At the beginning of the month I quietly opened my second online shop LAX TO YVR on Etsy. Shortly thereafter the Canada Post strike began, then the shut-out. Yeah, a great way to begin an e-business that relies on the postal system. Nevertheless, I kept the shop open but didn't do much to promote it, thinking that I wouldn't see much action in the shop if I lay low. To my surprise, I got orders within days of opening the shop.

So ta-da! I'm announcing a new shop featuring exclusively handmade home decor by yours truly. I'm a bit obsessed with typography and I think burlap is a really cool fibre to work with so I was inspired to create a product that combines both. Jute burlap is natural, renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable so it's a very sustainable resource. My goal is to be as eco-friendly as possible in running my business.

My first online shop Sugarpush Vintage is still around. It's going to be interesting (and require a butt load of multitasking prowess) running the two shops simultaneously. I find that selling handmade is a totally different game than selling vintage on Etsy.

I'm super excited about my new venture. Now that Canada Post is operating again, I hope that business will pick up for both stores.

My favourite summer festival started over the weekend: The Vancouver Jazz Festival!

We attended the free outdoor concerts that were happening in Gastown yesterday and enjoyed a fantastic, diverse line-up of local Vancouver musicians. The photo above features Company B. They perform swingin' old standards à la The Andrew Sisters.

This is the view from Six Acres, which is just behind the statue of Gassy Jack, where we were having dinner while listening to the concert. It's a great little joint. We dined there for the first time a couple weeks ago, and we were happy to come back. Great food and great booze. What more can you ask for? And I love the rutsic, vintage-inspired interior decor.

A while ago I ordered this cushion from Etsy shop Timberline Treasures. It's made out of Pendleton wool, and I got it because of its Southwest look. It's currently sitting in the armchair (the one we never sit on because it's become a repository for things like instruments, a camera bag, another cushion, etc.).

I already want to replace the current Pendleton cushion with another Pendleton cushion that Little Byrd Vintage sells. I think you know where this is going. Yes, I'm developing a cushion obsession. I keep wanting to buy every single one I like. The madness never ends.

Well, once we buy a new armchair it'll give me an excuse to get a new cushion.

On a totally different note, earlier this year I became the editor of the ICON, which is the newsletter for St. Mary's Kerrisdale. The second issue I did was published recently. You can download a copy here to see what I do during my spare time.

The Dude and I went down to Seattle during the weekend. We stayed in Kirkland where at every pedestrian crossing there are bright orange flags for people to use while they cross the street. Quirky, eh?

Our friends invited us to go watch the Solstice Parade in Fremont, an offbeat neighbourhood in Seattle. When they told us that there's a statue of Lenin in Fremont, I suspected that its denizens would know how to throw a zany parade, and I was not disappointed.

The parade began with  naked, painted cyclists riding through en masse. Very fun to see. People were quite creative with their "costumes."

I admired these cyclists for braving the rain in their nakedness.

Then the parade began and these were some highlights.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster graced us with an appearance. 

 This sea creature was made out of paper cups.

The guy was dressed in an outfit made out of plastic bags. The little boy was a stray from the dung beetle group.

Spectators ran into the middle of the street to be rolled over by the giant beach ball.

Overall, it was a very entertaining parade to watch (even in the rain). Definitely worth the drive down. 

On our way back to Vancouver, we stopped by Bellingham and enjoyed a little something something from Rocket Donuts. It seems that whenever I'm in Bellingham, I cannot leave without getting a treat from Rocket Donuts because they're the closest thing to L.A. donuts, which I crave regularly. Their donuts are real good.

The Dude and I went out to downtown to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Here are some pictures I took before all hell broke loose.

A caged "Bruin bear" being paraded around.

This is Georgia Street at Seymour where the "fanzone" was located. This family hopefully fled before rioting began right on this street.

An empty whiskey bottle on Georgia Street. A portent of what was to come?

A Canucks fan getting the crowd to chant. They were sitting on top of Port-a-potties.

Check out the dude standing on top of the traffic light.

Fortunately, we were in Gastown watching the game so we hopped on the Canada Line when the game finished and were oblivious to all the rioting that was going on right above us. The violence and destruction really came as a surprise. Everybody seemed so good-natured when we were walking around during the game.

The riots got me so bummed out. The Canucks losing the Cup was sad enough, but the riots are very demoralizing. I feel sad, disappointed, angry, and embarrassed.

I need to come clean about my new addiction. I finally had to admit to myself that I'm a plantoholic. If I don't check this habit, our little apartment is going to be overrun with plants. Instead of crazy cat lady, I'll be immortalized as crazy plant lady if I don't deal with my problem soon.

I paid a visit recently to my favourite garden centre in Vancouver, KJM Country Gardens. I can spend hours there. You can even pick up fresh eggs hatched by the chickens running around the grounds! KJM has an excellent selection of succulents:

I wanted to take them all. But instead I restrained myself to these two:

I also went to Old Faithful (one of my ultimate favourite home decor stores in Vancouver) to get a couple of air plants (Tillandsia):

These guys are a bit more high maintenance than I anticipated. They need to be watered quite often. But they're sooooo cool. They don't need to be planted in soil and can chill just about anywhere. You can even hot glue them onto something else. The Dude thinks that they're freaky and that they're of the devil because of their unorthodox existence.

This past weekend I acquired even more plants even though I told the Dude that I would stop. They were crying out to me to take them home! How could I not? OMG, I seriously have a problem. Someone please help me.

Holly over at Decor8 is hosting a Stripe Mania Party. This was my submission (sporting my new vintage sunglasses!):





You can see all the participants showing off their stripes here. Very fun to see.

I love wearing stripes so I really enjoyed participating in this virtual endeavor.

We finally had a hot, sunny weekend. Hoorah! So the Dude and I did a lot of walking around town. One of the places we went to was the Love Vancouver Festival in the Olympic Village. It was the first time we visited the notorious condo development, and we encountered giant freaky birds there.

The truck behind the bird gives you a sense of how ginormous it is. And there's another gigantic bird close by as well. The bird sculptures were a surprising choice because I would have expected the more typical gigantic orca whale to be installed instead. A whale, or a beaver for that matter, would have been preferable to birds. Birds, especially really big ones, freak me out. Could you imagine what it would be like for that little boy if he got pooped on by a bird that size?

Modo, the car co-op we belong to, was there showing off their new acquisition. And I couldn't resist getting up close and personal with the new Fiat, which is incredibly cute. Cannot wait to drive it once it becomes available.

Canucks fever is running high in Vancouver. I haven't been yet, but I hear that downtown is a gong-show when a game is on.

I also managed to get to some estate sales and picked up a few things for the shop.

The other day I was feeling really bummed out about the impending Canada Post strike, so I went out to Main Street to see what the hipsters were up to. Just kidding. My main purpose was to check out an antique shop that sells midcentury modern furniture that someone recommended and to visit my favourite clothing consignment shop, Front and Company. But I got distracted...

I went into a vintage store I've never been to: I Found Gallery. And I fell in love with a pair of vintage sunglasses. So I got them and brought 'em home. At 30 bucks, how could I resist?

They've got prescription lenses so they need to be changed. I will keep this pair forever. They're a classic and will never lose their stylish mojo. It's made in Italy. Those Italians really know good design, eh?

This stupid postal strike that's about to happen is really going to hurt my online vintage shop. Also, I was going to launch my new Etsy shop today, but now I have to delay it.