By Sign & Design: My Charmed Life

Rediscovering music

Ok, I've decided to dust off the ears and get hip! Or at least current.Hip is probably too much to hope for (Ask our 11 yr old Kate, who is most definately hip :) What's been bugging me is that I have gotten lazy where I used to ferret out every new sound I could in my youth. Where to get started?

Well, Itunes is a huge help for starters. You download it for free, and it manages the library and you create your playlists... I have been using it to play Dj as I love to do. I always wanted a central place to keep my music.

Next step : I've always had this Utopian vision of keeping my music world  all simple- my dream was for one small device that could be hooked up to car, stereo, speakers all throught the house etc. Well ipod must have been plucked right out of my brain. I am enchanted and can't wait to get one.

Ok - now for some cool new-fangled fun ways to find new music - again with itunes music store which is now available in Canada (halleluja). A 99 cent charge to a credit card and that favorite old Culture Club song you used to lip sunc to is in your possession.

In Real Simple magazine, I read about a frighteningly cool program that is similar to Itunes, called Musicmatch Jukebox but has a patent pending intelligent service that matches your tastes to offer music you will like. Musicmatch Jukebox. How cool is that? I am trying it out, looking forward to seeing how it works. Another cool feature... with a line in to your computer you can create MP3s of old cassettes, vinyl, etc!!! For the true pack rat.

And finally, nothing helps revive the musical spirit than getting out to see live music. this month we seem to be making up for a 4 year dry spell (aside from Sarah in May). Thursday is Avril Lavigne (very excited to be taking Kate :) Saturday is Rolling Stones (and others- I am actually looking forward to Maroon 5 the most). And THEN in two weeks, Pete and I will be seeing JET at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas!!!!! Weeeeee - can't wait.

I guess once I started looking, music was all around waiting for my attention. It's very comforting to know some things never change. :) Rock on!

My "Blended" Family

We have a whole new sort of blended family, it seems. I also like to call it The Pack, as I am sure that is how the dogs see it. We've all survived the first 48 hours with new puppy, and it was good that Kate was here for those, also. She did a great job with helping us to wrangle the boys, and was a real trooper, acting all grown up and stuff (sigh)! Pete and I take turns getting up every 4 hours through the night to take Sam out of the kennel and out to the wild yonder to pee. It caused some bleery eyes and short fuses but we managed to put those aside very quickly. I think this new addition will actually be a growth experience for all of us. to me, this weekend felt like the closest and most fun-filled family weekend we've had in a while. Dog-centric, sure, but we also played cards and chatted and visited other family, which was nice. No real distractions from the electronics we are all used to (except for me grappling with the camera).

Some of Sam's Milestones and tidbits:

• The first walk around the block with all five of us (Friday night). What a riot! Imagine, if you will,  the first time for a puppy on a leash and with a harness. He zig zags all over the place, takes off at a run, and hops around chasing mosquitoes, moths and blowing leaves. Little ADD-boy is learning, however, to keep  pace with Tommy, which will hopefully prevent him from pulling.
• He knows his name and comes when we call him 95 % of the time. This is truly cool!
• Housebreaking is coming along well, he goes very quickly outside most of the time.
• He now knows "Let's Go" (one of Tommy's favorite phrases) and will climb up the back deck stairs. It took him a little longer with going down (it looks like a scary drop-off-a-cliff to a puppy).
• He's learning "down", as in "stay off the furniture and don't jump on people".
• He's going into his kennel on his own for fun, and doesn't cry as long when we put him in.
• He follows everything Tommy does. And he follows him all around the house. It's really cute to us, but probably gets on Big Brother's nerves.

Some drawbacks:

• Tommy gets pretty stressed out when Sam is crying or barking in his kennel (or anywhere, actually). he starts in on the action which gets stressful for the rest of us. We try to get Tommy away or distract him. Luckily, Sam stops after about 10 mins. We might need to look into Stress tabs for Big Brother.

• When Sam is in Power-Frenzy mode, Tommy doesn't always have patience to deal. He growls a bit, but this is understandeable. We try to give them each some space and time alone with us, too.

