adventure

Something I keep planted in the back of my mind is to take a sabbatical, load up the van with my (future) young family, and drive away for awhile.

Obviously I am not alone in this. 

Adam and Emily Harteau are artists and are currently engaging in an "experiment in living simply while working to create great things" on the open road with their young daughter. 

Learn more here. Watch the concept video here. See the adventures unfold here (I love "Waking Up" and Con and I have been to Big Sur!). 

All photos from Our Open Road.

dibs

At the fabulous Eatery Christmas party this year I met a few new sassy bundles of joy that have joined the team, one of which is a fab lil aussie named Erin Neale. Erin makes wicked leather and cloth goods. Her brand is called The Undead Collection and you can check out her sweet swag here and here.

 
Photos from Erin Neale and The Undead Collection. 

tumble

It is summer in Vancouver.

I am really good at summer. And despite the fact that a certain Evidence course led by a certain hilarious and loud man will have me and 67 of my peers stuffed in a classroom three mornings a week for four of the sixteen weeks I get for break, I am still excited.

Beaches, beverages, crossing borders, thrift shopping, yoga in the morning, reading fiction, craft projects, and the smell of sunscreen perma-etched into my skin.

Annnnd CAMPING in the van! This tumblr got me all excited to explore. Checkk itt.

Image from Shelter Co.

wildcrafting

 
I found the blog of a very cool woman named Sarah. She is a wildcrafter. 

"wildcrafter": crafter of the wild

Not the best the definition but definitely the most magical. To be a bit more specific, albeit mundane, she harvests and makes useful things from natural elements found in her wild habitat of the Pacific Northwest (which just so happens to be my habitat too). She runs an online herbal apothecary, Forest Grove Botanica, which appears to be on Etsy (although supplies seem to be quite low at the moment, such is the end of winter) but what I find most interesting is her blog and her twitter. 

Honey, herbs, teas, salves, oh my. 

Image from The Forest Grove Blog. 

le papier

I should probably tell you about these two adorable American girls, who are self-described paper and design enthusiasts, named Bre Radermacher and Emma Robertson. Together, they run this very cool paper shop. Their clean and creative designs make me want to dramatically alter my workspace (which would not be hard since it is currently the living room couch). They have no stores. Place your order online, baby.

Postscript: If you check out Bre's blog, you will see a post about Vancouver's own Strathcona Stockings!

Photos from Our Paper Shop via Miss Moss.

whatta mess

My friend, Clinton, started making jewelry (let's say) six months ago. He finds interesting crystals and salvages neat pieces of metal, animal talons and the like, then wraps, twists and otherwise fashions thin leather around the works to create something really cool.

Some of the crystals stand alone and others are layered with eclectic trinkets. If you're in Vancouver, you've probably already seen some of his creations bouncing on the necks of stylish strangers. Maybe you've even been given one, lucky you.

Now Clinton Bard and the crystal mess collective has a tumblr so you can check out some of his pieces and throw in requests. The website is a new development and a whole slew of new photos are coming soon, along with updated contact information. For now, contact Clinton at paintingthetownbrown@hotmail.com. Do it! And let him know where you heard about the crystal mess collective.

Photo by Clinton Bard from http://www.crystalmesscollective.tumblr.com/.

friend of a friend

I started reading a blog by a woman named Leanne called How Sweet It Is. I like to see photos from people who bake more often and more artistically than myself. Also, the blog is written by a friend of my friend, Miss Swan.

My big baking accomplishment of the year was successfully making a loaf of french bread with herbs from scratch with salvaged dough. And it happened at the very end of December. Leanne recently posted a list of her most popular posts from twenty-ten and included on the list was a recipe from Alton Brown for HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZELS. Yep. I have all the ingredients already in my pantry. Except I will be using sea salt instead of kosher salt. Looks like none of my chores are getting done today. Get the recipe here. Check out Leanne's baking blog here.

Photo by Leanne from leannebakes.blogspot.com

click click

Do you know that clever, cultured friend of yours that helped you with your essays in university? Well, I found her modelling photos...

And for more eye candy, check out her blog here. It is a photoblog so no words, only thoughtful images. If I was speaking to you and not communicating through type, you would be able to hear me emphasize the word "thoughtful". We are bombarded with so many meaningless images every day intended to motivate us to frantically consume but Carli's photos lead me to a peaceful headspace. I hope it does the same for you...

