All The Live Long Day: January 2012

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

In The Picture

You may have seen the button in my sidebar: I am taking part in Urban Muser's In The Picture project. The aim of this year-long photo challenge is to take a regular portrait of yourself. When faced with the option of doing this every day, every week, or every month, monthly seemed like something that was achievable. So, by the end of the year I should have 12 snapshots of myself. The problem is, I do not really like my picture taken...
I do not quite know who I am looking at when I see a photo of myself. For at the moment, I do no longer feel at home in a body that has gotten too heavy for me and seems to be hiding the person that is inside behind thick walls. By taking a long, thorough look at this sturdy frame of mine, I am hoping to find a way to take down and rebuild the house that holds my soul.
The prompt for the first self portrait was 'A Piece Of Me'. An essential piece of me for the duration of this challenge will be my camera. Another thing that I can hide behind. But also a device that helps me see. My first shot is a bit unsharp. A true reflection of the learning process that I am still going through with the camera - and with myself.

Monday, 30 January 2012

Tea Time

Quite recently, Erin from My Beautiful Disaster organized a tea swap that little ol' tea drinker me immediately signed up for, and on Saturday I received a very exciting package. My goodies from swap friend Amy of Fate Filled Times had arrived from across the Atlantic! Amy and I had already been emailing since we were partnered up, and I must say that Erin did herself very proud in matching us.

The first thing I found when I opened the parcel was a beautifully stamped envelope. Inside the envelope there was an equally beautiful card with a message from Amy. She had carefully picked 6 different teas for me, all of which she loves herself. So with her card came personal notes on how she likes to drink each one, which was really thoughtful.

The teas Amy sent me are such fun! They are six different mixes with creative names and I can see myself liking them all. The very first sachet I unpacked contained a tea called 'Oh Canada', and if you read my blog, you will know that I have a wild love for this country, but am feeling a bit mopey about the fact that my husband is spending time there without me at the moment. So this tea brought a little bit of Canada to me that morning. Another blend contains cocoa, and yet another golden sugar balls. Amazing! I wanted to try them all at once!

I took some pictures of the tea to show on the blog, and suddenly the tea shoot turned into a cat shoot. My sweet, curious Mae came to see what I was doing, lured by the sound of tissue paper.

Mae took her time to sniff at every bag and would not let me take one more photo without her in it. So I decided I might as well make some tea! It will not be hard to guess which bag I ended up opening first. With the smell of syrup and caramel came tiny sugar maple leaves! I could not have been happier!

Thank you, Amy, for the wonderful new teas you gave me to try. I am looking forward to drinking each one of them! I am very glad that we made a connection through this swap and happy to discover that our love of tea is not the only thing we share. Thank you, Erin, for being a genius and organizing this! And if anybody is curious about what I sent Amy, you can go have a look here.

Friday, 27 January 2012

Fine Tuning: Diagrams - Antelope

I just recently found Diagrams through a free download on iTunes. I really liked their song (Tall Buildings) and did a bit of research. Turns out this is the new band of the former frontman of another band I really like. Also turns out they make the most stylish videos!

Enjoy.

Thursday, 26 January 2012

My blog is versatile. Can't say fairer than that.

Shanna from Existing's Tricky recently bestowed me with The Versatile Blogger Award! I am feeling quite honoured by this, well, honour! Especially seeing as Shanna does not just maintain a single blog, but is the owner of a whole six! She loves to read and writes articles for Squidoo. She also used to play the piano competitively and is a great advocate of self-love and well-being. Altogether, she is way more versatile than I can ever dream of being! Thank you very much, Shanna, for thinking of All The Live Long Day when passing on the award! I always really enjoy your comments and am glad that you like coming over here!

Part of the deal that comes with the award is that the recipient shall share 7 things about themselves. So here are my seven:

1) If I could live in any kind of dwelling, I would probably choose a lighthouse.

2) I have been trying to teach myself to sleep on my back, because apparently that saves your face from wrinkles. I have not been very successful. I am quite dedicated to the foetal position.

3) I nearly drowned as a little girl. I rode my bike into a canal. And even though I could ride a bike, I did not know how to swim. My Papa saved my life. He jumped after me and was even able to retrieve the bike!

4) My first pet was a guinea pig called Berlioz.

5) I re-read my favourite books and re-watch my favourite movies every once in a while. Because I like them so much, they never grow old for me. And I have learnt that a story can be perceived a little differently each time, depending on where you are in life.

6) Even though I make it a point to be accepting and loving to all food, I really don't like celeriac.

7) I was once interviewed for a radio show.

Now you know a little bit more about me! Instead of passing this award on to 15 other bloggers (sorry for breaking the rules here!), I'd like to ask you to check out Shanna's own seven things and her blogs:

Existing's Tricky

Embracing Miracles

Enlightened By Books

My Birthday Bucket List

52 Recipes In 52 Weeks

Radical Self Love

And finally, why don't you guys leave a comment with a link to a blog that you enjoy to read? That way we can all share some love! Thank you kindly, have a nice day!

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

The Most Exciting Movie At This Year's Oscars

{via}

A Cat in Paris is up for Best Animation. Watch the trailer here!

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Canada, October 2011 - Family

Hey! Here we go, last batch of photos from last fall's trip to Canada! I saved all the family pictures for the finale. My sweet little new niece Georgia features in a lot of them. She's going to be 1 year old in February, and this was the first time Marco and I met her.

