Tuesday, August 31, 2010

making stuff...

019

044

012

096

094

I have been really busy this week, as I've found the perfect craft to keep my hands occupied while I'm watching Project Runway (don't judge me) I've also made a few simple necklaces, but am working on some designs for some more complicated pieces... stay tuned!

Monday, August 30, 2010

would somebody please buy this for me? please???

Edward Gorey's "lost" book, now found 

First published in 1965, written by Mel Juffe (aka hyacinthe Phyppe) and illustrated by Edward Gorey, this humorous etiquette guide was nearly forgotten until last year, when somebody posted the scanned pages on LiveJournal. It was recently reissued by Bloomsbury, and is now available on Amazon for a mere $9.60.  I would die to get my hands on a copy.  Are you taking notes?

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Back to Basics

Me, age 4
So, I've had this blog for just about one month, And I thought it was high time I told you a little bit about myself and what brought me to Albania, of all places.

I was born in Toronto and raised in Burlington, Ontario.  When I was 14, my dad got a job in The Netherlands, so we packed up and moved the family to Amsterdam, where I lived for 4 years until I graduated high school.  During those 4 years, I was extremely lucky to be able to travel to all sorts of places, from Japan to Paris to Tanzania.
Modeling kimonos in Japan, 1997
I spent one year at York University in Toronto, where I lived with a family and took care of their 2 children every day in exchange for room and board.  It was a tough year, as I had virtually no friends and very little free time.  By the end of the school year, I was ready for a big change.

Luckily, my parents had just learned that they would be moving to Bucharest, Romania, again because of my dad's work.

My mom and I in Budapest.  During the year I spent in Romania.
I decided it was a good time to take a year off from school and plan what I was going to do next.  My next move was back to Canada, and I spent the next 5 years in Hamilton, ON where I studied Art History at McMaster University. Hamilton was very good to me, it had (and still has) an exciting arts scene, and I was working at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and even had the opportunity to take another year off from school for a curatorial internship, which allowed me to spend a month in Moscow working at the State History Museum and The Tretyakov Gallery.
opening
My view from behind the bar, at an opening at Loose Cannon Gallery in Hamilton

Once I was finished my degree, I felt that it was time for a change of scenery, so I once again packed everything up and moved, this time, to downtown Toronto.  I've lived in Toronto for the last 4 years, and really loved it, but I was starting to feel like the pace of life there was getting a bit too fast for me, and knew that I had to make some big decisions, yet again, about the path I was on and where I wanted to go next.
good times in Toronto.  At Les Savy Fav during nxne this summer
 In the meantime, my parents had moved from Bucharest to Prague, and then from prague to Tirana, Albania.  And once again, I was presented with the opportunity to join them in another country and figure stuff out.  The plan, while I am here, is to get to know myself again, and take the time to do the things I love to do that I had lost sight of in recent years.  This means being creative; making things, taking pictures, baking, starting to draw and write and blog again (I had a little knitting blog when I lived in Hamilton, but it is long gone...)  One of the blessings of this move is that I was forced to part with a lot of my stuff, and leave the rest in storage.  So I have the chance to start fresh, and filter out all of the distractions I once had, and really get back to the basics of what makes me, "me."
taking photos in Tirana
So there you have it.  An introduction, one month into my stay, and one month into my blog.  Thank you for being a part of this journey, I hope you stick around!

Friday, August 27, 2010

"It stood headless and armless and legless...

1. typewriter, 2. Typewriter., 3. All hail the Royal typewriter!, 4. Royal typewriter


"It stood headless and armless and legless- brute shoulders merely: it might as well have been the torso of a broken god...The thing was large and black and glossy, and in height it ascended in tiers, like a stadium.  Each round key was shielded by glass and rimmed by a ring of metal."


-from Dictation, by Cynthia Ozick


Nostalgic Typewriter Thank You Cards (Set of 4)(dodelinedesign)



Typewriter Necklace 18K Gold Plated Brass(CuteAbility)


Love stoned Just my type(MeadowTea)




Initial Letter R Vintage Typewriter Key Pendant NecklaceGwenDelicious

 

I've Been Eating A Lot of Sandwiches Lately

Hot damn, I had a delicious sandwich yesterday at Grove, a new restaurant in Winnipeg. What makes me a fit to judge a sandwich, you ask? Well, dear reader, I am a bit of a sandwich connoisseur; I'm a girl who knows her sandwiches; Subway may well have stolen "sandwich artist" from me once tales of my sandwichy legend got 'round.

I believe that the most important part of a sandwich is the condiment; personally I'm partial to curry mayo and mango chutney and chipolte and cranberry-parsley anything, not all together of course (although... nope, not together); but the absolute number one condiment, that makes any savory food worth eating is grainy dijon. Oh baby, grainy dijon is one of my most favourite things in this world.

After the condiments is doesn't really matter what kind of sandwich it is; a curried chick-pea, roasted chicken and curried green apple, mango chutney grilled cheese with bacon, turkey and stuffing and cranberry mayo with goat cheese...

