Spring essentials

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My collaboration with Le bunny bleu continues as they sent me over another essential pair of flats for Spring-Summer days. I already took them for a walk along with my Levis denim shirt and red pants; now, I was ready to go and spend my day off with Bogdan :)
 I wish you all a great week!



                                                                           Pants: Mango/ similar style here and here
                                                                           Shirt: Levis/ another great version here and here
                                                                           Bag: Margot/ similar style here and here
                                                                           Shoes: thanks to Le bunny bleu.com
                                                                           Ring : E&L/ similar design here and here
                                                                           Bracelets: thanks to Poshlocket.com
                                                                           Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren/ similar here

FACEBOOK /BLOGLOVIN

New DIY leather top

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Looking on my draft I saw I still have to publish two more posts with poshlocket bracelets. So, I will put on hold my Portland posts and I want to share with you today, this post with an outfit that has two New things: One is this  Lorraine Leather bracelet in white and silver-really great design- and the second one is my latest DIY project- orange leather top:) I want to tell you that is one of the most easy DIY project that I made! I hope you like it and you will see more DIY project soon.

                                                                                Orange leather top: made by me
                                                                                Blouse: Divided/ similar style here
                                                                                Pants: Ralph Lauren/ similar style here and here
                                                                                Sandals: Marc by Marc Jacobs/ similar style here and here
                                                                                Clutch: French Connection/ another great one here
                                                                                Bracelets: thanks to Poshlocket
                                                                                Ring: thanks to Poshlocket
                                                                                Necklace: made by Bogdan and I
                                                                                Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren

FACEBOOK /BLOGLOVIN

xoxo

Veronica

Alexander Terekhow Autumn/Winter 2012

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 source: Buro247.ru

In love with this collection! Delicate materials, simple feminine cuts and the -rowan berries- key print  that transform Alexander Terekhov Autumn-Winter collection in a wearable Grace Kelly style for the woman who wants to take the street style to another level.

Enjoy !

FACEBOOK /BLOGLOVIN

love

Veronica

VANCOUVER - A coalition of British Columbia mayors wants the province's political leaders to join forces to end marijuana prohibition and tax the drug so their communities are safer from gang violence linked to illegal grow-ops.

Mayors from Vancouver, Burnaby, North Vancouver City, Vernon, Armstrong, Enderby, Lake Country and Metchosin make the call in a joint letter to B.C.'s premier, Opposition NDP leader and B.C. Conservative party leader.

The mayors said strict regulation and taxation are key to a new marijuana policy.

"Given the ongoing gang activity, widespread availability of marijuana and high costs associated with enforcement, leaders at all levels of government must take responsibility for marijuana policy," they said in the letter.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said the joint letter to Christy Clark, Adrian Dix and John Cummins reflects the need to remove partisan politics from marijuana regulation.

Several of the mayors lead communities that have already adopted motions supporting Stop the Violence BC, a coalition of academic, legal, law enforcement and health experts seeking changes to cannabis laws.

"We see the detrimental effects of marijuana prohibition in our communities on a daily basis," said Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan.

"Huge profits for organized crime and widespread gang violence in our cities are the result of this failed policy. We put our citizens and communities at risk by not taking action now."

A Stop the Violence spokesman said provincial and federal leaders must develop laws that address the health concerns of marijuana while raising tax revenues and wiping out the huge profits pocketed by gangs involved in the marijuana trade.

Last year, four former Vancouver mayors also endorsed the Stop the Violence BC coalition with an open letter to B.C. politicians.

Larry Campbell, Mike Harcourt, Sam Sullivan and Philip Owen said a change in Canada's laws to end pot prohibition will reduce gang violence.

Source

Tech Billionaires Plan Audacious Mission to Mine Asteroids

There’s gold in them there hills. You know, those ones floating around in space. Asteroids contain many tons of precious metals, making them irresistible to scientists, aerospace engineers, futurists, fiction writers … and tech billionaires. A group of wealthy, adventurous entrepreneurs will announce on Apr. 24 a new venture called Planetary Resources, Inc., which plans to send swarms of robots to space to scout asteroids for precious metals and set up mines to bring resources back to Earth, in the process adding trillions of dollars to the global GDP, helping ensure humanity’s prosperity and paving the way for the human settlement of space.

 “The resources of Earth pale in comparison to the wealth of the solar system,” said Eric Anderson, who founded the commercial space tourism company Space Adventures, and is co-founder of a new company along with Peter Diamandis, who started the X Prize foundation, which offers prize-based incentives for advanced technology development. Nearly 9,000 asteroids larger than 150 feet in diameter orbit near the Earth. Some could contain as much platinum as is mined in an entire year on Earth, making them potentially worth several billion dollars each. The right kinds of investment could reap huge rewards for those willing to take the risk. Outside of NASA, Anderson and Diamandis are among the most likely candidates to realize such a dream. Space Adventures has sent seven private tourists to the International Space Station while the Ansari X Prize led to a spurt of non-governmental manned spaceships.

