slow blog // July 2016

July, July, July. You were fast - over so soon. And packed with goodness. 

I took the photos this month in the sweet little park near where I work, called the Baille Ard Trails. I did each page against a different background, and some I held up against things. It was fun to experiment with that! I'm so enjoying this slow blogging... and just the chance to be playful.

(And in case you're brand new to my blog and my slow blog experiment of 2016, here are the previous posts: the post on why I'm trying this experiment for a year, then the slow blog posts forJanuary, February, March, April, May, and June.)

The drawing of me in the above page is from this Instagram picture. 

This page above, and the next three pages, are drafts of blog posts/newsletters for the Creative Soul Weekend. That's a retreat for women that myself and my friend Emily Rankin organize together. It's coming up in September and I urge you to get on the mailing list to find out when we open registration and make sure you can come!! It's a lot of fun. 

July_slowblog_5.jpg

In July I joined the Being Boss Clubhouse. It's $30 USD a month, which I consider an investment in my business. I'm loving the conversations and connections that happen in there! This page below was from one of the podcast episodes, the one about the chalkboard method. I also have the other page of that worksheet in my sketchbook, but I decided not to share it here because it's got some of my business stuff on it, like clients and projects, that aren't ready to share yet. 

Strangely enough, I had discovered the artist Frances Cannon through Instagram about 2 days before I made the collage below. When I looked to see who had illustrated the woman hugging herself (which I found in a copy of Chatelaine), it was Frances Cannon! Weird...

And that's July! It's a wrap. Onwards to August. 

slow blog // June 2016

Time FLIES. At least, it has been lately.

I'm working at slowing things down a bit, which, yeah, I know, sounds like a broken record. But, that's OK. I get a monthly letter from a business coach I've worked with in the past, where she shares with her subscribers how the month is going for her, the numbers and all the nitty gritty, and I was reflecting the other day that a lot of what she says each month is "this month was crazy! I want to slow things down next month". Seeing it in someone else makes me feel less self-conscious about saying the same thing myself, though. I mean, yeah, it's repetitive. But it's the truth. It's the truth of having your own business and learning as you go - and really, the truth of being human and learning as you go. 

Anyway, in next month's slow blog post I hope to have more detail to share about what I'm going to cut out, what I'm going to take to the next level, and all that good stuff. 

For now, though, here are June's slow blog pages! I took the slow blog book to Florence Beach to take the photos of it this month, for the roses and the sand background. Here and here are the photos on Instagram of that evening. 

(And in case you're brand new to my blog and my slow blog experiment of 2016, here are the previous posts: the post on why I'm trying this experiment for a year, then the slow blog posts for January, February, March, April and May.)

I really loved the book "The Paris Letters." I can't remember how I heard about it -- probably Instagram, since that's where I'm spending my social media time these days -- but I got it through the library.

Then in mid-July Adam and I flew off to Chicago! Here and here are previous years' trips to that amazing city. Our connection with it is: Adam lived there from age 13 to age 27, because his family moved there for work. He's not American, but since those were the identity-forming years of his life, he really feels like a Chicagoan. We go every year (or at least, have done so for the last three years of our 5-year relationship) and I can see us moving there someday. I love it. (Although, I know I'd miss Cape Breton like crazy.)

Starred/highlighted places in the map above are the places we were. 

We have our little rituals that have developed over the three years we've been going together to Chicago and the suburbs. These mementos are from our favourite restaurants and stores. 

We were there for a wedding! These rad folks were the photographers and here is a sneak peek from their Instagram at the wedding photos which I can't wait to see more of. 

Wedding paraphenalia.

I had printed-out boarding passes because my phone died en route through Montreal! I dropped it on the floor and when I went to pick it up, no dice. But I actually like printed boarding passes - I like the design of them, and then being able to keep them. 

The page above mentions two things I want to link to:

  • Write Anyway with Janelle Hanchett: I took this course from mid-May to the end of June. I really didn't have time for it, but I had arranged it back in March and so sort of just did it anyway - sometimes half-assed, but I showed up and did it. I have been missing writing! So it kicked my ass into writing once a week for six weeks, and sharing my work with the others in the class. It reminded me of all that I love about writing, so spoiler alert -- one of the things I want to make more time for is writing. 
  • Magazine of Your Business with Leah Wechsler: Related to the above, my biz bestie and I were talking over Skype a few weeks ago about writing blog posts, and her expertise, and we decided it was time to go one further than just being biz besties: I decided to hire her. In July/August, I'll be working with her to help me put together a content strategy for this little site and my business. I'm really excited about it (once I got over my own guilt/shame for not being able to Do It All Myself - which, hello, that's life). I will keep you posted on how it goes!  

Playing with my old compass to make circles.

I read The Power of Habit (a recommendation from my friend Mary - hi Mary!) and LOVED it. 

