Alice Valentine

The Internship.

I'm loving being an intern. Today was my second day, and I felt completely comfortable there. Everyone has been so nice and helpful, and the day seems to go by so fast! It's in a wonderful area of the city so on my lunch break today I walked a few blocks to my favourite place in Vancouver, Granville Island. The weather has also been stunning which is putting me in a pretty darn good mood. 

The other intern, Pam, is a friend of mine from school so it's great to have a familiar face there who is in the same boat. Our current project is creating a portfolio of all the projects the design firm has done. We're almost finished, and I'm excited to see what the next task is! We are also being given the opportunity to submit our ideas for a cheese/dairy companies Christmas recipe booklet that will be available at grocery stores near their products. The chance that our ideas will get picked over the "real" designers is quite slim, but it's still fun to try! It's difficult because we don't know how much things cost, (number of ink colours, dye cutting, size of paper, etc. can all add up quickly) and budget is always an issue for clients.

Tomorrow is Canada Day so I have the day off. Getting a day off always feels so much nicer when work surrounds it. I just had two months off, but tomorrow feels special. 

I received a lovely package in the mail today from darling Inka from Finland. I won a blog giveaway on her blog and unlike me, she sent out the prize very soon after! I got a fun type poster that she made with fabric, an adorable felt brooch (I'm wearing it in the pic above), some cute stickers, and a CD with her favourite songs which I can't wait to listen to! Thanks Inka!

I have some exciting ideas for art and I can't wait to start making them. Think of fairy tales, handwriting, and colour by numbers!

hello monday.

Good morning Monday. You're looking like you might be a pretty good day. I was feeling nasty all weekend which I am pretty sure is directly related to starting my internship today. Alice + new things = anxiety & being sick, sick, sick. 

Yesterday I hung out with my mom for a few hours before I had her take me home so I could go to sleep, and sleep I did. I slept from 4 PM or so until now - 6 AM the next day. I did wake up once to eat a yummy stir fry that Jarod made, but then it was back to bed. I think the sleep was just what I needed because I feel pretty awesome now. I have about two hours to relax and get ready before I leave to catch the bus. I'm excited that I only have to take one 35 min. bus ride there and don't have to transfer because that means I can sit and draw for a good hour every day. 

Jarod wrote me the sweetest good luck letter and left it on my purse so I would read it this morning. He's quite the catch. 

I also think that I have discovered what had been bothering my stomach for the past two years. Soy. I thought it was gluten but after cutting it from my diet I found that I was still sick, so I tried cutting soy and I feel awesome. I would wake up every morning with a normal belly but then by the end of the day I would look about five months pregnant. Since I cut soy last week my belly has been flatter than it has in years which is wonderful! I've also had super super dry skin around my nose and mouth for two years and that is finally clearing up a bit too!

Alright, I'm off to have a nice long shower, eat a healthy breakfast, and make myself all pretty for my first day on the (unpaid) job!

XOX Alice

Unusual Suspects

My mom is on her way to pick me up and we have some errands to run today. We'll be going for brunch, checking out some antique shops, perhaps some clothing stores, stopping by my school and hopefully an art store. While I'm waiting for her I'm keeping occupied by playing Unusual Suspects from Veer. Here are some faces I've made so far:

Internship

On Monday I will be starting my two month internship at Hangar 18. I'm so excited! I'll be working along side real designers, and I'll get to dress up every day! I hope to learn as much as I can before school starts again in September. It's less then a year now before I graduate and will be out in the real world.

Unfortunately over the past two months I've discovered that my body works best when I sleep during the day and am up all night, so I need to quickly change that around before Monday!

I've really been wanting to buy more local produce, but they don't seem to have much at Save On Foods (my local big chain grocery store). I decided to google farmers markets in Vancouver and I was happy to find that there are several in the city. I hope Jarod and I can make it a routine to go to the market each week. Not only will we be helping our local farmers, but the produce will not have been shipped from the other side of the world and it will hopefully be organic. 

Jarod has been reading a book called the China Study. We both already know how much healthier it is to be vegan, but it's really interesting to hear some of the information from the book since it proves that we made the right choice. I'm planning on reading it after Jarod. 

I became a vegan mostly because of how animals are treated, but I am now learning just how bad animal products are for you. Jarod and I both hope that our close friends and family members will consider reading a book like the China Study to see why we have chosen this way of life. Our families have actually been pretty amazing with our decision, but it's people we meet at parties or friends of friends that hear we're vegan and feel a need to get in to a serious debate with us about how they think being vegan is silly, unhealthy, etc. I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked "but where do you get your protein!?" (click here to find out). I just wish people would do some research about veganism before they attack it. 

Being vegan, I read ingredients on everything I eat. I have been shocked many times by the enormous lists on simple foods, and by the number of ingredients that I can hardly pronounce. No wonder North America has such a huge problem with obesity. Just look at what we're putting in our mouths. 

Wow. That was quite the rant! I try not to talk too much about veganism on my blog since I don't want to offend any of my readers, but sometimes I need to express myself.     

Food, Inc.

I can't wait to see this movie, and for everyone else to see it too. 

GOventure! Day 4

Todays clue was Song and Dance. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and all I wanted to be when I grew up was a dancer. Let's not tell that hopeful little girl that I would grow up to become a terrible dancer, and a much worse singer. 

Tomorrow's theme: Treading Water

The shop is open!

Please stop by my Etsy shop! 

Typepad question of the day.

When I was logging in to typepad this question was on the sidebar. "If you could bring back a canceled tv series, which would you choose?" These are my picks: 

Tale Spin

Ducktails

The Newlywed Game

Supermarket Sweep

My so called life

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Just like mom 

GOventure! Day 3

When I read that the third theme for GOventures was Pocket, I knew exactly what to draw. 

You see, my dad only wears shirts that have a pocket. He always has an assortment of pens and his to-do list in it. His list is actually several pages printed off the computer of things to do, as well as calendar pages at the back all stapled together. He folds the list several times and puts it safely in his breast pocket. I too inherited the list making gene (my dad says it's German) and at any time you can usually find several to-do lists or grocery lists in my purse, or in the back pocket of my jeans. 

Happy Birthday Jarod!

Today is my husbands birthday! It's the first time I've been able to say that :) A week or two ago Jarod and I were driving to the store and this was our conversation:

Jarod: "how old am I turning?"

Me: "27."

Jarod: "Really? I thought I was turning 28."

Me: "nope. I just turned 24, so you're turning 27."

Jarod: "That's great! I feel like I just added a year to my life!"