the mirror

today...

I was so happy to receive a CD of the images that I took while I was in Antwerp for the new year with Di. It was worth the wait.. because now I have 200 images to sort through and play with in Photoshop.

thank you Di x

Den Haag Fail

Freezing cold wind in our faces helped us decide to take the train back to Leiden.

Utter. Complete. Failure.

I'm in an abusive relationship

Photoshop, you are a mean and nasty bitch, and sometimes I look at you and think, "I hate you." I'm contemplating breaking up with you. What do you think about that?

This tutorial took me over 6 hours, and several emails requesting technical and emotional assistance. Sadly, I feel that this experience has taken me a few steps backward in confidence about my relationship, and I may need some therapy.

tip of the day

I know it can be a hard habit to get into, but when working with layers, it's always best to label them when possible. I've been working on this tutorial.. (oh god, I'm repetitive) but this is a photo editing tutorial, and there are so many layers, copies of layers, and blah blah blah.. well I'm 3/4 of the way through it, and I've completely lost track of which layers belong where and now I'm going to just start over from the beginning.

no me gusta.

vraiment...

Ok, for real.. I'm SOOO tired, and I am desperately fighting the desire to sleep. Today's "I like" is obviously going to be a bed. ha ha.. but, in all seriousness, I think this particular bed looks cozy and inviting. The wallpaper rocks, and I dig all the books and scattered artwork.

zzzzz.....

kinky?

I need a haircut!!! I've been really unsure about how to get it cut lately, plus there's the fact that my hairstylist lives in NYC. But, because I don't feel like spending several hundred dollars on a haircut, I'm going to suck it up and just try out the local salon, "Kinki Kappers".

I haven't had my haircut in over 4 months, and it is loonnng. After the style, I'm hoping that I have something in between these two previous cuts.

shorty-short

sleep deprivation

Yah.. so I barely slept last night. I hit the sheets around 2 am, and woke up 3 hours later. At 7, I decided to give up and get out of bed. I made a big breakfast and finished this tutorial from Spoono which had been pissing me off only several hours earlier. To be fair, this was pretty easy to follow, with some good tips for keyboard shortcuts... all I'll say is this: Liquify is f@#%ing hard to use. After failing miserably at replicating the reflection, I tried to be innovative and do it on my own. Sadly, that also ended in failure. Fortunately, after my nap and some eggs, I was able to revisit this with a bit of patience, and I guess I'm OK with the results.

So here's my orb. It's riveting, I know.

here's the example from the tutorial

I've always wanted a horse

For the price of a real one (6,800 euros), you can buy this polyester resin lamp, which requires no feeding or exercise. This bad boy was designed by Front of Sweden for Moooi.

a day like any other, except slightly cleaner

Today so far, has been about cleaning, dusting, "hoovering", washing the rugs, changing the bedding, wiping the glass, emptying the garbage... all that blah blah kinda stuff.

In celebration of my cleanliness, I've decided to share these 2 images which I discovered awhile ago at cibone, and found them to be quite lovely.

I tend to think that the world would be slightly more inspiring if we were surrounded by everyday products made with such care and craftsmanship.

Japanese broom, constructed of leather palm and rattan

Japanese dustpan is made from paper, which is dyed with persimmon juice

precisely four things that I like

uno:
Angles and curves




dos:
Dutch design superstar Hella Jongerius' Shippo cloisonné plates



tres:
plates on walls



cuatro:
Beauuuutiful tiles...

miam miam!!

I made my very first lasagna tonight. I was nervous, since Katja had made it just last month, and it was so yummy - so I had a high standard to meet. Well, guess what?

It was FABULOUS!

Here's how I did it
(serves 6 people, but not if you go back for 2nds)

chop up:
5 cloves of garlic
2 onions
2 hot chili peppers

slice:
4-5 tomatoes
a handful of mushrooms
5 small carrots

you also need:
lasagna noodles (I mixed mine by layer, regular and spinach flavor)
2 containers of ricotta
parmesan shavings
cooking cream
tomato sauce

ingredients for a bechamel, which can be made from scratch or from a mix

Heat olive oil, toss in onion, cook on low, add garlic, when it smells really good, toss in the carrots and chilis and let that all cook a bit. Then you'll want to add 2 containers of vegetarian meat crumbles... mix it all up, add some seasoning to taste.

On the side, make your bechamel sauce (you should need about 700 - 800 ml) and also make a tomato cream sauce.

For my tomato sauce, I sauteed a few cloves of garlic, then mixed in about a half a jar of tomato sauce. I then stirred in a bottle of cooking cream, and fresh basil... you have to heat it on low, and stir with a whisk constantly so it doesn't break.

Butter your baking dish and lay your first layer of noodles (all uncooked)

I layered like this (upwards):

noodle, sliced tomatoes, meat mix, bechamel, ricotta, repeat

The top layer gets noodles, bechamel, ricotta, and tomato cream sauce. Don't add all the tomato sauce... the primary toppings are the white items, and the red sauce is merely mixed into it a bit. Save the rest for later. Sprinkle with an ample amount of Parmesan cheese flakes.

Bake for 40 or so minutes at around 220 degrees... it will be bubbly and charred on top. The noodles should be cooked after 40 minutes, but if you're really picky about your noodles being very soft, cook it longer.

I served mine in a bowl, first spooning in the tomato cream sauce, and then a nice square of the lasagna into it..

I got rave reviews from the roomies.. and I'll happily make this for you, given the chance!

a new tradition?

ouchie!

Well, today was the third consecutive day of biking for me and the roomie, and my Derrière has informed me that it shall be the last, at least until this weekend. Today we halved our distance, although we still managed to ride for 1.5 hours. I have no idea how this was possible, since we didn't really stop... he suggested that perhaps we'd not realized how fatigued we were and had rode a lot slower. For lack of a better explanation, I guess I agree! I didn't feel fatigued really, but by the time we rode into Leiden, I quickly suggested that we get off and walk the last few blocks home :P

Noordwijk

Noordwijk

good thing I napped today...

