Well, it’s Tuesday in Toronto and it’s pretty darn mild out here - BIG difference from Arctic blasted Vancouver! I can honestly say I don’t really miss the -18C cold, the snow is probably pretty - but I hate driving in our wet wet white stuff. I can drive in it no problem… just seems like the rest of Richmond is wet snow challenged LOL!

I’m teaching this evening in TO at Bizzy B Stamp and Scrap on Bloor Street W, the Mini-Altered Album class, based on ‘The Girls’ mini-album [as seen at Circle Craft in Vancouver in early November]. It’s a 4 hour class that should be lots of fun and an easy going time of it… I’m really looking forward to seeing how people work on this mini-album. Most students will get through the entire book this evening; however, knowing that a few of the students in my class [you know who you are =) ] are very thorough and methodical in their craft, I’m sure a few will leave with the foundation of the books complete - journalling and embellishing to finish at home. That is totally cool… everyone works at their own pace!

We’re hanging at home today until late this afternoon when we head to the store for my class, so a laid back day for us. Tomorrow will probably bring a museum visit, lunch or dinner out and shopping.

Speaking of shopping… we hit the One of A Kind Show yesterday and I can honestly say that I bought more food-gifts than anything else. Nuts, chocolate, a few jewelry bits but mainly munchies. You really can’t get this kind of stuff anywhere else than at a show like this… So we really did stock up [it’s great airplane snacking food for the flight home too!]

Ciao my peeps… catch up again soon!

Well, day one and two in Toronto are officially done…

We had a grand day yesterday at Carmi’s Holly Jolly show. Sold some stuff, visited with friends, made a few new ones and just had fun hanging out. We were ALL bagged by about 7pm and fought hard to stay awake until 10pm - but we did it!

Today I taught my Art of Transference class at Bizzy B Stamp and Scrap. It was a great day… I learned a few things and taught lots of techniques to the ladies in my class. It was a loooooong day, but so much fun!

Tomorrow we hit the One of A Kind Show and visit a friend from the show circuit - Miguel Freitas. He’s a painter with amazing, heavily textured paintings and now limited edition reproductions! Very cool stuff. I’m looking forward to the Monster Factory [I already have 3 of these plush dudes] and to the inevitable food vendors with their tasty goodies. Should be a fun and expensive day of shopping =)

Catch you later… C in Toronto OUT!

And that’s all I have to say about that…

Christina Lazar-Schuler Lazar Studiowerx Inc.

So here I sit, waiting for my boarding time with T… Just went through security, and I think I must have looked dodgey or something cause they pulled me outta the line for inspection.

Now mind you I didnt beep going through the security metal detector, wasn’t wearing a jacket (I was wearing a bulky kangaroo sweatshirt though) and only had my purse with me… So why did she pull me out?

They made me take off the bulky kanga, she felt me up and down… If it had been a hot security dewd could have been more fun, but no such luck… She checked all my pockets and weirdly enough the seams of my jeans waistband, my tshirt collar, pant cuffs and socks. Was a little strange…

I guess maybe I looked a little dodgey in the big blue kanga with angel wings on the back after all. Go figure LOL!

We’re boarding in a few minutes… So will post again later today or tomorrow. Ciao babies

Christina Lazar-Schuler Lazar Studiowerx Inc.

Hey all…
I’ve set-up my Typepad account and Blackberry so that I can ‘post on the road’… or MoBlogging [mobile blogging] as they call it.  So, my posts in the next week may contain typos, weird sentences, or may just be funny and odd ramblings whilst we sit in the airport - so you’ll have to forgive me, the damn keyboard on this Blackberry is pretty teeny and waiting in the airport makes me a little crazy LOL!

Anyways, it’s a great way for me to stay connected to the blog and not have to stress about getting on a computer. I love technology… now if only we could be BEAMED to our vacation destinations! Ah, life would be perfect…

This is a test of mobile blogging and is being sent from my Blackberry. Christina Lazar-Schuler Lazar Studiowerx Inc.

I’m madly printing, packing and kitting up product and supplies for our trip to Toronto tomorrow.

Terry and I are heading off to ‘the center of the Canadian Universe’ Toronto tomorrow for a week stay with dear friends Carmi and Paul [and of course the boys - Mr. Shadow and Mr. Shamus].

