Proud, Excited and Thankful list 2014

Posted in Fun, Life, Love, Travel, Writing by

Hello 2015,

How have you been doing? It has been a lovely one month since I disappeared. Where have I been? Mostly in the kitchen doing dishes. (again) We also had family get-togethers, I sewed stockings for everyone, there was some crazy Settlers of Katan playing, Zsolt and travelled to CUBA . . . and then played more board games by the beach.

Cuba Kiss

It was a holiday. A beautiful freaking holiday. Now we’re well into 2015 and there are projects ahead. But first and foremost, I think this is a good moment to stop and reflect. While on the beach in Varadero, I took out my notebook and scribbled out my Proud, Excited and Thankful list for 2014.

(I also scribbled down a few observations of Cuba. Here they are: A boy runs down the beach not checking for jelly fish – scanning the crowd of sun thirty Canadians crowding along the shore; Girls in cargo mini skirts and black fish net stockings who scan luggage as you pass through customs. Black hair, no smiles and thick black eyeliner; How do you recognize a Canadian in Cuba? They have a whooping cough; don’t trust friendly Cubans in Havana who want to take you to a ‘free salsa festival’ . . . you’ll end up in a cafe playing for all the drinks; Late night tango with couples on the Paseo del Prado, not a show – just life; bright old cars and explosions of diesel dark exhaust; casas from an age where the remote is still in the wrapping; Coconut taxis; turquoise water and shallow waves; laughter, kisses, and sun burns.)

So, 2014 was a really lucky year for me, and this is a list definitely work making

What I’m proud of:

  1. First and foremost I’m proud of my husband, Zsolt. He put a lot of work into his company this past year and pushed far, far past his comfort zone. It’s not easy for a Hungarian physist with zero business training to go into the world and advocate for his business. It’s just not. But he did it. He is doing it. I am so damn proud of him. (Of YOU Zsoltster!)
  2. Ottawa Writes. It’s a podcast about writing that my friend and I started for fun. I think we’ve been producing great content, and I think it’s only getting better in 2014 as we rebrand and reshape the show. Weird. I’m on a podcast? Weird. But cool. Frankly, I’m also proud of myself for saying “yes” to something so totally new.
  3. NaNoWriMo! That’s write. I did it. Now . . . to keep on doing it. BAH!
  4. Getting up and getting on. It’s not easy. To be honest, despite really awesome scans this past year, I haven’t made it easy on us with plenty of emotional breakdowns. But hey – we get up, and we get on. That’s something to be proud of.
  5. Magazine Article Writing – Hey yeah! I got to share some Vanier loving in Ottawa Magainze, plus I wrote one of my best articles ever in LIVES affected by Cancer.

What I am/was Excited for:

  1. Little trips. Since Big Z and I decided not to travel this past year, we’ve instead taken little weekend trips here and there. So, we have gone here and there and I love that. 2014 has been a year for little adventures – so that 2015 can be the year for AWESOME BIG adventures. Look out Hungary, we are coming for you again!
  2. Hair! I’ve got a lot of it now 🙂
  3. Ottawa Writes again! We are rebranding in 2015 as Write Along Radio – and that is a big new challenge. Every Tuesday evening Kevin and I record an episode. It’s such good fun. It’s exciting good fun.
  4. Cottaging. *See more in ‘Thankful’
  5. Christmas Stockings! I sewed amazing stockings for my whole family (not including the Samsons) and they are freaking darling. Seriously beautiful. It’s really wonderful to create with your own hands, and know it’s something that not only looks good but is clearly filled with love.Family Picture
  6. Annnd Pic Monkey. Seriously, I love that program.

What I was Thankful for in 2014:

  1. *Board games: What? Well, you see, last year my family and I began playing board games while renting a lovely cottage in Quebec. We played Settlers of Katan, to be specific, and I think it’s giving us a thread of connection. Since that cottaging time, we’ve gotten together over and over to play more. It’s so fun and to be honest, I’m so grateful for this time with them. So, that tops my list of gratitude.
  2. Health. 2014 was the year of good scans. I don’t need to say more, do I? This is a blessing. Now listen up 2015, I want you to learn from 2014 and keep on trend. Man, it’s nerve wracking business, but I am very thankful for this year of health. (Which included the Vitamin C infusions, by the way. My veins won’t let me do it anymore – they keep collapsing, but I am so very, very grateful for every infusion.)
  3. Facing Cancer Awesome Ladies
  4. FacingCancer.ca. I have worked with them for over two years. They made me community manager and took a chance on my social media skills. It’s been such an honour to work for them. My gratitude just pours out for all they have done by letting me do what I’ve so enjoyed – chatting online with friends, reading stories, being there for others. In 2015 I’ve officially stepped back from that role, and will now just be a happy blogger over on their site. That’s a big change, but of course they were so wonderful about it. They’re wonderful plain and simple.
  5. Hair. I’ve been growing it, it’s long now. I love it. LOVE IT.
  6. An AMAZING book launch!
  7. Cups of tea! With my mom, my dad, and my amazing friends who are always happy to trek out to Bridgehead.
  8. ZSOLT!!!! He’s my most wonderful of wonderful. My Zsolt

So there it is, my 2014 Proud, Excited and Thankful list, as crafted on a beach in Cuba. My wish and prayer for 2015 is more good scans, and also to bike along the shore of Lake Balaton, sail in the Queen Mary, be at home in Pecs, find a beautiful new apartment in Ottawa, grow my podcast, build Zsolt’s business, write more stories and have fun, fun, fun. Bottom line: to enjoy life.

Wishing you a wonderful year to come.

Till the next post!

Catherine

P.S. I’m also grateful for The Mixed–Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Thank you so much, S.C.!

