women of wonder: my 7th (and final) mission - rediscover yourself.

My final mission for the Rediscover Your Wonder project with WonderBra was to "Rediscover Yourself". Over the past few months I've rock climbed, taken a life drawing class, written a children's book, taken a photography class, gone on a quilting road trip, and even belly danced!  This has been an incredible experience - one that would not have been possible if it weren't for being asked to participate in this project.   Thank you to the folks at WonderBra and the other ladies who participated for inspiring me to try new things and truly put myself out there.

Paul Stouffer and me in the studio

But back to rediscovering myself.  That's a tall order.  I did a little bit of thinking about how I might do this.  The one part of me (a big part) that I don't make time for, is the part of me that loves music.  I have studied music (I even went to post secondary school for it!).  It has been years since I have had the opportunity to sing.  My friend Jay Leonard (fabulous musician and recording engineer) offered to record me.  He even set up the session and hired the wonderful pianist Paul Stouffer.  All I had to do was decide what I wanted to sing and show up at the session.  Yeah, I know I'm super lucky to have friends this awesome.  (Jay's girlfriend, my soul-sister Alana illustrated the children's book for me.)

Jay making the magic happen! He told me he wouldn't autotune my voice, no matter how nicely I asked.

We recorded four tunes on Tuesday night.  Jay busted his tail mixing for me (and even put up with my anxious calls and emails wondering when I was going to get my tracks).  I was very nervous about hearing how it all turned out.  I'm happy with the recordings.  As Jay put it, I'm definitely rusty, but you can still tell there is a singer in there (somewhere).  Thank you again to Jay and Paul for your time and patience and for giving me the chance to sing again.  I am blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  Enjoy (and please be kind)!











Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my 6th mission - rediscover your balance.

My 6th mission for the rediscover your wonder project was to "rediscover your balance and take a dance class".

I love dance. I love watching dance. I have never, in my life, taken a dance class. The idea scared the you-know-what out of me. While I think as I grow older I am more comfortable in my own skin, I am still very self-conscious of how I appear to others. What if I am terrible? What if I don't pick up how to move? And what if I look ridiculous?

After some thought, I came to the conclusion that the type of dance I was really interested in learning was belly dance. Not because it was something that would teach me how to move provocatively, but because it was something that I felt would help me be more comfortable with my body (curves and all). Lucky for me, there is a world class belly dance studio in the town where I live, and I was able to get a private lesson with the fabulous Joharah, who just got back from teaching for two weeks in Egypt. She was kind enough to shoot some video of me demonstrating what she taught me in our first lesson:


I enjoyed this class so much that Joharah signed me up for her beginner series in the new year. I am still self-conscious (hello floor to ceiling mirrors everywhere you turn), but I think continuing on and learning more will help me feel more empowered about my feminine curves, and certainly more in touch with what my body is capable of. Of all the missions I have accomplished so far - rock climbing, life drawing, writing a children's book, taking a photography class, and going on a quilting trek, this is the one that really connected my mind with my body.  Also - holy hannah! - what a fantastic few months this has been!

Thank you WonderBra for presenting me with this opportunity!  How often do you get the chance or make the time to explore a bunch of things you have always had on your "to do list...one day"?  Any one of these missions would have been terrific.  To have completed so much in only a few months is a gift.  There is only one mission left, and I can honestly say that I am both looking forward to it, and dreading it, because once it is done, this project will be over.  That's not to say I won't keep working on rediscovering myself, but this project has forced me outside my comfort zone in a way that I don't think I would have on my own accord.  I hope it encourages you to go try something you have always wanted to try.  Seriously - take an evening and go learn how to deep dive or blow glass or learn how to throw darts...whatever your "one day" list is - make it happen.

While you're at it - check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my 4th mission (part deux) - rediscover your happiness.

This is part 2 of my rediscover your happiness mission for the Rediscover Your Wonder project.

photographer Michael Willems discussing exposure compensation

I have been enjoying playing around with my new camera – a Nikon D3100 since I picked it up a few weeks ago. I really had no clue what the heck all the settings were for, or what all the buttons and switches did, but that didn’t stop me from taking a bunch of pictures. Turns out, this camera is so terrific, it takes really nice pictures, even if you are clueless. Very considerate of it, I agree. But the item on my bucket list that I am working towards accomplishing is to become a decent photographer, not just someone who uses a DSLR as if it is a top notch point-and-shoot. When I bought the camera, the folks at Henry’s recommended that I take an intro course so I would start to understand the power of my new camera (and also what all the buttons and switches do).

