A New Year

Happy (belated) new year! One of the truly wonderful things about being a student is winter vacation. November seems dire with all the deadlines and exams looming above, but the bliss of a few weeks off with little to do is a great reward. If you are someone who knows me, it is no secret that I am not a fan of winter. I envy those people who enjoy the cold weather and bundling up because don't think I'll ever understand it. I do love seeing the city covered in snow, but it basically ends there.

In an attempt to quell the self pity I feel during the year's coldest months, I've tried to keep myself occupied with things it allows me the time to do: scheming future trips with Sandi, seeing movies, drinking hot toddies, making new necklaces for the shop, frequenting my favourite breakfast and coffee places, and watching Homeland (full disclosure: I watched both seasons in 4 days... if you've watched it I'm sure you get it).

If you are a winter lover/crazy person, please feel free to share your tips on how to enjoy these dark, moody months with me.

Music for the road

As I mentioned in my last post, I went on a whirlwind road trip at the end of the summer. Our souveniers were mainly photos, a poster of the various wildflowers found in the Sierra Nevada, a giant pine cone from the forest floor in Yosemite National Park... and playlists we listened to as we crossed the country. For those of you who will be hitting the road over these coming holidays, here are some songs that kept us company along the way. I thought maybe you'd enjoy them, too. Whether you're heading home to a familiar place or venturing somewhere new, I wish you all the best over the holidays!

A Horse With No Name - America

Tender - Blur

Pale Blue Eyes - The Velvet Underground

This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads

Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen

Oh My Bride - The Deadly Snakes

Bernadette - The Four Tops

Where Did Our Love Go - The Supremes

California Dreamin' - The Mamas &The Papas

Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young

Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones

Gloria - Patti Smith

Care of Cell 44 - The Zombies

Perfect Day - Lou Reed

Lay Down In The Tall Grass - Timber Timbre

Online shop opening!

Tomorrow is the opening of my online shop, and I am excited to share what I've been working on with you! Since my last real post here I have quit my job and gone back to school, and in between I went on a whirlwind road trip that began here in Toronto and took me all the way to Big Sur with stops in Utah and Arizona.

We camped at the Grand Canyon, slept in the car at rest stops along the 80, drove down the Pacific Coast Highway and Scenic Byway 12, and loved watching the slow changes of scenery as the cornfields changed to mountains and then valleys, redwoods and finally the Pacific Ocean. It was downright magical. The colours and endless stretches of scenery really left an impression on me, and my first necklaces are inspired by what I saw and loved. I hope you like them!

Things have been quiet around here lately, reeeeal quiet, but I've been busily working away at things and am excited to announce that I will have a small collection of ceramic necklaces for sale at the Falconwright studio sale/party this Thursday, November 29th. The fine folks at Falconwright have been working away to prepare for this night, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. 

Please visit their blog for details of the event and to learn more about the talented makers and designers you can check out in person while you sip on wine under christmas lights. Doesn't that sound dreamy?

If you don't live in the Toronto area or can't make it out to the sale, I'll also be setting up an online shop in the very near future (in time for some holiday shopping!). Please check back in for updates in the next week or so. 

Ode to Prince Edward County

Have you ever been enamoured with something you knew almost nothing about? For years, I was taken with an area just a couple hours east of Toronto called Prince Edward County that I had never actually been to before. In those years I had traveled to countries east, south and west of my home, but for some reason I kept putting off my first visit to this place that was so much closer to where I lived. I would overhear people talking about how someone they knew was going there for a weekend and I'd chime in "Oh, Prince Edward County is great!", but when they'd ask me what was so great about it I'd have to confess that I hadn't been there, I just had this feeling. I even went so far as to recommend it to people who were visiting Canada from other places, which is a pretty bold move in hindsight. I mean, what could go wrong?

So, a couple summers ago I didn't take a big trip to somewhere far, far away, and instead I finally went to see what all the fuss (that I had created for myself) was about, and I fell in love. I think I had grown so fond of the idea of PEC that I was worried about being disappointed when I actually experienced it, which is a pretty ridiculous reason to not try something new. The country roads, beaches, vineyards, bakeries, lakes, small theatres, quiet mornings, local farms, sand dunes, and long sunsets are just a few things that keep me coming back whenever I can.

The photos below are a small taste of the area that I have grown to love so much. I often daydream about buying a little place there for weekend visits and to offer to my friends as a getaway when they need an escape from the city.

Small Town, Big City

One of my favourite things about summer is the opportunity for weekend trips away. As a kid, I was jealous of friends who had pools, and as a teen I was jealous of friends who had family cottages. If I was lucky, I'd get an invite to the pool on really hot days, and if I scored an invite to a friend's cottage it was like hitting the summer jackpot. These days, summer means daydreaming about weekends away, day trips, BBQs, gardening, softball, and hanging out in backyards.

The photos below are from a recent trip to Matt's small hometown of Chatham (left) and the start of summer in Toronto (right). I like this comparison between the two sides of summer, and hope to do more over the coming months.

All of these photos are also posted in my Instagram account. My user name is alittlesojourn there too if you feel like checking it out.

Busy hands

A quiet blog is usually the sign of one of two things: 1. The dedicated blogger is no longer so dedicated, or 2. Life got a little hectic. For me it has been the latter, but between exams and work I did find time to experiment with some new things, too.

Since January I've been taking ceramic and woodworking classes, and have become a little obsessed with them both. Each of them are so satisfying, but so different. With ceramics, it feels like I'm dealing with a malleable material that you can squish, form, and create textures in with ease. It's misleading, though, because once the clay has had enough with your experimentation it will tell you so by cracking, caving in, or just by looking pretty sad while you stare down at it wondering where you went wrong. It's a really individual process, like woodworking can be, but so much more quiet and messy messy messy.

As someone who has a strong aversion to loud noises, woodworking was a bit out of my comfort zone, but the amazing smell of a wood shop more than makes up for the occasional flinch when someone starts up some crazy loud piece of machinery. Where clay has a time limit, you can really take your time with wood and figure out what you want to do before you make that cut. I marvel at small pieces of furniture when I'm in cafes or restaurants, now. I stop to examine abandoned pieces of wood on curbs, trying to figure out how I can lug them home while I lament over the fact that I don't own a car. I'm so hooked.

There are so many amazing artists and creators out there that keep me working on getting better when I get frustrated, but here are a few of my first attempts that I'd like to share with you.