guest blogger: reflections on creativity and control issues

one of the things that jamie and i have bonded over is crafts. we both love "visual arts" and (i think) we both have an eye for it. you name it: beading, making cards, painting, decorating, making posters for fundraising events....
add to this the fact that we're both perfectionists: "if i want something done right, i'll just do it myself!"
while jamie does lots of crafts, her main outlet is making beautiful jewellery. i don't participate in as many (i'm lazy) but my main go-to is making cards (like scrapbooking, but i only do cards). jamie is one of very few people who i like helping me with cards or wedding invitations, and who i trust to use my equipment unsupervised.
so why am i telling you this?
one of the ladies at work is retiring next week and our 'team' is making her a scrapbook keepsake instead of a card. it's a great idea, she's going to love it, and everyone on the team is very enthusiastic about it.
however. being the one with all of the materials (equipment, glue, gadgets, cutters, punches, paper, ribbon, knowledge) i have been recruited by the managers to assist with this...and use my stuff. i will be reimbursed, that's not the issue. i like this kind of stuff, so my time is not an issue. i'm a brown-noser, so being involved is not an issue. what are the issues? i like to be in control. i am a perfectionist. i (think i) know what looks good - and what doesn't.
each team member has been asked to participate in making a page for the book, and most have come to help. due to my aforementioned "issues" i have been straining to hold myself back from freaking on my teamates for the last 5 lunch hours.
i am fully aware that these "issues" are my issues. my brain knows this activity's difficulty has nothing to do with these ladies doing anything wrong...they're just not doing it my way!

but then there are things that to me are common sense:
- if you're using a 12x12 piece of paper, don't cut a shape out of the exact middle of the page.
- if you're going to cut some of my expensive ribbon, use it.
- if we set aside matching sets of paper, use them and nothing else. (ok, that one's me...)
- if we're running out of glue, don't use too much.
- if the easy glue runs out, don't leave the lid off of the fast drying expensive glue.
- if you don't think you're going to be any good at this activity, stay away from it! (again, that's me, and something i would never say out loud!)

so, now my vent is over and the good news is that there is one page left to complete. soon i will no longer have to deal with these silly stressors, nor will i have to feel guilty about being such a pickle-butt with my supplies. it stresses me out!
i feel bad for any future children i may have...they're going to despise craft time with mommy.