Last night the roomie and I had discussed taking another bike ride today and I was secretly hoping he'd changed his mind, but he hadn't.. so after a big brunch, we headed out. 1.75 hours later we walked back through the front door. Not bad. We missed out on stopping anywhere along the way, since it's Sunday, most of the places were closed.

I don't mind, it's 4:30 and I've already biked over 20 km, on a grandma bike, no less :) Wablieft?!

Time for a beer....

as if you needed another reason to garbage pick!

I like the idea of repurposing things. Often people cast aside old furniture, and if you're a garbage picker like me, you've reluctantly passed up quite a few cool items, usually because they're broken. What if you grabbed the drawers, or the hardware even? Here are 2 examples of finding a way to use those items.

Okay, I could certainly do without the scary decapitated cherubs and the random clove of garlic (bad stylist in full effect here folks...) but - the floating box is a super cool idea.

I think the idea is stunning and if you were the one to find all of the pieces, then you'd not only have a one of a kind, you'd surely have different memories while collecting each piece along the way. If you have some degree of skill with a hammer and tools, I think this could be made. Maybe I'm full of crap though.. anyone with skills want to comment here and tell me if this would be difficult to build? I assume you'd remove the face of the original drawers and attach them to drawer backs that are all the same depth, so the piece could be functional.... thoughts?

what happens when...

you hire a good stylist...

(I love love love this)


and

you hire a bad stylist...
(eeew)

kirby!

Okay, so I stayed up too late the other night and did another tutorial from mickm. I really want to get comfortable with Photoshop, and I feel after this one, that I'm slowly getting there. This tutorial is really basic, but I managed to get through it and realized along the way that I felt a lot more comfortable moving around. As silly as this seems, I discovered that there is a direct selection tool that works pretty much the same way that it does in Illustrator. Another super useful shortcut is ctrl + T, which allows you to edit the position and size of the object you've created. In the past, what I have found to be so frustrating in Photoshop, is that I want to do things, but I don't know how to select the object... so obviously these two tools brought me a big sigh of relief.

Creating the shadow effects on this character (Kirby) was interesting, because I would not have thought that you would be able to draw such a dark shape and be able to reduce it so much that it blends and just becomes a subtle tonal variation. Gaussian blur was used heavily here... so again, repetition and using it on multiple areas to achieve different effects helped me to see how useful it is.

The most difficult part of this lesson, was creating Kirby's mouth. I drew it with the pen tool, then used the direct selection tool to tweak it. Getting his tongue to fit in there was also terrible. I didn't quite understand the directions, and what I ended up doing, was making his tongue from an oval, then magnifying the image and erasing the portion of the oval that overlapped his mouth. Then I merged the 2 layers, and applied the overlay effect from the last step. It doesn't look as good as the tutorial, but I think I did a good job in problem solving. I'm glad that I kept deleting and redoing the mouth portion of the exercise until I found a result that I could be pleased with.

One thing that I've noticed in doing these tutorials, is that some are more beneficial than others, in terms of me actually learning in a way that allows me to problem solve outside of the actual tutorial and on my own. The "SEXY" tutorial was a lot of fun, but it was really just a series of settings that you copied one by one, and then you had your end result. I feel that I get more out of tutorials where I am actually creating objects and building things.

In any event, I enjoy posting them here, perhaps because it helps me to see what I'm learning and to put it all into perspective.

Here is Kirby from the tutorial

and here's my Kerby

I had this really weird dream

I was driving in this black sporty type car with some guy, and we stopped on the highway and walked up to this overpass. Then this girl I know was there, and I have no idea what we were doing.. but then we walked back down to the road, and the car was stolen! All of a sudden, I was saying, "Oh my god! Someone stole my dad's car!!" I wanted to call the police.. I kept digging into my pants pockets for my Blackberry, but I was pulling all of these other cell phones out.. and they were all broken... finally I found mine, and it was broken too.. my hands were shaking and the guy I was with grabbed the phone from me and started fixing it.

Some other guy came over and said, "I saw the guy who took your car." He pulled his own car over and told us to get in. So the guy I was with got in the passenger seat, and the other guy started driving. I was getting into the back seat, but then I turned into my cousin, and I actually ran next to the car... so all of a sudden, I was running down the highway on my own, and at this bend, I saw a truck flip over. It was full of hay bales.. apparently there was a traffic jam, and the truck sped out of control because it couldn't stop. Some other truck had problems too, and a mattress fell out, and knocked my phone down from my hand... so it broke again, and I said something like, "What the f@#k!?" and picked it up.

All of a sudden, I saw the car with the guy who stole it. He was stuck in the traffic. I ran up to the car and jumped through the open window before he could drive away and from the passenger seat, I started punching him in the face! It was crazy... I was punching him reallly hard, I think to stun him so he couldn't hurt me. I remember thinking, maybe he has a weapon.. so I opened the door to the car, and kicked him out into the street, rolled up the window and locked the doors.

Then I woke up. My heart was pounding and my stomach was in knots.

Soo... weird dream. There's a lot more that happened before this scene unfolded - but it's too weird to include.

In fact there is so much that I remember, that it made me think about how when you're sleeping, supposedly, dreams are just flashes in your brain that last minutes. This dream was so detailed and drawn out, I feel like it must have lasted a lot longer. I wish dreams could be taped and watched when you wake up.

ce matin

aujourd'hui

ahhh well, life is like a box of chocolates.. heh. Well mine is anyway. So today I wanted to head out on my own, but the powers that be decided that it was not in my cards. My roommate decided to go to the sauna last night just so that we could do something fun today, sooo.. okay, I'm a good(ish) friend, and didn't want to disappoint.

Instead of our original plan to head to Rotterdam, we decided to keep expectations low, and start the day with a coffee at de Poort (sorry M) - I will say, this coffee was not as lovely as the one pictured in an earlier post - and if I'm looking for a reason to complain, they've installed 2 new lamps, and I hate them with a passion..

