bok choi beginnings

I uprooted my bok choi today, as it had bolted. I meant to post these photos a while ago, when the garden had first taken off. Now they've been harvested and replaced with heirloom tomatoes.

I've started a 2nd sewing of the purple variety. Hopefully it's not too late...

lady birds

Snap of lady bugs on the sweet cicely at my community garden's communal herb garden. Apparently these little ladies have been scarce the last couple of years. The garden was practically teeming with them as they feasted on aphids so perhaps the pesticide bans are helping to bring back the pollinators and other beneficial insects.

my new bed!

Ok so not mine yet, but I have to find a way to get this bed! (via Lake Jane )

test tube trend

I'm really digging this test tube storage trend. My herbs and spices desperately need organization and that spice rack would be perfect. Honey by Bee Raw and Dean & Deluca spice rack. 

Oh wait, I just found this DIY test tube tutorial on Apartment Therapy .

diy outdoor lighting

I love the industrial/DIY/adaptive reuse of this garden lighting . I spotted it on DigginFood , my new favorite blog. It features delightful posts on gardening and eating. I am especially taken with the creative use of such unusual veggie parts as kale buds and garlic scapes. Check it out.

Ambivalence

I am close to finishing Anne Kingston's enlightening and provocative book The Meaning of Wife, and it has definitely woken up my feminist side. It has made me question why I would ever want to enter into an institution fraught with such restrictions and indiscretions placed upon women and also articulated many of the feelings I have about women in contemporary society. How quickly I am swayed... I saw this wedding at Lake Jane today that had me dreaming of my own fairy-tale event. This phenomenon is actually discussed in Kingston's book, many women have ambivalence about marriage but most are excited about the wedding, the ring, the dress... Could I perhaps have love and a big party to celebrate it- without a legal contract and the dreaded title of wife?

bike storage

Yet another example of innovative bike storage for a loft-like space.
(via Apartment Therapy )

divider

Simple, rustic diy rope room divider by Alwill Studio . (via remodelista )

yy

This skirt does look like so much fun!

(yy studio via greedy girl)

unhappy hipsters

Check out this blog that adds melancholy captions to images from Dwell magazine featuring moody hipsters in their modernist homes. Quite funny.

Lying on his back, watching the passing clouds, he worried over the Nathaniel Hawthorne lookalike’s role in this grim threesome.

(Photo: Céline Clanet; Dwell, November 2009)

Everyone always leaves.

(Dwell, April 2009)

perfect backyard wedding

(Spotted on A Cup of Jo via Once Wed )

YIN yang

This lovely lady is surely in touch with her masculine side, but apparently I'm not. I've just started rereading Gabrielle Roth's Sweat Your Prayers , a book that has been on my book shelf for the last 10 years. This is a book I discovered through my friend Robin during my electronic music stage (aka raves) in my early twenties. It is a frankly sexual book that explores ecstatic dance through archetypes, the first two being feminine and masculine, flowing and staccato respectively. After reading her descriptions of these archetypes and their relationship to masculine and feminine qualities I discovered how strongly feminine I am.

This comes as a bit of a shock; I've always considered my strong independent streak as a sign of masculinity. Friends and lovers have protested by saying I'm very soft and feminine, but I've dismissed them. Roth describes femininity as awareness, inspiration and substance and masculinity as action, discipline and form. I'm sorely lacking in the energy I need to accomplish things in the real world. I have paintings in my head that never take shape. I let a recent love be completely careless with me as I patiently excused his behavior due to his circumstance rather than standing up for what I needed. I'm leaving for Central America on savings that should have gone into my RRSP.

Of the three masculine archetypes Roth describes, 'Father' is most absent within me. I need a Daddy that will march in and tell me to clean my room, forget about any guy who doesn't mean it, finish my 5 year plan and get my ass in the studio and paint. I need a firm hand and some tough love. And by 'Daddy' I'm talking about a part of myself that needs developing, not someone I need to attract. Can I develop this side of me by dancing? It sure is fun so lets see where it goes. Now I just need to put down the book and do the practice...

(Images via the Sartorialist and The Hindu )

Tulum!

My little adventure is fast approaching (15 days!) and since I'm flying into Cancun and making my way down the coast to Belize, my first stop is in Tulum, Mexico. I spent a day here with my dear friend Jenn when I was in Mexico last April and was astounded by the paradise we found along the beach road below the famous seaside Mayan ruins. 10 km of stunning beaches fronted by mostly thatch roofed cabanas and very small hotels; this stretch is completely off the grid. Several resorts are candlelight only while others have electricity during set hours from generators, solar panels and wind turbines. My day trip was filled with delightful moments and the place felt really powerful- I've been itching to get back. I've heard rumours of development- possibly a nearby airport and a cruise ship dock- and want to spend some quality time there in the meantime.

My first night is booked at Copal part of Ecotulum. This place features cabanas on a jungle cliff overlooking the beach and doesn't have electricity. It's also clothing optional, but I'm a bit on the shy side and am traveling solo, so I won't be jumping on that train. I've heard the place has really good vibes and is close to everything, I've also been told to expect wildlife- geckoes, iguanas and crabs- in the cabana. Regardless, I'm excited for the experience. I'm spending 2 additional nights in Tulum that I haven't booked yet, so I'm open to suggestions!

