Moving Blogs.. again

Tofino, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

3 years and at least 100 posts ago I moved my first blog here - I had set it up on what turned out to be a very unstable site, my sister - who was at the same site as well - moved too . So both my sister and I started posting on blogger about the stuff we were doing.
As it turns out Mary and I do a lot of things we blog about together. As awesome as this is it leads a few double posts and information hunting (did mary post that?.. hmmmn maybe I should write something else).
So as of the start of the new year we are officially merging our two blogs.
We both will be blogging at http://bradshawgirls.blogspot.com/ and due to a nifty feature of blogger all of our old posts are there as well... mixed together and all in order.
I'll keep this blog up as I think there are a few links that will probably break if i delete it and that is more trouble than it's worth at the moment..
so head over and check out what my sister and I have to say!
xox
willa

Washington DC.. for a day

Rally for Sanity/Fear, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Mary, my sister, came east for a meeting and had a four day window to visit me.
We took the opportunity to hop on a bus down to Washington DC to attend Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

Early in the Morining - Rally for Sanity/Fear, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The bus trip, organized by the good people at the Torontoist and sponsored by Bud Lite, was a 36 hour whirlwind trip. The coverage by the Torontoist is here. 
The rally was crazy.. so many people.. so many stars (I saw Cat Stevens perform Peace Train!)
But the best part, oddly enough, was visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of the Native American. That weekend they had Día de los Muertos celebrations, exhibits and activities. It was a lot of fun.

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche -Gladstone Hotel, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I must admit I found this years Nuit Blanche a little underwhelming.

I don't know if it was the poor use of space or the weariness of traveling across town to get to most of the main exhibits.
Still it is nice to see the streets filled with so many people wandering about at 1 am appreciating art and the city.

Nuit Blanche - Later That Night At The Drive-In - Daniel Lanois, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Cottage Weekend

Cottage Weekend, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I didn't travel much this summer (actually I have only been out of the country for a day and a half this year!) so it was really lovely to be invited to my pal Katie's family's cottage on the Ottawa River (Quebec side).
It was a wonderful, relaxing girls weekend away.

Birthday Macarons

My pal Ayalah has her birthday in the summer which was the perfect timing for a picnic!
Because she has a serious sweet tooth and also loves France I made her some macarons.

I picked up the cutest book (I heart macarons) at a cooking store in St. Johns and was itching to use it.
I made yellow with chocolate ganache filling and a cinnamon with cardamon milk tea filling. TASTY!

Trinity and back to St. John's - Newfoundland

Trinity, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We took a slightly more lazy route back to St. John's. We headed across the bulk of the island and spent a night at a B&B before heading to Trinity for a day and a half.
Trinity was awesome. We stayed in a little cabin that Mary and I imagined what vacationing was probably like in the 50's.. really cute!

Trinity Cabins - Vintage Awesomeness, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Trinity Cabins - Vintage Awesomeness, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

It was really quiet in Trinity (we couldn't find a place to eat that was open) but we walked around the town taking in all the lovely buildings. The Shipping News was filmed in Trinity and nearby a whole fake fishing village was recreated for the filming of Remote Passage for the CBC. Mary and I, after finally finding somewhere to eat decided to check out the Maritime Museum in Bonavista.

Root cellar capital of the world?, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

On the way there I forced Mary to drive through Elliston, the root cellar captital of the world, which seemed a little unfriendly. Also we didn't see a lot of root cellars.

Bonavista - Harbour, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Bonavista was great though. While signing into the museum we noticed that another group of yukoners were in the museum (they had gone to the same conference as Mary and were really nice). So after a little hunting we found them and ended the evening with a lovely lobster and toutons with molasses (my favorite  newfie food .. hard bread and salt cod - I recommend you pass on them).

Bonavista - Maritime Museum, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Back to St. John's for the last bit of shopping and wandering around (the Rooms! Viking demonstrations! Joe Fresh!).
Conclusion:
Newfoundland - highly recommended.

