Events: Urban Planning with Sieverts

There's a series of really interesting events happening in Seattle this week from July 1st-3rd concerning the idea of urban planning specifically in Seattle and Burien (interesting combo). Occasioned by Thomas Sieverts, there will be discussions, film showings, and exhibits surrounding this topic.

Suddenly Presents: Sieverts in Seattle and Burien, July 1-3, 2009

Our cities surprise and confound us by scrambling the categories we
use to plan and understand them. At once dense and sprawling, crowded
and empty, urban but centerless, dynamic and stalled, the landscape
where we live defies planning and leaves us with little grasp of its
meanings or pleasures. Yet it is the product of our choices,
individually and as a public: we live here now. So, what can we make
of it? Suddenly will bring art and food and public conversation to
bear on the common cause of making meaning and life in the landscape
where we live now — as it is, as we are, as best we can.

We're thinking of checking these events below:

Wednesday July 1
7:30 pm “Urban Aesthetics,” lecture by Thomas Sieverts (at Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave., Seattle, $5 suggested donation)

Friday July 3: (if you can splurge...this dinner sounds really amazing)
Corridor Project closing dinner at 6pm hosted by Michael Hebb,with Matthew Stadler and Thomas Sieverts in conversation, including a celebration of “suddenly: where we live now, the visual chronicle;” (see www.onepot.org for details). It's $40 for the dinner
The documentation of the Corridor Project IIII: Habitat: will be on display. The opening of the Exhibition is open to the public and begins at 9pm in Occidental Plaza in Pioneer Square.
Corridor Project IIII is an exploration of the wilderness and landscape of the Interstate 5. Michael Hebb, Hannes Wingate and Michael McManus discovers what it means to live, eat, and create a habitat for 3 days in one of the freeways generous median areas. (crazy!!)

Clam Crazy!

Here some photos of our recent clamming trip to Birch Bay....about a month ago...maybe longer...can't keep track anymore! I can't believe it's already the end of June!! Sigh...Time is going by way to fast.!! I feel like the summer is gonna be over soon!! NOOOOO!
Anyways, we went with a group of friends who had timeshare (thanks Terri!) at Birch Bay and so we all went to do some clamming. It's been a long time since I've been clamming, and it was Dylan's first time. (and might be the last...you'll find out why)
The first day of digging was in the late afternoon soon after we arrived. We were all digging around finding a few here and there....and I was honestly getting a little discouraged since all I found were tiny clams or big shells with nothing inside. Talk about lame....no one likes stupid big empty clams!
But then after about an hour or so, Christine and Nick totally found the money spot where we were getting handful of clams at a time! Booh-Yah!
As we dug and dug, the tide was also coming in closer and faster! So 2 of us had to build a sand barrier to block as much water out while the others were literally on their hands and knees in the water frantically digging.
Check it out! Dylan actually captured this scene with his manual camera! It was totally exciting to have found the spot with so many clams. I can only imagine what it would be like if it was actually gold... All that excitement and adrenaline rush! Hmm...that doesn't say too much about my life, huh?
We cooked up a whole bowl of these babies and sauteed them in garlic, leek, and white wine, and it smelled amazing!! Finally at 10 pm, we made our dinner along with salads, and other side dishes. We were all looking forward to be rewarded with some fresh cooked clams that we all worked so hard for. We all went for the clams...tasted them...chew chew..CRUNCH!
There was still sand inside!! We try to rinse them out as much as we could, but some of the clams still had a lot of sand inside...really not the type of texture I was expecting.
They would of tasted amazing if they weren't so sandy!!....I suppose we should of soaked them longer. :(
But then on top of that, the very next day Dylan got some sort of flu or food poisoning...where he had horrible stomach pain and ended up staying inside for the majority of the day...puking up all the clams...and CLAM SAND!....sorry, TMI! But yeah...not super pleasant for him. So I think Dylan's gonna stay away from clams for awhile now...
On the last day, we got to check out Lummi Island on the way back to Seattle. It's a lovely little island that we took a tiny ferry to get to. We all got to just hang out by this beach and enjoy a lovely picnic.
It was a quiet and fairly secluded beach with beautiful shore line. The entire beach is covered in round pebbles and rocks of all colors and sizes and we spent hours searching and collecting a bunch of rocks.....weighing ourselves down more and more as we went. The shore line was so beautiful with dramatic rock formations and interesting sea life! I love seeing all the patterns, textures, and colors in nature....It's so surreal! Also took some polaroids!
We had a great time though (minus sandy clams and Dylan throwing up...). Thanks Terri and Chris, Christine and Nick for the great weekend!
Here's us trying to take a polaroid of ourselves...it's harder than it looks! You can just see the struggle on his face trying to take the photo and smile at the same time. Men...they just don't know how to multitask do they?
See rest of the photos, here.

