Ivan Grundahl Night Model

I few months ago I bid on an amazing Ivan Grundahl coat on eBay. Much to my surprise, I snapped it up for about $140. It retailed for much, much more, but a brick and mortar store was selling last year’s inventory online.

Ivan Grundahl is a stellar Danish designer. The lines are sharp, the silhouettes are dramatic. His work is often asymmetrical. It’s deconstructed yet simple. To me, the pieces are very artistic.

I wore the coat to a movie a few weeks ago. Last night, out of the blue, my husband said, “can you put on that coat and come with me?” It was after ten pm and I wondered what he was up to. He grabbed his camera and tripod, an umbrella, and a stool, and took me to Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood.

He hoisted me up onto a loading dock by a set of train tracks and set up a shot. He wanted a model for an idea he had. Here’s what he created:

grundahl

umbrella

The photos are not manipulated. I love how they almost look black and white, but aren’t. Because we were out after dark, he used an exposure that opened the shutter for more light. The photos are slightly grainy, but that’s one of the things I love about them.

On the way home, we stopped in the Cascadia neighborhood and he took this shot:

bench

Then we found an empty parking lot downtown Seattle, and he took a few more shots:

sitting

night light

Finally, I convinced him to join me. He set the timer and we posed for a few shots together:

couple

together

Usually, I’m the one with the tripod and timer. For this blog, I’m my own photographer. So it was nice to be a model for a night and follow someone else’s direction.

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Red Florals from Madrid

Madrid, New Mexico, that is.

On my way home from NM, I took the Turquoise Trail, as it’s known, from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. The scenic byway cuts through a 15,000 square mile area in the heart of central New Mexico. Madrid was booming during the height of the coal mining era in the 1800s, but became practically a ghost town when the industry fizzled.

Fortunately, artists and craftspeople took up residence in the Victorian homes and clapboard storefronts and now the tiny town boasts a thriving arts community. I had lunch at Mama Lisa’s Ghost Town kitchen and ate a scrumptious butternut squash and pumpkin seed taco platter.

kitchen

Then I found, among the galleries, a funky consignment shop called Redbone. I shopped the rows of vintage clothing and jewelry while listening to 80s new wave music. Redbone has a fabulous selection of perfectly broken-in vintage cowboy boots. I couldn’t find a red pair in my size though. Too bad—they would have looked great with the floral skirt I bought.

floral skirt

red t

T-shirt: Victoria’s Secret
Skirt: Thrifted (at Redbone)
Stone pendant: Street artist in Santa Fe
Sandals: Payless
Cross-body bag: Shiraleah

Later in the day, it got cooler so I thought I’d see how to make this summery southwestern look work in a Seattle spring evening. I added my Joe’s blazer and off I went, into the sunset. Is it weird that I kept humming “Blinded by the Light” as I drove to dinner?

blinded

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Leaving Santa Fe

All good things must end. And so my trip to Santa Fe came to a close. It was a fabulous city, and a great location for a long weekend of art, shopping, food, and friends.

The day before we left, my friends and I tallied up the jewelry we’d purchased during our stay. It was impressive.

jewelry

We found great pieces by local designers. Turquoise was the big hit, but we snapped up pieces in amethyst and other materials too. The morning of our departure, Cheryl and I wandered from our hotel, the Inn at Loretto, to the open-air artist market next door and bought even more jewelry.

We met two artists who collect semi precious stones and polish and refine them. They will wrap any piece in silver and create a ring or a pendent. Cheryl had a turquoise ring made. They made me a pendent. Here’s my pendant, and a trilobite fossil pendant I picked up from them as well.

pendants

The jewelry shops are pricier than the street vendors, but even by street vendors prices, these guys were reasonable. The pendants were $30 each.

In my rush to get authentic Southwest jewelry while I could, I snapped up a few pieces of Native American jewelry from another artist. His prices were terrific too, and all the pieces are made by him. I bought a bracelet, two necklaces, and three pair of earrings. Their style was similar to a bracelet (also in the following picture, in the upper-right corner) I bought earlier at the Farmers’ Market.

turquoise

multi

earrings

While browsing the outdoor market, I met Takako, a Japanese expat living and designing in Santa Fe. I bought one of her fantastic silver and amethyst rings.

ring

My other pieces, that I’d purchased earlier in the trip, include a fair-trade, hand-woven bracelet by Lilybead

bracelet

And an enameled metal necklace from Dancing Turtle Studios. I found their booth at the Farmer’s Market too.

enameled necklace

I really enjoyed meeting the artists who created these pieces. The jewelry is a souvenir of my trip and will always be special to me because each piece has a story behind it.

