Concrete Jungle

I went to New York almost a month ago now, but I uploaded all the pictures on the day my hard drive crashed, so it's taken me a while to get a chance to post about it. It was my first trip to New York, and even though we were only there for a weekend, I feel like I did SO much. I'm excited to go back again now, and spend more time in some of the places I loved, and check out the ones I wish I had managed to squeeze in.

We stayed in a beautiful apartment in Brooklyn, that Doug’s parents found online. It was the top floor of a three-storey Brownstone, and managed to fit Doug & I, his parents, and his brother all in one apartment. Not bad Brooklyn, not bad.

The owner of the building was a model who traveled a lot, and decorated the apartment with pieces she found all over the world. There were tons of interesting things to look at all over, and I really appreciated the personal touches.

Once we dropped off our bags at the apartment, we hopped on the subway over to Manhattan, and were non-stop busy. We left the apartment early each morning and came back around midnight each night, completely exhausted. We took the sweltering Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty, ate amazing food, rode those double-decker bus tours all over the city, saw Harry Potter and John Larouquette sing & dance in How To Succeed in Business Without Ever Really Trying, and more.

The highlight of the trip for me was our bike ride around Central Park. Next time I go back to New York, I plan to spend a lot more time there, taking it all in. I always knew the park was big, but I think gargantuan might be a better word. Later, when we stood on top of 30 Rock and looked down, the sheer enormity of it kind of took my breath away. We biked that?

Also, while we were riding I got to see a sky-typing marriage proposal. Interesting fact: this sky-typing required 6 planes to do it, but is still a hell of a lot cheaper than sky-writing. This was actually the first of two proposals I saw while in New York, the second one happened in Times Square later that afternoon. I’ve never seen any marriage proposals in my life, and in one day I saw two? New York: The City of Love?

With a lot of area to cover in a very short period of time, the bus tours were actually a great way to see the city. The enjoyableness of the experience was pretty much directly related to how good the tour guide was, and in this department we hit the jackpot, and rock bottom. We saw an entire spectrum of tour guides in our three days there, and some of our bus tours became more of a character study than a city tour. Even so, it was worth it. Now that I’ve seen a quick overview of almost the entire city by bus, I know which areas I want to go back and see more of.

New York, I think you made a fan out of me.

Back Garden

Our backyard has been my favourite place to spend time as of late. We're lucky enough to have a nice, big, private space in the city, and I've been making good use of it  - tending to our garden, working on my computer outside, or just enjoying the sunshine and the company of my cats.

Asparagus starts for the farm that are itching to be transplanted (but that we won't be able to eat for four more years), my San Marzano tomatoes plants, and some arugula sprouting. I'm anxiously awaiting for my tomatoes to develop, so that I can pick them, eat them, can them, and eat them some more. San Marzanos are widely considered to be the best sauce tomatoes, and I'm really looking forward to testing this belief. Especially over and over again in the dead of winter.

Not that I'm thinking about or looking forward to winter, per say.

We hung our clothesline a couple of weekends ago, a project that we've been meaning to do since we moved in. And I now smell each piece of dry clothing at least three times before it's folded in the hamper.

The pots in the background were full of hops plants, growing beautifully with their vines starting to wrap around the fence. My plan was to transplant them at the farm this weekend, but two days ago I caught a squirrel chewing through the stem of one of them. I shooed him away and upon closer inspection, I noticed that he had gotten to all of them, and mangled them terribly. Heartbreak.

Later on that day, my neighbour mentioned in passing that one of my cats has killed two squirrels in the past little while, and I couldn't help but do a little victory dance inside of my head. I really wanted to grow those hops. Next year.

When I was younger, I had a spring horse at my grandparents house. It was one of my favourite toys, and I often still think about it. Its image appears in my dreams frequently. Last year, Jenna and I went to the Waterford flea market, and I couldn't pass up on this one, for some reason. I love the colours, and the detailing, and the fact that the legs are actually wooden.  I keep it in the backyard now for when younger visitors come over to play.

