Our one year anniversary just passed of our adventure to Jamaica and I can’t believe I haven’t shared this amazing trip with you yet! I LOVE JAMAICA! YEAH MON! Uggghhh I’m dying to go back, especially after editing the photo picks for this post! I’m always on the look out for steals of travel deals and one day I stumbled upon a too good to be true airfare to Montego Bay. Without even researching where to stay I decided to just jump on it and immediately put the word out and wrangled my dear friend Kelsey to come along! Here is our story:

As soon as we landed the hustling began but I just told Kelsey to leave dem Juggalos to me haha. We found our ride and was offered a nice cold Red Stripe before we even jumped in the van. Well the clouds rolled in and it was a dreary wet 90 minute ride into Negril. We stayed at Judy House which is a tropical and lush paradise with a few charming cottages run by Sue who is an exceptional host and entertaining local to say the least! We both highly recommend this place if you are thinking about visiting Jamaica! It is a true authentic experience and we are beyond satisfied that we chose this accommodation! We didn’t let the rain stop us that night and found ourselves trekking bare foot down the dirt road to the beach for some Ital delicacies!

Everyday brought a new adventure and I’m only going to talk about a few highlights and let the photos speak for the rest! Besides, what happens in Jamaica stays in Jamaica, right?! Negril is divided into two sections, the beach and the cliffs. Everyone’s a “driver” so it’s easy to get around, just don’t do what we did and be too brave for your own good. Needless to say we made it home alive haha with some great stories. Anyways the water is incredible! One day while swimming I found some starfish and there are often even stingrays that come very close to the shore. We went snorkelling and saw a sunken canon and anchor! You never know what you will find at the beach but by far our favourite catch was the Jamaican Patty Man. We ventured north to Moon Bay which was very quiet compared to the 7 mile strip of beach. Here we scored a half lobster meal for around only $9! We also took quite the journey to get to the Pelican Bar, a hut a quarter mile out on a sand bar built from driftwood. You just have to go and experience this! We made some friends and travelled even further south down to Treasure Beach; the sand here is very different. We swung into Jake’s for a drink before heading back to Negril. For the record there are no road rules in Jamaica so brace yourself for a wild ride anywhere you drive. The food is to die for here and quite reasonably priced as long as you steer away from all the tourist hot spots. We were big fans of just grabbing some fresh fruit from a road side vendor, in particular Otaheite (Jamaican apple) and Starapples. We had lots of fresh fish including one cooked right before our eyes by our buddy Captain Ziggy who kindly hosted us at his place just a few steps from the beach. We went to Xtabi a couple times to eat and play! It’s a gorgeous setting on the cliffs and has caves below. We had to stop in to the famous Rick’s Cafe where I was stupidly brave enough to jump off of a 40ft cliff and of course that didn’t end well as I bruised my coccyx (tail bone). Even dumber the next day we rented a scooter! Haha neither of us had ever driven one and my butt was in so much pain I could barely even sit on it. I toughed it out and we covered a lot of ground and even discovered a really neat hammock “playground”! As well as a lighthouse that is actually the westernmost point of all Jamaica! We found the groundkeeper and got to climb to the top to watch a breathtaking sunset! Right next to it is The Caves Resort which is owned by Chris Blackwell the famous record producer and founder of Island Records, notorious for bringing Bob Marley, Grace Jones and U2 among many others to fame. Random fact: his mother Blanche was Ian Fleming’s lover and muse for Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. Well the last experience I will share with you is this: one night while walking back to Sue’s one of her neighbors’ invited us into their little homey shack, introduced us to Jennifer Brown (J.B.) and even taught us how to play dominoes!!! It was an unforgettable experience! The people of Jamaica, the food and the scenery are what make this island getaway such paradise! I would recommend a briefing on Patois though. Oh yeah and one last thing… the men all drink what they refer to as “man potion” haha (see photo of Magnum). They mix this with Red Bull and rum of course. I don’t think they really need it our “Coca Cola Bottles” were a huge hit!

Disclaimer: avoid prolonged exposure to my bikini photos and do not view while operating heavy machinery. Side effects are not common but may include… just joking guys. But seriously feel free to share with your single brothers, sons, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. HOOK ME UP!