I went to see Finding Dory and also LOVED it. 

A page from The Power of Habit (above).

I was tidying up my office and found this note that Maya Henry had sent me back when It's Business Time ended. 

Inspired by Joy the Baker's Summer Bucket List post, I decided to write one for myself. I kept it short-ish, so I might actually accomplish all of the things on the list. It was fun to dream up.

Part of the Nikki McClure 2016 calendar's June page.

And that's what's been going on! Thanks as always for staying in touch and gracing this little corner of the Internet with your presence. I'm so grateful. See you next month!

slow blog // May 2016

This month, I took my Slow Blog outside to photograph it. I went down into the backyard on a sunny but cool afternoon this past week in the first days of June, and found a flat stone to lay the book on. Mittens was around, as you can see from the photo above. It was windy, and I had to hold the pages down to keep them flat. I like the effect that the sun through the grass and forget-me-nots ended up having on the pages, of shadows. And I like photographing the book in the sunshine. 

May was an interesting month, a busy month, looking back on it now from June. I had a job interview for a part-time job, then chose not to take it. (I wrote about it, you'll see that below.) It was busy - I have a few freelance clients right now, and there never seems to be as much time as I want there to be or plan for there to be. But also in the month I was thinking and mulling about that busy-ness, and about how to be, how to come across. I dunno -- in trying to sum it up now I'm not sure how. I'm only sure that I feel, on the other side of the month, as though I learned. I'm continuing to clarify ... who I am. What matters to me. What I want to spend my time on.

Anyway, I'll let the pages speak for themselves. 

(For reference, if you're new here: the post on why I'm trying this experiment for a year, then the slow blog posts in January, February, March, April.)

The part that's cut off in the page below just says "May 12":

Census fun! Haha..

The decorations on this page are from the Get To Work Book, which arrived this month. 

I taped them in so I can lift them, and write things under them. 

Like this.

Brain dump.

This is an idea I had that I would like to make into a vectorized graphic at some point. You might have seen me post it to Instagram earlier in the month.

This is a partial list... I was starting to come up with a variety of ideas about why I quit Facebook, but I keep thinking of others too. I'll snag them as they come, and perhaps write a longer piece about it... someday. So far, though, I'm not really missing it.

My friend Emily recently said something like, "Who knew that starting your own business would bring up all these emotions!?" Ain't that the truth.

I cut some things from a Chatelaine magazine. I'd like to do more collages... I miss it.

Doodles and thoughts... and thoughts and doodles. Is graphic poetry a thing? Yeah, probably.

And that's May. 

Love!
Leah

slow blog // April 2016

Happy May! It's a beautiful sunny Sunday in my neck of the woods today, as I'm putting this post together. 

This year I'm experimenting with my own version of Slow Blogging. What I'm doing is blogging just once a month, sharing the month's pages of a sketchbook that I'm writing in, and collaging in, and generally treating as if it were my blog. 

If you're new to my blog and to this year's experiment, or if you just want a recap, here are the other posts: why I'm slow blogging, January, February and March.)

The way this works is, I'll share my sketchbook/slow blog pages one at a time in this post, and you can click on each image to view it in a lightbox if you need to (although it generally doesn't get bigger than what's in the post itself). Below each picture, if I feel it needs further explanation, I'll write a bit, or include links to whatever inspired me. Here we go!

At the start of the month I thought I would try a month-long lettering challenge, on Instagram. So these next few pages were my daily lettering pieces. I did the lettering and posted a photo to Instagram, and then I'd write around it, for my blog post. After about a week or two I lost steam, and interest, but it was fun while it lasted. 

Since I wrote the words above in this picture, I haven't been back to the gym. I've struggled with it, I'll be honest... struggled with letting myself let it go. Last year I was devoted to the gym, and got a lot out of it, out of going twice or three times a week. And then I just ... stopped. Stopped going, stopped caring, stopped wanting to go. I tried, a few times, to go back and get back into it but the passion is gone. I think I did it too much, or else, perhaps that phase is just ... over. And that's OK. But I hear Vampire Voices in my head for sure, saying I must go, that I have to stick with it. Oh ... well. 

More of the lettering...

And then... I quit Facebook. This post by Tiffany on her Instagram is what lit the spark, but I think really the kindling pile had been building. I gave myself a week to get ready for it, collect people's contact information and whatever else I felt I wanted to take with me. Then I scheduled my account for deletion. 

I helped out at a workshop by the local chapter of Ladies Learning Code, which was fun. 

My friend Leah Wechsler has this great free little e-course that comes to your email. From it, I found one sentence in particular really speaking to me.

Leah sent me a package in the mail! What a sweetheart. She got me this deck of cards, called The Daily Tending Divination Deck, by Mara Glatzel, and I've been putting it to good use. 

