Annnd...we're off!

Tomorrow morning...as soon as this dreaded long day is done!
Whee!! Who's excited? Me! Me!

We're both excited! Tzanko and I have never been anywhere on a 'holiday' before - can you believe that? I mean, we've been to Calgary and such - but it's always go go go...and I know not everybody gets to travel often...so it's really not so bad. But, as my mom said, we deserve it! "It's been a busy year and a half"...lol. It has, dude! We are in dire need of a break. We are flying out to Tofino tomorrow via float plane..how cool is that?
I hope ours is red...he he. =) And then we're taking the bus back on Monday. There will be many pictures. It's supposed to be nice and hot. Craftiness of any sort is banned. Work is banned. (Cept we both agreed there must be sketchbooks...he he). We're both still like, "what will we do for days without computers and projects?" lol...I can't wait to see Long Beach and our Bed & Breakfast suite! I can't wait to have no alarm and eat ice cream and go out for dinner in my new clothes. Yay!

Speaking of needing a break - I went shoe shopping yesterday and left my shopping bag of brand new shoes in another store! Ohmyword...My lovely checkered Vans would have been long gone had I not raced back to one of 5 shoes stores I stopped in to find them Whew! I thought I lost my sunglasses, too, and they ended up being in the bottom of my bottomless pit purse....Absentminded, much? lol..

I still have lots to do tonight, of course...which will make the break seem that much sweeter - gotta throw some packing and things in a backpack, clean house, finish up some last minute due-when-I-get-back projects...I was up til 2 yesterday finishing most of them..whew! Laundry. Dishes. Blah! Glad time will not matter this weekend. =)

Anyway, happy long weekend to you and yours! =)
See you on the flipside...

Finally - A Monster RAK!! *CLOSED*

Sign up here for the monster paper/stamp giveaway!

Just leave a comment below for a chance to win - tell me why you like/dislike/are oblivious to monsters. Love em? Hate em? Why? Have fun! he he...I just want them goin to a good, fun-for-monsters home!

Comments will be open for a week - until Wednesday, July 1st at 12 pm. I will be out of town until Monday - so please don't be worried if you left a comment and it isn't there - they get sent to my e-mail first and I have no access for a few days! Rest assured...it'll get through!

Yay! Monsters! Sooo...I know a few of you who missed out on The Dozens Monster Love goodies that I designed a few months back were jonesing for some of that paper - so I have 2 sheets of each design, the monster stamp, and I also have an extra Happy Cab stamp that I'll throw in there - all for one lucky person! I seriously wished that I had 50 sets to give out....Buuut good news! Dana over at The Dozens will be doing a run of the monsters again, soon - hopefully sometime in July! I'll let you know when the deets are out, for sure!


Alright! Good luck to all - I hope you use all of your funny muscles to get a cool why-I-love-monsters comment in there!! =) Happy day!

Please allow me...

....to be an animation dork for a moment. =) Hah.Saw this little gem last night after mucho anticipation...Any animated film that makes adults laugh out loud is cool with me...=) Loved Dustin Hoffman. The Tiger rocks. The bad guy Tiger rocked, too. Jack Black was funny (usually he grates on me). The turtle was my fave! And there were amazing expressions and awesome acting. And the Kung Fu..oh, the Kung fu. The opening animation sequence was amazing - couldn't figure out if it was 3D or Flash at first, mixed in with 2D animation (good ol pencil and paper!) but I was lovin the textures and the loveliness of it all. The story rocked. It had an awesome message...I'll admit I even forgot it was 3D while watching...which is a big thing. Go see!

Oh! And, when you do, please don't get up during the end credits and stand and meander around in front of the animation dorks like myself and my husband who like to actually read the credits. =) he he...a public service announcment, persay? Or read them, maybe, and you'll see how many peoples it takes to pull of a film like that and see where it was made...cool beans!

Happy day, all! Monster coming tomorrow!!

Monday!