I’ve always been fascinated with the beauty of swans. When I was younger we even had a few grace our delicately manicured pond on our 5 acre property in the country. When I travelled throughout Europe for the first time as an adult with my father we toured Neuschwanstein Castle in Hohenschwangau near the charming little town Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. Probably one of the most notable and recognizable castles as some say this is the castle that Walt Disney fashioned Sleeping Beauty’s castle after; my all time favourite Disney movie just for the record. This was the palace of King Ludwig II and was built not only as a retreat but also as a homage to Richard Wagner, an influential opera composer, amongst many other gifted titles. One of his most epic productions is Lohengrin which displays the direct influence of Wagner’s and the King’s relationship to his work and consequently dubbed Ludwig as the Swan Knight. Within the same year as this trip I was also fortunate enough to see this opera live while in New York at the Metropolitan. The opera itself is extremely dark and so is the not so happily ever after ending to Ludwig’s real life fairytale. You can find swan’s all over this magnificent castle! Coincidentally enough when I was in Portugal last September I found myself in the Sala dos Cisnes at the Palácio Nacional de Sintra!

Swans have spanned the test of time as true symbols of not only grace, purity and love but also of transformation. You can date back their influence ages before that of Roman or Medieval times in which the above Palaces were created. One of the most famous and maybe controversial swan motifs would be Leda and the Swan from Greek mythology! I’m fascinated by this story and how it has transcended upon so many other literary works over time. As well as left it’s mark in art history as renditions have been created by greats such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Paul Cezanne. And I even stumbled upon a beautiful marble carving of Leda and the Swan while in the Museo del Prado in Madrid! Another note about swans in Greek mythology would be the recurring legend of Cygnus which also just so happens to be one of the most recognizable constellations in the night’s sky!

Swans are greatly revered in several different cultures throughout the world. In Hinduism they are considered to be saint-like as the main attribute of their feathers being able to repel water is much like the characteristic of being a part of the world with out becoming attached to it. In modern culture you may be familiar with swan’s being part of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake and much more recently the thrilling movie Black Swan.

Since I sometimes, well actually pretty often, go months without posting anything it’s because I’m very caught up in my job! If you don’t know… I’m the Tradeshow and Showroom Coordinator for a wholesale distribution company that does in house textile design and has exclusive rights to distribute handfuls of brands in Canada. Our customers are all over the world and I’m responsible for merchandising and coordinating all logistics with the major tradeshows we exhibit at: CGTA in Toronto, IHA in Chicago, IGF in NY and Ambiente in Frankfurt, Germany. Dozens of smaller tradeshows happen as well in temporary locations or inside our representative’s showrooms. The wholesale industry has two seasons and it can be extremely stressful as they all happen around the same time. It’s a good thing that I am super organized and can manage well under pressure.

Anyways I have a bunch of photos I would like to share with you that demonstrates a small portion of what I do. Budgets are EXTREMELY tight so since I am incredibly resourceful, creative and what I like to call myself… a professional problem solver, I make most of my props in a very DIY fashion. I like to re-use as much as possible and yes I have even dived into dumpsters and picked things up from back alleys. Well here we go…

I scored dozens of these large cans from The Old Spaghetti Factory!!! Then I used a pop rivet gun to piece them together!

Scored these rims and other bicycle parts from Our Community Bikes on Main St.

Shutters kindly donated! Craigslist is always my #1 go to source!

I wish Canada had a Hobby Lobby that store is the best down South!

I'm also known as the Queen of Chicken WIre! Ha! Have also used numerous pallets for display.

Dug all these sticks out of the forest, scrubbed 'em down and roped 'em together!

Tee-pee again with home made mini spools and wood and rope ladders!

I hunted down almost 100 old spoons, hammered them down flat, drilled a hole for a screw and then bent the handles into hooks!!!

Spoon hooks for mugs!!!

Spoon hooks on coat rack for aprons!

Designed and made these wood racks and also made a Xmas tree out of napkins!

Bought a 2 pound block of clear rubber from Thomas FX! Then scoured them down into cubes!

They float! Compared to acrylic anyways!

Judy dress form covered with vintage vogue patterns under Apron!

Designed and made these trees with little shelves and hooks!

Designed and made this tree, wrapped tea towels around it and then laid old Xmas lights out around the product!

Corrugated cardboard trees!

Found all of these pieces of furniture on Craigslist and then re-finished them!

Found all of these pieces of furniture on Craigslist and then re-finished them!

Found all of these pieces of furniture on Craigslist and then re-finished them!

Made these frames from moulding strips and backed them with a sheet of steel that was spray painted white. The paint was matched to the product!

FAKE SNOW! Bought it at Thomas FX... it expands 100x! Whatever you do, DON'T put it down the drain!

Fake snow!