Erin's Journals

Well, here we are – Friday already. It’s been a busy week, but nothing I’ve done in the past little while has been as gratifying as putting on my “performer” hat again and moderating a Q&A for a club which I joined last fall. And it happened during, appropriately, International Women’s Day. How perfect!
 
It’s called the Peninsula Newcomers’ Club and you can belong for up to (I think) four years before being shoved out of the nest as a “former newcomer.” Every month, 60-80 women gather at a local Sidney hotel restaurant for a lovely meal, an interesting guest speaker and some prize draws. My first (and, until yesterday, only) one was last September; my schedule or that of friend Nancy who introduced me to the gatherings has gotten in the way. But yesterday I felt right “at home”: I was on the microphone. 
 
Sharon Seemann and Janice Dickens are members of the Peninsula Newcomers’ club. These two women have moved here to the Saanich Peninsula after having lived in Saudi Arabia; Canadian wives of oil workers who took jobs – and their families – in SA and ended up living there for nearly three decades. Their lives in a special enclosed city of 30,000 that is built for non-Saudis (think Truman Show in real life), are fascinating and I feel that our half-hour chat was as enlightening and interesting to our audience as the four-hour talks Janice, Sharon, Nancy and I had leading up to the all-female event! (Of course, Rob was there running the AV for us…I couldn’t do this without his help.)
 
As I asked questions, Janice and Sharon spoke about life on the compound, the reasons they moved there, how it felt sending their 10th grade children off to boarding schools abroad – all of the things that hopefully everyone in our crowd was wondering. Afterward there were another ten really good questions, and Janice and Sharon were at ease on the mic while I asked questions, facilitated the audience part of the afternoon and generally just (I hope) made people laugh.
 

 
I can’t begin to tell you how good it felt. While getting up in front of a microphone is the polar opposite of most people’s comfort zones, to me it felt like it was right where I belonged. It didn’t hurt when I got a warm round of applause during my intro from Nancy; it seems there are other ex-Ontarians in the group, too! YAY! 
 
All in all, it was just the best experience. I’ve been approached about perhaps doing an interview at an arts festival at the local theatre in October and I may well do it. Do I expect a pay cheque? While it would be nice (I have fantasies of actually having freelance work pay for our living expenses for the next few years) it’s doubtful and that’s not why we’re doing it, why Rob came along and did the audio/visual aspect of the day and why I put on lashes and heels for the first time since, oh, November.
 
It’s because, as Dr. Phil puts it, a “racehorse has gotta run.” And this is still my race. I’m not slowing down just because I’m in the back stretch and goodness knows I hope that the home stretch is a way off. I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that more comes out of this and that I get bumped up and out of my cocoon a little more with each passing month. The world appears to be unfolding – or unravelling, depending your outlook – as it should!
 
Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Rob and I are going away for the better part of ten days and I will take one week off from journalling next week. It happens to coincide with March Break for many and since I know that a lot of journal readers take time away from the laptop during that period, I thought I would, too. 
 
I’ll come back with lots of fresh ideas and hope you’ll join me here again on March 19th; until then, take it easy and thank you for sharing time here with me. In the meantime, I expect we’ll be getting a link to a recording of the AMA Waterways/New Wave Travel webinar that we did on Wednesday to talk about next April’s Tulip Time cruise with Mike & Debbie Cooper and Rob & me. I hope to post a link to that soon.
 
Be well, my friend and thank you for sharing time here. Speaking of time, don’t forget the clocks go ahead this Sunday at 2 am as we return to Daylight Saving Time. 
 
Come back on the 19th and I’ll be here if you are.
 

Hey there – I hope your week is going well. I want to finish off my eyebrow blog from yesterday. I have the “after” pictures and stories for you from the microblading session that I booked almost four weeks ago. Tomorrow, I go back to Elham’s Cottage (a studio added on to her house in picturesque View Royal, near Victoria) for my touch-up session and I’m not quite sure what that entails, but I am looking forward to it just the same.
 
You may wonder why someone would get their brows microbladed. For those who’ve undergone chemotherapy or whose thyroids have made their brows either stop at the centre or disappear entirely, it’s a godsend. Eyebrows have become as much of a fashion statement as lips in the past few decades (or millennia if you’re, say, Egyptian) and after seeing a stunning picture of Jann Arden’s new brows, I couldn’t help wondering if they might give my face a little boost, too.
 