The 3 hour intro course ran this past Saturday. I was worried that 3 hours would be a bit much for me to sit through, but I needn’t have worried – it flew by. The instructor, Michael Willems was excellent – extremely knowledgeable, funny and did a great job of not making anyone feel like an idiot for not knowing how to hold their cameras (myself included). Also, I felt like I got my money’s worth within the first 3 minutes. I now know how to operate the basic menus on my camera, how to adjust settings (and when to and why I would want to). He also walked us through all of the cool features on our cameras and how to access them multiple ways. All very useful stuff.

What I really liked, was he also made recommendations on what additional accessories we should consider. Turns out that a backup battery and backup memory cards (max 4G) are the way to go. Michael’s point? If you run out of battery power you aren’t going to be taking ANY photos, so why does it matter that you have some expensive lens? Also, 4G cards are better than 16G cards because if a 4G card fails on you, you only lose up to 4G of photos. Bonus? The 4G card can be saved directly to a dvd for backup without requiring you to divide up your photos and save to multiple dvds. Great advice in my books.

Of course, there were recommendations for flashes, hoods, and lens types. If anyone wants to know what’s on my Christmas wish list, let me know! The most useful tool we got from the course was a copy of the presentation to refer back to. It’s in English, unlike the camera manual, which is in Engineer. Part 2 of the course is being offered in a few weeks and I’m hoping I can take it. If you have a camera you don’t know how to operate fully, or are getting one for Christmas, I highly recommend signing up for a course at Henry’s. Seriously. Your camera will thank you.

Edited to add: Michael was kind enough to email me some pictures he took of me when he was demonstrating how to use (and not use a flash):

This is what happens when you shoot with the flash straight on - I look like Baroness Von Shiny Face - thumbs down!

Much better! Flash was turned around and pointed up above the photographer's head - great for lighting ladies!

The best! flash positioned at the side of the camera, providing a much nicer mood.

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my 5th mission - rediscover your community.

Of all my missions for the Rediscover Your Wonder project, this one is my favourite.  My mission was to "rediscover my community".  The question is, which community needed rediscovering? 

mothers
women
parents of children with Autism
the town where I live
bloggers
quilters
...and many more (tongue in cheek)

No offence to mothers, women, parents of kids with ASD, neighbours or bloggers, but I get a lot of you on a regular basis.  Quilting tends to be a solitary art form though, so it isn't often that I get to spend time with other people who love quilting as much, if not more, than I do.  My 2 favourite quilting stores are Regalitos Quilting Arts and Quiltology.  The last time I got to visit them was in May, so I took this opportunity to hit the road for a few days to rediscover my community of quilters.

I loaded my sewing machine and my quilting supplies into my car and hit the road.  First stop was Regalitos in Jackson, Michigan, where I got to hang out with Cindie for the afternoon while she put together 5 Christmas tree skirt kits for me (I'll blog about them, not to worry).  The next stop was Quiltology in Chicago (I also hit my favourite pizza joint Eduardo's which is just up the street).  Please excuse the choppy video I shot - I was clearly overwhelmed with excitement about being around "my people".


In addition to rediscovering my quilting community, I also rediscovered my "mid-west America" community.  I love the people who live in this part of the US.  They are friendly and welcoming and the salt of the earth.  Even though I was traveling alone, I didn't feel lonely for one single minute. 

I should add that I had planned to visit another quilting store in the Chicago area (QuiltFabric.com), but I spent all my money at Regalitos and Quiltology, so that will have to wait for my next trip!

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

you don't know what you don't know.

rubbing the buddha's head for good luck

The folks at Henry's Camera Centre are saints.  Why, you ask? Well, first off, they have been wonderful in answering all of my questions about my new camera.  Even better, when I discovered it really wasn't the camera I needed, they were completely unfazed and made it really easy for me to exchange it for a camera that was a better fit.

"we're having a leaf party mommy!!"

