Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Catching Up

I'm getting back into the swing of things here, now that the One of a Kind Spring Show is over. An awesome fellow clothing designer asked me to help her out for the 5-day event and seeing as how I had not been to a show in ages, I thought it would be a great chance to see all the great stuff they have there. Plus, the extra cash didn't hurt.

The first day was alright though there were a few issues with the lighting in our booth. Luckily those issues were resolved and the rest of the day went smoothly. It wasn't too too busy since the show started on a Thursday...

Friday was MAYHEM though. I wish I had a picture to show how busy it was, not only at our booth, but pretty much in all the aisles. Photos were generally not allowed though, plus I didn't have much time to eat or sit down, let alone take a picture that day. I think it was the best sales day ever for a lot of the designers who are a part of the Collective. This is kind of how I felt for much of the day I was there:


A bit frazzled to say the least.

But after Friday, things were pretty much a breeze the rest of the show. I was able to trade for these two cute cups and saucers by ketto design who are from Montreal.

I'd been longing for some more generous sized cups for tea and hot chocolate for some time now and had picked up another piece by them years ago, at the first One of a Kind show I went to. So these were purrfect!

Candice was also gracious enough to give me one of her beautiful new tops (no picture as of yet as it is in need of washing) and a pair of her rather famous undies. It's very true, they ARE "super cute and seriously comfortable!" I had bought Matt a few of these before but had never treated myself. The undies were such a show-stopper that they even managed to get on tv. You can catch a glimpse of me too in the background in the first few seconds of the clip.

Other things of note during the show:
- I met one of my blog readers though I didn't get her name. Sorry (if you're reading this). I guess I was surprised to find out that other people besides a few friends and family read this. I feel like a relative newbie in the blog world and am flattered to know that I do have a readership too. There are some great blogs out there, so thank you to anyone who takes the time to read mine :)

- I also ran into a college peer and chatted for a bit about what's been going on since then. Ah, the college days. Feels like only yesterday, but at the same time it doesn't. How time flies.

And speaking of which, I best get a start on catching up with work. I'll finish the post with a photo of Suki and Dex from earlier today:

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Get your Indie Fixx!


You can now find a few of my kitty items in the Indie Fixx Shop. I love the photos that Jen took. They make my things look kind of dreamy.

Monday, March 17, 2008

A New Lucky Kitty?


Although St. Patty's Day is almost over and Matt and I don't really celebrate it, I happened to unveil a new design at Fresh Baked Goods today. So I just wanted to share a bit of green here. Plus, I must say "Pretty Kitty" is becoming a new favorite of mine. I will list some shirts and other things featuring her in my shop soon, though I may not get around to it this week. We'll see.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Poor kitties...


Today was errand day, so I didn't get any work done here. And now I'm procrastinating by blogging. I swear, though, the streetcars crawl along even slower when I'm in a hurry to get back home. Murphy's Law or something. And when I got back to our place, I found Dex huddled in the corner behind one of the wooden beams. He looked very scared and I had to coax him out. It was only after I made my lunch and was heading downstairs to eat it that I discovered the reason behind his hiding. The stupid fire alarm was being tested in our building. Again! They tested it several weeks ago and at least warned us of it. Today there were no signs saying this would be happening.

I'm lucky enough to be able to wear earplugs, but the cats have to suffer. Our poor kitties. They'll probably go deaf several years sooner now.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Tea and Things

almost-black-tea
It's rather grey and gloomy outside, and normally I'd feel lethargic with this weather but I'm surprisingly energetic and can see myself being productive today. Maybe it was the almost black cup of tea I just enjoyed. Normally I take my tea with milk, but we ran out yesterday and I forgot to pick some more up at the store. Tea without milk definitely has more bite and I love the richness of colour.

Or perhaps I'm feeling inspired by the brilliant music from this brilliant movie that we watched last night. I happened upon a copy of it at my local library and I can see why it won the Oscar for "Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song". All the songs are amazing and I will definitely be buying the soundtrack. I haven't bought a cd in years but this would be well worth the money. And the lead actor is pretty cute, though redheads are not usually my cup of tea... he reminds me a bit of Hugh Laurie who I've come to love as Dr. House.

