the inspired biologist

2013 Wish List!

alisonmpage — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:29:19 +0000

A few goodies that I’ve been coveting since the new year! 1. J. Crew Keeper chambray shirt, 2. Oak & Fort Manon hat, 3. Miriam Salat quilted resin cuff, 4. Lulu Frost Gold-tone crystal necklace, 5. Super Sunglasses Ciccio glasses, 6. Encyclopedia of Flowers: Flower Works by Makoto Azuma, 7. Marni grey fox fur tube scarf (obviously just a daydream) and 8. Rag & Bone Harrow boot. Sigh.

my holiday in iPhone photos.

alisonmpage — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 06:34:09 +0000

the holidays kicked off for me at our company Christmas party on December 1, i had fun collecting pieces for my outfit – i opted for plaid, black, spikes and cream to tie all the pieces together! Ryan is home for the month and we had fun buying everyone presents, some of which we sampled at the Granville Island market (a little Isle of Mull cheddar and Honey & Hay pecorino from Benton Brothers = to die for, and pâté from Oyama Sausage). Christmas was up in Roberts Creek with my parents and brother this year, so we ferried up with a stash of Holiday beer to enjoy! Our annual card from Makito was waiting for us up at my parents – it gets better every year Makito! We were able to visit and open presents with Grandad on Christmas morning and he shared some of his chocolate stash with us! Boxing day we had breakfast with my in-laws and met Michelle and Chris’ new puppy! I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Holiday! Best wishes for the New Year! xoxo

Josh & Claire

alisonmpage — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:52:58 +0000

Ryan’s BFF Josh just returned from 4 months working in Australia to be reunited with his family! I should have posted these cute pictures of Josh and his daughter Claire a long time ago, but here they are now for their reunion!

Camellia, Craspedia & Limonium

alisonmpage — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 22:30:10 +0000

Tinkering with a new headband style this weekend, composed of a pink velvet flower I made, a beautiful white silk Camellia flower and bud (with silk leaves), dried natural yellow Craspedia, natural dried lavender Limonium (statice) and a little natural dried Gomphrena from Mom’s garden. Once I finish the backing, I think I will list it in my Etsy shop…

Home/Office/Studio Inspiration 2

alisonmpage — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:29:56 +0000

With Ryan in Halifax, I’ve taken over our studio apartment with my dried flowers, feathers, fabric, etc but i’m rapidly running out of space! I’m always daydreaming of beautiful work spaces and offices (older post), maybe one day we will have enough space to create a functional and stylish home office and studio! Image from various pinterests.

My first fascinator!

alisonmpage — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:45:01 +0000

A childhood friend agreed to be my guinea pig and commissioned a holiday fascinator, my first ever! Janet gave me complete freedom in the colours, design, etc so I chose to use rich warm colours and textures that hopefully say Holiday without being too literal!

I used lavender and heather dried from my mom’s garden, dried red mini roses I snipped from my apartment rose, and dried white and pink dried roses from my mom’s garden in Robert’s Creek. I accented with a bit of navy veiling and gold and mossy green velvet millinery leaves, all attached to a navy sinamay base! It’s nearly complete and I think it turned out pretty well for my first try!

Star War Identities: Part 2

alisonmpage — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:30:15 +0000

I don’t think I can accurately describe how special it was to be able to see these costumes and props from the movies that have brought me such wonderment and comfort over the years… While I was staying with my brother, we watched Episodes 4-6 again, and it reminded me of our childhood and how these movies fostered our imagination and creativity over the years…

We stared deep into the eyes of the exalted one, Jabba the Hut, oggled Princess Leia’s gold bikini, felt the plight of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, felt the comfort of Master Yoda, marvelled at the Imperial fleet, and trembled at the feet of Darth Vader!

Thanks again to the Telus World of Science Edmonton for hosting this amazing exhibit, and to my brother for sharing it with me!

Star Wars Identities: Part 1

alisonmpage — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 07:14:20 +0000

I flew to Edmonton this past weekend to visit my brother and to visit the most wonderfully epic exhibit that brought me right back to my childhood – Star Wars Identities at the Telus World of Science. Ian bought us the tickets a year ago, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since!

I tried not to read too much about the exhibit beforehand, I already knew I would love it no matter what, and it far exceeded my expectations! Before entering the exhibit, we were given a bracelet to build our Star Wars Identity through interactive stations throughout the exhibit! I chose to build a wookiee character, as they have always been my favourite, and we started touring the exhibit, looking at how the early beginnings of the characters shaped the people they became…

We got to see the actual costumes worn by stormtroopers and by actor Jeremy Bulloch as the incomparable Boba Fett in Return of the Jedi, beautiful sketches of the aliens brought to life at the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in A New Hope and the mask worn by the actor Tommy Ilsley who played Ponda Baba – best known as the alien who has issues with young Luke at the bar and loses an arm for it – thanks Obi-Wan (picture 16)!

My favourite feature in the 1st section of the exhibit was C-3PO! All polished and shining a brilliant gold – as he often was for medal ceremonies, being worshipped by Ewoks, etc – the costume on display had been worn by Anthony Daniels and I couldn’t take enough photos of it! With trusty and resourceful R2D2 by his side, these two really made my day – I would have left a very happy camper if that had been all there was to the exhibit, but there was so much more….

Sunshine Coast Art Crawl 2012

alisonmpage — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 18:58:49 +0000

I’m not as proud of my shots from this year’s Sunshine Coast Art Crawl as last year (part 1, part 2, part 3), but we did see some beautiful and inspiring work being done up on the Sunshine Coast! I think my favourite studio was that of “ox + monkey” and Amelia Epp (images 5-9) and a close second was the “this is it” studio in robert’s creek (images 14-16). The weekend inspired me to keep working at what makes me happy!

my week in iPhone photos: late september

alisonmpage — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 03:31:07 +0000

Later in September, Tracy visited Vancouver for a family trip so we met up at our favourite place, Thierry’s, for some macarons and port. My parents visited and we went to the Museum of Vancouver for the Art Deco Chic and Neon Vancouver | Ugly Vancouver exhibits. We celebrated my father-in-law Rob’s 60th birthday with a surprise party and I toured one of the brand new buildings the company I work for has just finished building. Myra Callan (of Twigs & Honey) gorgeous book I preordered,”Adornments”, arrived in the mail and Rohe demolished his cat scratcher… and that was September for me!