Afterward, I wandered off in search of a bead shop.. I don't think Leiden has one, and if they do, sadly I did not find it. I did however, find my way to Hema, where I bought several small useless items - because I'm like that.

My roomie and I have sort of started this weekend bike outing thing, well this was week 2, and today we decided to head to a different area of the city than last time. It was great to get out and feel fresh air, to see new places, and to rationalize that I can now live with myself for skipping kick boxing today. :)

Okay, so I'm off to shower and then we have dinner plans. Apparently there's this pizza place that has amazing pizza and shitty service, so I'm excited for that. If the service is REALLY bad, maybe I'll bitch about it later.

The day isn't over yet, but, I have to admit that staying in Leiden today has been nice :) Now tomorrow.. that's another story...

I feel...

tutorial at Web Toolkit

The last time I saw my friend Annabel

Have you ever wanted to remember every detail of something?
I waited outside her apartment for her and then we went for breakfast.
I miss her, and I miss rue Darwin.

pressing against me

I've been in that sort of place... "I vant to be alone." Most of the people who know me, know that I am really a solitary creature.. I need A LOT of space and privacy, and the ability to disappear. Lately, it seems like the walls of my life are shrinking around me, and I'm feeling like a cat in a cage.

I think, what I should do, is to get on a train tomorrow and go somewhere on my own for the day. I'd bring my book, my camera, my sketch pad, my ipod, Sudoku, and just go.. there are so many places that I haven't seen yet and maybe what I need - is to go out and see something and experience it by myself.

... if the rain isn't horrid, I think that's what I'm going to do.

I know what I'm doing this Sunday....

Todd Thrasher’s Tomato Water Bloody Mary

4 pounds fresh vine-on tomatoes
2 stalks of lemon grass
4 serrano chilis
1 small Bermuda onion
Salt
Cheesecloth
Citrus-flavored vodka

In multiple batches, coarsely chop and puree tomatoes, onion and chilis in a food processor. Add salt to taste. Transfer pulp to a cheesecloth and suspend over a large stockpot. Leave to strain until pulp volume has reduced by two-thirds (about 12 to 24 hours). Makes 1 liter of tomato water.

To make the bloody Mary: Mix 1.5 ounces of citrus flavored vodka with 5 ounces of tomato water. courtesy of the NYT

hello world..? I've fallen into a hole...

OK! So this is it for today.. I think I've been a wee bit over the top with the tutorial fun fests.. time for dinner, and well, since my roommate is watching the season finale of Big Brother, I suspect I'll go out for a walk... a long one.. :P

Anyway, so I just completed this tutorial at Vector Tuts for creating a page in a childrens book. It was really useful, as I used some grids and played with text a bit. Other than that, it was all vector work, building the castle, the trees and the owl. I think there's a lot more I can say about this, but I'm so tired, maybe tomorrow.

In the end, I was sort of bummed that all of my hard work was shrank into nothingness, so I made a few extra images so you can see how cute they are. I LOVE my little hibou!

So this is the "finished image" offered in the tutorial

This is my version

rainy day doings

Oh raineeeee daayyyyys... when will you end?

So I am doing this tutorial in Photoshop, and it's making me mad, so I decided to do another one, just for fun. This tutorial was pretty easy, lots of gradients... it's deceptive though, with 43 steps! I did the tutorial from start to finish, and then I went in and played around with some things... just to give my bunny a bit of my own personality.

This lesson can be found on Vector Tuts, and if you have an interest in cutie pie critters.. or even scary ones, this is a good place to start!

Ryan Putnam's bunny


my bunny

cat dork alert...

you have mail...

I just did this via AI Vault. This is a pretty basic tutorial, and rather, the difficulties that I had with it were mainly due to the person who created it being a bit unclear with regards to stroke pts and settings. The most valuable skill offered in this tutorial, I felt, is the highlight on the arrow, which is created by duplicating it twice, laying them together (but offset), and then using the Pathfinder toolbox to subtract the areas which you don't need. What you're left with is the two pieces which are layed onto the arrow, and then you can adjust the color within them as you see fit. In the end, I ended up just adjusting things to where I felt happy with them, which was fine for this type of exercise. Cute though, right?

space, the final frontier...

Lately I've been thinking about how I really need to get fudged.. So what did I do? Naturally I headed over to Fudge Graphics for a tutorial. I am not very proficient with Adobe Photoshop, and this was sort of a pain in the ass for me. I almost gave up at step 9, but since this is a 10 step tutorial, that would make me a quitter, wouldn't it?

So this begins in Adobe Illustrator, and you draw some lines with your pencil tool. 2 lines actually. I know - what am I bitching about? This is a piece of cake you say.. Now, just as with the little chain links from the previous vector lesson, I used the Object> Blend tool to create a block of lines from the 2 that I started with. That's the easy part really. From there, you drag them to Photoshop where all the fun baby games end and Photoshop layer hell begins.

I am convinced that one day, just the way a cowboy breaks a wild Mustang, I will break.. well, no I hope I don't break it, I will CONQUER Photoshop. Until that day, I will click and nothing will happen, then I'll click on something else, and still nothing will happen, and then I'll Google "Where is the inverse button?" and dammit.. one day.. I'll KNOW where that button is on my own, and when I click it, it will fudging work!

But, I have gone off here.. I'm still suffering Photoshop trauma as I've only just completed this lesson.

ahrm.. so...

I found that the textures provided are really helpful if you want the end result to be somewhat similar to the lesson, although I did try some of my existing textures and I think you could definitely use your own. It just depends on how closely you want your work to be to the example provided.

Doing this once, I already know that I would have thought more about the lines that I made in step one. You can have a lot of fun making gradients for this assignment, and in the end, adding the Hue Adjustment Layer was a great idea, because you can really amp up the saturation and tweak the colors. Since I am basically a retard when it comes to Photoshop, I'm pleased with the results.

Example provided by Franz



My results

BTW: You can click on any of the images that I post here for a better view, since they're usually much larger than Blogger's layout allows.

hee yaa!

