I like maps in general. And they could easily have their own blog post on here. However, as we all know (do we?), I like to be hyper-specific. So I'm narrowing down my interest to wearable maps. Granted, I do not actually own at at present, but I always intent to buy them! Who knows why certain things fall by the wayside.
Maybe I like wearing maps because it sort of says to people, "Hey, I like going places!" or in the case of this picture pictures, "Hey, I come from Ixonia/Wisconsin!" Either way, I like wearing things like tee-shirts, and necklaces or pendants, and scarfs that tell people something about me.
There are a lot of faux antique lockets around these days... which are a complete travesty! And while on on that tangent, since when it is okay, etsy and ebay people, to call some brand new item vintage or antique when it is simply made to look vintage or antique?! (P.S. I hate you.) Lockets should not be commonplace or items that you buy for yourself (most of the time). How many movies and books include scenes wherein some character explains from whom they received their prized locket?
A lot, guys.
I love lockets--especially large ones. There is just something so lovely about carrying around a tangible photo in a sacred silver case. And don't even get me started on when they're engraved! Can you imagine finding something like that?! Or inheriting something like that? Or bestowing your own upon some future descendant to cherish? Lockets encapsulate (wink) everything that I truly love and value--history, loved ones, jewelry, antiques, etc. And oh, to find a lavalier locket (see photo)! I love the extra drop of the lavalier style. It creates such a beautiful shape along the neckline.
Okay, I'll be blatantly honest and admit that this little interest of mine definitely started with Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet way back in 1996. I think I had to wait till I was older before my mom actually let me watch it though. Interestingly enough she was totally fine with my watching the 1968 version, which actually has nudity, unlike Luhrmann's. Hm.
Anyway. I've sort of gotten away from collecting these items now that I'm an adult (I guess). But they're still pretty awesome. Love the renaissance imagery juxtaposed with modern neon and velour. And yay for bright colors! Bright colors absolutely thrill me.
There's just something about Blue Topaz... I know this isn't very original, guys, but it reminds me of the sea. And now that I live in the desert it seems especially important to have have at least something that makes me think of water nearby.
Pure topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine, yellow, pale gray, reddish-orange, or blue brown. It can also be made white, pale green, blue, gold, pink (rare), reddish-yellow or opaque to transparent/translucent. Naturally occurring blue topaz is quite rare. But I'm okay with lab topaz. Whatevs.
There are three levels of color saturation. I prefer the Swiss Blue. Everybody else is all about the London Blue, but that's just plain too dark for my taste. I bought a blue topaz ring at the Renaissance Faire years ago, but tried in on it 90 degree weather. It's too big in normal temperatures. Lame.
Russian Olive trees (Elaeagnus angustifolia) are not native to Wisconsin, so I only learned about them on an earth sciences walk around the University of Wisconsin's (Milwaukee) campus one day in undergrad. Our prof was showing our class the myriad of tree varieties grown there and that is when I met Yuri and Svetlana, my beloved Russian Olives (of course I had to name them!).
I don't usually go for subtle hues or pieces of nature that are not overtly beautiful, but there was something about those twin trees that captivated me. I had to say hello to them every time I passed by their little plot beside the student union. There bark is wild and rough and barely clings, but it flows together out to the silver branches. In late spring, you can find fragrant lemon yellow bell-shaped flowers along the branches. The leaves are long and slim, silver on the backsides and slightly fuzzy. I've never seen the fruit look like anything other than the above picture, but apparently they grow larger, turn yellow or red, and are edible. But don't you have to soak olives in something to be able to eat them anyway? I've never heard of fresh olives...
I bought a baby Russian Olive for my parents' yard years ago but it failed miserably. And then to my absolute horror, I went to visit Yuri and Svetlana one spring day only to find that they'd been cut down. I was inconsolable (well, sort of).
Now that I'm in the Southwest, Russian Olives are ubiquitous and incredibly invasive. That changes them for me a little. But I'll always remember Yuri & Svetlana as they were and what they meant to me.
My favorite horse! I went through stages as a child, first loving any chestnut-colored horse before transitioning to Duns, and then of course I had a Black Beautyphase. But now (and for awhile) Appaloosas are at the top. And guys, they do have the coolest name. I love the dappled grays. I even love just saying dappled grays!
