Notventures Roundup
Where will your next adventure take you? Get carried away with this gorgeous roundup from Notventures. To find out more about each destination, click on its image.
Where will your next adventure take you? Get carried away with this gorgeous roundup from Notventures. To find out more about each destination, click on its image.
This is Part II of Justine’s LAX-LHR contribution to Operation Window Seat ~ Part I was the Tiny Planes! Now it’s a look at the stunningly snowy winter edition as she flew into the VERY snow covered UK. It’s really so amazing to see the patterns cut so crisply into the white snow, layered with the fluffy clouds! Check it all out on the next page!
Plan your escape this weekend with a few inspirations from Notventures. To find out more about each destination, click on its image.
Justine seems to be taking over my Operation Window Seat addiction… and is taking it to a whole new level. Armed with her new Canon 60D, on her LAX home to LHR flight, she has started taking some amazing TINY PLANE SPOTTING pics! Found these in my dropbox shortly after she got home. You have to see how incredibly tiny they look! Then let yourself imagine how many people are in there! They are pretty amazing, almost surreal, and i swear i didn’t photoshop them in! So very fascinatingly tiny, check them out on the next page!
Holiday season is officially here! Happy Black Friday! In addition to the NOTCOT Holiday Coupons and the many Holiday Giveaways that will be unfolding daily… here’s a gift guide inspired by the latest addition to the NOTCOT family ~ NotVentures. I can’t believe it’s been merely a month old already, and since it’s launch i’ve been from LA to San Francisco, Germany, Italy, Japan, and off to New York Monday! Beyond inspiring us with things to see and places to go… it’s also inspired some fun products, perfect for gifting your favorite jetsetter! See my picks on the next page…
It’s definitely Notventures Friday here at NOTCOT! Whether you’re after polar bears or scuba diving between tectonic plates, you’ll find all the inspiration you need for your next adventure at Notventures. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.
Blackbox Case has just launched! Beautiful wooden Macbook Pro cases hand made in Colorado and just sent over an awesome email with some great pics! Weighing in at a mere 1.5 pounds, its pretty light, AND apparently hard to crush… but most intriguing of all are the stunning details you have to see up close on the next page! Each is hand numbered, comes with a typographically stunning card welcoming you to their family by their Chief Dreamer! Each case is hand oiled with high end Tung oil finish that takes four days to complete. “It just feels velvety smooth.” Each case is precision cut, hand sanded, hand rubbed, and personally inspected throughout the crafting process. “Your case starts as two pieces of hardwood that are milled on our CNC machine. This means that your computer will fit in your case perfectly. Not tight. Not loose. Just right every time.” Stunning, right? Sadly only available for macbook pros right now, i could really use one for my air!
Here’s an excerpt from the email i received:
Why the name Blackbox?
~Because I am a flight instructor in my spare time and it will keep your computer safe like the infamous blackbox in an airplane.
Who the heck are you? Do you really make these?
~Yep. We’re serious. We have engineers, woodworkers, and artists handcrafting these full-time. We’re making these with love in Golden, Colorado.
What’s with the branding-iron-logo?
~I’m from a small cow town in Eastern Colorado, so I thought it was fitting. That and it just looks sexy.
Can it really survive being dropped from an airplane 20,000 ft. in the air?
~I’m pretty sure it couldn’t but I can’t wait to try.
What computers does it fit?
~It is designed to fit a 15 in. and 13 in. MacBook Pro. You could try shaving the sides off that old PC laptop, but I don’t think that’s gonna work.
Take a peek at more details of the new Blackbox Case on the next page!
P.S. Use code “givethanks” will get $20 off at Blackbox Case.
Justine just flew over to LA from London ~ and sadly the upside to terrible turbulence turned out to be amazing clouds! The type that look like a world of their own hovering above ours, as i cleaned up the pics, i couldn’t help looking for care bears in cloud cars. Then again, in the last pic, you will see the bizarre object she looked up to see flying by… turns out it was another plane! But the most fascinating part about this flight was seeing all the ice! And the fractal like patterns and twists and turns of the roads jumping out so crisply… not to mention watching the layers of clouds making incredible shadows on the ice! Take a peek at it all on the next page!
Satisfy your wanderlust with a peek at NOTCOT’s latest addition, NotVentures. To find out more about your next escape, click on the individual images.
