Prune your way to Self Sufficiency!

by Crystal February 15th, 2012 - No Comments »

We are a society with a lot of skills, but we don’t seem to have to many farming skills these days; at least in the Vancouver area. If you are looking to become more educated about your food and how to be self sufficient, here is a workshop that might just be of interest to you!

Have you ever wanted to know how to look after your fruit trees or ornamental trees, but don’t know how…

There is a Tree Pruning and Care Workshop this Saturday from 1pm to 4:30pm at Strathcona Community Centre located at 601 Keefer Street. This event is part of the Vancouver Urban Farming Workshop Series.

For this gathering you should dress warmly as you will be sitting through an indoor presentation, but also going outside.

There is a small participation fee of $15.00’s

If you are thinking of going, email: http://treepruning.eventbrite.ca/

Now, if you can’t go to the workshop, then watch this great video on how to prune your trees:

Tags: farm workshop, garden workshop, learn to prune your fruit trees, learn to prune your tree, ornamental tree pruning, tree pruning, tree pruning workshop, urban farm workshop, vancouver urban farm workshop, vancouver weekend sustainability workshop, vancouver weekend workshop, why pruning your tree is necessary

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Re-enforce your Platform bed with your Health in Mind!!!

by Crystal February 14th, 2012 - No Comments »

I’ve been smiling at work today “a lot”, since a kindred young family who had recently purchased an Essentia Classic 8 King came into our showroom, and brought my coworker and I chocolate truffles! It was such a caring gesture and it made my day. I am still smiling.

This family is also wanting to help other Essentia customers… How? They mentioned that, if another Essentia customer ever needed to re-enforce their current bed-frame with more pieces of wood a.k.a. slats, to choose the non-toxic plywood from Home Depot called PureBond. Home Depot was able to cut this PureBond plywood into slats for their bed frame with little hassle, and it gave their bed frame a lot more support.

When looking into this product recommendation, I read that this non-toxic technology for plywood uses a soy-Based Adhesive with no Formaldehyde to adhere their hardwood plywood panels together!

You might be wondering why a bed frame would need to have more slats added? Simply, some frames have slats that are too wide apart and don’t offer your mattress enough support. By simply re-enforcing your frame with more slats, you give your platform bed a stronger and more supportive base for your mattress.

I hope this tip may help you too, if you need to add some support to your bed frame, or even if you need plywood for other purposes.

Tags: chocolate truffles, getting a healthy sleep, greening your bed frame, healthy bed-frames, healthy sleeps, no Formaldehyde, PureBond plywood, re-enforcing your bed-frame, toxic free bedframes, un-treated plywood

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Crossing the Line and Finding Your Way Back

by Angelo February 13th, 2012 - No Comments »

Having a sense of humour is a funny thing. Go figure. I once remember saying to my son, “That’s funny if you think about it.” To which he replied, “If you have to think about it, it isn’t funny.”

I love the humour that I share with my sons. It manifests in many forms, everything from word play to intellectual humour to fart jokes. When we are together we have fun and there’s this verbal dance we do, silently daring each other to step closer, nay, to cross the the line between acceptable and unacceptable. When one of us gets to that point we all acknowledge it, again silently and life breaks off into a new direction.

That is the benefit of familiarity, of family. There are times in my life when relationships weren’t quite as close and therefore as strong as I thought them to be. Times when dancing a verbal dance ended with me stepping on my dance partners metaphorical toes and ultimately crushing them. It’s at those times I feel like an oaf. A careless, blundering oaf that wished he had chosen not to dance at that particular time.

My dilemma is that I love to dance and will seek it out at any opportunity. Unfortunately getting swept away in a somewhat harmonious dance I will try some fancy foot work that invariably gets me into trouble. Standing, with a participle dangling, between us.

It is the nature of being me, and I have come to accept that. I am more cautious than I was when I was younger, maturity and wisdom helping me. But every once in a while something happens. Maybe I feel like a kid again. Maybe I just miss my sons. In any case, if you have ever been crushed by a dancing oaf please take this as an open letter of apology for I am sure that in all probability they were fox trotting to your merengue.

Tags: acceptable and unacceptable, apology, blundering, careless, cross the the line, dance partners toes, dancing oaf, daring each the, fancy foot work, fart jokes, fox trot, funny thing, harmonious dance, I feel like a kid again, intellectual humour, merengue, nature of being me, oaf, participle dangling, relationships, sense of humour, stepping, That's funny if you think about it, verbal dance, word play

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Threads For Your Bed

by Angelo February 9th, 2012 - No Comments »

As a kid I would always wonder why I had to make my bed since I was just going to get into it at night and mess it up anyway. It’s not like anyone was going to see it … and even if they did they’t probably think “See, he doesn’t make the bed either.”