I just did this really fun (and easy) Adobe Illustrator tutorial over at blog spoon graphics. Actually, despite the fact that I was able to do this with relative ease, there are some cool little tricks that I learned that I can use in the future.

Some interesting tools here: Relying on the Pathfinder tool box! There are so many awesome functions right there, but if you don't have it set to view, it's easy to forget about it. So a basic action is add or subtract to area, which were used to create the ninja's face opening and also in making the body one unit for editing with color. Another freakin' cool customization tool, is in the layers box. By clicking the appearance tab, you can add additional strokes, assign them their own color, and then you can further customize by going to the stroke tab and giving the strokes each their own weight, and deciding on their alignment, which is key. In this image, the black stroke is set to align itself to the outside of the path, and the grey stroke is set to align to the inside of the path, and so this gave me 2 nice thick 4 pt. strokes. If you do the tutorial, play with those settings, and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Creating the weapons was fun. I had a tough time with the star in the tutorial, so I did mine by touching the each point with the twirl tool once... and I like mine better actually :P Another technique to learn, was in making the links on the nunchuks. Basically, all you're doing, is making 2 circles, set them apart from eachother, highlight both of them and go to Object> Blend> Make, and select 5 specified steps. Right away, the 2 circles are connected by 5 more circles. To add movement, draw with your pencil tool a curve, select the entire group and go to Object> Blend> Replace Spine, and voila! The chain assumes the shape of that line you just drew.

I know what I just wrote won't make sense if you don't try it out on your own, but I wanted to include it to highlight the valuable shortcuts that you learn here. Another great thing about this tutorial, is that you can create as many characters as you'd like, and therefore, you're learning the techniques over and over, and really creating on your own memory and instinct after the first couple that you do straight from the lesson.

Additionally, if you're really into graphic illustration, you can easily see how you could start another project and use these tools.. the object blending tool alone is extremely handy.. off the top of my head, you could re-produce that same process in making a necklace, a dog leash, a strand of popcorn on a Christmas tree, a strand of lights strung through the air.. and that's just a few obvious choices.

I'm posting the image that I did straight from the tutorial. I started this late, and after making 2, I decided that I wanted to start getting ready for sleep. Overall, I'm pleased with how they came out and I kinda wish I'd made a few more. I did want to add my own personal touch to this, since it is a mirror of the tutorial, and ended up quickly throwing some of my own details in for fun. I felt compelled to create little critter ninjas... don't they look menacing with their weapons?

heet or niet?

Would you consider this wall art collection to be over done?
(as in, too much of a good thing)

sleeping couldn't be weirder...

What the Sam Hill is this? I don't know if sleeping in this would prohibit normal dreaming. Would you be able to be in the mood for sex with this bed? Would it have to involve food fetishism? Would you feel sleepy at the sight of a Whopper? How would a burger taste afterward? Would you ever try to eat your bed in your sleep? Maybe you'd develop the, "What am I, just a piece of meat to you?" complex. And what about Pavlov's Theory? Call me a worrier, but I think you'd be flying in the Danger Zone with this bad boy...

I luurve kittehs

Ok, I can't resist cute pet pictures, with the caption, this one easily crossed into my, "I can post this, even though it's really stupid" rationale...

via I can has cheeze burger

life sized Trapper Keeper

Yep, that's me... I'm awake, coffee is on, and my bed is made. Isn't my room lovely?

Well Mary, I'm glad you asked....

A clip from Apartment Therapy reads, "Mary would like some help setting up her living room: "I have a new red leather sofa and love seat in a contemporary style and would like some suggestions on where to find an area rug to go in front of it. Also, I would like some suggestions for a new cocktail table to use. My current one is a large dark granite one with matte black iron legs, and the color is just too dark and drab for the new pieces. Thanks!"

My advice: Take this photo, place it on craigslist under "furniture for sale" titled "everything must go" - and I mean everything...

me likey

I love this bathroom. I think it's the architectural detail.. the original chipped tiling, the classic pedestal sink, old tub, and glass paned door paired with some plants and vivid color.. oh, and let me not forget to mention the window. Natural light for me, is like water - a necessity to live. I mean, this is not a glamorous space.. it's grungy, but that's exactly why I like it :)

via NYT

a tribute to my new friend in the boat

I thought you would appreciate this, which made its debut today. I've ordered you one as a house warming gift :P

via Elle Decoration

1 ticket please...

If I lived in this house, I wouldn't want to touch anything. Maybe it's my foul mood tonight, but I don't understand the idea of making your home into some sort of staged museum set... isn't a home supposed to be comfortable? I'm sure some people would argue, "Hey hey now, my home IS comfortable.. in the rooms that I've designated for use."

via desire to inspire

critiques are fun when they aren't directed at you

These lamps really annoy me. They get so much hype, and for what? This lamp, for example, is providing task lighting over the coffee table, where as it appears, no tasking is performed. Aside from the fact that perhaps I am too worried about functional lighting, because hey, I know, lighting and decor are not always for function.. if you were a tall person, operating on a daily basis in this space would be silly. You'd have to bend down or worry about being bonked in the head while carrying a cup of coffee to the couch.. so I think, that this lamp is not only annoying, it's potentially hazardous, and while I'm being honest.. it makes me yawn. (and the coffee table.. with its staged books and candles... blegh :P)

via desire to inspire

a poll

Hrmm.. I'm curious to know if anyone who reads this blog would say yes to having this real moss bath carpet in their bathroom. This... uh, plant, thrives on the steamy, damp environment and requires very little care. I think I might like this if it were perhaps a decorative accent, but for some reason, the idea of stepping on it before and after a shower just creeps me out. Thoughts?

via inhabitat

nature... heh

Watch more sevenload videos on AOL Video

hrmm, I'm not sure....

is it the shirt or the necklace that rubs me the wrong way? hrmm......

via Creatures of the Wind (yes, that's the name of the company who is responsible for this)

wading through the weeds...

