Thanks to everyone who came out to see my work plus the other fantastic artists at Dirty Pop on the weekend. There is a cute recap video posted on YouTube with lots of familiar faces, plus shots of the work. Check it out! Also worth checking out – Mori Pablo, the artist who won the People’s Choice award after the votes were tallied at the end of the night. Love the Big Lebowski painting!

Here’s me all dolled up with somewhere to go:

I wore a dress I snagged at the Swap O Rama a few months ago, which was a smidge too tight (OK…I could barely breathe), but I lurvvvvved it so much that I had to wear it. I was also sporting the new shoes I treated myself to as a reward for working such crazy hours this summer – my first pair of the much coveted Fluevogs:

So cute! And SO comfortable!!!

Now I’m trying to balance work (catching up with orders, stocking up on supplies, figuring out which fall & Christmas shows I want to do…) with getting some family time and relaxation in before summer is over. A trip to see my parents is in order, which serves as a holiday too since they live right on the ocean. Lucky ducks!

How can there only be 2 more weeks left until the end of August? Technically the boy doesn’t go back to school until September 7th, but to me September = fall. Boo! Hiss! Stop the clock for just a little longer please!

In light of how little time I have left this summer, I’m really glad that I decided to take 4 out of the 6 days I had in between markets last week to head down to Washington & visit with friends. It was a lot of travel time (stupid border line ups & stupider ferries booked solid) for only 2 days of relaxation, but I’m glad we did it. Highlights:

Since the clock is still ticking on summer, I’m making a list of the things I really want to do before we’re back to raincoats & rubber boots:

• ride rides at the PNE
• swim in the Stanley Park pool (overlooking the ocean – awesome!)
• take the dogs to the leash free swimming area of Buntzen Lake
• eat yummy food stuffs at Richmond Night Market
• ride my bike along the sea wall to Go Fish – one of the best spots for fish & chips in Vancouver
• have at least one lazy summer day where I do nothing but read, doodle in my sketchbook & drink iced tea (or sangria)

That makes for a couple of very busy weeks & since I still have a boatload of work to do, I’m thinking a lot of iced coffees may be in my future. Which is just fine. I can sleep in October.

It was a rainy miserable couple of days, but I still managed to have a great time at Harmony Arts Fest on the weekend. There were so many lovely vendors who deserve a proper blog post with pics & links to their fabulous wares, but that will have to wait until I get back into town. My mister is tapping his foot impatiently as we were supposed to have hit the road already & I’m still not packed. Doh! I swear I’m hurrying as fast as can be, but I had orders to pack, a pug to bathe & as much as I would LOVE to tell you all about the celebrity couple  (sneakily pictured below) who purchased a couple of things from my table on the weekend, I should really hop off the ‘puter before my mister leaves without me.

Rest assured I will be back in the saddle soon enough because I’ve got my last market of the summer coming up this Sunday, August 15th. I’ll be at Artful Sundays on Commercial Drive from noon until 5pm. Check out the Britannia Community Centre website for more info.