Thanks to the internets AND the Canucks, Sarah Harris found me while searching for some Canucks blogs (I think). The thing is, she lives in the UK and loves the hockey! I’ve never met Sarah in person, but she’s sent me cool stuff from Jolly Old England – like this awesome Will and Kate totebag – and we’re buddies online. One day I will meet her in person – I’m sure of it – but today, I got to see her sketchbook in The Sketchbook Project. It’s a tour of hundreds? Thousands? So many art books created by people all over the world.

I made the most of my half hour visit – they have a tight schedule and have to close up at 7 pm. I didn’t leave until 7:20, actually, so they gave me a break/I kept holding up the show. Would you like to see the books I got to see? Here you go!

You can see more beautiful pages out of the art books right here.

I just may stop on my way home from work tomorrow, too.

Lelainia met me at the event and I took her photo with her traveling sketchbook.

Her book is about to carry on to Los Angeles…Oakland…Toronto…Atlanta…

Glorious!

While we were sleeping in the warm pull-out bed, there was an Easter hunt for eggs down the street. I didn’t see the hunting, but Allison was VERY pleased with the loot she pulled in. The Easter Bunny was very, very good to her. Also, the Easter Bunny left a few things at my mom’s place for her, so JACKPOT! So many Chocolate! Eggs!

Allison is very cute and very clever. She had us all sharing our chocolates with her today. I guess she needs to save her own for later. See? Smart!

In addition to Easter Sunday, it was Crime Prevention Education Day today. Both Allison and I got a Police Helper Badge and a Woop! Woop! from the siren on the c0p car today. Unfortunately, no photos of the p0-p0 who educated us can be included in this post. Just know that she is very tough and very profesh. And I now know when it is appropriate to call the police.

Sandy didn’t get a badge for helping today. But if she was in a beauty pageant, I’m sure she’d place in the Ultimate Supreme ranking. She’s cute and a good snuggler.

And the baby didn’t get a helper badge today, which is a shame because you should get SOMETHING for looking so cute, don’t you think?

Wait – he did get hugs from us, so that counts for something.

We had a lovely, sunny, fun Easter Sunday. It’s been a whirlwind. I can’t believe we’re going home tomorrow!

Sharon is a crafty buddy of mine – she loves to make jewelry with beads and make plastic canvas creations. In fact, I’m using a plastic canvas coaster she made right now.

Today is her birthday and I was invited to her party. We made her wear that purple crown and the purple and white boa/lei.

When asked why she really doesn’t seem to be 75 years old, she said, “I have lots of younger friends.” This is a good tip.

Other regular activities include:

1) Walking – rain or shine. She has a little poodle and she walks him twice a day. Sometimes I see her walking in the neighbourhood with little Dexter.
2) Working in her garden.


3) Crossword puzzles.
4) Jigsaw puzzles.
5) An annual Christmas party at her house.

These activities have served her well! And us, too. I love her Christmas parties and will go to her house whenever I get the chance. She has the most beautiful view of the Georgia Strait from her main floor. Very dreamy.

And in other news, the cherry blossoms are really starting to open up. I found these ones on the North Shore this afternoon.

I just typed in “cheery” blossoms by mistake. But now that I’ve read it, I’m just going to keep calling them that. It totally suits them. Especially on this rainy, spring day.

Cheery blossoms, indeed.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all these Halloween graphics yet, but I sure do like them. They are covered in black cats and jack-o-lanterns with round eyes.

Today was a beautiful, warm day and I think it’s about time to turn off the heat. Huzzah! Spring has definitely sprung, well, for today anyway. It’s back to rain tomorrow. On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t turn off the heat just yet.

Today’s events included minimal chores, a haircut by a lady at the AbysMall who cut my hair as fast as Edward Scissorhands. Hair was flying everywhere! And she was finished in about 20 minutes. I liked it! It’s a good basic cut and she didn’t try to sell me anything – just cut and go. I appreciated that very much.

If I’m really honest, I just spent the day waiting for the new season of Mad Men to start. I couldn’t wait to get my first glimpse of Roger Sterling. It was an excellent season starter.

In celebration of the Oscars tonight, I’d like to express my sincere thanks to:

• Mike Browne for making dinner tonight (please see above)
• Oscar (the kitty) for being such a good sleeper-inner pal on the weekends
• Donner (the kitty) for his recent increased meowing for treats. He’s so cute. It works every time.
• Our google phone with speaker function  so we could call and and wish Mike’s mom and dad a happy 45th Anniversary this afternoon
• My incredible knitting skills that have allowed me to knit less than an inch thick scarf in about 6 hours of steady knitting
• The French for giving such enthusiastic acceptance speeches

I sure do have some movies to get caught up on. I’ve only seen Moneyball, The Help, Midnight in Paris and The Tree of Life. There are so many more good ones in the batch this year, especially The Artist. I’m keen to see that one and the movie about Marilyn Monroe. At the rate I knit, I could watch all these movies and still not have a scarf completed. But I’d make a big dent in it, that’s for sure.

Happy Oscar night everyone!

I love it when the dancing girls bust out the fans and the shiny costumes for the parade.

I love the look of concentration on their faces as they remember their steps…

And even if they’re a little blurry and not in focus, they’re as pretty as ever.

Even when the parade is over and they are walking with their mom and sister to join in the festivities with their pals, they’ll still smile nicely for the camera.

These dancing girls are better than the Toddler and Tiara girls any time.

Here are all my photos from the Chinese New Year parade here! Now with more dragons.

Not only is the Year of the Dragon zodiac sign, but it’s the year of the Water Dragon. According to this website, this means the water will calm the dragon down, so that it’s not quite as tough as he usually is. Hooray! A friendly dragon? I’m in! I loved How To Train Your Dragon.

