meli-melo designs

high five friday!

1) NOOKA founder Matthew Waldman created a new product, called POTHRA a flower pot made out of used coffee grounds. Brilliant! Now which creative person does not drink coffee...

2) This is our fox at the lake. Considering the winter we had, it looks in great shape!

3) Graphos Playing Cards was invented with the goal of inspiring other graphic designers. Each card serves up a cool fact, making for a refreshingly playful way to learn about typography during your next game night. Information is split up by suit. Spades highlight anatomy, hearts focus on classification, clubs enlighten the big bad world of glyphs, and diamonds tackle type setting. Printed in sans serif, serif, script, and decorative typefaces, this deck is eye candy that also entertains.

4) Rising up from sea level to 2,054 ft in 6 miles, Bealach Na Bà is the 3rd highest paved road in Scotland. Bealach Na Bà is one of the few roads remaining that was engineered like those in the alps with tight hairpin turns and 20% grades.

The 5th Floor & The North Race: BEALACH NA BÀ; Supported by TRAKKE from Angus sung on Vimeo.

 

 

life cycle of our river

The river freezes, thaws and then it floods. Repeat.

Every year, my commute to work is flooded under the bridge in the spring. I do not know if I should call it bad design or what but every year, this stretch of road is in fact lower then the flooded river, therefore water from the river bubbles up and floods the road. The city set up a non-permanent pumping station to pump water out and back into the river. I just can’t believe how much the river rose in the past few days! One day i was able to ride on the river trails, the next day, i would have been underwater!

j'adore mai

1) My Lady Bug bell for my bike. Dring dring!

2) All of the ice cream parlours in the city are now open! And my favourite one has a new item:S'mores bar!

3) Last year while in the river with my dog Jy, the muddy river bottom grab on to my flip flops. I pulled and pulled. To my dismay, they broke. Time for some new ones and i am loving this pair from Patagonia.

4) It is not spring until you see a robin and i saw several over the weekend!

5) And last but not least, it's my b-day month!

 

April showers bring May flurries? Surprise, surprise this morning. When will this snow go away... and not come back till October!

 

Lucky Socks?

There are some days even wearing your lucky socks/underwear will do nothing to the evildoers out in the world.

 

I bit the dust on Friday, really hard. It was such a beautiful day, finally in the double digits, and I got distracted. I was in the moment, and not watching too much on what was going on ahead of me. Well, I took the turn to sharp, and I was in a sand pit. Merde! Stupid bike path at this time of the year are basically just a layer of loose sand/gravel.  Lesson learned. I’ll wait to go back on the bike paths till they sweep them. For now, I’ll stay on the streets. It was a good thing I was on my way to my second job, the veterinary clinic. There, I had oodles of supplies to take care of my wound, and the right people. Part of me thinks I should have just taken that scalpel and cut that semi-dead skin off.

On a side note, it is not like I ever get hurt. Sadly, this happens often. But what kind of worries me about this one is this “flap of semi-dead skin”. How is this one going to heal? Is it going to heal under the dead flap of skin and the dead flap of skin going to scab and fall off? Or is it somehow going to heal together and dead flap comes alive again? As long as I keep it clean, we shall see what happens to this one. 

I must add that swimming today sure did a good job on cleaning all the grossness out!

high five friday!

1) Paris-Roubaix this weekend!

2) Photographer Andrew Zuckerman just launched a new site featuring his growing library of animal photography. Creaturebook.com includes over 400 images of these creatures with taxonomical info for each species.

3) 

Celestial Dynamics from Kim Taylor on Vimeo.

 

 

4) Helveticat!

5) I received this image from my sister so i am not to sure where it comes from but i love this motto.

A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are.

 

enjoy your weekend!

Naturally

Ah yes, this might look slightly familiar. On 2 April 2013, Merian was honoured with a Google Doodle, in celebration of her 366th birthday.

Till yesterday, i had no idea Merian existed. Thank you Google for making me stumble upon her!

Her work brings back childhood memories of colouring avian, flora and insect field guides! I loved to colour and i love to learn and experience my surroundings here and abroad.

 

And the details! Here we see a blue honey-creeper on a thistle, and below there are copulating snails!

Koppenberg

In Ryan's words:

The ride was EPIC in every way... bone rattling, brain shaking cobbles. They are a totally different experience, I have never ridden anything quite like them, downhill, uphill, flat.. they just suck the life and speed out of you..

 

If you are not familiar with Koppenberg...no more has to be said out loud...

 

A piece of advice from a fine Finnish friend; bring your mtn biking shoes.

 

Interesting facts from Koppenberg:
•"Koppen" is an abbreviation for cobblestones which in Dutch slang language are called kinderkoppen, or     "children's heads".
• Incline of up to 22%.
• Also used for the annual Cyclo-cross Koppenberg race. The cyclo-cross course follows only part of the cobbled road, using some of the surrounding fields and roads for the other sections of the course.

Ronde van Vlaanderen

No Easter Egg hunting for me tomorrow morning....

Also i am crossing my fingers and toes in hopes that Ryan can send my stellar pictures of the race. I'll keep you posted.

 

Joyeuse Pâques!

 

high five friday!

1) Oh i cannot wait much longer to smell "greenery" outdoors! Here are creative ways on building your own little terrariums

2) This print is available in Emily’s shop.  These words come from the final chapter of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, where the Wendy in the nightgown has grown into the Wendy in the wedding gown. Perfect for celebrating the most timeless of friendships.

3) I have just fallen in love with Rebecca J Kaye and her canny knack for reducing the world of bikes to a colourful minimum. In fact, i believe she calls herself a bike-artist! One day...

4) Bike and Sidewalk art commissioned by Brad Downey.

 

Out it goes!

Triahtlon shorts

Cycling jersey

Triathlon singlet

Triathlon one piece racing suit.

 

Yabadabadoooooooo out it goes! The Tribalistic Triathlon Kit is out to print! It is now into the hands of Will and his crew at Champion System and we have always been happy with the results.

It is the third year that i am designing their kits and trust me, it does not get any easier.

I have to find the hidden book on how to design spandex sport clothing. I am sure there is some sort of sport clothing design bible somewhere.