DIY Canvas Map Art

A couple months ago I found put this image onto Pinterest from this Design*Sponge house tour.

I thought it would be perfect for the upstairs spare bedroom that we are slowly decorating. We also saw a bunch of similar maps when we went to Restoration Hardware.

A full wall map would have been ideal, but the largest size I found to print was about 4 feet by 5 feet. I got the print done at Staples in their largest format. It was too big for them to print in store, so they had to send it out. I had converted my map to black and white which saved a LOT of money. The print itself is on normal everyday letter weight paper and cost $15. A print in colour would have been on a heavier poster weight paper, but would have been closer to $75-100. This project was a bit of an experiment and $15 was a much easier hit to take if the project did not turn out.

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Katie Style – Anatomical Dressing

  • Blazer – Ross
  • Shell – Old Navy
  • Jeans – Silver
  • Invisible Shoes – Hush Puppies
  • Necklace – La Mama

["Take Two" of Surreptitious Museum Outfit Shots. Pro: not blurry! Cons: no feet. Also, mysterious orb - probably a ghost - floating on my head. It's a work in progress.]

And now, for a story:

Why I Will Never be Hired to Write About Fashion

The Break Room at Katie’s Museum

Co-Worker #1: ”That’s a pretty shirt, Katie. I like the pattern.”

Katie:” Thanks! I like it, too*, even though it secretly sort of reminds me of the cross-section of a penis.”

*This is where I should have stopped talking

Co-Worker #2: Ummm…

Co-Worker #1: ”I’m surprised you know what the cross-section of a penis looks like.”

Co-Worker #3: ”Really? We are talking about Katie.*”

*I think she was implying that I know a lot of weird things. Not that I go around dissecting manly bits. Although I have done that to a shark…

Katie: “Oh yeah, I had a whole semester of Mammalian Physiology on reproductive organs. I know a lot about penises.”

Co-Worker #4 (male) who just walked in: “…I think I’m going to go eat in the other room…”

Co-Worker #2: “You do realize, that now every time you wear that shirt, we’re all going to be thinking ‘There goes Katie in her secret penis shirt.’”

Katie: “That seems fair.”

Yep, never going to be a fashion writer. Unless Biology of Reproduction is hiring.

Also, here is a picture of my necklace next to a Silver Medal from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Thursday Links

Apparently Craig Ferguson did a long interview with Stephen Fry, and Millie could listen to the two of them talk all day.

A guy modified a record player to play tree rings rather than vinyl. So neat!

Millie and her gentleman friend went to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy last weekend, and she thinks she probably missed about half of the important bits of implied information. This rather thorough analysis fills in a lot of the gaps though.

Backstage at the Dior couture show.


The Stoakes-Whibley Natural Index of Supernatural Collective Nouns.


Lego man in space!

Need something to do to kill time? Try this colour matching game, which is sure to infuriate you.

Tunes Tuesday

Ani DiFranco’s new album Which Side Are You On? came out last week. Here’s her take on the title track, an old labor song.

“Let the way of women, guide democracy”

Katie in Europe – Switzerland

Ah, Switzerland. Land of complex pocket knives, Heidi, fondue, and brilliant patent clerks.

Basel was the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, and the Basel Museum of Natural History is my new dream institution (cough…hire me…cough). That day was the happiest on my trip, even if the Rocket Scientist and I did poke our heads into a 3-story McDonald’s and note that a Happy Meal cost $15.

Warning: images of human remains and vampire deer.

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P.S. Did you notice the monkey’s butt? I’m secretly a 12-year old boy.

Katie Style – Experimentation

  • Dress – thrifted
  • Cardigan – Sam’s Club
  • Tights – no idea
  • Socks – Target
  • Boots – Clark’s
  • Necklace – The Rocket Scientist

No need to adjust your monitors, I really am that blurry today. Just squint and pretend it’s artsy.

This outfit was an experiment. Work’s been difficult, for a variety of reasons, and silly as it may sound, the way I was dressing wasn’t helping. Wearing jeans and hoodies and flannel shirts was practical for the work I do, but it also made me miserable. I didn’t feel like me, I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin.

So today I dressed like me: a dress, drapey layers, and the continuation of my never-ending quest to rock 90′s-esque silhouettes. And, yes, I did have to wear an ugly brown smock that smelled distinctly like feet and pencil shavings for part of the day to keep my clothes clean, but it was worth it.

I also experimented with taking sneaky photos at work (but on my break, in case my supervisors ever discover this blog). The photos ALL came out blurry, so there’s work to be done yet (again, work I’ll do on my break).

No idea what I’m doing here. None.