The end of our trip wasn’t all about bling. Before we left Santa Fe, Autumn made delicious, refreshing drinks for the four of us. We named it The Blue Loretto. Here’s how to make it:

  • Four parts Trader Joe’s Sparkling Blueberry Flavored Juice Beverage
  • One part Vodka
  • Fresh blueberries
  • Ice

Directions: Throw all the ingredients in a glass and enjoy. Simple!

blue loretto

I miss Santa Fe. The sun, the art, the adobe architecture, the friendly people. All of what the city offers makes me want to go back. I hope you get to visit too.

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Santa Fe Art Walk

Canyon Road is Santa Fe’s premier art district. It’s an old part of town and boasts over 100 galleries (and a smattering of shops and restaurants). It’s an incredible place. The rows of adobe houses-turned-galleries offer art to view and purchase. Of course there is classic Southwest art, but there are a lot of other styles too: abstract, photorealistic, sculpture, glass work, jewelry, pottery and more. Truly something for everybody.

To me, even the buildings on Canyon Road are pieces of art. I photographed the structures on the walking tour I took with my friends. It didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect.

turquoise door

blue window

chilis

On our walk, I noticed an unusually large quantity of animal sculptures. Mostly horses and cattle, with some bears and rabbits thrown in the mix. These animals seemed representative of the local fauna.

horse

burro and scooter

dancing sheep

Yes, Laura, Cheryl, and Autumn are following the herd. It takes two to tango and apparently three to can-can. Well, four can play that game.

mannequins

Dress: Forever 21 via thrifted
Wrap: NYC Street Vendor
Sunglasses: Target
Shoes: Timberland

Leave it to me to shift the conversation to fashion. Today, however, I saw a fashion/art connection, as you can see by the dresses at various galleries.

dress sculpture

dress as art

notes dress

Canyon Road was probably the highlight of my trip. At lunch, I had the best veggie burger in the world at The Tea House. It was homemade and so delicious. They make a mean latté too. On the way back, I couple of other pieces of art captured my attention: The honeycomb and bee pattern is similar to the dress Laura wore yesterday.

bees

Glass is a popular art medium in the Pacific Northwest and that’s probably why these sculptures drew me to them.

glass

Prices for art ranged from less than $100 to well into five digits. There was a variety of things to look at and a few pieces I could actually afford. Mostly, I found the day inspiring. I’ve already pulled out my paints and canvases and have a few plans. Just in case my plans fall through, I wrote down the number of one of the galleries. There’s a wonderful abstract painting at a manageable price—and they ship.

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Shopping with Friends in Santa Fe

Arriving in New Mexico was terrific. The sky was blue, and the temperatures were in the high-70s. After eight months of winter, my three Seattleite friends and I deserved a break from the rain.

We ditched our dreary, dull NW clothes and arrived in NM with our luggage full of sunny SW colors. On our first morning, Cheryl and I climbed a hill with a nice vista of Santa Fe. It was windy, but gorgeous. Cheryl wore a bright orange sun dress with embroidered accents at the waist and paired it with braided strappy sandals and a coordinating brown Hobo bag.

orange dress

Dress: Max Studio
Sandals: Madden Girl
Cross-body bag: Hobo (at Burnt Sugar)

Here I am on the same hill. I chose a sunny marigold tank top and a reversible skirt. This side, with its orange, green and gold florals, looked nice next to Cheryl’s orange dress.

reversible skirt

Tank: Wet Seal
Purse: Coach (via thrifted)
Reversible skirt: Zand
Sandals: Naturalizer
Sunglasses: Target

Later, we met up with our friend, Autumn, who embraced the southwest vibe with a turquoise tank and matching pedicure. We were on the Turquoise Trail after all! Jewelry purchases wouldn’t be far behind.

turquoise tank

We walked to the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market where we found pastries, herbs, jewelry, paintings, textiles and yarn, and lots of other neat things. Cheryl grabbed coffee that even a Seattle coffee connoisseur would approve of, and I found a giant goose egg!

goose egg

Jacket: Betsey Johnson via thrifted
Earrings: Shirazi

We walked back to Santa Fe’s plaza, where we found more street vendors, musicians and dancers, and our other friend, Laura. Laura wore a sky blue dress, white cardigan, and black accents. From afar, you might not be able to see the neat bee and honeycomb design on the dress, but check it out in the close-up. It’s really unique!

blue dress

bee dress

Dress: Smoking Lily

By the end of our day, we all had jewelry (among other purchases). I’ll devote an entire post to all the great accessories we scored in Santa Fe. But first I have to finish start tomorrow’s post about the Santa Fe art scene.