Quick hello - wow, what a busy weekend! Dude. Shopping, walks. Burgers on the beach. Made a whole lotta nothing (so sad) but it felt so busy! I did embroider a little somethin-somethin, though - yay, practice! Watched "Be Kind, Rewind". "Spring-cleaned" (I'm a little behind, yes..) the closet - ie: threw out/gave away all the old clothes I have no reason to keep. Got new clothes to put in the clean closet. Not quite into Spring-cleaning the whole house yet, so it's being done slowly in chunks- blah! Finally have some capris and tanks. Yay! Did so much laundry it's not even funny. Feeling a little more refreshed due to the clean house and clean craft table. Bought art supplies at lunch today. Get to paint soon, whee! Cheap movie tickets from work (dude - totally finally going to see Kung Fu Panda tonight) rock. So bummed I haven't had a chance to make new shop goodies, but I've ordered more supplies and such, so that's a step! Looking forward to happy mail, Etsy goodies, new CHA releases in the mail (dude!), and shoe shopping this week. My fave yoga at-home pants disintegrated yesterday..*sniff*. So sad. Have a ton to do this (short week) - flying to Tofino Friday morning - Can't wait! Will be running around in a making-packing-cleaning stuff whirlwind until then!

And Argh, I say, to all that silly grown-up stuff that takes up so much time! Cleaning, groceries, blah! What do you mean I can't just sew and draw and cut paper all day?? lol...(I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this way)

And a picture for you:

(I did not draw these dudes...I wish!) These are the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Mascots, which I see in every tourist shop window on my way to work every morning....I think they're adorable! They have the cutest stuffies of them - albeit, they're super-premature (it's only 2 years til the Olympics...lol..I'm already so sick of seeing it advertised everywhere!!). Anyway, I looked them up - and found the company who designed these guys' website, Meomi - it's a pretty sweet, fun site! Yay! I like these the best: Art Prints. So inspiring!

*Annnd...Monster giveaway will be posted Wednesday - I promise! Found the goodies yesterday when I cleaned, so stay tuned if you're jonesing for some monster paper/stamps!*

Happy day!

Grow, Forest, Grow...

Ahh...Friday. Friday, and I don't have to work for the whole weekend - it's a lovely (rare? lol..) sight to look forward to!...I have some projects lined up, of course...but fun stuffs only! And I'm crossing my fingers for sunshine, beaches, and a few rented movies! Yay! I'm in a "I'll-work-on-what-I-want-to-slowly" mood lately, even though I still have lots to catch up on!

Hmm. What else? It is so lovely to walk to work to the tune of Regina and Kate. Ahh...thank you, ipod (and Mandy, who I am forever grateful to for the ipod..) Oh! And I was almost swooped-to-death today by some scary crows this morning - Omigosh! Scariest moment ever! Prologue: Our friend Ian was telling us he saw some crazy-acting crows the other day - flying at people and attacking and such. Thinking there was something they were eating or something to explain why they were being so weird. Anyway, I was freaked out, but kind of forgot about it afterward.

So, today, I happily leave my house to go for a jog, and this guy coming towards me is like, "They're aggressive today"...as a crow swoops for him... and it's like 6:30 am, so I'm like, "huh?" walking along towards where he'd just come from. And then I hear these crows - 2 of them - and one literally swoops down from the treetops towards my head!! Literally, like 5 inches away from my head making this horrible screeching noise!! Omigosh!! So I'm like..walking faster, hoping I can get the hell outta there fast, because the trees are almost over...they won't swoop again, right?? And then I hear one coming at me from behind!! Like, right towards my head..super loud...swerves just past me again...Omigosh...It was like something out of a horror movie!! So frickin scary...so I take off running, thinking the trees are over, maybe they're just protecting their little area under the tress...they're not gonna follow me....nope...hear one coming at me again!! And I bolt - pretty sure I screeched, too - I swear, I have never run so fast in my life!! Omigod. I ran and ran til I was farm far away. I will now never walk in that little area again. Nor will I ever look at crows the same again!! And then I kept hearing them all the way to work and was just petrified!! I now share Mandy's fear of birds, dude. My heart is pounding just thinking about it...that's unnerving, man...there is something majorly wrong with those birds!

So that has been my day. Work is quite dead for me - but it looks like I have a lot of work coming up soon, so I'm doing test for some effects for newer episodes...keeps me busy...=)

Annnd....the digital kit was released at SIS yesterday:
Whee! I had so much fun designing this guy! It was in the works for a while, actually, I had drawn the trees long ago back when this kit theme occured to me. =) You can find it here in the digi boutique (first page, scroll down). Annnnd, the colors coordinate with Sis's "Beach Bum" June collection, if anyone's up for trying hybrid out!

