damn. double damn.

why wont blogger let me post pictures? i had a super awesome post all ready to rock, and then i couldn't post the pictures i wanted to post with it. it's still doing it today.

internal errors suck.

enough.

at the moment, we have a society that disconnects us from our inconvenient realities. we are disconnected from our forebears, the people who got us here through their striving and yearning for just-enough. If we could hear them, they would say to us, 'you lucky gits, i hope you're having a fantastic time standing on our shoulders, on the peak of all that we sacrificed and achieved'. instead of appreciating this, instead of being grateful, we carry on grumpily chasing more. we ignore the wisdom of our ancestors because the world of more reviles yesterday, disdains today and preaches an obsession with some mythic perfect tomorrow.

we are also disconnected from the people who struggle to live in the poor four-fifths of the world. if we listened to them, they might say, 'you lucky gits, aren't you having a fantastic time on the back of our cheap resources and labour?' instead of wondering at our own actions or even being grateful, we grumpily continue chasing more. we ignore their voices because the world of more tells us to obsess about ourselves. and in our wealthy developed world, we are disconnected from each other, because our culture emphasizes our tiny differences rather than our huge commonalities, in the interests of fostering unlimited material competition.

it is time for us to disconnect ourselves from the world of more. it is time to say 'thanks very much' to it, and to continue onwards with the wider progress of our species. our more-more- culture has done it's job fantastically well; it has brought us to the point where we can begin to develop a world based on enoughism. we now have all that we materially need to revisit and explore anew our old, nourishing and truly sustainable natural human resources - qualities such as gratitude, generosity and the urge for human connection. and we have all of the eternal now in which to explore these bounties (unless the planet catches fire first). in the western world, material life is pretty much as good as it can get. there is no point in chasing more. from here on in, we will just be bringing our own wasps to the picnic. it is time to be grateful - and to say 'enough'.

excerpted from 'enough' by john naish

pages 251-252

weekend getaway

holy crap.

i can't believe it's friday already. where did the week go? it's been packed with orientation-related website updates at work done at the speed of light, trying to minimize my carb intake -which is going well, except for the unfortunate handful cheerios that made their way into my digestive system... {how did you manage to jump into my mouth, little buddies?} and prepare my clothes and art stuff for going to visit my dad this weekend. i've never been a light packer, but i seriously think the trunk of my little car is ready to burst.

this weekend: i'll be rejuvenating, reading my book (almost done enough, will be starting deep economy as soon as i've put my other one down). i'll be doing creative things - who knows what, specifically. i've left my polymer clay and jewelry stuff at home, and have instead brought my paints, brushes, and an old old old hardcover copy of pride & prejudice that i bought in a used bookstore for $1 for me to be creative all over. i'm pretty excited. i'll also be sleeping and sitting in the sunshine on the deck. going for walks, going to the mariposa market to shop and take pictures. it's gonna be great. so long as it doesnt rain. (hell, if it does, i'll just do it all inside. minus sitting on the deck.)

OH! plus, check out these homegrown tomato pincushions sent to me via email by my good friend martha stewart. these are so stinkin cute, i wanna make some even though i'd have no use for them. lovely!

note: the link i've included for enough is from the UK amazon site because it's actually got reviews... and i like reviews.

image courtesy of londoncanada

shopping when i should be sleeping

so. stinkin. cute.

i need this stamp. seriously.

thank you, papersource.

serene

busy weekend. whoa.

went to our annual family reunion (which was quite possibly the smallest since it's inception in 1994), visited my dad for fathers day. saw the most gorgeous sky on the drive home. the road wound over and around the hills, and the clouds were a panorama of colour - to my left, deepest dark clouds, threatening an incredible lightning storm. further right, the colours melted into hues of deep purple and the most vibrant magenta i've ever seen in a sky in my life. further still, the clouds broke with rays of pink light, backlight by distant lightning. straight ahead down the road, there was the most vibrant rainbow i've ever seen - we could almost reach out and touch it. to our right, the clouds broke and it was entirely blue skies and sunshine. i would've stopped to take a picture of it all if i'd thought it would do it justice... but the light was growing dim and my camera doesn't have manual settings for dusk - nor does it have a tripod. add one more reason why i should buy that digital SLR i've been eyeing...

