Thanks a Latte!

Hello ladies and gents! We made it flawlessly through our first week back to this blog. Can we repeat last week's perfection? I sure hope so!

I am pretty much responsible for this week's topic. You see, as the Canuck, I get to share with you all my world view and my countries traditions and national holidays. Today is Canadian thanksgiving! I had my turkey last night and it was delicious...so delicious that I nearly died. So full!

Anyways, this week's topic is "Things I am Thankful For."

The Obvious

My Family

I am obviously thankful that I have supportive, semi-cool parents who listen to rock and roll and don't smoke or litter. They have tolerated me in my failure to launch - and we get along a bit better lately than before. My dad likes to watch HBO with me on Sunday nights and my mom and I listen to Florence + The Machine and Feist in the car. I don't starve to death because of my parents. My brother is cool too - a bit of a jock, but whatever. We are total opposites but we have some common interests. I am also fairly close with my aunts, uncles and cousins. 

My Friends

I'm weird and I have tiny little factions of people I call friends spread out all over. Most of the factions never intersect and this means I don't see all of the friends all of the time. But each group serves an important purpose in my life. To make me laugh, to remind me of simpler times, to support me when times are tough, to listen when I just need to talk. I have people who will gladly drink pints on patios with me all night long, I have friends who will get ice cream with me and walk by the lake as if we were on a date, friends who will do my nails for me and tell me if my outfit looks good. I have guy friends who offer me a different, and sometimes disgusting, perspective on things. I'm thankful for each and every one of them!

Food, Water, Shelter...

I'm thankful I get to eat fresh, healthy food daily and I don't have to beg for it. I have taps that give me fresh water to drink and shower in. I have a roof over my head, a bed, clothes. Basically I have all the necessities in life plus plenty of luxuries.

*cough* I'm lame *cough*...my boyfriend

Don't worry, I won't get sappy here. But he is someone I should be thankful for. He tolerates my insanity when I text him and he doesn't text me back and I freak out and think he's ignoring me - that means something, right? Truthfully I was content, for the most part, with my simple, uncomplicated single life, but somethings are worth the stress and complication. 

Oh, and I'm thankful for his British accent :)

Not as Obvious

My Education

My education is something that has caused me a lot of stress, and given me few rewards but I must remind myself that I am lucky to have had that experience. Not everyone is in the position to do what I got to do, so I am thankful for the enlightenment. My four years in university really helped me grow and mature as a person.

Music

While I CAN technically live without it, I can't imagine my life without music. My relationship with music isn't the same as Lauren's - I don't create music - but I do surround myself with it. 

Arts and Crafts

My whole life has been about art. Painting was always my favourite thing to do in pre-school. I can't imagine a world without art and homemade things.

~

Anyways, I think that's all I can think of for today...I'm sure I'm thankful for a lot more. Actually, I'm thankful that I "met" Tom and Lauren and that we get to share our crazy lives with one another though this blog and our personal blogs.

Thank you for reading!

I'm thankful for friends who have birthdays so I have an
excuse for photos such as this.

Calling the Transatlantic Rescue Squad!

The Brit begins another long commute home, after a hard day at work. All he wants is his nice warm bed, or perhaps a nice cold pint. But his daydreams are interrupted by a noise. An annoying noise. A tinny, annoying, irritating noise...

No! It can't be! Evil Loud Music Chav Girl! Being able to hear somebody else's music while stuck in a train carriage is the Brit's Kryptonite. It turns him from a mild-mannered, rather pleasant young man into a slobbering, growling, rage-filled beast, like this:That can't be allowed to happen - he can't control his powers when in Rage-Beast form. He quickly summons his superhero support group. Within minutes, the Yank arrives, accompanied by her faithful companion, Goat Man.

They immediately set about drowning out Evil Loud Music Chav Girl's offensive tunes with some excellent songs of their very own invention. The Brit feels the rage begin to subside. Meanwhile, the Canuck has arrived and his doing her very best to avert the disaster that would ensue should the Rage Beast appear in the enclosed space that is a tube train.

She...erm...floats through the carriage, spreading cinnamon hearts and, aided by her sidekick Yoga Cat, restores the mob of angry commuters into the group of polite, quiet and ever so British individuals they started the journey as.