It took me about a week of messing around with my new camera (the Nikon d3000) to figure out that I couldn't live without a live view finder.  In English, that means being able to see what you are about to shoot in the little view finder box on the back of your camera.  This is a feature specific to point-and-shoot cameras and isn't necessarily included on a DSLR.  I thought I didn't need it, and that I'd be fine looking through the camera view finder to take pictures.  The only problem is that when I'm trying to get Max's attention, I need to be able to engage with him - almost impossible if I've got a camera pressed against my face.

stop trying to steal my soul mom

At the best of times it can be hard to get Max to cooperate for a photo op, so you can understand why I would want the camera of my dreams to be one I can use to get great photos of Max.  I ended up getting the Nikon d3100 instead (I know, big stretch, eh?).  It is the exact same camera as the d3000 except it has the live view finder, 14.2 MP, and shoots HD video.  That's a whole lotta camera.  I am  taking a beginner class at Henry's this coming Saturday to learn how to use all the features.  Until then I'm just flying in the dark, so bear with me as my photos are mostly being taken in auto mode and a wing and a prayer.

women of wonder: my 4th mission - rediscover your happiness.

I figured out a while ago, that one of the tricks to taking great pictures is to take a lot of pictures.  One of them is bound to be a gem.

Also, knowing how to crop your photos and tweak the contrasts doesn't hurt either (iPhoto you rock my world).  I learned that lesson from my friend Jennifer, who told me she crops the heck out of her photos and avoids using a flash when possible.  

My Woman of Wonder mission this week was:

Picture Perfect

Get back in touch with the things that make you truly happy and capture these picture perfect moments in photographs.

That's a pretty good mission, but I feel like to really capture these "picture perfect moments" I need to take my skills to the next level and learn how to use a real camera instead of the point and shoot camera I'm currently using.  I've been saving up for a DSLR camera for the past year, and I decided to bite the bullet and get it.  Really, this mission is going to be a two part deal.  This first part is me getting my camera (yahoo!).  The next part will take place in a few weeks when I learn how to use this fancy contraption.  

I purchased my new camera (a Nikon d3000) at Henry's - a top notch photography store where I live.  They specialize in all things cameras, so I felt more comfortable buying it there instead of a big box type store.  I know if I ever have a problem the folks at Henry's will actually be able to help me and the fact that they offer photography courses for beginners is also something that I think is important.  This video is of me getting my camera.  Please try to ignore the sales guy talking super loud in the background of the video.  We tried to move away from him, but I swear his voice got louder the further away we got (true story).  Also - thanks to Rob and Alisha - you guys rock!

In addition to getting a new camera, I picked up the book Expressive Photography.  I had the opportunity to hear one of the book's authors Kate Inglis speak at Blissdom Canada a few weeks ago, and I found her take on photography fascinating.  I highly recommend you pick up a copy - it will make you want to become a better photographer. 

This really is mission 4-a, seeing as I need to take some time to monkey around with my new camera to figure out how to make it work for me.  I will post part 4-b after I complete the Nikon Part 1 course at Henry's later this month.  Stay tuned!

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my third mission - write a children's story.

Mermaids have always fascinated me, as does water (great bodies and puddles alike).  I think my interest in mermaids has something to do with the idea that there could be an entire universe beneath the ocean that is out of our human reach.  Beautiful mermaids and mermen falling in love and singing and laughing (oh yeah - in my fantasy, all mermaids and happy, all the time).

One of the items on my bucket list is to write a trilogy based on mermaids.  I'm guessing it wouldn't hold the same allure as vampires, but hey, this is MY bucket list, right?  My official mission this week was:

Once Upon A Time

Bring your own ideas to life and write that short story about mermaids for your daughter.

An interesting challenge for sure!  Since my friend Alana is a fantastic artist, I asked her if she would do the illustrations for me, and she said yes (lucky me!).  Cameron and I went to visit her on Saturday and she drew all ten illustrations in 90 minutes (I'm a slave driver - just ask her!).

Look at her hands! They are true tools of an artist:

I hope you enjoy "My Secret Mermaid" by me, and illustrated by Alana.  I'm working on getting a print version so that we can add it to Cameron's library.  Let me know if you'd like a copy!



Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

amazing women at every turn.

Women are the real architects of society.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

This past week has reminded me once again, that I am surrounded by kick ass women - near and far.  

