It's not that deep.
I'm alive! Plus behind the scenes of some projects, five book recommendations, fun links, + more.
Oof has it been a hot minute or what. You know that feeling you get when you’ve procrastinated doing something for so long (tackle your laundry pile, get back to the gym, do your taxes, send out a newsletter… etc etc) that the longer you delay it, the more insurmountable the task feels? 🙋🏻♀️
Somehow, it’s been a month since my last correspondence with you and almost two months since my last roundup and recommendations email. It feels almost futile to catch you up at this point but I’ll try. I’ve really been enjoying my personal trainer Andrea’s “10 Things I loved this month” emails, or even my friend Emily’s “Little Snippets” each week. I used to fill the space at the top of these newsletters with a thoughtful essay but sometimes I just don’t have anything particularly heartfelt or profound to say. (And by sometimes, I mean most of the time.) I think both of these examples I mentioned are just lovely reminders that it’s not that deep and maybe any update is better than no update? Consider me inspired to keep it low key!
And with that, here is a brief list of 3 things— Something I’ve been up to, something I’ve enjoyed, and something I’m thinking about:
Something I’ve been up to: I took my very first staycation last week! Well, it was supposed to be a week but it kind of got whittled down to two days. 🙈 Still! For the first time since I joined the workforce 13 years ago, I had two FULL WEEKDAYS at home with no real plans. Books were read, shows were watched, and walks were walked.
Something I’ve enjoyed: A weeknight dinner date at Touski which may be my favourite spot for non-alcoholic wine right now.
Something I’m thinking about: This might turn into a full essay one day but I’ve recently decided I want to break up with Pinterest. As a visual artist, there is a lot of pressure to “be discoverable” on Pinterest and it’s often sold as the only worthwhile social media basket in which to put your eggs (due to its evergreen nature and content longevity). My epiphany came while scrolling through grid after grid of beautiful, colourful, aesthetic images. Photos of cute homes lay next to paper packaging inspo and craft ideas. And yet- they all felt…flat? I suspect this is because they’ve been stripped of context, gathered together simply because they’re visually aligned with no understanding of the process or human effort behind them. Stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath) to see if I can turn this into a fully formed coherent thought one day.
The past six weeks have been full-on with finishing the book project I’ve been working on, alongside the animated reel I mentioned in my last newsletter. So full-on in fact that I ended up with an overuse injury and some wrist/ shoulder/ neck pain (which led to the aforementioned staycation). 🤪 Lesson learned that once again, I’m human and I have a limit.
Below is a sneak peek of the reel. I got to do all the sound design for it as well which was really fun!
And some zoomed-in, no-context first looks at the book:
Lastly, on one of my staycation days, I wanted to take advantage of the sunshine so I took a two hour walk along the seawall. I decided to also use it as an opportunity to pick away at my fear of drawing in public which led to me doing a:
~* Sketch and Stroll™️ *~
What it is: A pencil sketch zine that is started and completed within the confines of a walk. I didn’t want to carry a big sketchbook and lots of art supplies so I just tucked a Blackwing pencil into my pocket and folded a standard 16 page zine out of a piece of paper and off I went.
It ended up being a nice way to capture little moments and details along the way that will surely mean nothing to anyone who sees the zine but will hold lots of meaning for me!
A view of the zine “opened”:
Would anyone in Vancouver be down to Sketch and Stroll together?
Send me a note 💌
2026 seems to be the year of reading for me! Since I last slid into your inbox, I’ve finished— either read or listened to— 12(!!) books.
My top six are listed below:
*Would recommend the audiobook for these!
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again- despite being married to a DJ, I have pretty basic music tastes. On repeat this past month:
1.) Raye’s new album:
2.) Harry Styles’ new album:
3.) Laufey:
While I could go on and on about how much I liked A24’s new movie- The Drama (go see it!), I’ll instead share two of my favourite wholesome shows:
1.) Samuel on Netflix is lo-fi animation at its best. They’re 5 minute episodes told in the format of a 10 year old boy’s diary:
2.) North of North- a heartwarming sitcom about life in the Arctic. It is such a Canadian gem— similar to how Schitts Creek and Kim’s Convenience have a certain charm. Season 2 is currently in production and I can’t wait for it to come out.
So much! We have over 280 seedling babies this year (hoping for another 100 or so to sprout) and they’re all just a week or two away from being planted.
Other notable garden moments:
Making Magnolia cookies with my nieces using petals from my parent’s backyard*
TULIPS TULIPS TULIPS!! I wish there was a way to capture the colour gradients and dramatic shapes but my artistic ability- and phone camera- pales in comparison to their natural beauty.
Seeing some tiny bushtits hovering by my dining room window (not pictured)
Watching starlings take Pampas grass cuttings to use (presumably) for their nest
Finding an aesthetic bird bath that didn’t cost a gazillion dollars 🥳
*Note- on the topic of eating flowers. I’m super keen to try making homegrown matcha via my Camellia plants and this recipe from Megan.
Some fun links from around the internet:
A deep dive into musicals and storytelling from the folks at The Pudding.
I used this website to find my next read and it did not disappoint!
An in-browser colour game to see how well you can notice the differences between colours.
ANOTHER fun colour game— this time testing your colour memory and challenging you to recreate colours after you see them.
Okay, if you aren’t into colours, how about text? An in-browser game that tests how well you can kern— which is designer speak for making sure the space between letters is even.
Alright, enough games. This was an interesting, and wholesome, data visualization/ exploration of happiness.