It's pretty much how I feel about searching these job sites. I'm applying for anything that seems possible, HR Assistant, Admin, Recruiting Agent... things I don't aspire to be and am sort of forcing myself to shoot for.. at least to start with. I need to get my portfolio together... STAT.

via explodingdog.com

Sacha

I miss my kitty...

around this time last year....

Admittedly, when my friend Anthony and I decided to go to Miami for a long weekend, I think we were just thrilled with the idea of being warm. We threw around Quebec City and Montreal... but after reading about the arctic freeze that's typical for February, we went for sun.

I don't know what we were thinking, two New Yorkers, pale and not into clubbing... what could we do for fun? Well, we ended up at the beach (which is where I sustained the worst sunburn I've had in my life) I can't convey just how white my body is, but I have no business being on the beach.. which is probably why my choice to do the goth thing in high-school worked out in my favour, but anyway, we ate at Carrabbas... which seemed slightly pathetic to me, since it's a chain restaurant.. but oh well.. because everywhere else we went we were charged insanely crazy prices and huge gratuity on top of it all...

I think towards the end, we realized that we were going to have to spend huge amounts of cash anywhere we went, so we did end up having a great time at SushiSamba on the last night.. we pigged out on Argentinian steak and got totally wasted on mojitos.. by then it was like "screw it" right? If we were going to blow another hundred and fifty dollars, then we'd at least enjoy it...

We did manage to find some fun stuff to do. We went to the keys to go snorkeling, I got to swim with a big sea turtle (and a shark, but thank god I didnt see that), and Anthony drank anti-freeze and got sick.. (heh, I'm fairly sure that he hated the entire snorkel experience but at the time I was in denial) We ate terrible fajitas at the "best fajita place in town", we went to see Absinthe, which was by far the funnest (is that even a word?) thing that we did.. and we managed to stay drunk for most of the trip.

Overall, my favorite thing (besides the drunk part) about Miami though, was the art deco architecture. It was absolutely stunning and it so much fun to go exploring in South Beach. So, maybe we had a Miami vacation New York style, but I'm glad we went.

South Beach

The National.. where machine made pina coladas ring in at 15 bucks each!

After my sun burn incident, this is how I spent the remainder of my time.. laying still by the pool beneath a blanket :)

drawing parallel lines in sand

Sir Gerald Kaufman, MP for Gorton in Manchester, who was brought up as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, told MPs: "My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town .. a German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza."

"The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians."

"We had an IRA bomb in Manchester which destroyed much of the centre - we didn't send troops over to Belfast to murder 1,000 Catholics."

via BBC

sometimes it's the simplest of things that seem magical

lightening the load, if only for a moment

My friend Anthony reminded me today that it was almost exactly 1 year ago that he first took me to see The Rosebuds, now one of my all time favorite bands. We went out to Hoboken (to Maxwell's)... the Jerz, for the show which required the subway, then the NJ Path train, and THEN a taxi.
There were maybe 40 people at the show... no openers, and really, the stage was merely a step higher than the floor area. The band came on, and I don't know what happened.. they were AMAZING! Everyone was dancing, I was filled with.. I don't know, happiness (yes, I know, odd for me) and before I knew it, the band was prompting the crowd to sing along with them.. before the song, we'd all rehearse the lines, and then they'd start... at the end of their set, they handed out scripts for us to sing along to SIJA Line... it was so much fun. When they came back for their encore (they did 2 that night!) I kept poking Anthony to scream out my favorite song, "Punishment for Fighting" and eventually they played it.. and to be honest, I've only been to a handful of shows that have left me completely jelly kneed and filled with joy.

The best thing perhaps, about The Rosebuds, is that all of their
shows are like that. This one was perhaps one of the more intimate ones that I'd seen, but at every show, they invite you to sing with them.. the crowd interaction is incredible.

Before I moved to the Netherlands, my friend Ruth and I went to The Bell House to see them play with The Ladybug Transistor and a few others. There was a smaller crowd there again.. and Ivan was really sick. He'd lost his voice and he still managed to do an amazing job. They sang "Nice Fox" with The Ladybug Transistor, who came out with horns, tamborines, and backup vocals.. the entire room was out of control. It was Ruth's first time seeing them, and she had so much fun, and I was so happy to have been the one to bring her.

Tonight, Anthony and his honey are going to see them headline in NYC at The Bowery Ballroom, and I have to say, I am full of nostalgia (obviously) and sadness that I couldn't be there.. because it would have been wonderful to see them 1 year (and 5 times!) later, in the city that I love, with one of my very closest friends :)

images via
Brooklynvegan.com
toronoist.com
musicforants.com

back to reality

I've been pulled back into the media today, reading and watching videos about Gaza. Here, a media researcher who works for Oxfam and lives in Gaza writes:

"The news is getting more and more horrific as the situation here deteriorates. The latest report, I saw (via Di), was of a child clutching on to her dead parent's bodies for four days before anyone was able to come to her rescue, dogs are starting to eat the corpses that no one has been able to bury.

This reality does not seem to be reaching some parts of... Read More the world. Is it censored because people cannot cope with the truth of what is happening to us? If the truth did get out, would it make a difference?"

I have to be honest, I don't know.. I don't know what it would take... but if posting here and on Facebook, and in the inboxes of my friends and family might effect one person's ability to see this from the other perspective, then I'll keep doing it.

color can change your life

I truly believe that. I found these images for the Jan 2009 British edition of House & Garden via The City Sage. These images are from a UK interior. I was sort of shocked initially by the "in your face" bright colors, but then I thought more about the environment in which they were placed. The UK is generally grey and rainy. One way to combat the effect of that depressing weather pattern, surely would be to make your home as bright and vivid as possible. I could imagine that these palettes would liven up any mood and liven up your senses day to day... not a bad idea.

Sweden is pretty...

Well, at least what I've seen on this website leads me to think so. This real estate site has lovely homes for viewing and some stunning images of Stockholm. I have to admit, after seeing this.. I'm sort of wondering what it would be like to live there. Alvhem.

just another way to waste your time....

