good bye

I know it seems unbelievable, but here I am again, back from an inexcusably long absence. I know it seems like a weak excuse, but I’ve been busy. For instance, I’ve left my old tried-and-true job that I’ve had every summer (and sometimes longer) for the past five years, and Joel and I moved out of our apartment, and into a new apartment on the other side of the country in beautiful British Columbia (Canada, in case that was in question). I've been here for three weeks. It’s awesome here.

And now, finally, I’m ready to introduce the “new thing” that I’ve been alluding to for the past five or six months.

I’d like to introduce The Fancy Llama!! I have a whole new website now, as well as a new blog. The website is still a work in progress, with many completions and updates on the way over the next month. The blog, however, goes live today(!) and, that is where all my thoughts and news and blogginess will be found from now on. And so this is my official notice that I will no longer be updating The Life and Times of Princess Sunshine at all. Ever. Even once every six months. I will leave it online, though, for reference and for the memory and because I’m sentimental and don’t like getting rid of personal things.

So, that said, come on over and join me at The Fancy Llama. I will tell you all about it in the first entry of my new blog, The Llama Diaries.

i'm in!

I recently found out that I will be included in this year's Newfangler's Art Festival. Newfanglers is a great little indie arts & crafts show geared toward new and emerging young artists, between the ages of 16 and 30. It is outdoors, and includes dramatic performances, a variety of great vendors (of which I will be one - hurray!!), musical acts, installment art, and all kinds of other great stuff. In addition to being a vendor of my knitted creations, I have also been asked to help coordinate a fashion show. I am psyched!!!

For a brief glimpse of Newfanglers, watch this:

new things

I'm happy to say that in the last little while I've been getting better at making time for the creative and crafty things that I enjoy oh-so-very-much, and I'm actually pretty excited to show it all off...but, I am not quite ready to unveil it all yet. Soon. There are exciting things coming...soon.

But it the meantime, I've been meaning to show you:

First all, forgive the mess that surrounds me in this picture (what was I thinking?? Why didn't I at least move the broom before taking the picture??) Anyway, ignore the laundry and try to focus on what I'm wearing. This is a dress that my mom made for a dance when she was in high school in the early '70s (I think...Mom, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway, I was SO excited when we found it in her closet, because it really seriously is a cool dress. It's so flower child, but it's also reminiscent of the waistlines and cuts from the early 1800s, a la this formal overdress that I saw at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

As much as I liked the flower child dress in it's original state, I also wanted to make it more wearable for every day life in the here and now, and since I'm not likely to be going to any high school dances anytime soon, I decided to shorten it:

Now I just need the weather to actually get warm enough that I can wear it.

This next project I made yesterday. It's for Joel's cousin's new baby:

I made it out of a pair of fun kid's socks that I bought at a local store. It turned out so cute that I wish I could think of a reason to keep it for myself, but that wasn't the point, so I guess I'll give it away. Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be an all-time-favourite plaything in the baby's life. I have a monkey of my own that definitely filled that role for me as a child (and beyond...but really, that monkey is just another story altogether, so we won't get into that now). Anyway, my point is, what child can resist a monkey?? They're just so lovable!!!

I have a number of other things in the works that I will be sharing VERY soon, but they are part of a much bigger thing that isn't quite ready to be revealed yet. Stay tuned, however...there is much more coming!

25 more days!

I had to share this:


I feel like I am WAY more excited for this movie than I actually should be, but I don't even care. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!

For a reminder as to why I am this excited, see here.

25 more days!!!!!!!

five things

Here are five things that I am happy about right now!

1. My goldfish plant

Christopher gave me this plant last Christmas, and for the past five months it has been green and leafy and healthy, but never showed much in the way of goldfish. In the past week, though, these two beautiful little fishies have suddenly emerged, and today the rest of the plant became covered in buds. Give it some time, and I'll have my own bright orange school of flowery goldfish!

2. Movies
Joel and I went to see Iron Man yesterday and it was SO GOOD...perhaps my new favourite superhero/comic book movie?? It's hard to say, but one thing is for sure: I loved every moment of it!

I also rented a bunch of movies this weekend because it was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like doing anything else. Therefore, I also feel the need to recommend Wristcutters, Once, and, my personal fave, Death at a Funeral. It's been three days now, and I still laugh when I think about it.

3. Painting

I have a new, blank canvas, and tonight I am going to start painting on it. I'm really excited. I know I've said it before, but it still blows me away how much FUN painting is for me. Yay!

Don't worry...as lovely as George Seurat's painting is, I'll come up with my own ideas.

4. Food

The little indoor tomato plant I told you about has started producing sweet, delicious little cherry tomatoes. It makes it feel like the middle of summer, when in reality it is STILL unseasonably cold outside. Oh, for warm days and home-grown food...mmmm

5. Anne of Green Gables

This was my absolute, #1, beyond a shadow of a doubt, with no comparison, FAVOURITE book EVER when I was a kid. I read it and re-read it a couple times back then, but I haven't really looked at it since the obsession wore off. I put it on my reading list for 2008 because this year marks 100 years since Anne of Green Gables was originally published, and I figured there was no better occasion than a 100th anniversary to revisit an old favourite.

What can I say...I opened the cover and read the first page and felt myself falling in love with it again. I love this book. I still do. And it's kind of cool to discover sometimes that these kinds of things don't actually change that much.

two awesome years!

