The past few days...

 

Today two friends and I stages a mini FREE PUSSY RIOT protest for 25 minutes on the side of the road on the busiest street in town (at the busiest time). It felt awesome to just get out there and be there and making the banners and my shirt was really inspiring. Tonight my sister's band was in town and we went and it was wonderful. I left early because Seth was ready for bed, but so worth it. Tomorrow's my sister's bday and we're having an early Breakfast Birthday Feast. Looking forward to it. It was hot today. Summer's enjoying it's stay. Looking forward to it. XO

probably the cutest thing you've ever seen in your life

Me and Helvetica, at the Colonization Parade, Port Alberni.

Mountain Sound

This Sunday will be the first day of July and the slow start of summer we've experienced has kind of highlighted a trend for me. I've always lived in rainy coastal areas (except when i was in PG) and summer always comes late. And thus I'm not really prepared. The two months of the super hot summer are just 8-10 weeks where I count down the dog days until sweater, scarf, tea, and knitting weather (and the squash!!). To break the cycle of shitty days, I took Seth to the lake after dinner. I love that he's older, more stable, not totally dumb and won't just run around willy nilly and actually listens to his momma. He had a blast playing with the rocks, running in the water, and trying to push logs back into the lake. Looking forward to heading out there again.

TBT 21-90

This morning Seth woke up at 7am, which was a little early considering I had a late night last night. But it was nice. I put breakfast for us together, got to get some blogging done for HOME SWEET HOME, got Seth and I dressed and by 9:30am we headed out to run around on some trails. I usually head up to Burde street but there was no one there. Since we're without a bigger dog, I like to know there's a few other people on the trails (re: cougars), so we headed over to Roger Creek Trail (my first time!) and it was awesome. We saw a few people, saw some cute dogs, and got to go for a short walk. Seth can only do 15-20 minutes, so I have to gauge how far we can go in and then back to the car. He only made me carry him (on my shoulders) for about 2-3 minutes. Next time I'll try to push it a bit further / go earlier so he has more energy.  I can't believe I've lived in this town for two years and am just now getting outside and enjoying the trails. I'm really happy I don't have to pack Seth around very often, that was probably what was inhibiting me before.

Yesterday when I was at my mom's house I weighed myself and I was at 276.5lbs. Down 5 from when I started the TBT and 30 from last summer.  YIP! I've been going strong on the diet (compared to just last week). I took my measurements too, and will get those up here soon. Tonight I go back to derby after my break. YIP! Looking forward to it. Lots of house chores to do today (still, dishes, FML) but I think right now I'm going to do some sun salutation rotations and then climb into bed and read myself into a nap.

What I Ate Today:
Toast, eggs, spinach, zucchini
1/2 a whole grain blueberry muffin (probably loaded with sugar and refined flour)
mint tea
tofu scramble wrap
leftover pancake with peanutbutter and jam
orange tea
whole wheat pasta w/ cabbage and deliciousness
vega sport drink
water water water

Exercise:
20 minute walk with seth
Sun Salutation x 2 per side (added positions)
2 hour derby practice - moderate to intense

A year in photos

Smash Patriarchy tattoo - January 2011

Foggy and Snowy on the Hump - February 2011

Katsudon, I die, best meal of the year, hands down - March 2011

Vegan transition, coconut yoghurt - April 2011

We've managed to have a baby for a year and not kill it ! ! - May 2011

Embracing summer, skirts, tights, toms - June 2011

The AVRG come out into public, exciting times - July 2011

My dream couch that I've been hunting for FREE on freecycle - August 2011

Cave Singers at Rifflandia IV, I had an incredibly amazing get away weekend with Stewart - September 2011

six min eggs and mizuna - October 2011

My betiko favourite knit of the year - November 2011

My Derby Wife and I making Ganache, so happy this lady came into my life this year - December 2011

FO: Rill Racoon Fox

Our dear friend Patty bought me (and Seth) a book of knitted animal friends from the "other" side of the tracks. I told myself I'd knit one every year for Seth's birthday (whoa!) and was only almost 2 months late on the first year. yay! not a big fan of the seaming. or the embroidery afterwards. but i think it turned out OK? my first knitted toy ever! yay! (now on to cardigan knitting). ps. obviously i'm into knitting a lot lately. retreating a little from my life.

