This afternoon, I had the pleasure of working on some funky synthetic fabric covered in foil dots. And after 1 hour of handling it, cutting, sewing on the machines and generally trying to get it to the next stage for a fitting tomorrow, I have had to stop.

I am actually seeing spots -yes, those little sliver dots are now clouding my vision even as I type.  My throat is scratchy and what’s worse, I have has uber bad mood swings that can only partially be attributed to hormones.

SO where does that leave me? For now, I am leaving the pretty fabric in it’s bag and I will go take Sprocket for a walk to air out my lungs and eyes before my bridal clients start arriving “after work”.

But for future projects, I am really going to have to think twice before taking on the metallic lames, foil dots etc if the off-gassing continues to affect me this much.

Sad Sparkly Arr…

We are working with our little headed demon to get her social behaviour more acceptable – she’s just so darned excitable!

One thing we have always said, we did not want a dog who sleeps in bed with us. So far, both dogs we have had, came to us having slept in bed with their people before we got them. And with both, crate training in an apartment building can only reasonably happen during daytime hours, not at night when everyone can hear the howling.

But with Tom working at night in his “office” and me up by 7 a.m. to get started on my days, we are working out the system. We had it going for a while, then over the holidays somehow Sprocket managed to squirm her way under the blankets and the bad habit of letting her come to bed with me began. But it also meant I did not sleep through the night as she was hot, then she would fuss, then I would fuss, then Tom would come to bed, or not and the entire month was a mess.

We were also both people sick, so sleeping patterns were disrupted across all boundaries, so finally this week, with relative health settling into T2, I started to get to go to bed without a furry demon to accompany me.

First two nights went so well, she did not even want to get up with me at 7 a.m. for her morning walk. So I would go out for my own walk, and let her out when I got home. Last night, she slept until 4 am, then decided to come to our door and try to push her way in. I awoke, as I don’t need to pick up any gifts, thanks, and asked, ” You want to go out? ”

She said, “No, just coming to bed.”

I said, ” You are bugging me, you must want to go out.”

As she skittered back to her own bed, ” No, no, I’m fine.”

I said , “Okay, I’m going to bed now.” Closing the door gently, I waited.

And back she bounded to our door and started pushing. And i came out, walked past her and went about my own 4 a.m., might as well take care of business myself type stuff, while I’m up.

She followed me about as best she could, then i asked again, “You wanna go out?’

” Nope”

“Really?”

“Just wanna come to bed with you”

Silence.

“Let’s go out” I say, and grapple her into her harness. Anyone who has met her understands her wiggliness requires the occasional grappling until we all understand each other.

4:30 a.m. out for a ‘Quick P’ and back in for a Kong full of doggy granola and liver treats on her bed.

And then I was able to head back to bed myself for a remaining few hours of ZZZs before I had to get up for my own day.

Hoping tonight is a solid night’s sleep for her and me, but really, it’s a good start!

And “Dad is still in there- I could be cuddled in with him…right?”

So this morning, the stars finally aligned for me to head out for a #morningwalk, post #Sprocketwalk, pre #SundayBrunch.

-19 is chilly but not as windy. The sun shining gorgeously through the trees and sparkling on the snow.

As I saw a picturesque moment, and reached into one of my many coat pockets to capture it forever – and for you – I realized I accidentally left my iPhone at home. Ah, well. So I just kept walking without worry, and let myself feel the morningwalk work it’s magic.

For today, the choice is to peruse the millions of online shots of gorgeous Canadian winter mornings, or maybe even go outside and live the moment.

Either way, have a fabulous Sunday!
T/h

Yes, it takes me at least 3 weeks to feel like the new year has begun.  It may have to do with my astrological sign < wink wink nudge nudge to those who know me and what I mean re: today>, or having classes start last week and still have some shuffling to do there.

With working through a lot of the yule holidays, I do need to ease into things so that I feel at least a bit rested and ready for the upcoming year. Already in the works – classes as mentioned – including a fuller and expanded Sewing Level 1 class starting this coming Saturday, room to have more students in all of my dance classes, and a general feeling schedule of wedding alterations and custom projects already in the calendar.

2013 has some good vibes in it already!

Philanthropic/volunteer wise, I think I am mainly going nerdy/geeky this year as the Ottawa Browncoats Community is centring itself into my vision – we’ve been kindly nudged into having a table at the upcoming Game Summit on February – early – more details on that when we get them onto the Ottawabrowncoats.ca website.  And Ottawa Comicon should be confirming that they received our request for space there too…in May.

Where I have chosen to step back is of course, the Bazaar, which is a feeling of freedom and relief  – as much as I love our dance community here in Ottawa, I am really looking forward to joining events run by the other fab organizers in the area, and being part of their support system as they have been for me over the years!

 I’ll still have my OCCP/ student recitals, as long as I don’t go crazy 🙂  So feel welcome to come dancing !

And sewing is looking as fun and rewarding as ever! Along with a few fun custom projects as mentioned, I am still thoroughly enjoying being Luxe Bridal’s Alterations Specialist – bringing the final touches to the dresses their brides order/ pick up from their sample sales.  Lisa and Madeleine are great to work with and 2013 is looking good!

So, welcome 2013 – let’s rock it together!

