36 Before 37

I turned 36 this week. Inspired by a few other bloggers, I present to you a list of 36 things I'd like to do before I'm 37 (in no particular order):

1. run 5K
2. host a Creative Salon
3. update my resume
4. create my freelancing Web site and business card
5. save $5000
6. take a solo trip - it doesn't have to be far
7. show my artwork at a local café, restaurant or gallery
8. go hiking somewhere new
9. lose 10 pounds
10. find a pair of tall black boots
11. hike Gatineau Park's Wolf trail again
12. volunteer
13. write a personal essay - maybe even submit it for publication
14. self-publish a book on Blurb about my Urban Living Experiment
15. clean/upgrade my PC
16. see a Cirque du Soleil performance
17. get married (squee!)
18. bake a batch of Mom's chocolate chip cookies
19. research and profile ten female artists on my blog - past and present
20. publish a resource list on my blog (creativity, personal finance, writing, starting a business, etc.)
21. meet three people active in the local arts community
22. start a Creative Living Experiment blog
23. re-read The Omnivore's Dilemma
24. go swimming
25. go dancing
26. go on a solo date on a summer terrace with a book
27. write my morning pages at least four times a week
28. visit NYC with D.
29. go dancing with D.
30. go canoeing
31. make Mom's meat pie
32. take a drawing or painting class
33. go to a Bluesfest concert
34. have my photo taken for my Web site/creative business
35. do something with my mandala series - I don't know what yet
36. paint/collage at least once a week

It's a full list, but I'm a big believer in writing things down to make them happen; I guess I don't pay much attention to whether they're realistic or not.

I will be gentle with myself too. It's all in the spirit of creating the life I want and if that means shuffling things around or postponing them, then that's what I'll do.

Let the good times roll.

A Year Ago Today...

... I craved creative community and put it out to the Universe.

After writing that post last March, I reserved a few vacation days at work for a mystery creative retreat just in case something came up. A friend sent me a link to a workshop in Italy taught by Kelly Rae Roberts and Mati Rose McDonough, but alas Italy was too tall an order for me at the time.

A few months later I saw Andrea Scher's reminder for Squam on her Superhero blog and registered, not knowing what to expect. Not long after that I found out that Kelly Rae and Mati Rose would be speaking at the retreat.

Today I still connect with many of the creative women I met there.

Funny how things work out sometimes isn't it?

Artist Date Binge

"An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers."
- Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

My creative well overfloweth my friends, hence a third post in as many days.

After a few weeks spent in productivity mode pushing through items on the to-do list both at work and at home, I felt empty and creatively drained. It was time to replenish the well and without intentionally setting out to do so, that's just what I did.

A Thursday night spoken word performance, a Friday workshop called Market Readiness for Visual Artists & Artisans, and a few urban hikes drew me from the linear and the logical to the conceptual and the intuitive. Poetry and storytelling, connecting with other artists, and street-level discoveries handed me a much-needed dose of right brain inspiration.

Call it an Artist Date binge - slightly overwhelming, but entirely satisfying.

What do you do to switch from the logical to the intuitive?

Fireborn

Steamy windows, street sounds surround

Urban comfort in a local café

Creative community gathers

Poets, storytellers, wordsmiths

Share spoken jewels

Poignant

Cadence and rhythm work magic

On a captive audience

A tear, a shiver

Full-bellied laughter

Fireborn

- inspired by Fireborn 2009, an evening of spoken word performances presented by the Kymeras at the Raw Sugar Café

Smitten...

... by the sun and blue skies
... by the cardinal's song
... by possibility
... by colour
... by the moon and the stars
... by spring
... by creative community
... by the written word
... by morning shadows on the wall
... with leisurely Saturday mornings
... with self-awareness
... with the sharing of spoken word at the Raw Sugar Café
... with friends and family
... with creative business ideas and opportunity
... with locally grown organic vegetables delivered to my door
... with learning and new connections
... by breath
... by being

What smites you today?

Honour to an Unknown Artist

painting and signature close-up

Monday's meandering brought me to St Vincent de Paul, my favourite thrift shop, where I picked up the painting in the photo above. It was painted in 1939 on what seems to be a 4"x6" piece of thick cardboard, edges ragged as if they were torn.

At $13.99 it was unusually pricey for a thrift store find, but I bought it anyway. Part of me felt a need to honour the artist that painted it nearly 70 years ago; I think the clincher though was the date underneath the signature: SEPT. 2 1939, the day after Germany invaded Poland, triggering WWII.

Considering how the artist may have been feeling when he or she painted it, the least I could do was give it a good home.

Feeling Love

I've been following my heart today and it seems to have cracked it open.

My day is becoming a meandering kind of a day where I gracefully move from one activity to the next - present, peaceful and content. It's been a while.

