Vintage doesn't mean cheap.

June, A friend's mom, has recently gotten into the Vintage Women's wear and is building quite a sweet collection of pieces for sale online.

You can check it out here.

Here's a few of the gems that I can't afford and would probably never wear out of the house, but would love to be able to admire in my closet:

(photo from Antique Treasure Box, 2009)

(photo from Antique Treasure Box, 2009)

(photo from Antique Treasure Box, 2009)

If you've got a wedding to go to or something fancy and obligatory, why not buy something vintage as opposed to dropping a few hundred bucks at the mall?

I mean really - you'll get way more compliments and actually look like you have a sense of style. Unless that's not your thing... in which case, Le Chateau awaits.

H.

Take your mom - she'll like it.

From Neal:

This Saturday there's a reading of The Christmas Carol, divided into five chapters and a celeb reader reads each of the chapters.

Proceeds support two outreach projects at the church: The Bridgeport Cafe drop-in programme run by the Working Centre, and Women of Worth which teaches English and other skills to women new to Canada.

The readers are:
Cathy Matyas, Chief Librarian, Waterloo Public Library
Diane Freeman, Councilor, City of Waterloo
Vanessa Spence, Emmanuel United Church
Doug McDonald, Emmanuel United Church
Craig Norris, Host, CBC Radio 3

The important bits:
Dramatic reading of "A Christmas Carol"
7:00pm, Saturday, December 5
Emmanuel United Church,
22 Bridgeport Road, Waterloo
Tickets: $5 suggested donation
Call 519-886-1471 or at the door for tickets

H.

Words Worth Hearing... as usual.

Last night was the book talk for "Age of Persuasion" with Terry O'Reilly and Mike Tennant.

The place was PACKED. it was crazy! i ended up sitting on the middle aisle stairs at cinema 1 at the Princess. turned out to be a great seat actually, worked out well.

If you like madmen, you probably should have been there. lots of hilarious tales from careers in advertising, and some reflection and predictions on marketing's future.

Hung out while some friends had their books signed -


On the right, is Graham Moogk-Soulis and he is a local cartoonist. His webcomic is called PostScript and it's pretty funny. After spending a morning coffee snickering over his archives:

(Click to Enlarge)

Hilarious. And originally posted on my birthday. love it. Check it out. Updated on Tuesdays and Fridays.

H.

PS. Bronwyn! you can now comment - but you better sign your name ;)

The Bauer Kitchen

The Bauer Kitchen...

Lots of anticipation around this place opening up.

I personally feel like the original building has been a little bit butchered... but i'm willing to withhold completely judgement till we hit it up for a drink next week.

Friend AMF was there for the test run - and reports good things. Especially the madmen-esque drink menu.

Website looks good - the "we believe..." section had me for a moment, but then lost me withline 7. sigh.

I'll let you know what the group consensus is, after a few bevy's next week. They're most likely opening up early next week - just waiting on the liquor license.
H.

Eco-Coffee Company - An Eye Opening 2 Hours.

Last Saturday, I headed over to the HQ of Eco-Cafe to get the tour and a start the morning off right with some unbelievably tasty and ethical coffee.

The Eco-Coffee Company is based in Kitchener, owned and operated by Edward Denyer, and is focused on providing great coffee, while employing sustainable processes - from the farm, to the warehouse, to the packaging, to your cup.

I have to admit, i have a soft spot for Starbucks - have since i was 16 and thought i was cool... i know it's wrong, but sometimes it just feels right to have that cookie cutter experience. I asked Edward what he thought of the giant, "Starbucks is the education engine" he said - to put it bluntly... without them, no one would give a fuck about coffee (those are my words, not his).

I have pages and pages of notes from our 2 hour chat, but let's be honest - you read this blog because it's short and sweet and to the point - so here's the 7 things to know about Eco-Coffee that make them a company you should be buying from:

1. They are local. Their warehouse is on Mill St, where they do all the roasting and packaging. You can also visit them at their Kitchener Market 2nd floor location (Tues - Sat 10-4)
   
   
2. They are at a location near you. Here's a list of retail locations in the KW, Cambridge, Guelph area - if the market location isn't right for you. You can also shop online if you're a recluse.
   