RAVELRY PROJECT LINK. LINK TO BOOK.

Sweater 2/5

Yes baby sweaters count. And this one was a doozy for some reason. I felt like it should've been quick considering how big my gauge was and how easy and garter-stitchy the pattern was, but it was honestly the death of me. i hated it most of the time. hated. it. and i ran out of yarn! so surprised! anyway, it's a cutie, the babe that is. in his winter jacket. good thing i knit it in time for winter to be 1/2 over. the pattern is SNUG by hinke and i couldn't find a non-ravelry link for it. sorry!

there's a whole tonne of mods i did which included holding two strands of what i think was patons classic wool (i got it in a mill ends bag) so i have NO IDEA how much yardage i used, but i know i used a lot. (maybe 4-5 skeins if you were to buy it). i ended up having to use the white bernat alpaca stuff just to finish. i also went up a few needle sizes and added two inches to the back length. which meant i added that to the front, except i only knit the front until the edges were about touching b/c i was seriously running out of yarn at that point. i also knit the arms in garter stitch back and forth rather than in the round (b/c i kind of hate purling). the crochet chain i did the whole way around the front and did 5 button loops. i love the big buttons. anyway, the rest of it i followed the pattern exactly.

now i'm onto sweater #3, my CULTS sweater, made from the common ground pattern from the brown stitch (and in bernat softee chunky in RED). man, i need access to a yarn store in this town.

The last few days...in pictures...

" i get so lovesick my sad thoughts float "

I really have 100% no time to type anything so I share pictures from the past few days and my to-do list for the week. WOWZAs.

to do list of death.


magazine rack i made today.


BABY! ACK!


a blurry pic of friday's pizza.

"everybody will ask what became of you"

i am in bed and there is a cat cuddling at my feet and i'm about to crawl under the covers and hopefully get a few hours of sleep before i'm woken up by a cuddly tired and hungry baby. i dread it, but also look forward to it. the cuddles, anyway. i'm feeling more forlorn than i expected about him going to daycare. he's going to have so much fun with all those other kids, but i know i will miss our all day hang outs. but instead i have to work. i'm thankful that he's only going three days and that i can afford to work "part time" (approx 32 hours a week) and have flexible hours and workplace.

this morning when i went outside to take the recycling to the curb (we had THREE bags/bins this week - they come every two weeks - the most yet!) i gasped in awe at the magic of the freeze thaw. i honestly think i should have gone into geography and then i could have spent my undergrad surrounded by boys with thick glasses and beards and fleece pants. haha. anyway, it was super cool and i had fun taking pictures of the ICE and the dirt. as for the dirt my parents started a landscaping project at the end of October and just never finished it in time for the early snow and it seems to be written off for now. kinda annoying. but whatever.

blah, this week is going to be insane. i'm feeling a little overwhelmed, like i can't get it done, but i know i can and i will! here's a list of the things i have to put together. i hope to do it all by saturday PM so that i can go to girl's night with eben lemon and emily from five dog house and janine and dame girling without being distracted by the following list of doom. as a rule to myself i'm not going to post until after saturday about what i accomplished. but fingers crossed i get them all done.

1. work 40 hours (including last week) on my time sheet
2. do my open jars recipe for food in jars
3. bind those zines and mail them to KT and E-sharp. PS, KT put together a chap book. i'm sure she'll mail you one.
4. post info about the zine burkholder is collecting for on Shameless
5. do post on hatred against teen girls in BC in 2010 on Shameless
6. OMG, knit two more swatches and do three drawings and finish my work up of my super secret design (knit) for the twist deadline
7. finish and fax in my child care subsidy forms (FML).

