Pippi's SInging Contest

Pip and I and our duet to David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel"-Pip's choice. Don't judge my outfit- I literally just walked in the door from teaching Zumba and was handed an invite to the singing contest that commenced immediately.

Mist and Marley the judges.

Tabs sang "SOS" by ABBA

Contest Creator  Pip takes it easy, enjoying the other acts.

Busy week thus far. My babies are all home. Final thesis formatting hell--Macs are not computers to format a thesis on. They F-up and there is no correcting the mess that ensues. But it is done--today.
Celebrated by picking up many French pastries from Sandrines. Teaching  Zumba daily enables me to eat these delights with no consequences.

Today purchased a microphone stand for Tabs as she is singing and playing piano for the up coming The Next Star auditions in Vancouver. A whole lot of belting out the tunes going on in this house.

Tomorrow I upload my thesis and then finally I can truly wash my hands of it. I have to register to graduate (I am late) but honesty I am so sick to death of all of UBC's forms, deadlines and applications that at this point I don't give a flying F.

Blog is a little on the short and dull side but I am burnt out. I am sick of being on a computer and typing so I will take a break now and come back in a few days with some exciting events to discuss.

Waiting For the Sun to Rise

Pip and I at Doe-Doe Park last Thursday (we named the park after our dog).
It is 5 am. I have been up since 4 am. I have completed my weight lifting routine. I am waiting for the sun to rise so I can bike up Knox Mnt. Am I insane? No, sadly just a victim of clock sabatoge. SOmeone messed with my bedroom alarm clock. It said 6 at 4. I arrived down in Zen Studio to find the clock said 4. I was sure someone had messed with the studio colck and put it ahead 2h and proceeded to do my workout. Afterward, I wondered why it was still so dark at 7 am. I got on my computer to facebook until the sun came up and discovered my time quandry. C'est la vie.
I don't like biking up Knox in the dark because of dangers. The coyotes are super bold in the dark and will bark at me from beside he road; not to mention the 2 legged creeps that can occasssionally be found in a dark park.
I guess I'll be pooped later today.
I must get groceries as soon as I drop Pip at preschool. Then I must start right back on my thesis: dig up my research ethics sheet, call my supervisor to set up a meeting.
The big reason I decided to go for my MFA was because I was so desperately tired of putting my art/creative writing on hold. I felt doing my MFA (a visual art thesis) would alow me to embrace my art once again. But the truth was that I had to put my creatuve self on hold even longer. I had to take lame research based classes all year and wouldn't have time to jump into creating until a whole year at the earliest. So, actually fininshing the MA by the end of this fall will allow me to jump into my painiting/writing much sooner. That's all I want: to paint and to write and to make money doing it.
So that is what I shall do. As soon as my Thesis is complete, I will jump into being a full time artist. I am so excited about this. I will continue to educate myself in both fields through international workshops, and making local art/writing connections.
I will make a hair appointment today to get some low lights. Can one ever be too blonde? The answer is yes.

My Furry Little Friend

 I found this spider this morning in my backyard--a very attractive one at that. She was resting on the tomato plant. I was in the yard doing dumbell lunges--one thing led to another and soon she was posing for a photo session.

I am missing John's lens that he lent to me for my Malaysia trip. Shooting little friends difficult with my lens. I need a macro.

So stressed--I always loose my appitite and feel manic when I'm stressed--like I'm on a treadmill and I can't get off.
I have officially pulled out of my MFA--returning to finish my MA. The MFA program was not what I wanted. I don't want to sink $10,000 and 2 more years into my Ed. I am dying to finish, get a p/t job for the soicalization and then work like crazy painting and writing.
I believe I can finish my MA by January 2011.
I never worked harder applying for anything then applying for the MFA program---all that effot for what? I'l tell you what. I needed to organize my work and really examine where I've come from and where I am going creatively. It clarrified my goals for me and now I am ready to make it all happen. Plowing through the UBCO MFA hit me like a jail sentence. The classes were repeats of what I know. I knew it was not the MFA for me.
I must leave now and take Pip to her first skating lesson. It is so sunny and warm outside (I am in a tank top) that it will be odd headng into an ice rink. Borrowed little Artemisia's skates for the day as the lesson   came upon me suddenly and I forgot to buy Pip skates.
Mist has 2 friends over, jamming for a David Bowie airband. Tabs is making supper with her friend Mickie. They're starting with a pumpkin pie from scratch. She is making the pastry as I type this.
Signed up for Salsa lessons tonight. Only because I love to salsa dance and I am heading into a fall slump of feeling like I have to get the 'H-E-double-hockey-sticks' out of Kelowna for awhile. I need an "outside of my box" experience to calm myself.

Easter 2010, Kelowna, BC

Don't the children look all too pleased to have me burst into the room during their movie and snap pics?!
The dinner was at Miranda and Johns and it was tres delicious.
Easter weekend went by in a blur. My mom and dad are very well and I always enjoy our passionate conversations about what ever is new out there--and a round of my dad's favorite game: Botticelli. Even though everyone got mad at me for choosing one of my favorite Buddhist monks: Matthew Ricard--my parents hadn't heard of him.
I start Zumba tomorrow night and I start my MA class Saturday. The last one! My MA is in site! I am so thrilled as I am so tired of straying away from my passions: writing and painting. My next degree is going to be all about studio art!
Peter is the great uncle of a baby boy(Hendrix) born today to his sister Grace's daughter Carolyn. Both mom and baby are well. Makes me feel like having another! I wish life wasn't so complicated and so darn short. I'd love to have another but I have my career goals to achieve and by that time I wouldn't want to put my body through a pregnancy in my mid-forties. Sure I'm super fit and healthy but with pregnancy that doesn't seem to matter. It is hard on you no matter what your fitness after 40.
My girls have found a stash of Olympic mascot stuffies at clearance prices and have gone nuts trying to collect them all. They only need one more to complete the series and I am a soft touch so I anticipate they'll be bringing her home.

Sweet September Summer

Bear Creek hike with my gals and Fernando.
Both Mist and Tabs are home today. Tabs has a wee temp and feels cold. Mist is battling a double ear infection and chest cough post flu.
I am off to collect a ceramic pink poodle from the 1950's that I won at a silent auction. I bid very little and was surprised and delighted to have won.
Then it is work. More thesis planning, lit review and starting my first paper for class.
Pip told me last night, "I Love school mom!" She is so dear. My heart melts every time I look at her. And her little conversations with Artemis are too precious! The sincerity, earnestness of it all...I am a puddle again.
Up  before dawn to hike the back of the mountain with M and Fernando. It is a satisfyingly exhausting hike.
My foot is infected after I stepped on a thistle. After two weeks of pain I finally did my own surgery and extracted a thistle this morning. But the foot still hurts, so I am thinking that there are more. I always go everywhere in the yard, neighborhood in bare feet, so I guess this is to be expected.
I'm going to attend a new Buddhist meditation this Thursday evening with a new monk. I am always open to finding the right fit.
I discovered the Perfect PhD program at the U of Calgary, the only one in Canada to offer an English creative dissertation program, and the more info I find out about it, the more perfect it is for me--now I just have to get into it somehow! And when to do it? Ideally I'd start next Sept, but that might be pushing it. I'm not ready to apply yet--I need my master's dissertation for that step!