Champ came into our lives on June 5th, 2021 and our entire universe has changed for the better. We adopted him through Tales of the Misunderstood, a dog rescue team out of Calgary, AB. that work hard to make a positive difference in the lives of many animals in need.
Already a year and a half old when we got him, Champ is a sensitive lad that has experienced two broken legs and two (now three) homes in his very short life. He is a loving, tender, gentle, caring boy... who will jump up on you to ask for more love. (Such a hard habit to break!) He will also bark and bark when he sees another dog, but mostly because he wants to play.
I've learned a lot about my own behaviour in watching Champ socialize. He gets really excited and comes on strong, which makes other dogs feel weary of him. He really wants to play and socialize, but not every dog is ready to receive that.
Learning about how dogs interact has been mind blowing because as people that love to read about psychology and analyze everything, it has opened our eyes to the world of interacting without words. We all do it! We suss out a situation, look someone up and down, "read the room" so to speak, and can often decide fairly quickly whether or not we'll get along with someone.
Dogs are quite similar, with the added bonus of sniffing each other's butts! (We often wonder how different the world would be if sniffing each other's armpits was a social norm, getting the pheromone data processed immediately upon meeting another person... Would we be more accepting? Would we process each other's humanity instead of social statuses, which has been proven to be a subconscious habit of all humans?)
On our three month anniversary with Champ, Sept 5th, Lady came storming into our lives. It was fast, super sudden and mind blowing.
We always knew that we wanted a buddy for Champ. Perry and I are busy bodies and didn't ever want Champ to feel neglected or bored, so we had been watching the H.E.A.R.T. (Hope Emergency Adoption Rescue Transport) website regularly, hoping to find the right match. We were a bit of a pain in the ass too, texting and emailing to see what they thought might be the right fit.
No one seemed right until one day we got an email saying "How do you feel about Fostering?". We thought: Perfect! This way we could help a dog in need and if the fit isn't right, we won't feel too bad knowing that we helped a dog find the right human.
THE SAME DAY that we said yes, Lady showed up at our door. She was terrified. Timid. Nameless. Dirty. Obviously abused, sprayed by a skunk, and had recently had a litter of puppies. (We mistakingly thought she was pregnant for at least a week!)
Within two days she peed in the living room, dropped a huge dump in the office, incessantly growled at Champ and yet always begging for love at the same time. She was petrified.
It's hard to look back at the last seven weeks because the Lady that we know now is not at all the Lady that showed up at our doorstep.
Once she was accepting of Champ, everything started to change. Champ acted as her Life Coach, leading her through every motion and adventure, teaching her how to play, socialize, and just be. Honestly, we learned even more about Champ through this process and were amazed at his empathy, patience and assistance.
The first time we tried to take Lady for a walk, I had to drag her down the stairs to get her outside. We started small with short strolls to the end of the block, leading up to walks around the hay farm. Day after day we brought her out with Champ in the leed, showing her how great life could be.
Then we had her spayed and spent two weeks watching her heal. She was very quiet and stayed by my side most of the time. We were lucky that she didn't scratch herself once and barely even licked her stitches. The whole process was much easier than it could have been!
NOW?! Now Lady is a whole new dog. It has been an absolute magical experience to watch her grow. The first time I saw a smile on her face, I thought I was going to melt into the floor.
Some concerning behaviour now is that she's very attached to me and is also trying to take over Champ's position as head of the K9-crew in our household. Now that she's playing and exploring life, feeling free, comfortable and confident, she's coming on a little strong and trying to overtake Champ's rank! (His legs!! Watch out for his legs!)
We're doing what we can with training, hiring professionals and doing what we think is best but we often wonder if we're good enough, have enough experience or if we're just gonna fuck them up.
The adoption for Lady hasn't been processed yet so she's technically still a foster. We have grown rather attached to her but also know that we'll get attached to a snail if we have it for even a day. Champ seems a bit stressed every now and again but also seems to love her. Mostly we're watching her temperament change -- apparently it takes up to three months for a dogs personality to really show -- and trying to assess if we're really doing the right thing, and if she's in the right house for her needs. We think so?! (*I've been told that I'm over thinking the situation and that everything will be just fine... SO I GUESS WE'LL SEE! ;-) )
We go for (almost) daily, 45-90min walks up the ski hill or up back roads. We snuggle them on the regular. We spoil them like crazy. They fill our hearts with so much joy.
They are, Lady and The Champ.
