It recently occurred to me that I'm incredibly fortunate to be pursuing my entrepreneurial dreams. I know that sounds so, so lame. The odd thing was how quietly this dawned on me. And it took me a long time to realize it too because quite frankly pursuing my dream feels rather...mundane. But it's huge that I'm doing what I love, especially because I thought it was impossible to do so.

After completing grad school, I read the career advice book What Color Is Your Parachute? to figure out what sort of job I wanted. After doing the exercises in the book it turned out that crafting was my number one skill I loved to use. But how the hell was I going to find a job that would pay me to make stuff? When unemployment was forced on me while going through Canadian immigration in 2009, it allowed me to do some soul-searching, and I concluded that I have to love what I do when it comes to a job. During that time I reconnected with my crafty self and it led me naturally to what I'm doing now.

The best thing about having my own creative business is that I get to apply my favourite skills in addition to my best job skills. Doing the online vintage shop has been an educational experiment in e-commerce, and it's confirmed that I really love running my own business. So this has encouraged me to expand my entrepreneurial effort and start working on a second Etsy shop selling exclusively handmade goods I make. I'm excited but nervous too because there's always the risk of my products totally flopping. But risk is the name of the game when it comes to entrepreneurship. I won't ever know unless I try.

Anyway, I'm not writing this simply to gloat over how lucky I am. This is to remind myself that I should be grateful for the daily grind because I'm living "my dream." And none of this would be possible without the support of the Dude, who always encourages me do what makes me most happy. I'm immensely blessed to have a spouse like the Dude who "gets me" and takes my hopes and dreams seriously.

I finally did it. I got a Twitter account. And I feel very lost in Twitter-land. The fact that it's supposed to be simple and yet I don't get it makes me feel very old.

Anyway, I can be found @laxtoyvr.

Another trip to IKEA yielded these results:

The Helmer drawer unit and the Gilbert chair are two IKEA items I love. They offer a lot of design-bang for your buck. And the Gilbert chair is surprisingly comfortable to boot. (Please just ignore the wire-y mess under the desk).

I really wish Helmer came in black though. It'd be so bad-ass in black. I'm sure IKEA will realize this one day and grant me my wish. The other thing I wish for is drawer stoppers so that the drawers don't come flying out whenever I pull one open.

Crap, I just realized that the office is looking too IKEA-ish, especially since I'm using the Kassett boxes and Knuff magazine files as storage. And the friggin' glass shelves are from IKEA too. Noooooo, damn you, IKEA. Just kidding, sort of. Given their affordability and that I actually like these pieces a lot, I'm fairly pleased.

I think one reason that I end up getting more stuff from IKEA than I'd really like is not only because it's the most economical option, but it's also the most convenient. It's hard to find the equivalent in non-IKEA home furnishing stores here in Vancouver because the selection is so friggin' small. 

One day when we have a fifteen hundred bucks just idling around, I will replace the Gilbert chair with the Eames Management office chair. One day...

Founds lots of cool stuff when I went thrifting last weekend, one of which was this lamp. I really like it, so I'm considering keeping it for myself rather than selling it in my vintage shop.

Its woody chunkiness is what got my attention. The current lampshade on it though is a tad bit too small. If I were to keep it, I would dress it up with a big sexy black lampshade.

Below is the lamp that it would potentially replace. I found this lamp at an estate sale last summer. It was a gem in the midst of piles and piles of junk. Love its midcentury modern coolness. Airy and graceful.  The very opposite of the specimen above.

Hmmm...not sure what to do. I have a feeling I'm going to agonize over this decision. Can't keep both because we don't have space for two.

The horse is a new addition. I got it from my favourite Etsy vintage shop, Hindsvik. It's a ceramic horse bookend. I love, love, love it. It's the first time I bought something vintage from Etsy. The Dude thinks it's butt ugly and doesn't get it, *sigh*. Maybe if it were a robot or Godzilla he'd appreciate it.

After being away for two weeks, it was nice to return to Vancouver and see cherry blossoms in bloom. Spring is here! Finally.

I had fun showing the Dude Buenos Aires, the city where I was born. It was especially great to be there in March when it's still summer. My relatives enjoyed meeting the Dude. As I expected, they pointed out how skinny he was and blamed it on me - every time we saw them. The best way to summarize our trip to Argentina is that we ate, and ate, and ate some more. It was a meat-fest. And a dessert-fest. Everything tastes so much better down there.

Then we went up to Massachusetts to visit the Dude's family. It was nice to be back in the US and to be among relatives who did not badger us about having kids, like, tomorrow. Anyway, I relished the opportunity to visit stores that I miss frequenting because they don't exist in Canada (e.g. Target and Trader Joe's). A highlight was seeing Brookfield, the Dude's hometown, which is a small rural community in the middle of nowhere. To say the least, it's a very different environment from the kind that I grew up in.

Most of the shopping I did on vacation consisted of stocking up on yarn (as if I don't already have enough). Seriously, if the apocalypse were to occur tomorrow and the world became a nuclear wasteland, I'd have enough yarn to keep me busy until I die...maybe. It would depend on how fast I knit.