Artemis + Meadow

Artemis + Meadow was blog I created with my college friend Kimberly DeHaas. We created the lifestyle blog as friends living on opposite coasts to talk about style, culture, home, and how we shape and are shaped by the world around us. Below are samples of my work that appeared on the website.

Welcome home: Seattle

POSTED fEBRUARY 4, 2019

In 2012, at the age of 18, I wrote the following in my journal: “my whole life, while everything about me screamed ‘EAST COAST,’ I’ve always heard a whisper of ‘west.’ I’ll hear that whisper a few times a week, whether I’m at a sushi bar in the heat of summer, or walking home from school in mid-February. Maybe, somewhere in my comfort-seeking-hot-drink-consuming-autumn-loving heart, whoever created me engraved a small orange tree, one that has spent the past eighteen years growing, every whisper of “west” like a drop of water.”

Five years later, I moved to Seattle, Washington.

Now that I’ve lived here for two years, I feel qualified to share five of my favorite places in Seattle, the ones that always feel like home when I visit.

Gas Works Park

Both of the apartments I’ve called home in Seattle are in a cozy neighborhood called Wallingford. The neighborhood is situated on a hill that runs north of Lake Union, and it’s sandwiched between two much more hip neighborhoods: Fremont and the University District. Fremont has a statue of Lenin (yes, that Lenin), and the U District has, well, a university. So, what do we have? Gas Works. From 1906 to 1956, the 21 acres of land along Lake Union operated as a coal gasification plant. In 1975, it reopened as a public park with the best view of the city (don’t tell the Kerry Park people I said that). The city kept part of the plant in tact, but the rest is grass filled with goose poop and mud. It’s awesome. The park is never empty. There’s almost always some students drinking on the lawn, or tourists taking pictures with the Space Needle, or runners taking a breather on top of the mound. It’s also a prime spot to find dogs and their humans. Thomas and I tend to walk through Gas Works whenever we miss the natural beauty of Houghton, and need a break from the city. I imagine we feel about Gas Works the way New Yorkers feel about Central Park, but on a much smaller scale. After all, you can’t get lost in Gas Works. No matter where you look, there’s a view of the city.

Ada’s Technical Books

All of my favorite coffee shops are also book stores. In my hometown of Ottawa, it’s Black Squirrel Books, and in Seattle, it’s Ada’s Technical Books. (Elliott Bay Books is a close second, but you’ve probably already heard of it). By no means do I have the “technical mind” they advertise to, but every time I walk in their doors, I feel welcome. My husband Thomas found this place when I started taking dance lessons in Capitol Hill, and the moment he told me it was named after Ada Lovelace, I was interested. Ada’s focuses mainly on science fiction and scientific nonfiction books, but they carry a wide range within those constraints. Their tables are made of glass and filled with strange artifacts, from labelled rocks to exposed circuit boards. It’s one of my favorite places to write, but I see people there for conversations, job interviews, and game nights. They host events almost every week, although I have yet to go to one. If you stop by, definitely try the Black Cauldron (rosemary, sea salt, dark chocolate, and espresso).

Discovery Park

Remember when I had the audacity to compare Gas Works Park to Central Park? (All New Yorkers are welcome to destroy me in the comments for that.) I will admit that I wasn’t entirely correct. If we’re going to compare any Seattle park to the Most Famous City Park on Earth, then we should probably compare it with Discovery Park. Discovery is anything but central, and more reminiscent of the hiking trails in the Catskills than the memorial benches and cinder parkways of New York’s green gem, but it is the place where Seattleites flock when they want some “nature.” It’s actually smaller than Central Park, only 534 acres, but Discovery is a natural wonderland. And not to brag, but it has a beach. Take that, New York. Thomas and I explored it on the first sunny day of 2018, and it has since become one of our favorite spots. It’s hard to get to without a car (which we are lacking these days), but it’s the perfect place to remind you that you’re in the PNW in the midst of Seattle’s city slicker culture. 

