things i’m loving…

This is our last day here and it’s a mix of emotions.  I am excited to see my friends and family in Vancouver and happy to visit some old haunts while I am there.   I am looking forward to good sushi.  I am excited to go to Korea a few days later.  I am sad to leave my family here.  I am nervous about Bangkok and the state of flooding there and wondering if we will need to either change our flight or fly out again once we get there.  But time will tell.  That situation is changing by the hour and we have just been keeping up with the tweets on the subject as it is the most up to date.  Without a doubt, it is flooding there.  But we have two weeks till our arrival there so who knows what can happen.  Here are a couple of things I’ve stumbled upon in the past few days that have caught my eye:

Ofra Lapid-This guy is crazy! Apparently this guy found a bunch of photos on the internet by an amateur photographer in South Dakota.  The photographer had a series of photos of abandoned decaying buildings.  Ofra Lapid then reconstructed the buildings out of paper and re-photographed them.  Out of paper! Click the link for more amazing images.

Source: thevintageapple.com via Inge on Pinterest

I’m a sucker for vintage saucy photos.  No interest whatsoever in similar photos of the modern-day but something intrigues me when I see pornographic photos from back in the day.  It makes me wonder about the individual and her story.  Click here for a series of photos from the Red Light District in New Orleans circa 1912.

I’m sorry? Is this seriously a custom-made macaron knuckleduster ring? Why yes, it is! I want this.  If I had an address to send it to, I would buy it now.  Check out this girls etsy shop for gorgeous eye candy. 

things i’m loving…

this dress-linked from loveology

cozy rooms with natural light via karin mathilda

People that are 100 that run full marathons!

Source: news.yahoo.com via Ms. on Pinterest

things i’m loving…

Marie Claire Idees: Alright, so I can only understand every third word or so, but this magazine is one that I will buy occasionally just for the eye candy.  Beautiful European focused design, crafts and shopping, not to mention the photography-this magazine is just beautiful to look at  (and practice your French :P)

Flourent Chavouet: I came across this guy at the local bookstore (chain, not locally owned).  They had one copy of “Tokyo on Foot” which I did not buy but obsessed over for a couple of weeks until I ordered it on Amazon for half the price.  He does amazing pencil crayon illustrations of Tokyo, particularly crazy accurate depictions of the people and neighbourhoods he obviously spent a lot of time in.  It brought me back to being right in those neighbourhoods and I could spend hours pouring over the details of each page.  I wish I could find some proper images of the inside of the book.  It’s hard to find them of the neighbourhoods themselves, but maybe when it arrives, I’ll scan some to show you.

Koreless: Just discovered this guy-maybe I’m a bit late, but he’s only 19 years old so I guess I’m alright.  Pretty hard to find individual tracks by him online so I’ve been converting them off of YouTube.  Anyway, I’ve been playing the four songs I have by him over and over again.

My new camera! There are cheaper cameras out there, there are more expensive, but for a newbie like me, this camera is challenging enough so that I have a lot to learn but simple enough so that in playing with the Auto settings, I’m guaranteed a perfect photo every time.  I love it.  So why no new photos on my blog? I am waiting for the memory card to come that we ordered online! So far I’ve just been practicing without saving the photos, getting used to the various settings etc.  My next recipe, that hopefully will be posted soon also contains a dismal photo taken by the old, now retired camera.  But it will be one of the last! The travel photos will all be taken by the new camera! Not looking forward to lugging it around everywhere though.  Inside the case, it takes up a considerable amount of space in my daypack.  We’ll be looking to downsize the case once we get to those fantastic Kuala Lumpur night markets.  The one we are using was just kicking around here…yay!

Travel laundry soap:  Okay, how cool are these? I just picked these up the other day.  No more travelling with that clunky bar of Sunlight that wore my hands raw last time.  I do send most of my laundry out while travelling but there are always the few things you don’t want to go missing, your unmentionable delicates and odds and ends that you end up doing yourself.  These are so cool and they are even mildly scented!

things i’m loving…

Gorgeous hot pink damask wallpaper from Thibaut Design.

Ink Riders

 

Amazing photography from Italian Alberto Seveso.  Check out the link above for more images of his cool playmobil surfer riding on inky waves.

Oh my god, oh my god.  Where the hell would I ever wear these? Who cares, they are amazing and I love them.  I can’t stop staring at these shoes.  I’m pretty sure that makes me shallow and ridiculous.

Betsey Johnson of course.  Oh and they come in black.

Things I am loving…

I love, love, love this dress.  I regret not splurging on it because now there is only small and medium left and I can bet I am a large.  Fell in love with it when I saw ScarJo wearing it in a Mango ad in one of my trashy mags.  Now Im scouring ebay for it on a bi-weekly basis.  The belt, the cats, oh my!

Creme de la Crumb in Vancouver.  If you are Downtown-get one of their scones.  Enjoy them in all their sugary white flour evilness.  I recommend Lime & Coconut.  One of the few things I’m going to miss about this place. 

Peonies. Goes without saying. Peonies are hot this year, so are all those ruffled tulips that look like mini peonies. They are $18 a bunch here and that pisses me off! Everyone’s talking about them. Everyone has photos of them on their blogs so I’ll spare you but I think if I hadn’t packed my vase, I’d splurge! I love them soooo much!

Loveology: I love this blog. The colours and photography make me happy. That is all.

I wonder…

…is it wrong to read about pastries while working out on the stationary bike at the gym? I am loving this book…

Speaking of..kind of.  I don’t think *some* people appreciated me donating my two years of Bon Appetit back issues to the gym magazine pile, as they mysteriously disappeared within a couple of days.  Am I the only one that wants to work out while looking at/reading about gorgeous food? I guess for some people it’s not a good idea…

Things I’m loving…

Okay, it’s 6 am and I’ve been awake since 3:30-might as well do another blog post! Here’s what I am loving these days:

Sandra Juto’s blog:

I am a blog junkie and I’m always coming across new blogs from links on different blogs and some of them catch my eye and some of them don’t. Sandra seems to be a Swedish gal living in Berlin (lucky gal!) who has amazing photography and crochet work. I love her and her eye for design and beauty.

Papaya! Art makes beautiful notebooks, water bottles, wall art and things that are sparkly and have lots of nice colours. They also have a blog which I am addicted to.

The sauna: I love the sauna at the pool I go to. It’s just a grotty sauna at the local public pool I go to and it’s clientele often annoys me (seriously, do you need to do push-ups in a sauna?) but I love the feeling I get after I go for a long swim and do some serious sweating in the sauna. I feel all stretchy and relaxed and it’s great in the winter when your bones are chilled or if you have sore muscles.

Things i am loving:

Okay, I know I’ve already mentioned Betsey Johnson but I actually went out of my way to take a photo of the window display, just for you 😛  And now THIS week, they’ve already changed the display and they have the hugest pink-est frilli-est Tutu Dress and now I think I have to go back and take MORE photos.  That being said, I obviously cannot take a proper photo through a glass window, and I’m sorry.  But I thought I would share:

I am also loving these little oranges that must be in season right now.  They are little and from California and so sweet.  I can eat, like, ten a day.  But I don’t.  I eat five 😛

And finally-this is a little tree that I pass by sometimes on my walk home.  Someone, or maybe several people have painted a door on the tree and made a little magical gnome door.  Note the little gnomes at the bottom of the tree.  This makes me smile: