while i am waiting

right now i live in the boonies, and i travel to detroit often because it's where my heart resides.  i've spent enough time waiting in line at the border to contemplate making a list of things i enjoy doing while i wait to cross over to the other side.

- paint my nails
- knit
- fix up a weird hair doo
- apply make-up
- clean my car
- eat emergency nuts
- eat the fruit i meant to eat on the way to the border but forgot about 
- make a cute list


 

dream vans

do you have a dream car? i have several
bright-brown is currently seeking a larger vehicle 
& so i've had the pleasure of researching trucks & vans

i always knew i wanted an early 90's Ford F150 truck

but didn't realize how magnificent vintage vans are

(and how much more stuff you can fit in them)

i do appreciate the beauty of a vintage VW van

but they are just not quite my style

my dream gas-guzzling van would be brown & as short as possible

★ ★ ★

zero .. one .. two .. three .. four .. five .. six

city of roses

my sweet darlin' was in Portland, Oregon for a few days

and it was a zealous reminder of how badly i want to go there

bikes + great coffee + micro-liquor + markets + food carts + green + more = portland

i've heard portland has some distinct similarities to Guelph

which is also what makes it so appealing

the ultimate draw to visit Portland 

is the double-decker dress shop LODEKKA

lodekka was my ultimate inspiration for the realization 

of my own mobile vintage shop: bright-brown

now i just need to start compiling research for my dream trip to oregon

have you been? do you live there? 

please, tell me your favourite favourite portland thing!

one   ..   two   ..   three 

brooklyn flea

one of my favorite activities in the NYC region is Brooklyn Flea

while at Williamsburg Flea a couple of weeks ago 

i made a point of photographing everything i would have bought 

--had i a giant bucket of cash

revisiting everything i left behind was slightly painful

but worth this display of everything most-beautiful

my favorite find was definitely the giant white cat

it is made from the same mold as me mascot, panko

(the giant ceramic feline featured up there on the blog banner)

ps. view more + buy john murphy ceramics

guest post: MELSE'S HAWT CHICAGO TRAVEL TIPS

1. Take the green-line to Oak Park, not only for the Frank Lloyd Wrights, but to have a glimpse of the urban blight and brownfields that form a ring around the city proper.  Chicago is a city of skyscrapers, but everything drops off dramatically past the city core, which makes for both a visible inequity of wealth and a densely festooned downtown. Some much needed perspective. 

2. You CANNOT see the Art Institute in less than a whole day.  You just cant, unless 4.55pm appeals to you.  You come for the Seurat (huge! unexpected border!) and the Toulouse-Lautrec (creamy-bright!) and that's all fine and well, but they have a section on midcentury black American photographers and a room devoted to miniature rooms. MINIATURE ROOMS. Those two alone will set you back like three hours...

3. North Dearborn is the swishy Italian resturant mecca. Be prepared to drop your rent money and grin like an idiot the whole time.  I have never tasted such food. (or unoaked riesling)

 

4. Take the architecture boat tour. Take the architecture boat tour.  

Take the architecture boat tour. I would LIVE on that boat if they let me. 

5. You can walk three abreast on the street without bothering anyone.  It's okay.  After the fire they made the side-walk extra wide, presumably for people like you.

6. Try to sneak into as many building lobbies as you can. They're usually totally beautiful inner sanctums of Chicago School-era peace and tranquility.  Gold art deco elevators abound. 

7. What the hell is it with these people and oatmeal?  It's on practically every menu. 

I bet the italian restaurant would carry it if it could.  Oatmeal is disgusting. 

8. Sit in Frank Lloyd Wright's studio.  Eat sun chips. 

all photos sourced from the Chicago Postcard Museum

Melse is a genius / old friend / walking thesaurus

who should have her own blog--- she is a great (hilarious) writer, a gifted web-surfer, and one with many quaint affections. 

dreams do come true

image via city scout

i've been fantacising about brooklyn for quite some time recently

and i've decided to take a spontaneous trip to NYC for three nights

conveniently my best friend is on tour and in manhattan for four days

we will spend a day together, and we will go to brooklyn

i did a bunch of research on what to do and these were my sources:

an amazing lifestyle blog: a cup of jo

(if you've never read it, you must live in a cave)

she wrote her own personal guide to nyc

 

city scout: 

rad guides to chicago, brooklyn, los angeles, & minneapolis

my gal pal alex

(this picture is too perfect)

she has lived in nyc for some time, 

shes on hiatus in montreal for the summer

(she's so cool)

she'll be return to nyc in october

she was right on the ball, n'sync with the city guides

and gave me a couple of good original tips

the travelling store

since we're on the topic, i thought i would share some of my inspiration which lead me to starting a traveling store of my own...

when i stumbled upon this double decker dress store LODEKKA, (Portland, Oregon)...i related, with my enormous, growing collection of vintage dresses, which sit in my closet...just existing and being awesome. i own several that don't even fit me...i just can't resist when i find something that someone just needs to wear! after several years of being out of school, and pondering what to do with my time that will be financially productive and (but more importantly) will be fulfilling. owning a store seems to make the most sense.

A store would be a place to spend tons of time creating things, painting things different colours, having craft nights (on a back patio that has trees and a hammock), not to mention selling all things that i find cool...

BUT the thought of owning a store at this point in my life, feels to much like settling down. Having a store means commitment to a place for a few years, and it's also a full-time job; being two things I don't want right now. Having a store means paying rent, and I'm just about to move to Toronto; the last place I would want to pay rent to have a store.(It's an expensive place to live).

This thought process has lead me to the idea of a traveling vintage clothing store. One I can take to music festivals, and county fairs, and the aberfoyle antique market (i'm leaving Guelph, but it's still very close to Toronto).  I can take it to these places when I have the time, and the inventory. 

Once my vision was clear to me, I went back to read about LODEKKA and the detailed story she has about the process of renovating her bus. When I read this story I found out that Erin Sutherland has named her bus Ginny! (that's MY name!) I took this as a sign that I was aiming in the right direction; the perfect direction! 

I then went on a hunt to find who else had a store like LODEKKA. And what I found was tons of inspiration and beauty in the idea of the mobile store. (see some great pics of LODEKKA)

Just recently LODEKKA moved locations 

and neighbors a trailer shop: Wanterlust

Oh So Lovely Vintage
is a pair of sweet gals from Winnipeg who are 
currently on their way to setting up their own brick & mortar shop

Haberdash Vintage: the founder of ilovetrailers.com

just for you

some pretty pictures that remind me of my love erin

who is far far away being a world explorer

thinking of you daily...miss you and love you