Bainbridge Island

If you want a real getaway from Seattle, you can literally hop on a ferry and be on an island across the Puget Sound in less than an hour. The most metropolitan of these islands is the commuter town of Bainbridge. I have only done this once, and it was magical. It felt like more of an escape than Discovery Park ever could, and was more affordable than travelling all the way to Whidbey Island up north (which I have also done). Thomas and I stayed in an affordable AirBnB a mile from the ferry port (real estate on Bainbridge is comparable to the city of Seattle, which basically means you can’t afford a house unless you’re a VP at Amazon - which many Seattleites are). The town, excuse me, “city” of Bainbridge felt like the ubiquitous small town in a Hallmark movie: everyone was stylish and rich (much like the rest of the wealthy suburbs of Seattle, but that’s another blog post). We ate the most fabulous meal of my life in a tiny restaurant called Hitchcock, and spent an hour talking design with a shopkeeper at a luxury boutique owned by someone high up at J. Crew (oh, Seattle).  

Milstead & Co.

I struggled deciding on a fifth place for this list, and landed on Milstead for two reasons: one, I’m there as I write this, and two, it’s like my second home. Yes, it’s another coffee shop, but it’s the first coffee shop I ever visited in Seattle with two of my former co-workers. One of whom is here right now, writing poetry as I type. Milstead is the closest place we have to a friendly neighborhood pub (aside from the Fremont Brewery) — it’s a few blocks down the street from my apartment and full of fellow freelancers trying to make a go of it. We gather from 6 AM to 6 PM, and many of us treat the café as our office, purchasing another drink every few hours as our rent. The walls are all windows, so we soak in all of the natural light we can muster in the midst of Seattle’s gloomy winters. I have met several adorable dogs here, I have received life-changing phone calls here, I have had life-changing conversations here. Still, the dogs kind of top it all. In fact, the number of dogs in my neighborhood are probably my number one reason to live in Seattle. Seattle: Come for the Coffee, Stay for the Dogs. That’s what I’m naming my guidebook.

If you made it this far, congratulations, you could pass as a Seattleite if you tried! Of course, I skipped over some of the more obvious staples of the city (the Space Needle, Ivar’s Fish House, the Fremont Troll, etc.) but I trust you to find those in the real tourist guidebooks. 

If you take anything away from this, let it be this: Seattle is dark most of the year, but you’ll always be able to find points of light here. It’s not my forever home, but it’s a good place to start. I hope it’s also a good place to start for this blog, Kim’s and my venture into the world of blogging.

sMALL sPACES: Living Room

Posted March 13, 2019

I recently spent an entire Saturday exploring IKEA, the Swedish furniture store created to overwhelm and inspire you all at once. I miraculously managed not to buy anything (I was with a friend buying new furniture for their apartment), but I left with renewed excitement about decorating my own space.

Thomas and I moved into our new apartment about five months ago, but we’re still settling in. We went from about 400 square feet of dark studio space, to an 812 square foot one-bedroom with floor to ceiling windows. Prior to the move itself, we spent close to a full year dreaming of our new apartment, and how we would make the space ours. We had several Milanote and Pinterest boards exploring different layouts and styles for the new apartment, which we toured via virtual 3D gallery at least once a month. 

One of the more difficult aspects of moving across the country with very little money is that you can’t bring your furniture with you. Granted, Thomas and I owned very little furniture before, but what we did own we had to leave in New York when he moved out to Seattle. This proved to be both a blessing and a curse, because we got to completely remake our space, but we could only afford so much to make the space ours. Between wedding gifts and our savings, we’ve slowly begun to populate our apartment with furniture that we love. Only the living room is complete at this point, but we’re relishing the chance to create a home we love together, even if it’s all in a small space.

This week, I thought I’d share how we designed our living room from scratch, and give you a sneak peek into what’s to come with the rest of our apartment. I mean it when I say we’re taking our time, and while I sometimes wish we had a dining room table already, I’m grateful that I have a partner who is willing to work with me to make this space our own, and take the time to do it right. 

Plan First, Buy Later

As I mentioned, Thomas and I designed and redesigned this place over and over again before we even moved in. We had the apartment complex we wanted to live in picked out almost a year before we actually rented our unit, and we researched several floor plans before finding the one that fit our budget and our lifestyle. Once we chose our apartment, we began to divide it and measure it. This planning is mostly thanks to Thomas who is a true “measure twice, cut once” type, but I also thoroughly enjoyed the amount of dreaming I got to do. I browsed website after website in search of the perfect furniture, saved every picture that sparked inspiration for me to my Pinterest board, and sent Thomas photos of all my favorites. Most of what I found was intended to just be “inspiration,” but a lot of those “dream” items ended up in our home because we had a year to save and budget for them. Our Article couch, for example, which I built the rest of the living room around. The deep blue color and soft material drew me in the first time I saw it online, and I already knew that I wanted blue to be the main color in our space. The couch, and most of the rest of our furniture, feels extra special since we spent so long choosing it, and deliberating finding pieces that fit together.

