Cate – Page 67 – everydaysparks

Sea change

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Cate

I am still not sure if this is true or an elaborate hoax left over from the 1980s (which appears to be when the photos on their website were last updated), but I present to you: Jules’ Undersea Lodge. It is apparently the world’s only underwater hotel, based in Key Largo, Florida. You enter the Lodge via a 21 feet scuba dive and the owners say that the lodge can accommodate up to six friends. Close friends, presumably, as it looks like a pretty small living area.

Whether you’re after a unique sort of venue for your wedding (or perhaps not many people approve of the match, so you’re happy to have just the celebrant and some fishy guests?) or you are one of the handful of people who loved Kevin Costner’s Waterworld and want an underwater holiday, this could be the place for you. They offer wedding packages (with too many great photos to include here) and a range of overnight stays – choose from the Luxury, European or Ultimate Romantic getaway.

Food is an important part of any holiday and don’t think that Jules has forgotten. On arrival, you are greeted with shrimp cocktail (of course!), fresh fruit and snacks. The European Package “comes with a generous portion of grilled chicken breast”. Ooh la la. And despite being surrounded by a seafood smorgasbord, they begrudgingly cater for you wacky vegetarians, who “may substitute your shrimp cocktail with humus and crackers or cheese and crackers.” And it gets better – late night snacks can even include the underwater delivery of a pizza from a local shop.

I was confused about how you got in and out of the Lodge, but Jules explains all: A five by seven foot “moon pool” entrance in the floor of the building makes entering the hotel much like surfacing through a small swimming pool. Divers find themselves in the wet room, the center of three compartments that make up the underwater living quarters. Aha. And in case you’re interested, each of the bedrooms and the common room is equipped with telephone, intercom, VCR/DVD. Seriously? Surely you can do without technology for one night and LOOK OUT YOUR GIANT BEDROOM WINDOW AT THE WONDERS OF THE OCEAN. And one more thing, given the size of the cabin – WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO ON THE INTERCOM? Mysterious indeed, Jules.

The home page of the website asks Have you slept underwater lately? In the unlikely event that your answer is ‘no’ (but you answer ‘yes’ to the question, Do you even actually want to sleep underwater?) then check out Jules’ Undersea Lodge. And you too could be having as much fun as the couple in this photo.

Arty sparks, Sparks in the wild, Sparky gifts, WWWhat?

Doggone

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Cate

If you’ve read my post Walk on By, then you’ll know that I don’t have a problem with fake dogs. In fact, my Ikea dog Goldie is one of my best mates. Which may say more about me and my life than it does about Goldie, but I’ll save that analysis for another time. Anyways, I think that fake animals are great and there should be more of them – whether you’re after fake company, fake walking pals, or fake protectors to guard your home, fake it up, I say.

Which is why I was delighted to find a very talented fake animal maker (NB, that’s not her official job title) on the etsy website. Excited at the thought of adding to my fake pet collection and providing a fake pal for Goldie, I thought these amazing, life-like dogs were too good to be true. I could put these two out as guard dogs and they would definitely keep the possums away. And if I wire up an MP3 player with a growling dog soundtrack on repeat play, then seeya, annoying neighbourhood kids! My mind started to wander, full of possibilities for these “I can’t believe it’s not butter” canine equivalents. Perfect looking and no maintenance – surely the recipe for any great relationship… I would call them Snowy and Snowi and we would go on walks, relax in the sun, read the Saturday paper and generally pal around like an episode of Lassie. (Or Neighbours, before the untimely end of dear old Bouncer.)

And the product title on etsy specifically says LARGE Size Pet Sculpture. Yes, with large written in capital letters, wouldn’t you think that would mean life-size pups and all of the good times I dreamed of in the above paragraph? Well, hold your LARGE horses, people. Contain your shock as you look at this next photo. And see why my vision for a life with Snowy and Snowi vanished in an instant.

If you are more forgiving than me, other LARGE size pet sculptures are made by FeltedFuzzies.

WWWhat?

Life lessons from Words With Friends #17

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Cate

Occasionally, Words With Friends is truly educational. Of course, it always helps to expand your vocabulary (sometimes even with words that do actually appear in a common dictionary), but I like to think that from time to time there are hidden messages that offer broader life lessons. And when I find them, I’ll share them. Sometimes, the tip is in the arrangement of words on the board, other times it is via the tiles allocated to your virtual rack. The spelling is not always perfect – today’s is a case in point. I imagine the seemingly random allocation of tiles was driven by some religious zealot at Words With Friends HQ (with the limitations of not enough letters and no apostrophes). We’ve been warned, friends.

Arty sparks, Sparky gifts

Brainiac

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Cate

This Jumping Brain is one of a series designed by Emilio Garcia at the “secret Lapo laboratories”, wherever they are. And they might be secret, but presumably they’re paved with gold – an extra large Jumping Brain costs 1500 euros. But imagine how handy one could be…

When you’re in a meeting and Sucky Suckinson is trying to impress the boss with a jargon-filled speech, the brain jumps across the table as a very subtle sign that he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. Or when the 12 year old boy running the McDonald’s drive-thru gives you the wrong order, ol’ Brainy could jump up to the window as a reminder to stop chatting up the chick making the sundaes and actually serve the customer. Or at extended family gatherings, the brain could sit in the middle of the table as a warning to Great Uncle Charlie and Second Cousin Babs – no one wants to hear dumbhead rants about how much better things were in the olden days. Or if you see a Kardashian or a Snooki or pretty much any reality tv star…

Honestly, think of all the people you’ve met and discounted as idiots – and if you’ve worked in the corporate world in particular, I’m tipping you’ve met plenty – or the people that you suspect are either off their heads or heavily medicated when you speak with them. Maybe, just maybe – like a weird twist on old Pavlov’s dogs – when the Jumping Brain appears, everyone in the room gets a little bit smarter. If so, 1500 euros is looking like a great investment!

Check out Emilio Garcia’s brain(s) here.

Sparky gifts, WWWhat?

On fire

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Cate

I like fire. Not in a call-the-police, lock-up-your-matches kind of way, but I do like being around fireplaces, especially in winter. The problem is that I live in an apartment, so any fire here is probably not going to be a relaxing, toasting marshmallows kind of affair. More like a mad dash to grab the photos, grab the icecream-maker, grab some chocolate and run. So I was excited to see these bizarre looking fire bowls on Fab.com – they’re made by Lumacast and they cost around $3,000 for a 32 inch ‘fire wok’. I like the idea of carrying the bowl over to the dining table to scare guests who think that you’ve overdone the Masterchef flambe and burnt their dinner, but apparently these handcrafted concrete bowls are meant for patio use only. Though since my balcony isn’t gigantic and already features one gas-powered fire machine (which also cooks delicious food), I think this will have to wait til I’m grown up and living in my dream house. With a hi-tech sprinkler system installed, just in case.