Moxy

After spending time in two different Swedish hotels in December, this new partnership with Marriott and Ikea caught my eye. The minimalist design with all the small perks you need – like wifi, cocktails, and light breakfasts – looks perfect. Although the new reasonably priced hotels are only going to be built in Western Europe as of yet, here’s hoping for another trip overseas to possibly check one out in person someday!

See more at PSFK

Animating Your Friends

You know those middle-of-the-winter blues? The ones where you spend your weekends eating too much, drinking too much, or just deciding to tattoo the inside of your lip on a whim? Well despite keeping pretty busy this month, I still managed to find time to get bored, and how did I combat the boredom? By taking this weekend’s most popular app “imadeface” and turning it into a game.

Sarah was my opponent. After creating pretty accurate cartoon versions of ourselves and our friend Karen, we decided to pick a friend to animate, then share our interpretation of said friend at the same time. The results were pretty funny. I hope the friends we cartooned appreciate this and know that we chose them because of their pretty faces.

Round 1: Julia Deakin (photo)

Round 2: Angela Holmes (photo)

Round 3: Jana Neumann (photo)

Round 4: Sarah Townson

It’s funny how to a stranger, these could look like completely different people, but to someone who knows the subject, there’s different features in each interpretation that ring true. I think Sarah won the game, unless anyone can argue otherwise! The imadeface app is available for free in the iPhone app store.

A Weekend Trip To Sweden

Sure, it sounds a little crazy to take a weekend trip to Sweden, especially the weekend before we fly to Canada for Christmas, which is followed immediately by a New Year’s Eve trip to Paris, but we did it anyway! Why? Because there’s only a few weeks left in The Year Of Yes and we’ve got to make it as incredible as possible.

Nick and I took the 6pm flight from Newark on Thursday, which landed us in Stockholm at 8am Friday, Sweden time. We took the very speedy and enjoyable Arlanda Express train from the airport to Stockholm City and enjoyed a 20 minute ride with views of snow and snow-covered trees.

We immediately checked into our hotel which was walking distance from the train station, and after barely sleeping on the plane ride there, fell asleep for a couple hours. When we woke up around 2:00, we realized from the amazing view from our room that the sun had begun to set. Apparently the sun sets at about 2:45pm in the winter there! This was an interesting addition to our bodies’ confusion of what time it was.

We decided to venture out and find some lunch/dinner/breakfast/whatever meal it was supposed to be at this point, and found this great area full of shops.

Oh, Conor Oberst is big there too.

Even though I felt like I should be eating meatballs and lingonberries, we ended up eating fajitas. 500 dollar fajitas! Just kidding, it was 500 kronor. $1 USD = roughly 7 kronor. Which means these fajitas were still pretty expensive.

We left our meal and decided to explore the shops. Then it started snowing!

Big, fluffy, pretty snowflakes.

Found a mall with some great stores, including an awesome designy-type, full of fun trinkets.

Including the “i-Woody” wooden iPhone for kids. Made by “Donkey”.

Chocolate balls are huge there. Like giant donut holes, covered in crunchy, minty things. Yum!

I loved being able to shop at Vera Moda! As soon as I saw a giant photo of Alexa Chung outside the store, I knew it would be good.

We relaxed in our hotel room that night – our very Swedish, subtly well-designed hotel room.

And enjoyed being dressed in matching flannel.

Saturday’s outfit. I was so glad I packed my Tretorn boots. We got up fairly early to say goodbye to Stockholm and take the train to Linkoping.

The train stations and airports in Sweden are awesome. Very clean and modern, with great and subtle design. This room was designed to be an “oasis” to relax in while you were traveling. It played bird noises from speakers so it sounded like you were in a rainforest.

Maybe we could go to Uppsala instead to visit Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist?

Nope, we are going to Linkoping to see Nick’s band, Ghost!

They were debuting their new stage show with the new (but equally terrifying) priest outfit.

Hard to see, but the “white Papa” priest was saying goodbye to unveil the new “black Papa”. Their fans went bananas. It was interesting to experience a show in Sweden. Although a show full of metal heads, everyone was pretty respectful and well-behaved. Swedes are awesome. And also really good-looking.

Some backstage doodles in Ghost’s dressing room.

After the show, we went to the after party, but only after hanging around the venue after the show had ended for way longer than expected. We both knew we weren’t getting a decent sleep since we had to leave our hotel at 5:30am to head back to Stockholm for the airport. We just went with it and ended up talking Batman with the singer of Watain while he tried (unsuccessfully) to get me drunk on gin.

