busy busy bee

i've been working like a busy bee these past few weeks - onsite at a client's during the day and then coming home and doing my own client work until the wee hours.

this is one of my favourite clients that call me in to work at their studio. since i've been helping them out for the past 2 years, it's always nice to see all the familiar faces when i return.

last week, though, the onsite work became more than full time. on average i was onsite for 10 hours a day. being sleep deprived, i made some flubs (one was a miss cropping a panel for a showroom booth and the other was not sending some mockups to a client on the promised day, even though i had them done!!!) and the stress is starting to creep in.

there is an end in sight, though. can't wait to be able to sleep a full 8 hours! ... soon.

photo: my sunflowers in my tiny garden. sadly the seeds never matured because this happened again.

i'm going to have to devise some sort of cover or case for the sunflowers next year. i want to be able to plant the seeds at the off-leash park!

shamrocks galore

a recent trip to ireland to visit the o'keefe's. photos courtesy dom.

dublin




kilkenny: kilkenny castle


the gardens behind the kilkenny arts centre -- a gorgeous complex of artists' studios, shops selling handcrafted goods designed and made in ireland, and galleries exhibiting local talent



galway: wind-swept and bohemian city, on the west coast of ireland








blarney castle in cork (i know it's incredibly unhygenic, but you can't go to ireland and not kiss the blarney stone!)



the young lad and the wee lass: our lovely hosts!

beagle photo spam!

it took about a month, but petey is finally comfortable enough to share the dog sofa (aka the dirty sofa) with duke. previously, he would wait for duke to leave the couch to sleep on it or he'd hop up if duke was elsewhere.

two days ago, they were actually sharing a small dog bed together!

in other doggy news, andre has started his dog training business. it's called when hounds fly and while he is in training (he got accepted into the prestigious karen pryor academy, founded by the creator of clicker training - aka- modern animal training) he is donating his training fees to rescue organizations.

i'll share the business cards i created for him soon!

in the meantime, perhaps you'd be interested in reading about why andre is pursuing dog training?

this year i went to the cne twice! aaah, i love the ex - even if it means the end of summer.

the first time was with my book club girls and it was a total fair grub binge! so i got my fill of tiny tom donuts (who knew they had a website!) and waffle ice cream sandwiches. we even shared a plate of the infamous chocolate covered bacon.

the second time was with andre and we went on all the rides - my favourite is still the mega drop but the bonzai (technically it should be spelled bAnzai...) was really fun and scary as well.

and of course, as it is an annual custom for andre and i, we went to the superdogs show and cheered our hearts out. especially since our teacher from duke's obedience class and our behaviourist were in the show with their dogs.

the new kid on the block

a new free daily paper will hit toronto streets next tuesday, september 8th.

i had a little hand in creating the logo :)

here is more info on t.o.night, in several other media.

apparently evening free papers are popular and profitable in london and cities in australia (which is what t.o.night has been modeled after), despite the proliferation of handheld devices. i still like having actual printed mater to read from, so i hope this new daily beats the odds of the newspaper industry's recent trends in readership.

if you are in the downtown area, please pick up a copy or two ... or ten!