Western Brook Pond - Newfoundland

Newfoundland - Western Brook Pond, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The last day in Gros Morne National Park we went for a hike to Western Brook Pond. Another of the guided walks It was really cool to learn so much about the area.
The geography was really influenced by glaciation (it was carved out by glaciers and then, when they receeded the land rebounded cutting off the pond from the ocean). Also - the part I found really cool was the rippling of the bedrock which caused alternating bogs (pictured above) and limestone ridges which are forrested (below)
The guides from the park were really into showing off different parts of the bog and forrest, even to the extent of reaching into the bog to pull out peat. We also spotted an arctic hare and pitcher plants (the provincial flower). Very cool.

Trails, Tales and Tunes - Newfoundland

Lighthouse near Rocky Harbour Newfoundland, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Norris Point and the nearby (slightly larger) town of Rocky Harbour were amazing. t was like being home but with a different forrest.
We decided to go there for 2 reasons. The first was because Mary's friend from the conference was going to be there, and the second was because of the park. What sealed the deal though was the trails tales and tunes festival that was going on that weekend.
The festival is mostly for the locals - kind of a kick off to the tourist season. Almost all of the activities we participated in were outdoors. There were guided hikes every day - almost all of them ending in homemade pie and treats. So nice!
There were also live performances that we took in and listened to on the radio. It was really fun and we had a fantastic time.

We ended up renting a cabin and were amazed at how big it was (a bedroom each!).. We also discovered there wasn't really a proper grocery store in town. What we did find though was hard tack (which we attempted to cook), salted cod (that stunk up our cabin), and local jams (which we started a collection of).

Our time in Norris Point was really a highlight of our stay in Newfoundland and I would encourage anyone to go.

Travel - Newfoundland

After the conference was complete Mary and I rented a car and headed across the island.

Our original plan was to go over to St. Pierre and Miquelon but that proved to be too difficult due to the time we were traveling (May is not high season).

So when I said we headed across the island I really do mean that literally. From St. John's it took two days of almost solid driving (by Mary - bless her) to get to Gros Morne National Park and the little cabin we rented in Norris Point.

View Larger Map

I seem to be missing a few pictures so I'll update this later if I can find a good shot of the highway - I remember taking a few :)

Around St. John's - Newfoundland

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The first few days we were in St. John's Mary was at her conference and I got to explore a little bit of the city.

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I walked up and around signal hill - a little dangerous.

And Mary and I went on a few trips - to Ferryland an active archeological site which was very cool and whale watching in a huge windy storm (which resulted in the boat turning around and no wildlife being seen.

Newfoundland!

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I know this is a little late but I'd still like to share some pics and stories from Mary and my trip to Newfoundland. Every year Mary attends a museums conference somewhere in Canada and I am lucky enough to often tag along. Trips to Ottawa, Victoria and err.. Toronto (we ended up going to Iceland after that one) have sprouted from these meetings and I love that every year we get to meet up and spend 2 weeks together.

Signal Hill - St. John's Nfld), originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Newfoundland was the last maritime province that I needed to visit, we didn't make it there with the family and I wish we had. Dad, I think, will love Newfoundland.. This trip also means that I only have one more province (Saskatchewan) to go and then I've been to them all (not including territories). I must say I wish I had gone to Newfoundland sooner. I really loved it there - lots of culture and energy - plus the whole province felt like a bigger east coast version of the Vancouver Island in my head (ie/ the 80's). I loved all the small towns and crazy food.

Hey Family!

Family (Smith side), originally uploaded by girl from finito.

keep being awesome.

Chinese New Year cupcakes

Chinese New Year cupcakes, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Wow - old pictures!
I made these the day I left for the west coast. Awesome Chinese New Years cupcakes for my friend Fran and her family (note for reading the story below.. this friend is Chinese)

Fran: thanks for coming by and dropping off some awesome cupcakes.
cats, eh?...or tigers?...damn! whatever!...they were awesome and cute...geez...i thought just icing was fancy...but noooooo...you had to go ALL out and put characters on mine...

i'm sure xavier will be like, "look! it's a cat...a cat...see...a cat...do you see the cat?"...
me: "yes xavier. it's a cat. it's very nice"...
x: "do you see it?...look right here! it's a cat...see A CAT!...seeeeee!"...
me: "yes...yes...i see it"...
x: "i'm going to eat the cat!...the cat, right here. see this cat!...on the cupcake there's a cat!"...
me: [shoots herself].

Me: They were tigers

Fran: yes...yes...i realized that now...

"happy lunar new year"....yes...yes...the asian got it wrong.

