Treasuring where I live

Anybody who knows me well will know that I'm a tea fiend.  I sip a different cuppa depending on my mood.  At home, when the mood is blissed contentment, when I'm loving life and I'm in the moment, that flavour is a full-bodied orange pekoe (I cart a year's worth of it back from Canada every summer, and visitors bring me my favourite blend rather than items from duty-free).  I've been known to drink three to four pots of it a day.  If my mom, sister, grandmother or either of my mothers-in-law is with me, double that.  So here is a huge cup of that blend, and on the cup,  places & people that make my heart happy. The top two bands are Canada-related treasures from where we live - mostly because we're  at t-minus 24 days until these feet hit Canadian soil & Rebecca's theme immediately flooded me with visions of long summer days at the lake.  If it weren't for that, the bottom two bands, of Singapore places and the names of the kids whose laughter I hear on a daily basis at Mimosa, would be at the top  :)

"The Hamster Wheel of Life" - Exploring in Sandy's book

I love Sandy's first sketch and her theme: The Hamster Wheel of Life.  At this time of the year especially, I often catch a glimpse of our calendar, my eyes bug out and I think, "Seriously?! It's the end of April already?!"  May is always a wash.  And then it's June, and I finally breathe and I promise myself that next year, I'm going to be better at guarding my time and being balanced. Sandy's first sketch perfectly captured the myriad ways our lives often get us stuck on that hamster wheel, and her (awesome) line "strive to be the toad" inspired my collage.  Sandy reminded me that I need to stop moving so much;  it is important to plant our feet, take a breath, and take in what is around us.  Whenever I do this, I am always overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude.

My creation is a collage consisting of thank you notes received, thank you notes we've had printed (that's our lake up there in the top right - 25 teaching days away, but who's counting?!), and the stamps and paper we use to make our own.    I also used some stationary that looks busy to me, with all of those spiralling little wheels, as part of the back drop, reminding me to step off the wheel, take a moment, and be thankful more often.

Leaning In

The theme of my sketchbook is "reinvention", and in the case of my first sketch, I'm thinking on the reinvention of myself. 

I've had the fortune this year to step away from full-time work, and into a more hands-on role as a mum.  My year of less work has coincided with big things happening on the paid work-front - big things that make me invigorated and ready to step back in the classroom.  But those same big things, and the process of how we are getting there, have left me feeling, at times, grouchy and critical.

Recently I have developed an obsession with reading all things about women in positions of leadership, and if it's by a woman who is also a mum, all the better.   When a friend passed me this article earlier this week, and the author again referenced the tiara syndrome, all the pieces came together: I have no right to be grouchy or critical if I haven't tried to do anything about it. 

So, my sketch.  We're loving our old school Mr Men and Little Miss books these days.   The children's book, a reinvented cover for Little Miss Princess, is drawn with Crayola markers and crayons. It represents the mommy side of me (and reminds me to BUY GROWN-UP ART SUPPLIES SOON), and a lot of the fun I’ve had this year being at home with my little ones.  On the other side, we have Little Miss Princess, here reimagined as a brunette, who has tossed off her tiara.  She’s going back to work, and she’s going to attempt to throw her natural cynicism and grouchiness aside, along with that crown.  There’s no sitting back for this little miss, and she definitely won’t be second-guessing herself or her abilities. She’s reinventing herself.

Oh, by the way, she definitely WON’T figure out how to balance the work/family thing. If anyone does figure that out, there are millions to be made.

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