phat phurniture phinds 3

Great products from La Maison De Marina

F U Animals...

I found this HILARIOUS blog called F U Penguin. Where the writer, Matthew Gasteier tells cute animals what's what.
He simply finds photos of animals of all types and makes commentary on them that are simply ingenious. This Matthew guy is so good that he's even coming out with a whole book on what he wrote on the blog....seriously f-ed up.
This is a perfect blog to read on a Friday when you feel like taking an extra long lunch break...
But just to warn you...there's no holding back in his writing styles...he shows no mercy on these poor animals...he simply curses the crap out of them.

Here are some of the posts I like...click to read the actual posts.

The Beaver is clearly up to something
Desperate otters turn to cute-based crime in the struggling economy
Moose are the biggest dorks ever
No one wants to hang out with eels
The Tibetan Fox Thinks He's Better Than You.

Eating In is Totally In!

I just recently found out about this non-profit organization (through Tricia), called Eat-In. An Eat-In is a group of people gathering in public in order to share a home-cooked meal.
Essentially it's using the simple idea of a potluck to make a powerful political statement about the value of sharing food, cooking from home, and bring the communities together. These Eat-In "potlucks"can be as big as 250 plus people dining all together! AWESOME!!
The very first Eat-In meal happened in Delores Park in SF back in 2008 that coincided with Slow Food Nation. I just think it's a great way to just get people out and share an awesome meal for the hell of it! Now people have organized various Eat-Ins in different cities and countries from around the world!
This Eat-Ins took place in Stuttgart, Germany, I love how they even rolled out the red carpet to dine in the middle of a plaza!
It's totally inspiring to see the amazing images of all these gatherings...
Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Seattle??

Open Studio at Piano Nobile

This is another exciting Seattle based design/art studio opening, Piano Nobile. I was stoked to hear from Jamie (of Iacoli & McAllister) that their studio is right in Ballard! We're coming near to our anniversary of living in our new house in Ballard, and I'm excited to learn about all the new and fun things/places/people around the neighborhood.

Piano Nobile is having their studio opening TODAY, 4-6pm. Should be fun to check out their space and day dream about having a studio collective space.Check out their shop, too!

Photos from Abby Try Again

I finally ordered some prints from Abby Try Again!
They were neatly packaged, and it was such a delight to open them up and see them in person! Abby even added a beautiful postcard with blue flowers!
It was hard to choose, but I went with photos of objects....
I got collection of printing rollers, a camera, clothespins....cleaning tools....since I'm known to be a clean freak.
Photo of ladies & gentlemen...this will add to my collection things that represents L&G. I realized it looked more like a wedding figurines...oops.They all look great as whole collection! Now I just need to hang them up now!

