leviathan.

Between the covers of my bed I am safe at home.  

Between the covers of this book I am lost at sea. 

Dev. 

Happy holidays from Cricket the cat, who will be spending the season glowering at passersby from her perch amongst the wreaths on the mantle. -Bets

On root vegetables and weather.

When I feel bland I often say that I feel like a parsnip. By this I mean an uncooked parsnip. I've never actually eaten one raw, but I like to think they'd taste as dull as their beige colouring might suggest. When I feel like a parsnip, I dislike leaving the house and would rather stay buried beneath my duvet reading or watching a movie rather than going out to have fun with friends.
Lately, I've been feeling like a parsnip quite often, a few of my good friends at school are leaving in the new year to spend the semester abroad, the days are getting shorter and the days upon days of overcast skies are all really getting to me. While I'm not incredibly sad, I feel bored, uninspired and dull.
I think a lot of this does have to do with the season. It's supposed to be winter here, but we still haven't had any snow. I'm surrounded by this gross grey landscape, void of any colour with incredibly rare bursts of sunshine. While I'm not a huge fan of four foot snowbanks and you'll never find me clamouring for any, it might just be an improvement on this depressing wasteland that has taken over in the interim.
Maybe I should just go ahead and take some vitamin D.

-Bets

Sprawling

Today at the crack of dawn I wrote my last exam of the season. Hurrah! I came home, dazed and confused only to find that the BEST BAND EVER (aka Arcade Fire) just released a new music video. It's nifty and I am (as always) infatuated with Regine's dance moves and frocks.
Enjoy.
-Bets

Bets, I know what you mean. AH is a life changing (and style changing) experience.
Look at these. These are wonderful.
This guy's stuff is great. 

The last one is my favourite. 

Dev. 

Annie Hall

Silk Shirt - Chloe,  Blazer- Mauro Grifoni,  Gray Pants - Minimarket, Shoes -Topshop,  Saddle Bag - Robert Clergerie, Sunglasses - Ralph Lauren, Silk Scarf- Fendi.

Speaking of Paul Simon, a few nights ago I watched Annie Hall for the first time (I'm sorry it took me so long Dev!). While Paul's appearance was a surprise, Annie has made me desire limitless menswear. I want to cover myself in wool or tweed head to toe, don a vest (I have never in my life worn a vest, excluding my hideous childhood polar fleece one but we won't get into that), and exclusively wear oxfords (both shirts AND shoes). 

My menswear craze has been slowly growing all fall, as can be seen by my dozen oxfords (three being of the shoe variety). There is just something so cozy and appealing about androgynous clothing that I never really embraced before. I staunchly refused to wear pants for the better part of the last three or four years, but now I find myself trying on dozens of pairs at Value Village or staring at them while fake online shopping.

I guess it's finally time to admit that I might just love pants.

-Bets

P.S. I love you.

The Paul Simon on your playlist made me very happy for obvious reasons. 

Graceland. Just the opening accordion riff floods me with memories. My love of Paul originated years ago in my best friend's aunt's car, a beat up red Chevrolet we all called "The Chevrol". It was the kind of car with the tiny seat in between the driver and the passenger that's long been illegal and sitting there was always my favourite spot. It also had a tape deck and Graceland was always playing. My best friend and her cousin and I knew all the words. Every word.

Graceland was released five years before I was born, seven years before my best friend was born and nine years before her cousin was born. In grade nine I made a friend who had grown up listening to it with her parents, and listening to her parents play and sing the songs themselves. Different memories, uniting nostalgia. I liked that. 

Even if I have to travel for days, I'll be going to next year's Graceland Tour. Though The Cheverol is long gone, my best friend's family just acquired a red car - an old beater with a tape deck. A road trip to see our childhood favourite would be perfect. Maybe we'll make a detour down to Memphis, following the river down the highway through the cradle of the civil war to that mythical place where I have reason to believe we all will be received.

Dev (but you can call me Al)

Nostalgia

The Tales of Things is seriously cool, especially since I often wonder who might've owned the majority of my wardrobe before I stumbled across it at a thrift store. At the same time though, I wonder if knowing might ruin some of the magic. I think part of the fun of thrift shopping is trying to imagine the quirky characters who once owned everything on the crowded racks.