Fast forward, present day. There is something pleasurable about peeling back the covers and climbing into a virginal bedscape, especially if the sheets have been laundered and hung outside to dry. It’s the punctuation at the end of a day. It’s bestowing reverence and adding ritual to our lives. Something that seems to becoming less and less important.

Needless to say, my attitude about making my bed has changed albeit not as quickly as my habits, but I’m working on it. Mostly this change was brought on by the purchase of new sheets and duvet cover. Shopping is not my favourite pastime. Last time I bought sheets was ten years ago. Two sets, on sale, Sears. I thought I knew something about sheets and went on the hunt for a six hundred threat count … that was the extent of my knowledge.

I’ve learned a few things since then such as:

Thread count is totally meaningless if you don’t know the ply of the yarn. There is single, double and even a quad ply yarn that affects the true tread count of the sheets. Believe it or not, sheets marked as 1200 thread count may only be 300 if it’s woven with quad ply yarn.

The softness of sheets is determined by number of variables such as weave type, cotton quality, strand length, ply and workmanship. Thread count alone does not make a sheet soft.

Bed sheets are not like sheets of toilet paper. Two ply is only for comfort in the bathroom. In the bed room Dual ply is created by twisting shorter threads together to make a longer one. This could do two things, reduce quality as well as artificially increase the thread count.

High heat washing is great for sheets. Not so. Cotton shrinks like crazy in the dryer and eventually your fitted sheets will be able to bounce quarters like a boot camp cot because they fit too snugly.

And to finish off, silk isn’t satin, and satin isn’t sateen. Silk is the material made from threads that from tiny holes in the jaws silkworms. Satin is a blend of silk and synthetics whereas sateen is a cotton weave that has more threads on the surface to give it a softer feel.

Well there you have it. Now go make your bed.

Oh, and in case you were wondering … organic cotton sheets are now available at Essentia. The luxury organic sheets are made with 100% Certified Organic Sateen Cotton and processed without any harmful chemicals. The sheets are certified to the most stringent standards for organic cloth ( GOTS Certification ).

Tags: 100% Certified Organic Sateen Cotton, adding ritual, artificially increase the thread count, bestowing reverence, comfort in the bathroom, cotton quality, Cotton shrinks like crazy, double, duvet cover, Essentia, Fast forward, GOTS Certification, hung outside to dry, luxury organic sheets, make my bed, new sheets, organic cotton sheets, ply and workmanship, present day, quad ply yarn, sateen, satin, Sears, single, six hundred threat count, softness of sheets, strand length, toilet paper, true tread con, twisting shorter threads, Two ply, virginal bedscape, weave type

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Guess what’s in the Ally?!

by Matt February 8th, 2012 - No Comments »

Next up in our Ally this week is a 1990′s square T.V. Or was this one from the 80′s?

It’s a pet peeve of mine when people dispose of their garbage in ally’s or on the side of high ways etc. when it is completely unnecessary. Do you feel the same way?

Recently, right at the back of our showroom, “in our own little ally”, we have been having a large amount of old furnishings and old pieces of Electronics left for someone to pick up, as well as others pieces of garbage…

Who is this mystery cleaner that these delinquent people expect their junk to be picked up by? My guess, they would hope the city will clean up their mess, and most probably the city does, just it can take weeks… So, who pays for it in the end, we do!

Here is the deal, if you have bought a new T.V., or are thinking of purchasing one soon, you will have paid, or be paying a recycling fee of $31.75. As for your old T.V. and where to recycle it, click here for the closest location to Kitsilano.

Are you noticing more old furnishings and junk being left around Kitsilano these days?

Leaving junk around has other issues too. Check out this Video below to see one cute little bear who got into some garbage and found a Vancouver dump truck: poor Winnie The Pooh!

Your thoughts…

Tags: bear caught in dump truck, junk in ally's in Vancouver, junk on highways, Kitsilano Ally full of junk, pick your stuff up, pooh bear, return it depot close to Kitsilano, where can I recycle my t.v.

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As Nike Would Say – Just Do it!

by Crystal February 7th, 2012 - No Comments »

Life offers us many openings to help each of us reach our full potential, don’t back down! Think it over, and choose action over inaction if it feels right. There is never any better opportune time than now!

People are where they are today because they took the chance and grew from it.

If you need encouragement to take on a possibility that could better your life, here are 10 quotes from people who have been at a crossroad themselves and have understood the preciousness of such opportunities!