So I was checking out my feeds today and I came across this Polaroid downloader. Basically, you drag any image to the Polaroid icon and that's it. The image will develop just as a real Polaroid would.. so you can watch it appear before your very own eyes.. ooohh.. nostalgia at it's best. I photoshopped mine to add some wear and tear. I think, if you click the images, you can see them in greater detail, which will show you the detail of the polaroid.

Julianastraat - where I live

Kalvemarkt



Zoeterwoudsesingel



Hartebrugkerk



Kalvemarkt

so it's Tuesday....

the little camera that could...

I know these photos are terrible quality.. but as I walked around the city today, I came upon some people playing on the canal. I had to zoom as much as my little point and shoot could handle to get this. I love her Nijntje (Miffy) sled and crazy hat :)

a perfect coffee and the Finn

a poll.

I've found this really cool place in Leiden called De Poort. Architecturally, it's pretty interesting, as it's been built into the side of one of the exiting gates, de Morspoort. It features giant glass windows overlooking the canal and raw concrete walls with exposed ventilation units above.

My question to you, is what is your opinion of these lamps? I happen to like them because of how they appear within the space and amongst the different materials that have been used. I'm curious to know what you think of them, just from the photos. If you're curious, you can also see additional images on the website link provided.

Saturday night at our house

My roommate's wife has been staying with us for the past two weeks and tomorrow she's back to Finland. We discussed doing something nice to celebrate and it was decided that we'd cook a nice dinner at home... lasagna.

I'm a total sucker for lasagna.. specifically the kind you find in Belgium... with bechamel and a creamy pink sauce. Tonight though, was Katja's night.. she made vegetarian lasagna for everyone, and despite her own critisicms, I think it was very yummy. We drank a Sangiovese, which was fab with the tomatoes and rich flavours of the meal.. and afterwards, individual fruit tarts and dessert wine.

We spoke of talking cats, foreign objects found in food, politics, sauna culture, and other oddities not suitable for print. There was a lot of laughing, a lot of drinking, and a generous amount of warmth and friendship. Overall, it was a really fun evening, and I am sad that Katja leaves tomorrow :(

industry standards

Seeing an image like this, I ask myself, "Is the standard bathroom design the most effective one?" The use of space here, without an actual "shower" stall, just makes more sense to me. The square footage required to accommodate a sink, shower, and toilet are minimized considerably.. hopefully to make way for a huge , deep bathtub for two :)

too cute not to post

I saw this image while looking for something completely different.. but it made me smile so I wanted to put it here.

the silent artist

When you look through catalogs, magazines, websites, and even sets on TV and in movies... what you see has been carefully planned by a stylist. Naturally the stylist's purpose will vary case by case. In a film, the set may seek to evoke a feeling by its use of color and lighting.. I'd easily refer to most of the film "Se7en" and TV shows like Law & Order.

It is when we begin to flip through catalogs for clothing, we may notice a carefully planned color story. Although the items to be sold are garments, the entire image will typically capture the "feel" of either the clothing, the current theme, or the season. Anthropologie typically has beautifully styled images in their catalogs.

In interior photography, the stylist will create a space by pulling colors together and creating a work of art within the entire boundary of the shot. The photo becomes the canvas, and the art is the stylist's vision.

Here are some that I'd like to share.

This is hands down one of my favorite images. There's something so striking about the ultra modern and sleek design of the chair against the heavily textured concrete wall and dramatic lighting.

These may be hard to see, but as a set, you can certainly make a connection between them. The color story is just lovely, with a rich textural combination of natural and man made materials. My favorite is the bottom right.

Tea in a mossy forest? Yes please :)

Anthropologie's Jan '09 catalogue:
above: a rich color palette from stone to garment

space planning

Despite my failing efforts to sleep today, I've decided to forge onwards.

The other day I was checking out contemporist and I found this awesome post on innovative bunk beds by GAB. The use of space is what has captured my attention, as all too often when children are sharing a room and sometimes one child is much older than the other. These designs seek to solve some spacial issues as well as others that may arise with a sizable age gap. Additionally, when design thinks outside the standard, you end up with a visually appealing option that may not have been considered before.

Here, you will find a larger bed with a single. This scenario works for the gender gap. I like the addition of a set of stairs, instead of the typical bunk ladder, which is not very safe or functional. These stairs can bee seen in a few of the companies designs.. they were smart to use them as an additional space for storage.

I've decided

Hell should go like this: you are doomed to eternal damnation, which involves you trying to sleep on a couch that is too short for your legs, and you never - ever- succeed in sleeping... not even for 5 minutes.

Spend 7 hours straight trying, and it sure feels like hell to me.

things I like

Today - I'd like to post about architectural detail. I love seeing how people can modernize an old space while respecting the period details. The following images speak to me of a time when attention was paid to craftsmanship.

Fireplaces like this make me swoon... then there's the vintage table and pottery... sigh*

I love the parquet flooring along with the non-traditional floorplan, french doors, and sunlight.. a total package of design happiness for me (with the fireplace above, I'd fall over unconscious).

I think here, it's the eclectic thoughtfulness that makes the space warm and special.

fun in the kitchen!

Another night, another meal. Last night I made stuffed peppers, a recipe favorite from "Essential Middle Eastern Cooking." It's pretty easy, healthy and aromatic for sure, with mint and cinnamon spices. yum!

After you clean the peppers, you boil them for 5 min. and set aside. You prepare the meat by first cooking both onions in the o.o. for 5 min. Add meat and brown. Add garlic, peas, rice, herbs and spices, 1/5 lemon juice, tom. puree, and season with s + p. The mixture then goes into the peppers, and they go into a pot with the tomatoes. Before simmering, add a knob of butter and the remaining lemon juice to the sauce. Lid it, and go relax for 45 min.

This dish can be made with lamb, as it calls for, or with ground turkey, beef, a mixture, and even vegetarian soy crumbles.

On the side, I prepared a yogurt, which is basically plain yogurt, paprika, onion, parsley, cucumber, salt and pepper. Just add to taste. This ends up blending with the tomatoes perfectly, and adds a zesty bite to the already savory flavors.