Today whiles scrolling through my seemingly endless iTunes, I stumbled across a song by The Knack called "My Sharona." I hadn't heard the song in a very long time, but tons of memories came flooding back with it. Looking back, it seems like The Knack was my childhood soundtrack. I remember some of the songs playing a lot throughout my childhood and there's even a home video of me learning to walk to the song.

That got me thinking about what my childhood soundtrack would involve. My mom and I listened to the radio a lot in the car, but as we only had AM, our selection was limited. The only channel worth listening to was this grainy oldies station. As a result of this I grew up knowing all of the lyrics to a lot of strange songs from 60's and 70's. Of course I now know all of the 90's classics from my childhood, but at the time I didn't know too many, and got my annual education of popular music at summer camp each year.

Here's a mix of some stand out songs I remember listening to as a kid:

                       

 1. My Sharona - The Knack                     

 2. I'm a Believer - The Monkees

 3. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

 4. The Sign - Ace of Base

 5. Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash

 6. Wild Thing - The Troggs

 7. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet  - Bachman Turner Overdrive

 8. One Week - The Barenaked Ladies                                                    

Give it a listen here. -Bets
P.S This is what I looked like as I rocked out to some of these songs..

Bets, I remember when you bought that dolphin dress! You texted me a picture of it from the VV change room. I was all "uhhhh" but you bought it anyway. Don't those kinds of finds make you wonder who owned them before? Crazy thrift finds always make we wonder that. Especially the outlandish homemade ones. 

Years ago, before the hipstappropriation (see what I did there? L'il portmanteau up in hurrr) of second hand shopping, I remember friends being all "ewwww, but somebody could have DIED wearing that dress!" *shudders in head to toe American Eagle*

Come to think of it, David and Nate Fisher never did mention what they did with the clothes people died in. I'm going to go ahead and assume they're not making their way back onto the market. But, pooh-poohing high school friends, you have a point! ANYTHING could have happened to the previous owner while wearing this dress. Maybe she wore it on a fabulous holiday to Europe following her college graduation. Maybe she bought it for her sister's wedding, but never wore it because her sister broke off the engagement. Maybe it was made for her by a relative they loved. Maybe it was made for her by a relative they hated.  Maybe it was her $500 Enid dress. 

Wouldn't it be great to know? Now you can! Well, with some things. The project is Tales of Things, and they use QR codes to pretty much tell you exactly the kinds of things I wonder. 

Check it out in action in an Oxfam charity shop. Neato! Let's get this in every VV, I say. Only then I'd REALLY never leave that place. 

An ode to stuff

After reading Dev's post, my mind immediately jumped to several of my own belongings that I have intensely lame emotional ties to. I feel as if the pair of us may be two of the most most sentimental folks I've ever laid eyes on. I vividly remember poring through childhood photo albums of myself while still a child, and crying at the memories, afraid that I was growing up too fast. Sad and lame, but true. I feel as if I could probably tell you several stories associated with nearly everything I own, but I'll pare that down to just a few instead.

  1. The Dolphin Dress

In my first year of university while on one of many trips to the local Value Village I spied this questionable gem in the racks. The tag, claimed that it was custom made by A.A Rai Pasti and my mind immediately tried to picture the type of person who would have this strange tunic covered in pink dolphins custom made for themself. I bought it, and laughed the entire way home and continue to do so each and every time I wear it. It seems every time I dare to wear it in public, at least one person tells me what a nice dress it is and look confused when I laugh in their face. See, somehow, no one notices that this dress is dolphin print and that makes it all the more hilarious for me, because realistically who in the world wears dresses covered in pink dolphins? Plus, this one time at the good ole Winnipeg Folk Festival, Dev and I met Harry Angus of the Cat Empire. That's right, Harry Angus has touched this infernal rayon creation by A.A Rai Pasti, and I think that makes it all the more wonderful.