1. “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” Demosthenes

2. “Teachers open the doors, but you must enter by yourself. Chinese Proverb

3. “You are younger today than you ever will be again. Make use of it.” Anonymous

4. “Opportunity comes like a snail, and once it has passed you it changes into a fleet rabbit and is gone.” Arthur Brisbane

5. “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.” James F. Byrnes

6. “Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.” Kyle Chandler

7. “He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.” William James

8. “There will always be a Frontier where there is an open mind and a willing hand.” Charles Franklin Kettering

9. “Ability is nothing without opportunity.” Napoleon Bonaparte

10. “You contain within yourself a unique combination of talents and abilities which properly identified and applied, will enable you to achieve virtually any goal you can set for yourself.” Brian Tracy

I hope you to will find your opportunities and be determined to hold on tight to them even in the face of difficulty.

Love this artists music, check out Pete Murray’s Song Opportunity!

Tags: are all opportunities meant to be taken?, how do I know an opportunity is right for me?, Opportunities, opportunity quotes, quotes on opportunity, seizing the opportunity, weighing your options

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Never As Good As Mom’s

by Angelo February 5th, 2012 - No Comments »

Last night I went for a stroll in the foggy night. I wanted to take my new camera, a Canon 60D, and play around with a 24mm lens and longer shutter speeds. I ended up taking about sixty photographs which, in this digital age, isn’t a lot but far more than I would have ever taken on film in a single outing. There is something beautiful about the night. Something hidden, that only patience and a keen eye can reveal. Some times it can be very surreal others meditative and on the odd occasion, revelatory.

Just as a quick side note to anyone that has a Canon 60D (and other EOS cameras I imagine too) the Canon RC-6 Wireless Remote Control does work in video mode. Not only do you have to set the camera for self timer remote mode, but the remote must be in the number two position for it to work with video. I spent many frustrating hours on the web and with my camera figuring this out.

I was going through the photos when I got home and had the school-boy giggles on occasion. Although I am partial to film photography, probably because I cut my teeth there, I am finding a certain joy in digital photography. I love how the creative process can be extended beyond the moment of releasing the shutter. My early education is not lost however, and I do pride myself in getting a good shot without photo manipulation, yet I do admit that adding that slight little tweak without the chemical fumes of a darkroom is certainly a lot more comfortable. As digital sensors get better and better I question if they will ever get to the way that film works at an atomic level. It’s kind of like my take on digital vs analog audio … don’t me started.

I guess I should probably get to the point to this blog posting. I was having a look at the photo that I took of the moon hanging over the sea wall with the park lights glowing their eerie glow on benches below. What struck me most about the photo was man’s feeble attempt to replicate what mother nature has provided us. Despite all that there is to see on the ground, my eyes are drawn heavenward, toward the moon. There is more interest in the top edge of the fog bank than there is in the tiny row of benches. Even when I look at the headlights of the distant car, my brain is trying to make some correlation to the blue orb in the sky.

Mom did it best. No one could beat her cherry cheesecake or cabbage rolls or short bread cookies. Mother nature did best. No one can beat her hanging moon or rubber tree sap or cannabis sativa … well, so I hear.

Tags: 24mm lens, atomic level, cabbage rolls, cannabis sativa, Canon 60D, Canon RC-6 Wireless Remote Control, cherry cheesecake, creative process, darkroom, digital photography, digital sensors, digital vs analog audio, EOS cameras, film photography, fog bank, foggy night, hanging moon, meditative, mother nature, new camera, photo manipulation, revelatory, Rubber tree sap, sea wall, self timer, short bread cookies, stroll, surreal, video mode

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Tax me For Having a Dog Tied to a Tree, Great…

by Matt February 2nd, 2012 - No Comments »

I can’t believe what is going on around Vancouver with some of our Dog Bylaws lately!

Seriously, you now are going to get ticketed for having your pup tied to a tree while you go and get a tea or cup of Joe. Rarely, do dogs run into trouble when tied to trees. Most dogs that are on leashes and tied are very friendly and are used to the public passing by.

What do you think?

I think it is unreal! Let’s keep sterilizing Vancouver and taking away any social freedoms we have as citizens. The way our city is going, soon we will not be allowed to have pets on specific streets, or walk them in the city at odd hours of the night…

Here’s an idea, why don’t we only allow certain dogs that are known to be friendly, and take away our choice in dog breeds… kidding. But, jokes aside, this is getting rather serious.

What we do need are more rental housing units that allow for pets. That includes other creatures other than dogs too. Maybe a fish, or a cat, just to name a few.

This is still the wild west, and a lot of people in Vancouver want to be able to have a pet and not be hassled. Yes, we pick up after our pets, and most of us follow the on/off leash rules, yet this city is pushing pet lovers out by such impossible city bylaws!

Let’s shake it up pet lovers and get our voices heard. Say no to this new Bylaw and let’s start standing up for our Furry friends more too!

Turns out, I’m not the only one miffed at the current “rediculous” dog bylaws in our city.