Incorporate Furniture That Fits the Room — Not Just Your Style

I love vintage and antique furniture, and have often dreamed of living in a Victorian-style house, or a mid-century farmhouse. I savor dark wood, looming bookcases, and imposing dining room tables that fit families of eight. But none of those styles of furniture fit with our small apartment, and despite how much light enters our space even on cloudy days, I couldn’t justify any giant walnut bookcases (although I do plan to incorporate darker wood in our dining room). Our apartment was designed to be light and airy, and so I searched for the lightest and airiest bookcases I could find. I chose a pair on sale at Crate & Barrel that look like they are part of the wall. They may not be the bookcases I thought I’d store my most precious keepsakes in, but they fit the space seamlessly, and don’t draw too much attention to themselves. 

Choose Accents Early and Incorporate Them Gradually

While I always wanted the color scheme of the living room to heavily feature blue, I had trouble deciding on accents early on. If I’m being honest, I would just make everything blue or purple and call it a day if I didn’t have to think about it. But, I’m part of a team, and I’ve always wanted our apartment to be a joint effort, and not just a “me” project. Together, Thomas and I decided on a few accent colors and textures for our space, and we narrowed them down to three. The most obvious one is marble. I’ve always loved marble countertops, and would buy all the Target-style marble accoutrements I could find in college. While marble is too expensive for us right now, we did find two accent pieces that featured two accents we’d been searching for, marble and walnut stained wood, and incorporated those into the space after the couch and the rug. The coffee table is also from Article, and the media console is from CB2. Again, these were purchases we decided on months in advance, and took our time to save for, but they were definitely worth the wait. (Also, waiting for Black Friday sales really made a difference).

If I could tell myself anything a year and a half ago when I moved into my first post-college apartment, I’d remind myself that it’s okay to take your time when decorating a space, and finding the furniture that makes it your own. If you saw my first apartment in Seattle, you’d know that it has taken me awhile to find my aesthetic taste, and I know I still have a long way to go. Perhaps there is a mid-century farmhouse in my future, or I could be relegated to apartments for another twenty years. Lucky for me, small spaces have a lot to offer. They provide conditions in which creativity is limited, but allows one to flourish with the choices one makes. I’d almost compare it to writing a sonnet versus free-verse. A small space will dictate a lot of the choices you make, but it will also allow those choices to feel more meaningful in the end.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my interior design strategy. How have you decorated your own space? I’d love to see it, or hear about why you made the choices you did. Also remember, I’m not one to judge. I’m still waiting on that dining table.

How to BE ETHICALLY STYLISH

pOSTED MARCH 6, 2019

NBC’s The Good Place has ruined my life in many, many ways, but most recently the show destroyed me with one line of dialogue:  “There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.”

I revisit this line almost every day when I make a purchase, and in doing so have realized that most of the time, my purchases are unethical. When I go to the grocery store, am I supporting local farmers, or am I supporting corporations that underpay migrant workers? When I order from Amazon, am I contributing to the horrifying conditions in which their warehouse employees work? I don’t even want to think about the plastic cups that come with my coffee order. 

Obviously, these are choices. I could limit my grocery spending to farmers’ markets. I could cancel my Prime subscription, and buy all of my books and household items at full retail price. The reason I don’t is because I save a lot of money by buying the basics from Target, Trader Joe’s, and Amazon. 

I’ve made little adjustments this year. I started using a reusable mug, buy most of my groceries from a co-op, and order most of my books from a local bookstore. Still, I give in to reduced prices and convenience more often than I should. For instance, I have no idea where my Amazon-ordered toilet paper or dishwashing liquid come from. But that’s another blog post.