   
3. They are making it easy for you to do the RIGHT thing. Listen, i'm not gonna sugar coat this for you - picking coffee beans is a very intense, physically demanding and painstakingly slow process... for this to be cheap, some farmers use workers that are practically slaves and in some cases are children. Eco-coffee provides fair trade, ethically grown beans... Why don't you think about that next time you're in line at Timmy's.
   
   
   
4. They're protecting the rainforest. They have the seal of approval to prove it.
   
   
5. Their innovating away from wasteful packaging - and working on a bag that bio-degrades in your green bin. And it still looks cool.
   
   
6. They want you to try before you buy. So they've set up sampling machines at some retail locations and you can sample a roast before you take it home... and then you'll know it's your coffee maker that's shit, not the beans.
   
   
7. They're smart, talented and fresh. Roasting is an art form. It takes years of practice and a lot of intuition to be able to be really good at it... Big name roasters are pumping those beans out like it's going outta style - these guys are roasting as needed - the fresher the better.
   
   

Maybe this seems like an ad or some Brand Power TV spot - but really, I'm just a little bit concerned that you may still be buying brown drink at Tim Horton's in the morning and you need to kick the habit. You know it's not cool... and it certainly isn't coffee.

Call me a snob... but I'm right.

H.

PS.

Email Adam

amclean(at)eco-coffee(dot)ca

with the phrase:

"Eco-caffeinate me, please"

and he will award you with a $5 gift card.

(You're welcome - H.)

Lawrence Hill at Chapters - Saturday

Not sure if you read the community reads book "The Book of Negroes" - but the author Lawrence Hill is going to be at Chapters on King in Waterloo at 1pm on Saturday.

Details are here.

H.

For Start-upers - drinks tomorrow

Tomororw... McMullen's, 6pm.

If any of these things sound good to you - you should go!

a) A drinking group with a startup problem.
b) A low key, unstructured group drinking (coffee, beer or spirits) event that happens in cities across the world
c) Therapy for startup junkies (you don’t have two days to go to a conference, but you do have two hours and would love to stay involved in the community)

More details HERE.

H.

Nov 30: Google lovers - this is for you.

Thanks to Andrew for passing on this event listing... sorry about the short notice.

Extreme Data Mining: Machine Learning in Adwords and Google Product Search

Monday, November 30, 2009 at 5pm

FREE... obviously.
Map is HERE.

Google Waterloo will be hosting Andrew Moore, a well established researcher and the director of Google Pittsburgh tonight at 5pm.

Andrew will give a public talk at 5pm at the Institute for Quantum Computing on Extreme Data Mining: Machine Learning in Adwords and Google Product Search. More details on the talk, including abstract and Andrew's bio, are HERE.

H.

Dec 4, 11:30am - Speakers Corner Public Art

With some of the Kitchener redesign complete, the new Speaker’s Corners public art piece is being unveiled.

Friday, Dec. 4 at 11:30 a.m. at Speaker’s Corner, the intersection of King and Benton streets.

__________________________

An interesting piece of Kitchener history - Speaker’s Corner was unveiled Oct. 11, 1976, to commemorate the Canadian Bill of Rights. The location was set aside as a place where dialogue and debate -- free speech -- is welcome.

Here's what the city says about the new piece:

"Speaker’s Corner has been enhanced with a contemporary look, more seating for visitors, more trees, increased street lighting, sustainable planters and increased space for outdoor events.

An intriguing and interactive public art installation at the corner is based on photographs and creates visual illusions that entertain and delight viewers. Created by Toronto artist Allan Harding MacKay, “Relocation and Transformation of Memory” combines text and abstract images of the site before it was modernized.

The Green Street designation acknowledges the city’s efforts to create an environmentally sustainable street design. Environmentally sustainable design features include: 120 new street trees; bike racks to encourage cycling; environmentally friendly planter beds that collect and filter storm water; use of recycled materials in the new roadway, recyclable benches and bollards; and improved waste management practices."

H.

Sat Dec 5 - Stitch N Kitsch

Could I be any more EXCITED about this??

If you've never been, you should check it out - if you've been before, you'll probably be going again. Yeah!

H.