First there is Cherie Kollee, a friend of a friend, and the creative force behind Girlybaby. After seeing a picture of a Cinderella costume she made on her facebook page, I asked her if she had any left. She offered to make a custom pink princess costume for Cameron (one week before Halloween I might add).  She even had it ready in time for Cameron to wear to daycare on Friday.  I squealed with delight when I saw it - truly the definition of pink perfection.  Someone commented that they thought Cameron was dressed up as "Pretty" for Halloween.  I have to agree.

There is also my friend Alana, who is a public school music and art teacher, single mom, sings in 2 bands, and teaches harp privately.  She agreed, without even a second thought, to illustrate the children's book I wrote for my latest Woman of Wonder mission.  Cameron and I visited her in Kitchener yesterday and she drew ten illustrations in 90 minutes.  Incredible.  I can't wait to get this project up for everyone to see - her work is beautiful.

Cameron is tired of pictures.  Enough Mommy!!

This morning Cameron and I went to my friend Jennifer's, aka, The Party Mama, Halloween Party.  Jennifer is also a teacher, but has taken a few years "off" to get to spend more time with her children while they are wee.  And by "off", I mean she is still supply teaching and running a business.  Her Halloween party filled up in the first day after being announced.  There were 100 kids there.

Her mom, Denise (The Party Mama's Mama) was also at the party.  Denise is always ready with a smile and is always at Jenn's events supporting her with whatever needs to get done.

Also at the party was Kate McIntosh, a photographer with a million pounds of patience! She had these kids posing and smiling like it was their favourite thing in the world.  And when the sun moved and she had to haul her set across the park for better lighting?  No big deal - all in a day's work.

Of course, my favourite still-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman, Cameron, inspires me every day with her smiles and laughs and the funny things that come out of her mouth.  She makes my heart hurt (in a good way).

Being a princess is hard work, yo.

There are so many more amazing women in my life that I haven't mentioned here (my mom, and Jennifer, to name a few). They have been such great supporters of me, and are always here for me to lean on. Okay - off to finish that book, grocery shop, and of course, quilt. The night is young!

women of wonder: my second mission - life drawing.

It's week 2 of the WonderBra Rediscover Your Wonder project.  This week's theme is "rediscover your beauty".  My mission?:

Beautiful Bodies: Take a life drawing class and contemplate the things that define you as a woman.

I was very nervous about this mission – way more nervous than I was about rock climbing (which I'm doing again with Jen this Saturday!). I even got a pre-lesson from my friend Alana.  I think that rock climbing is something you do, and very different than expressing yourself through something creative like art, which is more of a representation of who you are. While drawing is most certainly a skill, you are creating something that wasn’t there before. It’s personal, it can be judged, it’s an extension of you. For the second week in a row, I was throwing myself head first into a completely unfamiliar environment – one that I knew nothing about. I imagined that there would be a group of talented artists who would know the minute I entered the studio that I didn’t belong, and I wasn’t one of them – an “artist”.

Well, you know what Oscar Wilde said about assumptions…yeah, that. Turns out it wasn’t that way at all. I got to the Visual Arts Brampton Creative Studios about 15 minutes early (eager beaver) and nobody was there. Hmmm…hope I didn’t get the time wrong? I sat on the stairs to wait, pad and pencils in hand, novice art student that I was. I few minutes later a young woman walked into the foyer, saw my pad and sat down on the stairs next to me. I asked her if she was there for the class and she said “I’m the model”. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but we chatted for a bit and I told her about the Rediscover Your Wonder project and she was really into it. The studio finally opened up and we went in. There were only 4 people there to draw, so there was a lot of choice as to where to sit in the studio. Everyone was friendly, and the vibe was very relaxed.

When the model came out, she got up on the platform area, disrobed and posed. She held each pose for 2 minutes – she did 10 of these short poses. Then she did three 10 minute poses. I was blown away by how natural it all was. She was so comfortable in her skin, and I was so focused on trying to create respectable lines and shapes that I actually forgot that there was a nude model in front of me. She became just someone I was drawing. Interestingly enough, later on she said that she is at the point now that she thinks of herself as the banana and the orange in a fruit arrangement when she is posing.

This model, she had a beautiful body to draw. Curves and hips and breasts and a tummy – her body told a story. She was so confident too, and she made me realize that it isn’t the shape of your body that matters at all, it’s if you yourself believe that you are beautiful and own it.  She was kind enough to let me interview her during her break, which you will see in this week's video:



Oooo! Also - new sexy underwear from WonderBra (a girl could get used to this!).  Look! See!