As for a little blurb on how I make all this digi stuff - Michelle was asking how I started designing digi stuff, being mostly a paper girl myself;

Literally, I kind of just pieced together the basics of digital design - I know a little Photoshop (still have tons to learn), but enough to know blending modes and things (I use these at work all day - AfterEffects is pretty similar to Photoshop). I had used various digital elements in some digi scrapping and seen the file types, sizes, presentations, etc. I searched online/looked into how to texture elements, because digi paper always has really cool textures - You can either use premade commercial-use textures, like these, or you can make your own with brushes or scanned textures. So, literally, I scanned a bunch of stuff around the house for my first collections' textures to test it out - papertowel, pieces of crumpled paper, graph paper...you name it. Then I just pulled those textures into Photoshop and put colors underneath, on top, played with blending modes....had fun! =) To make the elements (tags, titles, etc.), I'm a hand-drawn kind of girl...so personally, I draw any shapes on paper, scan, and color/finish them off digitally. So I'm not much help in that aspect...lol. But I did draw a few things in Flash, as well as Photoshop. =)

I learn by doing, by making mistakes, by figuring things out myself. It's a challenge I always love...=) I by no means know much beyond the basics - so, sorry if that 'how to' was kind of vague, but that about sums up how I got into it! lol...Not a lot of pre-thought, for me. I had rough sketches of the first kit I wanted to make, but I literally decided to just try it one afternoon, googled some things, couldn't find any 'how-to-get-started' or anything online, so I thought logically based on my love of figuring out how things work and a little software know-how and just tried for it. =) And I love that I'm always discovering something new as I work!

So, on this "Grow, Forest, Grow" kit, I tried new things, and learned a little bit more...and I'm super-happy with it! I'll have to scrap with it soon and share. =) And ask me anything, if you guys are baffled about digi...feel free! I can't guarantee I, also, won't be baffled..lol...but I'll try to help! =)

Anyway, are you over-saturated with words yet? lol..so sorry...hope you made it through this post! Happy weekend, everyone!

Blogged:

...today it's my turn to blog over at Pink Paislee! Yay! I got to do some "Thursday Trends" and I couldn't help but be inspired by lovely scalloped-edge Paislee papers and old-school decorative-edged scissors....so check out my post over there! Here's the page I made: Bah! Guess who that chubby lil crazy haired baby is? he he....this is little me in 1985. I'm lovin my Carebears shirt...and that is some cool just-woke-up hair I have goin on, I think. I had lotsa fun scrapping last night...Slooowly scrapping, I didn't get much done...but I did get to chat with my mom and my best girl while I was making stuff, so it was a nice relaxing night!

And Dude, look who I got in the mail yesterday: he he...how cute is his name? I officially have the cutest ipod holder ever! I want to carry it around with me all day long...he he...I think I may even be jonesing for a Fabian sweater....=) lol...love him! I finally got a new purse the other day and now it's all organized and filled with lovely etsy pouches and is not falling apart and messy...lol. That's always a good thing...

I'm hoping to buy some shoes on my way home tonight, because my runners officially have like 50 holes in them...lol. Z and I need to go mega-shopping this weekend cuz we just realized we both have no summer clothes and our weekend away is, well, next weekend...lol...so, yay!

Okay, I thiiiink thats enough pictures for one day, so I'll share the other today-happenings tomorrow. Hope everyone is well! Thank you so, so much for the fab comments..they always make me smile and giggle...=) I'll be doing blog-rounds as soon as I have a spare second! And, yes, my mom is the cutest in the world! he he...Happy day!

Red Velvet!

Without further ado....some inspo if your Red Velvet kit is still sitting at home, begging to be scrapped with! Ahh...this kit was so full of juicy goodness: ...need to date this page, still...not sure if it's my sister or me, actually, either...lol. I think it's me, cuz that's my lil grover - but we do look awfully alike...

*Edited* (Thanks mom!) It is me..(thought so) in Summer of '86. Yay!...a little reflection on my tense-but-totally-calm-at-the-same-time personality. People always comment on how calm I am at what should be stressful moments...but I get pretty stressed and tense at times...it's odd. I am easygoing. I am tense. Hmm. Maybe its all in my head and I look just fine on the outside...who knows! lol...

