a peek inside the fishbowl

Today is Sarah’s 11th birthday party. It going to be at Funhaven (!) and she is pretty darn excited. As for me, I am still sick with a weird cold and have completely lost my voice. Not a great way to be during a children’s birthday party, is it? Gah.

I will be writing more Sarah’s birthday later, but in the meantime, let me show you how I cheaped out on wrapping paper this year. :)

Making your own wrapping paper is a practical and economical art project for kids of any age. You can get the whole scoop over at the Canadian Family Magazine website.

I’m so pleased to be writing about the Museum of Nature today. They are a long-standing member of the Ottawa community, and I’m very proud that they’ve chosen to come on board with me!

Is it weird to love a museum, or a building? The place has been a big part of our lives ever since the girls were small, and we still go there, and we still love it just as much. I still feel there is so much to see and learn here.

Have you been to the Museum since the rebuild? I wrote about it in May 2010.

The Victoria Memorial Museum Building, which houses the Canadian Museum of Nature’s exhibitions, was completed in 1910. She celebrated their 100th birthday last year, and although she’s had some nips and tucks she remains a beauty:

I wanted to use this opportunity to fill you in on a few things that you may not have known about the Museum of Nature.

It seems trite to say there’s something for everyone here, but I have to say it because it’s true.

Blockbuster exhibitions!

Whales Tohora (which I wrote about here) is the Museum’s current blockbuster exhibition which runs until September 3, 2012. It was developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and features two huge sperm whale skeletons (AWESOME), 20 whale skulls, precious Maori artifacts made from whalebone, many fun interactive exhibits… and Logan the whale:

The next big exhibition after Whales Tohora will be Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters. The exhibition and tour were developed by The Field Museum in Chicago and will open September 28 – May 5, 2013.

Art exhibitions!

The Museum also presents many art shows throughout the year. It’s the perfect setting for it. On display right now is Unrequited Death which features paintings by Helen Gregory, who depicts natural specimens in colourful, Victorianesque settings. This exhibition runs until September 3, 2012.

Also currently on view is Awesome Arctic: Images of Our Research in the North. This is a collection of 50 photographs showing the diverse nature of the Museum’s arctic research.

Permanent galleries!

In 2010, the Museum’s massive renovation project was completed. Opened that year were the RBC Blue Water Gallery, Vale Earth Gallery, and Animalium. The Vale Earth Gallery is being expanded in 2012 and will be completed at the end of November/early December.

Did you know that the Museum’s research and collections facility safeguards the 10.5-million-specimen collection is located in Gatineau, Quebec. (I’ve been there, but haven’t seen very much of it. Someday I will find a way!)

Adult programming!

Upcoming programmes for adult audiences include the Best of Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival (April 18-21, 2012), a film festival wrap-up party on April 21, café scientifique discussions (April 27 and May 25), and Whales Trivia Night on June 7.

Birthday parties!

The Museum is once again offering birthday parties for kids ages 4-8. I think this is a fantastic way to celebrate that special day. (Think: dinosaur birthday!) You can read more about that here.

I’ve worked with folks from the Museum of Nature and I know they are extremely passionate about what they do. They are good people, they promote awareness of Canada’s natural heritage through travelling exhibitions, public education and school programmes, on-going scientific research, and they have dynamic website too.

Anyway, yes! I am so happy to be partnering with the Museum of Nature in this way. Welcome aboard!

My brain overfloweth.

I’ve had so many things on my mind lately, work/home/life, and midway through Easter I succumbed to some kind of weird bug that has been sucking the life out of me ever since. Suffice it to say that I do not have time to be sick.

But Easter, Easter was peaceful. Part of our weekend included a pretty walk around Lime Kiln Trail (which I previously wrote about here) and I’d like to take a moment to savour the tranquility of that moment:

Tranquility time is over. These are a few of the Biggies taking up space in my brain right now:

1) We hired a builder for our reno yesterday (I love him to bits, more about that later) and now we are frantically trying to find an inexpensive place to live near by. Two places I was hoping for (both of which were pretty much perfect) fell through. One was an unfurnished home a block away, we could have moved in AND stored our furniture in there. I will be riding the phones today looking for a place. Move date: MAY 1. Yes. You read that right. I AM CRAZY.

First I need to figure out: is it cheaper to get an unfurnished 2-bedroom (and obtain storage on top of that), or just rent an unfurnished house and use that to store all of our stuff? Ugh. My brain is hurting already.

2) And this should have been #1 because it’s #1 in my heart, but it’s my baby’s birthday today. And she’s 11. ELEVEN. How can this be possible? I thought everything was ready – party arranged, gifts purchased and mostly wrapped – but this morning she reminded me that I’d promised she could bring cupcakes to school. So, sickly and bleary eyed and reeking of Scope – only occasionally hacking up a lung – I drove to the grocery store to buy the cupcakes. I was practically the only one in the store. As I made my way to the baking aisle I panicked because I didn’t see any cupcakes. As I searched I tried to rationalize the purchase of buying some birthday cheese and crackers instead. But there they were; 12 chocolate, 12 vanilla. I should have bought some fruit too but I wasn’t thinking straight. As I juggled my purchases on the way back to the car I was tempted to tweet something akin to “MOM FAIL,” but thought better of it. So what if I forgot the cupcakes. I’m not perfect, and I’m doing ok.

More about ALL of this later. I’ve got a to do list that’s about ten feet long!