I Must Remember This...

♪A kiss isn't just a kiss
When it's from my chi-ild
This is my bliss, my apple pie
As time goes by...♪

Oh well, better a lame attempt at rhyming than nothing at all... My apologies to Dooley Wilson (and the lyricist).

I really wanted to try this new houndstoothy pattern on something -I scanned a wood cut-out I'm using on a crafty project (new scanner, yay!) and fiddled with it on Photoshop. I love this pattern, it's timeless - even though it reminds me of our ... shudder... school uniforms growing up. In French, it's called pied-de-poule = chicken feet...

Speaking of crafty projects, I'm getting a few ideas together for some DYI holiday presents (including the one above). Keep your fingers crossed, folks - or better yet, figure out how to add a couple of hours to my day so I can get these things done BEFORE the holidays...

Don't Just Sit There, BUY NOTHING!

Here's something we can all not do: buy stuff! How brilliant is this? For one day (23rd of November in Canada and the US; 24th of November internationally), BUY NOTHING.

Don't go to the mall, don't fill up your car, don't pick up a cup of coffee on the way to work, and don't get groceries on the way home. Use what you have at home or do without.

It won't be hard, I promise. In fact, you will feel hugely contented and smugly superior (you're allowed this one time). Or maybe you will just feel like your neighbour down the block feels every day - the one who has no choice but to buy nothing because she has nothing.

So please, buy nothing on that November day (and any other day you choose). But do think about what it means to live in an overfed, overpampered, overstimulated society. Talk about it with your children, your friends, your coworkers.

Don't you love this? All you have to do is NOTHING, and bam! you've done something!

Une idée de génie - Pendant une seule journée en novembre (le 23 en Amérique du Nord et le 24 pour le reste du monde), n'achetez absolument rien. Rien: ni le journal, ni un petit café, pas d'essence et pas d'emplettes non plus. Aidez cette journée sans achat à faire boule de neige, parlez-en avec vos enfants, vos amis, vos collègues. Petit à petit, on peut tout changer, promis-juré.

For more info/Pour plus d'infos: http://adbusters.org/home/ - This is where I got these gorgeous "posters" from. They are free to download, print and distribute. Wonderful.

Miss me? I missed you too - Sorry I've been incommunicado for so long, but I loved all the personal notes and the affectionate wishes sent my way. I promise I will be making it up to all of my friends (bloggers and civilians) very soon.

More Blog Action Day

Blog Action Day Exhibit at Maraya Galleries

I've added all the information I had about the various artists and contributors to this wonderful page, including links to websites if applicable. If there are any corrections to be made, please let me know about them (hope I didn't get any of the countries wrong).

By the end of the day, I hope to have also finished the links to the larger images, so viewers can click on each piece and get a more detailed look.

Suggestions? Comments? Criticism? All are welcome, please let me know what you think

BLOG ACTION DAY IS TODAY!

I've posted all the brilliant contributions at Maraya (still need to add a few hyperlinks and some text, please do not freak out if yours is missing, it will all get done before the 15th is technically over). I am too pooped to write anymore (it's past midnight my time) but I'll be back in the morning (or the afternoon).


I am so proud of this collective work - you guys are the coolest on the planet.

Here's my measly contribution - needs work, but it's food for thought at least.

A Big Thank You and An Even Bigger Apology

I want to thank all the wonderful artists who have created something for Blog Action Day. More on that tomorrow.

And a profound apology for not keeping up (especially after nudging everybody into action kind of hard). All the artwork that I have received will show up on the website, promise, cross my heart, and hope to ... uh... trip and fall - and with the proper acknowledgements and links to your various sites (and info about purchase too for those who chose that). I've just been a little overwhelmed by other stuff around here at Casa Insanity. Hopefully, things have started calming down, and I can create web pages that will upload correctly.

Random Thoughts and Irreality Bites

My blogger friend Andi has posted this video clip on her blog. It has nothing to do with art, but everything to do with beauty - more accurately, the contemporary twisted perception of it.

http://thethinksithink.blogspot.com/2007/10/real-beauty.html

Whether you are a mother or a father with young girls, a young woman yourself, or neither, don't think that the crassness of the beauty/fashion/diet industry doesn't affect you personally. It does, if only because it reflects the desperation of a society gone mad with the obscenity of greed and the perversion of reality. More on this subject later. Maybe.

