house k by hasegawa daisuke

the moment i stepped out onto the base of that hill was the same moment i knew i wanted to leave. i didn’t understand the damp gravel and the winding path that it etched into the landscape; it curved to the left and then steered right, sharply, at the most unconvincing angle of inclination, but nevertheless i followed the trail to its end on high. there i was met by two bulls, both with at least five instances of the words “was here” carved into their sides. i traced my fingers over each little scar. shallow, but with intention, concentrating the weight of the world from the outside in.

“i’m here too,” i told them, “but i don’t want to be. and i don’t want you to be burdened with the mark of a trivial moment like this.”

“yet that is exactly what we’re here for,” they replied. “them? they were here, but are no longer. you are. we are here for you as you are here for us.”

.

.

yet that is exactly what we’re here for…

a brief culinary tour of amsterdam and utrecht

jacob sutton’s conceptual photography has me mesmerized. i love the interplay between the softness of the foam pieces, the rigidity of their geometric lines, the dynamic stillness of bodies in motion, the stark contrast between light and shadow, between gravity and weightlessness (jacob is also the mastermind behind the big bang editorial that i posted before). more of his work after the cut!

things that made my day:

the loveliest package of goodies from gracia + louise. thank you ever so much!!

stroopwafels from my couchsurfing host :)

hallo! alles goed? i just came back from yet another excursion, this time to the netherlands to attend an iconography and film studies symposium in utrecht. while i was away though, my contribution to the mixtape club was released (i’ve kept it secret for a month or so now) :) it’s a bit like ten minutes, but not completely, because there are nine other lovely contributors to this project – please give them all a listen! many thanks to brian and micah for letting me in on the fun!

14 golds for canada, 26 medals overall, and to put the icing on the cake, our boys win in a classic nail biter against the USA!!!  it was so nice to be able to watch live hockey (or as live as it gets, anyway) after being away from montreal for so long. apologies to the neighbours for the raucous yelling and screaming throughout – it was a stressful game! and despite my initial pessimism towards hosting the olympics, i must admit, i am immensely proud to be a (vancouverite) canadian right now :) hope you all enjoyed the olympics as well!

briana taylor

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body’s been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

mark strand

alvhem mäkleri

back in high school, when career and personal planning was an actual class, i decided that interior design would be the career for me. coming home from school i would be sure to catch sarah richardson’s design inc. on HGTV, i would cut out furniture from ikea catalogues and rearrange them on my own (horribly disproportionate) perspective drawings of living spaces, i would collect paint swatches at hardware stores (and i still do). of course, this was me in grade nine – reasoning was not something i needed or knew how to do – but i have since outgrown this “destined career” way of thinking.

looking back at all the moving i’ve done between various cities/countries/apartments as of late, though, i realized that maybe interior design wasn’t such an irrelevant adolescent interest after all: i am a homebody consumed by wanderlust. after exploring the world i still love to come home and feel as though i am. i love the comfort of seeing a familiar face and hearing a familiar voice, the familiar music. i love saturday night dinner talks and chet baker sundays in white and grey.

home is a place where i bring bits of the world outside into mine and leave it there, i design this space by simply living in and growing with it.

there is so much snowfall outside! feels as though i’m in a perpetually shaken snow globe.

a plethora of my favourite photos from geneva, lausanne, nice, cannes and monaco, plus a few random ones posted on tumblr. now i am off to cook some food for a swedish chinese new year gathering tonight. should be interesting… 新年快樂 :)