Here is a little cartoon that I drew up this am inspired by yesterday night's events...
Monday, July 30, 2012
Oh Monty
Since having Monty on the road, he has been in my Pritchard back yard, at a vinyard, at my friend's neighbour's orchard in Summerland, at an Equine Rescue in Prince George (yes, there were many jokes told by yours truly about leaving him there for his own sake), and now, for the first time in ... YEARS I have my horse at a reining barn!!! The arena is large, the sand is beautiful and I am loving every minute of it. It is so nice to ride in a pristine arena and train my horse without hills, obstacle courses, gravel, and a plethora of other minor yet annoying troubles. Monty has a love hate relationship with it. He is having to work harder than he ever has in his life, however he is doing sooo well... well despite some displays of attitude that is, but it's to be expected considering who we're talking about. Last night we had a little 'scare' though... he clipped himself (no visible injury... just a very obvious sting) and was quite concerned that he couldn't bear weight on his left front foot ever again, and waved it at me many times to illustrate the point. After walking a few circles and discovering that all was not lost, we carried on. In fact we carried on with style, Monty was so overjoyed with his miracle that the 'attitude factor' was gone for the rest of the ride, he went like a totally broke horse! Not to worry, attitude was restored this evening...
Here is a little cartoon that I drew up this am inspired by yesterday night's events...
Here is a little cartoon that I drew up this am inspired by yesterday night's events...
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Something's Missing...
Can you tell what it is??
the 'about' section that most every blogger known to the www has in their profile. Uhhh... the whole point is to practice writing, obvs I should have written an 'about' by now, right?
Well, it's been bothering me lately. I've been procrastinating because, well, I'm a procrastinator and also because I'm not really sure what to write. What makes a good 'about' and what makes a bad one? What kinds of things are you supposed to say about yourself, how much i can you add before it becomes tmi? Well I am sitting here in Starbucks doing some research on the topic and we are about to find out my friends.
Here are some of my fave's from around the web:
1.
Now this is a sort of new to me blog that I'm loving because it tells me that you don't need photos and visual effects to practice your writing through blogging, but you can still have an interesting blog. Basically that translates to I'm too lazy to add a photo montage (or even learn how to create a proper photo montage) to every post - so sometime's I don't post!!
... until now. (I'm sure you've noticed my visually uninspiring additions of late... I'm loving it!)
The first thing you should know about me is that I have a British accent. This will help you establish a voice in your head when you're reading, which is important, don't you think?
My name is Holly Burns. I'm 31 and I live in San Francisco, California, with my new-ish husband Sean, and two enormous cats. I work in the travel industry and I'm often on the road. This means that I am on a first name basis with most of the TSA workers at San Francisco International Airport and could probably tell you how their kids' Little League teams are doing at any given moment. I own many bottles of shampoo that are three ounces or less.
This is in fact a small exerpt from her about page... Basically she gives a life history, and provides links to a more detailed account of her life history. Borderline tmi but I like her opener a lot (in fact I like the whole thing, but well you can follow the link if you really want to read it)
2.
I had an 'about' from Joanna's A Cup Of Jo but then I decided not to put it in because I actually didn't really like it. I also had a story about how my Baba and I are both preoccupied with being funny, and then I deleted it. Shit.
3.
I like this one for the swearing, and the Pintrest... nuff said.
Hi! I’m the Pintester. I test pins from Pinterest. Mostly, I fuck them up.
I am in no way associated with Pinterest, except that I spend far too much time on it planning weddings I will never have and designing rooms I know I will never do. (I can’t even work up the energy to paint a wall, honestly.)
If you like the site, please pin it, tweet it, like it, and tell all your friends about it.
If you hate the site, please keep your goddamn mouth shut.
Ok now I'm bored. Maybe I'll weed through a few more 'abouts' on my bookmarks column later and share them with you.