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We had a wonderful number of applicants, which made the decisions difficult, but were grateful for the interest, and opportunity to get to know some of our existing customers a bit more.
Billie & Tait from Kelowna were two of our applicants that came as a package deal. They applied by sending us photos of themselves sitting in piles of our clothing which they already owned from years of shopping with us at various music festivals across BC and Alberta, including Shambhala Music Festival and Bass Coast Electronic Music and Art Festival.
They are quirky, talented, and amazing humans who embody our vision to empower people to be their ultimate selves, by wearing clothing that is fuelled with fantasy, created with magic, and backed with passion.
How could we say no?!
Billie & Tait maintain a healthy live / work / play balance. They have several pets. They enjoy being outdoors. They are artists with a vast array of skills and work with various mediums.
A few weeks ago they were asked by another talented friend of theirs to create this video and we are thrilled that they showcased some of out clothing in the making of.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
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Items featured in this video are:
The Precious Prism Vest, Brown Bamboo Shrug, Warrior Skirt, Three Bar Shorts, Desert Drifter, Arma Vest and Dirty Lucifer Pants.
]]>Lola Frost is a human that embodies all of these things and more. She is an advocate for so many things that matter, a professional sexy lady and a hard working entrepreneur.
Watch her unboxing video for a look at some of the super fun items that Lola will be sporting this summer! Which one is your favourite?
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"Here I'm detailing some amazing items and later will drop a fun "look book" video for y'all. I hope you enjoy, let me know in the comments what piece are your faves, have fun shopping and supporting a small independent business!" xoxo Frosty
]]>After over a decade of driving to festivals, events and fairs across all of Western Canada, we have a few tips to offer to make the long drives more manageable.
1. Check the Weather
If you have some flexibility to your schedule, check the weather for the best driving conditions.
Living in the Kootenays means checking the driving conditions for the Pass and other mountain routes, looking out for road closures due to avalanche control or in the summertime, road construction.
2. Daytime Disco
Try to avoid driving at night in order to avoid eye fatigue.
Perry prefers not to drive at night because his eyes get tired and it’s harder to see the animals who are always inevitably drawn to the lights of the truck. We will especially avoid nighttime driving if it’s raining or snowing.
Ideally you can wear your coolest looking shades and lower the windows to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air!
3. Music is Life
Pack your favourite CDs, playlists AND find a few radio stations to mix up the vibe and tone of the drive. Last week we had to drive to Vancouver in order to (finally!) receive our shipment from Nepal (YAY!) and had an assortment of beautiful sounds to listen to.
On rotation was:
Rob Zombie, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy
TOOL, Fear Inoculum
Slipknot, All Hope is Gone
…And when we got closer to the coast and had a variety of radio stations to choose from, we listened to the News (in order to the hear the latest about the Panana), 50s & 60s French radio station (nothing beats the oldies!) and some good ol’ Classic Rock.
We recommend bringing a wide assortment to choose from because your mood might change unexpectedly. Or what you like listening to at home might not feel right for the drive. It’s always fascinating to us that the second we’re on the road, our music interests and conversation topics change from when we’re in the house. T’is neat.
We also appreciate the occasional bouts of silence.
(We’re not into Podcasts yet. Anything you wanna suggest to get us started?)
4. Stop to Stand
Planning your route is one of the smartest things you can do, especially if you have the time to take frequent rest stops ORRR spontaneously discover new stops! After years (and years) of driving for long distances, we’ve come to realize some of the not-so-great impacts that frequent driving can have on your body. Back pain, sciatica, or weak torso/ab muscles (to name a few), can creep up on you if you’re not careful and don’t take precautions.
For this reason, we highly encourage you to stop at least every hour in order to stretch, move and dance! Perry’s favourite road side workout is to throw his leg up on the tire for a deeper glute and leg stretch, while mine is doing large hip circles and wide leg bend overs.
When time allows, put on your favourite music to dance to, turn up the volume and dance it out!
(At one point we talked about traveling with boxing gloves and punching pads in order to really break a sweat AND let out some steam – we’re around each other a lot – but we never followed through on that one. Still recommend it though.)
5. Hydrate
For some reason, long drives can be really dehydrating. Coming from Salmo, where we have some of the best water in the world, we’ve even gone so far as to fill water cooler jugs in order to have the freshest, cleanest, most amazing water available to us for the drive.