One Dress for Every Day of the Year

Check it...remember the summer dress I wanted, and how I wanted to wear it everyday and everywhere? Well...someone is validating my idea with this concept of wearing one dress for 365 days, called the Uniform Project by Sheena Matheiken! It's a brilliant concept!
She wears the same dress (she has 7 of the same dress that is...) and find ways to reinvent the outfit everyday for an entire year! She started in May and it's been fascinating to see all the outfits she created.
Shenna got inspired by her childhood memory of wearing school uniforms and how everyone would always try to express themselves by accessorizing their body. So she collaborated with Eliza Starbuck to create an everyday "uniform" that was designed to be worn all year round.
The idea of wearing the same thing everyday can go a long way in changing our perception of fashion and the value of garment.
Clothes should last longer than one time wear, but why is there such a stigma behind wearing something twice in a row or too many times?
I've caught myself thinking before meeting up with someone "Did I wear this the last time I saw them??"
But why do we have those thoughts? Does it really matter whether the person wore the same thing twice...well...it matters to Jerry Seinfield...BUT...WHAT IS THE DEAL?! (In Jerry's voice)
This whole concept is very refreshing and inspiring to see. I mean, just look at all the variety and adorable outfits she's able to put together! Granted she still wears a lot of other shirts and garments with it...but the idea that one garment can be worn so many way is pretty fascinating!

I have about 10-15 pieces of garment that I always tend to grab and would mix and match them and layer them differently. This habit came about because of my own personal laziness of thinking about what to wear everyday....but maybe I SHOULD consider making it more of a fashion philosophy! I mean, why not? It does make more sense to have fewer but more versatile garments where they can be worn for different occasions, weather, and settings.

This could be a worth while challenge...and I think it would just be good to purge a little and re-evaluate the things I REALLY need.
If you're finding yourself wanting to do a little purging, too, make sure you donate it to the UNIFORM PROJECT!

JOIN Design Show Update Part 2

So Finally! Went through all the photos we took...all 200+ of them! Phew!!
You can see the crowd and the space at Ouch My Eye. The sun lit room made the space look even more amazing. Here's all the designs that were at the show. Remember, the show will be up through July, 12th, and the gallery will also be open late for First Thursday Art Walk on July 2nd.
Above: Graypants , Grain, Elisa WerblerAbove: Frame Lamp by Iacoli & McAllister, Paper Flower Shade by Lit, Peep Show Shade by Andrea Claire, Scrap by Graypants, Porcailine shade by Heath Bultman.Above: Pedestals by Iacoli & McAllister, Ceramic Cans by Jason Neufeld, Doily Clock by Stanley Ruiz, Hookup by Fruitsuper Design, "Pour"by Elisa Werbler, Recycled leather sculpture by Submaterial. Necklaces by Stanly Ruiz, Wood & Corian rings by Iacoli & McAllister, Cryon Rings by Timothy Liles, Cinder Block necklace by Kiel Mead.
Hairpiece, and mirror necklaces by FortyFive-09.Above are some of the figures I made for the Chalk-It-To-Me Series along with the Buddha figure and Piggy Bank. I provided bunch of various colored chalk and people went crazy on all the Chalk-It-To-Me figures. It was fun to see the progression of what people drew as the night went on. As you can see that what used to be the handsome black panther got turned into a drag queen panther.... Good times. :D
I especially enjoyed the art installations and art work by (knee shy). They have a wonderfully analytical, but humorous way of commenting about the audacity of our everyday behaviors and interactions. They didn't begin working on their piece until arriving in Seattle allowing their journey here to inspire them to document a movement of their own creation: O.N.W.A.R.D: Our Nation Want Airport Re-Design. Their installed piece mocked humanity's futile efforts to improve airports by adding things like bad art and crappy shopping to our air travel experiences. Pretty funny stuff.
Brite Collective has a section in the show with all the Brite Lites are displayed. It was fun to see them again in the gallery context and I think it got a lot of people curious and interested in it! Become a Brite Collective facebook fan and get all our updates plus other design-related Seattle happenings!
More of Tricia's Bread Friend Map. It was even more impressive to see the bread board that she had someone custom made for her. I love all the adorable playful doodles that people did through out the map, too!
There's seriously too many photos! You can see MORE on our Flickr!