The end is near

Greetings from the land of café au lait and high fashion. I am writing this from our quaint little Paris apartment - we have just finished breakfast and are about to head out for a day of shopping. Yes, this could be very dangereuse.
This has been a journey of a lifetime and as the day of departure draws near, our level of exhaustion has been nearly unbearable. With all the sights and experiences to absorb we are worried that we may not be appreciating everything the way we should. But I still can't believe that I've climbed the stairs of the Eiffel tower, visited a concentration camp, bicycled through the streets of Holland, and been in the same room as an original picasso. I am so grateful for every moment and we still have 2 more days in Paris so I better make this short so we can get going and paint the town red. Did I happen to mention that the coffee is amazing here? I may consider moving to Paris just for the café au lait.
Anyways, more on this adventure next week when we are back home. That is if I can get out of bed - I think we may sleep for a month when we get there.

Check out some of our photos here

And we're off!

Ok peeps! Here we go into the wild blue yonder. It's kind of hectic around our house right now, but I thought I'd just leave a little farewell post before heading out. A million things going through my mind...passports - check, camera - check, socks&undies - check, chapstick - check, excellent music on my mp3 player - check, valium - check! ok. I'm good to go! We tend to be quite the procrastinators, so of course here I am the morning of our departure, stitching the flag onto our packs...must - sew - faster!

I'm looking forward to every minute of this vacation and I'm sure it will fly by so fast! Farewell to all - see you in November!!

Half in the Sun

And, introducing...Harry's first publication! His story "The End of Swinburne" is part of this anthology and can be found on page 83! I'm beaming with pride for Mr. Hubby.

I'm terrible at giving reviews about books and considering we just got the books last thursday, I have barely started reading it. So, here are some intelligent reviews that have been included on the back cover.

Here is the publishers write up: http://www.ronsdalepress.com/catalogue/halfsun.html I'm not sure about the details of where this will be selling so if by chance this book appeals to you and you'd like to purchase a copy, please email me - I'm sure we can hook you up. When we get back from Europe, Harry will be doing a reading or two and I must admit he has quite a talent here. He has such conviction when he tells stories. He can get an entire audience on the edge of their seats - it is quite the treat!
Harry and I both grew up in Mennonite families and I'm sure many of you are wondering what the heck that means. I don't have a lot of time to go into it right now, but you can read more about here if you are interested. Ok, slight clarification here...I have pure Mennonite bloodlines where Harry actually has Doukabour blood in him, (I sort of just lumped it in with the Mennonite background which was wrong of me, I have now been set straight) - see Harry's comment for more info...

Ok, off we go to turkey dinner - did I mention it is Thanksgiving weekend for us Canadians? Well, gobble gobble.

Decaying Piano

2 more sleeps and we will be flying over the Atlantic Ocean - eeeeee. Here we go! I had my final day at work yesterday and let me tell you, it dragged on for-ever!

I don't really know what to blog about today because my mind is filled with a checklist of all we have to get done and I'm a big ball of nerves right now! Except, I did come across these photos I made when I was in art school many moons ago and thought I would share them. I was never much of a photographer - there were other students who just had the knack for finding amazing images and the magic voodoo with chemicals to make their prints even more beautiful. Every time I tried to develop my film, it would go grainy or I'd screw up getting it in the canister and lose half the roll of film. Photography was not my thing.

I lived on the East side of Vancouver for my first year at ECIAD - my neighbourhood was always filled with treasures. This dilapidated piano was in someone's front yard but unless you were walking by the house and happened to look beyond the overgrown garden, you'd never notice it. I wondered how it got there and how old it was - there are so many different stories in my head about the people who live here and their history. I really don't want to know the truth about them because I'm sure I'd be disappointed.

Oh, before I go - some other very exciting news - my very talented hubby has got his first story published!! I am so proud of him. Before we leave for our vacation I will blog about it and gush until he turns red in the cheeks.

Illustration Friday {Quiet}

Well, it is pretty rough and I'm so late posting this, but I really wanted to try something different and I'm totally into redwork embroidery right now. So, here it is...This is the quick sketch I started with.
And, here is the embroidery - WIP as you can see.

It is no secret that I love the fibre arts - knitting and embroidery being my main obsessions as of late. We have this hand me down rocking chair that sits in the corner of our living room which my parents actually used to rocked me to sleep when I was a wee one. I don't ever sit in it because it is fairly uncomfortable, although I will probably always keep it in my house for the family sentiments. Somehow, all my knitting ends up living there when I'm not working on it. During my days at the office, I will sometimes think of my project just resting on the chair, all quiet and peaceful. And oh, how I wish I could be home working on it.