Life's happenings

It's been a while since I've posted on here. Here's the latest in my life: 1. I got engaged in August to a wonderful man- Johann. He popped the question on a gondola ride in Whistler. Ever since I've been planning the wedding mostly in my head- but I'm going to start writing down all my plans- date is planned for Sept 7, 2013. MY idea so far: family ranch near kamloops,bc (closer to chase) it's a house on a private lake with acres of land to have fun adventures on. We plan to rent ATV's for our guests, put up a volleyball net, have boat rides for the kids (battery-powered it;s a small lake). PLanning to have a bbq after the vows and possibly some live entertainment (we can make as much noise as we want as we are in the boonies! We plan to ask our guests to bring tents, sleeping bags, ect and we'll put up a few tents in the yard- there's 3 bedrooms in the house and only one bathroom so i think we'll rent a couple honey buckets for our guests. Also on the to-do list is to reserve some hotel rooms in nearby Kamloops. I plan to made my own cupcakes and have a top layer of wedding cake. I wanna get several long tables and have 2 or 3 rows on the front lawn

The location....

overlooking the lake. 2. I'm stilling living in Vancouver and working at VGH. It's expensive to live here but Johann's family is here and my sister and brother-in-law and my nephews live here and I spend a lot of time with them. just the other day Oscar said his best friends were "aunty Kee and uncle JOhann" so cute! Max is just over 2 months and as cute as a button..... 3. speaking of buttons I'm still working on my button jewellry. I have several wire button rings. I have a ton of buttons and jewelry courtesy of my aunt judith who passed away last fast (2011) she enjoyed and was talented at making eclectic jewelry. Every-time I make something new I think of here. I miss her very much. 4. We are living in the top floor of a house in south van- we love our neighbours, the quiet neighbourhood close to groceries, parks and bus and skytrain. I'v been taking the skytrain to work- I stopped biking to work in oct when it started raining everyday. The commute is great for me for getting to work, downtown, to see family. We own a car but JOhann uses it and I prefer transit. As much as we love it here it's expensive and we want to own our own home/house and it's cheaper to go to the fraser valley for that. We'll see what happens- our lease is up next september.... 5. Johann is working on getting his crane operator certification- tho he's been operating for over 10 years it's required- so lots of studying, paperwork and money to do this.....but his passion is developing his business for uav (multirotor) aerial videography business- his dad is helping him get a business plan going and to generate interest. We'll see what happens because once it becomes a successful business we can live anywhere!

Me and my nephews In just over 2 weeks I leave for honolulu with my family for 10 days.....and I have a whole month off!!!

What's new in my zoo

Here's some fun random things that've happened to me: I got to participate in Nurse's appreciation week (well I was on days off) but I came to get my bag of goodies, learn about nursing opportunities in my hospital and ran into lots of work colleagues. I'v been biking to work everyday for the last few weeks (rain or shine)! I now bike from near UBC at our new house. I love it- biking allows me to get to work exactly when I want to get there (not relying on public transit). i was biking down 10th ave and this guy on a motorcycle called out to me " You know how fast you're going? 25 km/hr" vrooooom and sped off! Ha ha love it I found a store in kits that exclusively sells Trader Joe products- I love it- it's called Transilvania. The people that work there are so nice- they even sell bread from Portland! I've been busy making wire rings- selling some to to co-workers. Working on getting an Etsy account. Coming to a mailbox near you!

Johann and I with our dogs (we just borrowed them for this shot)

My cute nephew- he loves getting his picture taken!

Buttons buttons

I've been making buttons earrings lately- so easy and they look amazing. I like to shop at a store in Gastown called Button Button it's a charming little store filled with- you guessed it: lots of buttons (glass, wooden, hand-painted, retro, gangster/bad ass, pearl, ect. you name it they have it. I was looking for smaller wooden buttons and they didn't have the size I wanted so I headed to Dress Sew on west hastings. That is where I hit the buttons jackpot- and so much cheaper/better deals. I got my most recent earring posts from Michael's craft store.

I'm trying to market these to co-workers and friends right now. My goal is to make at least one pair of earrings to suit/please all of my pierced-ears colleagues and friends. Got any suggestions/ideas about what you like? Leave your comments here and tell me what you'd like. Maybe I will start making other button jewellery too- necklaces, rings, ect.

My inspiration comes from my aunt Judith who was a crafter in many things including: woven items with the loom, button jewellery, broaches, knitting, ect. She passed away in fall 2011 and I was left with many of her antique buttons and her old jewellry making kits (organized in a huge tackle box). I hope I continue to experiment with various craft projects.