So sorry!!

I'm sorry for the long and unexplained absence last week!

Things just got really busy last week, as I was finalizing and preparing for report cards to be handed out on Friday, and last night (Monday) was the kids' Christmas Concert at work.

So, it has been one heck of a busy week!  And on the weekend, all I did was catch up with sleep.  I have been so lately busy, staying up late and getting up early to get things done, that I was just exhausted.  I feel asleep on Friday night at 9:30, and only woke up for Stephan to drag me to bed.  I slept 11 hours that night, and still fell asleep Saturday night before 10pm.  I guess you could say I really needed the sleep!  Needless to say, my Zumba routine has completely suffered.  But I'm hoping to get back to Zumba class on Thursday!

But I am back, and looking forward to catching up on what everyone has been up to in the past week!

I'm in Canmore!

But just for the night. Even though Stephan is only gone for 4 days/3 nights, I thought since I only got Stephan for 2 nights between shifts (and since the winter weather was good) it was decided that I would come visit him in Canmore for the night. Canmore is only about an hour or so from Calgary. It's a short visit, but it's nice to be here with him. 

Especially since he surprised me with a 6-pack of 

my favourite local Canmore beer! 

Weekend Recap!

This weekend was pretty low-key.

Stephan was still stuck out of town on shift, working 12 days instead of 8, so after work on Friday I went and finally got started on my Christmas shopping for my family back in Ontario.

Saturday I slept in, or tried to.  Usually its Leo who wakes me up howling for food in the morning, while Anna cuddles in my arms.  Not so.  This time it was Anna.  She was knocking things off the dresser, the bathroom counter, the night table.  And she wouldn't stop!!  I threw a pillow to scare her away (because if I lock her out of the room, she'll scratch the door apart), and then she made it clear for the rest of the morning that she was ticked off.  So that made 2 grumpy person/cat in the house that morning!

After I lazed around for a bit, I went back out to finish the last few presents for Ontario.  I also picked up Stephan from work, FINALLY!  And then, found out he's only getting 1 day off before leaving for work again on Monday (HORRIBLE!).  Luckily, he only has a 4 day shift and is back home Thursday.  I feel bad for him though, he's exhausted and would have liked the week off to recover.  He barely had time to get laundry done before today.

So we just relaxed before heading to bed.

Sunday I had church in the morning.  I spent the afternoon cuddled up with Stephan on the couch, napping.  And then watched the Grey Cup (Canadian football equivalent of the Superbowl) and made Chili for dinner.

This weekend, I also worked on getting a facebook page started for my artwork.

Feel free to check it out!

www.facebook.com/JessicaErinCreations

How was your weekend?!

Cold days call for...

Cold days call for a big bowl of tomato soup (or any kind of soup!!) and crackers. 

See, I knew this Christmas bowl would come in handy!!!! 

It's Cold!

We're in the middle of a really cold week.  Like -27 degrees Celsius cold!  I don't mind so much :) I really do love winter, and the cold doesn't bother me that much.  Don't think I'd be out hiking in this weather though!

I was off of work early because of an appointment, and ran a few errands in the afternoon to the butchers and then the grocery store.

I splurged on Salmon for dinner

I glazed it with maple syrup and a bit of soy sauce.

And added a Ceasar salad, and a baguette with Balsamic vinegar and oil.
Baguettes with vinegar and oil are to die for right now.  LOVE IT!

 And I finally, FINALLY got my laundry done! And the floors! (I was very productive).

Yesterday I got back into my Zumba routine. I've neglected it for the past couple of weeks getting things ready for the craft show.

Speaking of the craft show, it didn't go that great.  We had a big snow storm the morning of the show, and combine the bad weather with the location being out in the country a bit, there wasn't a lot of people there.  My friend did well with her bows, but our Christmas blocks and my artwork didn't really sell, although I did get a lot of compliments on them!

We're hoping that our next craft fair at the end of November, which is right IN Calgary, will go better. 

