Wednesday 29 October 2014

#2. Two Pencil String

Welcome back!

The Diva's second challenge was to use two pencils to create one string. What a great idea from another CZT Margaret Bremner! I loved this challenge and the resulting Zentangle Tile is probably one of my personal favourites that I've created.
March 11, 2014, The Diva Challenge #2, "Two Pencil String"
Reading her challenge that day, I don't have a heck of a lot to say. I think she probably had a heck of a lot to say, but was probably fighting some sort of inner battle of 'how much do I share?'. I hadn't met Laura yet, but I was at home with my babe, still in denial that she had such a hard road ahead of her. I imagine that Laura was feeling the same things at the same time that I was.... but I didn't have a popular blog to update. I didn't have a bunch of internet family waiting to hear how my new babe was doing.  I know she was scared. Who wouldn't be.

Here's a picture from my household on December 26, 2011. Surprisingly, I apparently took no photos on December 27, 2011.





Thanks again for reading! I'll see you next week!
-Tara

Wednesday 22 October 2014

#1. Simple. Right?

Hello! And welcome to my first blog. On February 1, 2014 I created my first Zentangle. Let me tell you a little back story.

According to Facebook, The Diva and I started our friendship in March of 2011. It started before that, but we just didn't really know it yet. I saw Laura and B-Rad for the first time on Oct 16, 2010. They didn't see me, they didn't know me and I didn't know them. But I recognized the looks on their faces. I felt their pain. When their son Artoo was born he was placed 3 isolettes down and across from my daughter E-Bean. Kitty corner you would call it I guess! We never spoke while we were in the NICU together. I was at the stage in our NICU journey where I was not talking to 'newcomers' anymore. I didn't know it at the time that they weren't newcomers... but they were already at the stage of 'not talking to people' because this wasn't their first time. E was born on September the 5th. On October 31st we were flown away from the NICU for surgery out of province and when we returned, The Diva's family had transferred units. While we were gone, another NICU mom that had become a friend of mine (and still is today) became friends with Laura. When we were transferred back to the NICU here, E-Bean was placed right beside our now mutual friends son! Which was awesome for me because it was a familiar and friendly face. R told me about Laura a couple months later. She commented that we were very similar people. That we had a lot of the same interests. That we needed to meet. So.... I did what anyone would do in this day, I read her blog.  R had told me a few things, mentioned that maybe we were in a 'similar boat'... that we needed to get in touch. But how would I bring that up? Eventually, I geared up the courage to message Laura. 

We met up and we realized we did indeed have a lot in common. Similar tastes in music, art, clothing, we even had the same couch. We also both had chronically sick kids. 

I always admired her artistic talents and loved the Zentangles she proudly displayed in her home. We always talked about how one day I would have her teach me the method. One day. One day kept turning into another day. And another day. And another. I just kept not asking her. I don't know why. I guess maybe I wasn't making the time to do it for myself. I knew she would teach me if I asked. We had talked about it... but I never followed through! My mother in law lives out of town and loves Zentangle. She did not know that The Diva was my very awesome friend. She had heard of The Diva's challenges via pinterest but hadn't visited her blog, else she would have known that The Diva was my friend because they had already met. When I told my MIL who The Diva was she was so excited. She thought maybe she could teach us Zentangle when she was in town the next time. So I had a solid date. A time. And wine. And cake. And we had a 1 on 2 private Zentangle class by CZT Laura H. And it was amazing. 

Here is my very first Tile. 
My first ever Zentangle

I was hooked. Later that night I created another tile. The back of the tile reads, "I should be sleeping. It's 11:56pm". 
My second Zentangle. Wine encouraged.

The next day I took a drive to visit my mom. It's a short drive out of the city through the Canadian Prairie. I was seeing the landscape as tangle patterns. The bales of hay, the sheaths of wheat. When I got to my moms house I immediately created a new Zentangle. Like I said, I was hooked.  
This is my Saskatchewan Tile. Wheat, Bales, and Sky.

I started doing her challenges as they were released. But I jumped in 3 years late! So I went to her very first post. I read it. I completed the challenge. I read the next one, and the next one, and the ones after that. I read them and I was reading things, but then remembering how things were during those times. I was reading in between her words and her lines. I became emotional. Cried a bit. I went back "there". 

A while later her and I went out together. I made a joke and exclaimed, "I'm going to start a blog! I'm going to call it "I do the Diva!" And we giggled in that ridiculous way two 30 something's enjoying some wine might. But then I got more serious. I told her how I when I was reading her posts that I was remembering what those times were like. And I thought it was an interesting perspective. I wanted to go on a journey through time. Start back at the beginning, and do all of her challenges and blog about them as I do them. Her story, my story. Our story? Simple... right?

Here is Weekly Challenge #1 Simplicity. Not unlike Laura's, life was anything but simple at that point. December 20, 2010. I imagine (but this may not be correct) that she had maybe written her first Challenge on December 19. December 19th was the day we brought E-Bean home from the hospital for the first time. 


Here is my take on Simplicity. 



Thank you for taking the time to read my very first very long not so simple blog post. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope to have you back next week on Wednesday. 

-Tara