ikons

More art talk to share with you today. With the approaching Winter Olympics, there has been no shortage of things to see and do in this city lately, thanks to the abundant offerings of the Cultural Olympiad. This past weekend, one of the coolest exhibitions we saw was a collaboration between visual artist Eric Metcalfe and experimental composer George Lewis called Ikons. When approaching each free standing colorful sculpture, visitors' motions trigger different audio compositions, so that no sequence of sounds is the same. Roger and I, literally were dodging and hiding between sculptures to see which one would emit the craziest sound... (yes, we are easily amused... and yes, at the time, we were the only two people there). Anyhoo, check it out if you get a chance... it is FREE!

I will post more Olympiad things that we see and encounter in the next few weeks... more art, more shows/concerts and visits to the many pavilions... basically our budget-friendly experience of the Olympics, since $400 Olympic hockey tickets were a bit out of the question for us.

for the bookworm

In preparation for the nursery, Roger and I have been trying to trim our book collection a little bit here and there... our shelves were getting a bit full, and the thought of the coming baby having to share a room with stacks of non-fiction acting as furniture is less than ideal. I am happy to say we off loaded about three large bags of books this past month... hooray! I now feel a bit of relief, rather than the book separation anxiety I thought I would have!

With all this book organizing taking place, I felt inspired and decided to make some bookplates. So, new in the etsy shop this season are sets of peel-and-stick bookplates featuring Cabin + Cub collage images. Each set comes with 8 different individual bookplates printed with Ultrachrome K3 archival inks on acid free Avery matte sticker paper, all removable and re-positionable (which is a nice bonus for those who, like me, are indecisive of which books to stick them in). I am also offering optional name personalization too!... see them in the shop here.

look in the tree

Very high up in a tree top a few blocks from our home, I notice someone has placed a handmade sign that says "LOOK". Hmmm... now does it mean for me to look at the tree top? Or maybe to look past and up in the sky? Or maybe just to look at the sign itself... it is, after all, done in pretty red bubble lettering. Or maybe the tree is trying to reason with everyone it allows to pass by. It could also be looking at me back and thinking, "what are you looking at?" hmmmmm... I wonder how many other people have noticed, stopped and looked?

Whilst on the topic of "looking"... some blog mentions that perhaps you'd like to stop and look at... a thanks to Miriam for including my squirrel-y valentine card on her blog made right guide; thanks to Nat for including my rainy day collage on her blog Adore By Nat; thanks to Teresa of Poppy Place PDX for passing on the Kreativ Blogger Award!; and thanks to Kristin of Dip Your Toes Into Something New for passing on the Sunshine Award. Happy weekend!

lovely lanterns

Coming out one of the downtown local skytrains (which is Vancouver's subway system) the other day, I came across a very cool looking art display. 2010 paper lanterns decorated by children from Canada and Taiwan hang from a forest of tall wooden bamboo and steel trees. As part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad for the coming Winter Olympics, the display also celebrates the upcoming Lunar New Year (the eve of which is on February 13th). I will definitely have to come back here at night to take some more pictures when they are all lit up... I passed by during a morning, so waiting... er, for about 12 hours to pass for it to get dark wasn't an option. Will promise to share pics of the next visit!

early bloomers

The sun decided to make an unexpected appearance yesterday, so I was able to capture some pics of the early blooms that have snuck up around our condo building. Seeing these, prompted me to look up when the first day of spring would be... ugh... not until March 20th?!! Seriously!? I am shaking my fist at you, Mr. Groundhog!

shhhh... secret supper club

Ok, so when Roger told me that we had been invited to a friend's birthday dinner this past weekend, I was pretty excited... and then I found out it was to be held at an underground supper club in Vancouver... and my ears perked up. Underground secret supper club, you say?... ohhhh a foodie's treat! The dinner was put on by Swallow Tail Secret Super Club, and for a stellar deal of $29, our large group was treated to a three course wild game dinner: a scrumptious sweat pea soup, grilled romaine with bacon and parmesan salad, and wild bison with stuffed pablano peppers... ok, I am totally drooling just thinking back of all the goodness that I ate. And now you are thinking, "that pic doesn't look like any of the dishes you just described, missy!'... well, yes... in my focused eating that night, I realized afterwards that I didn't take any pics, and also figured you probably didn't want to see pics of empty plates or a dirty cloth napkin.... so, yes these pics are from Swallow Tail's website. You will just have to imagine the scrumptious meal I ate... or better yet... book a table and have a secret dinner!

flower power

On Saturday, we ventured to the Vancouver Art Gallery to escape the wet weather, and of course, try and bump up our cultural content for the weekend. One of the most beautiful and impressive pieces we saw that day was artist Michael Lin's installation on the exterior of the gallery titled A Modest Veil... it is huge and a sight not to be missed!! Three large hand-painted, yes... that's right, hand-painted murals cover the building's facade (I only managed to squeeze in two of the panels into the first photo, they are that gigantic). The pattern is based on traditional Taiwanese textiles. Venture downtown Vancouver if you haven't seen it yet... it will be up until May 2010.