They are almost otherworldly and totally remind me of this mystical toy horse I had as a child that was more dappled purple than gray. I thought it was Lady Lovely Lock's horse Silky Mane, but that one is just all purple. I do remember putting Pixietails in her mane though... But whatever, this doesn't really have anything to do with Lady Lovely Locks. Or maybe it really does. Maybe everything has to do with Lady Lovely Locks.
I met this artist randomly in Italy while visiting the coastal town of Positano. The church there was hosting her show and her paintings are epic. There are mostly all religious in nature and they're so beautiful glossy and colorful. It was thrilling! I purchased this print but it just cannot do it justice. Her work feels so alive. I love the tones and the lines. I tried to copy her style once and failed miserably. I should probably just leave it up to her!
I've been perusing Albuquerque's antique stores lately and I LOVE that they are full of items from the 1920s and '30s! There's something about that Art Deco style that really catches my eye. I think what I like best is that it is representative of a transitional historical period. Prior to WWI, the Victorians and Edwardians still valued ornate beauty. Flowery poetry, lace, and daydreaming were all the rage. And then the war shattered that idealism and realism started to become in vogue. So Art Deco pieces, especially jewelry, are indicative of that with both filigree and geometry. I love the rectangular gems juxtaposed with old world cuts, the elongated rings that are reminiscent of the sky scrapers from the building boom of the late '30s, and the emphasis on silver instead of the more romantic gold. And for some reason I've found there often seems to be a three motif (three parts to the ring). I haven't figured out what that means yet...
I often pride myself (erroneously) on being anti-diamonds, but I do become a total girl around antique Art Deco diamond rings. I get completely lost in the history of them. How many women have worn them? How many stories are connected to one particular piece? I inherited my great-grandmother's engagement ring from the '20s. It's delicate and discreet (but I wish it was a little more blatantly Art Deco), and I love that I know its story. But part of me prefers the mystery and I'd almost rather that ring were used by a descendant who hadn't known her...
I know some people prefer dogs because of their loyalty and unabashed affection, and that's nice and all, but I prefer my animals to treat me worse than my human friends. To expect affection and then be withholding or abusive. To whine and whine for no reason. To barge in on me wanting whatever it is they want when they want it. To expect the world and give nothing but their presence in return.
In this movie called Playing by Heart, Angelina Jolie's character explains that cats are great because they are so feline, that "[Cats] can look at you with a gaze of unflappable superiority that seems to spring from near total detachment and disinterest." (not unlike the cat in that picture). And it's not just cats! I love pigeons who walk right up to you expecting a handout, or seagulls who don't even bother asking and just take it. Or goats that eat your clothes while you're trying to feed them real food. They're fantastic!
There is something to be said for old, quiet dogs that follow you without fail and lay at your feet in the grass elated when you pet them. But for now I'll take the scratches.
I would never purchase this print on modern sheets. I'm really not into floral. But like most of my favorite things, this is nostalgia. I inherited by Great-Grandmother's bed linens (for some reason) and OH MY GOD. Bitches knew how to make sheets back in the day. You know how contemporary sheets get all pill-y after awhile? Not Pequot sheets! These things have been around for like a million years and instead of getting pills they just get silkier. They're cotton, BTW. I've slept on these continually since I was 14 or thereabouts. I bring one with me when I travel because I hate hotel bed linen. They've been to six countries and they just keep getting better. I only have four, and unfortunately they're twin size (my least favorite bed size) but I use them anyway. Though recent'y I've begun hunting down the same pattern on ebay and the like. My collection is growing! My future husband is just going to have to deal because I don't ever want to sleep on anything else.
I don't know what it is guys, but I freaking love duck (the food... and the animal). I don't eat meat unless it's ethically and sustainably raised and slaughtered, but if there's duck on the menu I HAVE to have it. I will not even look at anything else. I don't even know what it is! I've never had a bad experience with duck, but that's probably because I've only ever seen it in nice restaurants and therefore everything they serve probably rocks. Most crap restaurants don't serve duck, unless it's a Chinese place. I've never actually had a duck Chinese dish. Wait, maybe I have. I seem to recall eating something that looked like that picture. Still going to steer clear of crap places serving duck though.
A little afraid it may ruin my perfect run so far.