And, I figured since this week is all about rediscovering your beauty, I would share a (very tame) picture of me modeling my new underwear.  Hey, if Devon can pose nude for 2.5 hours, I can pose in a picture of a bra that is the equivalent of a bikini top!  Enjoy ;-)

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

tmi tuesday: saggy tits are the bomb.

Henri Matisse - study for "pink nude"
charcoal on paper,  34 x 48 cm, private collection - 1935

As part of the WonderBra "Rediscover Your Wonder" project, I’m attending my first ever life drawing class tonight. If you aren’t familiar with what life drawing is, it’s a class that usually takes place in an art studio with a single model, who holds poses on a broad stand or platform. Students sit around the platform and practice drawing the human figure, which is considered essential to honing one’s drawing skills. Also, the model is nude. That’s “nude”, not “naked”. While the two words are similar, they have very different meanings when applied to art.

“Naked” implies a position of weakness. Bare, stripped, without adequate clothing. “Nude” is a choice – a position of power. An unclothed human figure.

Since I’ve never been to a life drawing class, I had my friend Alana (artist, musician, teacher, soul sister) give me the run down on what to expect and how to not make an ass of myself. She told me as long as I remember the following things, I’d be just fine:

1. don’t be intimidated about being a beginner – nobody cares what you are drawing, they are too busy drawing
2. the model will hold a variety of poses over the course of the class – a series of short poses (lasting no more than a few minutes) are held as a warm-up. Longer poses follow (lasting 10 to 20 minutes).
3. don’t talk to or distract the model while he or she is holding a pose
4. don’t talk with other students or move to another seat (you get the view you get, so deal with it)
5. any requests for specific poses are made to the class instructor beforehand
6. during breaks the model will put on a robe and relax – if the model shows a willingness to socialize you may speak with the model but keep it professional
7. don’t be picky about the age, sex or other physical characteristics of artists’ models – a good instructor will hire a wide range of models to give participants the most experience in figure drawing
8. “saggy tits are the bomb” (that’s a direct quote from Alana) – drawing the perky little breasts of an 18 year old gets boring fast, while the breasts of a woman who has breastfed her babies, have stretch marks, and have a story to tell are much more interesting and beautiful to draw

This conversation led to a very interesting discussion between Alana and me. I asked her if she thought she could model and she said she thought so, in the right conditions with the right people. If you had asked me that question before I had kids, I would have said absolutely not (which is interesting, because back then my body was in much better shape than it is now). But if you asked me that today, I’d say “probably”. I am so much more comfortable with my body now, even though my nipples don’t point to the sun, I have stretch marks here and there, and my tummy is not as flat as it once was. When you give birth, everyone and the janitor sees you at your most vulnerable, with all your business out there for the world to see. You are in so much pain you really don’t care; you are focused on getting the job done and getting that baby out of you – now!

Anyone who has breastfed gets over being shy about someone getting a peak at your nipples in a hurry. I can’t even count the number of times one of my babies decided to pop off or that he was done eating and I flashed a family member or complete stranger. It really isn’t a big deal and I absolutely refused to go and hide to feed my baby or wear one of those tent get ups to cover something that is completely natural and beautiful.

I’ve got my pencils and papers and I’m ready to go appreciate the beautiful human form. I hope the model is female. I’m in the mood to draw some saggy tits.

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my first mission - rock climbing.

As part of the WonderBra Woman of Wonder project, I am getting sent on a bunch of missions that are going to help me "rediscover my wonder". My first mission? Learn how to rock climb! It didn't seem so scary when I first found out about it last week. But once we were actually about to get started I was a little (lot) freaked out (as you can see from the picture of me and my friend Jenn who I invited to join me). I invited Jenn because she has been a really positive part of my life for the past 12 years. She is very laid back, but always knows what's going on, so I knew she would make sure not to kill me. She also let me witness the birth of her 3rd child, so I figured I owed her (wink).

We were lucky enough to score a private lesson with one of the owners - the fabulous Maria of Climber's Rock in Burlington.  I was relieved we had a female instructor and that it would just be me and Jenn, without anyone else around to witness me likely making a fool of myself.