And yes, I do keep my blogs in my bookmarks column. I know there are other things out there and what not, but I guess I just don't really care? Am I missing out here? Should I be allowed to blog if I'm not going to use the blogey tools available to me?? Do they regulate these things, I mean, are there blog police?
the 'about' section that
Well, it's been bothering me lately. I've been procrastinating because, well, I'm a procrastinator and also because I'm not really sure what to write. What makes a good 'about' and what makes a bad one? What kinds of things are you supposed to say about yourself, how much i can you add before it becomes tmi? Well I am sitting here in Starbucks doing some research on the topic and we are about to find out my friends.
Here are some of my fave's from around the web:
1.
Now this is a sort of new to me blog that I'm loving because it tells me that you don't need photos and visual effects to practice your writing through blogging, but you can still have an interesting blog. Basically that translates to I'm too lazy to add a photo montage (or even learn how to create a proper photo montage) to every post - so sometime's I don't post!!
... until now. (I'm sure you've noticed my visually uninspiring additions of late... I'm loving it!)
The first thing you should know about me is that I have a British accent. This will help you establish a voice in your head when you're reading, which is important, don't you think?
My name is Holly Burns. I'm 31 and I live in San Francisco, California, with my new-ish husband Sean, and two enormous cats. I work in the travel industry and I'm often on the road. This means that I am on a first name basis with most of the TSA workers at San Francisco International Airport and could probably tell you how their kids' Little League teams are doing at any given moment. I own many bottles of shampoo that are three ounces or less.
This is in fact a small exerpt from her about page... Basically she gives a life history, and provides links to a more detailed account of her life history. Borderline tmi but I like her opener a lot (in fact I like the whole thing, but well you can follow the link if you really want to read it)
2.
I had an 'about' from Joanna's A Cup Of Jo but then I decided not to put it in because I actually didn't really like it. I also had a story about how my Baba and I are both preoccupied with being funny, and then I deleted it. Shit.
3.
I like this one for the swearing, and the Pintrest... nuff said.
Hi! I’m the Pintester. I test pins from Pinterest. Mostly, I fuck them up.
I am in no way associated with Pinterest, except that I spend far too much time on it planning weddings I will never have and designing rooms I know I will never do. (I can’t even work up the energy to paint a wall, honestly.)
If you like the site, please pin it, tweet it, like it, and tell all your friends about it.
If you hate the site, please keep your goddamn mouth shut.
Ok now I'm bored. Maybe I'll weed through a few more 'abouts' on my bookmarks column later and share them with you.
And yes, I do keep my blogs in my bookmarks column. I know there are other things out there and what not, but I guess I just don't really care? Am I missing out here? Should I be allowed to blog if I'm not going to use the blogey tools available to me?? Do they regulate these things, I mean, are there blog police?
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Neeewww Direectionsssss
haha! I have been inspired yet again re: Mr. Avion renovation theme... this is going to take so much energy I will never get around to doing the actual work!!!
The new idea came about while I was on The Perfect Pallette looking for some buttercreamy - camely yellows mixed with greys and a little bit of metalics. Surprisingly there are some really great examples of how this bizarre combo comes together (I had low hopes)
anyways, I was looking at the camel (or caramel who knows) and saw this
and more specifically THIS
Don't you just love menswear? I looked at the little photo collage and the bride is wearing a brushed feltey soft looking blazer (brown) and you know, there is a stalk of wheat boutennire blah blah but it just reminded me of menswear (which I LOVE - I wear leather old man shoes that I thrifted as often as possible.. so gross I know, I also love wearing my hubby's sweatpants and occasionally his boxers - also menswear). In fact the hubby's wedding 'dress' cost more than mine did!! (until the fiasco) and I was totally OK with it because I LOVE MENSWEAR. Anyway, back to the point.. that set of invitations just KILLS me. The vintage walletey leathery lived in-ness. I can do it because it's vintage and Q will love it because manly and I will say so. Takes me back to the days of sitting in a smoking lounge smoking cigars in vintage suits and drinking scotch out of crystal with dark leather and oak cabinets and fancy shit around. What movie was that from again?
ok so new airstream inspired by: man-time. I'm hoping to pull it off with lighter colours.. it's so small in here. Like camel upholstery, some metallic reflective shit and fingers crossed for a painting project on the cabinets. Colour suggestions? I'm at a total loss....