The rest of the cast? My mum-in-law Sylvia, my dad-in-law Butch, and Marco's two younger brothers. Giulio with his wife Toni, who are Georgia's parents, and Nino with his wife Vanessa.
I hope these are not too boring, I know my Mama and Papa will enjoy them! Posting these also reminded me that I still have A LOT to learn when it comes to shooting people! Oh, and: my lucky husband is going to get to go home again this Thursday, for two weeks! And I'm not coming this time. Meh! His job just gives him that much more time off than mine. But at least he'll be able to refill my stack of flavoured coffee, plus I might send him on a Michaels mission...

My mum-in-law, Sylvia, with my niece Georgia.

Georgia and her uncle Nino, making the same kind of face.

My dad-in-law, Butch. And Georgia.

Georgia and me.

Georgia and her mom, Toni.

Butch looking all cool.

Hanging at Nino's and Vanessa's house for Thanksgiving.

Georgia and her dad, Giulio.

Vanessa preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

Marco and Georgia.

Nino and the turkey.

The whole family.

And finally:

Sylvia's "pet" crows. After the family dog sadly died a few years ago, Sylv started feeding them the leftover kibble. Now the crows come a few times a day to demand a snack and Sylv buys dog food just for them!

You can see the rest of the pictures from my trip in these here posts:

Vancouver Seawall

Fort Langley Town and Historical Site

Food

The Rockies From Above

Gone Fishing

Wine Tasting in The Okanagan

Seattle

Monday, 23 January 2012

Instaddict

I'm oh so very hooked on Instagram, but I am sure I could stop journalling my days through photos anytime! If I really wanted...

Friday, 20 January 2012

Fine Tuning: Andrew Bird - Lull

And I DO think this song is about me.

{via}

Being alone, it can be quite romantic,

like Jacques Cousteau underneath the Atlantic.

A fantastic voyage to parts unknown,

going to depths where the sun's never shone

and I fascinate myself all alone.

So I go a little overboard, but hang on to the hull

while I'm airbrushing fantasy art on a life that's really kind of dull.

Oh, I'm in a lull.

I'm all for moderation, but sometimes it seems

moderation itself is a kind of extreme.

So I joined the congregation, I joined the softball team.

Went in for my confirmation where incense looks like steam.

I start conjugating proverbs where once there were nouns.

This whole damn rhyme scheme's starting to get me down.

Oh, I'm in a lull.

I'm rambling on rather self-consciously while I'm stirring these condiments into my tea.

And I think: I'm so lame, I bet I think this song’s about me.

Don't I?

I think I'm in a lull.

***

Have a good weekend, All.

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Have You Got Mail?

Can I let you in on something? If I comment on a blog and the blog owner replies to my comment with another comment, I might never know. Because I do not usually go and check back! I will just assume they have ignored me altogether. Sad, but a fact of life.
If you have commented on All The Live Long Day, you will know that I'm gonna come back to you with an email. And if I do not have your email but a bit of time, I might come over to your blog and leave a comment in reply. In any case, you will know that I have read what you wrote to me. But emailing is definitely my preferred method of interaction.
By getting in touch with people that way, I have had some awesome conversations and built a few virtual relationships with a bunch of lovely people. Emailing is personal and easy to do.
You are wondering what I am talking about and want in on the email magic? It's so easy!
If you are using Blogger, like I am, you can associate an email address with your profile. And when you do that, any owner of any blog that you comment on can reply to your remark straight from their inbox. If you have no public email address, you will be a no-reply-blogger. That's does not sound nice, does it?
If you are now a bit down and feeling sad about the fact that somebody might think you don't like to play, you can quickly change your status from noreply-comment@blogger.com to iamsupersociableandloveemails@anyemailaddress.com.
Here is how:
While you are signed in to your account, you open your dashboard in the design view, and there, beside your profile picture, you will find a link that lets you edit your profile. Click that link and you will see the following:

In order to associate an email address with you profile, you need to make sure you are:
1) sharing your profile2) showing your email address3) entering a valid email address to your profile
If you are leery about sharing your personal email address, why don't you set one up that you will only be using for blogging purposes? That is what I did with annika@allthelivelongday.com. It is so easy to just open a new account with any of the major email providers.
And that is it. Now the people whose blogs you comment on will be able to interact with you in a quick and effortless way. All they need to do is click 'reply to email'. This is particularly useful if you enter giveaways, your contact details will always be right there, conveniently connected with your profile. If you win, they'll know where to reach you! I know this works with Blogger, but I am sure that the other blogging platforms must have similar settings.
If you read and comment on my blog, will you do this for me? I'd love to chat with you first hand! Mkay? And if not, that's fine too, naturally. I'd just thought I'd put this information out there.
Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Warm In My Heart When I Think Of Winter

Winter for me is a beautiful season. None other out of the four lets me revel so much in contrast. Intense sunshine in an icy blue sky. The crisp crackle of frost underfoot while walking wrapped in a soft, soft scarf. Grey winds outside my window, and glowing embers inside the fireplace. Only this winter has been uncommonly warm. Temperatures hardly dipped below 10° Celsius.
Last weekend brought a welcome change and we finally had some colder weather. On Saturday morning, I woke up to sun and hoar frost. Every single leaf in my garden was covered in brittle ice crystals. A few hours of delicate beauty before the golden rays got their way.