meli-melo designs

Cycle-Skating

 

I saw this video of cycle-skating and i had to post it pronto!

Finnish Goody Bag

I love goody bags, especially goody bags that include imported goodies.

Friends of ours came back from Finland from visiting family and where able to find room in their luggage to bring back some goodies for us! In fact, i like the unspoken arrangement we have with so many of our  friends. We bring back great food from our travels and they will do the same. There is just so much flavours and food out there to experience! And i want to experience as much as i can!

Our goody bag included mild and hot Finnish mustard, cheese and wine gummies. We have had that specific Finnish mustard before and it is fabulous. So good. Of course cheese made its way... that is a given when traveling in Europe. Must bring back cheese. Must bring back cheese. And then candy. I believe these are wine gummies shaped like Tetris blocks. I do not know what it is with the candy in Europe but they have so much more flavour and just taste better, or something like that. It is just good candy out there.

Mmmmm, fresh cheese on fresh warm bread...

 

Tonight was the first night in a almost a year that our swimming slot was for 90 minutes. Usually we are only able to have these slots in the summer so i am not to sure what went on but this is a "treat"! An entire 30 minutes more makes such a difference. Your body gets so accustomed to train a certain way and when you start to change things, your body has to re-adjust itself and think more. We all get bored when it gets too repetitive. Anyways what i am getting at, i have been swimming for an hour for such a long time that when i swam for 70 minutes, suddenly my calf cramped up! Oh how i ate those! It is one of those pains that hurts so much that makes you laugh and your toes just curl and the pain makes it way up the leg. I was able to stretch it out and swim the final 20 minutes but i had to be careful. That leg was not happy and pretty whinny. Hopefully it will be better for next practise. So excited for these 90 minute swims!

high five fridays

 

1) This illustration was created by Matthew Craven. Reminds me a lot of paper cut illustrations.Hmmmm, i feel a wave of inspiration coming.

2) Acorn Bags are handmade in Southern California by a husband-and-wife team. Because it’s just the two of them, you have to be ready to jump when the new bags are announced online. They restock every three to four weeks, and some bags sell out as in as little as 30 seconds. Once made, each bag is delivered to the post office by bicycle.

3) Have you met Miss Jones is a lifestyle company dedicated to providing contemporary designs for the interior. Originally specializing in white bone china Have you met Miss Jones has expanded to include clay pottery, capiz shell, metal and woodwork.  Can you imagine an entire collection! It would be so refreshing to look at. And those feathers would do so well with my collection of feathers.

4) Emily creates stunning Soft-Maps, quilted maps of cities and neighborhoods in the world. She recently added baby quilts to her collection. Wowzers i love the idea! Wonder is she does star constellations?

Cycle Art

Think my heart skipped a few beats when i saw this. Along with a jaw drop and flapping of my arms in whole hearted excitement!!! Now this is ninja awesome!  Ryan, any way we could put something together that could resemble this. This would be my fun bike. I can just see myself trying to do an interval and then getting distracted by the art that is being created in front of me... unless the bike is facing the other way... Hmmmmm.

Artist Joseph L. Griffiths created this mechanical installation Drawing Machine #1. Joseph L. Griffiths is from Melbourne, Australia and works in Paris. See more pictures of Drawing Machine #1 (To Your Hearts Content) at the artist's site:Joseph L. Griffiths.

And just found this site.  A new blog that i will be visiting daily.

Ode to Oatmeal

pics from here. There was no way i was going to attempt to take pictures early in the morning in a dark kitchen.

Breakfast in my FAVOURITE meal of the day! Hands down!

During the week, breakfast is nothing fancy. Mainly because i'll have breakfast at work so it has to be something that i can eat at my desk. Often, i will have muesli/granola with dried fruits and nuts, oatmeal with dried fruits and nuts or fruit smoothies. On occasion, like i did yesterday morning, i get up earlier to make breakfast. I so badly wanted to try this new recipe that Ryan found for me. Yes, i was excited to get up in the morning. Yes, it does happen sometimes that i get excited to get up in the morning.

This baked oatmeal with blueberries and bananas was fabulously delicious! Hmmmmm...

This made me think of a post that my friend Cynthia Menzies posted in regards to oatmeal.

 

Cannot wait to get back home after trainig to enjoy more of the baked oatmeal godness.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

 

Once again, The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns, and this event has quickly become a tradition. It brings excitement, spectacle, and the richness of the mountains and mountain culture to our little prairie city. Every year, there is always those few films that leaves me in awe.

For me, it was Obe and Ashima. Ashima is a nine-year-old girl from New York City taking the bouldering world by storm. Guided by her coach and former bouldering star Obe Carrion, this tiny master is crushing competitions and raising the bar for her peers. A trip to the bouldering mecca of Hueco Tanks provides a glimpse of the past for Obe and the start of amazing new adventures for Ashima.

In short, i loved the coach - athlete relationship that was demonstrated in this film. Since a young age, and still to this day, i have had excellent coaches and i believe they have contributed in a big way to who i am today.

So to all the coaches out there, thanks for all your hard work, patience, dedication and humour. It has been a great ride and still looking forward to the next workout to kick my ass!