And a mini I made with the coasters in the kit:...I have yet to add a load of journalling into it, as all the backs of the pages are blank and waiting for words, but I thought I'd share the base of the lil book, anyway! =) I had a binder ring sitting around so I used that to clip it all together - love those things!

...please scuse the horrid lighting that happens after dark...lol...and I truly, truly wish I had time to make some lovely cards with the scraps I have leftover. =) Whee! Thanks for being so understanding in my post-second-job craziness, Rachel! I'm so happy to be getting back to my scrappy projects.

Still play a little bit of catch-up. Some projects sneaking up on me for June, now that the month is half over - Egad! When did that happen??...and, of course, there are lots of just-for-fun things I want to do, too. (always...) Some embroidery practice: I learned some basic stitches on the weekend using these fabulous Crafty Daisy lessons I found via google search. Yay for the internet - sometimes I am way too net dependent. lol...but in this case, it's totally helpful! Anyway, it goes over the basic stitches and has some example projects (scroll to the bottom for lesson one). Pretty cool..easy peasy for me cuz cross-stitching was my forte' for a while. Sublime Stitching also has a cool "How-to", not to mention the amazing awesome embroidery patterns...(sigh)...I've been able to resist buying so far, but its not going to hold for long!

Anyway, shopping and other not-fun-hosuework-like-stuff still needs to be done around here, it's neverending...the digi kit is not up in the boutique yet, but I'll post it when it is. =) Happy day and thanks for reading my rambles!

A little Tuesday

Oooooooh....that's all I have to say bout The Dozens June kit: The full kit pics are up here...as well as some ordering info, the website is having technical difficulties so make sure you read the info on where to get your kit!!

Annnd...there's a teensy sneak of some Pink Paislee on the blog, too! Yummy!! I'm enticed...

As for me, I meant to do a lot of things last night but I passed out on the couch at 7 pm and slept on through til this morning..lol. Okay, I woke up at some point to throw myself into bed - I didn't sleep on the couch. But I musta been more exhausted than I thought!

Went for a run finally this morning in hopes that my energy levels will be boosted back up again sometime soon, plus I had enough sleep that I was actually able to get up early enough to go for a run...yay!

Anyway, here's hoping for a night of making stuff and Tila Tequila!

(I'll touch on the digi stuff-making when I post the next kit....Michelle was wondering how I started designing digi...so stay tuned!) Happy day!

Randomly;

I have the Jurassic Park score stuck in my head...hah. I am doodling moustache paper tag and log earring ideas down while sitting here at work. I am obsessed with shrink plastic earrings, Oh my. I started embroidering this weekend and wow do I need hone some skills. I brought my hoop to the beach and let my inner grandma show...lol. (Z was sleeping, I needed something to do.) Dorky, yes. But fun. I started reading "The Secret Life of Bees" (finally got one copy, not a book-club bag of copies). Indulged in some Pirate Etsy goodness by way of shirts and necklaces. Blue nailpolish is in stores again - had a total flashback to junior high and grabbed some. I have 60 thousand ideas spilling out of my mind constantly on things to make; for the shop, for my friends, just for the hell of it...lol. I was feeling odd thinking I must be the only artsy person working like a madman for a moment and then I realized that most of us art-as-a-career people do work 24/7 - I forgot where I was put in check and reminded that it's not just crazy me...lol...

This weekend was fab and there are tan lines and sunburnt noses to prove it. Ahh...Stocked up on crafty supplies. Was going to go clothes shopping finally, but then realized that would mean not sleeping in for at least one day on the weekend (uh, the only time to sleep in there is) so I scrapped that and slept...but now the weather is freakin hot and I have no clothes you wear when its hot...lol. Argh. This week! There was a no-car festival yesterday here so we walked around, caught some rays at the beach, just relaxed.

On Saturday we saw Sex and the City (finally!!) and I thought it was awesome! That conversation where Big and Carrie decide to get married was totally Z and I...lol...and we also had the same after-ceremony gourmet diner food. hah. I guess we just skipped all that stuff-I-won't-spill-if-you-haven't-seen-the-movie yet that happens in the middle there. =) Before that, Z's dad treated us to a celebration dinner - a deck, yummy food, a bottle of white wine, and expresso cheesecake = one happy night. =) (Thank you!!)