The past week has been spent printing more shirts to send to various shops I consign with and also experimenting a bit with printing multiple images on one shirt.

kittyheads

lucky-kitties2

That has also given me ideas for sewn projects and after a few years of storing this baby away, it finally saw the light again last night:

sewing-table-top

Matt constructed a makeshift sewing table for me - so I could of course sew something for him first - out of Ikea shelves. It's not the sturdiest thing, as it still needs some proper legs on the bottom to stabilize it, but it works. And Matt taped one side of it to our shared worktable, so that'll do for now. I will be sure to post some wip photos as well as finished projects photos in the next week or so.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Wishful Thinking and Exercise

The snow just doesn't want to stop falling yet. Toronto is under another storm watch and once again I will have to venture out into it tomorrow. As long as the ttc keeps running smoothly, I'll be happy.

But I'm still longing for warmer days and pretty flowers...





Maybe when it warms up, I will take up running again. Or perhaps I will stick with working up a sweat indoors with Kathy Smith. I exercised for the first time in years - or what feels like years - this afternoon and feel like a new woman. I always forget how good it can feel after a good workout. Endorphins are a wonderful thing.

Of course, that's not going to stop me from baking chocolate chip cookies later on. Mmmm, cookies!

Oh and I was also pleasantly surprised (well, sort of, as I already knew the post was coming) to be featured here. Angie has been a sweetheart to work with so far and I look forward to selling in her and Tyson's shop.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

On a Day like Yesterday...

I sure could have used a pair of these sassy boots:

Instead I trudged through the snow and slush with my now extremely weathered winter hiking boots:


They've got paint drips on them and there's a hole in the back of the left one, so it's not exactly the warmest footwear. Even though Toronto doesn't really get that cold, this winter has had its share of large snowfalls and I didn't expect more white stuff so soon after the last storm. I'm hoping for Spring weather soon!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

March is here...

my section
Yesterday was my first day working at Fresh Baked Goods and Mondays are sure slow for retail compared to Saturdays, the day I used to work at Fresh Collective. But with Spring around the corner, hopefully more shoppers will soon be out and about looking to buy some new duds and accessories. Look at all the great stuff in the shop:

the rest of the store
the rest of the storethe rest of the store

Today I am enjoying being in the comfort of our home. I've been out and about everyday since Friday and for me that gets to be a bit much, especially when travel time seems to take up half the day sometimes.

On Friday, Matt and I ttc'ed it to Pearson Airport to lunch with my sister, who had an 8 hour stopever on her way to South Africa. I was really happy that we got to see each other again and spend a few hours together - the last time we saw one another was when she was here for our wedding in July. But seriously, getting to and from the airport took about the same amount of time that we actually spent together. And my suggestion to dine at the Sheraton for lunch? Wow! I had no idea they would charge an arm and a leg for a sandwich. It was $5 for a cup of coffee and $6 for a pot of tea. At least Matt and I could only eat half the amount of food they gave us, so we got two meals each out of our entrees.

sisters2

Still, seeing my sister again, well that's priceless. Especially after feeling a little homesick this past month. I haven't been back to Saskatoon in a few years now and even though I know I could never move back there, it'd be nice to visit more often.

Saturday I completed another portrait, this time of six subjects - two people and their four cats:
final
The painting is a birthday present for the man in the painting, commissioned by his wife. They are both music lovers and cat lovers, hence being surrounded by the things they love.

Sunday I picked up a shift working at my former haunt and got to see quite a few of the designers who happened to stop by that day. As much as I would love to not have to work outside of the home, I've had to start the job hunt again, after several years of avoiding it.

I enjoyed listening to the podcast between these two the other day. I didn't get through the whole thing, but can certainly identify with the stuff that I did hear from both of them. Both are inspiring artists and I hope to achieve successes similar to theirs one day soon.