Note: i could not find a film or a trailer that was specific to Ashima and Obe. The best the i could find was the above. Sorry...

New Canadian Mint Coin!

 

Folllowing into the foot steps of other Canadian artist such as Alex Colville and Bill Reid, Gary Taxali's is now expressing himself in a new medium through a collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mint.

The Indian-born, Toronto-raised visual artist has created a limited-edition series of celebratory coins for the Mint covering six themes: birthday, wedding, tooth fairy, new baby, O Canada and holiday. The series launches today, January 23. Taxali designed both the images and the font featured on the coins.

Aren't they beautiful! I simply love his whimsical style! I'll be going to the Mint shortly, that's for certain.

There has already been interest in the series from abroad, revealing that fans have been emailing him to inquire about the release of the coins. Because each one bear his engraved initials, they are like miniature Taxali artworks, and are affordable to purchase!

Taxali has exhibited his artwork across North America and Europe. Still, he was thrilled to design the coin series. Taxali said he felt honoured to be selected and felt encouraged that the Crown corporation was now including graphic artists in its creative mix.

I am proud that the Canadian Mint or Canada Post continue to do in terms of reflecting our heritage by highlighting wonderful graphic artists and fine artists and designers that just do phenomenal work in this country. It is like owning a miniature piece of art that reflects great people in our country.

Check out Gary's blog for more details on the process. Sounds like a great project to be part off. 

 

high five friday

1) Pick up O Magazine's February issue, featuring a chalk-lettered cover (their first!) created by Young Guns 9 winner Dana Tanamachi. After completing the cover, Dana was called back to create another large-scale chalk piece for the feature story and was interviewed for the issue's "Behind the Scenes" page. Oh, did I mention that Dana got to pose with Oprah in front of her work? Visit Dana's blog to read all about her experience.

2) I am in love with Tend Living! It is an affair between gardening and modern design.

3) The Belgian fast food chain Quick is celebrating the upcoming "Phantom Menace 3D" movie premiere by launching a line of "Star Wars"-themed burgers. The burgers will debut in Quick restaurants throughout France on January 31, just before the film's February release in the country. It would take a lot of force for me to eat that burger but i am curious about it!

4) Tattly Tattoos are ninja awesome! I want to purchase some for work and where them on our casual fridays! Here is what Tina, the creator of Tattly Tattoos came about them.

"Tattly started out of my frustration that temporary children tattoos are often hideous looking. Think Clip Art gone Tattoo. I was ready to put designy, cool, typographic tattoos on my daughter’s arm. Tattly was born. Life is too short to drink bad wine and wear ugly temporary tattoos. Right?"

 

keep warm and enjoy your weekend!

 

bisous!

 

Brrrrr...

image from www.theweaternetwork.com

Currently there is a windchill warning for the city, and probably for several cities across the prairies. For some of us, it will feel like cold as -50C, which is -58 in Fahrenheit with the windchill! So with warmy fuzzy thoughts, i thought i would introduce my collection of feathers to you.

Yes, i have a collection of feathers. In fact, most of my collections are "natural things" you can gather up outside. I collect objects in my pockets and sometimes forget they are there till i do laundry and TADA, i just discovered this great treasure again! I especially like to collect objects on my long bike rides, since we go far out in the open roads but also i have so many pockets and places to place these new found objects.

Voici ma collection de plume....

This is my prized possession. A collection of raptor feathers, or birds of prey. The feathers are in a shadow box, each one mounted with special fishing line. If i had to choose my favourite one, it would be the great horned owl feather. I have always been fascinated with feathers. How they "zipper" back together and have all these little velcro like teeth on them. How they are similar but yet differ from each other in so many ways. For example the great horned owl feathers has a fur like texture to it. This is for when it hunts at night, not only does it prey cannot see it, these special feather make it more quiet when flying. 

Here are my other feathers that i keep in my wooden box till i have the time to properly showcase them. Some belong to flickers, mallards, wild turkeys, loons, and blue jays. Then to other spectrum i have some from peacocks, pheasants, flamingoes and my mom's parrot a Mealy Amazon.

... and some i am not to sure who they belong to. But that is part of the fun, to discover who they belong to.

 

So bundle up and keep warm! It is going to be a cold one today!

Power Of Side Projects

FOWD Talk 2011: The Power of Side Projects and Eccentric Aunts from swissmiss on Vimeo.

Wow. I watched this 26 minute video a couple weeks ago and though i would share with everyone. Either you are a graphic designer, athlete, teacher or something in between, i hope this video inspires you to go and search and find that "greatness" you are looking for. Tina list some life lessons that she lives by. I especially like the one that "if opportunity scares you, take it!".  In other words, live uncomfortably! I have a book from Stefan Sagmeister titles "Things I have learned in my life so far" and he has similar life lessons. Now i just have to go find my big girl panties and my GO attitude...

 

BONUS video because i love stop motion and books!!

After organizing their bookshelf almost a year ago, Sean Ohlenkamp & Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp decided to take it to the next level. They spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto. So beautiful!