 
So, why care about my brows? Well, it was curiosity, mostly. Also, they’ve always been somewhat irksome (I wouldn’t say problematic). I have what they call “expressive eyebrows” so one of them arches more than the other (and hopefully you can’t tell which now, unless I’m giving you the “oh really?” face).
 
I remember one high falutin’ makeup artist live on our radio show at CKLW way back in the 80’s asking me: a) how much time I spent on my makeup in the morning (a question that I knew had no right answer…and I was right) and b) why one of my brows looked like a “spermatazoa.” Yes, “sperm” was said on the radio and I was too shocked to be insulted! But 30+ years later, I thought I’d play around a bit and see what the whole process was like. 
 
I found someone who was highly recommended in my area and we did our preliminary appointment and the actual microblading on the same day. I knew what I wanted and was ready for it. 
 
So, after Elham measured carefully, drew in the eyebrows, plucked and then numbed the area so that she knew what she was working with, I just lay back and took in the gentle scraping. Truly, there was only one twinge and that just meant I needed a little more numbing gel – and I will tell you again that I am not afraid of (or bothered by) needles, blades, etc. – so if you go to someone and have a different experience, I am just letting you know that this is mine!
 
After about two hours, we were done and then I was given strict instructions not to touch or scratch the areas Elham had bladed. The scabs would soon start to appear and I was only to treat them gently with Polysporin and later a vitamin ointment to keep them moist and to aid in the healing process. I was fine with that.
 
The only thing you have to know going into this is that the first week you are going to look like a caricature. The skin that’s been cut needs to scab over and peel off on its own. So, needless to say, I was glad only to be visiting my aunt and uncle. They noticed, but didn’t say anything until I brought it up. Family is usually far less subtle!
 

 
One week later, they had settled down and we got pretty much the brow we were hoping for.
 

 
In the end, about $300 later, I’m going to wait and see how long they last. It’s predicted to be about six months if you use the proper sunscreen, etc. so we shall see. I’ve never regretted the eyeliner I had tattooed on many years ago (you wanna talk painful???) and which has mostly faded off. I just thought I’d bring you along for the ride, in case you or someone else you know is considering it. Ask me in six months whether it was worth the dough. 
 
I’m having a huge adventure stepping back into my comfort zone (emceeing) today; I’ll fill you in on all the details here tomorrow! And thanks for coming by.
 

Hey – before we go any further – here’s an invitation to log on and join us for a webinar – just an online chat, to talk about the Tulip Time Cruise that Mike and I are hosting next April on AMA Waterways through The Netherlands and Belgium. The link to register is here. I’ve never been a part of one of these; I’ve logged on to passively observe and even write questions as it goes, but not actually as an active participant. So here’s to another learning experience!
 
I tried something completely different nearly four weeks ago and wanted to share it with you here today. Have you heard of microblading? It’s a technique for doing eyebrows, wherein tiny scalpel cuts are made and dye is put in. The cuts are all about the size and length of an eyebrow hair and eventually your brows look fuller, darker (if you want) and hopefully like you want them.
 
My eyebrows have never been spectacular – not that I thought brows could be; I mean there was Liz Taylor, Brooke Shields and that’s about it when I was growing up. But now women are sporting these beautifully shaped and manicured brows and I decided that I wanted to explore that side. Here’s a picture of how good the brows can look from a random model shot I found. 
 

 
I got a recommendation from a local esthetician I trust and booked an appointment with a lady near View Royal, about a twenty minute drive from us (which everything is, it seems). I took this before I saw Elham.
 

 
Then as I lay on her table, she measured and drew and dyed…
 

 
Then she applied a numbing gel which really worked for me; only once did I feel a little twinge. Then again, I have a pretty good pain threshold; this is a kid who had an acupuncture facial more than once. So, yeah.
 

 
And finally, with an extremely thin and fine blade, Elham (a lovely lady whose background is an exotic mix of Egyptian and Greek) began to draw me some eyebrows!
 

 
We had our challenges and I’ll tell you about them tomorrow, along with the “after” pictures. The first week was not pretty and I was very glad to have nothing on my calendar except a visit with my aunt and uncle, who refrained from any Groucho Marx jokes. 
 
Take care and don’t forget to join us today for the webinar at 4:30 EST . I can’t wait to see how this works!
 

What a journey Rob and I have been on the past few days! Not just our little Oscar party where we and our three guests donned tuxes and/or fancy fake jewels as we sipped sparkling wine or water and watched all of our favourites take home the coveted Academy Award…but we’ve been seeing some “moving pictures” of our own.
 
