Sunday, June 24, 2007


Last night Umeboshi had an art event that I was so late on e-mailing an invite out for to our e-mail list. I admit I was really nervous because I was a part of the show. The shoes that each artist was given to use as a canvas are up for sale to the highest bidder. All of the proceeds are going to a downtown east side charity.

We had so much fun and loved each pair of shoes so much that Dane and I ended up bidding on a pair each. The show is up for at least another couple of days so you still have time to drop by Umeboshi to see them.



Dane bid on these shoes that Rose did, but then was out bid by Julius (Julius is an old friend of Dane's, he helped build the new Lark).










I bid on these shoes that Nick made. I love the colours that he used and I love his line work.










Eric Chan seems to have appeared out of the blue. Dane placed a bid on his shoes since he was out bid on Rose's.








Katherine (amazing artist and makes beautiful Bouquet's at the Flower Factory) made these. She used layer upon layer of graphite, and with a pin she scratched the feather detail into them. The charms that dangle from the top are from her aunt who collected them on her travels around the world.















I didn't get a photo of the shoes painted by the other artists including myself. You'll just have to head up to Umeboshi to see them for yourself. They were all really interesting and so different from one another. It was a great event o be a part of and to see how each of us had a different approach to the same item.

At the moment Umeboshi has a lot of really beautiful strappy sandals in stock. I know because I walked out of the party with a brand new pair of Biviel sandals last night. I know that as soon as the hot weather hits all of the most common sizes, like mine, will be gone; so I scooped up a pair of the perfect summer shoe and I'm doing my best to will summer into being.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

2 year old Nudie Jeans

Here are some photo's of Natsumi's Slim Kim's two years on. For the first wash Natsumi flipped them inside out and did a hot wash after a year. Since then she has washed them only one more time. I personally don't think that I could get back into my Kim's if I washed them warm or hot, but for a greater wash effect the warmer water seems to have done the trick.



The shoes Natsumi is wearing are Repetto available at Umeboshi www.umeboshishoes.com








I have no idea how Natsumi got these little holes in her front pockets, I love them.



The back pocket detail is really great. I love how the denim has molded around her lip balm.










These are the wrinkles behind her knees.







Natsumi has patched the left knee to prevent a little hole from getting bigger and she's about to patch the other one too.


It's so hard to imagine that a pair of raw denim jeans will ever break in and look this loved. When you first get them you might worry about the indigo dye coming off on your shoes and your couch, you get worried about spilling food on them, and then you wash them and don't ever want to let them go. Thanks Nudie for making such great jeans!

Friday, June 8, 2007

Mount Pleasant festival

The Main Street festival put on by the BIA was an amazing success!





The photo above is of the barbque that Aurora Bistro used to make the ribs you see below. They were disapearing so fast into the mouths of festival goers like myself.





Thanks for the ribs Jeff!





And here is a picture of Rich Hope using a Rib Bone as a slide! That man IS rock and roll!


And there was Elvis too.





Cotton Candy made by a very kind volunteer named Owen. Thanks Owen!






And more Cotton Candy made with the help of Elaine Corden who organized large portions of the festival. Thanks Elaine!





The Manvils gave an awesome performance with more noise than Vancouver is used to! Thanks Guys! Thanks for rocking 8th ave!





Burcu gave a performance that was out of a storybook. Imagine being lost on a European country road when a group of Performers leap from their caravan, circle your carriage, take you into a land of their creation and disapearing as suddenly as they appeared leaving you unsure of whether what had happened was a dream or reality. That is the only way to explain.






Thanks for the Chicken wings Nigel! Habit has the best chicken wings in town....and I also have a lot of love for their chocolate brownie with mocha ice cream.
























Thank you to everyone who helped make the Mount Pleasant festival the amazing success that it was!