Thursday Links, Evening Edition

A 13-year old girl vlogs intelligently about “slut shaming.” Well done!

Nerds and male privilege (just don’t read the comments) (via Ruby Bastille)

Disney vs. Miyazaki

If you read nothing else in this post, read this: Indo-chic. (It’s on the problems with bindis, and Indian garments and styling becoming popular in the West, and it’s fantastic.) (via garconniere)

This is a great piece on why some men play as women (or men) in video games. Millie’s got a couple of video game related posts up her sleeve, if she ever gets around to writing them out.

Animation of a lonely desk toy taking a trip.

A cape made out of spider silk. Gorgeous!

Practical writing tips from an assortment of authors.

Weird lava!

A reporter for The Toronto Star, along with considerable help from an array of people from school principals to readers, helped get Roya Shams, a 17 year old Afghani girl who wants to be a politician to carry on her father’s work, get to Canada so she can attend school in Ottawa. This is one remarkable girl, by all accounts. The back coverage is here.

Katie Style – Employable Tree Frog

  • Blazer – Ross
  • Shirt – Target
  • Pants – Gap
  • Boots – Clarks
  • Belt – thrifted
  • Necklace – South Korea, gift

My current museum job ends in April, so I’m already preparing for whatever my next adventure might be. Along with looking for my next gig, I’m continuing to build my “professional” wardrobe.*

*And just biding my time until they make formalwear Snuggies. Black tie in the front, open in the back.

When I found these wonderfully wide leg pants on uber-clearance at the Gap, I quickly added them to my interview arsenal.

 

And on a completely unrelated note, how much do my arms and hands look like a tree frog’s in the following photo?

Another hiring plus, if you ask me. I wear awesome pants AND I imitate a sticky-toed, three-eyelided amphibian. Score!

Katie’s European Adventure – France

The Rocket Scientist and I took a day trip to Strasbourg, where we mangled the French language, ate gelato in the freezing cold, and he bought me a lovely pair of earrings that remind me slightly of femurs. An excellent day.

Strasbourg calls itself the “Capital of Christmas,” and takes that title very seriously. There were eleven different Christkindlemariks spread throughout the city and all the buildings were covered in lights, ornaments, and stuffed polar bears (you’ll see).

They don’t dress up the cathedral, though, which is a shame. ‘Cause it sure isn’t much to look at…

After admiring 17th century vandals, The Rocket Scientist and I discovered flambee. French bread topped with butter, goat cheese and bacon. Viva la France!

After eating our weight in cheese, we timidly ventured into Hermes, where the door had a doorman and nothing had a price tag. Which means those scarves I took were free, right? Right.

 

 

leave the yoga pants for the studio, you’ll be just fine…trust me

with a few hours left of 2011, i was debating the two outfits i brought to a friends house to get her thoughts on what would look stellar, fab, and city new years appropriate. as she rummaged through her closet, a black, baby doll, light flower design, very ‘sarah’ dress was lightly hanging on its hanger. the love was immediate, prompting my friend not only to loan it out for the night, but as a donation to my ever growing dress collection. i told her ‘hey, i can wear this on my flight back’. A bit of shock and, not awe, but surprise came from her face. A bit of confusion over why I would forgo the common comforts of yoga pants on a plane for something as ‘dressy’.

This reminded me of a recent article I read where Scarlett Johannson listed people in pjs at the airport as one of her pet peeves, something that prompted me to shout ‘yes!’, in enthusiastic agreement.

I can understand the need to be comfortable while flying, trust me. With 31 flights in 2011 alone, ranging from 1 hour to 14, I can respect the fact that economy seats never recline enough for a solid nap, that the toilets will always have wet floors, and that you will inevitably spill some of your veggie pasta on your lap during turbulence.  I used to stick to my fake birks, cargo pants, and loose top to make such journeys, but with more and more travel I’ve found that I actually want to separate from my prior backpacker ways. I have already given a post on this (see sarah’s guide to dressing like a classy broad while traveling) but then I stumbled on the following video by chance and i felt this is an ‘issue’ i need to revisit.

Miss Jenna Marbles, I can respect the fact you want to be comfortable, but hey now, style is style whether your at sea level or peeing 20000+ feet in the air.

But I put the question out to the faithful viewers, what is your go-to airport wear?Do you agree with Miss Marbles, or of the ‘bringing back style to travel’ persuasion?

Looking forward to your replies! Best and blackouts from India*

ps. On my last flight I did wear said new black/flower baby doll dress, black opaque tights,flat mary janes, and a cozy but still stylish black and white cardigan. I was wiping a few tears away, so I didnt think of taking a photo. Next time though!

