What to wear to the farm

I'm headed to the Altitude Design Summit today, so Grandma G. will have to look after the blog while I'm gone. (For those unaware, she's my mom. And a frequent commenter.) I've noticed that many bloggers are enthusiastic about their Alt wardrobes, and lots of style articles have been popping up. See examples here, here, here, and here.

Since it looks like Alt is covered, I thought it might be helpful to post some fashion suggestions for visiting Grandma G. If you plan to attend a conference at a Minnesota dairy farm, you might consider packing the following wardrobe.

1. A pair of everyday jeans. Forget skinny, low-rise, stretch and all that business. The heifers don't care. Pick something nice and comfy.

2. A coat to wear outside. Preferably something your grandma bought you at a rummage sale, so you won't need to worry if it gets dirty.

3. A flannel shirt. Preferably something your grandma bought you at a rummage sale, so you won't need to worry if it gets dirty. Or you can raid the closet in my old bedroom, where there are probably lots to choose from. That came from rummage sales.

4. (Optional) On warmer days, a promotional seed corn cap that has collected dust in the basement. A note: don't wear this ironically like the hipsters do. The cap was likely a free gift after you spent thousands of dollars on seed corn. It's functional, not a fashion statement.

5. On colder days, a knitted stocking cap. Preferably something your grandma bought you at a rummage sale, so you won't need to worry if it gets dirty.

6. Bring a pair of old glasses that you wore a few prescriptions ago. Replace your regular frames with these when you go outside into the cold, because they'll fog up like crazy when you come back in. Once inside, you can immediately switch back to your good glasses since you'll want to see clearly right away. Right, Mum?

7. Overshoes in case the yard is muddy.

8. A stylish accessory. Instead of a sequined handbag, bring a flashlight for locating things at night, including raccoons and possums.

I love Stockholm

I usually forget to take photos when I'm out and about, but here's a smattering of pictures from my Stockholm excursion. This photo represents my overall impression of the city. Beautiful buildings. Lots of boats. Lots of water.

We spent five nights at Hotel Stureplan, which is located within walking distance of all sorts of shops, restaurants, and museums. Our room looked like this (photo borrowed from Historic Hotels of Sweden). Loved it. The only funny glitch occurred when we attempted to store some dirty clothes in what we assumed was a laundry bag provided in the bathroom. The next day the bag was empty and our socks were missing. We inquired, and the hotel clerk apologetically informed us that bag is for "other garbage" that doesn't go in the regular wastebasket, and our clothes had been thrown away. Oops. Silly us.

The weather was beautiful. We took a boat tour, visited the Photography Museum and the Modern Museum (which turned out to feature mostly photography as well), and the very interesting Vasa, a warship that sank in 1628 after sailing for just 20 minutes. Stockholm has 75 museums, and there were many others I'd have loved to see. Too little time.

At the Royal Palace a group of guards marched by and nearly ran us over when they suddenly did a 180 and marched up the staircase next to us.

We also visited Skansen, an outdoor museum that replicates a 19th-century Swedish town. Native Scandinavian animals also live there, eating mice and admiring their own reflections.

[Stop reading this sentence right now if you're a vegetarian: I ate reindeer at a restaurant a few days later and it was delicious. I highly recommend dining at Nalen.]

But by far my favorite part of the trip was browsing in the dozens of shops, admiring the furniture and housewares. Don't worry; I left a few things in the stores for you. But it was super painful and took enormous self control not to buy everything in sight. Though I don't know how I could have carried a sofa onto the plane anyhow. Along with a few future Christmas presents for people, here are some items that had to come home with me.

You'll notice I became obsessed with fish.

I'm going to bake stuff in this dish and eat cheese and crackers off this tray.


Here's an irresistible mug from the Marimekko shop.

And a piece of fabric purchased at Åhléns department store.

If you're headed to Stockholm, here's a list of my favorite shops:
Ohlssons fabric store
Åhléns department store (home section)
Nordiska Kompaniet department store (home section)
Nordiska Galleriet
Design Torget
Svenskt Tenn (Josef Frank galore)
Lagerhaus (affordable gifts here!)

I need to go back!

Confession: I was in Sweden

I neglected to mention that I've been wandering around Stockholm since Saturday. My mum, AKA Grandma G, insists it's not good practice to tell your thousands of daily readers that you're not at home. Just in case one of them wants to figure out where you live and tries to steal your cool orange stapler.

But I've just returned! Details about my awesome trip to come. In the meantime, enjoy this delightful Stockholm print by Ian Winstanley, available for a mere $17.99 at art.com.

Rivers and zombies

I've been on a vacation for the last week and a half, though you probably wouldn't know it since I sneakily scheduled posts in advance for most of the days I was gone. We paid a visit to friends in the Pacific Northwest, and while there we took a stroll through Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. The storefront window signs asking zombies not to get blood on the merchandise were mystifying until we began seeing increasing numbers of decked-out undead wandering the streets. Those shop owners weren't kidding. We'd accidentally timed our visit to coincide with a zombie block party. We also spent some time hiding out in a cabin in the Cascades where most places we went looked like the scene above and were zombie-free.

A brief visit to Portland was lots of fun, and I couldn't leave without this handmade bag from Queen Bee Creations. The bag and I are now inseparable. In fact, we both got rained on last night and the bag held up like a champ.

