not to mention all the wonderful dreams I have been having about him. can I not just be thankful for ALL that? yes, yes, yes of course I can and I was being silly and not thinking and so I bowed my head in shame.....thanked her for listening and for setting me straight...told her I love her, cause boy do I and watched ONE more of his videos before I hit the pillow.

please come home for Christmas......

oh yeah baby! two more sleeps and then my bon bon will be here and I will meet him and I will be gentle......

'tis the season



here is the result of two days in the studio. holy turtle art batman! and by that I mean boy was I moving at a snails pace this week. probably why on Wednesday I found myself in bed all day and night sick as a dog. anywho this is my Christmas card for the artsy people in my life. If you know me you know that generally I don't follow rules and just go with my own flow. In this case I used canvas because we have been playing around with it a lot this year so I thought it was appropriate. Also the never ending love for "words" had me finally (never mind Laurie) pick the word "give". After all is it not the season for "giving"? Give what? you might ask (and many did). just give! In recalling last week and the times that I just gave without thinking about what I would receive it felt pretty darn good! So that is my word for this month "GIVE" and just give any way you can. A smile, a hug, a donation, a kind word, a gift to someone you might not otherwise buy for. Here is a very inspiring (no pun intended!) example of giving how kewl is that? I made a comment that I was inspired by her and would figure out a way that I could pay it forward and so the word "give" has come to mean a whole lot more than I thought it did when I picked it. No wonder it took hours!

On that note....how about the Oprah's favorite things list? I love this idea so much I came up with my own favorite thing and a lot of my favorite people are getting it for gifts this year.

Update on my uncle. he arrived and he looks so good. real good.....and healthy. best present ever is having him here for the holidays. tidying up the studio in hopes that I can get creative and make some kewl gifties for the group. ciao for now!