{the weather's been so weird lately}

today's one of those days where it's threatening rain - the sky is dark and the wind is cold... but i like something about it. something about it is comforting, like nothing else to do but sip a cup of tea and curl up with a book on a gloomy day. one of those days that you spend inside, wearing a warm sweater. quiet. reflective - almost brooding.

i like when days like this when they reflect my mood.

sweet deals

our weather in toronto seems to have a personality disorder. we've gone from sticky hot to windy and cold (and somewhat overcast).

a few happy things that rocked my earl grey tea today:

such innovative and pretty little things from andree wejsmann of soft dog studio

make gorgeous designs on your boring white ikea plates with skinny laminx' ceramics transfer tutorial.

brighten up your kitchen with this how-to for making mason jar chandeliers

the best happy thing: shelli (who's the artist behind the picture above) from studio mela is having her etsy shop's one-year birthday today, and to celebrate, is having a BOGO sale until june 14th -- what better way to wish her shop happy birthday than buying something from it? i need this one and this one and most likely the one i have featured as well.

{did i mention that i found a near-mint ikea desk while garage sale-ing last weekend, have officially set it up and it'll now be my new workspace? i need gorgeous art to inspire me and decorate the area!}

and furthermore..

enoughist philosophies seem to be following me everywhere.

in the same vein as yesterday's post, here's another gem that i ran into on martawrites, with the image sourced from heartdew. check out her serene muted images at her etsy shop.

i've been making a concerted effort to slow down and notice certain things in my day, taking a minute - however brief - to stand, ankle-deep in that moment, refreshed and reflective. pollyanna as it sounds, it been getting easier and more natural as the days fly by.

today, walking back to my office from a morning meeting, i could smell the same faintly rich pungent smell that the lake at my cottage has, and it reminded me of my childhood spending those everlasting summers paddling in the water, having campfires and smacking mosquitos as we roasted marshmallows.

what are some little things that you might notice in your day that momentarily might take you away for a brief escape?

a good dose of perspective

"we often feel compelled to buy our status-boosting goods because our tribal instincts make us measure ourselves materially against our peers, to see if we are doing ok in life. in the developed world, this massively distorts our idea of what we need to be just averagely ok.

wealthy londoners, for example, no longer feel very rich because they don't mix with less affluent people anymore. we need to look wider to the global neighbourhood that technology and travel has brought to our doorsteps.

about half of humanity lives on less than $2 a day. more than 852 million people do not get enough to eat, around 1.6 billion have no electricity and a third of the world's people have never made a phone call.

meanwhile, a fifth of the earth's people buy nearly 90% of all the consumer goods.

that's us, the stressed out guys in the wealthy neighbourhood."

taken from
enough: breaking free from the world of more
by john naish

fetishization of the teapot

happy monday everyone! mondays are great days to relax and reflect and gear back up to a busy busy week from the relaxation of a lazy hot weekend (and stellar garage sale finds, might i add!) the best way to relax in a morning is, hands down, with a great big cup of tea. what's even better than a huge cup of tea?

(if you said gorgeous teapots, you're right!)

i can't help it. i have a small thing for teapots. they remind me of my grandmother's old collection that i made sure to inherit when she passed away - a display-only copper one, an uuuugly clay one that i'd made in art class when i was in elementary school (but she displayed it anyhow despite it's lumpy hideousness).

when i was in high school, my friend duncan introduced me to a bubble tea place that had such an incredible intimate atmosphere.. dim lighting, a single tealight burning on every table, along with so many versions of traditional chinese tea and bubble tea. i was hooked. we'd go on long aimless drives several nights a week and would end up at one of many interesting places to sit and sip.