These birds are my absolute favorite (they wouldn't be listed here if they weren't, duh). I know I said it doesn't feel like summer without Dahlias, but really, screw Dahlias. If I had to pick between the two I would want Red-Winged Blackbirds. The males. The females might as well be a different bird. They're super boring in color and song.
The song of Red-Winged Blackbirds instantly brings me back to late summer afternoons by the pond on my parents' property. We'd climb along this branch that hung over the water, right in the thick of the Cattail reeds, and explore everything. Frogs, and bird, and weird water flora. I remember laying on the road with my head hanging down to shout through the culvert as my younger brother shouted back from the other side. I remember the dogs lapping up the stinky water, and the ducks going crazy for the Duckweed. You'd think they hadn't eaten in years. We'd lose hours playing in and around that pond. I loved trying to make flotation devices so we could be closer the birds, and then failing miserably and having to trudge back through the sludge when we inevitably sank. I can think of a million and a half memories of that pond, and all with the Red-Winged Blackbird soundtrack.
* I wanted to credit this picture but I closed the link too quickly!
I've decided that Dahlias are my favorite flower. Not only because they are stunning but because they remind me so much of my father's gardens back home in Wisconsin. The ones I remember most were bright magenta and of the waterlily variety, and they will forever have a soft spot in my heart but I can't get over beauty and geometry of the ball variety. Especially the peach ones. I think they're called Barbarry Ideal.
I really miss seeing these. It doesn't ever quite feel like summer without them.
"I consider lace to be one of the prettiest imitations ever made of the fantasy of nature; lace always evokes for me those incomparable designs which the branches and leaves of trees embroider across the sky, and I do not think that any invention of the human spirit could have a more graceful or precise origin." --Coco Chanel, April 29, 1939
So I spent two years in Canada while I was getting my masters and to me there is nothing more iconically Canadian (except perhaps the maple leaf) than the Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket. I never did own one but it is a life goal (they are three-hundred some dollars).
I recently bought a scarf from HBC in the style of their woolen Point Blanket (they have loads of stuff with the same design) and I completely adore it! These aren't even my colors and there's loads of cream, which I typically loathe. But you can't mess with something that has been popular since 1780 (when they were used in the fur trade).
Just looking at this thing makes me want snow, a cabin, a fire, a hot guy, and this blanket.
Growing up, pie was my least favorite desert. Probably because my dad, who suffers from adult picky eater disorder, always liked my genius of a baker mother to just make pies with store bought filling (the horror!). But then a few years ago someone gave her a pie recipe book and I flipped through it over Christmas. For some reason I thought it would be cool to make a different pie every week for a year. So I did. Yeah, I'm that cool. Thankfully at the time I had five roommates (half of which were boys) so I didn't gain any extra weight that year. But it was super fun experimenting with weird ingredients and learning about thickening agents and perfect crusts. I have so many lovely memories of pie making now--like collecting salmonberries in an old growth forest in Vancouver with good friend, experimenting with pineapple pie filling on a date, or surprising a loved one with a cup pie to take for lunch.
During that times pies suddenly became super popular. Not unlike cupcakes and woopie pies (totally overrated in my opinion). One of my all-time favorite shows was on the air--Pushing Daisies was about a really hot pie-maker. And then the charming movie, Waitress, came out. And I was even more inspired.
So lately, after much goading, I've been watching that 2009-2010 television series, Dollhouse. I'm really enjoying it! Even if it is kind of the poor man's Alias. There is an episode where they do the back-story of one of the dolls, Sierra, played by the ethereal Dichen Lachman. Without going into too much detail, Sierra (or rather, Priya--her real name) is an artist who sells her paintings on Venice Beach. She is commissioned by the douche-bag who played Billy in Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion to do a large piece for him as his way of trying to get into her pants.
Anyway, none of this really has anything to do with this beautiful painting other than that it was the medium through which I discovered it. The true artist is a woman called Brooke Reidt and I wish to God that she had prints available for less than $180! Because I am totally in love with her work. The painting featured on Dollhouse is called "Hero Piece" and I just love the lines, and the colors, and the depth. It's a bit bittersweet to me. Like rebirth.