"WELL DONE TASG!" The Brit cries joyfully, relieved that his evil alter ego will not be revealed. "Come, I owe you both a pint, seeing as you did, like, fly across the Atlantic to stop me kicking off."

And so they went to the pub, which Evil Loud Music Chav Girl could not enter as she had no ID.

DISCLAIMER: Allison & Lauren: I can't draw, so please don't take offence at my doodles. Rest assured you look nothing like the above. The 'art' tag is meant to be ironic. Allison: I'm unsure as to why you've adopted such a Christ-like pose. Lauren: I apologise for your outfit, and hope you don't mind me drawing Goat Man.

Also, Yoga Cat is in the pub picture, you may not be able to see him. I didn't want you to think I didn't buy him a drink, too. He's in the bottom left corner of the window.

Tune into Friday's edition of the Transatlantic SUPERHERO Group (see what I did there?), brought to you by the Yank.

"I Don't I Feel that I Have to Explain My Art to You, Warren."

Here is an "Artistic" cellphone photo of my eyes
because I'm mysterious and interesting!

When I was a little girl I would travel up to my grandparents’ lake house near North Bay, Ontario with my family. While my dad and brother liked to fish, I preferred to play alone or follow my grandma around while she gardened. One summer I got out some paper and glue and picked flowers and plants from around the property and made people out of them. My mom thought I was some sort of creative genius. I was was just doing what I do.

This week the Transatlantic Support Group is posting about what we wanted to be when we grew up as kids. While some girls wanted to be ballerinas, and others teachers or actresses, I wanted to be an artist.

I remember being in preschool and not really caring about building blocks or counting and learning my ABCs. What I really loved to do was paint. I’d happily put on my smock and paint away (I usually wanted the pink paint, as I was heavy into my pink/Barbie phase of life).

My whole life I have been surrounded by fabulous artists. My uncle went to college for illustration and he always bought me arts and craft supplies from the store he worked at. My aunt is incredibly talented and always made wonderful things. My cousin is a painter, a stained glass artist (she taught me) and a fantastic crafter and knitter. My paternal grandmother knit. While my own parents aren’t so much interested in these things themselves, they always encouraged me to be creative.

In grade 8 I proclaimed that I wanted to be an artist when my teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. What did I know about real life?

By high school I started to feel jaded about it all. I didn’t get along with my art teacher - her and I had different visions. Aside from grade 10, when she was gone on maternity leave, I fought for my art all throughout high school.

I fought when she thought I should put a hat on the person I painted. I fought when she thought my lino block print needed a bit of jazzying up. I fought when she didn’t want to grade my painting early so I could boost my midterm mark for university applications. My grade 10 substitute art teacher, however, thought I was awesome.

It was probably my high school art teacher that scared me away from wanting to pursue art in a serious way. I didn’t want to have to answer to someone. I didn’t want my art to be judged. By my final year of high school I was more into writing and English anyways, so I left art behind and became a dabbler.

I did some creative things in university too. In first year I took a photography class - and it was my only A+ ever in a course. My T.A. was a hippy from the east coast who was into Kurt Cobain conspiracy theories and wore tartan patterned Doc Martins. She gave us our grades on Monopoly money and pretty much let us be as creative as we wanted. While the professor was a hard-ass about lighting and aperture and exposure, my T.A. - Lori - was super cool.

After first year I let my creativity bled into my writing and didn’t really take any more art courses. In third and fourth year I was required to take a design course. I learned page layouts and stuff and that was fun. My art background really paid off here, as I felt I had an edge over a lot of the other students.

Now, well, I have my own Etsy Shop and I still paint sometimes (very rarely). I like taking photos and creating images for my blog and stuff. While I now know that I probably can’t be an artist by trade, I can still be an artist in life. Because when it comes down to it my occupation is only one thing about me. When I’m not at work I’m doing other things. It’s funny that while I said I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, I had no concept of the fact that I already was one.

Tom, did you want to be a firefighter or a ninja when you grew up? Can't wait to read yours on Wednesday!

Here are examples of my work over the years:

Tom, this painting was done using a photo I took in Cambridge, England.

Abstract painting from High School Art.

Mixed Media Self-portrait. I made my own glazed tiles.

This is in my parent's pool table/bar room.

Two summer's ago - My cottage view.

Painting that my teacher thought should have a hat.
"But I worked so hard on the hair!"