Poketo + Target

Yeah, I know, we’re not supposed to like Target anymore because of that whole funding the right political scandal thing.  But with Dwell Studio, Liberty of London, and a whole bunch of other rad designers doing product lines for the big box store, I can’t help but love Tar-jay.

I just read about Poketo’s upcoming line at Target.  They don’t have much info yet – full details will be released next week.  For now you can see their sneak peak on their website here.  They list a few of the artists that will be featured, including Camilla Engman and Lisa Congdon.  Can’t wait for more details…

Postcard Update

Remember when I blogged about Postcrossing last week?  Well, I tried it out, sending generic Canada postcards (featuring a photo of Lake Louise) to New Zealand, China, and Thailand.  Yes, I’m going to design my own postcards.  Eventually.  But for now I was eager to try it out so I bought the most attractive postcards I could find at the drug store.  Don’t judge me.

Anyway, I just got an email through the Postcrossing website saying that my postcard arrived in New Zealand!  It took 6 days, and 2 of those days were over the weekend.  Pretty impressive.  Here’s the detail page.  When updating the receipt of my postcard on the website, the recipient wrote  “Hello and thank you so much for the wonderful postcard which has just arrived. Strangely enough just a few days ago I was thinking how great it would be to receive a card showing a beautiful Lake view from the Banff National Park! I had visited Banff many years ago when I was a teenager and loved it.”

SO COOL.  I think I’m hooked on this postcard stuff.  Gotta send more!

Stylish RVs: T@B Trailers

I love camping with Ian and our dog Isabel.  We go “car camping” to various provincial parks in Ontario.  I love being outside and having a campfire, but I also need a few creature comforts (oh come on, bringing a blowup bed and duvet to a campsite is NOT prissy.  It’s comfortable).

I’ve been fascinated with camper vans and RVs – they seem to take camping to the next level.  Camping and road tripping?  Sign me up!  I would LOVE to camp in some of the big parks in the US (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Tetons…).  Too bad most camper vans and RVs are disgustingly ugly, expensive, or hard to pull behind our small SUV.

Then Ian told me he saw a T@B micro-RV parked in someone’s driveway.  How cool are these?  They’re small enough (and light enough) to be pulled by our car, and have just enough space and functionality to go for a long camping trip.  Perfect for two people and a dog.  I have no idea how much these cost, but it really doesn’t matter.  I don’t have a place to keep one (no garage at our Toronto house).  So for now, I have to just dream…

Totally Random: Outdoor Showers

Okay, I know this is a bit weird.  But I really like outdoor showers.  NOT for my downtown house, but for a country or beach house.  I spent a lot of time on the Gulf Coast of Florida when I was a kid (I was born there), and my family was constantly battling the sand-in-the-house issue.  Ugggh, don’t you just hate it when you have sand in your bed?

Anyway, we tried everything to get the sand off before going inside.  In one property, we had a rubbermaid tub with water right by the front door.  Before going inside, you had to stand in the tub to rinse your feet.  In another property, we had an outdoor shower.  I remember loving it – there’s something so refreshing about showering outside (with or without your bathing suit on!)

Check out this roundup of great outdoor showers on the Canadian House and Home blog.  Don’t you love the shower built into the tree?  I worry about the health of that tree though…

How Cool Is This? Postcrossing

Okay, I’ll say right up front – you’re either gonna think this is really cool or really lame.  Hopefully you’ll think it’s cool like I do!

I received an email today with a discount postcard printing offer from Moo (15% off a pack of Moo postcards with promo code 9MW4J4).  In the email, they mentioned Postcrossing, a website that matches up random people all over the world for postcard sharing.  Sign up for a free account, and you’ll be given the name and address of someone in the world that you can mail a postcard to.  Other random people will mail you postcards too.  (This is the part that you will either think is wonderful and fun, or totally lame)

I just signed up at Postcrossing, and was given a name and address for someone in China.  I’d like to take a bunch of pictures of my favourite parts of Toronto and make my own postcards (probably through Moo’s offer).  Or try and find a bunch of unusual and beautiful postcards, or old-timey ones like those pictured up there.  But for now, I think I’ll send a generic Canada or Toronto postcard, since I’m eager to get started!

Online Book Sharing

I just read about BookSwim, an online book-sharing program.  New books, free shipping, no wait times.  A few hitches though – it’s not super cheap.  Pricing starts at $24 a month for 3 books at a time.  I see the appeal of the “no waiting” thing, especially if you like to read bestsellers.  But I think I’ll stick with the library – I put books I’m interested in on my hold list, and they come in eventually.  And the best part – it’s free.  Oh, and who even knows if BookSwim ships to Canada.

Sailor Knot Bracelets

This weekend is a long weekend in Ontario (and some other provinces in Canada).  A bunch of friends and I packing up the cars on Friday, getting out of Toronto and heading to Kinnon’s gorgeous cottage in Wakefield, Quebec.  I can’t wait for a few days of swimming, reading, drinking beers, and having fun with my bestest pals (that’s Hilary and Jenny in that photo up there, hanging on the dock).

Cottaging always reminds me of summer camp, which reminds me of arts and crafts.  So when I saw this post on Ready Made about nautical bracelets, I was pumped.  This is the perfect cottage craft!  There are full instructions on how to make these bracelets on Etsy.  I am most definitely making a knot bracelet when I’m at Kinnon’s cottage.