I still bring myself back to the moment after the wedding was over, after we said our vows and took pictures and made speeches and cut the cake. I always remember the feeling of getting in the car afterwards, just the two of us, and driving away. We were headed for our honeymoon, but it felt like we were driving into the future, that we were heading towards the rest of our lives. It was one of the most pivotal, significant moments of my whole existence, and it was so exciting, so exhilarating, and so absolutely, totally, flawlessly perfect.

What an awesome two years it has been!

feeling green

And I don't mean the cool, let's-save-the-earth type green, nor the green-with-envy type green. I am talking the unpleasant, physically painful, am-I-going-to-live-to-see-the-end-of-this, puking type green.

Last night Joel had to go to the Toronto airport to meet a hockey team (the Canadian Juniors? Under 18? Just won gold? Something like that...I don't follow hockey news at all) that was returning home from Russia. It was for his job...he works at a local newspaper and two of the hockey players are from our town, so the paper wanted coverage on this home-coming event. I decided to come along for the ride. At the time I was feeling blue, not green, and the thought of spending the night by myself, lonely and with my own gloomy thoughts seemed really depressing, so I opted for the excursion.

Well, not even an hour after we left, I started getting the most horrendous stomach pains ever. Then I started breaking out into chills and a cold sweat. By the time we got to the airport I was feeling light headed and horribly, horribly ill, and there was nothing to do but sit around in one of those uncomfortable airport chairs and wait until the Canadian Juniors got their act together and got off the plane, which took an hour. Then it was another hour of interviewing and picture taking before finally we were able to leave. I just made it out the doors of the airport and into the parking lot when I threw up, which is never fun. It's even less fun when you're in a public place and 3 hours from home.

The ride home was terrible, and felt about a day longer than it usually does. We got back at about 12:30 a.m. I had a crappy sleep last night and had to call in sick for work today (I hate doing that) and I've spent the whole day in bed feeling severely unwell.

Crappy, crappy, crappy, crappy, crappy!!!!

At least you can't catch germs over the internet.

hug a tree

Take a walk, plant a garden, look at the stars, listen to the birds, take a breath, hug a tree, be thankful.

Happy Earth Day, my friends!

fitness fun with princess sunshine and the midnight dog

Today Penny and I revisited our morning tradition: we walked around the lake, which is approximately 5 kilometres (so I've been told...I haven't actually checked that out for myself). In the fall, when we first moved to this apartment, Penny and I started at least three mornings a week with a brisk walk around the lake. It is, to me, the perfect walk: over a boardwalk on the lake, through residential streets, along forest paths, up hills, down hills, and finally back home again. I had given up on the walk around the time we got snow...I'm a definite chicken when it comes to cold and snow and general wintery-ness, and so for the last five to six months, I did not go out much, and I definitely did not get much exercise.

Neither did Penny, apparently...about half way through our walk this morning she started huffing and puffing and really slowing the pace. She's in worse shape than me!

And so that's how I decided that we (and by that I mean Penny and myself) need to whip ourselves back into shape, with the Princess Sunshine and Midnight Dog fitness routine!

I use the term "fitness routine" lightly...in the past, I would create these detailed plans for myself that would outline two or three different workout routines that I would intend to rotate through, so that I would work out for at least and hour, if not two hours, every day, and over the course of a week do pretty much everything that's ever been recommended for optimal personal fitness. It never worked. In fact, I don't think I ever even had one week that went exactly according to plan.

I'm also really not one for for joining a gym...I've done that before, too, and again, it would work for a little while, but then it just became too inconvenient/expensive/unmotivating to keep up with it. So this time I am trying to be realistic. I have had great success making other lifestyle changes. I'm a vegetarian, I make 99% of my own food (no pre-made, packaged stuff, etc), I've completely altered my buying/spending habits so that I never buy anything new (except socks and underwear, obviously), and I've kept up with my 2008 resolution to not eat candy anymore (I used to be a bag-or-two a day consumer of the oh-so-wonderful Cherry Blasters, chewy bits of artificially flavoured goodness that they are). So. I feel like I should be able to add some consistent physical activity into my life. The question is...how?

My thought, from looking at my other lifestyle changes, is that physical activity needs to just fit right in to what is already my daily routine and schedule, my interests, etc. It needs to grow from something in my lifestyle that is already there, and not just be some new thing tacked on to the side of it, like joining a gym was for me. If it is just tacked on to the side, it will eventually fall off. But take eating habits, for example. I already ate every day. So instead of adding eating into my life as this new activity that I now need to rearrange my whole daily routine for, I was just changing what I ate. A lifestyle change isn't as big a deal if you are simply modifying and expanding what you already do, whereas by adding something new in addition to everything else, you not only need to get used to the actual activity itself (i.e. exercise) you also need to get used to a completely different series of daily events (i.e. getting up earlier to workout before work, making it necessary to go to bed earlier, which may make it necessary to eat dinner earlier, which may give you less time between getting home from work and eating dinner, etc.) I'm not saying it's impossible to add new elements to a day, I'm merely hypothesizing that it may make lifestyle changes harder. Just a thought.

So, because Penny is a dog and needs to go outside several times a day, and because we live in an apartment and can't just let her outside on her own, I already end up going outside at least twice a day (Joel takes her out, too, remember...I don't want anyone out there thinking, "WHAT!! She only lets her dog out twice a day!!!!!") Even in crappy weather I try to take Penny for a short walk. I see this as my pre-existing daily element that can be modified and expanded in order to incorporate more activity. And that brings us to the Princess Sunshine Spring Fitness Program:

Monday and Tuesday:
an hour-long walk in the morning (around the above-mentioned lake)
a walk (minimum half-hour) in the evening, after dinner

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday:
an half-hour walk after work (between 12:30 and 3:00, depending on the day)
an hour-long walk after dinner

Saturday and Sunday:
This is hard to plan because there are always so many other things going on...but I think it's safe to say at least one hour-long walk each day, and maybe a "bonus" activity that Joel and I do together, like biking or, once the water is warmer, swimming or canoeing.