Anyway, I am so distracted by sandwiches I seem to have lost myself... Ah, yes my sandwich yesterday. It was a cold roast beef sandwich with arugula and horseradish mayo. Delicious. Maybe not the best part of my day but certainly the best thing I ate.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

scan0002

scan0004

scan0007

scan0008

scan0006

scan0005

scan0003

I'm finally getting around to scanning images from my magazine collection!  These are from a pile of French Elles that I picked up at a flea market in The Netherlands 15 years ago.  I also have a bunch of French marie claire, but unfortunately their dimensions are larger than my scanner, so I'll have to scan them in two parts and stitch them together somehow... that might take a little longer.

My Preciousssssss

I used to have a bit of a, um, addiction to celebrity gossip. Hot damn, I loved it all: the feuds, the speculations, Brangelina (omg, could that little Shiloh get any cuter?! A pirate sword accessory? Adorable!) and the blind items, oh the blind items! I would spend a looooooooooot of time reading Gawkers' blinds, never really caring all that much who they were about (except for Coke Mom -- who art thou, Coke Mom?) more just curious about the quirks of the obscenely rich. 


I guess it is worth noting that I was going through a fairly heavy bout of depression which certainly didn't help (I was also addicted to Ghost Whisperer -- Jennifer Love Hewitt, that narcissistic drama-queen, bless her little heart) but as I managed to cut that shit out as I got stronger. 


It has been about three months since I read any celebrity gossip and like any good recovering addict I think I've beaten the beast; I've been feeling so confident of my success that today I read just a little gossip round-up on Jezebel which brings me to the best part of my day: According to a "source" close to his assistant, John Travolta has 102 hairpieces in different lengths, colors and sizes, in case he gains or loses weight. They have their own refrigerated room in his house. And, (here is the kicker, a statement that I will revisit every time I feel down and need a lil' pick-up) "He likes to visit and pet them once in a while. They're his little treasures." 


Little treasures. Glorious.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

the palace of sports

027
One of my favourite buildings, The Sports Palace was designed by architect Koço Miho and built in 1966









Friday, August 20, 2010

Panda Brand by Rebekah Hakkenberg

016
I'm not really sure what to do with this can of sweetened condensed filled milk, but the lovely shade of robin's egg blue and the adorable panda just called out to me in the grocery store, how could I resist?  If anybody has any recipes they'd recommend, I'd love to hear them, because at the moment, spreading it on toast or using it in pizza, as the pictures on the back of the can appear to suggest, does not sound appealing to me in the slightest.  In the meantime, the can is just sitting on my desk, making me happy.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I Love You The Best Better Than All The Rest by Rebekah Hakkenberg


Complementary pairings of blue and orange, grounded by rich brown accessories to get me from the last days of summer into fall...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Don't Forget The Parsley (or your place) by Rebekah Hakkenberg


"All of you who are young wives and homemakers would do well to forget this Women's Lib and put your mind and energy on doing such a pleasant and successful job of cooking and about a million other things that your deserving husbands will know that they couldn't live without you."

Monday, August 16, 2010

Don't Be Cruel by Rebekah Hakkenberg

Elvis was my first crush, so it's fitting that he should be the subject of my first "vintage crush" post... He passed away three years before I was born, to the day.  I grew up on his movies and his music, and dreamed (still dream) of visiting Graceland.  In a lot of ways, it isn't cool to love Elvis anymore, politically incorrect, even.  He "stole" black music, sold out, slept around, ate too much, lived in vulgar excess, made Vegas cool, became obsessed with guns, shook hands with Nixon (actually, wrote a letter requesting that Nixon let him be a government agent to fight "the drug culture and hippie movement") etc... he's come to represent the best and the worst of american culture, but I'll always swoon when I see those dreamy, bedroom eyes and pouty lips.  And I'll always  love Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) 

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Get Baked by Rebekah Hakkenberg

144
delicious almond apricot brown sugar bundt cake.  recipe via Pictures of Cake.  list of ingredients and more complete instructions on her blog.  vague descriptions and pretty pictures on my blog.

Re-Viewed: Rain Man by Rebekah Hakkenberg

I watched Rainman last night for the first time in possibly 15 or 20 years, and I was kind of blown away by how nice it was to look at: dusty sunsets, kitschy motels, small town diners and faux bois TV's... I could watch it over and over again for the wardrobe and interiors alone, but I'm also fascinated by the ways this movie seems to challenge, while at the same time upholding the ideologies of Reaganite consumerism.  But that's another post all together...

Friday, August 13, 2010

To Sir, With Love by Rebekah Hakkenberg

One of my strongest memories from elementary school is the scent of bleach on our desks in the morning.  I loved it when the teacher would tell us to put our heads down for "quiet time."  I'm not quite sure where this fit into the school curriculum, but I treasured those moments of silence.
pencils
vintage pencil collection,
hownowdesign