I also recommend serving this with naan or a flat bread.

(notice how my cooking partner has set the cutlery.... )

serves 6

6 mixed peppers
2 tbsp o.o.
1 onion, chopped
3 spring onions, chopped
250 g meat
garlic (as you like)
50 g yellow peas
75 g rice (cooked)
30 ml parley/mint/chive
1 tsp cinn.
juice from 2 lemons
30 ml tom puree
400 g chop. tom.
butter
s + p

design is accessible

I love to find examples of creativity and innovation that people find within themselves after seeing something that inspired them. It's even better when the end result is as stunning as this.

It all starts with a bit of inspiration:




some innovative thinking:



et voila:

Here's what was used to make it:
$1.19 (wax paper)
$0.50 (tape)
$6.00 (23.5" paper lantern from IKEA)
$3.99 (electric cord form IKEA)
---------
$11.68

(via Apartment Therapy)

Things I like

Today, I am deep in contemplation. I have this project that I want to get moving on, which involves me shopping on ebay.. blegh. I have a website that I need to begin... I'm trying to put together some sort of "package" for myself and unfortunately, my name isn't the most dynamic as a designer, so I'm looking for something else to use there as well. Blah blah blah, right?

So.. to make my life easier today, I've decided to quickly throw together some images. I'd say that each image encompasses something that I like, something that makes me feel excited, something that I'd like to do myself.. basically a good mix of everything.

We have an EXTREMELY small garden space, but I'd like to work on it when it gets warmer. I'm thinking "mini jungle"... complete with little monkeys.

It's not very often that people can spare this sort of storage space just for shoes.. but I have... let's just say "a lot" of them, and I would love to do this.

I'm a sucker for sinks - specifically the old farm house variety.

Three words:

old. junky. furniture.

endless possibilities!


Images from: desire to inspire. apartment therapy

cheese!

I'm a total cheese person. That's in my personality, and my diet. I made this in Photoshop... not on purpose, but I titled it "cheese grater" and I love the texture.

TETRIS!

Yes! When I saw these shelves, I had flashbacks of my teenage years in the arcade. They retail at around 3,500 USD. I think if you were feeling creative, you could certainly make some interesting shapes with this.

Because I'm super cheap, I'm also wondering how difficult it would be to make this. I'm not entirely sure about the joints.. as in how they'd be secure under heavy weight.. so if you know what you're doing.. go ahead and make your own. I've included the measurements.

Images from: Design Public

burn it down

Every once in awhile, I do get a chuckle out of reading stories like this. Maybe I'm wrong for finding amusement at the cost of another, but some people are just plain crazy.

You may have read about the woman who killed her husband recently by lighting his genitals on fire. She was quoted as saying, "I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else, I didn't mean this to happen."

I'm sorry, but I just don't see the rationale in that.

baby, it's cold outside!

Another day, another wander...

mulch it!

I love this header for the NYC Dept of Parks & Recreation website. Mulchfest, held on Jan 10th and 11th, offers around 100 locations city-wide for people to repurpose their Christmas trees into mulch. The mulch is then used throughout the vast collection of city green spaces in planting and keeping the grounds. You may also take a bag of mulch with you for your own garden at home.

I've always been saddened by our wasteful society. We kill so many trees every year so that they may sit in our homes and make them pretty.. sometimes only for a matter of days. Afterward, the streets are littered with these trees, cast out onto dirty snowbanks and garbage piles... now somebody else's problem.

Long ago I swore to never own a real tree again, however, for those who enjoy the tradition, being responsible and repurposing your tree so that other green spaces will thrive seems the right way to close the book on the previous year and start anew.

Definitely one of the things that I like...

How do you like this stunning chandelier? It gives off a beautiful glow, and looks simple in its design, yet elegant. A Portuguese design company, "Studio Verissimo" is responsible for this recycle/reuse design, aptly named "spoon".

If you take a closer look, this entire chandelier is constructed of plastic coffee stirrers. I don't know if they actually used these stirrers before working with them, but since this is very concept driven it may be the idea and impact rather than the designer actually sourcing these after their use. I'd be interested to know.

Taking this a step further, if you have a look at their website, you'll see that they've come up with a few really fabulous ideas. Something that I need - is this ceramic mug, entitled, "help" which is designed to help people make rice! I cannot make rice myself, so this would be very useful...

Not all of the designs on their site seem as functional, but I don't think that's the point! The designers are Cláudio Cardoso and Telma Veríssimo and they say that they've, "set a goal of making people happy and light-filled with their designs." I definitely think they've found success.

Have a look at their clever designs and give the chandelier a read over at Apartment Therapy or inhabitat.

(photos via Apartment Therapy)

close your eyes

I have been sort of self numbing myself when it comes to dealing with my emotions about the massacre that's occurring in Gaza right now. I've been avoiding the news and avoiding thinking about it.. because it's so upsetting that no one is doing anything to stop it. Not only that, there's a general sense of denial that there is any excess of force being used... despite the fact that the death toll keeps rising, and stories have been filtering through the cracks from reporters and hospital workers that it's a blood bath.

Di has been posting quite a bit on the topic, and her words frequently leave me shuddering.

"Every morning now I wake up and immediately I wonder what the Palestinians have gone through while I slept in the peace of my world."

I couldn't have put it any other way.

What is wrong with this world?

chilled

I decided today was a perfect day to take a walk around Leiden. I didn't test the air before venturing out- but I felt prepared enough. I set my ipod up, had my camera in my pocket, and just walked.

It was very cold.

I didn't get far. I ended up going to check out the sales on the shopping street.

I did manage to take this though. It's not a prefect photo, but I love the way the windows are illuminated by the sunset.

Things I like

I found this mini cassette lamp not too long ago (I stink, because I didn't write down the source!).. and I think it's just ingenious. Imagine if you were to make a huge version of this using full sized cassettes?