A Useless Guide to Sewing Stockings

Posted in Blogging and Other Fun, Fun, Life, Novels and Stories, Writing by

I grew up with one giant red stocking. My grandmother made it for me 🙂 It’s red felt, and has some reminants of glitter glue on it. Back when we were little and Santa was as real as real could be, it felt like a darn tooin’ miracle to walk into the living room Christmas morning and see those stocking filled with goodies.

Stocking LoveActually, it still does. My parents have been pretty awesome with that tradition. Though they’ve always said how the stocking my grandmother made were far too large. It’s been in my head for a while. The thing is, we could go out and buy new stockings – but Lulu made these all by herself. How can you replace homemade memories?

Well you cannot replace them. But I was thinking to myself, and decided that Zsolt and I need little stockings that we can take with us wherever we may be for the Holidays, be it Canada, Hungary or the moon. So, I decided to sew us Christmas stockings.

Stocking Z and C

Here’s my how-to-list for making Christmas stockings, from someone who really cannot sew.

1) pick out pretty material. I picked mine up from a shop called Fabrications in Hintonburg.

2) Pick out some soft stuff to add to the material. Only do this is if you want to make your life more complicated. Sewer Beware, this is a time-adder to the project. Though I do think it is worthwhile. I picked up some raw felt from the knitting shop Wabi Sabi in Hintonburg.

2.5) Watch a Youtube video on how to use a sewing machine . . . after you find yourself one. You can also handstich, but be prepared to take forever.

3) Figure it out!

Forget patterns, I Lady McGuivered it by just piling the materials on top of one another, did some pinning and cutting out a vague, large sock-like shape. This resulted in several errors and a lot of repining. Each sock is unique, because I’m terrible at planning. So one is really wide, and the other is really tall.

4) Sew it all together somehow. First I almost sewed it backwards. Then I ripped that out and started again. Except the edges were raw. So I cut a strip to cover that up. Eventually I resorted to hand-stitching certain sections that somehow estocking for Zscaped the chomp of the sewing machine.

5) The details matter. Seconds before I was about to cut into my felt for the Z and the C lettering, once again about to freestyle the letters – I thought, hey, why not print out a letter and just trace it?

 

I did, and it turned out beautifully. Because these stockings are meant to be life-long stockings, I didn’t just glue on the letters, but instead stitched them on.

And voila! Lovely Christmas stockings.

No matter how meandering and ridiculous the process, they got there in the end. I’m quite pleased.

And speaking of being pleased. I’m focusing on enjoying life a bit more this month. After the puddles of misery throughout November with waiting for & receiving scan results, I wanted to stop being sad all the damn time. That is my big goal for 2015 that I made during my parents workshop.

So, that means a few big changes that I’ll talk about later, but also one pretty important one I’ll talk about now.

I signed up for National Novel Writing Month, and finished the 50,000 in one month! It felt incredible and bizarre. At the start of the month it really seemed impossible, but by the end I was rolling. If I could give myself time to write 2000 words a day, do you realize how much I could write? TONS.

2014_winner_certificate

So, what I’d really like to give myself this year to help make life more liveable is the gift of TIME.

TIME to do what I love. TIME to clean my apartment. TIME to write 2000 words. TIME to get together with friends. TIME for my writing podcast. TIME to exercise. TIME to play.

That means shaving off time from other things. It means a bit of change and letting things go that I have wanted to do, and still want to do. But at this point, I think what really matters is just finding a way to not cry so often. Silly things like Christmas stockings are part of that.

So there you go, a useless guide for sewing stockings, and the gift of time. That’s me. That’s all I have to say about that. Happy holidays. 😉

Happy pictureSpeaking of fun, we had a really good time recording our latest podcast over at our writing show. Here is a link if you feel like having a listen as you wash dishes or something. 🙂

Help with a long, long shot: Deadline Midnight Tonight

Posted in Novels and Stories, Writing by

Okay, it’s a long, long, ClaireNeverEnding long, long, long shot. One of those million in one chances. BUT, Canada Reads 2015 is looking for book suggestions for next year around the theme of breaking barriers. So, if you are in the mood, I’d love your help to get Claire Never Ending seen just that much more by tweeting (tweet #CanadaReads to @CBCBooks), emailing, instagramming or facebooking using #CanadaReads with my title. Oh, and the deadline is midnight today!

“We’re looking for books that will help us understand and overcome the things that divide us, in families and between communities, and at large.” ~CanadaReads2015

I really feel like my book breaks some barriers – it literally brakes the barrier of time within one family, and by doing so showcases the reasoning and actions between hard decision and their lingering impacts. I think that allowed me to paint the Claires with compassion, even if they were making sad choices at times.

Also, I reckon it breaks some stereotypical gender barriers with storytelling in that this is a book written about women, celebrating their strength, and it doesn’t hinge upon chasing a man or being caught between two men. Essentially it doesn’t need that love-challenge to make the story work. I’m rather proud of that, actually.

Plus of course, obviously, it’s self-published. I think it’s yet another example of how good books are finding new ways to be seen – breaking the publishing house barrier.

Plus, with all this breaking barriers, this season of Canada Reads is in store for some seriously heavy reading. So, the Claires could lighten things up, too. At least a bit.

Anyhow, as I said, this is an impossibly lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng shot. Without a publisher rallying behind a title, it really is damn difficult to get seen at that kind of level. But life is full of million to one shots.  I got Zsolt to email them with my book today. 🙂 By the by, I think anyone can nominate a book – they don’t go checking nationality.

And that’s all I have to say about that. Now I’m off to clean the kitchen . . . again. Dear Kitchen, please grow up and learn to wash yourself.

Thanks for reading this self-promoting post, and if you do contact the CBC to suggest Claire Never Ending, thank you so much!

Catherine