Tunes Tuesday – Kathleen Edwards

The lovely Kathleen is no stranger to Tunes Tuesday, but today she gets the spotlight again because her new album, Voyageur, is out today (squee!).

Did anyone else preorder the album like me?

“Change the Sheets”

“Wapusk”

“Back to Me”

“Run”

Katie Style – SoHo Hobo

  • Jacket – thrifted
  • Shirt – thrifted
  • Necklace – Anthro
  • Belt – thrifted
  • Pants – Gap
  • Shoes – Clarks

I felt remarkably like a hobo in this outfit. No rails to ride, but the combination of boots, short pants, and a suit jacket always feels hobo-esque to me. But my coworker said it looked chic – a SoHo hobo, if you will.

Maybe I just need Edna Mode to make me a new suit, too.

Katie’s European Adventure – Germany

There was less lederhosen than I’d hoped (but plenty of German men in skinny jeans, tiny glasses and pink ties – love), but Germany was wunderbar!

There was architecture:

Freiburg Cathedral

There was food (oh, the glorious cheese):

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Katie Style – European Edition*

*I accidentally wrote “European Addition” first, which would just be a post about me trying to do math in metric.

Warning: Europeans are FAR better dressed than I. I did my best.

Germany/France/Switzerland were FREEZING, so this was the uniform of every  day, complete with leggings under the jeans, multiple pairs of socks, and the occasional sweater pilfered from The Rocket Scientist.

  • Hat – Vera Wang
  • Puffy coat – Tommy Hilfinger
  • Jeans – Dish
  • Purse – la Mama

When, on rare occasion, I warmed up, I looked like this:

  • Sweater – Lauren Conrad
  • Tank top – thrifted
  • Jeans – Dish
  • Shoes – Clarks

My life will now be incomplete without a whale skeleton to suspend from the ceiling.

When I flew on planes, I rejected pants. I also looked blurry (blame The Rocket Scientist. For the blurriness, not the lack o’ pants):

  • Tunic – Gap
  • Scarf – thrifted
  • Cardigan – mysterious Sam’s Club brand
  • Leggings – Target
  • Shoes – Clarks

The Rocket Scientist also looked especially adorable on this trip:

Shawl-collar sweater AND Orangina! Perfection.

I don’t know what’s cuter – The Rocket Scientist in his fabulous new hat, or the naked baby bum on the wall behind him.

Yep, the baby bum. But there’s no shame in coming second to a baby bum.

Stay tuned for more vacation photos. Mostly of food, since I’m a girl with her priorities in order.

Refinishing a Dresser

We have been slowly decorating our spare bedroom. I took pretty much all the furniture out of there, moved the twin bed into the basement bedroom (which now actually looks nice and completed… perhaps one day I’ll show you. It just needs some pictures and a mirror hung up). We are planning on getting Queen size bed into for this room for guests. It was painted a very fresh green by the previous owners, but we recently painted it a very pale lavender. The colour flows nicely with the light gray in the living room, dinning room and hallway, as well as the off white in the master bedroom. It also looks a lot brighter, which is saying something because this is easily the room in our house that gets the most light.

I must have been mad to start this project in the middle of the heat in August. Well, the project really started two years ago when we went to a New Years Day auction and brought home this dresser.

A year and a half later I finally began the process of refinishing it. I donned the breathing apparatus, goggles, big gloves and long sleeves, and took paint thinner to this bad boy while listening to an audiobook on my ipod. Of course you want to know the name of the book don’t you? I was listening to A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. It took me two days to get all the paint scrapped off. Mostly because you have to paint on the paint thinner, wait for it to bubble off a bit (takes about 2-3 minutes), scrape it, repaint it with paint thinner, scrape it again, etc. Each surface has to be done about 5-6 times, and there was only one coat of paint on this dresser. The paint was pretty old. I’m pretty sure it was lead based. It took me two afternoons. Mostly because it was really hot outside, and you just got bored of painting and scraping and sounding like Darth Vader.

Then I filled some gauges in the wood with wood filler, and after that was dry we took the palm sander to it. I sanded about half before my hand got terribly numb, then S took over and finished it off. We sanded once with the more abrasive sandpaper, then with the fine stuff.

Next step was staining it. Of course I chose my favorite stain colour, Dark Walnut by Minwax. The great thing about buying a house is that sometimes you get free stuff. There is a giant mirror behind our shed, a dehumidifier was left behind, and we got lots of paint amongst other things. We also acquired this can on stain, among a couple others, and some polyurethane. I gave it one swipe of stain, letting it seap for about two minutes before taking a rag and wiping off the excess.