Sooo excited to have fabric in my little hands again - little known fact: I wanted to be a fashion illustrator/designer for the longest time and started sewing when I was like 7 (thanks to my lovely mom!)....the last thing I made was a super-tailored bustier/suit jacket in highschool (okay, I've made some pillow covers and simple quilts since then...). But sewing, I mean really sewing something awesome and usable is great. The urge to sew comes in phases for me and it seems a new one is coming!

Do I have a picture for you today? Hmm...Here's a few from Bowen Island last weekend:

Yes, it looks like November....so grey! Can't wait to go back there when its sunny and rent some kayaks...=) It's not usually like this at all in summer....we hadn't worn that many warm clothes even in the winter, here, forever!!

Anyway, I just finished making a super-cute digi kit that will be released on Wednesday last night...I love it to bits! I can't wait to share it!! I'm still having so much fun learning as I go about designing digi stuff ; that's the way I like it - jump in with a general idea and gain a whole bunch of hands-on knowledge while you go. Ahhh, fun...

Happy day, all!

Super Lemons

Whee! Thanks for all the love, guys!

Dude, sorry about the Samson mishap. Fixed. Playlist must not be so legit, cuz sometimes the songs are on fastforward...hah. Totally laughed at the 29-hour-Canadian days comment...ahh...don't I wish? lol. That's been my fave comment so far! lol...you guys rock!

A quote for some giggles if your Friday (the 13th!!) has had mishaps:

"When life gives you lemons, you clone those lemons and make super lemons!" - Scudworth

Anyone else miss Close High? I watch it still. Incessantly. Sadly. Thank the world for whomever had the idea to immortalize tv series' on DVD forever. Why must they always cancel the good ones? Freaks and Geeks. Clone High. Life as We know It. Argh. Anyways, maybe just us older kid-like animators watched it, but it rocks. So many little things you pick up on as you watch it more and more. Duuude.

Forgot to mention this little guy was released a few weeks ago:It was in the Etsy shop for a second a while ago - but alas, it has a new, better home! You can grab it up here: SisTv Digital Boutique (first page - scroll down...and check out the lovely Shabby Miss Jenn's kit, too!). I made a page with it, too, and that lives here if you'd like to see it in action.

Weekend is shaping up to be fab and low-key. Craft store run tomorrow (I am sooo excited!). Sex and the City movie. Waterfront dinner. Clothes Shopping. Heaven or what? Oh, and I broke into this kit last night and it rocks my socks. Seriously. Best color combos ever!

Stay tuned for RV kit goodness, more digi goodies, a-hopefully-etsy-shop-update soon, and...oh yes...(the last of) the monster paper giveaway. It's coming! Happy weekend to you and yours!

A Wee Bit Rusty

Uhh...sorry I've been MIA, my friends! So, I think I had more time to blog when I was busy with all those jobs. hah...=) Just kidding - just been laying low. Catching up a little.

Anyways...the weekend (long, long, ago now) rocked! The weather here's been quite horrible and November-like...yuck! So that part of it wasn't great, but on Saturday I had a lovely pedicure and relaxed for a few hours there, lounged around at home with hubby, and then we went out for dinner with some animator-types for our friends' birthday at a yummy Singaporian place. We went to this amazing little somebody's-cozy-basement-like bar and had spicy bourbon drinks and played drinking games and hung out with a man in a pig costume that night, too...and then we all sleepily rolled out of bed a few wee hours later and hopped on a bus that took us all the way to the ferry which then took us to lovely little Bowen Island. Yay! A cute little teeny island town full of old houses turned into grocery stores ans restaurants and galleries. So great! There was much sitting around, drinking beer, eating fish and chips. Admiring the ocean. Wind in our hair. Listening to the lovely symphony we went there to see. Ahhh....