When I discovered this, I thought that I'd like to try making one for sure. If you find different plastic cases - the lighting will vary. Alternatively, you could use old tapes with writing on them, and get as creative as you feel inclined to... which makes this project even more fun.

dreaming of warmer days

This was taken on the Chelsea Piers in NYC on a beautiful summer day. I'd quite like to be there right now.

street art

I recall wandering through Amsterdam last spring and coming upon this little guy. I was making my way through a maze of market tables being packed away for the day.. He was one of several little creatures staring back at me.

Things I like - The Premiere

I'm a visual person and I read A LOT of design blogs. As a result, I have a hefty collection of imagery that I classify as "inspiration". Basically that includes anything that I look at that stimulates me. I've decided that I will try to offer a couple images every day.. maybe to share with anyone who looks and also so that I can drag them out of the file where they gather dust and see them myself.... keeps those inspirational juices flowing.

This handsome baby is called the Memento Lamp. I made something like this once with clear plastic acetate sheets. I printed words and images all related to the typeface "Helvetica". I then placed the materials over glass cylinders. I'd thought while doing it that it would look amazing as a lamp, and seeing this totally confirms it.

how to put yourself in a box

I have this friend. He and I have had a very complicated relationship. We've been friends, more than friends, then friends again, and then just two people who can't get along. How human relationships grow and change constantly is one of those things in life that is always going to be difficult for me to get used to.

One of the last times that we spoke, we'd had another fight. Later, I received a note from him, asking me to take a Carl Jung Typology Test... because he wanted to see if the results could help him understand the cause of our "friction". It should be no surprise that his personality type is INTJ (introverted intuitive THINKING JUDGING) and he likes to analyze everything. Anyway I took this quiz and apparently I am ISFP (introverted sensing feeling perceiving.) I'll be honest, I read through my results and was shocked at how true they are - not only the way I see myself, but what other people have said about me.

I don't know if doing the test and reading the results effected my life in any significant way, but you may enjoy giving it a try for yourself.

intuition

I have had some of that recently, and today I realized that it was true. Often I have these "gut feelings" about a person or situation, and I make excuses for my decision to continue with it. I don't think of myself as spiritual or superstitious at all.. but I do believe in karma and intuition. I've always said that before something happens, before we take a step left or right, before we say yes or no to a job, to a relationship, whatever it is.. we know what the right answer is already, BUT often we fail to consciously recognize it.

What I find most intriguing, is that as human beings we have this enormous ability to sense what others are thinking and feeling - not unlike an animal who can sense fear or danger. I'm surprised that we often dismiss these feelings of unease and foreboding as if they're unjustified. We choose to focus on what we want, and not the fact that we know already that it is not a good idea to pursue.

in⋅tu⋅i⋅tion –noun

1. direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process; immediate
apprehension.

2. a fact, truth, etc., perceived in this way

3. a keen and quick insight

4. the quality or ability of having such direct perception or quick insight

In Philosophy
a. an immediate cognition of an object not inferred or determined by a previous cognition of the
same truth

b. any object or truth so discerned

c. pure, untaught, non-inferential knowledge

it's a feeling

I don't know why I am so drawn to window displays when I have a camera in my hand. There's something so stunning and beautiful about the faces I see behind the glass. I've realized that I have to get as close to it as possible to avoid seeing a reflection in the photograph.

This image has received a lot of mixed responses, and I'm very thankful for that. Anything that I do in a creative fashion that inspires someone to stop and offer input is a success in my eyes. Some of the feedback that I've particularly enjoyed.. is that she looks so real that it's creepy. I agree. I think she looks real too.

a kiss

I was looking through some pictures just now, and I found this image that I took in October. I was with my parents for a few weeks - more importantly, the weeks prior to the elections. I'd grown tired of listening to FOX 5 news night after night, as they blasted Obama while praising Palin (notice I fail to mention the other guy.. because he'd become invisible after announcing her as his running mate!) Anyway, to get away from it all I had started going to this restaurant/bar to write.

On this particular evening, I was deeply engrossed in my writing and I think, must have had a serious face on. A man approached me and introduced himself. I had this immediate reaction that he was going to be some local drunkard who was going to hassle me. Instead he proceeded to ask me if he could do a card trick. I said yes, and he did.. in the end, I'd found myself sitting there laughing out loud, completely caught up in the moment.

He never asked for anything in return, instead he gave me a Hershey's Kiss and told me that he'd just wanted to see me smile.

Meneer Janson

It's something of a project... to find a local "me" place. In Brooklyn, it was Smooch. I'd go there and sit for hours, sipping coffee, wine, or eating lunch while working on school assignments or reading. There was live reggae during the afternoons in summer, quirky employees, and it felt great to be a part of that.

Here I've struggled a bit, because my proximity to the town center is a bit further, and I'm not really sure if it's cool to work on a laptop in most places. I have been eying up this place called Meneer Janson since I arrived.. and I think it may what I'm looking for.

What I like about it, is the fact that during the day there are always people sitting at the bar reading, and the bartender isn't intrusive. The music is super chill, and the lighting and decor create a relaxing and cozy atmosphere.

point and shoot

Yeah.. I need a "real" camera, but in the meantime, I've really enjoyed just snapping away on my wanders around this city that I call home.

it's quickly becoming a classic

Persian Chicken. The first (and maybe second and third) time I had this dish, it was prepared with love by my amazing and inspirational friend Di over at her place (known as chez Kiwi) in Antwerp. I adored this meal so much that I politely demanded the recipe, and promptly tucked it away into my "best ever" collection.

Later when I made cookbooks as Christmas presents, Persian Chicken was one of the staple meals that I included. This is the sort of dish that everyone should have, even if only once in their lifetime.
It's very easy to prepare, and what I like most about it, is that you don't have to measure anything and there's a lot of room to improvise on ingredients. I think it's all about your own feeling as you chop and prepare. In the end, the dish will always offer something a little bit different :) You'll find that using different fruit from one time to the next will change the dish completely as well.

You can find the recipe over at Di's...

I like to serve my Persian Chicken over a white, aromatic rice with some naan bread on the side.