axel peemöller

this is hands down the coolest site i have ever seen. i know i should be working on making my barbed-wire hangers...but this is just so much cooler. check out his signage for the parkade. it's the smartest use of type i have seen in a long time. its really refreshing.

love.

this is really cool. not only the interview, but the graphics are cool too. i think they go by a bit fast, but i suppose it gives you a reason to watch it again and again. john lennon has some really good points on peace and how it starts with the people. it's not the government doing this and that, because we allow it. anyways, make your own opinion i suppose! and let me know what oyu think...(comment!)

love (and peace)

the beautiful and talented mark van der gronden

one of my two mentors (conveniently both called mark) is mark van der groden. with his studio in an old brabantia warehouse next door to maarten baas*. I just thought what he was doing was cool. he did a collection of heavy duty household items. he was sick of dainty breakable things for the home and wanted something durable. the red handles are similar to the rubber coating you would find on the handle of a pair of pliers. there's also a pretty cool concept for a shelving system based on the idea that these storage containers are all different - except the base size is constant. neat-o!

his website isn't very comprehensive (at all!) but it has a cool tin cast of a gun. a project of him and the other mark. fun!



"The beauty of heavy tools is assembled from bits and pieces of metal plumbing, which makes a coffeepot or teapot indestructible and eternal."


"Storage with a colourful collection of recycled containers is organized in galvanized building blocks of metal."


*seriously.

settling down

hello my dear friends,

so things are starting to settle (i'm sure it will be some kind sporadic settling) but at least it means time to sit at my desk and write a few messages and work on some homework (already!) it also will give me a good chance to start putting things in their place. i have some shelves to put in yet, and put clothes in their own drawers (a project before bed..) and sort through stuff thats still packed!

a 'spiritual' and sort of meditative day today. our first assignment was to lead eachother around town blindfolded. something i've always wanted to do. and it wasmore amazing than i thought. cooler because i really didn't know the city at all, so it was like experiencing it with all my sense minus sight (obviously). we had to be creative and make really imaginative guides. like touching different textures, reading quotes from ulysses at opportune times, and really help eachother experience the vulnerability of being blind. it really heightened other senses, like i never smell when i wander around, before today. and to just let go almost gave me a sense of power in the vulnerability. by power i mean the strength in myself to absolutely trust, and just be. its an incredible feeling. (big thanks to anne-marije and cedric!)

then we did some really awesome shall we say body movements describing objects. kinda in the clouds, but there were moments when i closed my eyes and just pretended that no one was looking, and really got a sense for the rhythm of the objects, in an uncanny and unexpected way i discovered the history, the story and the dance to my little brown shoe.

more fun adventures to come. tomorrow a day with cardboard, tape and knives (only!) awaits. really. 8 hours in a warehouse with only those things. fun!

love.

new favorite item.

ok, so i admit i love absolutely everything in my new flat. right down to my 4 euro floor lamps from ikea. but my absolute number one favorite thing...is my new desk. I'll have some daylight photos up when i put all the photos from my place up this week (have to be taken properly first!) but i just had to indulge in a few previews.

things have been fantastic!! my internet curse miraculously vanished, and i got connected! this weeks school schedule is long...but its centered around the group getting to know eachother well (group cooking and dinners!) so it's really fun. and there are people from all over the world. i haven't done an official count, but i would guess there are over 15 different nations represented!! it's incredible. absolutely.

so far i have built a box, and made a plaster mould. our project this week includes a box for out tin object we make from our mold with a plastic lid and a silkscreened upholstery--a creative way of using every studio available. super fun.

ok, well its really late, and it's an early morning and a late night tomorrow! lotsa love, and next week (and probably this weekend!) i'll be in touch with you guys on a more personal level! but i read every message, and love you all to death!

h.