• As the #1 Dog, Tommy thinks both food dishes are his. He won't let Sam near his own food, growls at him a bit. The experts say we should not interfere with this pecking order routine, it will cause more confusion if we treat them equally. So Sam is getting good at swooping in when Tommy's not looking to grab a bunch of food, and then runs off to eat it. Undforutnately it leaves some pieces on the floor, cause he can't see well up close.

Some fun links about dog training, behaviour and health:

Dr. Cookie pet vet extroardinaire
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dogs-faq/new-puppy/
PAW Home    Bringing your puppy home (REALLY good advice from the Partnership for Animal Welfare Site)

For info about Animal Emergency Rescue (rescue during emergency situations such as hurricanes, fires, etc- very interesting and NECESSARY):

Noah's Wish Rescuing and Sheltering Animals during Disasters   

Introducing Sam!

Introducing... Sam, a 12 week old American Eskimo male puppy.

He is flilling the role of little buddy to the reigning #1 Dog in the house, Tommy.

We may have lost our minds, but it's a lot of fun having the two of them around.

Click Here to go to the album and see more pictures of Sam, Tommy and their people.

Soul Excavation aka 2 week vacation

I suck at vacation. I never used to (at least I don't think I did). I remember a few dark years between 2000 and 2003 when the universe seemed to be teaching me lessons I wasn't ready to learn - how to enjoy my own company, how to be brave and keep re-inventing myself, how to fight depression during a particularly dark time. What did I do? I packed the trunk of my rustbox '88 Sunbird and I headed to Bois Joli Beach, every day.At that time, I was not paying attention to my career so much, it was the means to an end, and truthfully, it was the time for me to coast a little. I needed to address other things in my soul. I needed to find FLOW. What does that mean? It is what I call the ZING of energy during a lightning storm, creative inspiration, connections for all the little hanging strings in life. At that time, I started to feel my own power, my peace and my creative spirit - and a growing sense that everything was connected. I felt like the universe was answering questions I had not spoken out loud. Was it because there was "space to listen"? If I am speaking in abstract too much, I will explain what it was like. At my computer in the morning, I would receive newletters with headings that literally answered the questions in my head in comical ways. I meant to talk to a close friend about it, who also listened to "cues". We were having trouble meeting up for coffee and he finally received a computer-related postcard/advertisement at work that said "Take A Java with Chelsea". It was talking about a computer porgram but the message was loud and clear. I was getting messages like that all the time. I would walk into a library and an out-of-place-book would attract me. I would open to the middle of the book and read a passage that was pertinent to what I was thinking about. And the more I paid aattention, the more it happened. A was learning about Tarot at the time and drew a card each morning as a touchstone for the day. For 4 straight days, I drew the same card. As a beginner, I was not able to decipher exactly what the card meant, but I got the feeling it was more important for me to notice the pattern anyway.

Why is any of this pertinent now? Well, years have passed, and I have been fascinated with this concept of flow /synchronicity ever since. However, my life has sped up without my noticing. My personal crisis essentially ended, and I was happy again, able to take on the next challenges. These were practical in nature. Work, money, home, daily life, responsibilities. I switched gears. I became entrenched. Recently I found I have become a workaholic at a career I was never tied to to begin with.

Fast forward, and here my husband and I found ourselves at the beginning of a desperately needed vacation with no idea how to relax :) A week in and we are just getting the hang of the pace. Pete is now working on new songs, and puttering around the house happily with a screwdriver- fixing stuff as he is want to do. Lo and behold I sewpt away cobwebs from my creative room and started on a new quilt project.

I am noticing this nagging feeling that I had forgotten something...  for the past several months.. I had forgotten the purpose of creating SPACE to listen. The FLOW I still think about has been a little past my grasp, but it may be coming back. Finally. More soon.

Sarah Mclachlan performs in Moncton tonight!

I am beside myself with excitement (special thanx to Pete, who stood in line from 6 am to get us 7th row seats). The concert tickets went on sale back in Dec, right after we returned from a trip to California. I had been reading a book about synchronicity  in a tiny satellite gate at LAX airport when Pete nudged me. He said "Sarh Mclachlan just walked by, I think." I went over to see, trying to be cool, like I was looking for a vending machine or something.. and made eye contact. And abandoned all pretense by bolting back to my seat, too flustered to go ask for an autograph. :) I'm such a nerd sopmetimes :) I guess its nice that its still ok to be a goofy fan at age 32.

