Hey folks too busy to do Mondays Muse today, but I have a quick shout out in me for MUCH LOVE MONDAY! My love for today? Toronto! I am flying there on Wednesday and I am so excited! I love that city soooo much!

This photo is from my favorite bar there, Sneaky Dee's. Or as we like to call it Sneaky Disease! Watch out Toronto, here I come!

I have been very busy crafting lately, here is a sneak peek at some of what I have been doing.  A mixture of Art Journaling and crafting. This weekend I will be posting pictures of some of my paintings and of my trip to Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring! PS: Click on the images to view them in full size!

Peace and pickles!

So normally I would link over to Laurens blog, Little Things We Do, and play along with the Fill in the Blank game...but she is taking a blogger break (you are missed!). So I went back through her history a bit to find an old one I haven't done yet! Thank you Lauren. For all of your creativity!

1.  The strangest thing I've ever eaten was: a cockroach....NOT ON PURPOSE! But while I was travelling in India I was eating some curry one day in a dingy lil restaurant and...well...crunch. I wont go into any more detail.

2.  My best friend is:  although I am truly blessed in that I still have my two best childhood friends close by my side, I have to be honest here and say it is my husband. He completes me.

3.  If I could live in a different era it would be:    probably some time around the 1920's-40's. I love the fashion and I would so have been a flapper or a pin up girl

4.  If you only know one thing about me it should be that: I am really REALLY sensative. I cry easily so please tread lightly

5.  My favorite book of all time is: a tie between "The Fionavar Tapestry" and "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior"

6.  The one beauty product I couldn't live without is: Blush! I tend to glow in the dark I am so pale, and I have really dark hair to boot. So a little blush on the cheeks goes a long way!

7.  Blogging is:  a lot of work! I love it though, but it truly takes a lot of time and passion to create a blog that people want to read....I hope I am getting there! I really love this lil online world I have created here.

8.  If I could star in a movie with any actor/actress I would want to work with:  honestly? No one. I tend to create these perfect lil pictures of who people are in my head, yes I know....totally unhealthy. But anyways I wouldn't want to pop the fantasy bubble in my head by meeting a famous person who turns out to be a total douche bag.

9.  One of the best feelings in the world is: someone tickling my back, or playing with my hair. Seriously, I turn into a dirty little cuddle puddle slut the minute you do either of those things to me. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Hello, I am still alive, I haven't disappeared. I have just been too busy to blog or even art journal! This weekend I ran away to the farm! Literally! It was so wonderful and I have lots of pictures to post soon. I have been busy getting my last package ready for my Happy Mail match Cassidy! It is full of treats, some hand made by me, and I really hope she likes it! I have also started a new project, sewing a stuffed monster for my BFF's lil one, Koan. Aaaaaaan I am nearly a whole week behind in class! YIKES. I am starting to go through withdrawal. Sad face.

Other than that all is good in my lil world. We have tomatoes and strawberries emerging in our garden, kitties are healthy, hubby is home and I am still wheat free (groan) despite the plate of home made scones currently sitting near me...telling me to eat them. Evil, evil little things.

peace, love, hugs, and kittens!

I LOVE Fridays! J'Adore! And this is a special Friday....not only is it Fill in the Blank and New Friend Friday, but it is also a LONG WEEKEND! Woooooooot! I am heading off to stay on a 120 acre organic farm on Salt Spring Island. I will post lots of pictures when i am back!

But for now....its fill in the blank time! This week its all about fashion!

1.  One fashion trend I really regret is: my "candy raver" days....massive wide leg pants, tiny baby tees and way too much neon plastic jewelry. Shudder!  UGH! I blame the drugs.

2.  The one thing that always completes any outfit is: Jewelry! I have to have at least one piece of unique jewelry on or I feel totally naked! Even better is if it is a piece I have made myself or have bought hand made. 

3.  I would describe my personal style as casual/funky/romantic with a dark twist. 

4.  My fashion muse is: I get inspiration from so many places, so many lovely ladies, and from art itself.

5.  If I could own one designer piece of clothing it would be: A vintage dress, preferably from around the 1930's....long, elegant and floaty  

6.  I would love to raid the wardrobe of: Angelina Jolie! I love her simple but elegant look. Or the wardrobe Audrey Hepburn wore on the set of Breakfast With Tiffany.

7.  Today I am wearing: black footless leggings with black lace trim, a black pencil skirt, long sleeve beige shirt with a long, crocheted, flouncy black vest and ballerina flats. Jewelry: an arm load of black rubber 80's bangles, and a Pocahontas pin I made myself! Oh and pink nails with black french tips. 

Hello to everyone who came over from Girl Creative or Little Things We Do! Hope you are all having a rocking day! What are you doing this weekend? Any exciting plans?

First off a big hello and thank you to all of my new readers! I love every single comment my little blog gets, it just makes my day and warms my heart! So thanks!

Now on to Monday's Muse, a list of things in the past week that have been inspiring me, my art, my thoughts and my life. Right now, its all about Vincent Van Gogh!

I have always loved the raw quality to his paintings and when I was in Amsterdamn I spent a lot of time at the Van Gogh museum. He led a FASCINATING life...his troubles with depression and mania have always fascinated me. I have always related to him and how he uses art to vent his frustrations, release his emotions and vision a happy future. I think that his raw, rough, thick layers of paint (what many criticized him for) are a part of his genius...his urgent desire to express a chaotic mind, to get it out on paper.