I find with Facebook gone, there is more time in the day to do creative things. Not a LOT of extra time, but little pockets of it here and there. 

And then of course there is Chase The Ace... the monstrous fundraiser that I've been volunteering at, for my work's sake. I took some unwinning tickets home with me after the last one and played around with them. 

Now my one remaining social media platform is my Instagram, and I'm pondering creating some sort of plan for it, to promote myself and my business a bit more. Above and below are my written-out thoughts on it and a start on a calendar. 

We'll see how it goes... I'm still on the fence about it. 

I've been using this desktop art by Sea of Atlas this month, and loving it, and it's got me thinking about making one too, that I can share with you guys.

This post by Alexandra Franzen, titled "Why I Do Not Use Social Media Anymore," is where the quote above comes from.

I find that now that I don't have Facebook in my life, I'm more curious about my own thoughts, and there is more room in my head to give them space to grow. I feel a bit like I've returned to what life was like pre-Facebook, and pre-crazy-Internet-on-every-device-all-the-time, when things were calmer and there was more time to just BE, yourself. And think your own thoughts. I didn't realize how necessary that is for my creative happiness! Until I gave up Facebook. 

Well, that was April 2016. I'm enjoying this experiment very much, and enjoying finding a way to blog and be online that suits me now, that suits who I am now. I look back to myself as a writer and a sharer during the Dream Big Cape Breton project and I'm grateful for it, but also I know deep down that I could not do the same level of intensity, the same level of sharing, anymore. 

And that's OK. 

See you here again at the end of May, and in the meantime, if you're an Instagram user, I'd love to say hi and chat with you there. I share photos and words of things that inspire me, bring me joy, or are just part of my daily life, on my account.

slow blog // March 2016

I was driving home this evening from work, and I was thinking about how when I got home I was going to get settled in to my office, put on some music, probably take off my pants, and upload these photos + write this post. And honest to god, I got excited! About blogging! Then I thought to myself, "I only post once a month, so I frigging-well better make it a good one!" And kind of laughed at myself. It's so funny to me, but funny in a good way, how this kind of blogging feels. I used to blog every darn day, over at Dream Big Cape Breton. And that burnt me out.

This, on the other hand, feels... so slow, so good. I look forward to that one day a month when I get cozy and put the blog post together.

And take my pants off.

Anyway! Here we are. The end of March and beginning of April, so it's time for another slow blog post. (Here are the others: why I'm slow blogging, January, and February.) The way this works is, I'll share my sketchbook/slow blog pages one at a time in this post, and you can click on each image to view it bigger if you need to. Below each picture, if I feel it needs further explanation, I'll write a bit, or include links to whatever inspired me. This month, I took the photos out on the deck, in the evening light, which felt so nice. The last two months I had to take the pictures after the sun had gone down, on my desk. 

Here we go!

This was made out of the cover of a Chatelaine magazine.

I think these words of Tiffany's were from an email newsletter she sent. I decided to draw some frangipani flowers around the time I started realizing my best friend was leaving soon for New Zealand.

I read "The Year of Yes" and this was the line that jumped out at me from the whole thing and demanded to be written down. Funnily enough, I wrote it down on St. Patrick's Day.

This page I drew after posting this picture on Instagram.

This is one of the worksheets from It's Business Time - in fact, it's the very first one. Tiffany encouraged me to fill it out again, in a call we had early in the month. So I did. The washi tape around the edges is from Get To Work Book.

I actually felt the urge to type out my thoughts in a blog post, something I haven't felt in ages. So I typed it in an email and emailed it to myself. 

Some thoughts on walking with Adam, and Instagram.

Sometimes my notebook just takes notes (top part of this page). Bottom part - this Instagram post by Jessamyn Stanley stuck with me, so I went back and wrote down the part that wouldn't let go of me. Then I sketched her a bit.

And this above and below was the part of this podcast where Tiffany interviews Sarah Von Bargen that stuck with me. 

This is the page I was drawing on in this video. 

And above are some thoughts for "a post I want to write at some point", although the truth is, someday is actually now. Or, now is yesterday's someday. Or, something like that?

Anyway, I was sitting there in my car the other day, going "man, I really want to start writing about this, and working my way through my feelings about it," and then I thought, "well, ya gotta start somewhere." So, even though being vulnerable about it makes me feel, well, vulnerable (and scared), I did. 

Well, that's it for March! I'm still loving this method of blogging. I feel like I'm just getting going with it, just starting to discover its joys. That's the neat thing about a "slow" anything - you don't see the rewards right away, instantaneously... but instead, they reveal themselves over time.

See you at the end of April! 

xo Leah

slow blog // February 2016

So! Here we are. One month later. Slow Blog Post #2: the month of February.

