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.

why didn't I think of that?

It's official! The world was made a better place by designer Sherwood Forlee the day he created the 2 lidded jar! Peanut butter eaters of the world may rejoice!

Thanks to Sustainable is Good

just a coincidence?

I posted this morning about government censorship of media and websites on the internet. Obviously countries across the world have different laws and ideals about what's acceptable... however I find it disconcerting that hours after I posted about Facebook censoring images in the US, I find this article, where China is now banning the New York Times as well as BBC.

"Beam me up Scotty" - C. Kirk

I'm thinking about how to solve the recycling issue here in the Netherlands. It all came to me suddenly as I recalled "Earthships". How these buildings haven't caught on world wide is beyond me. Basically, they're constructed of dirt and old tires and built right into the earth. They are designed to re-use rainwater, and filter well water throughout the home based on a tier system of usage from drinking water, to sinks showers, toilets, and finally garden water.

The options for toilet waste are flexible depending on your abilities to be open minded, and if you're REALLY proactive, you can even have a dry compost toilet. Wouldn't you sleep better at night knowing that ALL of your waste is being put to good use?

Earthships are completely custom designed, so the homeowner can decide how the interior and exterior will look. I'd imagine that anyone could take the basic philosophy behind Earthships and go in many directions. You could have a hobbit house or a Barcelona Pavilion . Personally, I'd like to build an Earthship that looks like the Wheatsheaf House. :D

Home Design of the Year 2008 Edition

I spend a lot of time reading design blogs and websites, shamefully perhaps far more than I do reading the newspaper. Surely I appreciate a lot of what I see.. interiors, architecture, furniture, art, green concepts; but the other day when I opened Desire to Inspire, I broke into a sweat.

The Wheatsheaf House is hands down the most beautiful space I've seen this year. As a matter of fact, starting right now, I am going to have a best of the year list, and this is my sole inspiration.

Wheatsheaf House - I love you!

What I can't get over is the luminous, sexy, humming, toasty amber warmth that emanates from this house is stained plywood! The simplicity of this design is what makes it so stunning, and the juxtaposition of it against such a barren natural landscape leaves me dazed and giddy. This is a design based on feeling really good without being complicated. The only thing missing for me, is the mention of whether this build includes any green or sustainable technologies.

I need to move to the woods and live in a house like this (my version would have a catch basin for rainwater and solar energy :P)

control me

A few days ago, I had a chat with a couple of friends about censorship. We were discussing the internet and how different governments have decided to censor certain websites over the past couple of years. There was mention of itunes being banned in some countries, Wikipedia pages unavailable in the UK, and of course government monitoring of the internet for child porn, hate groups, and.. I don't know.. people who write mean things about President Bush.

Anyway, as we chatted my friend said, "You know, it all starts with the rationalization that certain forms of monitoring are legitimate for our safety, but, pretty soon you'll see that we have a lot less liberties in the future on the internet."

I disagreed, and we continued our discussion. End of story.

So yesterday I was reading the New York Times. Of course it's merely a coincidence that I'd been just talking about this days ago.. but seriously, this article doesn't seem right. Where do you draw this line?

it doesn't add up

I've traveled a bit over the past few years, living in Belgium, NYC, and now the Netherlands. Every culture is so different, and of course you have to adjust and learn the laws of the land in each place that you live or visit. For example, in Belgium I was amazed at their recycling program. Color coded garbage bags replaced the Glad and Hefty bags at the supermarket. Garbage collection was strict, and I was warned more than once that a violation would mean that they would go through my garbage in an attempt to find out who I was and fine me. In our house we recycled everything except cat litter and food items.

In NYC our household was dedicated to recycling everything possible. The building where we lived had all of the containers labeled, and there was really NO excuse not to participate as they were on every floor, so you had to walk past them to leave.

Here in the Netherlands I would expect the same thing. I'm constantly reading about their innovations and forward thinking designs. I read an article a few days ago about how an old coal mine has been re-purposed to harvest geothermal energy from water sources in abandoned shafts. This resource powers 350 homes and businesses in the area. That sounds SO exciting to me! I read the article, I loved the idea, the fact that it was realized, and the finished design is even a huge winner... BUT, here's the big FAT BUT... there is no recycling of household plastics and metals in the country, or as far as I have been able to discover. I called the local recycling center, I asked a friend in a neighboring town, I did online research. Apparently it is not happening. On a day to day basis I'm left feeling like a polluter of the earth as I'm forced to discard my plastic and metal containers with the rest of the trash. Over and over I've asked people, "How can this be?" My friend suggested, "Well, this is a small country and they don't have anywhere to put it." This makes no sense of course, because by not recycling there is more garbage destined for the landfill, and that requires more space.

So, my friends, I am pretty disappointed in the Dutchies for not prioritizing something so basic that is in place in so many places across the world, and that makes a HUGE difference.

image via scribalterror

"I'm not into politics, I'm into survival" - A. Schwarzenegger

Imagine a world where everyone drives eco-friendly cars, where they can pull into their parking space at work and plug their car in to charge, where they can park their cars along streets and pay the meter and plug in. That sounds like something out of the future to me... I was born in the 70's and my earliest memories are of my mom's Lincoln, a gas guzzlling V8. I recall pulling in to the gas station and how funny the gasoline smelled. Despite my early memories of irresponsible driving and noxious gasses, the thought of children growing up in a greener world is completely exciting. What makes me even more interested in writing this is that for once, it seems that California is leading the way towards making this dream a reality. In a world where the US is increasingly falling behind in innovation and forward thinking, this is something to really look forward to.