Saturday crafting

I spent most of yesterday making my wedding cake topper and a sundress. I've always been crafty, but I still feel thrilled watching something go from raw materials to a finished project.

The dress is the most ambitious thing I've ever sewn and it had intimidated me for years - I bought the pattern and fabric back in like 2006 and really wanted the dress, but I was too scared of screwing up to tackle it on my own. My friend Elva came over to help me and patiently told me how to undo the little mistakes I made. It still needs a zipper, but I think this dress looks fantastic!

The cake topper isn't finished either because it needs to be painted, but the shape is good and I'm looking forward to seeing it on top of my beautiful wedding cake and being able to say I did it (again,  with much-appreciated help from Elva). I guess I won't know if I like the results until my wedding day, but so far I find the DIY wedding very satisfying. Even if everything isn't perfect on the day, everything has a story and meaning behind it.

Want to write, but so tired. Would have earlier, but it was so beautiful outside I went for a long walk instead. It's frustrating that being busy at work can sap so much from my non-work life. Any suggestions on decreasing the work-related brain drain are most welcome.

Sometimes I hate that I was raised to be responsible. Working hard is hard work and it means I can't just do whatever I want. This weekend I'm passing up a fun trip because I should save money for upcoming expenses and I need to work on my super-exciting taxes, car repairs, and hotel reservations. If I weren't so mature I would quit my job and rack up thousands of dollars in credit card debt while convincing someone to support me for the rest of my life.

The worst part is knowing that I have it good and really have very little to complain about because all those irresponsible people are going to be jealous when I've retired young and am living most of my dreams. (I've pretty much given up on the private island though because I don't feel like earning enough to pay for that).

The book The Thief Lord has a theme of childhood verses adulthood and which is preferable. At the end of the edition I read there's an interview with author Cornelia Funke where they ask if she would rather be an adult or child. She says being an adult is better and I've never been able to completely understand that. I know some people have rough childhoods, but I have a lot of trouble believing adulthood is really so great.

What do you think?

Landscape Changes

I blogged about some of the pleasant changes that come with spring, but some unwelcome changes to the landscape are also taking place. A number of stores and cafes that I like in local neighborhoods have recently closed or are closing. Almost an entire blocked that I've frequented since moving to Vancouver is being replaced with condos. I'm happy to see more homes in Kits, but why do they have to drive out such good businesses? I know that change is inevitable, but in cases like this it still always makes me sad.

It feels like spring!

It would be normal to think that after 8 and a half years in Canada I might be used to the weather, but it would also be incorrect. In some ways the longer I'm up here the more it gets to me. People around me will celebrate a weekend like the one we just had with sunshine and jacket-free weather for four days in a row as a marvel. I feel entitled to that at the end of March and beginning of April and throughout the rest of the spring and summer.

The only advantage to being in Canada in the spring is that going so long with so many things looking dead makes all the blooming currently underway much more appreciable and appreciated. I love all the color and flowers in our garden and the cherry trees all over the city. We were on Vancouver Island for the weekend and it's the only part of Canada with better weather than Vancouver so the plants there were even happier. Combined with the later sunsets, this weather means I'll be spending a lot more time outside.

Yesterday was my fifth anniversary of dating Derek. As we were talking in the morning about the last five years and what a long time five years is, I remembered UNICEF's statistic that millions of children around the world die before their fifth birthday every year. In 2010 they estimated that 22,000 children under five die daily while the estimate for 2011 was about 6,900,000 deaths under age five. It seems wrong that many children don't get to live as long as we've been dating, so I'm going to ask everyone to consider making a donation at some point to a charity that supports child development or sign a petition if you come across one to increase child healthcare or simply think about how lucky we are to take for granted that we'll be born and live to adulthood.