April is a crazy month for me, and I suspect that’s true for many people. Doesn’t it seem like there are just so many birthdays, events, gatherings, conferences and everything else you can think of all crammed into April? Maybe that’s just my little corner of the world.
Lila turned 5 recently. Her birthday technically fell on Easter Sunday, and Guy’s parents came from England to visit and help celebrate. We had a little family gathering on Easter, and I made her a Peep cake (inspired by this previous post), which of course had to be chocolate:
And if you are interested in a very short clip, here is Lila blowing out her candles!
Of course, James got to have a bit of cake too (I was obviously feel very brave to wear white during all of this):
The following weekend was Lila’s birthday party with her little friends. My parents came to visit for the weekend which was a huge help; it was really great to have someone taking care of James during the party. We held it at Beach Blast– a huge indoor sand park that hosts indoor beach volleyball tournaments and practices, as well as some extremely awesome children’s birthday parties. The staff ran all sorts of games and activities for them, with lots of running and digging and playing the sand, and they all had so much fun. The sand was perfect, it was like the best indoor beach you can imagine (minus the actual water).
I don’t feel comfortable sharing photos of other people’s kids without their permission, so I’ve cropped and blurred their faces where appropriate. It looks weird, but you can see how happy Lila was! I regret not getting a photo of the cupcakes; I think my mom and I did a particularly good job decorating them, but I tend to not think of photos at all when I’m hosting anything.
In between Lila’s birthday parties, I have been working on a very special project, which will culminate in an event on May 4th. My book of poetry, Lady Crawford, has a suite of poems about Georgia O’Keeffe – and the Art Gallery of Ontario has just opened a retrospective of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work. On May 4th, the AGO has a special event called First Thursday, and I’m presenting a Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired poetry collage interactive and pop up talk at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s First Thursday event this month.
If you haven’t been to an AGO First Thursday before, it is a step up from a typical night out. They set up bars, food stations, and DJs throughout the gallery, along with one-night-only installations, performances, and interactive activities.
Tickets to First Thursday are $11 if you are an AGO member, $13 if not a member, and you can also purchase tickets to see the O’Keeffe exhibit. If you know anything about the AGO, their special exhibits are usually horrifically crowded on the weekends, yet surprisingly not busy at all on the First Thursdays. I think everyone is too busy hanging out near the pop-up bars and food stations.
If you are local to Toronto and enjoy art, you should come! I’ll be on the second floor, and in such a main location you will have no choice but to happen by my interactive craft tables and wall projections. Not only will you experience the AGO in a completely new way, you can also hang out for a bit and make your own poem collages (arts & crafts for grown ups, hooray!). You’ll be able to hear my pop up talk where I will astound, educate and amaze (10 mins max, I swear) about modernism/Georgia O’Keeffe/collage poetry until I’ve said the words ‘intersect’ and ‘recontextualize’ so many times their meaning will dissolve into the glass of wine or Perrier in your hand. I have a little Facebook event page here if you think you can make it and would enjoy a Facebook calendar reminder- be sure to say hello and introduce yourself if we’ve yet to meet.
Has your April been totally nuts too? What has been going on in your world that has you buzzing lately?