What I'm not a lost cause for is liquidating. I got fed up with the overstuffed cabinets (and having to many of them) and de-junked this place. I'm ruminating on a post about that, along with about 8 others so we will see which ones you actually get to experience. I did take photos though! yep, there are photos of heaping mounds of clothes (wth did they all come from?!)
Here is where you can find my inspiration behind the inspiration (on the liquidating, that is)
So, I'm pintresting cigar lounge and f'n look at this!!!! unh... whaaaattt?? YES!
This website has some stellar photos of the awesomeness.
vintage books? are you kidding me??
OK so gloss gloss gloss sparkle sparkle sparkle leather suede leather. smoke.
The new idea came about while I was on The Perfect Pallette looking for some buttercreamy - camely yellows mixed with greys and a little bit of metalics. Surprisingly there are some really great examples of how this bizarre combo comes together (I had low hopes)
anyways, I was looking at the camel (or caramel who knows) and saw this
and more specifically THIS
Don't you just love menswear? I looked at the little photo collage and the bride is wearing a brushed feltey soft looking blazer (brown) and you know, there is a stalk of wheat boutennire blah blah but it just reminded me of menswear (which I LOVE - I wear leather old man shoes that I thrifted as often as possible.. so gross I know, I also love wearing my hubby's sweatpants and occasionally his boxers - also menswear). In fact the hubby's wedding 'dress' cost more than mine did!! (until the fiasco) and I was totally OK with it because I LOVE MENSWEAR. Anyway, back to the point.. that set of invitations just KILLS me. The vintage walletey leathery lived in-ness. I can do it because it's vintage and Q will love it because manly and I will say so. Takes me back to the days of sitting in a smoking lounge smoking cigars in vintage suits and drinking scotch out of crystal with dark leather and oak cabinets and fancy shit around. What movie was that from again?
ok so new airstream inspired by: man-time. I'm hoping to pull it off with lighter colours.. it's so small in here. Like camel upholstery, some metallic reflective shit and fingers crossed for a painting project on the cabinets. Colour suggestions? I'm at a total loss....
What I'm not a lost cause for is liquidating. I got fed up with the overstuffed cabinets (and having to many of them) and de-junked this place. I'm ruminating on a post about that, along with about 8 others so we will see which ones you actually get to experience. I did take photos though! yep, there are photos of heaping mounds of clothes (wth did they all come from?!)
Here is where you can find my inspiration behind the inspiration (on the liquidating, that is)
So, I'm pintresting cigar lounge and f'n look at this!!!! unh... whaaaattt?? YES!
This website has some stellar photos of the awesomeness.
vintage books? are you kidding me??
OK so gloss gloss gloss sparkle sparkle sparkle leather suede leather. smoke.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
oh thank gawd..
Judging by the number of spelling typ-os and 3 glasses gone from my 1.5 litre bottle of wine... I think we can officially call this aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa DRUNKEN DISPATCH!
I am writing now from Prince George BC.... our Hope days are gone and without souvenir t-shirts much to my dismay. Apparently all of the Sasquatch t-shirts sold out when where was a Sasquatch festival in a neighboring town. dammit.
Anywhoodle, it seems like I am forever behind on the blog updates... could be due to the fact that our mac laptops have a problem with connecting to our current trailer park's internet... wtf?? so frustrating! it's so close, yet so far...
So, Monty has joined us in Prince George, he had a nice trip up here with a 3 foot thick bed of straw and free reign of the horse trailer. The truck 'Dilbert' is doing well. He got to go into Dunbar's (our mechanic) for an oil change and look over - we have now driven approx. 4500k in the last three weeks or so. The doggies are adjusting well, our new trailer park 'South Park' (also coincidentally Quincy's favourite show) seems nice, not too busy or fussy which is good for me!!