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Sunshine on My Shoulder

If sunshine on his shoulder made John Denver happy, you can imagine my elation at this: I have a bright yellow shoulder bag and I just went to Santa Fe! Now, full disclosure: I was there this past weekend and I’m back already, but for the next few days, I’ll get you caught up on the happenings. I’ll start with an uneventful trip to the airport, aka, “what I wore on the plane.”

new mexico

A few weeks ago I bought a fabulous vegan shoulder bag in the brightest yellow possible. I found it at Strut, a shoe-and-accessory store in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge neighborhood. The bag is by Portland designer, Michelle Kline. I couldn’t wait to use it, and thought it would be a great carry-on bag. Plus, in Santa Fe, it would be a great purse for my shopping trips and art gallery walks.

Last week I also picked up this tunic at Damselfly in Ballard. It could be worn as a dress, but I’d probably save that for fall and pair it with tights. It will make a great bathing suit cover-up in Santa Fe, and it’s a comfortable shirt to travel in.

yellow bag

loading the car

Tunic: Damselfly
Jeans: Bluenotes
Belt: Thrifted
Cuff: Gifted
Bag: Snap Design
Shoes: Timberland
Wrap: Street Vendor in NYC

I always try to pack light (one suitcase, carry-on size). I also try to pack items that I can mix and match so I have a lot of choices with a limited number of pieces. For Santa Fe, this included: cropped jeans, leggings, tunic, casual dress, evening dress, reversible skirt, three tank tops, maxi skirt, denim jacket, cardigan, bathing suit, ballet flats, flat sandals, chunky sandals, heels for evening, two wraps, sunglasses, shoulder bag, cross-body bag, clutch.

I could have packed less, but I wore all my pieces. During the day, the temperatures in Santa Fe were in the high 70s, but in the evenings it dropped to mid-40s. I needed a variety of styles (shopping, dining, galleries), and I needed layers.

One thing you shouldn’t forget, no matter where you are this spring and summer: Sunscreen. Sunburns and premature wrinkles (not to mention skin cancer) are never in style.

Tune in tomorrow for Shopping with Friends in Santa Fe.

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Crystal Head Vodka

I think I found my vodka of choice.

I first saw Crystal Head Vodka in a magazine and thought the skull-shaped bottle would be a fun novelty. I found a bottle of it in the local liquor store, but it wasn’t cheap. It cost just over $50 for a 750 ml bottle. Since I had just received my tax refund, I decided to splurge.

skullYes, the bottle is really goth (or as my coworkers said, metal). But the vodka is smooth. I like to mix vodka with orange juice or cranberry juice, but this goes down straight up.

Crystal Head is founded by actor, Dan Aykroyd, and fine artist, John Alexander. Both are avid enthusists of the crystal head legend. The heads are an archeological mystery. Thirteen ancient crystal heads have been found in various parts of the world. No one knows how they were made, or by whom.

As a Canadian,  appreciate that only pure glacial water from Newfoundland is used to make the vodka. The vodka is quadruple-distilled and triple filtered using Herkimer diamonds, a type of quartz crystal.

I can’t wait to finish the bottle and fill it with water and food dye. I think a red skull would look great on my shelf at work. The clerk at the liquor store recommended turning it into a lamp with a simple cork-and-wick and oil (all of which you can get at a craft supply store). I think a plain old drippy candle would look great too.

If the only selling point was the bottle, this wouldn’t have staying power, but I really like the product. I’ll be buying more Crystal Head Vodka soon.

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Celebrate International Fluevog Day

Today is International Fluevog Day! According to the Fluevog website, it’s an “international affair that challenges us all to be better Fluevogers, teachers, lovers and neighbours.”

You might know that I have a love affair with Fluevogs. I have five pair (modest compared to some). In fact, the only time I break my vegan shoe rule is when I cave and buy a pair of ‘vogs. However, there are vegan options on the site, and I’ll try to purchase from that department in the future.