                                           

     2. Hand woven scarf from Morocco

In 2007, I spent spring break in Spain, and on one of the first days took a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tetouan, Morocco. The walled city that I wandered through was like stepping into another time. After wandering a labyrinth of passages filled with spices, donkeys and people, I found myself in a Berber rug factory I spied this hand woven scarf. They asked 30 Euros for it and I immediately obliged only to have the salesperson walk away in disgust. Apparently I was supposed to barter for it, something my North American fixed-price-self had never encountered. Luckily I approached another salesman, paid him and ran out with this scarf that I've been wearing ever since. I feel as if I've worn this scarf for entire years on end, in the winter, at music festivals, while camping. It has this lovely smell that's a mix of sunscreen and perfume, that reminds me of long summer nights.

                                                            

   3. The Burberry Scarf

Shortly after my grandfather passed away when I was 13, I was snooping through his belongings and stumbled across this tartan scarf. I had never seen him wear it, but the smell of his cologne was still seeped in the fibres, so I stole it for myself. At the time I had no idea what Burberry was, but loved the scarf because it was a constant reminder of him. I love keeping this scarf around purely for that reason (plus it's really warm and soft for winter). 

                                                         

   4. Cram Your Spam

For someone who doesn't wear a lot of t-shirts, I've somehow managed to accumulate a lot of them (more than 50 at last count). I get strangely attached to t-shirts which is a pain because they rarely get worn and take up a ton of space. I found this one in a thrift store in Minnesota. The lurid colour combination and confusing message get me every time. I still haven't decided whether or not this is a reference to Monty Python's Spamalot, the canned food, an off beat way of telling people to shut up, or if it literally means to cram your spam (like internet spam). Every time I wear this confusing message on my torso, I get the strangest looks and questions which never fails to brighten my day. 

                                                          

     5. Hey Rosetta Band Shirt

I first discovered Hey Rosetta! at the always amazing Winnipeg Folk Festival in summer 2009. After falling madly in love with them I wandered over to the merch tent to pick up a cd and t-shirt for myself. That fall I moved away for university and one day while wearing this shirt a cool looking stranger complimented my shirt . After that I started seeing him everywhere and eventually more than a year later ending up becoming friends with him and his friends after meeting at a party (where they remembered this shirt). A weird, tangled story that has made me attached to this t-shirt.

6. Gold Locket

I found this locket at a consignment shop this summer and started wearing it every day. When I was home last July and hanging out with an old friend we jokingly cut out a picture of her at the age of 12 and superglued it into the locket. Now every time I wear it, I'm reminded of her which I like because we're not the best at keeping in touch when I'm away at school. Plus, it's a pretty cool locket.

I could actually go on for hours talking about my lame attachment to my belongings but I'll spare you the boredom. I love how an object, smell, taste or song has the ability to bring back so many powerful memories (like right now A-Punk by Vampire Weekend came on my Itunes and I was reminded of how I used to listen to that song exclusively while wandering around campus dazed and confused back in first year). Oh nostalgia, you never fail to make me smile.

-Bets

My clothes are really important to me. Cliché, yes, but they're a part of who I am. They're a part of my memory. A textile pensive, as it were.

Here's what I'm talking about:

I've been short on pants lately, and remembered I have a pair to get fixed. Bonus! "New" pants without having to buy new pants! As I put them in a bag to take to a tailor, I thought to myself, "gee, I was wearing these pants the first time [boy] asked me to hang out". I've worn these pants dozens of times before and since, but that one evening last February is what they make me think of.

My clothes all have very distinct memories. By which, of course, I mean memories I associate with them.  I've recently started re-wearing a sweater I got probably thirteen years ago from some unknown second hand store. I love the sweater to bits, but I remember it as the sweater I wore the only time in my life I've puked in public. Age eight, in the basement of The Bay. 

I remember what I was wearing at almost every important moment in my life, and many moments not so important as well. On my first day of middle school I wore an Old Navy tee that was really cool, because at that time my city didn't have an Old Navy. Paired with Sears jeans from my grandma and a low pony I was stylin' at 4' 10". The first time I went on a big trip, I wore red fleece pants and a red hoodie over a white tee with Ferdinand in (what else?) red on the chest. Easy to spot if I got lost in a European airport, I guess? On my first ever first date I wore clothes that were not my own. The outfit belonged to my beautiful best friend, and her borrowed jeans and striped tee put me at ease.   

All this makes me think of Ghost World; Enid's garage sale in particular. 