My lavender plant blooming again from last year, and the ground covering stonecrop that the previous owners must have planted. I was nervous about my lavender coming back this year, after reading that some people have difficulty growing it, but it came back bigger than ever. I'm really interested in trying to use it in different preserving recipes this summer. I really hope it blooms enough so that I'm able to try.

Grow From the Inside

Life at home is pretty good these days. Tomorrow's date is the two year anniversary (thank you, five year diary) of my first evening shift in Toronto, with the work contract that would slowly eat away at my soul. It broke me down so much that I didn't even realize that it had been two whole summers of commuting the opposite hours of my husband, and most of my friends, and the world in general.  I really didn't have time to take in a lot of the smaller pleasures of day to day life. These past five months of spare evenings that I've had since leaving my job in January have been incredible and rejuvenating, and it just seems to keep getting better.

I know I've talked about it a lot, but I just can't get over how different my life is these days. And I am very grateful.

I made jam for the first time on the weekend. As my shift at the farmer's market was coming to an end on Saturday night, a vendor friend of mine asked if I wanted to take home some raspberries that he couldn't sell and was going to get rid of anyways. Mike and I spent Sunday morning picking out all the good berries from about 150 pints, and I ended up making just under a dozen jars of pretty delicious jam.

I also baked my first two loaves of bread. We ate them before I thought of taking any photos. Two once intimidating cooking/baking/canning projects under my belt. I'm ready to run away to the Yukon and live in a cabin in the woods now.

Working on my first personal embroidery project in ages, I've decided to do my first sampler, and learn all the stitches and techniques properly. I'm going through the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework (a Beehive favourite) and teaching myself stitch by stitch. I'm particularly inspired by this sampler, and love the idea of working on something similar once I finish this "practice run" of mine.

I've been making frequent trips to Central library and taking home books on weaving and blackwork embroidery, trying to satiate my urge to learn about all forms of textile craft. It feels really good to be able to have the time to create with my hands again, and to learn how to do things properly.

Because their needlework guide is so informative, I couldn't pass up on the Reader's Digest edition of Success with House Plants when I saw it at Value Village. I have never, ever, had luck with houseplants, except for the really hardy Pothos. You couldn't kill one of those if you tried. But, I'm like, kind of a farmer now or something, so I figure I just have to give it another shot.

This book seems pretty extensive and really helpful. I've seen it a couple more times since I found my copy, so I'd suggest picking one up if you want a good guide for house plants. Fingers crossed that it will help me. I really want to be that house with macrame planters hanging in every square inch of natural light.

More free time means more free time at the farm which means more free time wandering through the brush looking for magical things and actually coming across them, like this fox skull. I love you, fox skull.

A rare good thing to come out of working was my tax return. Which I haven't even received yet due to the Canada Post worker's strike, but promptly bought a pair of TOMS Grey Chambray Cordones with it in mind. They are classic and adorable, and I didn't have them more than a week when I got a spot bleach on one of them. A common theme in my life is the struggle between being completely utilitarian and having an overwhelming desire to keep my nice things nice. Utilitarianism wins more often than not.

Life is good. Along with all of my personal self-bettering projects, I'm working on a couple of really exciting ones for White Elephant and The Beehive as well. I'm really looking forward to this Summer. How about you?

Help Wanted: Knit Night on the Brain

In case you missed the announcement on the Beehive blog yesterday, we need your help!  The Beehive Craft Collective is working on a big project for SUPERCRAWL; a large-scale installation piece that will see facade of The Brain completely covered in knitting.

The Beehive is only 11 ladies, which means we only have 22 hands between us, so we could use all the knitting help we can get.  If you would like to help, you can pick up yarn at the next knit night, or visit the Beehive blog for more information on which yarns & colours we are using if you feel like purchasing it yourself.  We've created a pattern available here that you can follow.  After SUPERCRAWL is over, we'll donate all the submitted scarves to the Mission Services Opportunity Center.