I did get a few ideas from the craft show though, as a few people thought that my smaller 4.5x6" prints were cards (since they were mounted on foam board, they looked a big thicker).  So it might be a good inexpensive and quick idea to make some of the prints into cards, as well as some of my scenery and bird pictures, which I could then hopefully sell.

I haven't totally decided if I'm going to do that yet, but I need to decide soon, by this weekend!  I like the idea, but I'm reluctant to spend more money until I sell a bit of stuff. 

How was everyone's weekend?!

Its a double miracle!

Last night, a sister at church told me about a place downtown that might have the bags I need.  After spending all night and morning searching online for something, and my break today, I called them.  Low and behold, they had the bags! And in a variety of sizes, all of which would fit my prints.

It also worked out well that I had to go into work early today, as someone was sick, and so was out of work in time to make it downtown to this art shop (which I otherwise would not have been off in time for). So I decided to buy the bags, because I had been checking the status of my order online all day and it still said "In transit", and was not yet out "for delivery". Not willing to risk having NO bags, and not able to come back to the store tomorrow, I made the purchased the bags.

And then I got home.  And checked the mail.

Guess what was in the mail?!

THE BAGS I ORDERED!

But it actually worked out well, funnily enough, as I had measured one print wrong which would not have fit in the original bags I ordered, BUT did fit in the NEW bags I just purchased tonight. 

I also designed and printed my labels for the bags, and the picture of me on the labels turned out darker than I had wanted, but I was unable to correct at.  It was bugging me a little at first, but the more I looked it, the more I liked it.  Even though it was dark, it kinda had a silhouette-looking-feel to it, and it grew on me.  I might still fix or change it later on, but I'm happy with it.

I'm all ready for the craft fair on Saturday, and I'm super excited now that I have the finished product in front of me.

Take a look!

My picture in the top right is not quite that dark, but still a little more dark
then I like.  You can kinda make out facial features on the actual label.
However, I still think it looks fairly good, although I may adjust it
later down the road.  

Thanks for all your support, well-wishes and thoughts yesterday! 

-Jessica

Canada Post, you are stressing me out!

So everything is ready to go with my art prints for the craft show on Saturday. THIS Saturday.

Except. The. Plastic. Bags.

The special, acid free, sized-for-each-print, adhesive closing plastic bags I specially ordered.

3 WEEKS AGO!

They were supposed to be here last week.

Then they were supposed to be here Tuesday.

They are still not here.

And there are only 2 days left in the week.  I'm starting to panic, for  Postthe fact alone that there is no where to purchase these specific kind of bags in Calgary that I've been able to find.  Hence why I ordered them online.

Now just to clarify, there is no fault with the company.  They shipped it less than 2 days after I ordered.

The fault is with Canada Post.  Its sitting somewhere in Transit.  They usually put a little thingy on the door knob and you pick it up next day.  If they put it on the door knob on Friday, its too late for me to pick it up on Saturday.

So it HAS TO, HAS TO come tomorrow.

Or I am going to be thinking of something last minute fast.

Worse case I would go without the plastic bags, but that is so disappointing.  Because I have a beautiful label to stick on the bag that I designed. :(

PS: Canada post is horrible all the time.  A few years ago, Stephan's Dad sent us a package.  It was sent from Germany, and arrived in Canada 1 week after it was shipped.  We received the package at our door 5 MONTHS LATER!  No lie.

So please, just this once, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pull through for me Canada Post!

Weekend Recap

It was a long weekend, woohoo!!  Here in Alberta, Remembrance Day is a holiday (in Ontario, it is not). 

I had a great weekend!

Friday I met up with my friend to finish our Christmas ornaments for the craft fair this coming Saturday, the 16th.

After I was done that, I went home and cuddled up with Stephan to watch a movie in front of the fireplace, and fell asleep there.  We are really loving cuddling up there, especially now that its winter! Its the best room in the house :)

Saturday morning I headed out for a choir practice at church, and then ran a few errands after.  I even got started on my Christmas shopping, and this is really late for me!  Usually I'm pretty much done by now. 