Chinese New Year cupcakes, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Birthday Flowers (2 months late in posting)

Birthday Flowers, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

mom - did I ever send you pictures of what the flowers you sent looked like? They were beautiful!

5 x July a full circle (almost)

It's funny to see things come back around.

little italy, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

MYSTERY GIFT!

MYSTERY GIFT!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

well not really a mystery for me... but can you guess what's in the box?... I can lie down on my couch with room to spare for a size reference.

Mary Mitchell in Mackenzie

Mitch, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Right after the big Olympics trip I decided that enough time had passed and it was finally my turn to visit my best friend. She moved to Mackenzie BC while I was still living in Vancouver - so that has to be 6 or more years ago. I've seen her many times since then - but never up there.
As can be imagined it was the best ending to the trip possible. Mackenzie was a winter wonderland and any time I get to hang out with Mary is never long enough (yes, my best friend and my middle sister have the same name). We went for walks across frozen lakes, cross-country skiing (though the cross-country skiing was a TERRIBLE idea or well skiing on the hills was a terrible idea) and fixed things.. McGuiver style. The photo below is a terrible picture of our repair of the dishwasher, with a zip tie (the black one). It worked wonderfully!

tricky relations (clarified!)

I had this problem come up a few times since I've moved to Ontario. How do I refer to some of my more distant and differently connected family when talking about them to other people? Living closer, and interacting more, with a greater array of my families relatives is really cool but ultimately brings up the problem that I never know the exact term for people. When I was younger I called most of them aunt and uncle (and still do with most of my dad's cousins who live in Tofino) but now that I am older, and my age is closer to some of these people, this won't work.

Just today I read a really cool post from Lifehacker (one of my favorite blogs). It talked about using the "computational knowledge engine" Wolfram-Alpha (similar to searching through a encyclopedia.. ?? but with the ability to do math or compare things?) to understand familial connections.. so I searched "mom's cousin's son" and got this:

Mystery solved.

1st day of Summer

sprinkler fest, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I can't imagine it getting so hot in Victoria that I would need to run through the sprinklers - but it apparently happened.
Happy summer everyone.

Olympics - Hockey!

Hockey - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Oh man! this was exciting - a round robin match between underdogs Latvia and the Czechs. Somehow we got amazing seats .. just to the side of the goal in the 6th row. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing an it was so cool to see the crowd erupt when Latvia finally scored.

Hockey - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Though Latvia lost the game there was lots to celebrate.. That day they had won their first Olympic Medal ever! and later in the games they would come back to defeat the Czechs. Below is a little slide show of some of the pictures I took that day.

Practice Lines

Vancouver Olympics - Curling practice lines
Originally uploaded by girl from finito

One of my favorite things that I didn't expect.. before the games start they run practice lines!
The men tended to do them more than the women -
very cool.

this video unfortunately is pretty shoddy - I shot it with my phone.

Olympics - curling

Curling - Vancouver 2010, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

So I've finally gotten around to uploading my pictures from the Olympics. There will be more in the coming week now that things with the freelance work is becoming more relaxed.
This is one of my favorite shots that I've come across (so far I've only looked at a third of the photos I took).
This was the first day of curling we saw (round robin #4 for the men). The Canada v. Sweden game ended before the others that's why there is a page empty.

Jónsi

Tomorrow night, as an early birthday present Jodi is taking me to see Jónsi (the side project of the lead singer of Sigur Ros)
From what I've heard so far I think It'll be fantastic!

Olympics - Outfits and fans

Holy cow Vancouver was full of people. Mostly it was candians wandering around in toques and red mapleleaf mitts but there were people who stuck out in the sea of red and white.


Probably the most recognizable were the Dutch fans in their bright orange. Though there were a lot downtown you found most of the fans were at the Richmond speedskating oval. (these people were waiting for the skytrain)


The other really popular uniform was team Russia - and I must admit they looked really good.

Olympics - Curling

Curling! I love curling!


This is a shot from the first of 3 curling games my family attended during the olympics... The 2nd page is Team Canada (Martin's rink) playing Team Sweden. (Norway is right beside them).
Later I will upload some video of the practice runs from this game.

Also congratulations to Team Martin and Team Bernard for excellent showings at the games (gold and silver respectivly).

