a peek inside the fishbowl

It started with these frames:

Then she graduated to these ones:

And now we have this:

I’ve written about it before, but it needs to be said… a yearly eye exam is covered by OHIP for people under 20. If you haven’t had your children’s eyes checked, do it! I was sorry we waited so long. (Here’s the post from when Sarah first got glasses.)

Have you ever clicked with a perfect stranger? That’s how I felt when I met Moneca. She’s a really thoughtful and interesting person. Moneca studied philosophy at Carleton University, and was the only woman in her year to graduate from Algonquin’s 3-year apprentice carpentry program. (I am pretty sure this was the first time I ever met a philosophical carpenter.)

She’s very passionate about space and home design and how we live, and if you get to know her a little bit you’ll quickly pick up on the fact that she refers to her clients as “flients” … friend/clients. That’s just the kind of person she is.

I’m really pleased to announce that Moneca Kaiser Design Build is the Fishbowl’s newest patron. This is from her website – and I’m cutting and pasting it here because it perfectly summarizes what she does:

At MKDB we are committed to community building and fostering sustainable, regenerative values so that together we can heal or communities and our world. We’re all about HOME. Innovative, elegant design solutions are what we do best and we believe that innate to excellence in design is a marriage of function and beauty where each element leads the other to greater harmony and transcendence.

In an industry that is so highly male-dominated, it’s refreshing to speak to someone who truly approaches design from a female perspective. Moneca is very much about making connections  – between people, between people and their living spaces –  and changing how we live in our homes. She really cares about making homes that work for people and are nourishing and beautiful. There was a really good article published about Moneca in the March 2010 issue of Ottawa Magazine. I urge you to read it because it describes her work a lot better than I can at the moment.

Take a peek at her new website to see more of her work or poke around her blog.

We have a giveaway with Moneca coming up very soon, so stay tuned for that. (It will be amazing!)

Thank you Moneca for your support! It is very appreciated.

After a long and stressful work week it feels pretty good to throw paint on a clean white piece of canvas.

My friend Julie invited me to attend her 40th birthday celebrations at 4Cats Arts Studio in Hintonburg (who also happens to be a Fishbowl patron). Emma and Sarah have been to a bunch of workshops and parties at 4Cats so I already knew I could expect some quality arting around time… but to summarize: it was a hoot. You can read more about it on Julie’s blog.