Norsulaulu

Hi! I'm Rachyl.

please note that I am going through a move right now, so if we have swapped before, my address has changed!

I'm an environmental studies student living in Ottawa with my fiance and our dog; she's a German Shepheard/Blue Heeler cross. Fingers crossed a precious kitten will someday soon be joining the family.

Together we really enjoy going on walks/hikes, cooking, traveling, and playing board games (my favourite is probably Lords of Waterdeep). Some of my other hobbies (aside from artsy things) include reading, writing, yoga, and gardening (both flowers and vegetables).

Other general likes of mine include elephants (my favourite), violins, bees, bears, foxes, and my favourite colour is wine. My favourite scent is lime. I love all fresh fruit and veggies (and think they're very pretty), and I have no allergies. I have a pretty good sense of humour so parodies, puns, or references to pop culture, world landmarks, etc. will likely not go amiss with me. I also love stories so if you want to include any in the things you send me I like both personal stories and just interesting stories from history, urban legends, local lore, or just anything I may not have known. If you ever want to make things out of non-traditional materials (ie. repurpose cardboard, old "junk" instead) I would love it. I would also happily accept handmade postcards if this is all you have/ you prefer it, even if the swap is against them.

As far as things that don't appeal to me go: I don't like guns, I would prefer to not receive religious items, I'm not really a fan of Hello Kitty or really any other Kawaii cartoon shows (and I know there are many others on here who would appreciate these items more than me), baboons kinda freak me out, I'm a vegetarian, and please don't send me anything homophobic, racist, etc.

I've always really enjoyed art but I have perfectionist tendencies so I've struggled with motivating myself to keep creating and allowing myself to make mistakes. I hope that in participating in some swaps I'll motivate myself to create more regularly and grow my talents as I do.

I've been setting aside more time in the day to work on various projects and I've been really enjoying doing it outdoors so puppy can hangout with me while I sew and paint.

I recently got a sewing machine (Bobby the Singer) and I've been having a lot of fun creating different projects on it. Nothing too serious as of yet; but I'm really enjoying learning as I go.

I also really love to make whatever I can out of materials I already have that would otherwise be tossed or recycled. I am very aware of the waste I create and I know that reusing is always better than recycling so I love to do my part in that way.(I think that creating out of "trash" is helping me to ignore my perfectionism because I don't feel like I might ruin that perfect page of scrapbook paper). So as you can imagine, I love mixed media!

I'm trying to get more into general sketching and watercolour as well. This is more challenging for me, but they're skills I want to work on developing.

As my aforementioned hobbies include board games I've painted the miniatures from a few of our games and I've had a lot of fun doing that. It's definitely challenging but a lot of fun.

I read a lot of literary fiction, short stories, and fantasy. But I like a bit of everything now and then. I find variety to be really important in my reading life.

I am also currently working through collections of Shakespeare, Grimm, and Lovecraft.

Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are my favourite series from childhood that I still like to revisit.

My favourite short story collections are What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi and The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu.

And some of my favourite stand alone novels are Do Not Say We Have Nothing, To Kill a Mockingbird, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, Gone with the Wind, and A Gentleman in Moscow.

I occasionally like a well written non-fiction. Mostly on environmental and food production topics.

Here's a link to my goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20574948-rachyl

Disney holds a special place in my heart and whenever there is a new Disney/Pixar animated movie coming out you can bet that my fiance and I are going to see it.

We like going to the movies in general and Oscar season is a fun time for us as we try to catch up on at least all the best picture nominees. We don't follow any award shows besides the Oscars but that night can be a big deal in our house. Last year I made Oscar shaped cookies. :)

I'll listen to pretty much everything. Though I think I'd call Adele my favourite artist, with The Killers a close second. And I tend to really enjoy old swing music from the 20s to the 60s or so. "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" is one of my favourites.

While I'm crafting I usually opt to listen to podcasts rather than music. My all time favourite podcast is "99% Invisible" which is a show about design, often in architecture, but it is filled with such wonderful stories, and the host Roman Mars has a really smooth voice.

I also like "Welcome to Night Vale" (fictional show about a science-fiction-y town in the desert), "Code Switch" (about race), and "Mom and Dad are Fighting" (a parenting podcast I listen to even though I have no children - though one day I hope to have many). I'm always trying out new shows though to see what I might get hooked on.

I also listen to the news sometimes on podcast while I craft. Primarily BBC Global News and CBC for national.

Now obviously, these are just things I like and you are under no obligation to send anything like this; I just thought it would be a helpful section to have for swaps that require flat surprises. :)

I would most love to receive blank postcards because I am finding it very difficult to find any semblance of a selection in my town.

Other things I would love include: Stationary, maps, buttons, vegetarian or vegan recipes, used stamps, stories, fabric, scrapbook papers, and washi tape.