domicile

Babushka Madness

Beata, the woman behind Rose Hip Designs, has got to be one of the loveliest gals I know. I've had the great pleasure of meeting her in person at my local farmer's market, and often run into her at my favourite local crafty events. In addition to being an all around delightful person, she's also as talented as all get-out. I always pour over her table trying to restrain myself from buying my darling god-daughter one of each of her gorgeous dresses, skirts and general kids clothes, and telling myself that I really don't need another bag/pillow/what-have you. This Christmas, however, when I saw her babushka dolls I could not resist. Could you? Really? (This photo here is very similar to the little gal I now have hanging by my desk). Beata has finally opened herself up an Etsy store today (I've been wishing she would do this for ages so others not able to make our East Van Farmer's Market could partake in her lovelies) and it looks like I'm not her only fan. I just checked and 49 of her 60 babushkas are already gone, so get yours quick! I'm trying to decide between these two friends for my gal.

Playing Dress Up

If you spend much time with Alex she will bring you under her Anthropologie spell. In particular, her success at scoring the Anthro sale racks. Perhaps the best testament to this is that while visiting Seattle briefly last weekend we managed to run into Felicia (someone we met through Alex) in the sale rack, browsing the same racks. I was on a budget, but had my heart set on getting something that I could wear to our book launch party in the Spring. While I know it's ages away, I also know the time between now and then will whiz by, and frankly there are so many other things to do to prepare for that event, that knowing I have an outfit in my closet seems like a good thing to tick off the list.  Not only did I get a lovely chocolate brown french party dress for $60, Lauren also spied these gold shoes on the sale rack which were (saldy for her) in my size. And 50% off. The whole ensemble makes me feel like I'm a little girl playing dress-up (in a good way), I think largely because I used to have a pair of gold, very sparkly shoes in my dress up box that had once belonged to my Nana. I adored those shoes in all their 10 sizes too big for me splendour and there's something about these that transports me back to those days of fantasy. Now, in addition to all the other planning that needs to be done, I'll just need to be sure to get a pedicure before the party.

Marimekko for the Home

  Marimekko Mokki Tray 
  Originally uploaded by emira

Marimekko has always made me think of my darling childhood friend Kate. I think it must be that the nostalgia hit those big over sized prints give me takes me right back to the early days of our friendship circa 78 when running around in terry cloth shorts and polyester t-shirts that exposed our little toddler bellies was de rigeuer. Kate and her family are currently visiting the west coast from Montreal and are in fact staying with us for a week right now (after a visit with her folks for Christmas). Somewhere between the rush of Christmas and the mild chaos of a three year old and a three month old (part of her entourage) we didn't manage to exchange Christmas gifts with one another until last night. She and her partner Adrian gave us this awesome Marimekko tray which Martin is trying to claim as his own (he does this will all things red). It's my first official piece of Marimekko, despite much oggling when we were in Denmark, and it has inspired me to try to take Kate to the new concept store they opened last Fall here in Vancouver. I'm giddy at the thought of the store, as another friend -- Ariane -- described it to me just last night (in a weirdly prescient Marimekko moment) and I'm sure I'll be as overwhelmed as she was by all the yummy fabrics and awesome prints... Oh the anticipation!

Is that a credit card in your freezer?

My mom has a dear longtime friend who, over the years, has been known to go into a bit of credit card debt here and there. Often paying off her Visa with her Mastercard, she would let these things run away from her for a while and then take drastic measures to pull it all back under control. Tried and true strategies like freezing your credit card in a glass of water, or having other people "babysit" it for a while until the bills are paid off. These days that kind of strategy doesn't work so well. I rarely pull out my credit card when making impulse purchases, as I make most of those online and I know the numbers off by heart. Danger Bay.

My latest transgression: fabric on Ebay. Who knew!? I had hear rumours of course, but last Sunday night I went on a hunt for a particular colourway of an older Amy Butler print that I wanted to make some of the holiday gifts on my list. I started with the usual online retailers -- ReproDepot and Purl Soho -- but when they didn't turn up what I was looking for I thought "what the heck, why not try Ebay". OMFG. Seriously. The fabric! The options! The colourways I thought were gone! And. Right now the Canadian dollar is kind of trouncing the US buck and that meant a potential wealth of savings. The more I bought, the more I could potentially save! So compelling. I held back to only 4 yards (with combined shipping of $3 no less), but I'll admit I'm starting to get a bit itchy for more. Then, I go and read at Hilary's blog this week that she's been buying Japanese fabrics from Etsy and now I think I may need to see if the bank will change my credit card number so I can bury it in the garden until next spring and safely refrain from getting in over my head.

Perfectly Impractical

I have a thing for clogs. I love them. They're comfy. I love the look of them, the sound of them on wood floor and I adore the many variations on the basic form. Like this one here. How great is this? I was looking for a new pair of clogs as a possible birthday treat and stumbled upon these. I am now fixated. Sadly, they do not ship to Canada, and buying shoes on line is risky enough without introducing additional shipping nuttiness. But still. So pretty! Also, it's November. In Vancouver. These are not Vancouver November shoes. They are, however, great shoes to day dream about on rainy days.

Calendar Season

  Diana Fayt Calendar 
  Originally uploaded by emira

Time to order calendars for next year, and like most years I'm overwhelmed with the awesome choices the interweb offers. (I don't even bother looking at calendars in real life any more, knowing that I'll have a hard enough time choosing online). So far I've already ordered a Camilla Engman one (for the office) and I may need to have the Diana Fayt one again is looks so very charming in the kitchen. (Plus since I can't afford a Diana Fayt bowl this is my second runner up).  Port to Port Press is putting out a calendar soon, and a quick search on Esty shows so many awesome options.