(Beer can-filled snowbank in front of the venue)

And just as quickly as we arrived in Sweden, we left it, landing back in New York around 1:00pm. Nick and I are both so grateful for the opportunity to visit, even in our overtired state. We would love to visit again someday!

Saying No

This Creative Mornings talk by Jason Santa Maria is extremely helpful and insightful for those of you who have your own business, are freelancing, or work in a creative field. I’m among the many who find it hard to say no to new opportunities, but after watching this talk, I happily realized I’m finally at the point where I can start to be a bit more selective about the type of work I take on. Hooray!

[Via Swiss Miss]

Bad Dads 2012

The Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco is holding their third Bad Dads art show, featuring the works of many talented artists inspired by Wes Anderson‘s films. Here are some of my favourites from this year:

There are a ton of prints and originals to choose from in this show, unfortunately, a lot of the prints have already sold out. Have a look and see if your favourite is still available here.

Who else would love to decorate their entire apartment with these fantastic movie posters?

Also: Bad Dads 2011 and 2010.

Birthday Week!

As some of you already know, Nick and I have birthdays two days apart. When we were dating long distance, Toronto to New York, this usually meant just one of us would actually get the other one on their actual birthday – whichever date was closest to a weekend. Even though we’ve been married for over two years now, this year was the first year we decided to celebrate our birthdays completely together and make it into a fun “birthday week”.

You already saw what I did on Tuesday, but the celebrations didn’t end there. On Wednesday night, as a lead in to Nick’s big day, we went to see the Yankees play the Orioles. It was great to drink a beer, eat some greasy food, and cheer on NYC with their biggest fan. We ended up leaving after the 7th inning because it looked like they were going to lose, but by the time we got home, they won!

On Thursday, Nick’s birthday was quiet by request, but we did get to eat burritos and watch Prometheus.

I also got to shower him with presents, including an adopted lion named Garth and this photo book I had so much fun making from Pinhole Press.

On Friday night, we headed into the city to finally watch our good friend Ben’s documentary Unfinished Spaces play at the Cooper Union. It was so interesting and really cool to watch him participate in a filmmaker’s panel after the movie. One snooty architecture professor in attendance even told the entire theatre that Ben reminded him of Wes Anderson. I can kind of see it now!

Saturday night, was our big celebration. We invited 10 of our favourite New Yorkers out to dinner at Supper Restaurant. A lot of these people hadn’t met each other before; they were from totally different social groups. It was so much fun to see them meet. As Nick called it, “a social experiment”. The food was delicious and the company was so great. We love you guys!

We got a few drinks at three different bars afterwards, before we headed home to get our beauty rest because on Sunday morning I got up early to get breakfast with…

Rob and Tami! They were in town visiting from Toronto. It was great to have them in my neighbourhood and introduce them to Brooklyn Label.

Running purely on fumes by Sunday afternoon, Nick and I brought the chocolate dot cookies I made over to Annie’s “pumpkin party”. We ate so many delicious things made by everyone in attendance and Nick got to play with the cat and dog of the apartment.

We finished up our weekend by eating a healthy dinner (after pasta, wine, cupcakes, and bacon-wrapped figs) and watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead.

What a great week! Thanks to everyone who made it so special for us <3

Number 31

Yesterday’s birthday was wonderful. Having a birthday on a Tuesday kind of takes the pressure off, you know? Instead of planning anything huge for it, I used my day to its full potential, concentrating on doing what I wanted to do instead of what I should do.

I woke up at 6:30 to get ready and head into Midtown for Grind’s “Rethink the Interest Graph” at 8:00, which was a talk about online social media content. Noah Brier spoke while I sipped Intelligentsia coffee and ate a bagel.

I decided to take the 7 train home specifically because I’ve been meaning to take photos of the group of buildings it passes in Long Island City that are absolutely covered in brightly coloured graffiti. Gotcha!

Daytime was work as usual, but broken up by constant Facebook comments, Tweets, Instagram posts, emails, and phone calls wishing me a happy birthday. You guys sure know how to make a birthday girl (or should I say lady? 31!) feel special. Also thanks to Starbucks for my free birthday drink and don’t mind my yoga hair-do.

Nick came home early to make me feel even more special. Roses!

A Howard Wolowitz bobblehead!

A Kate Spade wallet!!!

And then we ate pizza.