Despite the off-and-on rain, there were plenty of people out watching the parade. I think last year’s parade was more rainy than this one. There was actually some dry periods today.

Woohoo! See the two sisters wearing the matching jackets? They’re the Chinese version of my cousins, Andrea and Melissa. Aunt Sharon used to dress them up matchy-matchy when they were little. Adorable.

I was pleased to see the parade master today. HOWEVER, I don’t think this is the same guy as the one who has led the parade the last few times I’ve been! I wonder what happened?

I’m usually edgy until I get the photo of the parade leader. After that, I can relax and take photos of the people around me.

I loved this little granny photo. She was waiting patiently for the dragon.

You would think this guy would be happier about the news above his head. One day off from taxes? YESSSSS! Thank you, Water Dragon!

Everybody loves the Water Dragon.

Wait, was there a parade? Yes there was. I’ll post those photos later. And I went to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens as well. I’ll post those ones later, too. I pushed my way through all sorts of places in Chinatown and enjoyed every minute of it. So far, I’m liking this Chinese Zodiac sign.

Today’s post will mostly revolve around fruit, specifically Chinese fruit. My new buddy, Annie, picked up some frozen durian fruit in her travels. I didn’t take a photo of it because it was just in a package. Besides, the important part of this fruit is not how it looks as much as how it smells. WHOA. Now, I had heard that this fruit actually smelled of POOP, so before the package was opened, I was all, “YES! Please let me try the durian!” because I wanted to say I ate the poop fruit and liked it. A few big fans of the durian assured me it tastes delicious, but smells like doodie. I was so ready to like it. Instead, I learned:

1) Everyone perceives durian differently. Some people love it immediately. Some people just don’t ever love it.
2) Sadly, I don’t like the poo fruit. I really wanted to. But the fruit was just really weird.
3) It didn’t even smell like poo to me. Instead, it smelled like gasoline. Other people in the office commented it smelled like dirty socks, but no turd smell.
4) Durian gives me onion breath.

Tomorrow Annie is bringing in more fruit for us to try – a fruit called, longan. It looks like a miniature version of lychees. I’ll show you and give you a review of that fruit tomorrow. Welcome to the fruit review! I’ll be here all week.

The whole reason why I brought up the poopoo fruit was because in my disappointment, Annie suggested I try some dragon fruit. It’s a fruit I’ve seen, but never eaten. So, off to Chinatown I went!

I have to say, Chinatown was kind of quiet tonight. I think it’s because a lot of the festivities are more with family than out in the open…kind of like going out to find Christmas festivities on Christmas Day. Everyone is home, with their families and friends, not out in the streets.

But there were some produce and meat stores still open…

And I was able to find some dragon fruit for tomorrow. Mike and I will have it for breakfast. I will report into you how it tastes. But for now,

here is how they look. Pink and green and a little scaly. Very dragon-y.

Today was one of the darkest, rainiest days I can ever remember experiencing in Vancouver. The sky was dark by 2:00 this afternoon and it felt like night time. Catherine and I headed over to the mall for some lunch and were happily visited by the Dragon! This whole week is Chinese New Year and there will be all sorts of surprises in the neighbourhood in celebration.

I’ve seen plenty of lion dancers, but these guys were great. Maybe I didn’t pay attention to all the moves in the past, but these dancers made the dragon really come to life with the way they moved the dragon’s body. They made the dragon’s eyes blink, wiggled his tail and bum, and stood right up straight. I think one dancer was standing on the other dancer’s knees to get that standing up straight and tall move. I loved how he looked like he was really bowing to the audience at the beginning of the dance. He bowed his shoulders, head and closed his eyes at the same time. I forgot there were people inside for a second.

The dragon only lasted a few minutes, and when he was almost finished, he opened his mouth and a scroll unrolled from his mouth.

That’s the fortune for the year. I’m not sure what that says…something about boats? A voyage? Prosperity? All those good things, I’m sure.

The drumming was also very good. I noticed how they make that firecracker sound with the big drums – they hit the side with the drumsticks. Awesome. I’ll be watching for that again this weekend at the parade in Chinatown.

Meanwhile, back at my desk…

…a Justin Bieber pinata. Who wouldn’t want to smash that to pieces? He’s a twerp with a girl’s haircut. Absolutely nothing like Donny Osmond or Shaun Cassidy – the hearthrobs of my youth. Oh. I just totally dated myself just then. But I did have a Shaun Cassidy t-shirt and haircut in the 3rd grade.

Thankfully it was not for me to keep, but it’s a decoration for Lianne’s daughter’s 12th birthday on the weekend. Lianne thought I’d like to see it.

SNORT!

…and I don’t really care about Valentines Day, but for some reason, I do like hearts. Oh wait. I love chocolate and that’s very Valentines Day-ish. Other than that…I’d rather stay home and watch movies, edit photos or blog. Last time I got my hair cut, the hairdresser asked me, “How do you wear your hair when you go out?”. I was stumped because I couldn’t remember the last time I went out anywhere where it mattered, unless Quilting Bee counts. Nah. They don’t care. OR DO THEY?

While I’m trying to stay on task with just one project and actually finish it, I spent a lot of the afternoon cutting hearts out of fabric that I had ironed on to fusible webbing stuff that makes it much, much easier to sew. I wish I had some of that for that potholder challenge in November.

Unfortunately, I think I broke my fancy cutting machine I bought with my Christmas money. I spent the other part of the afternoon trying to fix it. No luck. Rather than continue trying to fix it, I took about 15 minutes to cut out these hearts. Heh. And here I thought I’d save all this time using the machine.

I’ll try a few more things (like following the directions) before sending it back to the manufacturer.

I’m not sure what this will be…a festive runner for the table? A wall hanging? I’ll keep working on it and let you know.