Have a good week and wish me luck! XO

helvetica's best of 2010

well, this year is close to over and there's albums and bands we still haven't gotten our hands on (ahem, downloaded), but this is as close to on-time-accurate we'll get to this year. highlights? for me obviously robyn and her onslaught of sweeeeedish ness..it transformed my year; stewart says, "the new comeback kid album was a lot better than i expected and it's amazing" (even though he picked a bleeding through track instead); "i found my love of garage rock through no bunny" (stew); and i think the two of us together fell face flat onto the hipster trend of the year lo fi jangly guitars and songs about the beach. honourable mentions that didn't make it here are obviously best coast, kill the client, beach house, kid cudi, willow, belle and sebastien, etc. below are our tracks! i've worked hard to get youtube links for most of the songs. but, surely everything you can find on a torrent site (or even splurge and get them through itunes!). or you can send me an email and beg for one.

HELVETICA'S BEST OF 2010
every town has an elm street – iron chic (link)
include me out – robyn (link)
ambling alp – yeasayer (link)
this shit getz old – nevershoutnever! (link)
city with no children – arcade fire (link)
heart is hard to find – jimmy eat world (link)
laughing hieroglyphic – avey tare (link)
odessa – caribou (link)
i can’t believe you – matt skiba (link)
tighten up – black keys (link)
let’s go surfing – the drums (link)
pretty please me – no bunny (link)
post acid - wavves (link)
twin peaks – surfer blood (link)
shake it out – manchester orchestra (link)
summertime – my chemical romance (link)
anti-hero – bleeding through (link)
xxxo – m.i.a. (link)
we’ve got a situation here – the damned things (link)
back and forth – operator please (link)

you really should have guessed

so a friend here in port who does contract work at home hooked me up and i'm working for her company too (i even signed my contract already!). it's administration work, but tis a job, full time, i get to somewhat make my own hours, and well, i get to work at home. and stay in port alberni. i did apply for a job in terrace (regression?) and it's a big one so my fingers are crossed. but it's the provincial government so it could take months. anyway, i'm happy and start on monday! woop!/PHEW. i have three more days of absolute freedom (to knit and craft) before my time gets even more restricted. yikes!

it's still snowing. today it's just been coming down all day. my desktop widget says it's 2C out. seth has been sleeping like a newborn: all day. basically he gets up, plays for 1/2 hour, eats, boob, back to sleep. it's pretty funny because he's bouncing from long naps to short naps. i think his body and his mind aren't made up. he's fun. it's getting annoying when we go out and everyoneandtheirfuckingdog start talking to me b/c he's so cute. OH DIANDRA HARD LIFE?! your kid is cute and everyone wants to talk to your cute baby. so annoying all the small talk. haha.

i'm finishing up an article for cut out and keep right now. made the project yesterday. it's so dark b/c of the snow i might not get a good finished object picture. so i'll probably have to take it tomorrow.

this post feels boring. like i'm just rambling about what i did. or will do. i know that's the purpose of this, but blah. tomorrow i'll post something more exciting. like pictures of us making bath bombs and our recipe mods or something.

OH! and the giveaway is coming! I'll post it next monday and then ship it out on the 3rd (with the rest of my gifts). STAY TUNED!! XO

"back in suburbia kids get high and make out on the train"

one handed typing is my new specialty. i'm a pro qwerty typist so doing one hand is hard, so much of it is muscle memory for me that the one hand means i miss a lot of keystrokes that i'd normally get. today is one of those days where seth does not want to sleep because he needs to poo a lot. it's super annoying because i really want to knit, but he just wants to cry through his naps, eat a shit tonne off schedule so my boobs are all outta whack, and then giggle for hours instead of sleep. arg!

summer's in full swing and i should probably go outside and go for a walk. but it's still really hot out, despite the breeze. blah i feel boring right now. will go watch united states of tara season 1 and get in a few rows before seth realizes his bouncy chair is also boring. xo