The next day I started polyurethane coats. I gave it three coats of polyurethane, with a very light finishing sand in between coats.

Here is a sneak peak of the result.

The room colour has since been changed, and I just picked up some knobs for the drawers over Christmas. They have not yet been affixed.

The Science of Stripes

Ever wonder why you look so fabulous in that striped shirt? Watch the first 10 minutes* of this episode of QI and learn while you laugh.

*Though you should watch the whole thing, as it’s better than Jeopardy! That’s right, I said it.

Katie’s Tips for Flying

  • Do continuously forget what airline you’re on and speak to flight attendants in the wrong language
  • Do avoid the Frankfurt International Airport – it smells like farts
  • Don’t wear pants
  • Do wear something else that covers your bum
  • Do be prepared to do epic battle with the guy in the seat in front of you for every precious inch of legroom on an eight-hour flight. I’m not saying you should adjust his seat every time he gets up to go to the bathroom, only that you could
  • Do make friends with your airplane seatmates. You might just get lucky and have a heated debate over peanuts vs. hazelnuts and synchronize your video monitors to watch Beauty and the Beast so you can all hum along together
  • Don’t hum too loudly, the dude across the aisle from you has no appreciation of classic musicals
  • Don’t listen to that playlist of Buddy Holly covers – you’ll start imagining suspect engine noises
  • Do grab all the discarded European style magazines you can find. The pictures are pretty and every once in a while you’ll spot a word you know. Pamplemousse!
  • Do start crying quite unattractively if you miss your connecting flight and are facing the horror of spending the night in the Newark Airport – you’ll get the last remaining seat in the world, and it’ll be emergency exit row at that!
  • Don’t decide to watch Dolphin Tale when you’ve been awake for 30 hours. All the crying just weirds out the guy next to you
  • Do be thrilled to finally get home, and start planning your next trip!

Thursday Links

New thoughts about what an appendix does, and how having one may help save your life. Millie rather likes the idea of a bacteria farm in her innards.


Turns out orangutans love playing with iPads
, especially watching video of other orangutans they know. The picture of the little one holding an iPad with all four appendages is impossibly adorable.

8th Fire is a TV and radio series on relations between Aboriginal Canadians and non-Aboriginal Canadians on the CBC starting next week. There’s online content too, and looks pretty great.

Making a robot cute makes people much more likely to interact with it, and interact positively.

Women! When riding your new-fangled bicycle, you must follow these rules!

A woman made an R2D2 ballerina costume, and called it Artootutu. Brilliant! (via the Mary Sue)

Also from The Mary Sue, Star Trek figures dance in stop motion to All the Single Ladies (All the Trekkie Ladies?).

English pronunciation (this one’s especially for Katie’s Dad and The Rocket Scientist)

The Ryan Gosling memes continue. Now he loves museums – huzzah!

An excellent extra credit question.

Stephen Harper wants to monitor Canadians online. Bad Prime Minister, bad!

Maurice Sendak tells you to go to hell and it’s adorable.

20 Ways to Get Good Karma, by the Dalai Lama. [Millie: I <3 the Dalai Lama so, so much. He's the sort of spiritual leader my little atheist heart can really get behind.]

Millie Does Not Need A New Hobby, But She Has One Anyway

So you know how I keep saying/feeling/thinking that I’m a seamstress, when in reality I haven’t sewn a stitch in months? And have a much neglected blog that I keep wanting to write more for, but am apparently very bad a making the time for it? And that whole yoga thing that I used to do but have totally fallen out of practice with (and never really blogged about so of course you don’t know about it)? Well, I now have another entry on the list of Neglected Activities That Millie Likes Very Much But Is Not Good At Making Time For.

Knitting.

You see, my lovely gentleman friend A. went and bought me this for Christmas:

Hedgehog mittens are every bit as adorable as you'd thing they'd be.

He didn't buy me the mittens themselves, but a knitting kit to make the mittens.

The sounds I made upon opening it were not unlike (very, very loud) hedgehog squeaks.

I have no idea how he came across these, considering he’s not at all of the crafty sort, but you can see why I have to learn how to knit, right? There’s no way I can not make these somewhere down the road, so I need to get started on the road now in the hopes that I’ll be competent enough to make these for next winter.

I’m fortunate in that I know quite a few people who know how to knit, and I suspect several of them would be willing to teach me. But sometimes it’s nice to have videos/books/etc for learning tools too, because I feel considerably better getting surly and cussy at my computer screen than at my friend who’s already doing me a significant favour, and I know full well I will get surly and cussy about this. I’ve been sewing for over ten years and I regularly get surly and cussy about it, even when it’s going well. Plus I’m left-handed, so trying to flip everything mentally so that the mechanism makes sense with respect to how my brain makes sense of the world while learning is… interesting. I’ve tried halfheartedly to learn how to knit before, and it went very poorly, partially for that reason.