Later in the evening, Stephan took me out to a nice steakhouse for dinner.  We had trouble finding a place that didn't have a huge wait, but we finally found a really nice place.  We lucked out too, and got a table right in front of the fire place, very romantic!  I had Filet Mignon for the first time, I've only started eating red meat again the last 2 years.  If I ever had any doubt about how tender meat could actually be, there's no doubt now! It was so tender, that I just touched it with a knife and the meat fell away from it.  So delicious!

Sunday I had church, and I came home to a very angry Stephan and two cats in trouble.  Turns out, they'd been fighting for the spot on the PVR on top of the fireplace, and had knocked over Stephan's X-Box!  OOPS!  Needless to say, he was not impress.  The X-Box still manages to work, but it makes a lot of funny noises so I don't think it will work forever.  The game however is kaput, so we had to go out and get a new one (Stephan plays that one almost constantly).  Luckily, the new X-box system comes out before Christmas, which Stephan was wanting to get.  We might just have to get it sooner than later.

After I dealt with that, I did some cleaning around the house, and then Stephan headed out with the boys while I headed over to Alyssa's and my Calgary parents' for some wine and a games night.  I learned a great new card game called 9-cards, and enjoyed playing Monopoly for the first time in years. 

I spent the holiday Monday cutting the foam board for my art prints and getting them ready for the craft fair.  All I need is the plastic bags I ordered, which were supposed to arrive today and haven't .     :( I hope they are here on time!

But here's how they look so far!

I decided to go out for dinner last night, and made a chicken roast.  The best part of that is using the bones after to make home made chicken noodle soup, YUM!!

How was your weekend?!

I might be in trouble....!

I went grocery shopping last night, because Stephan is unexpectedly coming home from work on Thursday now instead of next Tuesday (more time with me, YAY!).

I had a list and everything!!!! A list that I was supposed to follow.

I may have deviated from the list a little bit............

I need this to eat Christmas cookies off of

And I need this to eat stew out of on a cold winter night

See?  Its a set!

I wanted a snowman.  They had none left.  I will get one from
another location hopefully!  But this is to hold the stirring spoon
when I make the stew on a cold winter night

I make 3 traditional kinds of cookies each year.  This has 3 sections. 
Need I say more??

It was also a very good price.  So you see, it was all necessary!!!!....................right??!!

I also may have forgotten to buy the carrots, which were on the list.  Ummm.....oops?!!!

-Jessica

Weekend recap

This weekend was very busy, but awesome and very productive!

Friday night I just spent the night hanging out with Stephan, cuddled up on the couch in the man cave with the fireplace on.  This has to be our favourite room in the house now, mostly because the huge couch is super comfortable.  And the fireplace just perfects it!  We actually slept down there on Friday night, with the fireplace on (its electric!), and Stephan was so cute enough to put on some country music on quiet for me.  We had a snowfall warning in Calgary, so we were hoping to fall asleep to the snow falling around us, but sadly, no snow until late Saturday morning.

Saturday morning we had pancakes for breakfast.  Then Stephan headed out for coffee with one of the guys while I showered and got ready.  As soon as he got home, we did a few errands such as going to the butchers to pick up schnitzel meat for dinner that night.  (I want to point out that it started snowing while I was making pancakes, and we got a whopping 26cms, so me, being the big freak that I am, was in seventh heaven with all the snow!)


AND, the big errand was going to pick up my art prints.  The print shop actually cut my costs in half by placing a bunch of different sizes on bigger sheets. I was really happy and thrilled with how the art prints turned out. I won't show all of the prints, but I'll show a few of pictures I took with my camera (before), and then their professional scan (after), so that you can see the difference.

BEFORE

 

 

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

After errands, I relaxed a bit before I made dinner: schnitzel, dumplings (NOT home made) with jaeger sauce, carrots in honey and brown sugar, and steamed broccoli. DELICIOUS!

After dinner, I quickly cleaned up, and headed over to Karina's to work on our Christmas decorations for the craft fair.

getting set up

figuring out how to put it together

the end product!

We got 6 done in just over an hour, and were unsure how they would work out, but we are thrilled with the end result!