 “We have a long track record of making large-scale space ventures real,” said Diamandis. Despite the promise of astronomical profits, the long time-scales and uncertain return on asteroid mining has historically driven most investors away from such undertakings. But the new company is also backed by a number of other billionaire luminaries, including Google’s CEO Larry Page and executive chairman Eric Schmidt, former Microsoft chief architect Charles Simonyi, and Ross Perot Jr. The venture also counts on filmmaker James Cameron, former astronaut Tom Jones, former JPL engineer Chris Lewicki, and planetary scientist Sara Seager as advisers.

 Still, this new undertaking will be much larger and more ambitious than anything Anderson and Diamandis have attempted before. The hurdles are many and high. While the endeavor is technically feasible, the technology has not yet been developed. And beyond their initial steps, the details of Planetary Resources’ plans remain scarce. The first hurdle will likely be ensuring that Planetary Resources has covered all its legal bases. While some have argued that governments need to set up specific property rights before investors will make use of space, the majority of space lawyers agree that this isn’t necessary to assure the opportunity for a return on investment, said space policy analyst Henry Hertzfeld at George Washington University in Washington D.C. Mining occurs in international seabeds — even without specific property rights — overseen by a special commission dedicated to the task, he said.

A similar arrangement would likely work in space. In terms of extraction, Planetary Resources hopes to go after the platinum-group metals — which include platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium — highly valuable commodities used in medical devices, renewable energy products, catalytic converters, and potentially in automotive fuel cells. Platinum alone is worth around $23,000 a pound — nearly the same as gold. Mining the top few feet of a single modestly sized, half-mile-diameter asteroid could yield around 130 tons of platinum, worth roughly $6 billion.

 Within the next 18 to 24 months, Planetary Resources hopes to launch between two and five space-based telescopes at an estimated cost of a few million dollars each that will identify potentially valuable asteroids. Other than their size and orbit, little detailed information is available about the current catalog of near-Earth asteroids. Planetary Resources’ Arkyd-101 Space Telescopes will figure out whether any are worth the trouble of resource extraction. Within five to seven years, the company hopes to send out a small swarm of similar spacecraft for a more detailed prospecting mission, mapping out a valuable asteroid in detail and identifying rich resource veins.

They estimate such a mission will cost between $25 and 30 million. The next step — using robots to remotely mine, possibly refine ore, and return material to Earth safely — is probably the toughest phase, and Planetary Resources is still tight-lipped about its plans here. Source

now you really can take a seat

For those of you just joining in, you can catch up on the sofa saga with part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.

I'm not a tease, no matter what you may have heard about me. But I feel like I've been dangling a carrot in front of you for too long.

Now technically I can't call this 100% complete as it is missing one rather important piece (the cushion is unexpectedly delayed) but I couldn't wait any longer. And anyway, my Polly Perfect card expired long ago, so I figure its better to show you real life, right?

There are so many great tutorials out there for reupholstering. Linda, Tiffany and Erin can all school you on the ins and outs. So I won't reinvent the wheel, but I will share some of what I learned about the process. (I'm going to go ahead and pretend that you are going to actually read this list and not just scroll thru to see the final pictures.)

It was easier than I thought. This is not to say that it was an easy project, but I had imagined bruises and cuts from ripping out old fabric and -not kidding - 3,000 staples. I thought there would be screaming, crying, punching, cussing. (Obviously I have a very dramatic imagination). But I made it thru with only one small cut. I did cuss through the whole thing, but I pretty much cuss thru everything so that's not unusual. I did find though that there were a wicked number of opportunities for 'That's what she said...' in upholstery. But that's a story for another post.

BYOF. That F is for Friend people! There are many areas of this project that are a two-person job. For me at least. I am sure there are master upholsters who can hold the fabric tight with one hand on both ends while stapling. Their friends probably call them 'The Octopus' or something cool like that and they wear hats with funny sayings on them. I am not one of those people. The hubs was a huge help in keeping things taut (that's what she said) while stapling. We were a rockin good team on this project and usually we don't work well together on DIY stuff, so that is a "bold statement" as John Travolta would say.

Upholstery is not a no-sew project. I don't sew, hence me sending out the cushion, but I now think I wanna. After my dear friend Becca (who also designed my blog header) helped me to sew the piping, I realized sewing isn't as intimidating as I always thought. Btw, when I say 'help' I really mean she did everything while I stood over her shoulder yapping in her ear. But it looks fun. I think the trick is figuring out the machine. Once you've got that all you need is time and the fabric world is your oyster!

Foam is a B@*#$. It comes in all different depths and densities. The ladies at the fabric store expect you to be as knowledgeable as they are on the subject and it never seems to want to cooperate. Don't get me started on foam.

All in though, I enjoyed this far more than I anticipated and I'm over the moon with how it turned out. I anticipated an epic failure, when in reality I've saved myself over $600!

So on to the eye candy. Let's remember first were we began.

And here is where we are today.

Sorry for the crooked angle, I was blinded by staring into that crazy window

All taut and piped up. Not bad for an old lady.

I really need to learn how to un-yellow my nighttime pics

So there she is, in all her 95% glory. I'll take some legit beauty shots when the cushion comes in. Does this give you the upholstery DIY bug? I say go for it! You might surprise yourself.

I'm linking up to POWW @ Primitive & Proper