Tags: dog Bylaw, Freedom in Vancouver, stupid bylaw, tying your dog to a tree will get you ticketed, vancouver's worst bylaw

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Paintballing Your Way to a Thinner You!

by Crystal February 1st, 2012 - No Comments »

To watch this Wedding Dress get Paintballed, click here!

When I think about playing a game of paintball, the first thing that comes to my mind are the frantic people running around shooting each other. It sounds painful, and this is about as far as I get in contemplating this particular activity.

Mind you, my guy friends love Paintballing!

Why? As I’ve found out today, there is much, much, more to the sport of paint balling!

For one, you can purchase eco-friendly paintballs, that are soybean-based, click here to check out these environmentally friendly paintballs…with bright colourful fillings in them so you can see that your target has been hit. Rest assured, when the paint washes away, it won’t be affecting your drinking water or remaining to be seen for days to come.

In recent years playing a game of Paintball has come a long ways in safety and strategies needed to win a game; there’s even a national league. You’d better have a plan when you are out on the battle field…

Thanks to Timur, an entrepreneurial man who came into our Kitsilano Essentia showroom today, I now know more about adrenaline packed paintballing than I ever did previously!

Are you concerned about your safety when contemplating a game of paintball?

At times, paintball can be perceived as a semi-violent sport that leaves you with welts and bruises. Nowadays, most, if not all paintballing facilities have safety procedures and armour that you wear which fully protects your skin from those possible nasty paintball welts. Before your game starts you must have a safety briefing, now that is a relief! Yes, Bruising however can’t be fully prevented, as you might just need to dive out of the way of an ensuing attacker…

Timur also mentioned how there are different types of paintball players, mainly offensive and defensive types of players.

What would you be?

A more defensive, type “the sit back and hit’em as they run by type. Or, would you be the offensive player who breaks a sweat?

Paintball is becoming bigger and bigger, as more people view this as less of a game and more of a sport.

Truly, paintball will help you shed those unwanted pounds, and it’ll bring out your survival instincts. With obesity being a epidemic in North America right now, getting moving has never been more important; just maybe more people would benefit from getting some paint on them!

Paintball has a referee, rules, and it truly is out of the ordinary for a birthday party, bachelor party, or a bachelorette showdown.

To find a location in the Vancouver area where you and your friends can play a game of paintball, visit Call of Paintball.

If you are under 12 years of age or over 75 years, this sport isn’t going to work for you.

Did you know choosing the right paintballs can better your chances of winning and not eating paint.

Check out this video on picking the right paintballs:

Tags: call of paintball, exercise, get paint on yourself, getting exercise in the out doors, Paintball, Paintball facilities in Richmond, Paintball Facilities in Surrey, paintball facilities in Vancouver, Paintballing, shooting people with paint, strategic paintball games, survival instincts, Timur, Timur Meerovich

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My Top 10 Quotes About … WTF is THAT !?!?!

by Angelo January 30th, 2012 - No Comments »

As our gallery grows in popularity, we are getting a lot more inquiries from artists using the space. What I find most interesting is the diversity of artists that have come forward. Crystal and I are both very open to the artists that come forward and we have both been, for the most part, on the same page when it comes to deciding what will grace our walls.

I wanted to write a short blog on art, and thought that I might delve into defining it. After some thought I decided against it. Why? Well, to what end? I mean really, it has probably been discussed since the first time a cave drawing depicted something out of the norm or the socially acceptable. As a side note it’s actually kind of funny to think of an avant-garde, pre-historic cave dweller. I’m sure they existed.

In any event I wanted to touch on art so I dug up some of my favourite quotes on the subject and listed them below. If you’d care to start up a conversation about “What is art?” in the comments, please feel free.

My top ten quotes about art, in no particular order are:

“Beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued.”
Jean Rostand

“I don’t want to be interesting. I want to be good.”
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“A picture is a poem without words.”
Horace

“Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.”
Al Capp

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.”
James Whistler

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
Thomas Merton

“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”
Andre Gide

“Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.”
Theodor Adorno

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Vincent Van Gogh

“Even a true artist does not always produce art.”
Carroll O’Connor

And one more … for the company …

“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling.”
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Tags: Al Capp, Andre Gide, art, Carroll O'Connor, Gilbert K. Chesterton., Horace, James Whistler, Jean Rostand, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Theodor Adorno, Thomas Merton, Vincent Van Gogh, wtf

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« Older Entries

Fresh Fuzz

Prune your way to Self Sufficiency!

Re-enforce your Platform bed with your Health in Mind!!!

Crossing the Line and Finding Your Way Back

Threads For Your Bed

Guess what’s in the Ally?!

As Nike Would Say – Just Do it!

Never As Good As Mom’s

Tax me For Having a Dog Tied to a Tree, Great…

Paintballing Your Way to a Thinner You!

My Top 10 Quotes About … WTF is THAT !?!?!

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