Like I did last month, I'll share my sketchbook pages one at a time in this post. You can click on them to view them bigger. Below each spread I'll write a bit about it, or include links to material. Also, this is the post I wrote about the idea of slow blogging and why I'm doing it.

So, above: The image on the left is from my 2016 Nikki McClure calendar. She is a hugely talented paper artist! I also have the January image in the spread below. I love her work and it feels slightly sacrilegious to cut up her work, but oh well. 

I had commented on this post by Stasia Savasuk, and she responded. So I printed off the comment and her response and highlighted the part that spoke to me the most. Then that's the illustration from the January page of Nikki McClure's calendar, because there wasn't anywhere to put it in the January section. 

As anyone who's been reading my stuff for more than a minute knows, I really love the work of Elise Blaha Cripe. This piece above is a print-out of her post "thoughts on busy". I go back and read it again and again.

Heart on the left is cut out of the Nikki McClure calendar page. 

The podcast episode is here.

No explanation needed. :)

Nor here.

Nor here.

This is drawn by a client at the Centre where I work. Every morning he comes to my office and draws this exact same picture. Perhaps this is the Universe answering me when I wrote on the previous page "Doing the work and being patient is HARD." The Universe is like, "Not really! Just do it over and over again."

This photo is cut out of the September 2015 Vogue. Have you heard "Formation"? I love it.

If the idea of no-cell-phone interests you, read this piece.  

My friend Nicole and I were talking about this, about LISTENING. 

This is from this podcast. Which was super, super good.

No explanation necessary - besides, I think a lot when I'm doing dishes, so I brought out my sketchbook to note some of them down!

Left: the receipt from Adam's and my anniversary dinner (5 years!). Right: a page from the book "The Inconvenient Indian" by Thomas King. 

Although I can't remember how or why I got signed up to Jeannette's newsletter, I'm so glad I did, because this line (right hand side of the page) really spoke to me. Like, stood up off the page and started talking to me, going "WRITE ME DOWN!"

And that's it for February! See you in March. :)

xo Leah

slow blog // January 2016

This is the start of it, the year of slow blogging! I went to Michael's, at the mall, and bought myself a sketch book. I used to use a sketch book in design school all the time, but I hadn't had the money in a while to get myself one. It wasn't a priority. But then I decided to change up how I blog, so it was necessary. 

I went with the cheaper one available. The least-fancy paper. I mean, I want something semi-fancy (not just a Hilroy spiral-bound notebook for three bucks at Walmart) but not so fancy that I feel like I must be precious with what goes onto the page. 

So mid-January, I began! You can click on the photos of the pages to see them bigger, to read what I wrote.

slowblog_January03-1.jpg

I drew this yellow metal flower that my friend Mel gave me once, long ago, for a birthday.

I realized that the Sharpie bleeds through the page. 

I tried one page in pencil. But then realized that I really prefer the Sharpie. (I use an Ultra Fine Point.)

I really love the work of Lisa Congdon (as well as her story, and her thoughts) so I signed up for a little online class where she teaches drawing. I've been thinking about illustration a lot lately, and wanting to do it more. This next page below is a continuation of the one above, in thoughts.

The next day I drew again from the little online class:

Then a few days later, at breakfast, I sketched my table, and wrote a bit:

When I finished the book "My Fight/Your Fight" by Ronda Rousey, I photocopied some of the photos I loved the most, and wrote out a few quotes. After my time last year learning how to lift weights, and being at the gym (a habit which is on hiatus at the moment, I think I burnt out a bit on it), reading Ronda's story of all her training and time dedicated to her goals was like, Wow. Intense. 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about intuition. About my gut twinges. About trusting them even when my intellect or my physical body or my ego may say an opposite message. Where do these messages come from? How do I know it's right? I don't know, I just know. This little picture came to me and I had to draw it out:

The organization I work for in my day job, Horizon Achievement Centre, is partnering with the Ashby Legion right now for a Chase the Ace. It's gotten big, and it's taking up lots of time. And I'm not even one of the staff who is heavily involved! 

I finished out the month with a quote from a book I'm reading about light (on Instagram I've got a hashtag project going called #leahloveslight). And, some thoughts on community and how I've been thinking I might have something to say on this topic, even if I'm not sure what it is yet. 

Looking back through the month, I realized that while I had good intentions, I totally didn't keep up with that little online class. That's OK. I just have to remember to cancel my membership to CreativeBug before they charge my credit card... it's only a few dollars, but it's a few dollars I don't have to spare at the moment. 

I'm excited about this documentation method, this writing method. That's a good sign! I like how when I'm writing in it, I don't have to be anywhere near a computer. It's just me and the page. But I still get to share my thoughts online, with you, and have current (ish) content. 

Let me know what you think of this method of blogging! I'd love to hear your thoughts.