Okay, I know that this look is getting a bit old, (by fashion industry standards) but I am still in love! If I remember correctly abstract prints first started hitting mall stores in early 2010. Or at least that is when I started noticing them. For the longest time I hated contemporary art. HATED IT! But for some reason art museums have really grown on me, and while I'll always love classic portraits and landscapes, I finally opened myself up to abstract works (especially watercolors!). Richard Diebenkorn, Pol Ledent, and Mark Rothko are a few favorites--and I would gleefully wear their art on a silky dress. To have a color print option that is not floral is what I love most. Abstract prints are fun, cosmopolitan, and there's usually so many colors in them that they will match almost anything. Florals kind of make me feel like a little girl or a home-school mom*.
*I feel really guilty for hating** on that seamstress.
**Did I just use "hate" as a verb? Ugh.
Listen, I don't know why opaque fruit snacks taste better--they just do. I groan with annoyance when I open a pack of [insert random cartoon] fruit snacks and find translucent pieces. Some awesome types, like Betty Crocker's My Little Pony, have ALL opaque fruit snacks. This just plain rocks.
When it comes to food I am usually pretty picky. Were this any other type of snack I would opt for something like Annie's organic fruit snacks, or say an orange, because they're way better for you and I'm extremely conscious about what I eat (okay, maybe not extremely but more so than most people I know). But there are some things I just cannot give up despite all the bad press. I think the key is moderation. I say that after I just inhaled three packs. Fail.
Glorious new-found songs are like crushes (for me at least). Some are exactly what you need for a specific moment in time--like my brief mental flings with Shawn Mullin's Lullaby and Chad Michael Murray. Seriously, guys. What was I thinking?! Though who among us can honestly admit they weren't a little bit in love with Tristan on Gilmore Girls? He was the brown sugar to Dean's oatmeal.
But some songs thrill you from the first time you hear them, and for years after. I think about this so much that when I fall in love with a new song I'm always terrified that I will end up hating it. Some have stood the test of time (so far), but none as much as Johnny Clegg'sDela (Zulu for content), which I first heard it on George of the Jungle back in... 1997. 1997? Really? I thought I was much younger when that film came out. Anyway, I may not have figured out who the artist was until years later but even in that in between time of ignorance that scene in the forest where George and Ursula dance around the fire has always struck me as one of the most gloriously happy moments in film. It's light, it's free, it's innocent (but not childish)! I smile every time I think about it. I have never gotten tired of listening to Dela. And it opened the door to Clegg's entire canon, which is pretty freaking amazing. This white South African dude was like formally accepted by the Zulu nation DURING Apartheid! He couldn't even play his Zulu-influenced music in South Africa at the time. (Side note: Paul Simon's kick ass album Graceland was inspired by Clegg.) He's got some pretty sad stuff about injustice and all that but his joyful songs make me ridiculously happy. When I worked alone in a creepy archives I instituted dance parties (for myself) to Clegg's music on the hour every hour to distract myself from thinking about golums climbing out of the mikvah (don't ask).
And guys, he did the opening song in Fern Gully. How's that for trivia?
I finally got the chance to see Johnny Clegg live in San Francisco last year. One of my life goals was to dance to Dela live and it was glorious! The crowd was a little old and sparse, so I think his South African concerts would be more exhilarating--and I'll try to ignore how brusque he was with me when I had him sign my CD. But he's still my all time favorite musician. And I still have Dela dance parties at work.
And speaking of individual dance parties... check out this chick. She is so cool!
*I started writing this post intending it to be about The Lumineers' song Hey Ho, which I only recently heard but I think will be one of those eternal crushes. I feel a sort of bemused acceptance of... life and my lot when I listen to it.
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I would never purchase this print on modern sheets. I'm really not into floral. But like most of my favorite things, this is nostalgia. I inherited by Great-Grandmother's bed linens (for some reason) and OH MY GOD. Bitches knew how to make sheets back in the day. You know how contemporary sheets get all pill-y after awhile? Not Pequot sheets! These things have been around for like a million years and instead of getting pills they just get silkier. They're cotton, BTW. I've slept on these continually since I was 14 or thereabouts. I bring one with me when I travel because I hate hotel bed linen. They've been to six countries and they just keep getting better. I only have four, and unfortunately they're twin size (my least favorite bed size) but I use them anyway. Though recent'y I've begun hunting down the same pattern on ebay and the like. My collection is growing! My future husband is just going to have to deal because I don't ever want to sleep on anything else.
