Get to Know Me, Get to Know You!

Hello everyone!

I realize that, while I share a lot on this blog in respect to my art, others' art, thrifting, sustainability in fashion and life, and more recently some self love/body image content through my Bedhead Project, I haven't really spoken about MYSELF and who I am on a day to day basis in a while.

(There's me, in all my Bedhead -face-morphing-smile glory)

So, I want to offer you guys some little truth nuggets to help you get to know me. And in turn, I hope to get to know some of you more closely as well!

Starting with some fabricated 'FAQ' style questions for myself:


1. What do you do for work?

~ I work primarily with persons with dementia! The place I work at designates themselves as an Academy for persons living with dementia, and I go in and provide arts-based programming a couple of times a week. We have a philosophy that includes relational caring, so I also spend a lot of time hanging out, having dance parties, getting deep, and building relationships with my participants and my coworkers! It's the best ever. I started as a volunteer and ended up staying and working there for 4 years now.

I also work part time as a research assistant through school, also dealing with relational caring, and as a wedding photographer's assistant. From time to time I also do art and design related freelance work.

In short, I do too many things my friends, too many things!

2. What do you do in school?
~ I'm working towards finishing my Master's in Recreation and Leisure Studies. This is a really cool field, I'm discovering, and includes a whole range from tourism, to sports, to parks, to recreation therapy (which is closer to what I do... but I don't call it therapy for many reasons that would require a whole other blog post for). I'm new to the field academically, but my research is on arts based approaches to working with persons with dementia, so with that I am in my element.

My research deals in friendship in dementia care: not something we normally think about as a possibility, but with a critical lens my feeling is: Why the heck not? I'll be working directly with persons with dementia and care partners to find out what they think/feel/know about that.

3. What do you do for fun?
~ I paint, I draw, I collage, I knit, I weave, I take photos, I obsess over fashion, I go to concerts with friends, I cook, I eat good food with friends and family, I go to the art gallery, I dance (alone in my kitchen, though), I watch crappy crime dramas, I goof off with my fella, I read blogs, I blog!

(An example of my for-fun art making)

4. Where are you from?
~ I'm from Toronto, in Canada. I've lived elsewhere (Paris, France, & Waterloo, Canada) but always circle back here. I love my city, and while I love exploring, I'd have a hard time leaving permanently. My background is Belgian, Danish (hence my last name!), and Canadian.


Woo! So, that's a start anyway. I feel as though that covers some of the basics anyhow.

Now it's your turn! I want to know the same about you, if you'd like to share your answers to the same four questions, please do so in the comments. I'd love to learn more, make my blogging more personal/about relationship building between creatives (since that's the fun part of the online world anyway), and get to know YOU!

xx

The Latest: A Whirlwind of a Term

Hello! It's me! I am breathing and thinking and doing life and feelin' good!

The last several months have been just nutty. In the best way, of course, no complaints! But with all the reading (~120 pages a class) and the writing (~20 page papers are my new specialty) and the new city and life n' stuff, I have just not had the brain power to write about it all.

In the spirit of a quick update I offer you a dot-jot list of highlights, with pictures:

• Halloween! All we did was hand out candy, but we still got into our costumes! Frida and Vincent. Channeling Frida was tremendous fun, except when my dad tried to take pictures and I had the hardest time scowling and not smiling!

• My room at school which I love very much

• Living in another city away from this guy has made our little dates extra special, even if they are most often lazy nights watching XFiles. This was when we went to see some Monet and Van Gogh at the art gallery and saw some photography too.

• I saw one of my all time favourite musicians, Chris Cohen, play in Waterloo. He was the opening act, and compared to Toronto the crowd was small... so I got to chat with him for a good ten minutes after he played! The best night of my Waterloo life!

• Applying my art school skills to a research proposal poster design for school!

• Being home for the holidays has been real nice. I got sick with a cold, but still have managed to see a few of my friends including this gal at the Christmas market, when we had our first snow! It was so magical!

I'm hoping to be more blogg-y in the new year, as I would really like to use this space (I still love it very much) and I have some ideas. We will see!

But for now, tell me, what have you been up to?

The Latest 02

How life flies by!

We are nearing the end of the Summer and it's a big transition time for me, since I will be headed back to school in September and moving out of the city. AH! I am so excited and thrilled to have been given a place in this program and I can't wait to dive right in.

Obviously this means a lot of changes. Life is funny business and I never, truly never, thought I would do any studies beyond a Bachelor's degree. I loved what I was studying (illustration) and was motivated to do it. But then I stumbled upon my work with seniors, and I stumbled further into it and 100% fell in love with it. So, here we go! School round 2!

I've been so MIA from the blogging community in the last month since figuring things out for school and being on vacation so tell me - what have you been up to lately? Any good posts you've shared recently? Link me in the comments!

ps. Check out my lil' aloe family! All of these babies were in the face pot crammed together when I first got the plant - it was a super healthy plant but also a very squishy one in need of more room. It was my first re-potting experiment and I'm super pleased with how it turned out ;)