Angry Garage Sale Woman: How much for this dress? 

Rebecca: God, I can't believe you're selling that. 

Enid: That's $500. 

Angry Garage Sale Woman: What? 

Enid: 500.

Angry Garage Sale Woman: You're crazy. It should be like $2.

Enid: I was wearing that when I lost my virginity. 

Angry Garage Sale Woman: Well, why do I care about that? 

Enid: Well, why do you want it? I mean, it would look stupid on you anyway. 

Angry Garage Sale Woman: God! Fuck you! 

Perhaps Enid and I are too sentimental. Maybe that's why I hoard clothes like I do. I wouldn't give away my first kiss shirt for the longest time. True confession. 

Sometimes my clothes memories make me sad. Sometimes they make me smile. I've never yet stopped wearing something because of the memories it held. Usually I remember these associations in passing as I put it on or put it in my dresser. Of course, clothes are just clothes. But sometimes it's nice to have a memory be so tangible. Sometimes it's nice to be sentimental. 

Do you have clothes you associate with a certain memory or a certain time in your life, Bets?

Dev. 

Fade.

                  

  Fade. To gradually grow faint and disappear.

-Bets

super whatnot.

Taking photos of art is weird. -Bets

(all pictures taken at MOMA in NYC).

where the truth lies.

Bets' nickname has its origins in my favourite show. 

I forgot about these character spreads I made last year, but I'm glad I found them again. 

MAD MEN 

Don / Betty / Peggy / Joan

Wish

Here's a few things I wouldn't object to being given... -Bets

Dorothy Perkin Dress. People Tree Wool Socks,  Charlotte Olympia Flats,  Commando Opaque tights, Pendleton Blanket, North Face black backpack, Madewell Llama Love Sweater, Burts Bees Lip Balm, One Kings Lane Chair,  Jack Wills Leather Shoes,  El Camino - Black Keys,  North Face Sleeping Bag, Blundstones, Liberty Tea Mug, Ikea Mirror, A Clockwork Orange.

BKFST

This blog makes me really hungry for breakfast. Hardly a surprise.
Click here to salivate all over your keyboard -Bets

Once it was someone's job to press these buttons, to take us where we wanted to go. That's something I think about in elevators. Up or down. B M 2 4 6. Now we to do it ourselves, make it there on our own.

Dev.

Llama Love

Dear Madewell,
I know we met only a few weeks ago, but I have fallen head over heels in love with your "Llama love" sweater. I have never yearned for a specific sweater so much, and am incredibly agitated that it is sold out. It seems the rest of the world was also unable to resist its camelid charm. Please restock it. Soon.
Love,
Bets.

Home

I miss home today, less than a month till I'm there once again.

I have absolutely no idea why a song about how much Winnipeg sucks is set to a Toronto photo montage..Oh well. -Bets

21 hours ago I fell in love with Gotye.
I'm not entirely sure how to say his name, but I think we're getting married.

Dev.

Bones

Sometimes I find bones and take pictures of them because I think they're cool. -Bets

Holocene

The ever lovely, Bon Iver.  

Take a look at the video by Floto + Warner here.

Image by Floto+Warner

-Bets

high tea.

chillin'

End of the weekend = cozy sweaters, tea and these tunes.

Chill:
1. Sad Song - Peasant
2. Beijing - Patrick Watson
3. Home and Somewhere Else - Mimicking Birds
4. We Burn the Leaves - Lost in the Trees
5. Two Doves - Dirty Projectors
6. Sea of Love - Cat Power
7. Flume - Bon Iver
8. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
9. Sing me a Song - JP Hoe

Give it a listen here
-Bets

Captive

                          -Bets

India Song

Karen Knorr uses beautiful images from sacred sites in India along with photos of captive animals all over the world, to weave a story of the caste system and femininity. These photographs display India's rich cultural heritage and close ties to mythology and fables. All photos from here. -Bets

Dinner's on the table

End of midterms = no more canned food (Alphagetti anyone?)

Whipped up some red curry and apple crisp. Hurrah!

Had a nice visit with an old friend this weekend. 

Tea. Stirfry. Wine. Music.

A most excellent time.

-Bets

lines.

nitty 

gritty

life in the city.

 

Dev.