You see, we got a little extension on the deadline for the second and final manuscript of my book. Our editor, who is Vice President, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at HarperCollins (how lucky am I?) has been so gracious and patient. She’s guided this newbie along through the whole process over the past 15 months and we’re about to send off the final (we hope) edition of our life’s work. Then she and her team will work their magic for the next 11 months and lo, these 93,000+ words will be in a book. 
 
But should I add to the word count by 6,000 because of six pictures and that old saw about one being worth a thousand words? Hmmm. 
 
It’s been a tough haul in the past month since we began delving into which photos, but no more so than the last week when we’ve been trying to get permission from everyone: my niece’s wedding photographer (who took our favourite picture of Rob, Lauren and me), the Blue Jays’ head office (for a shot of us singing the anthems on the field together) and Today’s Parent magazine (for permission to use Rob’s favourite of Lauren and me, at a microphone, when she was a baby), to name three.
 
But the question is this: how do you sum up the life of someone who went from being your baby to the mother of her own cherished child? It’s been a difficult process in so very many ways, but one that we’re honoured to undertake. We just hope we choose ones that she would be happy with.
 
When Lauren died, Rob was able to access her computer files so that we could find pictures that she had taken, to use in her memorials. What I didn’t realize at that time was how many videos she had taken of her baby son. Most of them are a minute or so and feature her cooing at him, him smiling and laughing or snoring and breathing softly. Just baby things.
 
But hearing her voice and just how much she adored that beautiful little child has brought me to tears more than once. It’s surprising how little Rob and I have cried over the past few months, but I guess it’s no surprise that immersing ourselves in this process one more time has been a trigger for tears.
 
There have been surprises, too. The nicest was this photo of me goofing around on an antique microphone. I don’t remember when she took it (the date on the photo is eight years ago this month), but I love that she worked to put an effect on it. This is a new favourite, I think. What a lovely gift from a girl who just keeps giving!
 

 
And finally, a bit of travel business! The AMA Waterways Tulip Time trip that Mike Cooper and I are co-hosting next April (yes, 2019) is booking up with several double and single cabins already spoken for. If you’re curious, please join us for a webinar (it’s dead simple – Rob and I have logged on to two in the past few months with Rogers radio and Rotary International). If you have time, it’s at 4:30 pm EST tomorrow – Wednesday – so please join us!
 
All of the details are below and you can just click on the photo to be taken to the registration page. (You need to register ahead of time if you want to listen in.)
 

Welcome to a brand new week. I hope that you’re not too sleep-deprived (that is, if you stayed up for the Oscars last night). Of course, here on the west coast, everything began at 5 pm. Where were these hours when I was getting up at 3:15 on Mondays? Honestly! But we had over a couple and another friend and we dressed up just for fun – Rob in his tux and everything – and I’ll get to that tomorrow, if it’s worthwhile. But for today…another kitchen adventure.
 
Every time I bake – which is admittedly not that often – I worry that I’m going to pour in soya sauce when I was supposed to put in vanilla or, when I’m doing a stir fry, the reverse. I have a couple of bottles that look rather similar (as do we all) and there’s always the risk of that if you’re trying to do too much all at once.
 
But a week or so ago I got caught and I was almost relieved to find that Rob did, too.
 
We have yogurt in the fridge (and that’s on purpose, not just some milk that we’ve forgotten about). We like to keep plain on hand so that we can mix it with fruit in the morning or use it in place of higher calorie sour cream as a topping on chili or baked potatoes. Maybe you do the same. 
 
Rob had a rather unusual sort of culinary experience when he scooped out a dollop and put it on his potato. What a surprise he got with his first mouthful when he realized that the yogurt he’d used was not plain – it was vanilla!
 
That’s the sort of mistake you only make once, right? Nope – not us. It wasn’t a week later that I was serving up chili and plopped a big tablespoon of that same yogurt onto each bowlful. I realized it before we tasted it, though, having remembered Rob’s misadventure. So I scooped it out and on we went.
 
Now, you’ll understand our confusion when you see these two containers side by side. Basically the only difference is a subtly coloured flower and a vanilla bean. Not enough when you’re rushing to get your meal together. 
 

 
My solution? To take a big Sharpie and write VANILLA across the container. Simple, but effective; at least I’m hoping that it will prevent any further accidental toppings. But, then again…this is us. We’ll likely do it again!
 
Have an easy day and we’ll be back with you tomorrow.