The week ahead looks a little like this:

• Holly Jolly Christmas Craft Fair on Saturday November 25 - loads of artisans [most friends of ours] will be selling handmade items at this 3rd Annual event. We will be selling our new rubberstamp Design Sheets, Kits and paperWERX paper packs. FUN!
• I’m teaching my ‘famous’ Art of Transference Class on Sunday from 10am-5pm at the Bizzy B Stamp and Scrap store in Toronto on Queen St. West - so MUCH printing is happening and gosh, I think the last sheet just finished right now! Whew =)
• Monday is the ‘take a breath’ day and perhaps a bit o’ shopping…
• Tuesday I’m teaching my new Altered Mini-Album class at Bizzy B Stamp and Scrap store in Toronto on Queen St. West, from 6-10pm. The Kits for this class are almost finished, paperWERX papers are cut, Bazzil cardstock cut, chipboard goodies packed and ribbon cut. I’m pit-stopping tomorrow morning at Daiso for more journalling strips and spots, and to pick up some more of those amazing little clip-thing-a-ma-bobs. Love Daiso!

The rest of the week is free, free, free… Carmi has a few things planned I’m sure - but right now it’s hard to believe at this exact time I will be in Toronto [1am EST]. Geez… where does the time go?

I have a few goodies to wrap and pack for my buddies back east and then I’m heading down to the studio to start packing my product suitcase [the goodies for sale!] and then a smaller Class Supplies suitcase. Geez, I hope I’m under 70lbs - me thinks I may have to pay for overweight suitcases LOL!

Time flies my peeps… I’ll post tomorrow before I’m gone and will try to keep up to date while I’m away. Ciao for now!

Today was my compressed day from the ‘regular’ job… feels like I got nothing done and where did the time fly to?  Here is a quick snapshot of my Monday:

• Up at 9am, showered and off to the doctor for my migraine prevention injections - BOTOX the $1100 six month cure. I get 12 injections right into my the back of my neck [the main trigger for my pain - ha ha pain in the neck, get it??] and then I get 5 in my forehead around my eyebrows [where the pain ends up].  It is the ONLY thing that has provided me with any relief from the barometrically triggered chronic pain migraines I’ve suffered from for 25 years
  Was in the office from 10:45am-11:45am - long treatment time and worth every penny!

Edited Tuesday Nov 21, 7:00pm:
My migraines are tied directly to barometric pressure changes, both up
and down pressure. So when Vancouver has a storm front coming in, I can
tell you almost to the minute when the rain and wind will begin.

The condition is related to a major sensitivity in my vertebrae to the change in barometric
pressure [I spent 12 months writing a headache diary 10 years ago - diarizing everything from food to weather conditions - the weather and changes were the one constant in the condition]. The tissue between my vertebrae gets very inflammed, puts
all kind of pressure on the nerves, causing severe muscle tension in
my neck [basically my neck turns into a MASSIVE spasm] and then the headache
begins due to the severe tension and muscle constriction.

It is a somewhat
hereditary condition [my Mom suffers from it too] but was exacerbated
about 15 years ago after a major car accident I was in, and the major whiplash that resulted. Lots of
scar tissue between the verts now aggrevate an already sensitive
condition.  Couple this lovely neck problem with the severity in recent
weather patterns and well, I’m just a mess.

The only relief in 25 years has been the Botox, because it temporarily
paralyzes the muscles in the neck. The brain tells my neck to get
inflammed [it still does that] and then the nerves say to the muscles
to spasm. The Botox prevents the spasm almost 90% of the time now, and
no spasm means little or no headache! It really has changed my quality
of life and would stop the Botox for anything.

a portion of the treatment is covered by my extended medical [$450 of
the prescription] so at least i’m not completely out of pocket and it’s
made a huge difference in my life.

