I got crafty!

So I found The Pineneedle Collective blog just before Valentine's Day and wanted to make their DIY heart tights. But with time and energy running short I didn't get around to it until yesterday.

At which point I had decided I didn't want to do hearts, boo hearts and love!

Originally my idea was to write BELIEVE down the back of my right leg and I hadn't figured out what to use as a shape...hearts could have worked then. Turns out I'm not very patient or spatially inept so my trying to make stencils for BELIEVE was a failure and the ones I found at the dollar store were too small. :(

I had figured out I wanted to use stars as my shape though...so I made two stencils one big and one small and did the front first...the stencils weren't staying very well. Too many points? Anyway, it sort of ended up very free-style which meant I figured I'd freestyle the back as well. BELIEVE ended up being to big for how I thought it would fit so I did "Wish" instead.

Here is the result of trying to get my crafty back with all my supplies still at home.

But out of limitations comes creativity.
                                                   -Debbie Allen 

Country Girl Soul

I've been trying to figure out what concise topic to cover in my blog post. Hence the long wait [I know you were all gagging for me to write again], and I'm not actually sure this is as concise and topic driven as I want. Alas, I need to update. For my sanity [and obviously yours].

I grew up on country music. My oldest sister was very into Garth Brooks, Bryan White, Shania, Leanna Rimes, etc.

My family has a summer trailer where the music at our dances was almost 100% country jams. Old and new. Even the coolest kids would line dance for appropriate songs.

Country music is in my blood, but I sort of drifted from it for a few years, always listening to certain people aka Great Big Sea [who aren't whole-y country genre] but lately I've been going nuts needing my country back!

Now, this isn't to say it leans more to the Pop-Country side of things but I have been loving my Garth Brooks and Bryan Adams to boot.

There's something about a country song that just fills you up in a way dance music can't. In a way pop music misses with it's resonating bass. 

I've missed how it makes me feel. Happy and gloomy all at once. I miss rockin' out with my sister and her making me mixed tapes and then CD's to keep from stealing hers to listen to.

This is not to say I am not loving my indie music, pop music, rock music, just that I forgot how much I love to groove to some good hearty country tunes.

So, there's another facet of my personalities for you, country girl this one.

She needs wide open spaces, room to make her big mistakes.
                                                                                       -Dixie Chicks

(Vancouver) Rain

It's raining today.

Not an uncommon occurrence in Vancouver, especially during the "winter" months, but today's rain reminded me of something spectacular.

Yes, it rained A LOT in December and a decent amount in January. But really I've not gotten "too bummed" or "annoyed' by the rain.

Why?

I can say without hesitation or doubt that I love rain. I love how it feels when you are walking in it and happy and I love how it feels when you are walking in it and are crying.

No matter what it cleanses and refreshes the earth. It takes the heaviness of life and shows us how we are all connected through water and this cleansing.

I'm not sure what most people have against rain. I searched high and low for a yellow raincoat and matching yellow wellies so I could go out and enjoy the rain without getting TOO wet. But the joy of getting caught in a rainstorm is still a love I can't let go of.

This past August I got caught in a summer storm right before leaving Hamilton and I danced in it. I was out with my best friends and we all danced it in and then I got home, threw on my bathing suit and danced in the rain at 3am. It was one of the best moments of the summer.

I think it's one of those things we lose our love for as we grow up and we only want it when it's convenient or will serve a purpose for us, example, during hot hot humid summers we dream of the heat breaking with a storm.

That's not to say when it rains for 7 days straight I don't go "okay, I love you but enough I want to wear cute shoes again" but living in East Sussex, England and now Vancouver, I have truly learned I am not one of those people bothered by the rain. I don't typically take an umbrella with me. I don't curse when my hair frizzes. I just accept it and enjoy it.

Maybe we need to watch as children jump into puddles with such joy a bit more. Watch them squeal with delight as they get splashed and giggle instead of moan when things get a bit wet and perhaps muddy. 

 

A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won't come true.
                                                                                                                      -Ray Evans