Free Time

Last year on my birthday, we went to the zoo.  So this year, I asked for a little "free" time to do some work today.
Yes, I'm funny like that. 

Anyways, here are some peeks at things that have been on my desk in the past few weeks.

new mailing labels (since revised slightly)

new calendar in the works

new format for last year's calendar

Yo-Yo & Yeou-Cheng Ma book I illustrated for Dragoneagle Press

Two new calendars will be in the shop> later today.  And since it's my birthday, I'm going to have a little sale going on for the next week.  Just enter BDAY20 at checkout and receive 20% off your purchase (not including shipping) of anything already in my shop.  Does not apply to custom orders or made to order items.

Birthday Cards, Mais Oui!

Birthday cards are finally in the shop! French versions will be available soon.  You could say I was somewhat inspired by my parents' recent trip to Paris. Maybe someday, Matt and I will get to visit the famed City of Love.  Au revoir for now!

A Zoo (Birth)Day!

This year we spent my birthday (last Saturday) taking Whitney to the Toronto Zoo for the first time. As we don't own a car and neither Matt nor I like to drive in the city, we ttc'ed it there and back. One way was about 75 minutes by bus, subway and bus again, so it was quite a long haul. Thankfully we have been blessed with a pretty easygoing and chill little girl - she must take after her daddy :) - who despite skipping her nap, was in good spirits right up until her bedtime.

She got to see so many of her favourite animals…






And enjoy some cake too.



If you're able to count all the candles on the cake, you'll see I'm now 36.

If I've learned anything this past year, it's to not be so hard on myself and on the ones I love. Of course that's something I'm continually working on.

I'm also striving to appreciate living in the moment, to cherish these first few years of our daughter's life, when everything is new to her, and she is learning so much and becoming her own little person.

Whitney has recently started talking in short little sentences and surprised me the other day by saying "Thank you, Mommy" after I gave her some crayons. It was so sweet and unexpected.

In the evening we watched this documentary which had me shedding many a tear and got me thinking about some things that I haven't really thought about yet. When you're in the moments of overwhelm, it's sometime hard to appreciate time with your little one. Especially as a self-employed work-at-home mom. But this movie certainly reminded me that our kids are only young for a little while. So if it means shifting my focus for a few years, then so be it. Not always an easy thing to remember when my ego (and work) gets in the way.

Anyways, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. Bye for now!