The other day I finally got a chance to scrap with my May Dozens' kit - I was feeling waaaay rusty! My hands just weren't getting out what my brain sees - hate that feeling, don't you? The first page here is the only one I really, really like..Argh. Gotta get back into the groove: It was inspired by an Elsie page in her Recipe Box Book...omigosh...I'm stuck to that thing, it rocks!! I drew the thought bubble lightly and then used watercolor pencils + lotsa water to paint it pink. It totally made the page lumpy and bumpy - but I'm cool with that. =) I used watercolor pencils (dry and wet) to journal and put black ink over that. More:(I decided on "Gool" for a title - meaning goofy-cool. Cuz there were just no words cool and odd enough to match the picture of us in our 80's shades..he he.)My puppy Bo and I - more like big dog Bo and little Michelle. =) I hand-cut the title around a rough drawing, lightly painted blue, and when it was dry I drew the letters on with a white uniball signo pen (love that pen!) And the crayon-love Wonder Years paper was too perfect for this little pic of me coloring when I was about 5. =) he he...it simply says, "It's always been art." Cuz, well...it has. =)

Currently still rockin out to Kate Nash. Dying to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. At work working on making a cat look like see-thru predator-type creature and making lights glow...he he. Loving Rilo Kiley (new cool singer girl I just found at work today). She sounds a little Lisa Loeb-ish (love!). Rockin out to Lisa Loeb still, too...lol. Looking forward to me + Z checking out the Sex and the City movie finally this weekend. Hoping the sun will come out soon. Working on some shop stuff. Abolishing piles of bills, paperwork, and laundry still. Designing shop stuff in my mind as I sit here. Working on a new Sis Digi release....Ah, creating...=)

Oh! And we went for a stroll last night in our park and it seems all the baby raccoons are now on their own looking for food. Hoards of them following us around, poking out of bushes, everywhere! It was funny...lol. Oh! We saw a beaver lounging around, too...we haven't seen one yet - he was huge! he he...Oh, nature.

Thanks for stopping by!! More eye candy by means of scrappiness comin atcha soon!

**Also, had a lot more questions about the blog - for links to the products I used and the site I visited for help, please scroll down and on the bottom left there's a section called "Product Credits"...Enjoy!**

Recoop.

Gah! A million things seem to have accumulated while I was busy working for the last 6 weeks. hah. There are piles of government send-me-this-tax-related-thing and contact-the-bank kinda stuff. And then my mind is the type of mind that likes things cleared and done all at once, which always inadvertantly adds like 50 other related to-do things to the list...lol. Anyways, I am laying low. Ignoring these things until the weekend is over, at least...he he.

Recoop time now: Relaxing things only. A bubble bath. A pedicure. An appointment to fix my computer-hunched back...lol. And shopping. Spoiling. Movies. A dinner overloooking the beach. Sex and the City. Planning the rest of our getaway-at-the-end-of-the-month trip. Sleeping in. A much-needed trip to the craft store. Some sandals. A new journal. Some pirate garb. Pistol earrings. Motorcycle shirts. Dinner with friends. And, of course, some making stuff!

If you haven't already noticed, I'm not one to sit still when I'm relaxing. =)
But I'm not that crazy, this will definitely not all be happening this weekend...lol.

I think I just want want want right now because I've been deprived and busy all month...lol. I gotta catch up - last time I had a spare moment it was April...lol. There is much shopping I need to do. Many clothes I need for summer still. I want to garage sale and thrift. Lay on the beach. Write in a new leather journal. I have some re-decorate hankerings. I want to build and paint and sand and design and draw. Refurbish some old wood furniture piece. Cook some yummy pasta. Learn how to book-bind. lol..it's neverending! I'm always telling Z its like a happy curse, really....always wanting to make stuff and do things. I know he understands, being a crafty boy himself, but I think not the extent it really goes....lol...Shhh.

My bestest girl Mandy sent me an ipod in the mail yesterday (thanks so much, girl!), so the shopping began today with a buddy for it:

(from this lovely monkey shop: monkey travel club) There are some similar monkey cup warmers that I may also scoop up..soo cute! And good for the environment, too...=) Love reusable stuff!

Annnnd...thank you all for the congrads! I had no idea so many people had to deal with the permanent residence thing...crazy! You'd think they would just abolish that and let people roam freely from country to country instead of making us fill out loads of paperwork....lol. =)

Anyways, back to work with me - or waiting for work to come in..ha ha. It's been a slow week here at my 9-5. =) Last night we went out to see my cousin Mike's band The Seventh Eye from Edmonton play here in downtown Vancouver - they made it to the finals of a battle of the bands. They didn't win (stupid contest is set up based on votes, and the local Van bands obviously had bigger crowds - being from here and all...weird.), but we thought they were the best by far - the loudest, the craziest awesome drummer and bass player, and Mike is just amazing on guitar and singing, the best beat...It was great to see a live show - and I've been wanting to see them play for years! Very cool! Didn't even get to bed that late, still being unbelievably sleepy and all - and I love, love not smelling like smoke when I come home from a bar now. Thank you, bylaws. =)

Happy weekend, all!