Climber's Rock is an incredible facility.  There seemed to be a range of skill levels (beginners like us right on up to climbers who compete nationally).  It was a little intimidating at first, but the overall vibe is  very relaxed and friendly.  Also, there were a lot of muscular men walking around without their shirts on, so I wasn't complaining.  We were given some special shoes to wear (they fit really, really snug).  Those little dainty ones on the left are Jenn's (size 7??).  I think if I get into rock climbing more seriously I'll buy my own shoes.

We spent the majority of our lesson learning about safety, how to put on our harnesses, how to tie all sorts of fancy knots that don't slip (important!), and how to not die.  As you can see the harnesses are super flattering on curvy women and grab you in all the right places.  That's a joke.

After making us tie and untie ourselves for what seemed like forever, Maria finally let us practice climbing and belaying.  Belaying was harder to learn than the climbing because you have to figure out how to make the ropes act like a pulley system and you have to not mess it up or you will drop your partner on her head.  Well, not really, but as Maria put it, if you screw up, "someone's having a bad day". I'm happy to report that both Jenn and I remained intact throughout the lesson.  If you don't believe me, I have video to prove it:




Rock climbing was very different than I thought it would be. It's one heck of a workout but it's very relaxing. During our lesson I was completely focussed on what Maria was teaching us. I didn't think about my kids, or work, or anything else that has been stressing me out. The climbers are also a tight knit group who are welcoming, supportive and friendly. I was worried that I'd feel out of place but everyone is there to have a good time. There didn't seem to be any competition between climbers either, which I liked. It makes sense, because you are really just challenging yourself, and it certainly isn't a race to the top. My favourite part about it was something I never even thought about though, and that is the communication that happens between you and your climbing partner. You have to be in sync, be supportive, and there is also room for a lot of laughs and fun. My kind of exercise.

I will definitely go back for more climbing, hopefully with Jenn (she didn't kill me, so you know, she's a good person to keep around). Shout outs to Maria, Jenn, and of course, WonderBra for making this all a reality. It really wouldn't have happened without you!

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my first mission, part 2.

Friday evening, 8:30pm. We hear a knock on the door.
We are given a plain brown box, addressed to me (very mysterious).
I open the box, and view the following object:

I think it's a tennis racket.

Or maybe a flip.  Whoa! Ah HD 120 minute flip! Fancy!

Upon further inspection, I see that I have been sent my first mission for the WonderBra Women of Wonder project.  It reads:

Week 1

A New Perspective

Get a different view of the world and 

go rock climbing with someone you trust.

When you get to the top, let go.

I examine the note closely to make sure that it will not self-destruct.  No such warning, but Ooooh! Pretty, pink, lacy, lingerie! Who doesn't feel like a goddess in beautiful underwear?  I am going to walk with a little extra confidence on Monday at work.  If only my coworkers knew they had a Woman of Wonder in their midst...

Check out WonderBra.ca to see what the other Women of Wonder are up to!

women of wonder: my first mission.

My first mission for the WonderBra Women of Wonder project has been sent to me.  Rock climbing! Fun stuff (and on my bucket list!). Now, to find someone I trust...hmmm.  Check out all the other women of wonder and their missions on the WonderBra facebook page.

rediscover your wonder.

A few weeks ago I got an offer I absolutely could not refuse.  It came out of nowhere - a sparkly little email in my blog inbox.  I had been selected as a "Woman of Wonder" by WonderBra and asked if I would be willing to participate in their "Rediscover Your Wonder" campaign.  They have selected 5 women that they find inspiring, and want to send each of us on 8 missions, which they will finance.  I was assured the missions would be fun and rejuvenating and tailored to me.  Hmmm...interesting.  Then they asked me for my measurements (complementary gitch perhaps?) and my bucket list, plus anything else I've ever wanted to do but just haven't been able to make happen because life gets in the way. 

All they ask is that I record my missions (with a flip cam they are also giving me) and blog about them.  That's it.  Wahoo! I LOVE companies that sponsor content.  I LOVE companies that understand how to work with bloggers.  And most of all, I LOVE companies that say - "hey, we want to send you on a bunch of fun missions and we are going to make it happen!".  Done and done!  From what I understand, I will receive a mystery package on Friday with everything I need to get started, and the official Rediscover Your Wonder campaign will kick-off on October 4th.  I haven't been this excited about something since I figured out I could watch television on the internet!  I hope they understood when I said "take a life drawing class" that I meant I wanted to be a student and not the model...I don't think they're ready for this jelly.