There we have it. I feel pretty satisfied that I will be able to stick with that for the next while, and perhaps start building on to it from there.

I will let you know how it goes! Any other tips and ideas are always appreciated, too!

a peek into the future

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you the lovable, charming, and oh-so-elegant Fancy Llamas!


These two characters are the result of a little side project I've been working on since my birthday when I received a pair of matching canvases, some paints and paintbrushes. I finally finished the paintings late last week. I am now on the lookout for a pair of ornate, antique picture frames that are suitable to showcase the portraits of such fancy llamas as these...I'm looking for (preferably) matching frames, 16 X 22 inches, if any one knows where I might find something like that.

I had such a great time painting these pictures. I usually approach everything, even my hobbies, with a sense of seriousness and perfection that ends up getting in the way of the joy of creativity. When I write (which has traditionally always been my creative expression of choice) I'm constantly thinking, "Is it okay to say that? Will people get what I mean? Does that sound okay? Is this appropriate for my intended audience? What is my intended audience?" etc. etc. etc. until I end up feeling pretty stressed and stifled. The act of painting these portraits completely released me from that type of self-censorship. I have no history in painting, and I had no purpose in painting except to enjoy it, and it was wonderful to the point of being exhilarating and inspiring in itself. These two llamas have come to represent a state of absolute creative freedom for me...this renewed and rediscovered joy of a pure, uncensored imagination. These llamas have made me realize how to let go of all my little hang-ups in the process of creating something, and just go for it. After all, I painted them completely for me...I wasn't thinking about getting them into a gallery, or worrying about what people would think of them. I painted them because the two blank canvases made me think of those old-style oil portraits and I thought it would be funny to paint portraits of an animal instead of a human. It was like a personal joke, and that was all it needed to be. I had no idea that it would end up being so liberating.

I bring all of this up because it was in the process of creating these Llamas that I realized what I want my focus to be, and that is what I've been working on since then. I have some new projects in the works that are not quite ready to be unvaled yet, but they will be soon...the Portaits of The Fancy Llamas are peek into where I'm going, not so much with painting but with the inspiration that I got from it.

My friends, the future has become a little more exciting. I can't wait to share it with you!

a new kind of fashion show

I have wanted to get into the craft of clothing modification (i.e. making something new out of something old, adornment, etc.) for a really long time now. I love thrift shopping - it is actually the only kind of shopping I do anymore. And I always thought clothing modification would be the perfect companion to thrift shopping, since "perfect" clothing is sometimes difficult to find at a second-hand shop, but clothing with potential is always available.

I've always been a little nervous about cutting something up, and I've been a little skeptical of my ability to sew it back together again. But this weekend I decided to go for it. The first cut felt so liberating and exciting. And the finished project turned out awesome, if I do say so myself.

Some pictures: I forgot to take actual before and after pictures, but I realized that just before I started cutting up the original sweater (it was already pinned and sewed in a couple places). Anyway, the sweater was a men's size large, made of lambswool and in really good shape. I got it from Value Village for $6.99.

I had already cut the sleeves off here, but this give you some idea of how big it was before.
Here's the finished product: an extra-long sweater vest.
I'm so thrilled because it looks exactly how I wanted it to look. It's exciting because I really didn't know that I could figure out how to do something like this.

And all of a sudden, getting dressed seems like an activity with endless possibilities!

happy spring

Yesterday Joel came home with a potted cherry tomato plant that grows and produces indoors (or on a deck in warmer weather). It is lush, it is green, and it has that summery smell of tomato plants that always reminds me of the garden we had when I was a kid.

I am thrilled with it, because we are now entering our sixth (yes, sixth!) month of snowy, cold winteryness, and this tomato plant reminds me that one day, with any luck, it will be warm and green and sunny again. I love it. I keep closing my eyes and smelling it, and pretending that I have transported to a warmer climate.

It has slowly been getting a little more spring-like, day by day, although it is by far the longest, snowiest, coldest winter/spring of my life. Maybe it was just because of the tomato plant, but today I actually woke up and felt like it was spring. I took Penny out this morning and it was gray and kind of gloomy out, but something about how the birds were singing made me feel like there is hope for the future. Plus, it was the first day I've walked to work since early November without wearing boots, a hat and a scarf. I felt light and free. And still a little cold. But I was light and free enough (and the walk was short enough) that it didn't really matter.

Dare I say it? At risk of jinxing it all and bringing on a huge snow storm...Happy Spring!

excuses, excuses

So, I had this grand scheme that I was keeping to myself (for fear of blowing it too soon) that involved writing some type of blog post every day. Well, you may have noticed that that went out the window yesterday, so I am going to use today's blog post to tell you why that happened. It is straightforward. It is simple. And it lent itself to a really frustrating evening.

I had to work yesterday, but the day went well and I got home at about 3:00. I unlocked the door to my apartment, I put away my keys, and I summoned my beloved Midnight Dog. We went outside, and about five minutes later as we went to go back inside, I realized that I had somehow managed to lock the door again on my way out. The difference this time, of course, being that my keys were still inside the apartment. It took me about ten minutes of twisting the doorknob, pounding on the door and finicking with the window before I accepted the fact that I was really locked out, and hadn't just lost the ability to open doors.