The truth is that trying to consume ethically is overwhelming and expensive. Not everyone can do it. Because I’m neither fabulously wealthy, nor superhuman, I’ve decided to start small with ethical consumption in one industry in particular: fashion. 

According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, fashion is one of five key industries implicated in modern slavery. You likely heard about the factory fires and building collapses in Bangladesh that killed over 1300 people in 2012 and 2013. And if you’re like me, you might think that those dangerous working conditions have been fixed since then. Surely, in 2019, the age of social media social justice, we’re paying a living wage and providing safe working conditions for the underage tailors who make our $25 H&M jeans, right? 

If you didn’t catch the sarcasm, then I’ll spell it out: workers are still fighting for their rights in the year 2019. Fast fashion corporations like H&M continue to underpay their workers, while trying to appear socially conscious for publicity. John Oliver summed up the double talk in the fast fashion industry quite succinctly in this video if you’re interested in exploring the issue further.

As someone who spent most of her extra money at Forever21 and H&M as a teenager and college student, I’ve had to become more intentional about my fashion purchases as a young adult. Even before The Good Place forced encouraged me to reevaluate my consumption, I’d started investing in more expensive pieces that would last longer, because I knew that the majority of my wardrobe was not high quality. The “fast” part of “fast fashion” isn’t only related to the cheap methods of making clothes, but how long they actually last once you purchase them. Ever notice that your F21 and H&M purchases are made to fit the trends of one season, and then start to fall apart after one season of wear? Their business models rely on your spending money every season, which adds up. Keeping this in mind, I’ve been building a capsule wardrobe (another post, too) over the past year, so as not to contribute to the clothing crisis in our landfills. 

As of 2019, however, I’m trying to ensure that my purchases are not only high quality, but that they meet these three qualifications:

1. No slave or underpaid labor involved.

I don’t want to give my money to a corporation that employs any kind of unethical labor, point blank. Maybe this will mean missing out on trends that are only affordable via fast fashion, but I truly believe it is worth it in the long run. (To be clear, I’m not opposed to buying fast fashion second-hand, since I would rather recycle those materials than waste them, but most of the time I try to purchase products that will last.) 

Two mainstream companies I think have been incredibly transparent about their corporate responsibility are Aritzia and J. Crew. Both companies align with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, and both websites lay out exactly what this means for their business practices (here and here).

2. The manufacturers seek to use sustainable materials in their products.

It’s hard to find clothing that is recycled (without buying second-hand), but Everlane has made that quest easy with their Renew line. My friend Hannah recently purchased the short puffer in brick from Everlane, and they were able to buy it using their Afterpay feature. Not only did they not break the bank (they can pay for it in smaller installments over a few months), but Hannah now owns a high-quality piece of clothing that was both recycled and made in a transparent, ethical factory. I have to admit that I’m new to the Everlane train, but I’m planning to hop on the next time I need new pieces for my wardrobe.

Which brings me to my next point...

3. It is unique in my wardrobe.

In the world of fast fashion, it’s easy to overspend, and buy pieces that you already have, or that you aren’t certain you’ll ever wear. I can’t even begin to count the number of sparkly skirts and crop tops that I optimistically bought as a teenager, or the number of black t-shirts I owned at one time in college. My wardrobe felt bloated. 

Our western, capitalist culture screams that we need all of this stuff, when why would we? The principle behind the capsule wardrobe is to reduce your wardrobe to stylish basics. In doing so, you reduce waste, and you can afford to save for more expensive, ethical items that will last longer. Instead of spending $100 at H&M on five items that will last one season, spend $100 at Everlane or Aritzia on one item that will last four years.

I recognize that even with transparency in clothing manufacturers, supporting sustainable and ethical fashion may still feel overwhelming and expensive. Still, I think these are good first steps for anyone interested in reducing their carbon footprint and supporting fair trade.

I’m not perfect at this, in fact, I’m a hypocrite. I own a pair of Nikes, I buy jeans, and I love the occasional retail therapy. But there is so much at stake right now for the planet and for workers in developing countries that I can’t blindly continue on the path my teenage/ college self thought was normal consumption. Maybe there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but there are ways that money still talks. Where I put my money matters, and directly affects other people.

This post is the first in a series of adventures in ethical consumption that I will be exploring throughout the year. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook. I’ll keep checking back and give you credit if I use one of your ideas!