I am a big fan of Fluevog shoes. Big fan.

When I lost my job (along with my regular pay cheque) and then decided to start a business (with all of my savings), I had to give up some of my spending luxuries. My regular visits to the Fluevog store were one of the first things to go.

This was kind of hard because the Fluevog flagship store is literally right down the street from where I live. I walk past it ALL THE TIME (craning my neck to peek at the new designs in the windows as I slow down my pace).

But my years of buying Fluevogs had left me with a nice collection of fabulous shoes so it’s not like I’ve been walking around shoe-less. Instead of feeling like I was missing out on something I decided to just make it a financial goal to be able to buy more Fluevogs – in the future.

(In case you’re wondering, yes, I’ve done the math and I do know how many pots equal the shoes I want.)

Now I happen to know THE John Fluevog. Vancouver is like that though, it has a very “small world” aura about it. I think if you live here long enough you might end up meeting everybody else who lives in this city. I met John a couple of years ago and one thing I will tell you about him is that whenever John sees you he will look at your feet. I think he saw me wearing Fluevogs enough times to know that I have a small collection of his shoes.

One day Mark and I ran into him and his lovely wife and we started talking about job losses, job prospects, a pottery business and shoe sizes. It turns out that my shoe size is the same size the company has all of their samples made in, I thought that was a neat coincidence and it explained why I always cleaned up at the annual Fluevog sample sale.

A short while after that chat the stars aligned. John and his design team needed someone to test new designs and who also fit the sample size. And now I am part of a small group of Fluevog Shoe Testers. I like to think of us as the Fluevog Super Heroes of Shoe Sizing. We walk around the Fluevog design office in prototype shoes making sure they fit well and occasionally we give our opinions on the design too (my feedback is usually along the lines of, “Yes! I love these!”).

We also wear test the shoes. This means that over the past few weeks I’ve been given three pairs of Fluevogs to wear out. Us Shoe Testers have to jam pack about six months worth of wear and tear in just a few weeks. And this is why I have the fanciest shoes at the dog park and in the pottery studio.

The shoes I am testing right now are fantastic. But I can’t show you what they look like because they won’t be available in stores until the Fall. I can tell you this though: one pair is bright, bright yellow. Whenever I wear them I catch people staring at my feet. They are ankle boots with a nice high heel. Along with this new addition of yellow I now have three pairs of Fluevogs in each of the primary colours – I recommend you make this a Shoe Goal.

The other pair I’m testing remind me of Dutch wooden shoes, and you know how much I love the Dutch! The sole is slightly curved up at the toe, which gives my feet a rocking motion when I walk. It feels like the shoes are propelling me forward – into the future – and I like that.

I’m going to call these my Future Shoes.

So how lucky am I? I gave up one of my most favourite things only to have it given back to me. But the funny thing is, all of this probably wouldn’t have happened if I was still working at that office job.

There was a time when I would read one book from cover to cover and I would read one book at a time. My book reading habits are now much more disorganized organic; right now I’m flipping through, reading and enjoying all the of the following books:

The Art of Non Conformity
Chris Guillebeau is on a mission to inspire people to live unconventional lives. Mark and I are both reading his book and have been motivated to turn our unconventional lives up a notch. I really like Chris’ writing style, reading this book feels like what I imagine it would be like to have a conversation with the author. Another thing I really like about Chris: he’s on an Unconventional Book Tour visiting every State and Province in North America. His first stop in Canada was St. John’s, Newfoundland – one of my most favourite places. The last city on his tour is Vancouver – Mark and I will be there.

Crave Vancouver
Oh! Oh! Oh! Is pretty much what I think/say whenever I turn a page in this book. It’s filled with profiles of Interesting women running interesting businesses right here in Vancouver.

500 Cups
I now have three of Lark Books’ 500 books. I have 500 Pitchers, 500 Teapots and now 500 Cups. I love looking through these books. Sometimes I sit down with one and start from the beginning and flip through to the end. Sometimes I just pull one off the shelf and open it to a random page.

Perspectives
While we were in Ontario my Mom, Mark and I spent an afternoon at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir complex – it’s a Hindu Temple just on the outskirts of Toronto.

We were awestruck by the beauty of the buildings, both inside and out. The Mandir includes a museum about India where we all learned so much about the history and culture of India as well as Hinduism. So much of what I read in that museum struck a chord with me, and lit a spark. The three of us left the museum wanting to learn more so we headed over to the book store and bought copies of Perspectives. It’s a collection of essays on life. When the person helping us in the shop described the book to us, again something stirred within. I feel like that one afternoon opened up something inside me I didn’t even know was there…

SoulPancake
Have you heard about SoulPancake? The sub title of this book is Chew On Life’s Big Questions. This book unlike any other book I’ve read before. It’s funny, sensitive, inspiring, spiritual and it really is making me think about what it means to be human.

My Secret
…and now my PostSecret book collection is complete. You know about PostSecret, right?

The last three Reverb10 prompts are combined in my head as one:

Prompt: Defining Moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

Prompt: Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?

Prompt: Core Story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world?

On April 22, two weeks into the entrepreneurship course I was taking I wrote a post about the conversation I had that lead me to realize that I Am An Artist.

At the end of that post I wrote:

I am an Artist, and this changes everything.

And it did change everything. It felt like I was looking at the world with different & better glasses on. It was a Defining Moment for me that really influenced the months that followed.

Suddenly the future looked clearer, decisions became easier to make and I was no longer daunted by having to project what life would be like in five years. Five Years? How about the next 50?!

That one conversation, that one question, that one answer gave me an enthusiasm and inspiration I hadn’t felt for a very, very long time. It was a Gift. (Thank you Philip.)

And that gift became my Core Story for 2010. I am Artist and I share my art by making beautiful things for people to use in their homes.

I hand-make pottery, just for you.