when customers would walk into this place, there was an entire glass display case that doubled as a wall that had three glass shelves, each one holding five asian-inspired teapots -- from that moment onwards, i was in love. not just like - i'm talkin l-o-v-e love. it's funny, since i didn't start drinking tea until very recently... but i just liked the concept of going out for a hot drink and chatting over steaming mugs.

i'd love to make my own display case one day. with my own wheel-thrown gorgeous handmade pots, much like these. one day. when i can afford to buy my own kiln. or even just a potters wheel. or even just figure out how to use one. maybe i should start there, then work my way up. kilns cost about $700 after all - a bit pricey for me to pick up as a first-try venture.

what i love most about these teapots is that they all have their own personality - these two pots (above and below) come from lawatson, remind me of teapots from a fantasy movie - beauty and the beast, or pan's labrynth. i love their curves. they're so interesting to look at. the angle of the handles, the knottiness of it... they're so gnarled and beautiful.

1) by Clayations46
2) by JMNPottery
3) by RedGate Ceramics
4 & 5) by lawatson

haay! vacay!

i'm pleased to announce that i booked my vacation today.

um, can you say WOOT?!

i'm so stinkin excited.

due to inspiration from Julia at Red Otter, we were originally looking at going to mackinac island, but decided to nix it (for now!) due to the fact that it'd be about 8 hours travel time. don't get me wrong - i love road trips, but when you're only taking one week vacation, spending two of those precious seven days in a car kind of eats up your relaxing time.

so, after having brainstormed a bit with my friend kelly (who seems hell bent on getting me to the caribbean one of these years), she forwarded me an email for Mont Tremblant, where there was an early booking special that gets you 25% off if you book before June 5. (have i mentioned that i generally travel on a limited budget?) so after having looked at the accomodations and activities that you can do there (which all look spectacular), we decided to book. awwwesome.

(sidenote for other bargain-hunters: anyone who books their vacation at Tremblant 21 days in advance gets 20% off of their visit)

today: well, hanging out. we get off work an hour early in the summertime so i'm outta here at 3:30! tonight, mike and i are going to have a spontaneous night of going out for dinner and then doing whatever we feel like doing next. we may be visiting the street festival in the super-cute downtown area of unionville, where they have craft vendors, street barbecues, outdoor music, and tons of people. or we might prep mike's stuff a little bit for his neighbourhood-wide garage sale this weekend. tomorrow: yep, humungo garage sale. no - street sale. seriously, this thing is the mother of all street sales. it's like everyone in the neighbourhood puts out a little something (or a big something. or multiple little somethings.) either way, it's gonna rock. even if it thunderstorms the way that the weatherman is predicting.

OH! and yesterday was my little sister's prom. aw. so cute. she looked like a celebrity - no joke. her hair was spectacular (not typical prom-hair curly updo) and her makeup and dress were incredible. pics to come.

further proof that i [think that i] know a lot about stuff.

i was talking the other day about the value in writing down your goals in life.. and what do you know, here's an article i found in body+soul on doing just that.

sneak peek - step 1

Think Like a Seven-Year-Old

"I'd never heard of life lists until my seven-year-old daughter made one. One day Rachael produced a piece of poster board with the title: "Things I Want to Do." The entries were ambitious: Go to Paris. Go to China. Learn to scuba dive. Be in a movie.

I didn't want to dash her dreams, but it seemed like a good dashing was in order. I was a single parent without much money. We lived in a rented cabin in the Missouri Ozarks. "That's nice," I told her.

By age 12 she'd checked everything off her list. I snagged a writing assignment in Hawaii, and she tagged along and took diving lessons. We were invited on a group trip to China, then used the frequent flier mileage for a trip to Paris. She scored a role as a zombie in a low-budget horror flick being filmed near where we lived (her list didn't stipulate that the movie had to be good).

The point is, Rachael made her list when she was too young to fret about limits. It's a lesson we can all take: Get back to that place you were in as a child, when "limitations" was a word grown-ups said. When you think like a child, you expose your limits as mirages."

i'm thinking of erasing my limits today.

weekend update

i saw sex in the city and c'était incroyable.
no spoilers here. just go.