Today however, we had a huge contingent of 'Caravan Adventurers' roll in..... it is a group of American white hairs that group-travel in their $200 000 motor homes with their papillon doggies with big yellow stickers in their windshields announcing their association... aaand how many 'adventures' they have been on (I'm totally jealous). This group is heading up to Alaska to earn the coveted Alaska sticker that is empty on their decal map of the US. It's been a wonderful day of people watching in South Park, let me tell you!
The weather has been great! not too hot, not too cold. The town is better than I had feared... It's got the small industrial town feel, with about 5 highways running through it with big box stores, hotels and casinos spread along the highways in all directions heading out (or in) of town. I took the dogs for a hike yesterday and got lost, and took Monty and Ax for a ride on the road this evening and saw a hillbilly driving by with what appeared to be a lifesized 'woman doll' in his passenger seat (I was thinking bachelor party joke)... but then her eyes followed me!!!!! acrylic looking florescent red hair, pale pale skin and enormous round eyes accented by hanging open mouthed slack-jawed expression turned out to be a REAL human. A little creeped out.
Anyways, Prince George: so far so good. I also have a bit of writing marinating in my mind re: how good it feels to be in the north again! Born and raised (untilJunior High) in the boreal forest and it's still in my bones...
FYI: while drunken dispatching one of the paving crew pulled into the rv park.. Reportedly Quincy had arranged a site for him for a few days to park his trailer while he was visiting home. Quincy has long since gone to sleep (it's 9:00pm on Saturday) and resisted all attempts that I made to wake him up. With some hilarious sleep-talking thrown in. His best line was "I don't know, and your boobs are really not that big" and in response I slapped his sweet sleeping cheek (just tryin' to wake him up ok?) and then he says "whooooo does that?" and falls back asleep with his eyes closed... What a gem.
I am writing now from Prince George BC.... our Hope days are gone and without souvenir t-shirts much to my dismay. Apparently all of the Sasquatch t-shirts sold out when where was a Sasquatch festival in a neighboring town. dammit.
Anywhoodle, it seems like I am forever behind on the blog updates... could be due to the fact that our mac laptops have a problem with connecting to our current trailer park's internet... wtf?? so frustrating! it's so close, yet so far...
So, Monty has joined us in Prince George, he had a nice trip up here with a 3 foot thick bed of straw and free reign of the horse trailer. The truck 'Dilbert' is doing well. He got to go into Dunbar's (our mechanic) for an oil change and look over - we have now driven approx. 4500k in the last three weeks or so. The doggies are adjusting well, our new trailer park 'South Park' (also coincidentally Quincy's favourite show) seems nice, not too busy or fussy which is good for me!!
Today however, we had a huge contingent of 'Caravan Adventurers' roll in..... it is a group of American white hairs that group-travel in their $200 000 motor homes with their papillon doggies with big yellow stickers in their windshields announcing their association... aaand how many 'adventures' they have been on (I'm totally jealous). This group is heading up to Alaska to earn the coveted Alaska sticker that is empty on their decal map of the US. It's been a wonderful day of people watching in South Park, let me tell you!
The weather has been great! not too hot, not too cold. The town is better than I had feared... It's got the small industrial town feel, with about 5 highways running through it with big box stores, hotels and casinos spread along the highways in all directions heading out (or in) of town. I took the dogs for a hike yesterday and got lost, and took Monty and Ax for a ride on the road this evening and saw a hillbilly driving by with what appeared to be a lifesized 'woman doll' in his passenger seat (I was thinking bachelor party joke)... but then her eyes followed me!!!!! acrylic looking florescent red hair, pale pale skin and enormous round eyes accented by hanging open mouthed slack-jawed expression turned out to be a REAL human. A little creeped out.
Anyways, Prince George: so far so good. I also have a bit of writing marinating in my mind re: how good it feels to be in the north again! Born and raised (untilJunior High) in the boreal forest and it's still in my bones...