I’m under the impression that at least some of the fine and wonderful readers of this blog know how to knit to some degree, so do you know of any good resources for the beginning knitter? Gold stars for any that are left-handed! I’ve signed up at ravelry.com, since I’m under the impression that that’s the thing knitters do, and if you want to look me up I’m milliescientist.

I anticipate much flailing and waving of needles, and a very grouchy Millie. I’ll keep you posted!

Katie Style – Like a Cake (Song)

  • Cardigan – Norma Kamali
  • Tunic – Gap
  • Belt – thrifted
  • Leggings – Target
  • Necklace – The Rocket Scientist
  • Boots – Trotters

The reign of No-Pants Katie continues! Behold, my version of Cake’s “Short Skirt, Long Jacket.” But without the skirt. And with a cardigan instead of a jacket. But other than that it’s a totally identical pastry-related outfit.

The volume of material in the front makes me feel better about the lack of pants in the back…sort of. So I keep my back to walls. Hides my bum AND helps prevent sneaky ninja assassination attempts.

Priorities

Welcome to the United States of America. Please declare all items being brought into the country.

Tunes Tuesday

‘Twas a marvelous European adventure, but I’m happy to be home again.

Such a fantastic song! Watch the official video here.

Today in Ill-Posed Questions: Is Marriage Still Relevant?

M’colleagues and I at Interrobangs Anonymous are big fans of Jian Ghomeshi, so it’s not at all meant as a snipe at him or his work in general when I say that I’m a bit disappointed in the debate he had on Q asking whether marriage is still a relevant institution. The debate was broadcast about two weeks ago, but I’ve spent the past bit traipsing around various parts of Canada for Christmas, so I’m just getting this all down in electrons now. The audio (~20 minutes) is at the link, and this post will probably make considerably more sense if you listen to it first.

The debate had Iris Krasnow arguing that marriage is still a relevant institution, and Russell Smith arguing against it. Karsnow’s arguments centred on interviews with women she did for a book she wrote on women’s roles in marriage; she cited that the majority of the women she talked to spoke highly and longingly of marriage and long term commitment. Smith’s central argument was that there are no legal teeth in marriage that enforce commitment, especially considering that there is a significant divorce rate, and that the benefits of marriage are not meaningfully dependent on having signed a certificate. I personally am solidly in Smith’s camp on this issue — I have no intention of marrying, and many of my thoughts on marriage were mirrored by points he brought up. In that light, then, I have some specific beefs both with arguments put forward by Krasnow, and also some glaring omissions on everyone’s part (though obviously not every aspect of the question can be covered in 20 minutes).

My principal objection is that the debate (and Krasnow’s argument in particular) focused almost entirely on the relevance of marriage in individual partnerships, rather than how we as a society collectively treat the institution. While an individual marriage is very personal and the parameters of it are particular to the individuals involved, marriage as an institution has more depth and complexity than just being a sum of components. As such, how we regard marriage as a society is not informed just by our individual experiences with marriage (either directly or by proximity to others), but also how we perceive the institution as a whole, with all the legal and economic considerations that it entails. The legal considerations were touched on in passing in the debate, but the considerable economic considerations were nearly entirely ignored.

This is shortsighted; expounding that marriage is a relevant institution simply because 90% of USians will get married at some point in their lives (as Krasnow does; the figure in Canada appears to be around 85%) misses much of the picture as to why people get married. Leaving aside that Krasnow’s argument is based on a rosy-glassed romantic view of marriage, which she later says is not the basis of a marriage, insisting that a social institution is culturally relevant without exploring why people opt into it is toothless. There are still plenty of economic and codified social benefits to marriage, including the oft-cited (and much dismissed by the insistently rosy-glassed among us) things like tax incentives, increased availability of pooled resources like health benefits, and next-of-kin status in the event of hospital stays.

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Bonne Année

Happy New Year from the promised land!

Since I’m now the fancy sort of person who visits Hermes, I plan on styling all future outfits after this little lady:

Also, Voldemort is celebrating Christmas in France.

 

Thursday Links

How the West plays into the caricature of North Korea. Relatedly, an examination of the public grief of North Koreans after Kim Jong Il’s death.

The gay community in Minnesota apologizes to Amy Koch for ruining her marriage.

Radioactive spiderwebs found on nuclear waste.

Love me, love my footnotes.