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!

So I spontaneously decided to go down to good ‘ol Las Vegas for a weekend with the girls. It wasn’t hot enough I don’t know why but I have been rained out every, single place that I have travelled to this year! What gives?! When I do come back to Vancouver I must say that the rain is my nirvana and what really makes me feel at home. But come on, while I’m on vacation, and in a place that’s supposed to be tropical and HOT?! Well I toughed it out and I have to rave about my top 3 highlights!!!

The last time I was in Vegas a huge chunk of it was under construction. Well I guess it always is as it’s ever evolving but seriously this is one of the best recent additions to the Strip in my opinion. Well the highlight that tops my list would be The Cosmopolitan! I was lucky enough to check out one of the Penthouses (yeah one of the perks of being a girl in LV) and oh boy! These suites are phenomenal! The aesthetic is super contemporary with a real quirky boutique vibe. And the view is breath taking!

Penthouse View of Bellagio's Fountain and The Strip

The Palms from the Penthouse

One of many bathrooms in the suite... check out that WALLPAPER!

My FAVOURITE closet EVERRR!!!

Stunning Chandelier bar!

Marquee Club Pool

Marquee bathroom mirror: "I am not cheap, but I am on special this week"!

More funky wallpaper in Marquee!

So there was the Cosmopolitan and the new CityCenter… entertainment and retail therapy… the only thing left is something yummy… MMM. One of the best indulgences that seriously needs to get up here to be part of the mecca of sushi in Vancouver: Sushi Samba!!! I’ve been to other locations in Chicago and NYC and I just can’t get enough!

The last time I was in Vegas my biggest highlight was checking out the “Boneyard“! Super cool! I was watching an episode of CSI one night and this place happened to be the murder scene… I totally stopped watching and researched it right away! And it was real! You can get up close and personal with historic pieces of the Strip’s past! Rumour has it that they are waiting on enough funding so they can re-furbish some of the old neon signs into working order again!

Stuff like this, really cranks my wheel! I love history and to have the opportunity to be that close is priceless since you can’t go back in time! I grew up watching shows like Hart to Hart, Dallas, Bionic Woman and of course Vega$. So although some signs date back all the way to the 1930′s there is still a very strong 60′s/70′s nostalgia in the air here. This was a time of rapid expansion and constant reinvention as it was a real estate frenzy and next big resort race to cash in. Poor old signs would be replaced with new space age inspired ones since there was a man planning to land on the moon. Needless to say that if you want to experience something different when in Vegas you MUST visit this place! They have wonderful, highly knowledgable and passionate volunteers that could share stories with you for hours!

Oh and one last neat fact about Vegas: I was conceived at the Golden Nugget! Woo!