missing: the sun

Today it got dark at 3pm again. And it's raining. Again. I'm sitting at my desk getting ready to format my new external hard drive (fun weekend!) and wishing it was spring. No. Summer. As you can see Lola is also pretty fed up with all of the rain and the sun disappearing before 4pm. She just wants to go to the beach. Some fresh flowers in the house brighten things up a little bit for us.

By the way, I took this photo of a cat in our neighbourhood. I'm thinking now it must be quite the trick for it to get between the blinds and the window like that. This photo also contains evidence of Vancouver's "weird shrub" epidemic. I should really start taking photos of all the bizarre variations on hedges, bonsai, and shrubbery that I encounter in this city. Hope you are having a sunny weekend wherever you are!

a few new things...

I have been making some new pieces for the Sadie shop this week using some amazing quartz stones. The first one is a substantial polished quartz point on a beautiful Japanese 14k gold rolled chain from my New York trip. I love this chain so much and sadly I've almost run out of it. Perhaps I'll just have to back to New York someday soon to get more. Just kidding, I'm much more likely to swing a mail order than another cross-continent trip any time soon.

The second photo shows some of the clear, white and black rutilated quartz that I've been lucky enough to get my hands on. I love the variations in these stones and the fact that they are double pointed. They remind me of Herkimer diamonds and are just so unique.

Finally I'm able to post one more pink and green rutilated quartz necklace. I'm hoping to locate more of these teeny tiny amazing crystals soon, but until I track some down, this is it. One of my friends called this the "dirty crystals" necklace while another called it her "magical pan flute" necklace, either way, it's one of my favourite Sadie pieces. Everything will be posted in the Sadie Etsy shop later this afternoon, if it's not already there. There are silver pieces, too, if you're not the gold type. And just seven more sales until the win at one hundred contest happens! If you've purchased something from the Sadie shop you're already entered. Thanks, everyone! Have a great weekend!

snow day

We had snow in Vancouver today! Most of it fell overnight, actually. Lola and I went out on a walk around 10pm and she was so happy to be playing in snow and was eating giant mouthfuls of it all the way to the library. I took these photos at school today. The top is the arbutus tree close to my studio. Ignoring the gross parking lot in the background I thought it was kind of awesome how the tree had kept so much of the snow off the ground beneath it, creating this strange grassy shadow effect. By mid-afternoon the snow had almost all melted and every sidewalk transformed into a system of lakes and fjords nearly impossible to traverse without getting soaked. Still, the snow made things look good for a while and it was a nice treat in a city where it usually rains all winter long.

It's so green here year round. I think what I really like about the photos I took in Alberta this winter was the fact that it was just a pure white and grey world, like this photograph called February Blues from Jennifer Squires Ross's Etsy shop. I love photos that are almost monochromatic but have just a hint of detail. They're something so dreamy about them. Do you have snow where you are?

P.S. I will be putting some new stuff in the Sadie shop soon. Looking forward to sharing it here!

guilty pleasure: suburbia (1983)

Well, well, another suburban-themed feature on my blog! This time I have to bring Jeff in as the first ever Sadie guest blogger, because I left my homework too late on Sunday and couldn't go to the Guilty Pleasure Movie Club gathering. Lesson learned. Actually, I seriously doubt that I have learned not to procrastinate, though I'm trying to be more on top of things these days and I definitely don't want to miss another movie night any time soon!

This week's Guilty Pleasure Movie Club meeting was hosted and chosen by Caroline. Her first pick was Fast Times at Ridgemont High; she continued her '80s theme with her second choice: 1983's Suburbia. This movie is often confused with the 1996 film also called SubUrbia. Both involve disaffected youth but the 1983 movie is darker and made with a much smaller budget. It also stars a 21 year old Flea who had just started his now famous band "Tony Flow & the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem" (a.k.a. The Red Hot Chili Peppers)!

The film depicts punks and runaways squatting an abandoned suburb in California and it is not a light movie. It was directed by Penelope Spheeris, whose earlier work was a documentary on the Los Angeles  punk scene called The Decline of Western Civilization and whose later work included the best movie ever (in Sarah's opinion), Wayne's World! This was a fantastic pick by Caroline, as only one other present movie club member had seen it before. Everyone was pleased and after the movie there was an impromptu puzzle exchange (I still have to give Caroline a vintage cowboy puzzle that we got in Calgary over Christmas)!

-Jeff

There you go! Jeff's first guest post and another awesome Guilty Pleasure Movie Club pick. Sorry I had to miss this one, but I'm looking forward to next week at Ryan and Amanda's! 


Oh yeah, and I am loving these new wristlets by madebyhank on Etsy. I totally can't pick a favourite!

when it's grey it's grey

Yes, that is how we spell "grey" in Canada. Yesterday I walked across the Granville Bridge to go to a printshop in Yaletown. It wasn't super cold, but it was so dreary. It even started to snow when I was halfway across the bridge...or "snow" in Vancouver terms, which means barely-there flakes for a few minutes.

I never get sick of the views off the Granville and Burrard Bridges (that's the Burrard Bridge in the distance in these shots). The mountains, the ocean opening up from False Creek, I love it. On any given day the bridges will have several photographers on them. Vancouver is pretty photogenic, even on dark days like today. Still, these short winter days are making me wish that spring would hurry up and get here. I know it's still just early January, but we'll have crocuses in a couple of weeks and I'm already spending some time with my seed catalogue. Are you ready for spring yet?

By the way, as soon as I'm home during daylight hours to take photos (it got dark at 3pm today, I swear!) I'll continue my home tour. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments! Happy 1/11/11.