I first began lusting after Fluevogs in high school. I was lucky to live in Toronto, where there’s a store. Now, I’m gainfully employed in Seattle, where, coincidentally, there’s also a store. I think all the “cool” cities have Fluevog stores. It’s a great way to decide to live. Portland, Vancouver, Boston. Hmm. There’s an interesting corelation.

Of course, back in high school, Fluevogs were out of my price range. Now can splurge and celebrate: Tax refund? Fluevogs. Raise? Fluevogs. Christmas money? Fluevogs.

I love the unique style of John Fluevog’s designs. And I appreciate how utterly comfortable they all are. They’re hand-made too. Real pieces of art. In fact, one of the things I’d like to do is hang a few small shelves in my bedroom and put my ‘vogs on them. It’s a waste to have works of art sitting in my closet.

Here are my Fluevogs, in no particular order:

minis

My first pair: You can recognize Minis by their heels

everywear

I branched out, color-wise, with these Everywears

Minis boots

Minis are so comfortable, I got a pair of boots

blind faith

I bought Blind Faith shoes with a gift certificate I won

red boots

These Hope boots were half price!

~

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Sunny Yellow for Santa Fe

I’m planning a trip to Santa Fe. So if you’re tired of me complaining about gray skies and rain, don’t worry. I’ll soon have outfit posts featuring summer wear. I cannot wait. Actually, I couldn’t wait and I went ahead and road-tested a dress I bought at a thrift store a few months ago.

yellow sundress

Dress: Forever 21 via thrifted
Tank: Wet Seal
Hat: Foodland in Hawaii
Shades: Target
Shoes: Payless
Purse: JC Penneys

Don’t I look happy? Sadly, it was about 43 degrees on this particular day so I couldn’t keep this look going for long. I did find a way to “winterize” it. I ditched the hat and glasses and grabbed my go-to safari jacket. I added a DIY scarf that I made out of a T-shirt, swapped the sandals for boots, and off I went.

warm yellow

Scarf: DIY
Jacket: Target via thrifted
Boots: Wanted

Are you in the throes of spring or are you still hanging onto winter wear?

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Guest Blogger: Deb of Real Girl Runway

I’m Deb of Real Girl Runway and I’m so happy to be guest blogging here today on Jean of all Trades.  Jean and I have arranged to switch blogs today through the Feminist Fashion Bloggers group.  Make sure to check out Jean’s post on my blog here.

I am so fortunate that I’ve had so many wonderful women who’ve influenced my life and my style.  When it comes to fashion, some of my biggest influences came from my family.  I come from a long line of stylish women.  My Mom has amazing personal style as does my Aunt.  I love looking at pictures of my family from bygone eras.

Long Necklace

My mom always encouraged me to be myself.  She is a very classic dresser but I’ve always been a more on the adventurous side.  She suffered through my crazy punk, 80’s teen years, full of crazy combinations, studs and spiked hair.  Even if Mom didn’t like something that I was wearing, she always had something positive to say.  She helped me to refine my personal style and to be unique but appropriate for all occasions.  She taught me everything I know about remixing.  When we would shop and I’d find an item I loved, her first question was always, what else do you have that you can wear that with?  She encouraged me to stretch my dollar and taught me how to bargain shop.

bangles

One of the most important fashion lessons my mom ever taught me was how to walk in heels.  When she bought me my first pair of heels, she made me practice.  She explained about the ways to walk gracefully and take smaller strides.  She showed me that clomping and stomping in heels just looked clumsy and not pretty.  It’s a lesson that’s stayed with me my entire life.  I’m not a petite Sarah Jessica Parker size. Learning how to walk in heels as a tall, plus size girl was important.

I’ve learned so many great style lessons from the women in my family.  There are too many lessons to count but here are a few:

  • Fit is the most important thing.  If you can’t alter it yourself, find a good tailor.
  • When you buy an item, think of your closet and how you can mix and match it in the future.  Buyer’s remorse is never fun.
  • Great jewelry and accessories can make or break an outfit.
  • Take off your makeup every night and moisturize.
  • Always be yourself.  Expressing yourself through your clothes is a must.

Vintage items from My Mom

Some of my most cherished fashion pieces are accessories given to me by my Mom.  They are items that she has owned for many years and I always admired.  I’ve worn some of them in my posts.  I remember Mom carrying her gold Whiting & Davis bag to parties when I was very young.  I always loved it and was so excited when she gave it to me.  Every time I wear something that belonged to her, it brings back wonderful memories.  The items that she’s given me are wonderful but the lessons are priceless.

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