Head on over to the Beehive blog for more information. Happy knitting!

Dream Life

Being without a computer for the past week has been an interesting experience. At first I was going crazy, constantly wondering what I was missing on the internet that was super duper important. After a few days I started to think about it less, and now, to be honest, I really don't want to get one back. I like spending my evenings without internet.

That being said, I need one, you know, to do business and whatnot. I ordered a new laptop on Friday, and it should be coming next week at some point. That gives me another week or so to bask in this quasi-unconnected life (I still have a computer at my part time job).

I find myself checking the longest acres blog whenever I get a chance lately, because to be honest, these guys are kind of living my dream life. I guess even farmers use the internet, right?

All photos via longest acres blog

Five Years of Making

While I was away, Jane and Jenna Rose were busy decorating our window for Jenna's 5th anniversary celebrations, which we are holding at the shop during this upcoming Friday's Art Crawl. Expect lots and lots of Jenna Rose wares (including the incredible Hamilton totes), cupcakes, balloons and good times. I hope you'll join us in celebrating this momentous occasion!

And didn't they do a wonderful job with the window? It was so nice to come home to.

You Maniacs!

I'm back! My week in the Mayan Riviera in Mexico was glorious. Filled with lots of love, beautiful people, and fun times with new friends. I didn't actually take many photos because I do that all the time here anyways, and I wanted to take a complete break from EVERYTHING. My only goal going into the holiday was to read three books by the end, and I got through two and a half. Consider me pleased.

We went to Mexico to witness and celebrate the marriage of our friends Dave and Danielle. Mike and Dave work together, both being graphic designers, and they are like two peas in a pod. Dave is a relatively new friend in our life, so we were surprised and flattered when we were invited to join them on their special day. Especially because the invitation was just SO AWESOME.

Dave and Danielle are both huge movie nerds. Especially when it comes to spy movies, James Bond in particular. They had originally wanted to get married on James Bond Beach in Jamaica. When I got the huge envelope at the shop last year, I had no idea what to make of it. We often get fun packages from different stationary artists, so I assumed that was the case. When I opened it, my jaw dropped to the ground.

It was pretty much guaranteed that we would be RSVP'ing "yes!" after getting this invitation. The time that went into designing and printing this is just unreal. Top secret location briefing, coded messages that we had to decipher, polaroids of the bride and groom, and our own fake passports made up with actual photos of Mike and I. I don't think I'll ever get another wedding invitation that made me smile as much as this one. It was fun and impeccably executed and completely encompassed the couple's charming nature.

Dave told us that he planned to recreate the end scene from The Planet of the Apes during the wedding photoshoot, and photoshop in the Statue of Liberty afterwards. Like Mike, it's sometimes hard to tell when Dave is being serious or not. Turns out he was being 100% serious. Amazing.

Thanks to Dave and Danielle for an incredible week of sun, fun, and love love love. We love you guys. A lot.

Farting White Elephants

Remember a while back when Spenny was filming at our shop? Well thanks to the eagle eyes of our intern Lindsay, we found out it aired last night! You can bet I'll be trying to download the episode to check it out, but for now I'm quite happy looking at the Farting White Elephant shop in this picture. White Elephant has never looked better.

In The Shop

We've been getting lots of new things into the shop this week, including some artists we're carrying for the first time! Can you believe these hand made porcelain jewelry pieces by MaaP Studio? They are so beautiful and delicate, and each piece is one of a kind.

These bow ties by Paukstukai come in a huge variety of colors and patterns, and each one is double sided. Two bow ties in one! What more could you ask for?

We've also restocked one of favorite artists, Kate Broughton. Her animal brooches are hand sewn and stunningly sweet. We're also carrying her totes for the first time ever, and bird pin packs as well. Get em while they're here!