FYI: while drunken dispatching one of the paving crew pulled into the rv park.. Reportedly Quincy had arranged a site for him for a few days to park his trailer while he was visiting home. Quincy has long since gone to sleep (it's 9:00pm on Saturday) and resisted all attempts that I made to wake him up. With some hilarious sleep-talking thrown in. His best line was "I don't know, and your boobs are really not that big" and in response I slapped his sweet sleeping cheek (just tryin' to wake him up ok?) and then he says "whooooo does that?" and falls back asleep with his eyes closed... What a gem.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Almost done being a road warrior...
corrrrection by miles I mean kilometers... not sure where that came from but... there it is.
So, since we spoke last I have driven more than 3000 miles. It's been fun, don't get me wrong but I am sooo looking forward to stopping this week - and doing a grand total km count to see what I've done to my poor truck!!
things I have done on my journey:
visited a friend in hospital
taken the dogs in the ocean
dropped off my stinky axle with my mother in law after he rolled in something dead... sorry! it reportedly took 5-6 days of shampooing and trips to the lake to get the smell out (after I shampooed him 4 times prior to leaving him there)
visited my parent's farm
attended stampede for all of 10 minutes
attended stampede nighttime parties for all of the time I could physically handle
crazy danced with a Stampede cowboy (he won 2nd!)
Visited my great aunt and uncle's farm
bought my first audiobook - and liked it!
Visited my sister as much as possible (when her stampede fling had time/space for me)
in the meantime.. .visited with other great friends
smoked a cigarette... just one is about all I can handle
jumped in a bouncy castle and had a waterfight with a 4 year old birthday boy
listened to a LOT of music
returned to the ocean
rode the ferry
dogs in ocean again.. and again and again
stayed in a hotel with creepy dolls on the bathroom doors designating them boys and girls
went to a great friend's wedding
was late for the ceremony (fuck!)
interperetive danced with my hubbies childhood friend (who is now a boxer..haha!)
felt hungggg over
returned for a short rest stop to Hope BC
things I have not done on my journey:
taken a photo.. that's right, not one. shit.
ride my horse :(
stay away from hamburgers
swim. I feel like by this time in the summer I should have been for a swim!
blog/read blogs. boooo
So, since we spoke last I have driven more than 3000 miles. It's been fun, don't get me wrong but I am sooo looking forward to stopping this week - and doing a grand total km count to see what I've done to my poor truck!!
things I have done on my journey:
visited a friend in hospital
taken the dogs in the ocean
dropped off my stinky axle with my mother in law after he rolled in something dead... sorry! it reportedly took 5-6 days of shampooing and trips to the lake to get the smell out (after I shampooed him 4 times prior to leaving him there)
visited my parent's farm
attended stampede for all of 10 minutes
attended stampede nighttime parties for all of the time I could physically handle
crazy danced with a Stampede cowboy (he won 2nd!)
Visited my great aunt and uncle's farm
bought my first audiobook - and liked it!
Visited my sister as much as possible (when her stampede fling had time/space for me)
in the meantime.. .visited with other great friends
smoked a cigarette... just one is about all I can handle
jumped in a bouncy castle and had a waterfight with a 4 year old birthday boy
listened to a LOT of music
returned to the ocean
rode the ferry
dogs in ocean again.. and again and again
stayed in a hotel with creepy dolls on the bathroom doors designating them boys and girls
went to a great friend's wedding
was late for the ceremony (fuck!)
interperetive danced with my hubbies childhood friend (who is now a boxer..haha!)
felt hungggg over
returned for a short rest stop to Hope BC
things I have not done on my journey:
taken a photo.. that's right, not one. shit.
ride my horse :(
stay away from hamburgers
swim. I feel like by this time in the summer I should have been for a swim!
blog/read blogs. boooo
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Photobook things to remember
You will read some more about this below, but I'm having some photo-storage problems. So instead of getting a photo that is featured in my wedding album... I give you this as a reminder that there can and will be photos of all the crazy shit you do at your wedding... you have been warned.
As I put together my first wedding photobook.. (I plan on doing two - one with pro's and one with candids) I jotted down some key points. Well the first edition has arrived and so now I'm flushing out the details and warning you to stay tuned for photos of... the photobook!