While in Tulum I also hope to explore cenotes , rent a bike and check out ruins at nearby Coba , do morning yoga on the beach, eat lots of yummy Mexican food, lounge in hammocks, do a tetzamul (traditional Mayan sweat lodge) and spend lots of time on the beach reading, sketching and stargazing... then I'm off on a long bus ride to Caye Caulker in Belize where I hope to check out the reggae vibes and take it real slow.

derailed

 Happy New Year! A bit late, yes I know. I just realized I hadn't posted in a month! I guess I'm an all or nothing kind of girl- after posting every day for 4 months. January always seems to take the winds out of my sails and Halifax has been unusually sun-less this year. I'm staying out of the depths with light therapy and St. John's Wort, but I'm still very withdrawn, with not a lot to say at the moment. 

I've booked a trip to Mexico and Belize for February and I'm very excited for a big jolt of sunlight.

3 weeks! I'll try to keep you filled in on my travel plans. I'm backpacking down the coast of Mexico to Belize where I'm meeting up with a group for a conference and 10-day tour of land planning and environmental education practices in Belize. I'm happy about the combination of lounging and learning.

So I hope once these winter blues pass, I'll be back on my blog swing. I really enjoy doing a daily post, but I'm not going to force it at the moment, rather seeing where it goes...

Hope to see you again soon!

(photo via sfgbb )

amaryllis

holiday decorating

I  have always spent Christmas at my parents, so I've never really done a lot of holiday decorating. But I really enjoy these clever holiday ideas. (via apartment therapy and lake jane )

existential crisis #334

So I'll admit that I seem to be hardwired to ponder the meaning of things. The long cold nights that make me want to snuggle in at home are getting a bit heavy and perhaps providing way too much time to my thoughts. Maybe I'm just not getting enough sun...


Regardless, just days ago (my last post), I was feeling thankful for being in such a great line of work and now I'm questioning it all. Is this what I'm meant to do? I don't feel like I'm using my talents. How might I bring those talents to the table? Would I be happier elsewhere? Where? 


I'm mid trip planning and I'm wondering- Am I running away? Will time away help me figure this out? How the hell am I going to pull this off?


Do the long nights of December bring on your dark nights of the soul?


(photo via Bliss )

a day at the office

Yesterday was a nice break from my usual design desk job- I got to visit a site I've been designing in order to check the alignment of a road that will soon be constructed, and to find a place to install a bridge to cross this stream... 

When I left the city it was sunny and mild, but the Annapolis Valley was a winter wonderland. I've been feeling a bit jaded lately with working in a high-pressure firm, but days like this make me appreciate what a great profession I'm in.

This site will soon be a camp for sick kids, and I intend to make sure the camp rests lightly on this forest and keeps all of the magic that drew us in the first place. 

I hope you're having a magical pre-holiday weekend! xo

leg warmers

I have always loved leg warmers, a kick-back from growing up in the 80's I guess. So I've been quick to embrace the warmer-over-tights/ leggings comeback. I especially like the thigh-high variety. I picked up a pair yesterday, and am wearing them as we speak (see bottom pic).

(photo by Michelle Doucette )

(via Grijs )

cardboard vaulting

I have spent the last couple of weeks working on very technical grading plans and feeling like an engineer- this is incredibly inspiring! This guest bedroom is carved out of the side of a mountain in Vals, Switzerland and the vaulting represents the contours of the mountain. The 400 mm cardboard was computer cut but begs for a little diy re-interpretation. Check out more of Studio JVM here . (via Apartment Therapy )

happy monday

Happy Monday! I hope you've had a great weekend. I've been happily nesting and being quite anti-social.  We had our first real snow yesterday in Halifax, and although it was just a wee bit, it drove me further into my lady cave. I just don't enjoy winter, hence the gorgeous spring pic. I know it's not even officially winter, but I'm dreaming of budding leaves, and crocuses and ...    

(Photo via what possessed me )

healthy glow?

I've previously mentioned that I am following the Spent program for modern exhaustion. It's 6 weeks long and I am finished this weekend! One of my tasks this week was to check all of my body care/ cosmetics for unsafe ingredients. I typed all of my products into Cosmetics Database and was appalled at what I was rubbing on my body and am now faced with the sad task of throwing out some of my favorite beauty products. The good thing about this website is you can type in a product (ie. mascara) and it rates pretty much all of the products on the market from 1 to 10 so you can find safer alternatives.

Warning! Don't try this unless you are prepared to do some major house-cleaning!

(photo via j. crew )

penguin invite

Since we seem to be on the topic of weddings today. The perfect invite for bookish types from Greenwich Letterpress .

(via a cup of jo )

rock solid

As much as I love the beach, I could never quite see myself getting married on one. This wedding on a rock outcropping on the other hand is perfectly sweet and simple. My perfect wedding would still be under big trees in a beautiful garden, preferably my to-be garden. 

(via a cup of jo )

tree prints

I absolutely adore these tree relief prints by Brian Nash Gill . He rolls the ink right on the trunk, overlays this with paper and then rubs to create the print with his own hands. The print below is hemlock.

(via antler magazine )

take me out to dinner dress

Who could refuse you in this? {via modcloth}

life envy

Oh my, where to begin, this is so much more than a girl crush. Artist Bobbie Burgers has what I concede to be the perfect life. I saw her featured in Canadian House and Home a couple of years back and have carried those torn-out pages with me. Here is this young, beautiful artist living in a colorful modern house in Vancouver with gorgeous blond children and a furniture designer husband. I've often thought of her as a role model for where I'd like to be. Painting at home, hanging out with the kids in the garden. Maybe her idealic family even won me over to the idea of children...

Just this week I stumble upon an article about her Okanagon summer home and new love of farming on the properties orchards, gardens and vineyard. Her perfect existence just became more perfect. *sigh*

{images via bobbie burgers and house and home }