I just went literally around the world in 4 days! And for all who agreed it sounded both awesome and horrifying all at once… Mercedes-Benz managed to make it impressively painless, luxuriously comfortable even ~ i actually may have both seen more and slept far more than usual ~ as i was catapulted between time zones so quickly, my body had yet to completely notice before ending up right back here in LA! So forgive me for going quiet the last few days… i honestly can’t recall the last time i’ve actually had so little internet (and barely enough time to even panic about it!) I’ve just touched back down to LA, though currently in Laguna Beach for a bit before LA Auto Week kicks off. The gist of the trip is “Timeless Design” where we visit 4 of Mercedes’ six global design studios, one after the other! So on weds night i left LA, ended up in Stuttgart Thurs night (via Munich) to see the Sindelfingen studio on Friday, then quickly to a private jet to Milan, where we drive to see the Como studio - spend the night in Milan (next to the duomo!) - saturday morning we take the jet to Frankfurt to hop on the beautiful A380 to Tokyo - pop into the Tokyo hotel for and hour and a half to freshen up before heading to the Tokyo studio - and then hop on another jumbo jet right back to LA… and here i am in Laguna Beach SUNDAY AFTERNOON! …with an hour before the meeting with the futurist, a million pictures to sort out… and we’ve yet to visit the Carlsbad studio, or play with the cars, or see the auto show. So, here’s some quick NotVentures/Operation Window Seating literally around the world on the next page to inspire you… the globe has never felt quite so small or diverse as it does right now, my head is still spinning trying to keep track of all the places we’ve been and things we’ve seen in such a tiny amount of time… surreal to say the least! While this is certainly not everything, and a bunch of flights were in the dark… see some of the most inspiring views i found!
p.s. As for the actual design inspiration and incredible studio peeks… coming soon. Somewhere between catching up on all the pics and making sense of a bigger story as the trip comes to a close!
When the world is your oyster, it can be hard to decide what to do and where to go next. Here are just a few inspirations from Notventures for your next escape.
In light of the launch of NotVentures and the recently unboxed MacBook Air… impulsively hopped a flight to celebrate ~ deciding to take a quick overnight trip up to SF… which resulted in some gorgeous midday cliche sunny california weather both yesterday and today! Exciting news ~ NO problems at all with 11” MacBook Air going through airport security in my bag!!! And it’s a breeze to pack, and starts up so quickly… perfect for quick work on the plane and at the airport… perfect to toss into a bag that doesn’t scream “laptop!”. And beyond that ~ being a gorgeous day, both ways, with incredible views, i’d be remiss not to give you another Operation Window Seat post! So mesmerizing watching the patterns that show up when looking at the world from above… and getting some literal distance and mental perspective… take a peek at my awesome mini-vacation on the next page!
NotVentures is here! Escapism at its best! Latest section of the NotEmpire ~ dedicated to helping us all indulge our worldly wanderlust ~ regardless of whether we’re ready to book a flight, or just need a mid day day dream destination. With so many incredible places to see and things to do around the globe (and beyond!) ~ as well as incredible products, resources, and services to help us do them… travel has outgrown NOTCOT.org and into NotVentures!
HUGE thank you to my amazing team at Federated Media and ZYNC from American Express for believing in NOTCOT and sponsoring the launch of both Tasteologie and NotVentures. It has been surreal having the extra nudge to get these pet projects of mine off the ground this year ~ and working on them… also pushed me to redesign the footers across all of the grid sites! Also… ROCKET SHIP!!! I adore the incredible logo and banner design that our friends at Dead As We Know It created ~ it embodies how i feel about travel perfectly… (psst - if you’re on a large screen, stretch your browser out for some surprises in the banner design!)
So what IS NotVentures? A collection of amazing curated user submission links for you to explore (and submit to if you wish to share!) focused on everything from places we want to see and places we’ve visited and loved to gadgets and articles and anything that helps you get where you need to go… and enjoy it! See some examples in the mini roundup below ~ and see more on the site!
“Cire Trudon, the oldest candle company in the world, is opening its very first shop outside its native Paris in New York’s Nolita neighborhood at 54 Bond Street at Bowery. This will be the first boutique to open since the Paris shop, located in the 6th arrondissement at 78 rue de Seine, opened in 1884.” That is quite a bit of history behind these amazing candles. While i have yet to smell them for myself, Anna was able to make it over to the opening to check it out first hand for us! For some reason there is something about a pouty Napoleon bust of a candle that just makes me smile. Also that the store makes you feel like you’re stepping into another world ~ in another time! Anna mentioned, “They put glass jars over the candles for display, which was a smart way to capture the smell and allow us to get a whiff without being totally overwhelmed by a million different scents in the store.” Take a first look into the stunning store on the next page ~ and perhaps soon i can show you some of their Stink Bombs that sound incredible… but more on that to come ~ to the next page!
Hard Graft’s Phone Fold Wallet in Grey is so lustworthy… for those moments when you can’t grab a full purse/wallet, and only need to run out the door with your phone, cash, and a few cards (key’s will have to be figured out separately!) ~ how cute is this nice grey version of the Hard Graft fold wallet (originally in brown). So tempting. I love the attention to detail: Metal snap keeps wallet closed (snap is not exposed to phone) and the headphone jack even has access! And it can fit your iPhone 4 with bumpers, albeit a bit more snugly… perfect to grab and toss into a clutch for a night out… see more pics on the next page!