I feel emotional and open, unusually sensitive to matters related to dreams, hopes and choosing the life I want.

I've been shedding tears to words and images without necessarily understanding why, simply accepting them as a necessary part of healing and moving on. They leave me at peace, light and confident.

I feel Love today. I really do.

My Blog, My Journey

***Warning: Long and self-indulgent post ahead.***

January quietly marked the third anniversary of this blog. Without any set expectations, I started Urban Living Experiment with the hopes that it would help me take note of the world around me, write regularly and document my experience as a first-time urbanite.

Little did I know how much more it would do.

The first year and a half was no doubt the most intense with plenty to write about: I separated from my husband and moved from a bungalow in a ritzy neighbourhood to a funky apartment downtown; I took an 11-month sabbatical from my cube-bound government job; I rebuilt my social network from scratch; I volunteered, took solo trips, stumbled and swayed through music festivals; I played hostess, took writing classes and unearthed my sexy side by learning how to pole dance. I create a home. I cried, I laughed, I loved.

It was a time of intense connection to my Higher Power, my sense of self and my surroundings - a time for new experiences with much fodder for reflection and storytelling.

Somewhere in year two, post-sabbatical, the intensity of my writing went down significantly. Despite a full life with new experiences (a new job, backcountry camping, moving in with D), my energy was sapped by a return to full-time work. During the next year or so I would often feel tired and disconnected, and was very much aware that the previous year's zest for life was gone.

Fast forward to today. I continue to enjoy and expand the social network I started three years ago; I've re-discovered the part of me that craves creative expression and I'm finally taking steps to nurture it; I'm exploring ways to find or create meaningful work. Hell I'm even getting hitched again.

As I navigated the ebbs and flows of the past three years, Urban Living Experiment was my constant companion. Did it meet my original goals to take note, write and document? Absolutely. But it did so much more. It captured my moods, my interests and my headspace; it became a vehicle through which I could set - and meet - goals (NaBloPoMo 2007, Solstice Reflections); it enabled - and continues to enable - connections with an amazing network of women across North America.

For all of the above and for you, lovely readers, I am grateful. Thanks for sharing the ride.

You Are Here

I tend to reflect on the past a lot and dream up the future, often at the expense of delighting in the present. Sometimes my mind gets so busy it's hard for me to remember where I am at all.

Last week I came up with a visual to help bring me back to the Now: I picture a big red arrow floating above my head and a sign that says "YOU ARE HERE" - you know like the ones on the big shopping mall maps?

So far it seems to do the trick.

A Tapestry of Linguistic Symbols

You as a writer create a tapestry of linguistic symbols on paper that enable your reader to unravel your meaning as best he or she can. You cannot communicate your meaning except as you articulate it and your reader re-creates it via the medium of language.
- V. A. Howard and J. H. Barton, Thinking on Paper

I write a lot. I write at work, I write here, I write everyday on emails, Facebook or sticky notes. Never once have I considered any of it as a tapestry of linguistic symbols set forth for unraveling. What a beautifully worded reminder of the delicate relationship between author and reader, and of the all-reaching potential of a well-written piece.

Wedding Update

cover of Chatelaine magazine June 1932

illustration by Jack Keay

I'm in wedding mode - more than I ever imagined I could be. Not only am I obsessed with wedding blogs, but tonight I actually found myself cruising Etsy for vintage cake platters. OMG.

Maybe it's because it's getting closer. Maybe it's because I, miss project planner extraordinaire, miscounted the number of months left and realized that no, there are not five months left - there are only four!

So in an attempt to make me feel like all is under control I thought I'd entertain you with a tally on wedding plans to date...

Date: June 27th, 2009

Format: closed morning ceremony & luncheon followed by an open evening reception/cake-cutting party at our place

Venue: garden ceremony, luncheon in a haunted 1800s Georgian style manor transformed into a Keg restaurant; evening party is at our house

Ceremony: handfasting ceremony, officiant is booked

Music: jazz trio booked for the morning (our special splurge); iPod for the party - playlist tbd but dance tunes there will be!

Guest list: 99% confirmed (I'm a perfectionist, it's hard for me to claim something is 100% complete)

Invitations: wording is drafted, design is unknown; still don't know if they'll be DIY or ordered from someone else

Wedsite: don't laugh, we're considering it; it's a practical and fun way to get RSVPs

Photographer: booked!

Dress: shopping date booked for March 14th, can't spill the beans here on style 'cause D. reads the blog; starting to think I should dust off the hand weights I got for my 25th birthday to tone

Et voilà. I'm not really freaking out; things are under control and whatever isn't, well, we have four months to do something about it or let it go. As far as I'm concerned as long as we exchange vows and celebrate with friends and family we're golden.

But it would be fun to have vintage cake platters wouldn't it? :)

I'm Back

Computer woes were fixed. Woohoo!