guest blogger: weekend in review

hello everyone! greetings from kelly-ville.
as jamie mentioned, i will be guest blogging for her while she is recovering from the wedding festivities. i was not at the wedding but lots of co-workers were and i have heard nothing about how lover-ly the bride AND jamie looked. i hope jamie posts some pictures when she's back.
first off, it's going to be very difficult for me not to use capitals. i apologize if i forget. i've already slaughtered three (see: AND). now that's six. dammit.
also, i have chronic verbal diarrhea (sorry for the visual) so my posts will likely not be short. at least i can promise to give you something to read!
as per jamer's usual pattern i will treat you to a weekend in review! this was my first one at home in a few weeks so it was nice to not have tooooo much going on.
friday: i was off early at 3 on friday but didn't leave the office until 4. jamie and i are similarly bad at not leaving on time. i walk to work (lucky!) and as i sauntered home, i decided to pop into the bay (eaton centre) for a bit. didn't buy anything, which is lovely because i am on a wallet diet until i pay off my dept. this will hopefully happen next month!
next i went home and read on the couch for a while (the book of negroes - so good, so sad) and eventually met my manfriend for dinner. i like to cook but don't like to cook on fridays.
he wanted wings, i wanted something not-too-unhealthy, so we just walked in the general direction of king west and ended up at earl's [ http://www.earls.ca/ ]. manfriend had never been before and i had only been once with jamie. it was loud but the food was yummy (as was the malbec).
dinner was followed by a random bar for a few more drinks [ http://www.adelaidestreetpub.com/ ], and then a movie "rise of the planet of the apes" [ http://www.riseoftheplanetoftheapes.com/ ]. i wanted something blockbustery that wouldn't make me think too much, but it was actually really sad! i found myself aching for the poor chimps and their suffering, and i was definately not on the side of the homosapiens. good movie though. go see it!
we finished off our night at our local watering hole, mcveigh's [ http://www.mcveighspub.com/ ] for a quick dose of live irish music (also worth noting that a few scenes from boondock saints were filmed here).
saturday: almost every saturday that manfriend and i are in toronto we go out for breakfast. sometimes sunday too. we have many favourite haunts, but the one we go to the most is brassaii [ http://www.brassaii.com/ ] on king just west of spadina. we are both in love with their fresh-baked croissants, and i have a serious crush on their cappuccinos. the only problem with living in toronto and liking to "brunch" is that these meals are not cheap. we've had breakfasts that landed us will bills has high as $80, and $60 is not uncommon. this time the bill was closer to $60 but manfriend paid...yay for me! (our most expensive breakfast to date was in new york city at balthazar [ http://www.balthazarny.com/ ] at a whopping $120 for the two of us. delish!)
even though manfriend had to work (as a criminal defense lawyer he almost always works weekends) he agreed to go to the bay with me to look for a gift. if you hadn't already noticed on your own, yes i go to the bay a lot. the one at the eaton centre is classy, and it's close to my apartment.
we didn't find the gift at the bay, but manfriend bought himself a shirt and we found the gift at sears.
as a result if this impromptu shopping trip, i tricked manfriend into an extra few hours with me!
when he headed off to the office (also close to home, 5 min walk) i went to the st. lawrence market to grab stuff for dinner.
i spent the rest of the afternoon flipping through an interior design magazine i had just purchased, then prepped for m.y.o.p. night (make your own pizza!)...manfriend's buddy came over, we ate, and all went out to the pilot tavern [ http://www.thepilot.ca/ ] for drinks on the patio with manfriend's law school friends. it was a good time because one of them brought his fiancee who has just moved to toronto; she and i get along really well.
home to bed by 3am. that's a big-time late night for me. i'm getting old.
sunday: even though i was out late saturday, i felt great on sunday and got up at 10. no hangover (thanks to my signature drink: the white wine spritzer). made yummy omlettes with leftover m.y.o.p. ingredients, and set a plan to visit my friend natalie in brampton who has two kidlings that i just LOVE (four more capitals done-for). elise is 3 and molly is 8 weeks.
the plan was to make banana bread to get rid of the 12 fallen soldiers that had been gathering in my freezer...disaster. in an attempt to make the recipe healthier, natalie told me to substitute some of the flour for apple sauce. i didn't question it, but neither of us realized the tragic error until we were trying to figure out why the stuff just wasn't cooking. oops. should have substituted sugar for apple sauce, not flour! doh! (pun intended). alas, i came home with nothing but empty muffin tins, but i had a great day.
that's enough for now...stay tuned for two more posts from me this week!
tata!
k

Be our guest | Oui our guest | Be our guest

i have a friend.
I have to admit – I didn’t like her when I met her. She talked a lot, and only about her boyfriend tyler. She was pushy, and boisterous, where I’m fairly relaxed, and non emotional.
But, like squash, she grew on me. She’s now one of my closest friends, who i spend a ton of time with - weekends, weekdays, evenings, afternoons.

Kelly and I craft together, eat together, watch movies and laugh together. We’re two of the busiest people I know, and as a result, we know the other is (almost) always up for something spontaneous. We both LOVE to eat, drink wine, and talk. So we fit well. We have the same (sick) sense of humour, and we are both annoyed by exactly the same things. we both participated in the 60k weekend in end women's cancers this year, and had an amazing adventure.
Though we’re also different; I can’t tell a story to Kelly without her input on how the other person should be given the benefit of the doubt; she wants to get married like crazy, and i… well… you know; she loves her relationship, and her manfriend and loves the idea of her job at our office forever; she works her butt off, and eats quite healthy. Needless to say, we are very different in those respects.
She’s got a great sense of humour, she is open about her laziness, she has a fantastic eye for design and crafting (she makes incredible cards and wedding invitations). She’s always on the lookout for a bargain (and a bigger apartment), and our only dislike about one another is that we’re both good at our jobs, and stand in one another’s way to promotion.
This is all to say that Kelly will be guest posting while I am participating in my wedding slash trip extravaganza. I have no doubt in my mind that she’ll increase my readership – she’s way more funny than i.
Enjoy kelly’s posts – but not too much!