One of my favourite birthday gifts was just this video of my niece and nephew sent from Jenn. I mean….!!!

I wasn’t called a cougar this year, but what a great birthday. The celebrations continue tonight at a Yankees game as we head into Nick’s birthday tomorrow!

Jessica Hische iPhone Cases

I have only had my new iPhone for about two weeks and I’m already in love. Now I think I’ve found my new love – these iPhone cases featuring Jessica Hische’s Daily Drop Cap letters! I may just have to order the C…

Would you get your first initial or another letter? You can buy them online here.

NYC + Brooklyn City Guide: To Do

1. Central Park - Manhattan

Central Park is my #1 recommendation for anyone visiting New York. It’s huge, beautiful, and like no park I’ve ever seen. Wander around the various paths, over footbridges, and visit the John Lennon tribute Strawberry Fields. See the reservoir, the zoo, the carousel, and in the winter, the skating rink.

2. New York Public Library (Main Branch) – Manhattan

Quite possibly the most beautiful library ever . This building feels like a castle. Even if you don’t borrow any library books, you’ll leave feeling inspired.

Bonus: this is where Carrie & Big’s wedding was set to be in the beginning of the Sex & The City movie.

3. DUMBO and the Brooklyn Bridge – Brooklyn

There’s something very special about this area of Brooklyn. It sits in the shadows of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges and is filled with restaurants and shops in very old buildings, but has become a hotspot for creatives in NYC.

Wander the streets then go for a walk in the new Brooklyn Bridge Park. If you have a child with you or love nostalgia, visit Jane’s Carousel. Finally, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into the City Hall neighborhood of Manhattan.

If possible, I highly suggest taking the East River Ferry there.

4. Art Galleries in Chelsea and The Highline - Manhattan

Chelsea is home to countless art galleries! If you’re into any sort of artist expression, there is surely a gallery right for you. My favourites are the Joshua Liner Gallery and the Jonathan Levine Gallery.

While you’re over there, check out the High Line, an elevated park built on an old railroad track.

5. Greenwich Village - Manhattan

Take a break from suffocating Soho and walk west to this breathtaking neighbourhood. So many beautiful brownstones, cute shops, and great places to eat. Daydream about living here while watching the young and hip parents cart around their adorable kids with ease!

If you’re a Sex & The City fan, see Carrie Bradshaw’s house at 64 Perry Street.

6. The Lower East Side - Manhattan

It’s amazing how different each neighbourhood can feel and look in New York. Even though CBGB’s is gone, a visit to the Lower East side will bring you back to the 1970s punk scene. Check out the bars, restaurants, and music venues. If you’re a carnivore, stop into Katz’s Deli (of When Harry Met Sally fame) for a pastrami sandwich stuffed with enough meat for three sandwiches.

7. Grand Central Station - Manhattan

The most beautiful train station I’ve ever seen in North America. Visit the Oyster Bar, the Whispering Gallery, and the Transit Museum and shop. Oh, and take lots of photos, especially of the ceiling!

8. Coney Island - Brooklyn

When I first started coming to New York, Nick would ask me what I wanted to do and (to his chagrin) my answer would always be visit Coney Island. It’s a bit of a trek by subway, but once you arrive it’s like a whole other world! Eat some junky carnival food, walk the boardwalk, dip your toes in the ocean, play at the carnival, and if you’re feeling brave, ride the Wonder Wheel or the Cyclone.

9. Times Square - Manhattan

As much as I hate it when I have to try and walk through Times Square, I have to admit it’s an amazing spot and definitely worth seeing at least once in your life. You don’t even have to go anywhere or do anything, just stand there and marvel at the scene!

10. American Museum of Natural History - Manhattan

The perfect way to spend a rainy day in New York. Feel like a kid again and take in all the exhibits here. You might even learn something! Don’t miss the giant blue whale.

Bonus: my first ever trip to New York!

{photos: Central Park 1,2, NY Public Library, Brooklyn Bridge, Art Gallery, Highline, Greenwich Village, LES 1, 2, Grand Central, Coney Island, Museum}

Wes Anderson’s Best Commercials

Wes Anderson may be known for his quirky, stylized movies, but did you know he’s directed commercials as well? Those quick camera pans, cartoonish characters, and fast, funny dialogue work well in short form too!  Ad Week takes a look at his best, including spots for American Express, Stella Artois, Hyundai, and more. Here’s my favourite:

See all of his commercials here. Get more Wes Anderson here.