Sarah Vowell, one of my all-time favorite writers (and This American Life contributor) will be at the Cleveland Public Library this Sunday, Nov.16 2pm as part of their Writers and Readers Series.  

I am not going to miss this.  Sarah Vowell is the writer of: The Partly Cloudy Patriot and Assassination Vacation, two of the funniest and yet simultaneously most informative books I have ever read.  Her latest book, The Wordy Shipmates, sounds amazing and is on my list to read just as soon as I get through the last pile of books I have purchased.

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Below are some pictures i took yesterday morning while in chagrin falls, to see my parents (who were not home at 8:30 in the morning, because they were out chopping wood for fire, which i though was such a cute fall morning!).  I also went to Chagrin to see my BFF, Beth, who Saturday night became betrothed to her lovely boyfriend, jimmy!  We had a lovely cup of coffee, the 3 of us and giggled about their big news!

So, since joining the blog world (already 7 months ago now!!),  I would have to say my favorite thing, besides having a venue to exhibit things that inspire or make me happy, is the way it connects people from all over the world.  Those who fear that all this advanced technology takes away the ‘humanness’ from communication or complain it is all too impersonal - They are not considering the fact that this technology, specifically internet and blogging, is connecting people that would otherwise have NO good reason to have ever crossed-paths!  what a romantic notion that is to me!  

I was so excited to be a part of Sofia Barao’s AUTUMN SWAP…an opportunity to SEND comfort, in the form of a comfort drink, a comfort food, comfort food for the soul, and a comfort surprise, to another participating blogger. All I have to go on is the person’s blog and a list of some of their likes/dislikes.  NO ONE knows who has their name or what to expect, just that we have some comfort package being sent to us from someone somewhere in the world.

We are to POST our gifts WITHOUT mentioning who they are destined to, so without giving away too much, I can just say that, I was charmed by this person’s blog, she lives many thousands of miles away from me and other than the fact that she is a chocolate and coffee type of gal, I cannot say anything more, as I fear it would give it away to the person before she has received her package…and what fun would that be!

I have chosen things that I think she will like, but have also tried to find Cleveland-centric items, so for the coffee lover, I have chosen a Fair Trade Organic 1lb of coffee beans called KARMA which is from Phoenix Coffee Shop.  For the chocolate lover, I have selected a 12-piece chocolate set filled with the flavors she savors from an amazing chocolatier right here in Cleveland, named Lilly Handmade Chocolate (see more on this in my next post).  I have included one of my favorite books, because I really get the sense she may like it!  I did not want to pick anything from my own store as it kind of felt like cheating, but ultimately couldn’t resist, and so after picking 3 of the 4 items from elsewhere, i also threw in a few things from my store that seemed to fall into something she could be interested in, one for art projects or correspondence and another merely for the look of it!!

above are some of the handmade chocolates in the flavors my recipient enjoys.  I had so much fun assembling it, I hope she enjoys it!

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Recently I finished reading EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert and found that I did not want to just dive right in to another book.  You know that feeling after a particularly good read when you just sort of want to let it resinate a little, to stew a bit longer?  Well, I was so touched by Gilbert’s book I really did have trouble finding what to read next.  I felt like, I couldn’t pick a similar type of book, because it would fall terribly flat next to EAT PRAY LOVE, but I didn’t want to switch gears wildly either, as I feared it would quell the flow of inspiration I gleaned from Gilbert’s book….  conundrum. 

…Until… One day last week, while doing my daily blog reading,  Pia Jane Bijkerk’s blog talked about a great book that she had just begun reading…this is what she wrote:

“First up is this book that I have begun reading. It is called The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and is written by the unfortunately recently deceased Mary Ann Shaffer. I had no prior knowledge of this book or the author as it was given to me as a gift, and this offering is testament that books are the best gifts of all. So I am not going to tell you anything about it in the hope that you might just buy it blindly and enjoy it as I am. I will just tell you this: it is, without a doubt, the most inspiring piece of literature I have read this year.”

