It’s like camping every day.

So impractical.

I know this.

How do you hang pictures on the walls?

I have no idea.

So much unusable space.

I know. I know. But I still love A-frames.

Prarie girls.

I was in Edmonton last weekend and while there I ate at a charming little restaurant called Bacon. They had these big blown up prints of Ukrainian patterns on the wall, and it got me thinking about my love for all things Ukrainian. So I went searching through the Alberta archives on-line and found some great pictures from Stony Lake in the 1920’s. I need to find me a Baba to make me one of these outfits.

Italians do it better.

Is it weird to want to wear jars of food? I am canning peaches and tomatoes right now, and they look like beautiful treasures trapped in old fashioned glass jars. I could leave them out as decorations for visitors to admire, but nobody ever comes over. How can I make it so everyone can see them? Shove a jar in my handbag and pull it out at parties? Maybe I can find find teeny tiny jars and make accessory sized jars of jam that could be worn on a necklace or as a brooch.

In fact, I’m pretty jazzed about the aesthetics of canning in general.

I loved the art so much, I bought the coffee cup.

I love a museum store. You can always find cool presents there, and nice books, and great toys for kids. Where else am I going to buy Muji products but at the MOMA store? And I have bought tonnes of gifts at the Cooper- Hewitt. Museum stores are like a license to print money.

So, while I’m sad that there’s nothing worth buying at the Vancouver art gallery (except for say, a Persian rug mouse pad or Monet scarf). I’m happy to say that all your gift needs can be taken care of by artist run centres. Last year I bought the best tea towel and scotch glasses from the Western Front, Artspeak has some great artist editions, and Bodgers and Kludgers (which is run out of someones living room) even has their own pretty white and gold coffee cups.

Unfortunately you’ll have to take my word for it, because artist run centres aren’t crazy about the commerce, so you can’t buy stuff on-line (or even look at pictures of stuff to buy on-line). But trust me, there’s some good shopping to be had if you can figure out how to buy stuff from them.

Marcel Dzama salt and pepper shakers

Remember when we were in love?

The computer and I are having some issues. I will post as soon as I figure out why it’s being so selfish.

Modern men since 1913

Modernize tailors is one of those amazing places that you wish you could keep as your own personal secret. So it is with mixed feelings that I tell you that Modernize has a blog ( I am guessing that Modernize has some special helper in the PR department) for which I am happy for them, sad for me and my secrets. My husband had his wedding suit made at Modernize years ago and it was one of the highlights of the whole experience, going in the time machine to Modernize for fittings.

The men of Modernize

It’s hard out here for a preppy.

As August starts dropping it’s dusty leaves my thoughts turn to varsity sweaters. J.Crew has a kind of cute generic one for girls but I want the real deal, a vintage one. Problem is, the vintage ones don’t fit me very well (they tend to mimic the not so flattering pumpkin in shape). But I need not worry, because Susan Feltman of Leonia New Jersey can custom knit me a varsity sweater in whatever shape I want.

Monday morning with spooky pictures.

I would love to see more magazines do illustrated covers. This 1960 issue of Time magazine with Ingmar Bergman on the cover is fantastic.

When the weather is bad, I like to think that this is how it would be if I lived in Sweden.

Here is a completely random list of things I would like to have in my possession this fall:

dress from toast

octopus necklace by Seawear

socks from Bon&Ging

fur coat from ebays

Unlike Italian fashion houses, Ashrams are all over the internets

So even though my disdain for music festivals is legendary, I was forced to attend one this past weekend for reasons I can’t explain. Rather than just complain (port-a-potties, hippies, intestinal distress from Bavarian smokie served by ex con who put dirty thumb on all parts of my hot dog) I decided that a smuggled bottle of wine and the proper attire would make the whole experience easier for everyone. And I quite enjoyed it, the wine and the outfit I mean. My theme for the weekend was white lady at the ashram. I looked kind of like this:

It’s not a bad look really, and all you have to do is keep layering, and when you think you’re done, layer something else over top.