Photos of CV. by Elizabeth Lang 2010. All other photos by CV.

poet

Meet Vanessa Handford. I don't know her very well so I don't really know what to share with you. She is beautiful and talented and I suppose that is all you really need to know.

I met this intriguing stranger through the lovely KitKat (see April's mini-profile) and I will admit we are more online friends than real world friends since we live on opposite coasts of the country. (Yes, that's right, I am referring to Ontario as "east coast" because I am west coast and that is what we do). I discovered Vanessa's blog a little while ago and I am very fond of it. It isn't a life story, an online picture book or a party diary. It is a collection of her poetry.

I want to share with you one of her favourites and one of mine. Enjoy.

"does this pen work"

im dwelling in my head, this deceitful shell a chamber no one else can enter. full of plenty schemes and brilliant ideas and mass confusion so much that im as unfortunate as an oyster with its shell attached to its skin, unable to escape. and the sun is bright, bright but its failing because there is still too much ice on this ground to keep running safely away from here. but im curious. im curiouser then you would care to believe and and i still want to leave to an unknown destination full of destitute and salvation packed with rude patrons on the side streets of the road of life bitter with resentment toward the fact that we've forgotten the world. Oh! this world. what a carnival full of clowns that juggle insignificant balls of christ and over priced wine and regurgitated education and they keep dropping them into the vicious untamable lions cage. and he wants to get out too, just like me on these icy streets and Oh! how rotten and unkind it all is, how pitiful i am and how abstract my emotions and how sad that some people don't drink to temporarily alleviate the stress that is this mess of conjugated thoughts stuck in the web of our cerebrum. our fucked up cerebrum from being molded and shaped by inconsiderate apes that treat us like lice and pick us off and eat us alive. Oh! so ignorant i am. find me a philosopher. find me a physician. find me nirvana or a silent mind. find me a 66 of good gin for under 20 bucks. find me 20 bucks cus im broke. im broken into by meaningless time and bottomless wisdom from my mind that is still like a mine-field.

"untitled"

its an urge to exfoliate the surface of my thoughts and dust the remnants on paper; to later decipher the lucid dream sequence of events that lead up to my feet touching the ground and inevitably making a sound that i cannot control. and i look at my body and im turning into a cactus. my limbs are shifting and creating a being that isn't me, and i don't seem to care about my torso although my legs begin to irritate me and they make me want to get rid of them, so i begin to snap and trim each needle and sin and i hate the plant that i've become. the aptitude of my body is so soulless that soon i feel i will morph into a kitchen counter or a mirror or a window in which i climb out of to escape the being of nothingness thats been created. now what i dare ask myself? now that i am equal parts water as i am mind, how do i drink to quench my thirst for dryness? ah, i wonder why its all relative and why darwin decided to tell us things egyptians hid beneath the temples of stone that erected over night. and i consider the forests erected over years and i fear i'll never understand them. and this samsara merry-go-round is giving me motion sickness and im wandering into the fog far away from myself and planting my roots with all the other cacti of confusion. you can find me there.

Visit her full site, "nature vs people", here. Be sure to read "pretentious idealists", it was a close second for my personal favourite.

Photos courtesy of Vanessa Handford's facebook.

the annaconda + the raven

These two beauties are a dynamic blog and real life team. I suppose I was destined to meet them. Our relationship grew out of the chaos that is the workplace. They've both moved on. Although they do tend to regress in the summer which is always a breath of fresh air. I admire their photographic adventures and sense of style, and so should you... here.

dv

dv

gb

gb

gb + dv

MegaBabes, duhhh.

Photos courtesy of GB and DV.

kit kat

What? You didn't know the Olsen twins were actually triplets? Oh yeah, I found the missing link. And she's the best one, I promise.

Miss kitten popped into my life unexpectedly. We were both in places we didn't belong and we've both gotten the hell outta dodge since then, which unfortunately leaves us miles apart.

Adorable and hella funny, this little one was roadkill for Hallowe'en last year. And really, that's all you need to know.

My friend Kat is a beautiful girl with a beautiful spirit, you should check her out here.

MeowMixx.

Photos courtesy of Katherine Olson facebook.