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!