1. choose photos before opening photobook application. I went right into the program to select my photos from storage, but could not see a large version of the photos, only thumbnails = bad for seeing facial expressions, closed eyes etc etc. Of course I was too lazy to exit the application and go sort through them so I just picked the ones that looked nice, sometimes multiples hoping to be able to do some culls later in the process... I was able to do this, but not with 100% accuracy... in print some photos are mucho different than on screen.
2. They (mypublisher) will ask you multiple times to choose the option where the photos load in order. Go with this option. I don't remember anymore why I didn't but it wasn't pretty.
3. Try to just enjoy your photos, and not think about how fucking expensive they were and the fact that you are actually using less than half of them for printing/viewing/gifting purposes. this will likely ruin your day. Just get over it already.
4. It truly is like telling a story - You don't have to have every good photo in the book, you just have to tell the story that you are trying to put together. Some pages with one large photo carefully selected out of 5 great ones, some pages with 6-8 small mediocre at best photos showing the buildup to a kiss... and... the kiss! one of the first comments I heard about my book was that it's like a storybook... score!
5. Wait for the deals! Seriously, they just keep rolling in.
Now, I just have to exercise perseverance while I try to get my gosh darn external hard drive to work (which contains the rest of the candids!!!!) and get my 2nd edition hot off the press!!
- also although I threw out the packaging I really liked the witty instructions on the box!
This is such an unsponsored advertisement for mypublisher. hah. You're welcome!
Friday, July 06, 2012
On Smoking
A lot of times, I wish I could be a smoker. The insta-relief of life stressors is totally appealing to me. (cancer lungs blah blah I know these things.) The chance to step outside, breathe deeply (dirty smoke I know) and have a one on one with another smoker is really something that would be a bright spot in the day I think. For some reason though, every time I try.. It doesn't stick. darnit.
Would be kinda nice for my upcoming roadie.... drivin' down the highway with the window open for a fresh cool breeze and ash burns on the upholstery of the seat...
Would be kinda nice for my upcoming roadie.... drivin' down the highway with the window open for a fresh cool breeze and ash burns on the upholstery of the seat...
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Update Schmupdate
Time to hit the road! We will see if I get around to the (very) long list of posts that I have labelled 'to do'
Yesterday I was in Vancouver, tomorrow I'll be in Calgary, after that Killam (almost Saskatchewan), back to Calgary then to Parksville on Vancouver Island for a wedding on the 14th (yay), then to Kelowna and I will end my Western Canada tour in Prince George where, hopefully I'll be able to hang up my ... driving gloves?... for a few weeks!! Maybe I should bring a guitar and play in pubs along the way... no? ok. That would probably be best.
I seem to be doing a lot of driving these days, as mentioned previously as a good excuse for eating a lot of burgers and fries.... Hopefully I can abstain during this little stint! With 10,000 k on my poor little truck since it's purchase in February we will see what that number is when this is all said and done on the 18th of July!
I was going to be cheap and not do photos... but took a quick browse through a Facebook album of Quincy and mine's 2009 west coast USA road trip to find some pics of the... road!
Unfortunately the majority of my travels this time will be spent solo... unless you count my two furry sidekicks!
Yesterday I was in Vancouver, tomorrow I'll be in Calgary, after that Killam (almost Saskatchewan), back to Calgary then to Parksville on Vancouver Island for a wedding on the 14th (yay), then to Kelowna and I will end my Western Canada tour in Prince George where, hopefully I'll be able to hang up my ... driving gloves?... for a few weeks!! Maybe I should bring a guitar and play in pubs along the way... no? ok. That would probably be best.
I seem to be doing a lot of driving these days, as mentioned previously as a good excuse for eating a lot of burgers and fries.... Hopefully I can abstain during this little stint! With 10,000 k on my poor little truck since it's purchase in February we will see what that number is when this is all said and done on the 18th of July!
I was going to be cheap and not do photos... but took a quick browse through a Facebook album of Quincy and mine's 2009 west coast USA road trip to find some pics of the... road!
Unfortunately the majority of my travels this time will be spent solo... unless you count my two furry sidekicks!
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