oooh it's new

I made a few changes to my home page - all part of the cleaning up I've been doing. I've also separated the journal from the shopping page a bit. People who are shopping can still access it if they want from the front page, but there is no connection once they are shopping. I just kinda wanted it that way.... people who are curious will arrive there if they like, but those people just wanting to learn about mobiles or somethings, aren't inundated with my personal story. Not that I don't want to share, it's just I'm learning when and where to put up boundaries, even those as ephemeral as a click away.

So.. I didn't find any fabric that was that fabulous at the show on Saturday, just one piece of batiked cotton that will make a nice tablecloth. My big score was a HUGE spool (weighing in around 5 lbs) of linen thread, that will be great for bookbinding or lantern making. Weeeeee! That reminds me, I have a bunch of lanterns that I'll put up in the store soon. A great Christmas gift for the light in YOUR life :)

unbearable lightness of cleaning

Holy man, what a long break I'm taking! I will be back, my lovelies, I promise! Have been working on a few small updates to the site, as well as spending some time regrouping our lives, cleaning the house, refinancing, getting rid of debt, going out and having fun, celebrating life! It takes a lot of time :) I'm so glad things are clean and tidy around the house again.. it took three whole days! Hopefully it will never get that bad again. We'll be sorting through a lot of our stuff too in the next while, getting rid of things we no longer need, like, want, so that will even add to the light and cleanliness. Yippee!!

My lovely sister bought me a new (old) sewing maching. It's a Singer from the 1940s.... I'm probably wrong... she wrote down the specs, but it's upstairs, and I really don't feel like going to get it! It's so beautiful I will post pictures of it soon. I'm excited to start using it. I've been busy again this week, so haven't started, but there is a fabric sale this weekend at the Glebe Community Centre here in Ottawa on Saturday, so I'll be going to check it out, and see if there isn't something that jumps out and says "Tania! I want you to make me into a bag! A skirt! Anything!"

i'm back!

Yippee!! I made it home safe and sound, although a little tired. A lot tired, actually. I loved being away and seeing all the things I saw, but there's nothing quite like coming home to your own bed. Especially when it's comfier than any you've slept on in over three weeks. And your shower... mmm, hot pressurized water... you wouldn't think it'd be so hard to master. Yes, well, all you Europeans out there, with your tepid gravity fed showers are really missing out on a great invention! Ahh, my creature comforts.

So, what to say? I have so much, that I guess I'll just say a few things at a time. Poland is beautiful! Ireland is stunning! London... is not exactly the same city it was to me 15 years ago, but still a load of fun. Arek's family is amazingly generous, funny, lovely, and welcoming. They ALL met us at the airport with lots of flowers for me, and whisked us off to a week and a half of being fed, watered, vodkad, and driven around. It was fantastic. I took all film pictures, so you will have to wait to see them until I get around to scanning them in.

For now, here is my list of things I am so happy to have experienced:

• Arek's family's open arms
• Warsaw's royal gardens and parks
• Zakopane and its mountain-nous-ness and my new mountain-cow-boy hat
• Krakow and those damn pigeons
• In-grid's Milord!
• driving on the other side of the road on the Motorways of England
• Warwick and the Tudor House Inn
• walking like an egyptian on the ferries to Ireland and back
• Dublin and it's highest pub
• Arek's other family's open arms
• the west coast of Ireland in general - fields that flow into the ocean
• sheep that stand in the middle of the zig-zag road letting you know who owns the place
• a new drum from Spiddal!
• getting to say you spent the night in Spiddal
• the cliffs of Moher
• the Ring of Kerry
• the Roman baths of Bath
• Stonehenge
• Camden Town
• sitting in the Holly Bush pub in Hampstead, across the street from Jamie Oliver's house
• Erno Goldfinger's house
• Tate Modern via the Tate to Tate boat
• falling in love with my husband all over again :)