This just happened- Tom and I laughed.

After needing major futon time last night as a cold invaded my system, and having a mediocre night sleep wise, this morning is off to a good start!

Got to the drive clean testing place a bit early( after getting a bit turned around in the back roads of Vanier), and headed off for a short coffeewalk to a nearby bakery.

Recommended by the staff at McConville’s, the Maison Baguettes on Montreal Road was a place I have walked past over the years, and now I know I will pop in again. Simple coffee and muffins that are crispy on top as they are freshly baked, makes me happy. Wifi too.

As I was happily nomnoming away, my cell rang and my car was ready 15 minutes early. Yay! And it passed. Double yay!

And after pulling into my driveway with but of revving- there be snow speed bumps :-), I got out of the car and looked down to see my earring. Lost almost a month ago, it is not an expensive piece, but a lightweight pretty piece that I had worn to dinner chez Deepali and Ashish in December.

It had fallen out before the evening began and waited patiently through multiple trips before creeping back out from under the seat to be spotted.

While I still have a dry cough settling in and a busy day ahead, I think a good start deserves an immediate dose of recognition!

So thanks Universe for the good start to today!!

This holiday season has been an amazing blend of fabulous friends in intense doses interspersed with quiet downtime with Tom and Sprocket. It’s been exactly what we both have needed and it’s not quite over yet.

December 31st and while I am still officially on a break, I have found I am already doing my traditional housecleaning of transition. AS I finish up one block of time/segment of life/ session of work, I automatically take some time to tie up loose ends.

Even before we go on our summer holidays, I clean the house as much as I can so that when I am ready to come back and start work again, it’s waiting for me, ready to get started without any major distractions holding me back.

This Yule/New Year felt like we really needed that down time, and I was so happy to have a few days here and there to ourselves to just be { nap/ watch movies/spontaneously try new things and just relax}.

This past weekend, we both hosted and visited, so today I already slept in 2 hours, Sprocket has just jumped off the bed now – that’s a 3 hour sleep in. And we are grateful that we have a few invitations to choose from for gathering with our amazing friends tonight, but we may need another quiet night.

So, may your NYE be exactly what you need, may 2013 bring you everything you manifest with your thoughts and deeds, and may you all keep posting your goals and achievements on your blogs, Facebook and twitter with gusto- alongside lots of food pics and nature shots!

Now back to changing my calendar to 2013, paperwork for TAV Creations and enjoying another quiet day out in the Byward market , if I get there!  If not – there’s a futon  and some company waiting for snuggling! And those Thank You notes I still owe oodles of people!

With all of the work on my plate, the events, shows, parties and such, 2012 Christmas season has been even more of a pain than previous years.  The frenzy of trying to squeeze it all in during a one month period reminds me that I need to focus on getting it in during the year, not just now.

We don’t give gifts for Xmas, we donate to charity.  Throughout the year, I get mail outs from those charities asking for donations to be spread out during the year, not just at that one hyped up time of year which is Christmas { my words, not theirs}.

And they are right – so plan 1, when I finally get around to making our donations { we use CanadaHelps.org } on behalf of family members for holiday gifts, I will be looking at setting up a monthly plan, or at least scheduling in my own calendar to make the donations on a more year-round way.

And seeing folks over the holidays is fun/stressful/superficial/whacky and full of contradictions. We want to see people and this time of year, we are programmed to schedule in that time to go to parties and re-connect o a social level.  But we cannot attend every event and can get very crazy trying.  And when we are there, it’s loud, distracting and again we are trying to squeeze in those quick catch up conversations with everyone we know, so that we only really get that soupçon  of connection.

So that’s plan 2 – make time for double date nights, fifth wheel nights { this would be the mix of couple and singles,just to be clear}, girls nights, guys nights, etc. throughout the year.  We had already begun doing this in 2012, and while again, we cannot attend every event, if we know there are planned out multiple options, we will at least get in 4-6 visits outside of regular channels, as opposed to just one whacky party!

Cards…

I did not get cards out this year – I might, after I finish my work load this week. I will try to go digital at the very least and bombard emails/twitterfeeds/facebookwalls etc with some adorable imagery of the season sending greetings of joy to all of you.

Or I may just sleep.

In my “week off”, we will travel and host, and see cultural events and visit with family – just like everyone else.  And in that brief period of time, I hope to catch up with my husband and new doglet. Cause we’ve had a busy 2012.

So, Christmas, don’t be hurt, don’t be offended.

Yule barely got a toast from me this year, and it’s closer to my heart.  It did get a Cherpumple, though, so I guess you can feel a bit left out as you’ll be getting the leftovers…yes, Cherpumple does seem to freeze okay – must be the preservatives in the cake mixes and store bought pies.

The remaining half will emerge when we host my family – Bwahaha!

So, Merry Christmas to all of you who have the spirit at this time of year.  May we start to create a balanced approach and keep it going throughout the year, instead of the standard collective manic burst for the rest of the month followed by the post Cherpumple Coma.

Thanks to everyone who joined us today in spite of the whacky weather! Cherpumple, Grinch, conversations, folks squeezed into our cozy apartment and lots of amazing food!

We hope to spend more time with all of you in 2013, as we totally realized how much we want to chat with you all in more depth !!