New York vacation

We returned last night from our road trip getaway fatter, happier, and poorer than when we left. The hallmarks of a good vacation. We drove to New York and stayed in Brooklyn at Hotel Le Bleu. (Highly recommend it. Our room was small, modern and beautiful. We could see the Statue of Liberty from our balcony! It appeared to be the size of a grain of rice, but still. The hotel has a restaurant and rooftop lounge, so even if you don't stay there, at least go eat or drink something and admire the view. It's in Park Slope, a few blocks from cool shops, delicious restaurants, and dozens of people pushing babies in strollers, so if you're looking for a nanny job, this might be the place for you.)

We walked around Manhattan, went to MoMA, spent an afternoon reading in Central Park (which I had imagined as a giant football field devoid of trees; was pleasantly surprised to find out it's pretty), got half-off tickets to see the Toxic Avenger musical (clever, goofy, 100% entertaining), and then spent a couple days near the Allegheny National Forest on our way home.

And now it's back to work. Must make more coffee...

(Images from Hotel Le Bleu)

Sleeping in public places

On Saturday we spent a glorious afternoon at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Part of what made it glorious was the nap we took on our picnic blanket in a secluded spot. Usually I have a hard time sleeping in public places because I'm always afraid I'll get in trouble. I'll miss my train stop, I'll drool on the person next to me, someone will take my stuff, a policeman will knock on my window and arrest me, you name it. But Saturday I felt nice and safe under a tree, way back where no other visitors wandered. Now I just need to figure out how to make some kind of DIY inflatable neck pillow. Stay tuned for that tutorial. (Yeah, not likely.) And does anyone else struggle against the temptation to eat any wild berry thing you find in the woods? I just wanted to pop one of those green things into my mouth. But I didn't.

What I did on my Easter vacation

Alex and I spent last week with our good buddies Swiss Ms. and Mr. in Lugano, Switzerland. (That's Lugano, above. Population 50,000 or so, located in an Italian-speaking state on the Swiss-Italian border.) We had a fantastic time with our friends. But as far as design inspiration goes, my hopes were dashed. I couldn't find any cool fabrics or interesting stationery in Lugano. Just lots of graffiti, frequently spelling out the word "Pooh." Lugano does have a really nice gummy candy selection in the outdoor market, though. That's something.

Check out this cell phone company, photographed through the car window. I wanted to go in and tell them I speak Orange.

The four of us drove to Venice and spent a night. Before the trip, I'd imagined it as a magical, romantic place. I have to admit it was better in my head. Don't get me wrong—it's beautiful. But it feels more like a big amusement park than a real town where normal human beings live. It's overrun with tourists, souvenir carnival mask shops, and street vendors selling weird little squishy rubber dolls in rainbow colors. But the coffee is great, and so was the company. I'm really glad we went.

Above is St. Mark's Square. Home to 42% of the world's pigeon poop.

I liked the pink glass street lights.

Looks like a movie set, doesn't it? So lovely.

This is inside a church on the island of Murano, famous for glass-making. A few of the workshops were open despite it being Holy Week, and it was fascinating to watch the artisans at work.

It was a great trip. And now, back to real life.

Happy new year

We had a great time with my family for Christmas. It's a 9-hour drive to the farm in Minnesota where the view looks like this in every direction (minus the tree, generally). We stopped at the Spam Museum in Austin, MN on the way. It made me hungry for a spamburger. You should go if you're ever in that neck of the woods. Or plains.

Hope you all had a nice break. Best wishes for a blessed and happy 2008!

More orange

We saw this house on Haight St. in San Francisco. Alex thinks I should live in it. (With him, of course.)
My friend Kristin in Riverside gave me this cute bag when we visited. Of course I love it.

Back from our trip

We've returned from a vacation to California. We visited friends in Riverside, then drove up Highway 1 along the coast to San Franciso, stayed a few nights in a cabin near Yosemite, and then drove back to Riverside. It was wonderful. Here are some of our snapshots.

Back.

Over the weekend we went to Tennessee for a little vacation. A few days before we left, I googled smoky mountain cabins, and found this place. We ended up staying in a private cabin called Woods and Waters, which was unbelievable. You never know what you're getting into when you reserve something online, but when we saw it, we were thrilled. Charming, spacious, king bed, hot tub, fireplace, two porches, candles, BBQ grill, kitchen, waffle iron, wine glasses, and total privacy. And it smelled like cedar and pine trees, with a faint hint of woodsmoke thrown in. Dreamy.

We slept late every day, cooked bacon and eggs, drank coffee on the porch, and went over to the national park (10 minutes away, and no entrance fee!) to hike for the rest of each day. Have a look:





I highly recommend it.

Retro fun

We spent last week in Arizona with friends. Our visit included a trip to The Shady Dell in Bisbee, an old copper mining town near the Mexican border. At The Shady Dell, guests stay in 1950's aluminum campers, each decked out with different vintage fabrics, appliances, and games. We LOVED it! We got a kick out of making Spirograph art, playing records, percolating some coffee, and watching Creature From the Black Lagoon. (Also check out the pix of the paint-by-number art and the siamese cat lamp with eerie glowing eyes.) Next time you're near Bisbee, you have to stay at the Dell!