Besides failing miserably at putting on suntan lotion evenly, I was attacked by an albino Mexican sand bear! swathhhhhh. After he pawed me, I gave him some tortillas with cheese dip. This seemed to settle him for a bit while I made my get-away!!

My beloved friend, Felix the Cat, passed away yesterday morning. He was 14 and had a very good life. Felix liked sleeping on clean white sheets, eating expensive cat food, dipping his paws in milk, licking up the sugary milk at the bottom of my nighttime cereal bowl, attacking moths, running in the backyard, watching tennis and nature shows about woodland animals, and chasing string, red yarn, and thin twigs. I will miss Mr. Felix. He was a very happy and lovely cat.

MostlyLisa.com is featured on Best Web Gallery! Sweeeeeeeeeeet! I have been drooling over the uber sites on Best Web Gallery (my all-time favourite design gallery) for almost a year. In fact, I have a Sunday night tradition where I made a nice pot of tea and set out a huge plate of chocolate covered biscuits and peruse all the newly awarded sites on BWG, FWA and the plethora of CSS galleries I follow.

The real props should go to the award-winning designers of this blog: Coding Monkeys.co.uk.

Next week, I will be heading to Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, which is quickly becoming my home away from home, to meet up with Tom, Coding Monkey’s Head honcho. After he schools me on the Xbox, flaunts his new MB Air, and we hit up Tescos to grab some Onken and crisps, I will sit down with Tom and ask him a few questions about his successful web design business. Stay tuned for that interview next week!

Jump to some pictures from my last trip to England.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Next week, I’m heading back to the greatest land, land of tea, scones, and marmite crisps… jolly accents, dry humour, and the Queen’s English… consistent rainfall, looming grey clouds, and whipping winds that turn your brolly inside out… fish and chips, chip and eggs, and mushy peas…

Yes you’ve got it, England.

During my week long trip in August, I traveled loads and ended up seeing a lot of the country, mostly in passing whilst in a train or automobile.

Here is a Googly Map of my travels in England:

I got to know British Rail pretty well, and though we had a few disagreements over lack of wifi, comfortable seats, and leg room, I did feel a certain novel fondness for the British train system.

I thought I’d take a look back at the planes, trains, and automobiles I encountered during my travels from Vancouver, BC to London, England and then all over the beautiful land that is England.

Plane: from Vancouver to London (Gatwick). If you have ever flown Air Transat you will know that it is not the most glamourous or comfortable airline in the world. If you take enough gravol and squint long enough, you might find “Shrek the Third” to be quite enjoyable on the tiny, fuzzy pictured tv screens located every 5 rows for your viewing pleasure.

Trains: Gatwick Express to London Underground to Victoria Station to Kings Cross to Cambridge to Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Phew.

And then I stayed in lovely Bury St. Edmunds for a few days.

And then I was back on the trains heading to Leeds to meet up with the rest of the awesome Alton Towers crew: Bury to Cambridge to Peterborough to York.

Peterborough

Enroute to York as the sun sets.

York

Automobiles: from York to Harrogate (near Leeds)

We then spent a lovely evening in Harrogate and headed off to Staffordshire and Alton Towers early the next morning… I’ll save that adventure for another rainy day.

Mostly Lisa, Age 7.

Ahh, I remember it fondly… the year I got orange and black Halloween gum stuck in my long long hair at school. I was sent to the school nurse who tried everything but paint thinner to remove it, but could not. And though I was young, I was smart enough to know that the school nurse was not a hair stylist, and that letting her near my lovely long hair with a pair of rusty old scissors would not end well.

And so, the sticky, orange-flavoured gum remained in my hair, all day, getting more matted and tangled by the second. By the time I returned home from school, there was absolutely nothing that could be done and so my mum chopped a whopping good 6 inches off.

I think it was this traumatic experience that made me decide, quite stubbornly I might add, that I was going to my own clown face painting. You can see from the results that perhaps this was not my wisest decision.

The lovely and talented Jessie Farrell released her debut album, “Nothing Fancy” yesterday. There was a fantastic tea party with friends, family and industry sorts at 604 Records.

My favourite…. cupcakes! Yummm.

Me & Jess with blueberry tea.

Then we headed to the Cactus Club to celebrate and i didn’t take many pictures because i was celebrating… boo. bad photog. but i did snap this nice one of Tom and Jessie snuggling up in the last moments of the night when we all felt very sleepy.

The last snap of the night in front of the shaggalicious wallpaper….

which kinda reminded me of the wall paper in the Vogue where Jessie’s first music video was shot.

Clicky this link to see Jessie and Jesse and Ry perform “Fell Right into You” live on Global tv.

i think i’m at a point of no return with this whole two point oh social networking scene. i’m fairly certain that if i had to communicate to a person.. in person… i might run away or hide in my hair. which actually happened today.

that’s why i feel like i need to take a step away from the facebook to analyze it’s impact on mostly me.

Self Exploration through fb profile pictures

what does it all mean? how do i censor myself? who am i? do i even exist? how many pixels wide am i? why are my tears so beautiful? am i numb inside or is it merely life that numbs itself to me?

these are common questions we all ask ourselves each day. exploring the “self” is important. i like to reflect on a daily basis. mostly by looking at my reflection in a mirror. but as we all know, your reflection is not always the face you present to the world. we often censor ourselves. essentially creating or equating reality with self. if you didn’t get that, you’re probably not smart enough to read this blog. intellectualism is not for everyone.

anyhoo, um… i need some java… totally falling asleep right now. what was i saying? oh yeah, exploring self and stuff. if you’re up for it, i really recommend an exercise from my 3 part Self-exploration Series, entitled “My Internet Reflection: What is my Facebook Profile Picture really saying?”

The exercise is simple. Look through your fb profile picture album which probably has over 100 photos of you, or 200+ if you are as gorgeous as me, and ask yourself “what is this picture saying about my inner self?”

Here is an example from my own fb self-examination.
The following photos are saying…

“Coordination is important to me.”

“i heart attention”

“Please love me”

“I can balance a rock on my forehead”

“I like to play the guitar without pants on”

“I am definitely a model”

“I’m so bored right now”

Now let’s analyze these “truth statements”:

1. appearance is important to me
2. being centred and spiritually aware is essential for my growth
3. music strips away my outer layers
4. being labeled as a “model” by other people is important because i am vain
5. vanity isn’t a fault when you are really good looking
6. you’re probably boring me right now

Now it’s your turn. If I’m not still bored, let me know what your personal exploration into your fb profile picts reveal about you.

Photo taken by Jane Bettany on a beautiful sunny summer day in the Inner Harbour, downtown Victoria, BC.

from computerzzz. too many projects, not enough folders. it hurts my brain. ouch.

i like to be in the ocean. happy.
(Photos taken with taken with Kodak Max single use “Water & Sport” camera in Varadero, Cuba.)