Omigosh!

Sooo...guess what??

The other day Z and I got some daunting government envelopes in the mail - it was a little scary opening them...I think I mentioned that we applied for Z's permanent residency in Canada a while back (a horrid pile of giant paperwork we worked on for months!) because we're not from the same country, so we had to remedy that...lol...easier for us to travel together and, well, live in the same place when we're from the same place. (Me) Not so gung-ho on Bulgaria (I'm sure I would love it, but its kind of scary thinking I may have to move across the world...), we decided Canada was the route to go...annnd...

We got approved through the first stage!!

Woot! Which means I got a letter saying I am financially stable enough to sponsor him and he got a physical work visa in the mail, too! Eeek! So not only are we not up and moving to Bulgaria, but he can work and earn money here now, too!

Yay!! Seriously..such a big weight off our shoulders! And way sooner than we expected! We ran out and had martinis and bounced around laughing and smiling all night, like this:

Hah. Okay, maybe we weren't so cute as Spongebob would have been bouncing around laughing and smiling all night, but we sure were happy!

And, the end is riiiiight around the corner for me....

I am so very sleepy and my eyes are redder than red today cuz I was up so late...
I worked til the wee hours and it payed off...cuz I am finally done!

Whew. Well, okay..'done' meaning I have one small fix, and then a night of rendering the final file out, rounding up all the files I worked on, and waiting hours and hours for them to send. But, luckily, one can sleep while files are sending. Ahh...

Omigosh, I am sooo happy! There are tequila shots in order...if I can manage to drag myself anywhere later, that is. I have a feeling I'll pass out soon after I get home. Sleep is needed, and I'll have to wean myself off of 7 coffees a day. hah. Anyway, I'm at the studio fighting to keep my eyes open and working on some test effects...=)

Oh, happy day! I hope everyone is well! I'll be by to catch up and say hi soon!

Some weekend things

Aww, thanks for the sweet comments, lovely blog readers. =) You always make me smile with your happy words! Just had to appreciate you today first and foremost. =)

Annnd...I'm not sure how much I will get to sleep this week, so let's cross our fingers for..lots! lol...I was up til 2 last night, I worked straight from 7 am til then, and it was sooo hard to get out of bed this morning. Then, on the way to work the weather was horrible so the streets were empty - I was all disoriented thinking it was Sunday or something...lol. The project is still putting along. Soon, soon...my attention span is wandering.

Oooh...Indiana was awesome! The theatre was nutty, as expected, and I was not a big fan of all the 3D they used in the film...but overall, typical Indiana Jones' goodness. =) I just hate how they use computers nowadays to do effects when they could just do good ol 'real' special effects and have it look awesome - especially because they were trying to stick so closely with the look of the older 3 movies. (sigh). Computer animation. It takes longer, and it's probably not much cheaper than just blowing something up yourself. Argh. lol...just my opinion.

And is anyone excited about seeing the Brad Pitt, "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" movie? I saw the preview and fell in love! yay! Going to search for the book. Speaking of books, I reserved "The Secret Life of Bees" from the library, and when Z went to pick it up, to my surprise I had reserved the "Book club set"..lol..yes, a bag of 20 "the Secret Life of Bees". We both giggled and then wore our sunglasses to drop the giant dorky bag of book club books back to the library. lol...woops!

That's all today. No creating, sadly. =(
I'm going into withdrawls.
Still a few cards left for sale in the shop.

If you're looking for monster paper (I know some people have been - there were many e-mails), stay tuned for some news and an RAK next week (yes, I still have a little extra stash in my hot little hands, I've just been too busy to give it away!)

And, a picture, because we need pictures to make a post happy: (Bowen Island..still haven't looked up anything about it yet, but excited to spend Sunday there!)

Dude, BC rocks.
Okay...happy day!