(If you happen to be driving through Fernie, just past the tunnel going towards Fernie, there’s a natural spring on the side of the hill that is a perfect spot to refill your water bottles. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf_E7FuiIKQ )
6. Conversation is Key
Somehow, Perry and I have managed to be around each other almost 24/7 for over six years and still have cool stuff to talk about. We’ve had ideas, such as each of us picking topics to be more familiar with in order to “teach” the other but it ended up just happening naturally and somehow we always manage to find more to talk about.
One moment we’ll be talking about work and getting ideas on what to create next, or what pictures to post, or experiences to talk about online, and the next we’re talking about where we want to go in the world and when it could happen.
If you’re short on ideas though, we recommend revisiting #3.
7. Pack a Lunch (Or buy something. Whatever.)
We’re often on a budget so we’ll pack snacks and meals to eat on the road. However, sometimes we like to make stops along the way to support local artisanal shops and small restaurants. When we’re back on that budget, we’ll stop at grocery stores instead of restaurants in order to stock up on healthy snack food.
There was once a time where potato chips and chocolate covered raisins were our thing but over the years we’ve traded in the high calorie, sugar packed snacks for healthier options such as carrot sticks, crackers & cheese or leftovers brought from home.
The main point of this item is to be prepared. I’ll literally have panic attacks if I don’t have good food accessible to me because I NEED to eat every few hours. We’ve also found ourselves stuck in highway lineups due to an accident or road constructions for several hours with barely any water left and no food in sight and those were not fun times.
You just never know! So be prepared.
8. Watch for Bad Drivers
On our way to Vancouver recently we saw two almost-accidents that would have involved a small car and a truck going head-on into a rig. Both times it was the smaller vehicle completely at fault, driving too fast, passing traffic on double lines while on a corner going uphill, and overall being an ass-hat.
I remember my dad saying to me once: “It’s not yourself you have to be careful of, it’s every other asshole on the road” and even though I still don’t have a driver’s license (I know I know), I see what it’s like for Perry who’s doing his best to make sure that we get to our next destination safe and sound.
9. Appreciate Your Surroundings
Have you ever really looked at what Canada has to offer? Like, have you seriously stopped and looked around, truly taking in the sights and smells? When I first hit the road with Perry I was absolutely mesmerized by the beauty of this country.
We’ve gone through areas that we now call “the Irish hills” because I didn’t realize that we had slopes that are so green and lush and never ending. We’ve driven for hours through dry lands, or through never-ending fields, watching the grass blow from side to side, or come upon vast stretches of canola flowers. We’ve seen lakes that call you in, trees so high that we can’t see the tops, waterfalls that are there one moment and gone the next, and mountain sides that loom over you like mystical walls leading into a magical abyss…
If you can, really take a moment to appreciate your surroundings.
10. Say Hi to the Wildlife
WELL, not REALLY say hi and like, be careful of course, but similar to appreciating your physical surroundings is stopping to (safely) look at the deer, moose, bear and other wildlife that you will most likely come across at some point.
Keep your distance, don’t feed them, and definitely snap a few pics. ;-)
That’s it for now!
Enjoy your ride.
Venessa
PS. The Image used to at the top of this Blog post was taken on the side of the highway, outside of the NK'Mip Corner Gas Station, in Osoyoos, BC.
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What happens when we go to other countries? The same thing as in our own country, actually. If we see an animal that needs help we help, no questions. Even prior to meeting Venessa, I have saved almost everything that I have come across that needed help. Cats, dogs, turtles, fish, pelicans, possums and more. Now, together, we both do what we can wherever we are on the planet.
Some people have asked why wouldn't we just help the animals in Canada, where we live? That’s simple. We have passports from one nation but are citizens of the planet. We can also sometimes live abroad for as long as 4 to 5 months, which makes this new place our home and therefore makes us help wherever we may be at any given month or time of the day.
Our friends and business partners are all aware that if we are to be somewhere at a given time and call to cancel due to an emergency, there is no problem. They will carry on with plans without us for the moment or day. This has happened numerous times and will continue to when we see out of the corner of our eyes or in our faces, an animal that needs help.
We typically squish ourselves onto our motorbike and take the animal to the rescue centre or if it is too difficult we call the centre for help and they send someone, or a team, promptly.
Things like this cost money and we give what we can, generously. If a call is made by us, we always give money on scene for fuel, dressings, medications or surgery that is necessary to help the extra life we have just added to the already long list of animals in their care.
