Roses and Thorns April 24- 30

It feels like I just finished writing these. I sometimes wonder if once a week is too often... and yet, if I do it every two weeks, I forget things. Okay, let's see...

Rose
First of all, our producers' desired casting director has agreed to do our film. She has worked on a number of big movies, and as I may have mentioned in previous posts, she has a better ability to secure a higher grade of talent.  If we can at least get some reputable actors attached, that helps to increase a little buzz. And let's face it, with a small film like ours, we need all the buzz we can get!

So, thanks to this valuable addition to our team, we've now been able to go ahead and start choosing which actors we'd like to pursue (within our budget, of course). What a thrill!

While our producers have discouraged Jim n' I from going after our first pick for Donovan -- they caution that distributers will feel he has too much television baggage -- we'd be quite happy if we could manage to secure our second pick. Our fingers are crossed ridiculously tight that we can get him. He'd be wonderful!

On that same note, I would simply die and go to heaven if we could secure our number one pick for Sarah. She is such a perfect fit. Plus, she seems to project the image of someone who is a very cool down-to-earth person, who also has a name that everyone recognizes. (Unlike our choice for Don, who is super talented and Oscar nominated... but no one seems to know who he is.)

I guess in some ways this rose is putting the cart in front of the horse, because there's no guarantee we'll get the first actors we go after. But for the moment, we have to believe that we will. :)

Thorn
Last weekend I helped out with building the community garden. Actually, I only helped for two hours until I totally killed my back shoveling dirt with a short shovel. (Not very ergonomic, I tells ya...) I figured since I wasn't going to get a plot anyway, being 5th on the waiting list n' all, I might as well call it a day. My back was sore for two or three days. Jeez... I'm getting old. (Although, I think I'd rather blame it on that short shovel.)

Rose
But then.... later in the week, I found out that I actually did get a plot after all! I had my choice between a large plot (they're quite huge though), or a smaller one. So I offered to share one with somebody, and that's when I learned that I'll be sharing it with an older lady named Flo.  Apparently she's very nice, so that's a relief. The coordinator said she didn't want to stick me with a grump, which was very kind of her.

As an early birthday present, my friend Rhonda, who has the MOST incredible green thumb ever, gave me three little roma tomato plants she had already started and three cloves of garlic from her mother's garden. Her choice couldn't have been more perfect. I love roma tomatoes and I'm a garlic fiend. How nice of her, huh?

I've since gone to The Greenery and bought a grape tomato plant, a cucumber plant, a pickling cucumber plant, three little basil plants, a "Magical Michael" basil plant, two cilantro plants, one dill, some garlic chives, lavender, a red pepper plant, a jalapeno plant and a cayenne pepper plant. Eek! I'm so excited to start planting.

Oh yeah, and for our balcony I'm just gonna focus on easy to grow flowers this year, such as colourful morning glories and a bunch of nasturtiums, which are not only pretty to look at, but edible too!  (The nasturtiums, that is... not the morning glories as far as I know.) I might keep some of the herbs on our balcony as well. We'll see how many I can fit in my garden first.

Thorn
Even though I went out shopping for plants and seeds, we still haven't been paid yet.... Argh. Maybe this week?

Rose
Actually, I should stop talking about how we haven't been paid before people think we're a charity case. Ha. Over this past week, every time we've hooked up with friends, it feels like we haven't been able to pay for anything. Everyone else keeps grabbing the bill.  It started when Ray bought me a coffee last weekend. Then Nick bought our coffee later in the week. Jeremy grabbed our sushi lunch on Wednesday. And finally, Lara surprised Rhonda n' I by grabbing our dinners on Thursday.

Gosh, it's kinda embarrassing when you add it up like that. Of course, I'm pretty sure it was just a coincidental series of nice gestures that all happened within the same week -- and not because I've given everyone in the world the impression that we're flat broke and can't afford to feed ourselves. Ha ha.

So thanks everyone. :)

Thorn
Umm... I don't know. I can't think of any more thorns. I stepped in cat puke this morning. That was certainly refreshing. Of course, today is May 2nd, so I suppose it doesn't count.

So yeah... I really don't have anything, unless "not being able to fall asleep because I'm buzzing with restless excitment about the future" counts?

No, I didn't think so either.

Rose
Keeping in tune with my earlier rose, Lara, Rhonda n' I (and two of Lara's work friends), had dinner at Cush Supper Lounge on Thursday as a sort of late b-day celebration for Rhonda. I've heard of Cush before, but had never been. It only opened up about a month or two ago.

Anyhow, it's a pretty cool place and I'd definitely go back. Terrific live music. Groovy atmosphere. Good food. The only thing I thought was a little shifty was that their ad said you don't have to pay the entertainment cover charge if you order dinner, but they charged us anyway. Kinda lame, but whatever.... They're still new, so I'm gonna assume that they don't totally know what they're doing yet.

Rose
On Friday I whipped up my quickest painting ever. It was the first time I have ever started and finished a painting in the same day -- and according to Jim, it's one of his favourites.

While I plan on entering some of my existing paintings into that Calona Vineyards competition, I wanted to do a little something that more appropriately depicts BC. I call it Fintry, because it's loosely based on a picture we took at Fintry campground last summer. It's basically a colourful sunset over a purple mountain range and lake, with silhouetted trees in the foreground. Nothing special, but I do like the colours. And I'm kinda proud of myself at how fast I was able to complete it.

I'm not 100% sure I love the reflections in the water, but I'm nervous about mucking it up, so I may just leave it as is. I don't expect it to win anyway. I think my paintings are kind of amateurish... even if I personally like my style.

I also plan to enter three other paintings. (You can enter up to 10.) Here is my other latest one, Magnolia Blossom. (Which is actually on a round canvas, but you can't tell here...)

Then I'll enter Magnolia, which you have seen before. However, the winning painting will be cropped to fit a 4 cm X 4 cm label, and I don't think Magnolia will look good cropped into a square... But who cares, I'm gonna enter it anyway. If it's lucky enough to win, maybe they'll just add black bars to the sides to fill out the dimensions properly.

And finally, I'm entering Power, because it was one of the first paintings I did when I moved to BC, so I think in some ways it embodies the creative spirit of BC they're looking for -- even if it's not obvious visually. I'm thinking about tweaking the name just to shoehorn the painting into their whole "creativity and spirit of British Columbia" agenda. Maybe I'll just call it Creative Spirit. Is that obvious enough?

And again, I'm really not expecting to win against all those professional painters out there.... but wouldn't it be awesome if I did?!  I'm sure I've got as fair a shot as anyone else... even without a nicely-framed art degree on the wall.

Okay... well, I guess that's it for another week...