I used my scarf to tie up Penny and then I went searching for a phone. Of course, despite our building being filled with people who are essentially unemployed, no one was home at this particular moment. I walked to Joel's office and tried calling my mom. She wasn't home. I tried to track down the landlord's phone # and I couldn't find it. I was beginning to lose hope. Joel did have his car keys, however, so I walked back home and picked up the car and Penny. Penny, who usually is great in the car decided that this would be a good day to bark the whole time the vehicle was moving. When I arrived back to Joel's office, I was frazzled and even more frustrated and the last thing I was thinking about was my two-day-old resolution to write on my blog every day.

To jump to the end (since I know you are all dying to know), I ran into my Mom in town (my first stroke of luck in hours) and went home with her. I tracked down the landlords number, but couldn't get a hold of her. So, we finally ended up having to break the door. Now the door not only doesn't lock, it also looks like it's about to fall apart at any minute. But hey, at least we get to go inside, now, right?

Anyway, this whole ordeal lasted until about 9:30 last night. By the time we got home and got inside, I was tired and teetering on grumpy, so I decided to save blogging (and the whole story) for today.

I guess the secret's out though...yes, I will try to blog every day or at least almost every day. Keeping in mind, of course, that there will always be days that will just be exceptions.

hi bros

I forgot to say yesterday that both my bros left this weekend: Christopher to England for three months, and Aaron to visit Mount Allison University in New Brunswick for two weeks. They're gone because they have far more interesting things going on in their lives than I do. This fact sent me into a bit of a funk that resulted in the conclusion that I have nothing going on because I have no focus in my life. See yesterday's post for more details on that.

See, when I think about things (my life, my future, etc.) I like the idea of the somewhat nomadic existence (a la Christopher) doing a variety of things for a short amount of time, thus preventing anything from getting too boring or too routine. But see, then I think to myself, "Alison, you handle change and anticipation worse than the US government handles climate change" and in reality, I'm not so sure I would like just wandering around the world with no where to call home. I mean, I would like that for a while, like probably six months to a year, and then I would want to come home. And that's the other problem...I like being close to my parents, which is great, except that my parents have decided to spend the rest of their days in This Particular Small Town Ontario, and I really, really, really hate the idea of spending many more years here. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a lot better here than it is in Soulless Suburbia, Ontario, but still. This is a town with a lot of old people, and very few opportunities. It is really difficult to imagine a satisfying and interesting future in the context of this town. However, I can't for the life of me think of where else I would rather be, and so that whole thing bums me out. >sigh<.

So that's where the idea of focus came in. I thought, maybe where I am doesn't matter as much as what I'm choosing to focus my energy on. And in the past year, I haven't really been focused on anything. Perhaps by being excited about what I am doing, I will be less depressed about where I am. And if I am doing my own thing, and not just acting as a player in someone else's thing, than I can keep the interest and flexibility in my life to travel, to experiment, to be creative, to wake up at noon, to even take off for several months if I want to. All the while, doing something I care about, that is mine and that means something to me. I can have my own agenda. I can take it wherever I go. I can live somewhere without feeling chained to it.
>sigh again<. The whole thing sounds great. Now I just need a focus. Again, see yesterday's post for more information on that.

Wow. I got off on a long tangent. The only thing I was actually planning on saying today was, "Because my brothers are away, I've decided to write on my blog more frequently as an extra way of keeping in touch." You know what that means, right?

You can look forward to even more posts just like this one! Yay!

finding focus

Growing up, I always knew what I wanted to do with my life. Sure, it changed here and there, but at any given moment, I always had a definitive plan for the future. I was always SO focused and motivated, to the point of obsession throughout college. Then I graduated and got what I thought was my dream job, with the possibility of climbing the ladder to "better" positions, etc. etc. Except that I ended up hating the job, not to mention that whole culture of working more than you play, schmoozing with higher-ups in an effort to climb higher, too, and basically making work a #1 focus because there really isn't time for other things. I wanted to shoot myself. Don't worry...I didn't. But I did quit. And Joel and I left the suburbs for a more rural environment, and life improved immediately.

However, I am not ready for the "Happily Ever After" just yet. That big switch happened just over a year ago, and in the past year I really have just been trying to take it easy, to de-focus myself, if anything. I mean, I had just spent years fixated on the whole college-graduate-dream job scenario, and that all fell apart. So, I have intentionally spent the past year not really getting involved in anything too heavily. I have a part time job that isn't too taxing. I've done a lot of volunteer work. I've reintroduced myself to some of my favourite hobbies, and now, a year later, I feel like I am finally ready for a focus again.

Except that I don't know what I want to do. I don't want a career. I want to fill my time with something that is flexible, fun, that isn't adding to the world's problems (and is perhaps helping to solve them!) and that will make some money here and there, that I am (preferably) in charge of, and that has the chance to grow or evolve, without being a failure if it doesn't turn into the World's Next Big Thing. I don't want to be connected with the education system, the government, or anything else that has a tendency to get bureaucratic and restrictive.

All I really want is to have an interesting life, I guess. I want to be creative and have the ability to spend time with people I care about. I'd like to travel and discover a little more about the world. I don't mind working hard...I just want to do something that I know is worth it, at least to me, and that gives life some degree of meaning, once in a while.

