I hate reading blog posts where the blogger apologizes for not posting much lately & don’t want to start this one off by doing just that because, well…yawn. Snooze fest. Nobody wants to read about how busy you are unless you’re actually posting interesting links and photos about what’s been keeping you so busy. And that’s TOTALLY what I should be doing right now except that I just don’t want to.

The boy is off for summer holidays & is having a blasty blast out at the lake with his grandparents. The mister started a new job a few weeks ago. And I’m loving the quiet ’round these parts. One would think that an empty quiet house would have me painting up a storm, but it’s actually been the opposite – I’ve become domesticated!

There’s been some major spring cleaning & still needs to be more Craigslist-ing & trips to Goodwill to purge our happy home of clutter. The mister’s new job is only a few blocks away so he can come home for lunch every day. It’s a really lovely break in the middle of the day where we get to see each other, but don’t fall into the rabbit hole of hanging out & not getting anything else done since he’s only got 1 hour. And since I’m cooking for the two of us, I’m far more likely to actually cook something instead of scarfing cereal all day like I usually do when left to my own devices (fortunately the mister is a very good cook & will often bring me food when I’m in the middle of a 7 hour painting session & have forgotten to eat).

Of course, it’s also been so beautiful outside I find myself far more interested in sitting at the park with the puppies and my sketchbook than sitting inside at my computer screen. We hung out with a nanny from Ireland yesterday & the sweetest little girl who was rather confused by a dog named Piggy that’s also a pug. No wonder!

photo credit: Groovnick‘s adorable Sophia

I borrowed some of her sidewalk chalk & set out to doodle the differences between dogs & pigs, & then started drawing bees & the other silly things I like to usually doodle in my sketchbook. Taking it to the street? So. Much. Fun. And she had bubbles! BUBBLES!!! How did I forget the simple pleasure of bubbles?

photo credit: Real Simple

For the rest of the summer, I’m skipping the bottle of wine for my hosts when (if?) I get invited to any backyard BBQs & going straight for a goodie basket of sidewalk chalk & bubbles.

What’s your favorite simple summer pleasure?

Now that the birthday girl has already received it, I can share the little package I put together for my grandma’s big day on Monday. Her favorite baseball team (& bird) are the Blue Jays, so I doodled an illustration for her and then added a splash of color with very watered down acrylic paints. I searched everywhere for a pack of baseball cards to tuck into the envelope before I mailed it off, but came up with nothing. Well, the 7-11 had Yugioh cards, but I opted for a bingo scratch ticket instead (we lost). In the back are a few photos of one of my recent craft fairs & other Vancouver goodness. I keep trying to convince her to come out to visit me, so photographic evidence of how beautiful the west coast is has to be included in every letter.

In other domestic non-art sharing, I did a massive house tidy today & discovered enough breadcrumbs under our toaster to outfit an entire family size Filet O’ Fish. Ah, the joys of living with boys! Once the kitchen was scoured, I proceeded to dirty her up again & made fresh guacamole & a big batch of creamy potato salad. Perfect summer food!

Though I feel almost guilty for not dining outside picnic-style with our perfect summer snacks, the mister & I are taking a break. It’s been what? 6 weeks without rain? Aside from the fact that the farmers need it & the grass is getting scorched, us Wet Coasters need that rainy break so we can retreat inside to watch TV guilt free! We got hooked on True Blood a few weeks ago & have burned through all but the last two episodes (of season 1). I’m thinking chips & salsa & my fresh guac will go very nicely with some vampire action tonight.

Sorry sunshine! It’s not you, it’s me. Really.

The Etsy Supply Street Team has collaborated with a bunch of other Etsy sellers to host a giant sale for the next couple of days. You can check out the free shipping gift guide here and for my own shop, I’ve now added a sale section. Yay! Bargains are a very good thing at the best of times and with the economy still slumping, it’s an extra good thing.

In the new Cagey Bee SALE section you’ll find a handful of prints marked down to only $13 plus several original paintings that now offer free shipping. Happy bargain hunting!

Now I’m off to finish up a bit more work before the hockey game starts tonight. We’re planning to have some friends over to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup & I haven’t even thought about what I should make for snacks. Something summery I think. Suggestions?

Tonight is the big opening night of my group show at Raw Canvas. I’m excited and a little nervous because there were a few things I should’ve done to prep for the event that I didn’t get a chance to do. Nothing major, but would’ve been nice to have gotten my hair cut, done something with my nails other than cleaned the paint out from underneath them & ordered more business cards. I can’t believe how many business cards I’ve gone through this month! The fun part is designing new ones, but that will have to wait until after the show.

a quiet forest
6″ x 6″, acrylic on beechwood
$155.11

If you’ve never been into Raw Canvas, it’s a really neat space with a coffee shop/lounge kind of feel rather than traditional gallery. And if you ever wanted to try your hand at painting without investing in a heap of materials, you can paint there too! They do “art jams” where you just have to pay for a canvas & they supply the rest. Awesome for parties or a date night.

Raw Canvas Gallery
1046 Hamilton Street

opening: Thursday June 11th (6 – 8 pm)
show runs through June 30th

Off to bake cupcakes! My big marketing strategy for selling more paintings is to feed the guests. Mwahahahaha!

I have so much really really good stuff going on right now, but also just so. much. stuff. I feel like snuggling in between the pug and the white dog butt & hiding from everyone for a few days. I keep catching myself fantasizing about coming home to a quiet space with no clutter, no noise, just a blank open canvas with no deadlines in sight. Oh & no bills to pay either! heh

After a 7 hour painting class on Sunday, I rode my bike home tired, hungry & sweaty. I just wanted to collapse inside the house with a tall glass of water and some soothing quiet. Instead I got construction noises upstairs, the opera singer next door, the TV going in the living room with the mister talking on the phone at the same time.

This? Is exactly why I love my dogs. I saddled them up & wandered over to the park, thanking my lucky stars that no snarky teenagers were afoot. I brought my sketchbook, but mostly just laid back in the grass & looked up at the clouds. Ahhhhh! Quiet! Sunshine! Puppy kisses! And all was right with my world again.

It only took about 10 minutes before I felt recharged & headed back home. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when I’m able to take those few minutes for myself to simply breathe.

What do you do to recharge?