i have a real comfortable workspace

...but i am still typing this from the couch instead of my desk. To be fair, my desk is currently smothered in paintings/paints, drawings, sketchbooks and pens, but still. This is why I have old-lady back pains.

I love being able to work on art every day. It's the most amazing feeling. I don't have a "real" job (still working casual, same place I've been at for almost three years), but I make enough to pay rent and buy groceries, and that's really all that matters.

Despite not having very much money, I recently made a somewhat extravagant (for me) purchase: a trip to Montreal for my birthday. My lovely boy will be in his ancestral homeland for both of our birthdays (two days apart), and I didn't want to be lonely, so I planned a trip. What makes it extra special is that it's the same weekend as Expozine, so I will get to see a bunch of my zine-pals and perhaps even make back some of the money I spent on travel!

I'm really excited for this trip for multiple reasons:

1. ZINES!
2. I will get to see my dear friend Jim, whom I very rarely see. And by this I mean we've only hung out three times in person. But I'd say Jim has been one of the biggest and most positive influences in my young life. I doubt I've met a more patient, understanding, and generous human being.
3. I get to see my friend Maude, who always brings out my famous drunken bravado (last time I was with her, I saw Michael Cera dining in a restaurant on Queen W. and she had to physically restrain me from running in and beating him up. why did i want to beat michael cera up? i will never know). She was the first person to ever encourage my drawing/zine-making, for which I am eternally grateful.
4. I will meet a new zinester-friend with whom I have plans to make a split zine about being an anarchist who is also religious. An acquaintance of mine made reference to the fact that "she is Christian and an anarchist...which i still can't wrap my head around" and i thought: i should contact her and ask her if she wants to make a zine about religion and anarchy! So I did, and she was totally into it which makes me so happy.

I think it will be one of the best birthdays yet. I might wear my purple prom dress (which I sometimes refer to as my "Grimace's Girlfriend Dress", because I honestly do look kind of like Grimace in it...you know, hips).

Birthday trip aside, everything else is really great, too. As I said before, I'm making more art than ever. I'm starting a new zine and retiring Little Gardens for Invalids, which was a really difficult choice to make, but ultimately one I'm happy with. AB and I finally set up our studio and it's lovely - our desks are back-to-back right beside the enormous bay window that looks out onto our street with its huge, ancient maple trees and aging brick houses. There are books crammed everywhere, which makes it feel super-cozy. There's also a couch (upon which I am sitting as I type this) for friends to crash on, or for one of us to nap on when we get all tuckered out from writing or painting. Life is paradise!

One last thing: AB and I really love to read aloud to one another and right now I'm reading him The Wind in the Willows, which is one of my favourite books. My dad read it to me growing up, and he gave me this beautiful illustrated edition of it for my birthday last year. It's so lovely to share it with my dearest love. And I do really good voices, if I do say so myself...Mole is my favourite one. He has a scratchy little high-pitched snuffly British accent.