So, if you find the above job posting somewhere, pass it on.

twenty three

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 23. Happy birthday to me!

I have had a really fantastic birthday week. On Sunday we had my birthday celebration and it was marvelous! I got canvases, paintbrushes and acrylic paint, Secret Carnival Workers (a book of poetry by Paul Haines) and a mixed CD of some of the weirdest and wonderful(est?) songs I've heard in ages, a book on knitted rugs (yay!), enrollment in an art class on modifying and adorning your clothes (yay again!) and a beautiful wooden frame/display case to hold my prized 1949 issue of Seventeen Magazine. The frame, of course, was custom made by my awesome dad.

By some glorious fate 23 years ago, I was born during March break, and more gloriously yet, I still get March break off because of the nature of my job. So I had the whole week, free and clear. On Monday I hung out with my mom and bros. On Tuesday and Wednesday I put those canvases, brushes and paints to good use and tried my hand at painting (something I haven't actually done before, besides having to paint an abstract piece for a high school art class. A forced abstract painting...seems a little oxymoronic. Ah well, such is formal education). Now, about painting: IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I literally spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday painting, listening to music and singing loudly. And once in a while I would pause and think things like, "I am having SO MUCH FUN," and "I can't remember the last time I enjoyed something THIS MUCH."

On Thursday (my real birthday) my mom took me out for breakfast. I painted some more. Then Aaron came over for dinner and brought butter tarts for dessert (yum!). Then Joel and I went to a special screening of My Kid Could Paint That, a thought-provoking documentary that really raises some major questions about some of my favourite subjects: art, children's rights, and what people are potentially capable of doing when money and fame are involved. I enjoyed it and probably could have discussed it for another 5 hours afterwards, but eventually the day came to close and I really had to stop talking to call it a night.

And that, my friends, is how I entered my new age of 23. So far, it's been a great year!

the midnight dog

Just over a year ago, Joel tricked me into getting a puppy. He did it by taking me to the pet store and showing me, live and in person, the black lab/rottweiller puppies that had just arrived. They were seven weeks old. The smallest, cutest one came right up and cuddled with me. And then we went home and the smallest, cutest puppy came home with us too. Clever Joel. He knew I wouldn't be able to resist a puppy.

We named her Penny, as in Penny Lane (the Beatles song). When we first brought her home she got really upset and cried a lot, and the Beatles calmed her down, making her, obviously, a very cool puppy in addition to being cute. I hate to admit this, but I almost immediately regretted bringing her home, though, because the first two nights we had her she cried THE WHOLE ENTIRE TIME. Which is understandable, but still. It drove me crazy. And either Penny has continuously improved or I have just stayed crazy, because now I love her and can't imagine not having her.

Originally I didn't want to have a dog because I work more than half the week at home, trying my darndest to be a writer/artist of sorts, and I was afraid a dog would be a distraction. As it turns out, she's not nearly as distracting as other things (like my blog, haha) and she's actually been good for my lifestyle because she forces me to go outside several times a day. She keeps me company. She makes me laugh. She weighs 65 pounds and still likes to sit on my lap. She plays fetch all day long with whatever we're willing to throw. She loves the snow in the winter and swimming in the summer. She is so dark that when I take her outside at night, she looks like a shadow against the snow. She'll give you five and plays hide and seek.

She is the glorious, enthusiastic and lovable Midnight Dog. What would Princess Sunshine be without her?

back to life

I get really excited about things like this, especially after seeing Who Killed the Electric Car? This video is from CBC's awesome show The Mercer Report and I've got to admit, it gives a really good argument for moving to British Columbia...unless you're American, in which case you REALLY need to see this. NOW!

After watching the video, check out ZENN Cars for more info.

bonjour ottawa!

On Thursday afternoon Joel and I spontaneously decided to go to Our Nation's lovely capital, Ottawa, overnight. We both had Friday off, and we were both itching to get out of town for a day or so and do something different. So we did.

We stayed right downtown. We were across the street from the original Giant Tiger store. Or, in other words, the first location that China-made discount crap entered the country under the premise that it was "All Canadian." Yay.

During my one-year stint in high school, I went on a class trip to Ottawa to visit the Museum of Civilization. After the tour was over, the bus let us off downtown and we were given two hours to eat dinner and get back to the bus. My friends and I decided to find a "trendy city restaurant." I can't recall what our criteria was for determining which restaurants were "trendy" and "city," but we ended up at this place called the Blue Cactus. We were thrilled with it.

On Thursday, Joel and I were looking for a place to eat (it was late) and, once again, The Blue Cactus appeared. It still seemed trendy and city, plus this time I discovered they have a surprising array of vegetarian meals, and impressive martinis.

On Friday morning we hit up some of the shops in the market area. I tell you, any of you, it is SO worth going to the Ottawa Byward Market. We went to The Sassy Bead Co.

Then we discovered a couple very sweet vintage clothing shops, including Adorit, where I found these 70's crocheted flats which I LOVE, and even more so because they actually fit me (I have really small feet):

After the market, we went and warmed our hands by the eternal flame,

and then shook our fists at Stephen Harper.

And then we went to the Rideau Canal to go skating, which is actually the whole reason we went to Ottawa, and not, say, Toronto. Ottawa has the canal, which claims to be the world's largest skating rink (the cleared skateway is 7.8 kilometres long). There is just something SO Canadian about winter, outdoor skating, and being in Ottawa...combine the three and it really is a quintessential Canadian experience. It is actually an experience that I've only had once before, when I was a kid. And Joel couldn't remember if he'd ever been skating on the canal. So it seemed like a good time to give a nod to our culture. Or, at least, our country's perception of its culture.