• On the way home, went to pick up the last of our NEW Christmas ornaments from the wholesaler we deal with. They are amazing and once the new BLACK tree we bought is up[yep I said BLACK!], I’ll take lots of photos and post some images of the new, funky Christmas look we’re going for. It’s going to be so cool!
• Stopped at Que Pasa for dinner stuff - an amazing Mexican deli and manufacturing plant in Richmond. They make the BEST FRESH fajitas, enchiladas, chips and salsa in Vancouver. So good… makes me hungry just thinking about it.
• Drove home through crazy construction traffic everywhere and arrived home at 1:30pm.
• Had lunch, emailed several people, did some banking stuff until about 3:30pm
• Wicked migraine all day today, weather was horrible - windy and rainy, AGAIN [BOTOX takes up to 10 days to really start working, so no help from my treatment yet] - so I laid down with a cold pack on my forehead, heat on my feet and 2 Extra Strength Advils until about 4:45pm
• Phone rings a few times at around 5ishpm, it’s the business line and I’m way too incoherent to speak clearly. Messages are taken and return calls made between 5:30-6:00pm once I’m more focussed and awake.
• We have dinner at about 6:15pm, then clean up the kitchen.
• Watch the TomKat wedding news on ET at 7ishpm
• Head down to now clean and re-organized studio [took me 6 hours to put everything back in order yesterday after the post-Circle Craft hangover finally wore off] to pack retail and wholesale orders for shipping on Wednesday.
• 9pm, I park myself on the living room floor and call in 50 left over Visa/MC transactions from Circle Craft that hadn’t been processed yet; about 60-75 minutes later I head back down to the studio.
• 10:15pm… Feeling like I WANT to be creative, but the mojo just ain’t quite there yet following a very hectic few weeks and nasty migraines. I play around with a few ideas… stick some paper down in a new chipboard album, re-organize my stamps, then pull out rubber for our Toronto trip at the end of this week. YAY! Carmi we’re coming in less than a week!!
• 11:30ishpm I go outside to unplug our Christmas lights [we put up new LED Christmas lights and damn if we couldn’t land a plan on our front lawn! Looks like a movie shoot out there it’s so bright… but I guess 6 strands of 70 lights will dow that for ya huh? LOL!]
• 11:45pm posting on the blog… contemplating what I’ll say since I was busy all day, but don’t really feel like I’ve accomplished that much.
• Finished my post for the day, and looking back at the day in this manner, all listed and timed out, I guess I really DID have a productive day.

Hmmm, I should post like this more often… makes me realize that even if I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much, in reality working a full-time job, running a business and being a creative being means that I accomplish all kinds of things in a day. I actually do A LOT in a 24 hour period, looking at the list above, I guess I was pretty productive today - go figure…

I had the opportunity to take dear friend Becky to a Vancouver Canucks game last Friday [we won’t mention that they lost] and she had a good time; However, it was the look on her face as we entered the arena bowl and walked down to our seats that makes me smile tonight… Impressed and shocked all at once =)

We [T & I] have Seasons Tickets we split with another pair [seeing about 20 games a season] and our seats are in the lower bowl Row 9. So, the first time anyone sits there they are immediately impressed by how close we are to the ice. Imagine that the owners of the Canucks and GM Place [the ‘Garage’] have spent over $5,000,000 on a new display system, millions on the new ‘ring of fire’ around the entire arena bowl and LCD panels all over the concourse level and how much MORE impressive the seats are now. The look on Beck’s face said it all - WOW!!!

The new display system has EIGHT 300,000 pixel [minimum] screens. The four main screens are 24′ x 13.5′ LCD panels and four corner screens are high-res 5′ x 13.5′ LED panels. There is a huge 950′ circumference logo and message ring around the top of the screen octagon and a lower 500′ circumference logo and message ring. It is pretty stellar!

Combine fantastic, feel-like-you’re-in-the-action seats with this new display system and ‘ring of fire’ and it’s a pretty impressive sight to see. The Garage is now probably one of THE BEST venues to watch professional hockey in North America!

Here is a shot of Becky in the Garage during the 1st Period Intermission:

Cool huh?

Do this…

Demo for a few hours while hanging out with friends, in your favorite city [Vancouver of course!] and help me with Circle Craft for 5 days and you too will get hockey tickets! We treat our peeps, sherpas and head minions well baby… I think both Becky and Sue can attest to that =)

Now many of my local peeps experienced my hubby’s ‘manly baking’ this past Spring when he made Chocolate Chai Cakes for our 1st Annual Warehouse Studio Sale in April 2006.

Well… for those of you who missed his ‘manly stamping’ and ‘manly demoing’ at Circle Craft, here is a quick shot of the man himself demoing for his [adoring] public. Terry basically got a ‘get out of jail free’ card last week while Becky was here for Circle Craft and with the exception of a couple of hours on Friday night, he made it through the entire show with little or no stamp demoing! So, when the opportunity presented itself on Friday night, as we got ready for the Canuck Game, I HAD to take a pic of him in all his stamping glory.

Yes ladies, I’m a lucky lucky girl and he is a cutie pahtootie!