lack of internet

i have to apologize in advance...i still haven't set up my internet at my apartment. its one of those things that hates me. apparently it hates me all over the world (rachelle can testify it certainly hates me in edmonton) the internet doesnt like to connect to my computer. or something. anyone have any suggestions?

so i apologize for the dryspell of emails and posts that is about to happen. i have no clue when i will have it all connected. but i will get settled and connected soon (i hope!)

love.

today i found out that someone has graciously calculated the percentage of rain in holland. it is only 6 percent. i am assuming they did it because it seems like it rains about 89 percent of the time here, and maybe knowing it's really only 6 percent makes people feel optimistic. well that's what it has done for me, because now i have hope that maybe the one thing keeping me from completely loving this country isn't actually true. awesome.

love.

not yet clean

today my washing machine didn't get delivered. somehow even though the thing was in the delivery truck, the order got cancelled. what the heck. humbug. whatever, not like i'm going to do laundry yet anyways. but it would have been useful to have the tv (which was in the delivery too) only to see if i actually connected the cable right. the manual was in dutch. which is another beef. i need to learn dutch.

love.

shopping that isn't really that fun...

ok, so i usually love shopping. i'll be the first to admit it. and its not that mom and i aren't having fun together, its just hard that we are staying an hours drive away, so its a long drive, but once we are there its just so cute. i love eindhoven. it's a bit newer than say amsterdam or haarlem, but it has a lot of character, and some really cool buildings. one day i'll post them.

i got a dutch bank account today, and cleaned my apartment (mom did most of the cleaning while i went to the bank...i have to give credit!) and i got the stuff to get internet/phone/tv so my number will be posted very soon! and before you know it i will be online there!

today i found out that daniel "accidentally" threw a beachball into a group of girls in bikinis at the pool. am i really supposed to believe that? hm...i suppose he told them he had a girlfriend who he missed...but he's still fun to bug!

here's some pictures of old and new windmills...just thought it was kinda neat-o

love.

hello holland!

So i have finally arrived! Mom and i had a brutal flight to london...the system crashed and there was no reading lights, or TV screens!! meaning my excitement for watching movies the whole flight was quickly extinguished. thank goodness for my new Nintendo DS (courtesy of kelsey!!) so i played that and looked outside (the plane followed the sun...great). i managed to get an hour of shut eye, but because there was no tv, all the kids in the plane were restless and kept me up.

here's my great travel partner, me bored and taking pictures, and the useless TVs.


here's the arrival to schipol airport in amsterdam! it's really a beautiful airport. and my first time using my dutch passport! i'm really a dutch citizen now!!


and here's the beautiful dutch home we are staying at in a town called Bilthoven--near Utrecht. They are great friends of our family, the Elsenburgs, and they are pretty much the dutch equivalent to my parents. I'm the luckiest girl to have them close to me (about an hour train from eindhoven) somewhere to fee like home.



so all in all things are fabulous so far! we have a little van (like a mini mini van!) to help load things...poor mom, its such a big car for this country! lots more pictures to come of the adventures of heather and karen outfitting an apartment!

love.

tot ziens!

just a little note to thank everyone who came by the cabin last weekend...and to drink some pink party punch at kelsey's. even though i'm sure you are all disappointed her karaoke machine never got the dust swept off, it was great to see all of you! I'll try my darnest to post lots of photos and events and cool design stuff i find, so bookmark and keep checking back!

i love you all, and keep in touch!

cabin fun

Last weekend was a blast!! it was so great to have everyone out. and it was a new record of the mount of people...over 20. haha! everyone was really great thought, lots of smokies were consumed, and mom didnt even worry about it! dad had fun showing everyone how to wakeboard, and even peter had fun quadding and showing everyone the right way to wakeboard (and fooling everyone because he makes it look so easy!)


good times on the boat


these guys know how its done!


nathan an I prepare for battle, and sinan clearly loses to sari in the battle of the twins.


roasting marshmallows, sad roomie rachelle and toasty kelsey (my 'partner')

love!