Last weekend (June 25) I went with a friend to the BC Highland Games & Scottish Festival in Coquitlam. We’d never been before, and unfortunately it rained intermittently, but we still enjoyed ourselves and got a chance to look around.

There were lots of exhibitors selling Scots stuff, from kilts and scarves to flags, knick-knacks, swords and Renaissance items.

BC Highland Games 2011 - Marketplace

We watched the Parade of the Clans where only a handful of clansmen and women were representing. Listening to the band pipe them in was awesome though. I love the sound of bagpipes!

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These past few days have been special. Like speeecial special. Yaknow? I have been totally out of it in multiple ways for no particular reason.

Physically, I am bumping into things and bashing myself by accident. It’s like I have an issue with depth perception. I tried to put on my shoes today and kicked the wall. I went to close a door and accidentally punched the wall. I’ve broken at least 4 fingernails by catching them on things. This could be a serious problem considering I’m taking sword fighting lessons. I’m also concerned since I’ve been working on sewing projects. Hopefully I can dial 9-1-1 before I pass out from lack of blood. Death by sewing machine… kinda funny.

Mentally, I have been having trouble speaking, mixing words up, and my spelling has gone out the window. My reading skills are also suffering, but that may also be the spelling issue or my non-existent dyslexia. I typed “dying” instead of “dyeing”, read “touting” as “touching” and “viral” as “virus”, and often leaving out transitional words such as “the” and “with”, thus changing a sentence completely.

So now I’m sitting here, wondering what I should do so that I’ll be safe from myself. Knitting would inevitably result in a giant yarn tangle or dropped stitches, I already explained the fear of the sewing machine, and anything that involves movement or speed such as riding my bike is out. That leaves books, movies, and the internet.

Books: I’ve finished Voyager by Diana Gabaldon and need to write up a review. Before that I read a few graphic novels that I need to post reviews for. Now I’m into the second book of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings.

Movies: I watched Sense & Sensibility (1995) last night with Kate Winslett, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson. Wow what a cast. I haven’t read the book, but I enjoyed the movie. I think the romance story lines were very similar to Pride & Prejudice (class, society, rumours, reputation) but that the character interactions weren’t as strong. However, the cast was amazing and I did enjoy the movie immensely. Did I mention that I did end up watching the BBC mini-series of Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth? Awesome! I love Colin Firth so much.

Speaking of movies, I just went on IMDB.com and discovered a Footloose remake. Watch the trailer here. Umm… I’m not sure how I feel about this, and I’m concerned it’s just going to be some sort of hip-hop debacle. Footloose is the 80s and Kevin Bacon. Can you imagine someone trying to remake Ferris Bueller’s Day Off without Matthew Broderick? Or Pretty in Pink without Molly Ringwald? No! It just wouldn’t work.

Television: I’ve been watching HBO’s The Game of Thrones, which is based on the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. HBO is so awesome and I am loving it so far. It’s pretty much 98% perfect, and I’m guessing that’s because George R.R. Martin is one of the executive producers.

Internet: There are lots of great things I’ve found recently. If you follow me on Twitter, I usually share them there. But here are a couple gems.

• Bloggess’ “Pick your Battles” — I laughed so hard I wasn’t making a sound and tears were streaming down my cheeks.
• Dear Photograph — A really neat project, taking photos of old photos in their original location.
• A Stranger A Day — A Vancouverite is chatting up strangers about tattoos, daily
• The Slave Lake Book Auction, which I mentioned before, wrapped up last week with a total of $4,909 in donations to the library!
• The Bank of Canada is rolling out new bills made of polymer (plastic) and our money will look even more like Monopoly money.
• Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011 has been announced for Sept. 12-16. I designed the new look and launched the website recently.

In February I visited a neat secondhand store called FilmGo, located in Vancouver on the edge of Burnaby. This undiscovered thrift store is full of props, furniture and knick-knacks from various film sets which means awesome vintage and era pieces. It also means that you can find some neat gems for a good price — if you’re willing to look.

I left with a $10 fishbowl and a $60 wicker bench seat. The fishbowl became a terrarium (see my article at GardenWise Magazine online) and I have just finished reviving the wicker bench seat.

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Day to day, as I browse the web, I find awesome things I like to share. Sometimes I share them via Facebook or Twitter, and other times, they deserve a round-up post. Here are a couple great things I’d like to draw your attention to, and also some general updates / housekeeping.

Slave Lake Book Auction

Recent wildfires in Alberta destroyed nearly half of the town of Slave Lake, including the newly completed, 18-month-old library. This Globe & Mail article sums up the library’s history, renovation, and devastation. It’s hard to imagine that loss to a community and it makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it.

Slave Lake (Alberta) library burning during wildfire on May 15, 2011

The library is accepting donations of books less than 2 years old, but they also need money for computers, furniture, construction, etc. So Colleen McKie, a Canadian living on the East Coast, has organized the Slave Lake Book Auction. Go bid (just not against me) for a good cause!

Featured Reader at House of Anansi Press

Check it out!! I’m the Featured Reader over at the House of Anansi Press for June 2011.

Trish tweeted that they were looking for a blogger/reader to feature for June and I jumped at the chance. I am so honoured and excited.

I love House of Anansi Press — they produce wonderful books, have gorgeous designs, and authors/illustrators/reviewers/employees all seem to have nothing but good things to say. While I may not love every book I read that has been published by Anansi, I love the diversity of their titles and the variety in their subject matter.

Thank you Trish & Anansi!

City of Vancouver Archives have been digitized

This is just a really neat local accomplishment. As part of Vancouver125—the City of Vancouver’s 125th birthday celebrations—the archives have successfully digitized their complete collection.

My friend Jason (of Illustrated Vancouver fame) was at the launch party a while ago where they were giving away all their duplicate prints (keeping only the originals). Now I have a lovely selection too, including trains and long-since-demolished buildings. I think they shall become art.

More Art / Home Décor / Crafty Projects

Speaking of art and home decor, I have been working very hard on several home improvement projects, including some IkeaHacks. I’ve been photographing the projects so I can hopefully post some DIYs soon.

My knitting has been unmotivated but I’m chugging away on a design idea. Although I might be able to share some of the stash additions… I don’t know if I’ve already updated on those.

I really want to sew summer skirts and have recently dug out my patterns and fabric. You can really tell what kind of skirts I tend to gravitate towards by looking at my sewing patterns. Speaking of sewing, I do have some finished items to share, but I need to take photos with the recipient, so those are on the back-burner.

Reading Updates

I have been utterly absorbed in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I’ve had to force-ably remove myself from it and take a breather. I’m reading other books (I’m a few behind in reviews) but I’m constantly thinking—even dreaming—about the Outlander story. It’s true what Diana says, no one ever gets over Jamie Fraser…. *swoon*

In the beginning of November I took a class at Spool of Thread called 3, 2, 1… Quilt! It was a beginner quilting class which was perfect for me because I already know how to sew and work a machine but had never quilted before.

Tools of the trade — quilting supplies

I can’t tell all the secrets in a tutorial here, because 1) there are other places online that already do that; and 2) you should take the class at Spool of Thread because our teacher, Jill Weldon, was amazing. However, I will detail my experience learning to quilt. Read the rest of this entry »