One Billion Worldwide

Look! A hat that fits over your helmet! Now you can bike in style.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo

The art revitilization going on in Hamilton really makes me tingly all over. This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the TH&B show at the Imperial Cotton Centre and I was absolutely blown away by it. If you are still a doubter about the revolution happening within Hamilton, stop by this weekend (you can tour the rest of the Cotton Centre since it is also Doors Open) and you can see how our little city is becoming ambitious once again.

Some pieces include performance based work, which will be debuting May 3rd at 8pm. I can't wait to see the show in it's full form.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

I'm sorry that we've been lacking so much lately in the post department. It's just that I can't motivate myself to post, knowing that Jane is away on vacation, drinking margaritas and lying on the sunny beaches of the Dominican at this very moment. It is so cruel for her to leave me behind to post pictures of the bathing suit that I would be wearing right now if I was there with her.

Stewards Of The Land

Did you make a New Year's resolution to eat healthier? Me too. Did you make a New Year's resolution to do your part in saving our beautiful planet? Me too! Since we are kindred spirits, I'll let you in on how I'm doing both at the same time.

I've signed up to receive weekly winter shares from plan b Organic Farm. They have huge shares, a great selection of fruit/vegetables/herbs, and it's organic and locally grown. You can't really get much better than that. Wait, I lied. They'll also send recipes and how to prepare/care for the food you got in your weekly shipment, just in case you have no idea what to do with all those parsnips and leeks.

The price is right, there are tons of pickup locations (or you could opt for home delivery even!), and you're doing a service to yourself, the local economy and our environment. What an easy way to strike some resolutions off your list.

White Night

If you are in the GTA on Saturday, and have no plans, you MUST make a note to attend Nuit Blanche. It's going to be incredible. Starting at 7:03pm (sundown) it goes until sunrise with 195 exhibits. Movies, art, the big city. I can't think of any other way that I'd rather spend my night.

Weird Logic

"What if you were eating pepperoni sticks and some grease got on your hands but you didn't notice, so then when you were attaching it to the mountain or tree, some of the grease transfered onto the rope, and then raccoons or bears could smell the delicious pepperoni and they would start chewing through the rope, so that it would break and you'd fall to your death?"

"Why pepperoni sticks?"

"Because they're probably the easiest food to take mountain climbing."

-Hollie, Jane and Laura. 2006.

This conversation was not, in fact, about this Cocoon: Emergency Shelter, but about a hanging cot for mountain climbers. But I think my logic works in this case as well.

You Can Learn A Lot Of Things From The Flowers

What's the opposite of a green thumb? A red thumb? Black thumb? Well, whatever it is, I have it. But it doesn't stop me in trying to become one with the flora and fauna.

Maybe, just maybe, if I had this Matchstick Garden Wildflower from Doe - San Fransisco, I'd have better results.

Probably not, but it is still one of the most adorable things I've ever seen.

Who Gives A Hoot

So maybe the owl trend is on it's way out, but that doesn't stop me from thinking these hand made Owl Ceramics from Fruit Fly are absolutely great.

This Ceramic Owl Soap Dish Tray would look great in my bathroom, and I would LOVE one of these Ceramic Owl Garden Planters on my back deck.

Unicorns And Rainbows

Sometimes sharing a computer can have it's benefits. Now, I don't really know where Mike found this, or why he was looking at women's bathing suits in the first place, but OH MY GOD I love the bathing suit designs at JG4B. All I know is that the website was sitting open on my computer when I got home from work. They bring me back to grade 5 and my love of Lisa Frank stickers, and that is definitely a missing element in my life these days.

I don't know if I should be creeped out by Mike or give him a big fat kiss when he comes home.

Update: Aha! He found it from one of my favourite design resources (it should be one of yours too) - Surfstation

Concrete Jungle

Although I would much rather have grass in my backyard than concrete slabs, I think that Solid Poetry by designers Susanne Happle and Frederik Molenschot is a very nice compromise. When wet, these concrete slabs will actually reveal a really pretty flower pattern. And you thought that you could never dress up concrete.
(via The Style Files)

Flotsam And Jetsam

This year I'm just not feeling the two-piece bathing suit. Maybe I'm getting old, I don't know. What I do know is that the Mainsail Maillot swimsuit from Anthropologie has exactly the kind of old-school nautical pin-up sexiness that I was looking for in a one-piece bathing suit.

Mop Dove

I'm a little conflicted as to what my plans should be for this upcoming weekend. On one hand, there's The Clothing Show in Toronto, where I can pick up one-of-a-kind items from Canadian designers, like this Three-Tiered Mother of Pearl Dove Necklace from Biko Designs. On the other hand I could not spend any money and go to Doors Open Hamilton which showcases beautiful heritage buildings in my hometown for free.

You win this time, Doors Open. Well played.

Hot Hot Heat

Screw Tiki Torches, man. Tiki Torches don't even come close to how cool these Torches from Menu are.

Pet Plants

How would you like to have a living plant attached to your key chain? Sure, it's not something you've been waiting your whole life for, but it's also incredibly neat. A plant. Small enough to fit on your key chain. That you actually have to water and give sunlight too. It's cute, and I want one.

Moonlight Im Schnee

It's true: these are made significantly more awesome by the appearance of snow covered mountains in the background. However. Think about how amazing your next outdoor barbecue, or wedding, or beach party would be if you lit up the place with these Moonlight Kugel Orbs from Concona.

Light My Fire

This falls into the "something I don't completely understand but want anyway" category. Even if I don't get it, I think I should seriously invest in a Swedish FireSteel from ThinkGeek. I could try to summarize, but the website does a much better job. "Its nearly 3,000°C spark makes fire building easy in any weather, at any altitude. Used by a number of armies around the world...". Also, it works in rain or snow.

Basically, although I have no use for this at the moment, you never know when your plane is going to crash onto a mysterious island, and your one survival-savy man is going to blow up a submarine and join the Others. So yeah, you might want to have this handy.

Singing In The Rain

If the weather ever makes the leap from winter to spring this year, I'm going to be prepared. I'm going to walk through the rain looking chic and stylish with this Orange Mushroom Paradise Umbrella from pare*umbrella.

That is, if it ever stops snowing.

Seriously. Please.

Do you think there's any way I can convince my boyfriend to get me a $375 birthday present?

I hope so, because this has made me really, REALLY, excited. It's the Bulb Kits By The Month gift from Red Envelope. They will send a different ceramic container pre-planted with a variety of bulbs each month for one year. And oh my god, they are so beautiful.

Please?

Magical Hues

Dear Hollie,

Since I am such a good friend, I don't want to see you lose your apartment because you spent all your rent money on an outdoor daybed. That's why I think you should go with something that is both stylish AND affordable. Like these beautiful Glass Brass Lamps. They'll look pretty, and leave you with enough money to buy some shoes. (Which are way more useful that a love seat or rent anyway!)

Ciudad De La Habana

And if only my balcony was large enough to fit the Havana Daybed from Anthropologie as well. Or, more like, if only I had an extra two thousand dollars to spend on a luxury like an outdoor daybed.

One day.