Olympics - Vancouver

Two years ago tickets for the Vancouver olympics went on sale. My family was lucky enough to get a few and made plans to attend. It feels like I have been planning on this forever, and giving people the most advanced notice I have ever given.
Mary and I found a place to rent in the west end - close to downtown and arranged extra event tickets.
Vancouver was amazing. It was like April or May. Trees and flowers blooming and warm enough to just wear a light coat.


It really was magical to be there and to be there with my family.
In the next few days I plan on putting together my photos from the trip but for now here is some early spring.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Taking advantage of Beaconsfieldville

I must admit, I love living where I live. My neighbourhood is full of cafes and bars and art galleries. On any given night there is a plethora of things to do. I don't often take advantage of this-even when I know my house is around the corner and if I'm bored I can easily go home. Thankful (luckily? covienently? serendipitously?) my good friend Connie now works across the street from my apartment, so we can attend events together.

Last Friday we attended Powerpoint Karaoke.




What is Powerpoint karaoke you ask... Well basically it's where people improv speaches to match a series of PowerPoint slides they have never seen.

Overall analysis: funtimes!
On closer inspection: these things are better when they are less self-aware... Too much irony and too many hipsters (of which I would probably have to count myself).
I would have enjoyed more random slides.. Though I really did love the talk on grammar.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Freelancing, freelancing, freelancing

Lungs, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Man! I was busy at the end of last year. It was good, flexing the little drawing muscle I have but it was a bit much.. a lot of running around trying to meet deadlines.
All in all I'm pretty pleased with what I accomplished.
The above shot is a a surfactant secreting cell that I drew as part of an illustration of the inner workings of the lung during development. I was nervous about the comic style but I think it turned out quite well.

The action of Warfarin, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I also worked on a method of action illustration which was fun.. I kinda channeled the text books form my biochemistry days.

Ted Harrison Exhibit Kids guide, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Finally I got to do some work for Mary. These last two are kids guides for upcoming shows.
The one above is so cool - an exhibit of the original painting Ted Harrison did for the Cremation of Sam McGee and the Shooting of Dan McGrew... it's on in West Vancouver from Feb 9 to March 5th at the Ferry Building Gallery

this is from the front and back cover -- the dude is supposed to be Robert Service.

The one below is a paper doll illustrating some different outfits of the native people of the north...
This one accompanies an exhibit of Dolls for the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver..


It was fun not having to be so strict with proportion and scale.. and the clothing is just so pretty...
also I am now skilled at drawing fur.. kinda

Paper Doll - Outfits from the North, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

CATS LET NOTHING DARKEN THEIR ROAR - January

January, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I have too many calendars. I do. But when I saw this one last year I had to have it. It's a Scandinavian typography calendar. Each month has a different phrase that spells out the month's name. I love it.

As a little challenge, to get me drawing more, I've decided to draw the phrase each month...

As you can see it's Jan 31st so this one took a while.. the idea and drawing didn't take too long to put together once I decided that the bunnies would not be pink. It is early for cherry blossoms, in fact it's snowing right now, but I am reminded of the Christmas card Mary got for me. She found some cards that brownies were selling at a Christmas bazaar... the outside said merry christmas and inside it said Spring is bound to come!.... so great!

Hikes...

Dune grass - Radar Beach, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The best thing, besides seeing my family, about being back in BC is the access to the outdoors. The thing I miss about living in Vancouver is that you can hop on a city bus and be in the woods in 30 minutes. The green space in Toronto and the east is quite different from BC. I find myself missing the mountains and rain forest quite a bit when I am in Toronto.

Top of Radar.. looking towards Tofino, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Part of the time I was back for Christmas my good friend Karen was in town as well. Karen is like me, grew up in Tofino and moved away for school, she now lives in London and works for the World Health Organization (I am amazed sometimes at the talent and accomplishments of my friends). One of the days before Christmas we decided to hike down to Radar Beach. The hike is a bit different from normal ones as you drive up to the top of Radar and hike down( and then hike back up). Radar Hill is so named because it was a lookout for invading armies from Asia during the war. Most of the grand views of the Pacific have grown over with trees (Radar Hill is now part of Pacific Rim National Park) but the view towards Tofino is still lovely I think. It turned out to be the perfect day to hike down... It started raining boxing day.

Radar Beach, originally uploaded by girl from finito.