My City

Happy hump day! Hope your week's going well.

I wanted to share a story I did for The Simple Things magazine, one of my favourite mags. Each issue they do a "My City" feature, and they asked me to do one on Vancouver. I love these features, so I was pretty happy to do one for my hometown. Click here for the whole story.

What do you love about your city? I'd love to hear about it.

Have a good day!

janis

Easter Weekend Observations

Are you still enjoying a long weekend? It's been sunny and perfect, here in Vancouver. Full of chocolate rabbits? I'm officially done with hot cross buns and chocolate anything....for awhile at least.

This is a little of what I got up to this weekend...

Worked on pics of a shoot I did with Ami McKay, of Pure Design, and stylist Crystal Carson. That also happens to be one of my images turned into a light box. Love light boxes.

Played around with some Impossible Project film with my sx-70. A little tour of Vancouver, "polaroid" style. Have you tried this instant film? Not like the old style polaroid film that would develop within minutes....this takes about 45 minutes, depending on the temperature, camera, etc. Still love it though ;) 

My contribution to the family Easter dinner: cupcakes. I used the Wacky Cake recipe, but added a caramilk chocolate egg in the centre, and iced with butter icing and coconut. 

Easter always brings out a little pastel in me. 

What did you do this long weekend? Still enjoying it? 

Have a great day! Back soon.

Janis

Weekend Observations

I hope you had a great weekend. If you're in Canada, you're probably still in weekend mode due to "civic" holidays. I'm heading out for a mini camping trip but, before I hit the road, here's a little of what my weekend looked like....

Checked out Duchesse, a lovely new "vintage and such" shop located in Chinatown. If you're in the Vancouver area, it's definitely a must see. Owners Anna McLean and Anna Maclellan, have put together a fantastic collection of vintage clothing, accessories, home wares, and furniture. The shop was designed by their friend, Ricky Alvarez. The shop itself has so many inspiring design ideas.

I love the chevron wall, made with various tones of plywood. 

A great shelving unit made of old school chairs, showcases vintage office accessories, shoes and lamps. 

Played around with a sunography kit. Have you every tried sunography? I did a little of this kind of printing as a kid. I still think it's magical. You just lay an object on top of the paper and allow to sit in full sun for about 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water and, voila, you have a print. 

Made a few origami boxes for tea lights in the back yard. I love the glow of colour. 

What did you get up to this weekend? If you're in Vancouver, did you manage to check out the Pride parade? Heard it was a good one! 

I'll be back next Friday. Until then, have a good week!

janis  

Weekend Observations

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Here's a little of mine...

Nerissa Goco is the designer of these beautiful bags. Check out their shop here. 

See more of the Cross here.

This fun "guerilla gardening" workshop was put on by Aloe Designs. Guest speaker was author and blogger, Andrea Bellamy. Hands in this pic belong to Aynsley Tanner, my partner in seed bomb making. I can't wait to start tossing these randomly throughout the city. 

This book is so helpful if you have just a tiny space to work with. I've shot Andrea in her tiny garden for Sunset magazine - it's incredible how many edibles she grows. 

What did you get up to this weekend? Hope it was a fun one!

Back soon,

Janis

New Year, New Restaurant

Hello 2012! I hope you all had a great weekend. What did you get up to for New Year's Eve? Due to my incessant coughing, we had a semi-quiet night with friends. Nice way to wrap up the year.

As you may know, I'm part of a family that insists on opening restaurants. Number 4 is due to open January 4th, so I thought I'd share some pics of all of them. They were all designed by Evoke (husband and brother).

Habit is kind of like a 70's rumpus room. Paintings are by Robert Edmonds (a.k.a. my permanent date)

Latitude is a mix of marble, wood and concrete. Food and cocktail style is Latin American.

The Cascade Room is located right beside Habit. It's a modern British style "pub". I love the Queen Victoria lamp shades. 

Introducing the newest member of the group, The Union. These pics were taken yesterday, while frantic set up was taking place. South East Asian street food in a reclaimed wood, concrete and tile setting. I was asked to get some shots of the neighbourhood, focusing on textures and colour, for the backlit bar cabinets (pictured above). I want to do this in our kitchen!

You'll find The Union, right next to the Jimi Hendrix shrine (go figure) on Union Street in Chinatown/Strathcona neighbourhood. Purple Haze. Love it.

If you pop by, be sure to check out these great shops all on the same block:

Charlie and Lee

Jett Grrl Bike Studio

The Board of Trade

Land

Hogan's Alley Cafe

Have a great day everyone! Back soon.

Janis

Sunday Observations

Having a nice Sunday? What did you get up to today? If you're in Canada, you just may be eating turkey and stuffing ;)

I just got back from a meeting of fellow business owners on Union Street, in Chinatown/Strathcona. If you haven't been to the area in awhile, you have to visit soon. We're so excited to be part of this strip of Union Street (located on the same strip as the Jimi Hendrix shrine! Did you know he had a "shrine" here?) 

Click here, to check out their online shop!

For more, click here.

Website is up and at 'em. More info to come!

My giant family Thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow, but we are heading to a friend's for their Thanksgiving tonight so I made this....

(if you'd like the recipe, just ask me!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Back soon.

Janis

Sunday Observations

Hope you all had a nice weekend. It was pretty quiet for us, just lots of clean-up from my camping trip.

Here's a little bit of my Sunday....

If you're in the Vancouver area, I hope you'll check out this shop. They are at the corner of East 10th Avenue and Kingsway, and they'll be there until the end of August. They carry handmade creations by Henderson Dry Goods, Herriott Grace, Megan Hubert, to name a few, and the owners themselves, Hanahlie and Caleb, are the talents behind the grizzly bears, sofa and calendars.

What did you do today? Hope it was a good one! 

Back soon!

janis

Sunday Observations

It's been a pretty great weekend here, for Vancouverites, with the Canucks up 2-0 against the Bruins. Go Canucks! Bring it home!
We took advantage of the sunshine in Vancouver today, before jumping on the ferry to Victoria. I'm back in Victoria (on Vancouver Island) for another crack of dawn shoot. This time I brought my husband to assist me.

That's it for my Sunday. What did you do today?
If you missed Friday's post, click here to check out the give away! I'll be making the draw next Wednesday.

Back on Monday!
janis

Sunday Observations

Just a few observations from my very quick trip to Victoria. It's such a pretty city. We squeaked out some beautiful weather for the shoot, so I'm relieved. Whew.

That's what I observed in the 18 hours I was in Victoria. What did you get up to today?

I Love A Parade

Last week was the busiest week I've had in awhile. I shot a story every day, so my eyes look like they're bleeding. Happy to be working so much, but I was really happy for the weekend to commence. How was your weekends? Did you check your local Chinese New Year festivals, by any chance?

As I've mentioned (many times), I love Chinatown so I had to check out the Chinese New Year parade and festival, even though it was raining. Umbrellas were up, but umbrella etiquette was no where to be found, unfortunately. ;)

Upon receiving the third poke in the eye, by a spectator's umbrella, we headed to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen garden for a little calm.

Happy New Year! I 'll be back on Wednesday (I know I said that last week too. Sorry!), with a city girl condo.  Until then, I hope you have a great start to the week.
janis