Sunday morning was church.  And then in the afternoon I decided to work on a painting.  This was the end result:

Sunday afternoon project!

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet.  We just had left overs for dinner, and relaxed in front of the TV in the man cave.  (Have I mentioned how comfy the couch is, and how much I love that fireplace?!)

How was your weekend? I want to hear about it!

-Jessica

My art prints are ready!

They were originally supposed to take 1-11/2 weeks, but I received the prints Tuesday night, placed my order, and they had them ready for me yesterday!  They close before I finish work, so I will have to wait until Saturday to pick them up, but I am so excited to see them!

I've been really nervous about the whole process, and I still am, but now that I actually have prints (once Saturday comes), I'm getting excited about it.

Our first craft fair is on the 16th, and then the next on the 30th.  Please keep your fingers crossed that we do well!

To all you Halloweeners out there, Happy Halloween!!

-Jessica

Weekend Recap!

This weekend was quite busy, but it was a great weekend.

Friday, me and my friend finally managed to find 2 craft fairs that still had room (note to self, if we do this next year, book earlier!), so we went out Friday tonight to Michaels to purchase the silk flowers for our candle holders we are making.  They had a 40% off sale, so it was perfect timing.  My teaching certificate also managed to save us another 15%! Score!

Saturday I had a district choir practice at church, and straight from there I headed out to the art printers.  I was very nervous when I walked into the print shop, but I have to say, it turned out great! I told them I hadn't done this before, and I was nervous, and they took quite a bit of time to explain the process.  They spent about an hour with me, and didn't rush me despite the fact that I wasn't a professional, or spending a huge amount of money.

The first step was selecting my pieces to be scanned, and its a very high-level scanner they have.  They showed me a few samples, and on the paintings you could see the texture and every brush stroke.  They also explained that if I got larger size prints, even though they are more money, then I could fit several smaller sized prints on one bigger sheet and cut my cost down.  I also have to pay for the scan, a cost I wasn't aware. But after that, I own the high-quality scans of my artwork, and can get these printed anywhere I choose (they email them to me).

So, they should be finished scanning them and sending them to me by tomorrow night.  From there, I decide how many of each print I want, and the size.

I actually found this piece when I was getting ready to go to the print shop, it was stuck between some pages of one of my art books, and I had completely forgotten about it.  I'm so glad that I found it, because its received a lot of positive comments.

After that, I headed home, did a few chores, and then headed over to Alyssa's house for the night.  I ended staying the night, had a few glasses of wine and played some pool.

Sunday morning we woke up to snow!  FINALLY!  Yes, I'm one of those freak people who actually love winter, and our first snow fall was very late this year.

I headed off to church, and after, decided to have an easy afternoon.  I relaxed and took a nice bath (in the new bathroom in the basement, its a big 6 foot tub - which reminds, I still have to post about the basement construction - sorry Shannon!!), and read a book for a bit.  Then I took a long nap in front of the fireplace.  I did a little cleaning, and a lot of laundry, and watched some Christmas movies in the evening.  It was the PERFECT snowy Sunday afternoon!

 



 

How was your weekend?

-Jessica

Taking the Plunge!!!

I mentioned back when I started over new with this blog that I wanted to start blogging and sharing my art work. 

I figured now is as good a time as any! The reason for this is that me and a friend have decided to participate in some Christmas craft markets in the next couple of months, so I will be busy getting ready for that!  We will be making some Christmas candle ornaments together, and she makes these adorable girls bows and clips!  And I will, hopefully, be selling some prints of my artwork, as well as some 8x10 oil paintings I am hoping to get done in time for the first craft market.

These are some samples of my various artwork that I am thinking of having prints made from:

What do you think??

Do you want to know something funny? I'm not nervous or scared to share and display my artwork at a craft market.  What I'm nervous about is when I go to the print shop on Saturday, and having THEM see my work.  I've decided to get professional art prints made, and not just copy them at Walmart (some are canvas paintings and can't be copied there anyways!), and I know that these print shops have seen and dealt with many PROFESSIONAL artists.  Of which I am not.  So I am most nervous for Saturday, and having my work judged and looked over by these people.  Silly, yes??