I haven't been skating in three years, but I had a lot of fun. We skated about five kilometres in total (2.5 one way and then we turned around). There was something genuinely cool and romantic about skating hand-in-hand down the canal...I would love to do it again sometime.

After we were finished skating we indulged with another Canadian tradition: The BeaverTail pastry, which is apparently a creation of the early Canadian explorers, but the modern version of this delicious treat originated in Ottawa, at the canal. A BeaverTail is basically dough that is deep fried and then smothered in the topping of your choice (I chose cinnamon and sugar, mmmmm!) I also discovered that they are now made with whole wheat flour, and are fried in veggie oil, so they're practically a health food (haha, I wish).

From the BeaverTail hut we headed home. It snowed the whole way. Since we have now gone skating on the Rideau canal (which was on this year's winter to-do list) I feel like it can officially warm up now and become spring...after all, in another strong Canadian tradition, we have some maple syrup to make!

the noble platypus

My cousin, Christina, started this AWESOME website, Noble Platypus. As she puts it, "Popular Culture really can churn out some interesting kinds of characters. Why not use this silly creature to celebrate all these oddities and stereotypes that flood our life experiences." And that is exactly what she has done, by turning the platypus into a colourful canvas and painting a very vivid picture of how weird our culture/lifestyles/world can be. I love browsing through all the different characters. The Noble Platypus reminds me to see the humour in our mainstream culture. So often I get really stressed out about some aspect of our world. There's nothing like a platypus to cheer you up!

yay!

So, I was just reading Jessica's blog Life in Elgin and I noticed she added me to her blogroll links. I'm excited because nobody's ever linked me before (I don't think...) and because I read her blog pretty much every day, since she is a far more prolific blogger than I am. And, at risk for sounding like a total nerd right now, I sometimes look at her blogroll and think, "I wish my blog was on there." And then I would sigh and think about updating my blog, but inevitably I'd get distracted and read hers some more instead.

I enjoy Life in Elgin because Jessica always finds the coolest things on the 'net. I discovered Bits and Bobbins through her, the webstoreEtsy through her, and Wardrobe Remix through her. All fun, creative, inspiring stuff. Love it!

Anyway, this is a really long way of saying thanks, Jessica! Favour returned!

in your face!(book)

Well, I've been really slacking off on the blog front lately. So much for my New Year's resolution about two posts a week. What was I thinking? In good resolution news, though, I have yet to cave on my cravings and eat candy...that's got to count for something!

I come here today because I was recently made aware of some rather disturbing information about Facebook. My bro, Aaron, did a really great job summing up this disturbing information on his Facebook page, so instead of summing it up myself, I am presenting Aaron's words to you:

BIG BROTHER IS READING THIS NOTE
By Aaron King

Sign up to Facebook and you become a free walking, talking advert for Blockbuster or Coke, extolling the virtues of these brands to your friends. We are seeing the commodification of human relationships, the extraction of capitalistic value from friendships.

That's from Tom Hodgkinson, in his article about Facebook in the Guardian. Many a journalistic rant has been directed at Facebook - for a site that has 59 million members, it seems everyone loves to hate it. The Guardian article however, differs from the usual opinion pieces. Rather, it's a fine piece of muckraking journalism, providing previously hushed up bits of information about everyone's favourite online social network. Information like this: "There are only three board members on Facebook, and they are [PayPal co-founder and CEO Peter] Thiel, [Facebook co-creator Mark] Zuckerberg and a third investor called Jim Breyer from a venture capital firm called Accel Partners." Let's take a look at Peter Thiel first:

Thiel's philosophy, briefly, is this: since the 17th century, certain enlightened thinkers have been taking the world away from the old-fashioned nature-bound life, and towards a new virtual world where we have conquered nature. Value now exists in imaginary things. Thiel says that PayPal was motivated by this belief: that you can find value not in real manufactured objects, but in the relations between human beings. PayPal was a way of moving money around the world with no restriction. . . Clearly, Facebook is another uber-capitalist experiment: can you make money out of friendship? Can you create communities free of national boundaries - and then sell Coca-Cola to them? . . .Thiel is also on the board of advisers of something called the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. From its fantastical website, the following: "The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence. There are several technologies ... heading in this direction ... Artificial Intelligence ... direct brain-computer interfaces ... genetic engineering ... different technologies which, if they reached a threshold level of sophistication, would enable the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence." So by his own admission, Thiel is trying to destroy the real world, which he also calls "nature", and install a virtual world in its place, and it is in this context that we must view the rise of Facebook. Facebook is a deliberate experiment in global manipulation, and Thiel is a bright young thing in the neoconservative pantheon, with a penchant for far-out techno-utopian fantasies.