Lilacs in a crescent moon

Spring has fertilized my imagination with the prospect of filling our yard with plants, herbs, fruit, veggies and flowers. We have a challenging space of almost an acre bordered by many, MANY trees and one lonely grapevine.

We started last year with some maintenance and some veggies, a raspberry and several strawberry plants (these are already coming up nicely). For the grapevine, Pete built me an impressively tall trellis, as the poor plant had lost its support when the previous owners took their garden building with them. In fact, we did not know it was there. We originally thought it was a heap of broken tree branches until we saw the tiny skeletons of grape bunches hanging off of the branches. What an exciting day that was for us wine lovers.

So that sums up the work we took on last year, mostly involving keeping up with the lawn and fighting with the lawn tractor, which is another story altogether.

This year, I am in planning mode. Obviously we have to think long-term. In a fit of inspiration, I bought numerous plants, starting with three baby lilacs (see the picture above for what one of them should look like eventually). I also picked up hostas, many flower bulbs in blue and purple colors, lavender plants, herbs galore ( collections of oreganos, thymes, pennyroyal, tarragon, rosemary, basil, garlic chives, etc.) I had an idea for a crescent moon-shaped bed on the side lawn, to the side of the deck. I love all things moon related, not surprisingly since, my ruling planet is the moon. I am tickled by the thought of  picking herbs in the moonlight as in all the supernatural fairy tales.

So we set to tilling up the yard. Pete, Kaitlin and I - with the kind assistance of our helpful puppy, Tommy. (Tommy is 11 but we still call him "puppy", more as an affectionate nickname). We were out there yesterday, pushing our physical bodies well beyond our winter shapes would allow, and low and behold we have our crescent moon bed! The lilacs are in, but I will wait a couple of more weeks to put in the rest. It was hard work, but rewarding! At one point, I was digging up the turf and Tommy was digging right along with me. It never ceases to amaze me how his little furry soul just wants to contribute and be wherever his people are, doing what we are doing. Yes, our little pack worked hard, and we have two impressive beds to show for it. Pete would like the other one to include carrots, so we will turn that into a veggie bed. I'm thinking cukes, tomatoes, beans, green peppers and the like.

Ah, what is spring for if not to experience growth and excitement, food for the imagination and spirit? :)

Evidence of things not seen

Learning to follow intuitive messages is a hugely unadvertised confidence builder. I am re-reading a book I had picked up years ago; "Developing Intuition : Practical Guidance for Everyday Life" by Shakti Gawain. It’s a little book, very simply written with easy exercises. I take a few minutes at lunch time to get away from work and sit on one of the comfy couches outside the boardrooms as I read and take notes. This tiny little practice has me looking forward to my lunch hour, which I had been thoughtlessly giving away to more work tasks. Moreover, I am noticing the ways in which I am becoming more attuned in to my intuition and I am feeling more energized!

This is just one of the small but significant activities that has kept me from logging lately. Life has taken over somewhat also, Pete's grandmother is very ill, in the hospital. Pete and I are trying to keep our health up, AND my group at work has been re-structured AGAIN. I am feeling hopeful about that, but it is the third time this year, and another round of "approval ratings" to earn, new processes to get used to.

So when anyone asks "What's new?", I often say "Nothing, work is busy" because I am overwhelmed. It's enough just trying to keep up with laundry these days, with the sheer volume of things going on at once -big and small :) As an example, I have written (in my head) at least 12 logs since I posted the last one. I have pictures from Rachelle's gallery opening (A hit!) to upload and Robin/Mel's last show. My head is in interesting thoughts: I am learning to meditate, reading up on intuition, thinking about new "evidence of things not seen". A million things happenening, a million miles an hour. I can't capture it all here, and sometimes I hesitate to write out of order, so I don't and everyhting gets backlogged (mind the pun).

Coming soon... pictures from Rachelle's art gallery opening!