Loving this blog, I decided to heed this advice and immediately, blindly, bought the book.  I received it yesterday and I was so excited to climb into bed last night with my new book….that i knew virtually NOTHING about…so I commenced reading the jacket and the reviews…and there it was, on the back of the book, one big review: ” …..treat yourself to this book, please - I can’t recommend it highly enough.”  and who is this urgent encouragement from?  none other than Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE….now, if that isn’t a sign that I found the right book to get me out of this weird book purgatory, then I don’t what would be.

At page 11, I looked to R.L. and said…this is one of my all-time favorite books.

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SNAPSHOTS: Mireille Sjoblom-Kious (Yeya)

This next SNAPSHOT is of my friend Yeya.  I was intrigued by this tall Swedish beauty immediately upon meeting her and was charmed by her endearing sense of humor and genuine character as I have gotten to know her this past year.

I love the SNAPSHOT series idea because I believe that there is so much more than meets the eye with each and everyone of us; And I thought this series would allow me to gain a sneak peak at the different paths, experiences & opinions of my own peers.

SNAPSHOTS:

Name: Mireille Sjoblom-Kious (aka Yeya)

Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden

How long have you been in Cleveland?: 3.5 years

Top things you love about Cleveland?: The people (and their desire to change and be progressive), Ohio City, the restaurants (in particular in Ohio City and Tremont)

Top things you miss (besides family) about Sweden?: I miss Swedish food, being able to walk everywhere, the proximity to water and it’s surrounding beauty.

Top 5 things your hometown is known for?: Stockholm (or Sweden as a whole) is known for H&M, Ikea, Volvo, Absolut Vodka, the Noble Prize, the invention of matches and dynamite (!), ABBA, Midsummer celebrations, the Smorgasbord, Crayfish parties in August.

Image to the right of a traditional Swedish Crayfish party.

Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) this sound file:05-shoo-shoo-baby1 by Alice Babs to open in another window so that it can play in background while you read this page.

Take me on a tour from wake to slumber of a perfect idealized day in your hometown:

Eating a healthy breakfast-often muesli and “Fil” a fefir yoghurt type thing and a cup of tea.  Then going for a long walk along the water towards City Hall and stopping at one of the many coffee shops on the way for admiration of nature’s beauty and coffee and a cinnamon roll - called a “bulle” in Swedish.

What languages do you speak?:

I speak Swedish, English, and Spanish because I was actually born in Venezuela…Can make myself understoon in French too.

Favorite magazines, writers, artists, websites or stores from your hometown:

My favorite magazines from home: “iForm” - a health magazine and “Skona Hem” - home decor. My favorite author is actually Norwegian, her name is Asne Seierstad - she’s a journalist that was very politically active in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has become even more known through her provocative political books.  I also very much enjoy the Swedish author Herman Lindquist, a journalist turned author as well with very, very funny books.

Some of your favorite Swedish websites:

designtorget.se - innovative Swedish designs just entering the market

efvaattlingstockholm.com - my favorite swedish, hand-made jewelry

filippa_k.com - some fun clothes, although rather expensive Swedish design

svenkttenn.se - interior design shop, more traditional Swedish, rather pricey

orrefors.com & kostaboda.se - Swedish crystal, always elegant and innovative

nordichotels.se - my favorite chain of hotels downtown with a great ice bar in the lobby

icehotel.com - just like the ice bar, but an entire HOTEL made of ice every year, way, way up north…

Some of your favorite Swedish music:

Rebecka Tornqvist - Young jazz musician 

Monica Zetterlund - jazz

Alice Babs - jazz (she also happens to be my mother’s aunt- check her out on iTunes, she used to sing with Duke Ellington

Cornelis Vreesvijk - Traditional Swedish folk music

Kent - alternative

Timbuktu - Hip Hop (an Ethiopian/Swedish man rapping in Swedish - really cool)

DESIGN RESOURCES I FOUND ON THE SWEDEN.SE WEBSITE:

http://www.scandinaviandesign.com/

http://www.scandinaviandesigncenter.com/

Sweden in brief - check out these fast facts about Sweden that I pulled from the sweden.se website.  note the daylight hours part of it!