Culinary Objects of Desire

The new Ikea catalogue arrived on my doorstep yesterday morning, just in time for back patio coffee and browsing. Given how adverse to doing much more in the way of major renos to our house I currently am, I found myself focusing on wee details. Things like pots and lamp shades. Mirrors and bedding. Green seems to be the colour of 2008 for Ikea (as I know it is all over the darn place) and I was particularly thrilled to see their enamel cast iron pots are now available in green, which may just tip me in the direction of getting one in time for winter. I'm also lusting after a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and hoping to get one in time for holiday baking. I've always been quite happy to live with my Cuisinart (though it's a smallish one), blender and electric beaters, but after spending two different afternoons baking over at Melanie's place I'm convinced that a Kitchen Aid is where it's at. Practically, I know that anyone colour is as good as the next but I must say a red one sure would look lovely with our red floors. And if you can't be so indulgent as to match your appliances with your floor, then what's the point right? Ha. Anyway, as soon as Felicia declared her intentions toward one I figured I wasn't alone in lusting after it's shiny red goodness.

Cookbook Inspiration

With all the time and energy I'm spending in the kitchen (or in hardware stores thinking about the kitchen) with this renovation, I'm finding myself craving new cooking horizons. At this point, day 2 of our reno project I'm seeing this as a classic case of wanting that which is not in reach. Tonight we disconnect the sink and that means reheated soup and beans on toast for dinner for the foreseeable future. But the dull culinary realities of my short term future are doing nothing to dampen my gourmet day dreams. Trouble is, I've found myself of late itching for a new cookbook that can really make its mark on our menus.

There have been cookbooks like this in the past -- the first How It All Vegan, the ReBar Cookbook and Rose Elliot's New Vegetarian Cooking to name a few -- that have really muscled into my repertoire and influenced me both directly in terms of new recipes as well as generally inspiring use of new ingredients and approaches to food. I've been on the lookout for just such a new cookbook for a while now, but I'm currently fairly fixated. I've taken a few out of the library recently, but not been impressed enough to do more than jot down one recipe and move on. Then this morning on the way to work I remembered that Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking was set to come out sometime around now and a quick web search revealed that it is indeed now available. I have a hunch this just might be the book I'm looking for as I have used a few of Heidi's recipes posted online over the years and loved each one. Besides if her photography can't inspire my cooking to new directions, I'm not sure what else can.

Has anyone else got their hands on a copy and do you have any thoughts? I'd love to know what others think.

Now back to the business of the evening. After one last meal with working plumbing in the kitchen (roasted veggie quesadillas with basil/lemon and fontina) we're set to finish the destruction and begin repairing the walls and floors for new paint and flooring. Bring on the dust masks it's a kitchen party!

Low VOC Paint Comes Home

After reading Alex's recent post about Yolo paints, I had a quick spin around the Yolo Colorhouse website and discovered that we finally have a place to purchase them here in Vancouver. Back when we were doing our bathroom reno I was frustrated by the fact that we didn't have anything like Seattle's Environmental Home Center here in Vancouver but now just over half a year later it turns out we do. I stopped by Vancouver's new Greenworks Building Supply this morning and picked up two swatches of Yolo Paint (in Air 1 and Air 4) to try out as kitchen options.

While there I also had a look at some of their countertop options, though I have to say that my very vain and imagedriven self just isn't too crazy about the Paperstone colour options, though I may see if Martin can't help me cost a an end grain block "plyboo"  (machined bamboo plywood) version of a counter we had originally been planning in standard plywood.

A quick web search on green building in Vancouver this morning also turned up the new Lighthouse Sustainable Building Centre on Granville Island which might warrant a bike trip down to the island for more information. In the meantime, they've got a pretty decent blog full of inspiration and info here for those of you interested in eco-building practices and sustainable design.

I'm pretty happy with the Yolo paint swatches I brought home and in fact think we'll probably go with Air 1, if Martin agrees. My only complaint so far is that since hanging the large paper swatch 15 minutes ago on my wall is has fallen down three times.

Crafty Tomes

I've been slowly building a list of craft-themed book titles that I'm lusting after. I made a little promise to myself that if I actually made good on my intentions to sew a number of items in the Amy Butler book, I would treat myself to a new one but now I'm not sure which I would pick. This weekend I finished off the Amy Butler Kimono (photos and a review to follow later this week) and I'm feeling like I may have reached my own imaginary threshold to allow for another crafty-book purchase. Here are the titles currently on my list, I haven't actually seen any of these in person so haven't been able to thumb through them. If anyone has reviews or opinions please feel free to sway me in one direction or the other.

• Simple Sewing with a French Twist: An Illustrated Guide to Sewing Clothes and Home Accessories with Style. I first saw this one over at Alex's delightful Hygge House blog a few months ago.
• Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing: Patterns and How-To for 24 Fresh and Easy Projects. This one appeals to my Scano-lust in a big way and would help me reconcile my lack of any Lotta loveliness.
• Wendy Mullin's Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe seems like it might be good inspiration for wardrobe sewing, which is always fun at a change of seasons. I seem to be most inspired to sew at a season change.
• Tricia Guild's Pattern looks like it very well may lead to some friction between my "femme-tastic" decorating leanings and Martin's preference for a more minimalist approach. But it sure does look like a fun time.
• And Amy Karol's book is available for pre-order already.

I'm sorely tempted to just jump off the deep end and get them all, but my Visa balance and the knowledge that having them all would leave me less time to savour hold me back.