-Jessica

Weekend recap - A day late, but its here!

Stephan is still here, 1 extra night with him (a rare occurrence, he had to work in town today, and so leaves tomorrow morning).

But I'm still going to do my weekend recap tonight, because you guys are THAT special to me.  Yup, you are!

Friday was a great night.  A friend had free tickets from her Dad for the Calgary Dino's football game ...they're the minor league to the CFL here (I think??), University level football.  So me and Stephan went with the beautiful Alyssa and Amanda to watch, and had a great time!  Luckily, weather co-operated with us, and it wasn't too cold.  After the game, me and Stephan headed home and watched a movie down in the man cave, cuddled up with the fire place on.  Perfect end to the night!

Ready, set.........

ATTACK!!!!!!!!

The lovely Amanda....I call her "soulmate", because we finish each others'
sentences...and we don't even hang out that often.  Poor Alyssa, our sentence
syncing often turned out bad for her!

 

And the lovely Alyssa!

Isn't she just beautiful??

We made Stephan try red licorice (I think it was Strawberry flavoured).
.....I don't think he liked it........

But Alyssa likes it!

She also likes Mr. Dino

Saturday I slept in while Stephan met up with some friends for coffee.  After that, we ran some errands together and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.  Stephan headed out for the night to watch the hockey game at a local pub, while I watched a chick flick in the man cave (HA!).

Sunday morning was church, and then I had a lazy afternoon.  I thought about doing some cleaning, I really did.  But I took a long nap instead.  I blame Stephan.  He's really too comfy to cuddle up in his arms with.  That's what Sundays are for, right?!  After my nap, I made some delicious spaghetti for dinner (requested by Stephan), and then we cuddled up to watch some TV until bedtime.

I hope everyone else had a fabulous and relaxing weekend!

-Jessica

I'm being lazy

Stephan is home tonight, and tomorrow night.  And I just got home from Zumba.

So I'm going to be lazy tonight, and just hang out with Stephan, watching the hockey game.

You'll get my weekend recap tomorrow :)

You need something to read on a Tuesday anyways, right?  Right! See, I have your best interests at heart.  Truly.

Tchuss!!

-Jessica

Weekend Recap

It was a long weekend for us, woohoo!! 

Here in Canada it was the Thanksgiving long weekend, so I had Monday off of work.

Friday was quiet, since Stephan was back out of town for work.  I just stayed at home and watched some movies, did some cleaning.  It was quiet, since my internet died (the internet provider told me the problem was on my end, so I spent a fun 4 days figuring that one out, ended up buying a new router tonight, but that's a different story).

On Saturday I met up with Linda (after I dropped my car off to get winter tires put on) to go out for a small hike in Kananaskis.  There's a lot of snow out there already, it looks beautiful!  The hike we had planned didn't work out, as about 10 minutes into the hike the path fell off into the river (flood damage from the June flood we had).

This is the path.  And there is the river, with no way around. So much for that trail!

So instead, she took me to visit Elbow falls, and we walked a short half-kilometer climb around the falls. 

A weird little cave or hole created by the river, I thought it was kinda neat!

And then we went on to Forget-me-not pond, walked around the pond, and explored some of the flood damage from the river.  After our walk, we sat at a picnic table and had a nice little picnic lunch.

Some of the flood damage

more flood damage

snow covered trees from afar

pretty snow covering the trees



say cheese, Linda!

beautiful view :)

 

 Sunday was church service in the morning, earlier than normal as we had a transmission service from Ontario as the new head of our church was holding a service from there.  After church, I went home, had a nap, did some cleaning around the house (and tried to figure out the router/internet situation some more), and then headed over to a friend's house for the night.  We just hung around, watched some TV and had some wine, it was a great night :)

Monday I stayed at my friend's house for the day, and had Thanksgiving dinner with my Calgary family.  It was a great day, with wonderful people :)  I'm so blessed that I have people to share these holidays with since I'm away from my family in Ontario.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

-Jessica