I am really looking forward to a rockin' trippy night tonight at the The Paramount... Robin and Mel are headlining an awesome show! Kolin Barley is on the slate as well as Pete and Neil opening up the show at 10! (Filling in for an ailing Chris Colepaugh).

San Francisco logs 2: Some shop-talk and new Mindful Goals...

Another underlying theme of the SF trip has been on the topic of career - current and future. I had a very lively work-related and passionate conversation with Ryan and Pete on Tuesday night (in a Sports bar pumping Ozzy and Metallica :) ). It was obvious that we all have different ideas about how we could make our employer successful (my "product-manager girl" ideas come from a different role-perspective that their "game development" don't necessarily see). The endless questions of who should develop strategic vision and how should it all get carried out, etc. We are en-masse frustrated by the idea of promotion of incompetence that happens where everyone works. In all, the the best parts that came out of the frank discussion was the sense that we all want to effect positive change. Idealism is alive, I cheer. The not-so-good thing to come out of it was that the challenges we have to making that happen are eating away at all of us and many good people may choose to leave our ranks. This brought to me the question of "WILL good change happen if the right people leave?". On the flip side of that, I am included in that uncertainty. I definately feel I have things to do yet - and despite the frustrations, I feel properly rewarded for the first time in my career life this is huge, as the music business had discouraged this pretty badly). YET. The gaming business won't be my final stop in career-world. Onthis trip to SF, I have found a renewed energy to start planning for the next one, albeit slowly. I am definately interesting in Life-coaching, and will start actively working towards the certification in what "spare" time I can find. I know that career will re-align the balance in my life with respect to friends, family, the artisitc side of me, etc. I do work towards it now, but I need to make this a MINDFUL GOAL.

San Francisco logs 1: Refreshing the Creative Spirit

This picture illustrates how prefectly lush my imagination felt as I toured Monterey and Carmel by the Sea.

This is the first day I have found a wireless internet connection to post by, but believe me, I have been writing posts in my head since I arrived (even writing them and saving them in topics for future posts)!
Before leaving Moncton, I had a sense of anticipation and not just for the obvious reasons (vacation, vacation, vacation). I had heard that this city has a vibrant artistic energy, and this is so true. I purposely brought the tools I wanted to use to capture ideas with: camera, computer, journal, standard purple pens. The next step was to use them. I had actually set myself up for success before by planning ahead - the day trips out to Monterey, Carmel-by-the-sea and Wine country. This proved valuable. I would have time to write, think, read, and daydream. I was ready for the flow to come the minute I stepped off the plane, I have been creatively energized, inspired, and refreshed. I am storing up fun ideas for things I want to do when I get back.

I also saved my first day for browsing downtown in my favorite kinds of places- home decor and kitchen shops (so many great ideas come to me there), bookstores, wine and gourmet food shops, piers and restaurants. When I browse, I relax. And I get in tune with a place. It is not so much shopping  (or what I call collecting tools) for me, as much as it is a synchronicity exercise. This is when I discover whether my intuition is in serving me well or poorly, and whether my spirit is in a good place or not. When I find a bookstore and a book jumps off the shelf that is about something that I am thinking about, for example, I know I am "in tune"with the flow. One book I have read called "Finding Flow" describes this process. Flow masters around the world dothese little exercises to find out where they are.

Some of the new ideas:

- I have an art piece I want to create, a Sea-Cure-Itty Blanket, made of a multi-color blue greeen yarn and hand-dyed ribbon treaures I found by synchricity in a tiny shop in Carmel by the Sea.
- Appetizers to drink wine by - Use focaccia bread to sop up a mixture of blue cheese, walnuts and olive oil and sea salt splashed on a plate. Champagne garlic mustard. French fries served with roasted garlic!
- Aprons! Silly sounding, I know, but I have been looking eveywhere for a funky apron to cook withthat has the right fabric feel, quality, colors and shape."Kiss the Cook" just can;t be all there is out there for those if us who still want to be somewhat fashionable. I finally figured out the simple solution is make my own designs and funky patterns.
- Journal/scrapbooks without glue, for those of us with less time!