Le New Look

Maraya Galleries

Still working on updating our website. It's taking forever, but once I finished designing the logo, I decided to go ahead and just upload a few pages at a time, instead of finishing the whole website. I'll be talking about the changes here and would love some feedback as we go along.

For now, I'm still waiting for participation in the Blog Action Day artwork project - So far, only Neda and Alfonso have submitted their collages (you can see them in the home page slides).

Que pasa, people? Saving the earth is not inspiring you to come up with something? or, gulp... not worth your time? Time is running out - hurry up, vamos, allez, yalla, andare, пойти

J'ai decidé de telecharger le "new look" de notre site, Maraya Galleries, sans avoir tout fini. Trop de travail à faire - je ferais tous les changements petit à petit. J'aimerais bien discuter des étapes à entreprendre pour en faire un site agréable à visiter, et donc, j'apprècierais énormément tous commentaires, idées et suggestions à propos du design et du contenu du site.

A propos du contenu, que se passe-t-il avec votre participation au Blog Action Day? Jusqu'à présent, je n'ai que les collages de Neda et Alfonso à mettre sur le site. Eh bien? Allez, allez, le temps file, il n'y a plus que quelques jours pour finir votre projet. Le monde attend!

Walk, Walk, Walking/Un Kilomètre à Pied

Remember:

Wednesdays* are International Walk To School Days.

(Learn more here)

Let's shrink that hole in the ozone layer, shall we?

N'oubliez Pas:

Tous les mercredis*, c'est la Journée internationale pour Marchons vers l’école

(Pour en savoir plus, cliquez ici)

Faisons notre part pour assainir l'air que nous respirons

* Bon, d'accord, ce n'est pas chaque mercredi, mais pourquoi ne pas le faire quand même?

Oh, all right, it's not every Wednesday, but why not make it so?

Bobbie's Who Da Man Tag!

A girl's best friend, Cookie design by H. Audi - Cocoa & Co

How do you like this gorgeous cookie, designed by Hala Audi for her Valentine's day customers at Cocoa & Co.? I think it's a perfect illustration for this post. As if you needed to know more about my exciting life :-P

1. Who is your man? Zan's Da Man, better known to you guys as artEzan
2. How long have you been together? Over half our lives
3. How long dated? Many years!
4. How old is your man? His next birthday is in a few days, I’ll ask
5. Who eats more? Depends on whether there’s chocolate in it or not
6. Who said "I love you" first? Uhhh….
7. Who is taller? Him
8. Who sings better? ♪He was a singer in a baannd, obladi-oblada ♫

9. Who is smarter? D’oh…
10. Whose temper is worse? Hehehe…
11. Who does the laundry? Hahahahaahha….
12. Who takes out the garbage? ….oh, stop, my ribs are hurting…
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? The cat
14. Who pays the bills? He brings home the bacon, I forget to do the paperwork
15. Who is better with the computer? ♪Anything he can do, I can do better♫

16. Who mows the lawn? We believe that letting the lawn fend for itself will make it stronger in the long run.
17. Who cooks dinner? Pizza Hut
18. Who drives when you are together? Mostly the owner of the car we’re in
19. Who pays when you go out? Go out! Hahahahaa… what a concept!
20. Who is most stubborn? Definitely, absolutely, categorically, indubitably not me.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Well, since I’m always right…
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Not his
23. Who kissed who first? Sshhh, my dad is reading this!
24. Who asked who out? We were best friends, so it sort of happened naturally
25. Who proposed? He did.

26. Who is more sensitive? Boohoohoo

27. Who has more friends? I … don’t know

28. Who has more siblings? He has gazillions of siblings and assorted relatives

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Depends on the weather, sometimes we like to wear shorts

4 Things Tag

Au Soleil, Digital - © R.Koleilat, 2007

Debi! Do I blame you, Bobbie or Frances for this? But since I am so darn flattered you still remember who I am (and even better, you still LIKE me), I won't blame you. I love Bobbie beyond words, so I won't blame her. Guess who's left? Hehehe....

• Name four places you have lived: Beirut, Austin, Oklahoma City, Winnipeg
  
• Four foods you like: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Midnight Snack
  
• Four places you have been on vacation: Côte d'Azur, Florida Keys, Romania, Muskoka
  
• Four places you would rather be: cuddling with my kids, hugging my mom, talking with my sister, at the beach.