Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Seven

December has come and its pace is full speed ahead! Here's what I'm thankful for this week:

Sunday: shopping with my own money and buying some much needed jeans and boots

Monday: signing up for a fun Christmas ornament class

Tuesday: being able to take a sick day

Wednesday: busy work days passing by in a flash

Thursday: cookies and hot chocolate provided by the hospital (along with a raffle and holiday music and someone dressed as Santa)
Friday: my co-workers for putting on a great Christmas party

Saturday: finding the perfect bar stools at door-crasher prices

What are you thankful for this week? 

My Creative Space

As I said earlier this week, I was able to break out some of my supplies last weekend and collage in my sketchbook. It had been so long, it was almost a relief to be able to glue those scraps of paper down! I was so starved for some creative time that this first page came together in a matter of minutes:

It really helps to have envelopes of collage material at the ready! I started with a page ripped from an old physics workbook of mine, layered my chosen papers on top and finished with a few circles in pencil crayon. Here are a few more close-ups:

This next page was inspired by a Christmas quilt I saw while flipping through a magazine. I had to immediately find some of my holiday papers and make my own patchwork:

I love all the sparkly papers!

December is such a fun month - the holidays are mixed in with five family birthdays (all between the 23rd and 31st) - so I really want to enjoy it while it's here. As my mom said in an email, I don't want December to fly by without me noticing it like November did! There are so many things I want to do - decorating my apartment and starting my Christmas baking are foremost on that list. We just need to finish unpacking and organizing the new place first...

Head on over here to see some more creative spaces.

Wordless Wednesday

The view this morning from my desk:

The first thing I see in the morning (unless it's too foggy to see the CN tower or I'm turned away from the window):

Sketchbook Pages: Inspired by Jill K. Berry

I took advantage of Cyber Monday last week and ordered some books off Amazon. One of the books I chose is Personal Geographies (Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking) by Jill K. Berry. I love maps - making them and using them as collage material - so I thought this would be a good book for me.

I was right! I read through it quickly and was itching to get creative the whole time. Luckily, I unpacked some more of my supplies this weekend, so I was able to do just that. The prompts are easy and fun and don't require a lot of strange supplies that I'd need to go buy. I'll definitely be turning back to this book again and again.

Before breaking out my collage materials though, I doodled away in my sketchbook Friday night after finishing the book. I tried a quick and dirty variation of one of the prompts and then made a map of the work I do in the lab (a typical journal page for me but one I wouldn't have thought to do last week without the book's prompting).

Here are those pages:

A "map" of my hand and all that they have done for me through the years. I started in my pinky with imagery from my childhood, then progressed through high school (ring finger, where I met Pat), University (middle finger) and my first job (index). My thumb is left to bring me into the future and my palm holds all the things that I love doing with my hands (plus includes my unique identifiers: my scars from wrist surgery).

And here is my blood processing map for a typical blood sample. There are different methods we follow that all fall under that "centrifugation" umbrella but there are also a dozen or more other procedures we do depending on what the researchers are looking for in the blood (biomarkers, drug levels, cells, etc).

I have a few more sketchbook pages from this weekend that I have yet to show, but I think I'll keep them for my creative space on Thursday. I need to start getting ready now and make something for supper for Pat tonight (and for me to bring to work). Have a great day! 

Monthly Forecast

What happened to November? Am I the only one who missed it pass us by? I guess that's what happens when you're busy!

Last month brought a lot of changes - new job, new apartment, new commute, new city to explore. Plus a lot of boxes to unpack and garbage to throw out and stuff to donate. But I must say, despite all the go-go-go and busy-ness, the stress levels around here have been greatly reduced (mostly thanks to my paycheck and the shorter commute). It's been wonderful!

I expect this last month of 2012 to be just as jam-packed as November. Here's what I have planned for December:

• work, work, work 
• unpack the remaining boxes (mostly my supplies) and sort through those in our storage unit 
• empty the storage unit in Hamilton 
• organize the kitchen, living room and office
• donate a bunch of stuff to GoodWill 
• decorate for Christmas
• Christmas baking!
• work on my personal Sketchbook Project 
• restart daily yoga and check out the gym downstairs  
• go skating every weekend 

As for blogging, here are a few things you can look forward to:

• more photos of my new apartment, city view and neighborhood
• glimpses of my holiday decor and baking
• pages from my many sketchbooks, including my commuting one and my Sketchbook Project 
• recipes: comfort food that you can make in advance for work lunches
• recommend: a few books I've read recently

Lastly, click on the Advertise tab for more information about sponsoring my blog.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and productive month!

Sunday Seven

I had such a great week - so many things to be thankful for!

Sunday: finding a bathroom set while the store was closing

Monday: taking advantage of cyber Monday sales (because I can!)

Tuesday: getting samples in the evening

Wednesday: sleeping in with Pat when he works from home

Thursday: GREAT day! Picked up a package of makeup from mom in the morning (Pat even drove me as he was working from home - love these wintery neutrals!):

And then when Pat picked me up in the evening at the station, a bouquet of flowers was waiting for me on the seat! He did some groceries and was thinking of me. So sweet! (Especially since he thinks cut flowers are a waste of money but knows I love them.) (OH and another bonus, my Amazon order was waiting for me too!)

Friday: trying new places to order in dinner

Saturday: organizing the apartment

What are you thankful for this week?