He was never one to follow authority as seen in this model study he did in art school...in his journals he recalls painting in that cigarette out of sheer boredom and to see his teachers reaction.

Despite his madness and restless spirit he longed for a healthy normal life as seen in the famous painting of his bedroom in his yellow house in Arles, France. Notice how there are two pillows, two chairs, and two portraits, yet he lived alone.

He painted this picture shortly before he died...the wheat fields about to be harvested and the crows descending on them

As most people know Van Gogh cut off his own ear in a fit of madness and presented it to a prostitute. She had a name though. Her name was Rachel, and they had a beautiful love affair. One of the theories as to why he committed such a brutal act was that he was influenced by the bull fighting in Arles commonly done around the same time that he cut off his ear. The matador would slice of the ear of the defeated bull and present it to his lady love. Many historians have remarked on the way that Van Gogh would often identify himself with prostitutes and vagrants, finding himself in some of the darker corners of France...perhaps by cutting off his own ear he was professing his love and identifying with the defeated bull?

And let's not forget it is"Much Love Monday" and my love moment for today is that my hubby is home! I have seen him for about 4 days the past month he has been traveling soooo much for work! I love that he is home, safe and sound with me!

Not only does it mean the weekend is nearly here, it also means its time for "Fill in the Blank" fun at Little Things We Do and "New Friend Friday" over at Girl Creative!

1.  The very best thing about the summer is: my backyard! Our yard just explodes with Irirs, day lilies, Black Eye Suzannes, humming birds, squirrels, chickadees and butterflies! Our veggie patch gives us food, or pool keeps us cool and sometimes we even get a deer or a bear wander into our neighborhood.

2.  My first crush ever was: A boy I met on Nanaimo, I don't remember his name. I was 9 or 10 and he was probably 16 or 17. He caught me a bull frog, taught me how to fish and brought me horse-chestnut necklaces. I thought he was a GOD. He thought I was a "cute kid".

3.  This may sound really silly but: I worry all the time that people are mad at me...

4.  I squeeze my toothpaste from: the middle, I am so not organized enough to be that squeeze-from-the-end-roll-up-as-you-go kind of girl
     
5.  My absolute favorite "comfort food" is: A WhiteSpot Triple-O burger...reminds me of being a kid

6.  A random fact about me is that: I like dark things...crows, ravens, skulls. But I am not goth, or emo, or angst or any of that shit. I think it is a waste of life! I'm just a sunny happy girl who thinks death is as cool as life.

7.  The one piece of technology that truly makes my life better and I couldn't live without is: My blackberry. God bless Blackberry Messenger. My husband travels a lot for work, like A LOT! We use BBM to chat and send cute lil voice notes and pictures. His absence would be unbearable without it!

Thanks to The Little Things We Do for this weeks theme!

Now its time for "New Friend Friday!" This weeks question was "What is your favorite childhood memory?" For me it would be playing in my grandparents yard as a child. They had a bamboo forest and huge koi pond. I would build little forts amongst the bamboo and train the Koi to eat out of my hands and such on my finger tips. I loved that house and dream of it still to this day. It is also why I have the bamboo tattoo on my right arm!

What is your favorite childhood memory?

So its 2010, you would THINK that we are past the time when a woman's outfit can be called into question during a rape trial, right? Wrong. A jury in Australia acquitted a man accused of rape because the woman was wearing...wait for it...skinny jeans. They claimed that such pants would require assistance to remove, and that the man could not possibly have taken them off himself. She must have helped in the removal and therefore consent to the act. Wow. Seriously? Even thought the victim pointed out that she has been able to dress and undress herself for some time now, so surely a grown man can remove pants by force. But they were tight jeans, and we all know that just screams harlot. I am still shaking my head over this one. Lets hope there is a re-trial folks because this is just wrong!

I <3 Friday! And it is here, YAY! Tonight I am hitting the town for the first time in waaaay to long with two of my favorite ladies!

We are doing some after work shopping, retail therapy! My favorite!

Then it is time for some sunset bevy's on a patio over looking the city

For dinner we are checking out Raw Canvas, a new tapas lounge, wine bar and art studio! Yes that is right, ART STUDIO! U can eat d-lish food, sip a cold glass of white wine and MAKE ART! I am so pumped!

I recently signed up for a 6 week online class called Tell Your Story. Its run by the awesome Red velvet Art gang, and its all about ART JOURNALING! My new obsession. It is wild expression for the creative soul, and honestly it is saving mine. Soul that is. The creative prompts we are given combined with the use of unique mediums like paint, fabric, photos, felt, buttons....you name it! Even old map's. I haven't had such creative juices flowing since I was a teenager. I don't know about you but I find writing in a journal boring, and I usualy start one and never finish it. I have like 6 unfinished journals. But an art journal? Totaly different. If you dot want to write you can draw, do a collage, cut and paste a photo...whatever express your thoughts/emotions. It is a cathartic release and has totaly inspired me to encorporate MORE ART into my life. Art, its good 4 u.

(image via We Hear It)

If you would like to see what I have done for this class so far you can view some of it on my Flickr page