This has been going on for years because it feels impossible to drive or walk by some of the things you see and not help, knowing you have the ability to do just that. Typically, after a recent rescue, we will follow up in a day or two and spend time with the animal that has been saved.
As mentioned before, sometimes we need to get the animal to the centre immediately and maybe the drivers are busy and can't pick up from where we are. When this happens we will go to the centre and help with the surgery, clean up after animals, walk them or simply pet them. It is truly amazing how much a street animal (typically a dog) will respond to love before even eating the food you that you are giving it.
So to wrap this up before it gets to be a novel, we are here to let you know what we do and where your/our money goes: to be honest, earth born, solid, real-life heroes. That's correct, Heroes.
There are invisible people who do not do what they do for the pat on the back or the notoriety. They do it out of compassion and love for those who can't help themselves. It is for those people that we want to contribute what we can to help buy more medications, food, shelter, neutering and spaying programs, more staff etc.
]]>Hi everyone. This is the Perry's perspective blog part.
Let’s start with analogue. What is analogue? Well, its me. In the past when my tape cassette machine would break down from heavy use, I would fast forward or rewind a tape by way of using a pencil. HB were the best due to their multi sided design.
Now, people have libraries of music bigger than I would have had room to store in my house on their phones.
Wow, how things have changed. As they changed, so have I. Only a short time ago there were other lives being lived by myself and then they changed to become this.
Arcane Coda.
Being creative has its perks as you can transfer your skills from one medium to another, with some adjustments, of course. Other creative outlets that have been lifelong passions of mine include music (listening to, playing, watching, all of it), painting, fine woodworking and sewing.
After some travel around the world and lots of adventure I realized how cool some of the things were in other countries and thought bringing them back to sell would be cool to try. This worked for a while, while holding down a small construction company that I had at the same time. Then 'this' became more fun...... Way more fun.
As a lifelong lover of world travel this new road started looking much more attractive. After doing this for a while and making a few changes, I felt bringing amazing things to places in Canada from other people’s minds (open sourced items and clothing) wasn't enough. I wanted to design and had a lot of ideas. Problem was, I hadn’t found the right people to work with to make these ideas come alive.
Now, long term relationships with tailors, cargo, animal rescue friends and musicians overseas makes the Arcane Coda world that I live in, the only place I want to be.
A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet the person I would now spend the rest of my life with. I should mention that this lifestyle can either make someone crazy or giddy with excitement. It’s always moving, sleep is optional or simply hard to come by most often. By no means is this a complaint, just a fact that i am more than happy to accept.Being in one place for more than a few days is like saying moss is lazy because it doesn't visit other moss way over there or over there or Blahblah Blahblah.
Point is, I'm lucky and forever grateful that Venessa has come into my life and become just as much a part of Arcane Coda as myself. She is a citizen of the planet and manages to travel in questionable conditions, wild scenarios popping up at any moment and takes it all in stride. The endless travel is a blast but so is having an actual home base to work on creations.
Now, with our company more established and our catalogue of designs growing all the time, we are bringing them to you in the non analogue format so that you can get them anywhere, anytime.
Perry
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Hi! Venessa here.
Little did I know that when I met Perry and fell in love, that I was also embarking on a complete lifestyle overhaul in addition to a relationship. Before I knew what was happening, I was driving across Western Canada and seeing the natural beauty that our beloved country has to offer.
We were flying to Nepal, India and Thailand on fourteen hour trips and lots of coffee. I have seen places of the world that I never thought I would, eaten incredible food and participated in beautiful festivities that were completely new and absolutely beautiful to me.
I embarked on animal rescue missions with Perry, seeing a darkness in the world that is hard to swallow.
We have gone down paths in India with nowhere to pee and marching bands coming through an already overcrowded side road just to find gorgeous buttons for a pair of jeans.
The best part of all of this has been meeting all of the incredible people around the world. Whether we were setting up shop at a fair surrounded by goats and carnival rides, tattoo conventions or music festivals, sipping tea during a business meeting in Kathmandu, it has been meeting all of you that has added the most joy to my life.
Like Perry, I come from an equally eclectic background. Having spent over a decade in the animation and VFX industry, I then transitioned to art modelling and therapeutic massage, spending every spare moment in a dance class or at the gym.
I have often compared Perry and I to Lady & the Tramp because I'm a princess and he's a wild dog. Together we are creating what we want to wear while doing the plethora of things that we love to do in this life with our eternal goal to...
Stay Wild and Live Free.
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