Archive for May, 2012

Mini Project :: Yellow Chair

Mini Project :: Yellow Chair

We have medium-sized renter plans for our kitchen (which I showed you for the first time a couple of weeks ago). The colour is going to change. The table is going white. We are doing mis-matched colourful chairs.

The first such chair is the white one you see in the picture. This chair was free (left by the prior renters) and I was terribly excited to make it our own. Like last week’s mini-project (necklace hangers), this project was made super quick and easy through the use of spray paint. Three super light coats, 24 hours of drying time, two coats of polyacrylic (sanding with a superfine sandpaper in-between), a few more hours of drying time, and we had ourselves a cute and bright yellow chair!

Now to find three more free or less than $10 wooden chairs (I’ve got the orange, green and blue spray paints ready to go), the time to paint the kitchen table white, and the time to paint the walls a neutral. Then we’ll have ourselves a kitchen!

May 31, 2012 2 comments Read More
Inspiration :: Fershop

Inspiration :: Fershop

Every once in awhile you just need some inspiration. For me such inspiration regularly comes from the internet (pinterest, blog posts, random browsing, facebook), from spending time with friends, from photo walks, from magazines, from a sunset, from lots of places, but yesterday I realized there is so much more. I attended a photography workshop here in San Francisco and got so inspired that my brain almost exploded. It helped shape the way I view light and contrast. Fer Juaristi (one of my favourite artistic photographers) made me realize that I really should be doing my own thing. I don’t need to do what everyone else is doing to succeed.

I got reenergized in my businesses and my art. I feel more focused today. I feel like I have a better sense of where I want to go. With our move back to Canada from Buenos Aires, our relocation to the west coast, living with friends for a month, moving into a place that needs some serious work, my ankle issues, re-learning how to live in a budget, and my involvement in an awesome tax software project with my husband and another friend, I lost my direction. But I got back onto my path yesterday. I’m excited. I’m doing something special. Maybe not to everyone… but certainly to my clients. And certainly to me.

The following frame is a frame from the mid-afternoon engagement session yesterday. This pose was set up by Fer, but I took it a totally different direction from his frame, and I love the result. This is the kind of photography I want to be doing. And I think I’m moving in that direction.

I’ve also posted this frame over on Allison Suter Photography (if you follow both, I apologize for the duplication). I just love it!

May 30, 2012 0 comments Read More
travel tuesday (the desert)

travel tuesday (the desert)

Here is a glimpse into my fabulous last week. Vegas. Road Trip. La Quinta, and today I’m in SF, about to attend a workshop with one of my all time favourite photographers, and I can’t wait!

May 29, 2012 3 comments Read More
Mini Project: Jewellery Display

Mini Project: Jewellery Display

I’m always looking for fun (and nice looking) ways to store my jewellery that are not only esthetically pleasing, but practical too (if it’s not easy for me to put my necklace away, you can be sure that it is going to end up on the counter).

I found these old frames on sale at a farmer’s market for $0.50 each over a year ago. I kept them through the move, despite not knowing what I would ultimately use them for. When we moved into our new place, and there was a blank spot on the bathroom wall perfect for jewellery and it came to me in a flash: use the frames.

Mini Project: Jewellery Frames

Cost: From $1 to $20 depending on materials you already have in your possesion

Materials

  • Empty Frames
  • Cup Hooks (depending on the size of your frames, 10-12 per frame)
  • Sandpaper
  • Primer
  • Spraypaint
  • Hanging Hardware

Instructions

  1. Source frames, sand them down, screw on cup hooks, and wipe down with a damp cloth. I needed a wrench for this stage since I wanted to make sure the cup hooks were firmly attached.
  2. Prime and paint. I used one thin coat of primer and then three coats of glossy white spray paint. As Sherry from YHL always says: when you’re a spraying you better be a swaying. (Also, make sure you are a good 8-10 inches from whatever you are spray painting. More thin and even coats are better than fewer gloppy, drippy coats.
  3. Install hanging hardware. I was going to use those round hooks with wire, but I couldn’t screw them in. Instead, I nailed two small nails into the top of the backs of each frame and attached wire to them.
  4. Hang and enjoy. Figure out where you will hang your jewellery frames, hang them (I did so using one screw per frame), fill them up with your jewellery, and enjoy your newfound art!

May 24, 2012 0 comments Read More
good morning las vegas (travel tuesday)

good morning las vegas (travel tuesday)

Yesterday a group of girlfriends and I flew into Las Vegas! I’ve never been before and it feels like I am discovering a whole (bizarre) new world. We’ll be eating, drinking, cabana-ing, and cirque-ing for the next couple of days. Woohoo!

May 22, 2012 0 comments Read More
Posterior Tibial Tendinopathy

Posterior Tibial Tendinopathy

Inspired by my friend Melissa, I signed up for the Scotiabank half marathon in June. I was kicking butt on my training and plugging along ready to try to beat my previous time of 1:49 in May 2010.

(The reason I like running is that picture. See that crazy happy face? Yeah… that’s at 21.5km. Endorphins FTW!)

But given the title of this post, I’m pretty sure you know this isn’t going to happen.

In BA I started to get what I thought were shin splints, so I eased off my training. I assumed it was worn out shoes, so when I got back to Vancouver I bought new ones. That seemed to help the problem a bit, but then 1km into a run a couple of weeks ago, my ankle pain came back so severely that I had to stop and hobble home.

I immediately found a physiotherapist who has finally properly diagnosed me. Turns out, my tendon issue isn’t in my achilles, that is just secondary. My problem is actually in my posterior tibial tendon. This is why my ankle pain has always been on the inside of my ankles. This same tendon is the cause of my “shin splints”—which aren’t shin splints at all.

All of these problems come back to a whole host of lower body problems:

1. Tight calves. I’ve always had tight calves, when I started running when I was about 12 or 13, it was my calves before my cardio that would get me.

2. Wonky hips. They pop in and out. Regularly.

3. Too much sitting. Office jobs followed by self employment mean hours and hours and hours of sitting a day.

4. Severe over-pronation. So much so that when I watched the video at the podiatrist’s, I almost had to look away.

5. Orthotics that weren’t good enough (despite costing $500 + a $140 consultation fee). With my over-pronation, if I want to run I need orthotics that will cup my heel. And I maybe even need to cram that into a motion-control shoe (TBD by foot doctor through video diagnostic when I go pick up my orthotics). Note: please make sure if you need orthotics you go to a proper foot doctor so you don’t throw away $640 of your (or your insurer’s) money.

While this all really sucks I’m happy that I got it sorted while still on benefits. My physiotherapist is very affordable ($56 per visit), so I can afford a couple of visits a month starting in June once our benefits have expired and we’re both formally self-employed. But really, all it is now is a matter of stretching and releasing my calves and strengthening my posterior tibial tendon. And both of those things I can do on my own (though not as fast as a physiotherapist can).

So, it sucks that I won’t be running the Scotiabank half marathon because I won’t look like this (I’ve repeated the images to save you from scrolling):

If I start a run/walk training plan in early June I still have 18 weeks to train for the Victoria marathon (or maybe half-marathon) on October 7. And the good thing is, I finally feel like I understand exactly what is wrong, and exactly how to fix it. Now to just get it fixed…

May 21, 2012 2 comments Read More