I'm inclined to agree with Hodgkinson when he says that Thiel is "not someone I want to help get any richer." But even though I'm not too hot on the idea of unintentionally taking part in "a deliberate experiment in global manipulation" with the inevitable intent of destroying nature and replacing it with a virtual world, this could still be dismissed as a disagreeable, creepy 1984-esque philosophy having given birth to something that's mostly harmless. And right now, yes, I'd say that's exactly what it is. But the article isn't over yet. Here's a look at who's paying for Facebook:

Facebook's most recent round of funding was led by a company called Greylock Venture Capital, who put in the sum of $27.5m. One of Greylock's senior partners is called Howard Cox, another former chairman of the NVCA, who is also on the board of In-Q-Tel. What's In-Q-Tel? Well, believe it or not (and check out their website), this is the venture-capital wing of the CIA. The US intelligence community became so excited by the possibilities of new technology and the innovations being made in the private sector, that in 1999 they set up their own venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, which "identifies and partners with companies developing cutting-edge technologies to help deliver these solutions to the Central Intelligence Agency and the broader US Intelligence Community (IC) to further their missions"

I must confess, I never bother reading the privacy policies when I'm signing up for ANYTHING, and Facebook was no different - I just blindly clicked "I Agree." But, knowing that (albeit indirectly) the CIA has invested in Facebook, here's a look at that policy:

"By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States ... We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies."

Looks like George Orwell was only off by twenty years (Facebook was launched in 2004). So what am I going to do about it? I use Facebook more than e-mail, and I don't even know most of [my Facebook friend's] phone numbers. As well, the privacy policy informs us that "When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information." Meaning that all our information is being saved somewhere.

I'm not very comfortable with this, but I think I'm also being a little paranoid. After all, why should it matter if the CIA and Facebook's many corporate investors (Wal-Mart, Coca Cola, etc.) know that one of my favourite books is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon? What's the worst thay can do with that information?

Of course, I have noticed that much of the advertising on Facebook is tailored to my interests - unless everyone gets advertisements for cheap Modest Mouse concert tickets? But we only wind up feeding the corporate machine if we pay attention to the ads -- advertise all they like, if we don't buy, they get nothing from us.

For now, I'll stay on Facebook, because my friends are important to me. But feel free to use e-mail to get in touch with me.
********************

My other bro, Christopher, cancelled his Facebook account shortly after hearing about this corporate invasion on his personal relationships. I felt relieved that I had never signed up in the first place. I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted to, though. Everyone and their grandfather is on Facebook these days, and ever since everyone's favourite social network hit the mainstream, I've noticed that nobody uses e-mail anymore, beyond the occasional "Sign up for Facebook" form message. As a result, it's like all my friends and acquaintances don't even bother keeping in touch with me anymore, which, admittedly really peeves me off and is actually a huge contributing factor to why I never signed up for Facebook (a sort of childish "If you're not going to e-mail me, than I'm not going to Facebook you!" type reaction). That and I had an issue with a stalker-type character on a previous social networking site. Not cool.

Anyway, even though I was personally unconnected to Facebook, my first reaction to the Guardian article was anger and indignation. There are so few spaces (one could argue no spaces) in our lives anymore that remain commercial free, and are allowed to simply exist without some giant corporate slime ball sticking their hand in it. Now obviously the internet is not the place to go if you don't want to be bombarded with ads, but that isn't the issue here, and that's why this is so bad. This is invasive corporate control, because they have the rights to all your information, your connections, your relationships. They get to scan and read and save all your interests, ideas and plans, and they get to sell it to other companies who would like nothing more than to physically reconnect your neurons so all you can think about is Coca-Cola.

I haven't even touched on the fact that Peter Thiel's whole idea of a virtual world is creepy and unsettling. And while that in itself is pretty far-out and ridiculous, it is a little disconcerting to know that 59 million people have also dealt directly into his hand.

I guess the thing about this that ultimately bothers me is that in this day and age when we need to reconnect with the earth, when we need to reconnect (personally) with each other, when we need to stop buying stuff and focus on living fulfilling lives that are fulfilling regardless of what we have and earn, Facebook's wealthy capitalist owners come along and take a giant step backwards, and pull us backwards with them. It all feels so frustrating and discouraging sometimes.

I would urge everyone out there to go and cancel their Facebook account, except I know how hard that is when it is the only way your friends communicate. And this is why it's discouraging, I guess...Facebook has changed the way people communicate, so people won't cancel their accounts, and that is how corporations keep their control. No matter how questionable, creepy or invasive it becomes, it still boils down to that question of, "Sure, it's bad, but what would I do without Facebook?" and so the corporations score another point, happily becoming a little more in control of how we live, what we do, and how we see ourselves.

If you won't cancel your Facebook account, at least start reading privacy policies before you sign up for something. If Facebook is getting away with blatantly reading, saving and dishing out your personal information, you can bet there will soon be a slew of others chomping at the bit to get away with the same thing. Don't let them.

And hey, if you can get your friends into the idea of good old fashioned letter writing, that would be cool, too. After all, I think we'd all agree that it is WAY cooler getting a letter in the mail than a three-line fragmented paragraph on your Facebook wall any day...

rock on!!

Behold the above photo. For those of you who are unaware of Disney-style teenybopper pop culture, these are the Jonas Brothers. If that still doesn't mean anything, they are a pop band, and quite honestly I, too, hadn't heard of them until about four months ago when I appeared in a movie with them (I wish I could laugh through text...that sentence always makes me want to laugh).

Anyway, all this is my intro to a long-promised blog post about my days on the set of the Disney Channel's much anticipated summer '08 movie, Camp Rock, starring the Jonas Brothers and a whole slew of other up-and-coming Disney actors and actresses. Last summer a couple ads were posted in our local community newspaper looking for extras for a Disney movie being filmed in our very own small Canadian town. They invited anyone who was interested to come to an audition, so my bros and I showed up, filled out some forms, had our pictures taken, and shortly after, we were eagerly invited to Camp Rock (we stood a good chance because they needed extras that looked like teenagers, and since they chose to film a teen movie in a retirement town where there are only about 10 people under the age of 65, our youthful appearance gave us an edge over the rest of the community).

