Valencia Sketches: Park and Aquarium

Nothing much to report from Valencia, except that all religious holidays apparently involve marching bands every hour, drunken revels late into the night and live cover bands. The spanish cover of achy-breaky heart was fairly amusing, but the 2am version of 'Gangnam Style' (possibly in Korean, but probably in gibberish that approximated Korean) was a travesty that should be counted in the great crimes against humanity. Seeing the 70+ year old ladies rocking out at 3am was pretty impressive though. Rock on with your bad selves ladies! Just please do it more quietly.

Some sketches for the week:

Also SEALS! Because seals!

Sketchy Sunday: Quick drawings from around Valencia

Sketches from the week:

Tower detail from the church near my place

Detail of pope statue... because in Spain, a house is not a home until you have a pope glaring down at you above your doorway.

I've been getting back into sketching lately... here's some quick sketches from around Valencia. I'm trying to get out with my sketchbook more often, and I'll be posting the results each Sunday. Hopefully this will shame me into practicing more :)

DIY Hanging Plant Holder

Say you live downtown in a gorgeous, temperate mediterranean city in walking distance of most amenities and a new metro system for anything that’s not.

Obviously, you don’t own a car, but who would this be a problem for?

Apparently, me.

Aaron and I live in Valencia, Spain on a two year temporary contract. This is relevant for a few reasons:

1. We didn’t want to drop a lot of money on furniture, and shipping from Canada was going to be stupid expensive, so I caved, and in the interest of sanity, I agreed to let my husband look for a furnished apartment so we could have somewhere to live (I was still wrapping things up in Canada at the time). I am so very magnanimous.
2. Most furnished apartments have furniture which could be generously called hideous.
3. Thrift stores are not a thing in Spain.
4. There is no IKEA here. Oh, the inhumanity.
5. Approximately 99% of hardware stores here are located in the vast, sprawling suburban areas around the city. I love hardware stores to an unhealthy degree, which is why I was thrilled when I finally found a decently-sized BriCor in one of the ubiquitous department stores downtown.

We bought some plants from an outdoor stand shortly after we moved in, to give the apartment a little color. The plastic stool I had been using as a makeshift plant-stand was not only ugly, but also way too big for the corner between the wall and the table. One afternoon after Spanish class, the ugliness became too much, and in a poorly planned frenzy, I decided to do something about it.

(bracket already mounted in this picture, whoops).

1. A plant. Something unkillable like a philodendron is ideal if you forget to water your plants for months on end like me.
2.  Some sturdy cord, I chose a neutral brown for this project, but next time, I’m adding in a string of neon yellow.
3. A shelf bracket with predrilled holes.
4.  Basic tools (scissors, screws & screwdriver, anchors if needed, tape measure, tape or chalk).
5. Optional, decorative pot. Let’s be honest. You wouldn’t be reading this if you were happy with the plastic pot the plant came in.

Mount the bracket at the desired height, using anchors if your plant is heavy, or if your walls are crap. Measure the distance you want your plant to hang.

Cut the cord into three equal sections, twice the length you want your plant to hang, with additional length for braiding. I cut mine into 5ft long lengths, for a hanging distance of about 30 inches from the bracket to the bottom of the pot. Then mark off the center of each cord with a piece of tape or a chalk mark.

Measure the pot circumference about a half inch above the bottom. Lay your cords in a triangle with the perimeter measuring a half inch less that the pot measurement (this may need to be more depending on the stretch of your cord). Knot securely at the corners of the triangle.

Fit the triangle around the base of the pot. Then take strings A and B and knot them at the lip of the pot. Repeat with cords C and D, and E and F.

Water your plant. If you're anything like me, it probably needs it. Put it in the pot.

Gather all the strings about 18 inches above the pot and knot. Braid all strings together to create rope to the bracket, I braided with strands of 2 strings, but a fishtail braid would work as well.

Use a chair or stool to support the pot as you knot the cord ends through the pre-drilled hole in the bracket. Cut off any excess cord after the knot is secure. 

Tah-dah! 

Now, go do something useful with your day.

The 5 Stages of Waking Up

There are two kinds of people in the world. People who love waking up! The morning is beautiful and peaceful, and signals a bright, new day! Then there are those of us that wake up wanting to MURDER EVERYTHING. 

Sorry about the weird blank space at the bottom of the page... apparently blogger sizes images according to length rather than width. Le sigh.

This once time? In Architecture School? Part II: Revenge of the Jen.

I don't even think this is the weirdest conversation we ever had.

This one time? In Architecture School?

Research.


 

Click to Embiggen!
Oh, the McGill architecture computer lab... smelling of despair and unwashed socks.

Also, I need to use less text. Lessons!

OMG, Shoes!

But they were so comfortable in the store!

Unfortunately my scanner doesn't work on European voltages, so you all have to deal with my terrible photo-taking skills.