Mobile & Making - Page 2 of 13 -

Beachfront Avenue

Apr 112013

Miami drew me in, and I couldn’t help myself.

We visited for a long weekend about three weeks ago. From one of my posts last month, Miami wasn’t exactly at the top of my list. At the risk of sounding stereotypical, I thought cultural experiences in Florida included Disneyworld, beaches, bodybuilding and nightclubbing.

Yes, this is part of Miami. And that’s OK. Because there’s more to this city. It was the perfect late winter getaway, a mix of sun, great local eats, beautiful architecture, a vibrant nightlife, fab vintage shopping, an up-and-coming art and design scene, easy to get around, and super friendly people (with occasional rowdy tourists). Surprisingly my kind of city.

Beaches aren’t my thing. I’m more of a let’s see as much of the city as we can, we can make sandcastles later. But after visiting Miami, I’m making an exception.

The hotel we were staying at was on Collins Avenue in South Beach, so the beach was literally our backyard and we took advantage. With lots of the hotels you can rent towels, umbrellas, chairs and coolers so it makes it super convenient to spend your entire day there. We picnicked, roamed up and down along the water, people watched, collected seashells, got sunburnt, gazed out onto the incredibly deep blue ocean and sky. Beach bum-ness was calling me.

One of my favourite experiences was getting up early on a Monday, around 8:00 am, right before our flight. I couldn’t leave without saying farewell to the beach just one more time.

It was such a stark contrast to the last few days. It was overcast, and the sky was no longer the deep blue I had gotten so used to over the last few days. There was hardly anyone there, so it was all yours to quietly explore.

I liked that Miami could have these two faces: one that was usually made up all the time, but could sometimes also go au naturel.

I’ll be sharing some of my favourite moments during the trip in the next few posts.

Have any of you been to Miami lately? What did you think?

Monday Links

Apr 082013

Photo by David Guttenfelder

Here’s my roundup of links from around the interwebs last week:

Context provides an in-depth alternative to traditional walking tours: a network of architects, historians, art historians, and other specialists who design and lead in-depth walking seminars for small groups of curious travelers.
How to be a travel writer in 2013 and the five approaches to focus on (including building sites around projects rather than a portfolio).
An amazing resource featuring key travel blogs on Tumblr. Plus a how to guide on how to use Tumblr to tell great travel stories.
The “social” hotel of the future could look something like this or this.
A glimpse of everyday life in North Korea, in real-time, through Instagram from Associated Press Chief Photographer for Asia David Guttenfelder. Foreigners were allowed to bring mobile phones into the country and use a 3G connection for the first time in January.

Daily Life

Apr 052013

If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you’ll find me here.

Monday Links

Apr 012013

Photograph by Clifton R. Adams, National Geographic (Florida, 1930) via FOUND

Here’s a few of my fave links from the interwebs this past week:

In honor of their 125th anniversary, National Geographic has started the Tumblr photoblog, FOUND, a curated collection of photography from the NG archives. Many of the photos have never been published.
100cameras empowers children in marginalized communities to create tangible change by capturing their lives through photography. By selling their photos, 100% of sales gives them the opportunity to participate in a unique photojournalism program and funds lifeline supplies, educational resources, and healthcare in their community.
Google’s Treasure Map almost got me believing, but led me to discover their extensive Street View collections, including UNESCO World Heritage sites, World Wonders, the Arctic, and their underwater view of Apo Island in the Philippines. Definitely an alternative to those intervals when I’m not travelling.
Finland’s passport is a flipbook of a moose. If only Canada’s passport could be so clever.

Creative Mornings Photobooth

Mar 312013

This past Friday, I teamed up with Zara from Ottawa Velo Vogue, a wonderful local blog on fashion and bikes, with help from Jessica, to host an Easter-themed photobooth at Creative Mornings Ottawa.

Designing photobooths has been something I wanted to explore again. One of my faves is this one I put together for a Spins & Needles event at the Canadian War Museum a few years ago. (Tanks and fighter jets make an awesome backdrop.)

Zara and I have been talking about a photobooth collabo for a while now, but the CM Ottawa booth was a last minute project, so we weren’t quite sure how it was going to turn out. . . but we were super happy with the results! People really got into posing with our props, like the black bunny masks and filling in the chalkboard speech bubbles with sayings like “Extra Good Friday”. The photos will be posted to the CM Ottawa Flickr page.

Our Easter-themed photobooth backdrop and props were relatively easy to put together. Crepe paper streamers are lined up in a row and adhered to the wall using green painter’s tape.

For props, I cut out speech bubbles like Creative Mornings’ logo from thick cardboard, and painted them over with black chalkboard paint (about three coats). I also cut out rabbit masks from black bristol board, and attached a wooden dowel to the back with a glue gun.

I was especially happy with the way it went since I only had one evening to design the theme and props, and gather the materials. With such a tight timeline, it forced me to be resourceful and think about what kind of materials I already had in the house. Chalkboard paint was and still is my best friend! Fittingly, the theme for the Creative Mornings talk this month was “reuse”.

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