My department at work does a summer event every year. It's to promote team-building, but I look forward to taking some time away from doing any work.
Earlier this year, I attended a Yelp event to paint pottery. I loved it. I found the experience relaxing and enjoyable. Anyone can do it and I'm living proof!
That store was in Markham. No one on my team wanted to drive over to Markham. I'm not offended. However, everyone was fine heading over to Kitchener for a potluck, which I don't get. That's okay. Markham doesn't miss your poor decision... haha!
Anyway, I wanted a break from organizing team events because I tend to be the go-to person. Two other peers took over that job, but I still got sucked into a consulting role. They found this Crock a Doodle near our workplace. It's basically a drive down Brown's Line and you hang a left on Lake Shore Boulevard to get to this place.
There is street parking. You need to pay. Instead, I parked on a side street, which was free. I then jaywalked across the street, which made my manager rather nervous. I got a good laugh out of it because he apparently doesn't do that and I honed my jaywalking skills in the Beaches.
Anyway, we had a reservation for ten of us at this place. We got a room in the back, which had a small air conditioning unit that was effective. There was also a slim CD-radio that I liked, which was probably popular over a decade ago.
My only beef were the stools that we sat on for nearly two hours. They weren't super comfortable and there was no back support.
We had a wonderful female staffer guide us through the process. We got paintbrushes and a jug of water to clean them when we were changing colour.
It helped that I had pottery-painting experience. The instructions were similar. It was recommended to apply three coats of paint. Each coat dries rather quickly (two minutes) and is easy to remove if you get some on you. There were solid and sparkly colours to choose from.
We had a budget where we could choose a pottery piece that was a maximum of $37. Each piece had its price clearly labelled.
My original thought was to do a penguin coin back because I loved how cute it looked and I love penguins. However, I saw a monster coin bank instead and changed my mind.
I contributed to keeping our budget down. My piece was $32.
I felt totally relaxed painting my monster. I was pleased at how I did. I'm improving!
My peer and friend to my right decorated a jewellery box. Her painting skills were through-the-roof incredible!
My other friend on my left was doing a great job with his dragon goblet. He enjoyed this painting experience, as did my entire team.
One of my other colleagues was tasked with picking up our pieces a week later. They needed time to be fired and glazed. He lives fairly close to this store and has a car.
He brought the pieces to the office when I was away. I had another colleague send me photos of my final masterpiece. My monster bank looked so cute. I got to pick him up the following week at the office. My monster bank was voted the cutest piece by my team.
A friend who doesn't work at my place of employment named my monster Lil Grimmy. He looked like Grimace from McDonald's, but I didn't want to get sued by the company if word got out. So, Lil Grimmy is the perfect name.
This place does have a washroom. It's a single stall and it was clean.
This store accepts debit and credit cards. My manager paid with a debit card. Done!
If you want to do a group event, or stop by and paint a pottery piece, I highly recommend stopping by. The prices are decent and staff are so helpful.
I had a great time. I have Lil Grimmy and happy memories being here.
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