Facts:

• Area: 450,000 km² (174,000 sq mi), the third largest country in Western Europe
  Forests: 53%
  Mountains: 11%
  Cultivated land: 8%
  Lakes and rivers: 9%
  Longest north-south distance: 1,574 km (978 mi)
  Longest east-west distance: 499 km (310 mi)
• Capital: Stockholm
• Population: 9 million inhabitants
• Languages: Swedish; recognized minority languages: Sami (Lapp), Finnish, Meänkieli (Tornedalen Finnish), Yiddish, Romani Chib
• Form of government: Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
• Parliament: The Riksdag, with 349 members in one chamber
• Religion: 80% belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden
• Life expectancy: men 79 years, women 83 years
• Most important export goods: Electronic and telecom equipment, machinery, passenger cars,  paper, pharmaceuticals, iron and steel
• Most important imported goods: Electronic and telecom equipment, machinery, foodstuffs, crude oil, textile products, footwear and passenger cars

Average temperatures

 
Daylight

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I am SO excited about this book I just ordered for the store!  A Year Of Mornings, was a project between two good friends separated by 3191 miles.  One in Portland, Maine.  The other, in Portland, Oregon.

 Having discovered this blog (through work) this was one of the first blogs I ever followed…almost 2 years ago now.  

Every single day for a year these two each posted a photo every morning to a shared blog as a way of doing something together while 3191 miles apart.  I loved the idea of it, and the photos were always so pleasant, refreshing, soft, beautiful, colorful, bright, happy and thoughtful that I too began to start my day with their photos.  I hope to see it in the store in the next couple weeks along a big book order coming in.

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When I was a Visual Manager for Anthropologie, What now seems like a billion years ago; I was sent to LA to do a store opening for them.  It was an arduous 2 weeks. Not only was I very new to the company and eager to prove they had not made a mistake in entrusting this project to me (hello my dear friend, PRESSURE) but also, my mother had called while i was at the airport to let me know that my aunt, her sister, had unexpectedly passed away of a heart attack.  And so while grieving and feeling so removed from my family, I had to be my most creative amongst people that were INCREDIBLY & inspiringly creative.  When it was all said and done, while totally drained, It was very rewarding to see the final product and be proud of my contribution to it (especially given the circumstances).   The director of that store opening, Gina, was an extremely competent and organized creative leader that I learned a lot from.

As a thank you for my contribution, which was designing the artistic display, floor plan, and general merchandising scheme for an entire room, she gave me an adorable book.  I loved the illustrations and kept it out on my desk for awhile until I moved, at which point, it, along with everything else I superfluously kept around for inspiration went into a storage unit while I moved around a bit.

I have been so distracted this year with the opening of my store that I have not had any time to really think about what I still have in storage that I am missing out on…until yesterday that is.  I had the day off and was meeting up with my new French tutor in the afternoon and wanted to find all my old French language books and student materials to refresh my memory and have homework while in between lessons. So I headed over to my storage unit (a place I try to avoid if at all possible, as it is a stressor).  While digging through boxes and boxes of books I stumble upon ANIMUS by Seonna Hong, the book given to me by Gina after that store opening.  I looked through it while sitting in my storage unit and it completely charmed me even in a way it had not the first time around ( at least not like this time).  Not only is it’s message so beautiful and relevant to me, the illustrations and movement of the book will no doubt draw a smile upon your face immediately.

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   as a non-graphic designing lover of good graphic design, i naturally have an appreciation of FONTS as well (and this would be why i preferred Noel to Ben on TV’s Felicity).  This amazing book, Hand Job which is compiled by Michael Perry features hand-drawn fonts…pretty amazing stuff I might add too!  It is really refreshing in this digital age to know that some things are still done by the amazing human hand (considering the title of this book, i could go down an entirely different road here, but i will refrain, to everyone’s delight i am sure.).

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