Christopher and I were extras for three days - I was a Camp Rock camper, and Christopher was a councilor, and that makes things sound a lot more interesting than it really was. Our days went like this: we arrived at the filming location around 9:00 in the morning and went to the extra's holding area, which was a giant tent set up in a clearing in the woods with a tendency to flood and become muddy and barn-like when it rained (which it did). We had to bring a selection of our own logo-free summer clothing with us so that the wardrobe lady (who was the biggest b*tch in North America, by the way) could tell us what to wear for each of the scenes being filmed that day. Then we got changed. Then we sat around at the tables and benches in the tent and waited to be called to set. At around noon, a pretty decent hot lunch was served. And then we waited some more.

It was during this time that I knit my first pair of socks. Christopher read and wrote. Sometimes we hung around outside with friends of ours. All in all, we just tried to put in time, and sometimes, it was a lot of time. The first day we were there, we showed up at 9:00 in the morning and weren't called to set until almost 4:00. The other days weren't quite that bad, but they still offered a lot of free time.

Being on set, however, was fun. And if it wasn't exactly fun, it was at least interesting. We got to be in some great scenes! My first scene was in the dining hall, and the character Mitchie joins a bunch of her friends at one of the tables. They start approaching her about her new friendship with the snobby girl, Tess, when Tess herself walks in and interrupts the conversation by inviting Mitchie to her table. Then Caitlyn (Mitchie's friend) is like, "The queen awaits," and everyone looks all disappointed as Mitchie gets up and follows snobby Tess to the "cool" table. Then the director yelled, "cut," and everyone went back to their starting positions and the whole thing happened again. Now, when you're watching the movie, try to pull yourself away from the drama of that particular moment and notice the buzz of camp life going on around them: people sitting and eating and socializing, excited to be at Camp Rock. I, for one, was serving myself breakfast at that moment and looking around for a place to sit, wondering why, oh, why wasn't Tess inviting me to her table?? (See, quality drama infiltrates every facet of this movie...it truly is a must-see).

We were in a number of dining hall scenes, an outdoor concert scene (starring the Jonas Brothers, woo hoo) and an indoor concert scene in which I am featured in the front row of the audience, totally digging the hip-hop inspired dance routine, and wondering if you have to go to Camp Hip Hop to hear anything that resembles rock music. It was a blast.

Actually, in all reality, it wasn't too bad. The days were really long, the crew was really grumpy, and the scenes were really cheesy, but it paid well and it was a pretty sweet opportunity to knit, read, write and hang out with people all day while getting paid for it. And this is Camp Rock we're talking about here. Google it. People are seriously psyched for this movie! Disney or not, however, I would totally do the extra thing again. It's just not very often that a movie gets filmed here in small town Ontario, so I may have to wait a while for my next shot at stardom. But you never know. One day I will star in The Life and Times of Princess Sunshine, the show. Make sure you tune in. In the meantime, you'll just have to settle for the Jonas Brothers.

Note: I laughed when I discovered the above pic of the Jonas Brothers promoting Camp Rock, because it was taken here at a local resort (not the movie set). My high school prom was at that resort - you can actually see the exterior of the room we were in at the far left of the picture. And if you follow the road at the far right, you'll arrive at my workplace in less than a minute.

Oh no. Now everyone will know where to find me.

the story of stuff

I stumbled upon this video, Story of Stuff (produced by Free Range Studios, creators of The Meatrix) on a couple other blogs and I finally got around to watching it. I really liked it...it's a light, non-offensive, non-extreme and yet very comprehensive look at how things are created, consumed and disposed of, and, most importantly, how everything (government, corporate power, environment, economy, consumerism, quality of life, human rights, etc. etc.) is connected and affected by each other. Here's the intro to get you started, but seriously, take 20 minutes and watch the whole thing. Even if you spend the majority of your life thinking about some aspect of this topic, you'll still enjoy it. And I truly think it would be a great first over-view for any intentionally ignorant consumer out there.

the january '08 princess sunshine knits collection

I've decided to start my at-least-two-posts-a-week resolution now (since I didn't post at all last week...oops). Anyway, I'm kicking off this resolution with my second blog fashion show, featuring some of the presents I created for our handmade Christmas last month. Enjoy!


This is my bro Aaron and his hand-knit scarf made from 100% wool. I was going for British prep-school chic. I kind of wanted to keep it when it was done.


These are made from the left over wool from Aaron's scarf. They were created for my other bro Christopher and should be well suited to the northern Ontario winters that we know and love around these parts (of course, it is a lot easier to love winter with handmade wool socks, or so my thought process went). These are from a pattern in Lion Brand Yarn: Just Socks.


I sooo loved this bag for Joel's young cousin. It's made from 100% cotton, and it is 100% a Princess Sunshine original. I made the button from Sculpey. I would have kept this bag, except I didn't have time before Christmas to make a second one to give away. Oh well.


These are a variation from the Lion Brand pattern. My dad loves football, and the Kansas City Chiefs are his team. I wanted to make him some socks unlike any that could be found at even the biggest KC merchandise shop.


This bag for Joel's sister is based on a pattern from Emma King. I really liked this bag, too. I made it from bits and pieces of left over yarns, wool and cotton, so it had some cool textures going on, and the inside is lined with thrifted corduroy.

That ends the latest of my knitted projects...keep your eyes open for my first-ever clothing show (yes, that's right, I have finally learned how to sew!)