Iceland! A Retrospective

As I mentioned way back when, my family spent a few days in Iceland between Christmas/Beyoncé visiting and the New Year. And as has now become family tradition, I filmed the trip to add to the growing collection of Strasburger trip movie memorabilia (a concept which I have discussed at length here) alongside: Southeast Asia, Cuba, the Stans, and Brazil.

Just a few months later (okay, seven), I've finally got around to editing it! But the tricky thing about this little Icelandic production is that we were no the island for approximately 62 hours, only 4 of which contained actual sunlight. Because Iceland in the winter is essentially the shadowland, it's a short film, but one full of the odd and beautiful sounds of Iceland's own Sigur Rós. Enjoy the stark scenery, and let it serve as a friendly reminder to embrace summer's warmth before we go back to the hell that is cold weather.

P.S. Stay tuned for the India video! But maybe don't hold your breath...

A Song of Ice(land) and Fire

Okay, so I didn't get around to following up on my gift guides which is INFURIATING because I had carefully chosen all the products for each person, but family time got the best of me and I decided not to spend my precious holiday time in front of the computer screen (one of my New Year's resolutions). Speaking of holidays, my parents surprised us with a trip to ICELAND which was AMAZING. It's a very cold, dark country (the sun rises at 10:30am and sets at 4pm in the winter...) but with beautiful people, stunning scenery, and delicious food. Also, fun fact, many of the Game of Thrones scenes is filmed there (think North of the Wall) so we even went on a GOT tour, I kid you not. In fact, the way our parents told us we were going was by gifting us a map of Westeros on Christmas Day. Needless to say none of us guessed "trip to Iceland" from the illustration, but cousin Harry was quick to point out our shortcomings. The cherry on top of the trip was the knowledge that Beyoncé and Jay Z had just been there to celebrate his birthday, so we were walking on hallowed ground indeed. I even swam in the exact same waters Queen B did at the famous Icelandic Blue Lagoon. I'm never bathing again.

A photo posted by chantal strasburger (@chantagold) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:54am PST

Here are a few more snapshots of the Viking land.

 Thrift shopping with Selina at the must-visit Spuutnik in Reykjavik. Don't worry, I bought the coat.

 Explorer Roy

 Trolling the town's local music scene. The fam loved this band--def check them out: 1860

 

 THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!! Not the best picture ever but insanely mesmerizing in person. 

 An example of a waterfall you would not want to fall into.

 

 

We spent New Year's in London and it was a wonderful end to an exciting and busy year. Here's to 2015!

Brazil + the World Cup!

Sitting on the shelves upstairs in my house in Austin are albums after albums filled with photographs of various travels from my childhood. Trips to Bali, Thailand, and the UK have thankfully all been physically manifested into books because my memories wouldn’t do them justice. But towards the late ‘90s, the documentation stops. Photo albums just aren’t a thing anymore. Sure, we still take pictures, but how many are being printed and placed methodically into heavy leather-bounds? Even the culture of picture-taking has changed. Freshmen year of college, I remember having my trusty, little red digital camera glued to my hand for EVERY SINGLE THING I ever did (interesting or not, and let’s be honest, most of them were not) before I gleefully uploaded them all onto Facebook. Today, however, you could be at the most exciting event of your life, but you're only limited to one Instagram. Just the one. Any more than that is seen as over-sharing or annoying and will just "clog up your friends' news feeds". 10 years from now, we will all look back at our major milestones with only one (highly-filtered) image to remember it by. 

What I’m trying to get at is that I can no longer rely on photographs as fulfilling souvenirs, so I have turned to video. Capturing little moments while traveling and putting it all together at the end is so much more satisfying as a means of looking back than your occasional #tbt pic from studying abroad in Shanghai. My only regret is that I didn’t start doing that sooner (imagine the possibilities!), but I now have a (hopefully growing...) collection of videos from trips around the world. The first one I made was for my dissertation on my textile research grant in Southeast Asia, followed by a family trip to Cuba, then the Stans, a Catskills adventure with my friends, and now (drumroll, please): the World Cup in Brazil!

This past summer the six of us spent some quality time in Recife, Brazil during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Watching the games was exciting, to say the least, but there was also plenty of coconut water-sippin, food-eating, and beach-lounging that needed to be done as well. Returning from that country was not easy; once you get used to the lifestyle of fresh fruit on every street corner and spending your days reading and being with family, it’s makes coming back to the concrete jungle that much more painful. But I'm so thankful to have been given the chance to be in the middle of such a global phenomenon, even if it is the only sport-watching I do all year…

Check out the video below and try to forget about the depressingly cold weather outside.



And now I will conclude this post with the exact tendency I mentioned above: singular Instagrams!

That time that Teen Vogue regrammed this picture of Selina, Lorelei, and myself:

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸Celebrate the red, white, and blue in style with tips from TeenVogue.com/fashion. #regram from @chantagold.

A photo posted by Teen Vogue (@teenvogue) on Jul 7, 2014 at 6:48am PDT

Re-hydrating:

Mondays, amiright?

A photo posted by chantal strasburger (@chantagold) on Jun 6, 2014 at 1:57pm PDT

The most spectacular sunsets:

Not tryna leave.

A photo posted by chantal strasburger (@chantagold) on Jul 7, 2014 at 5:21pm PDT

What we woke up to every morning *sigh*:

The Last Breakfast #tchau

A photo posted by chantal strasburger (@chantagold) on Jul 7, 2014 at 5:24am PDT

Stay tuned for the next installment—who knows what it will be! Perhaps India, or Bhutan, or maybe even Nepal? One can dream xx

Keep On Keepin' On

This past weekend a few friends and I bundled up in a rented Jeep and made our way upstate to the beautiful Catskills. We airbnbd (verb?) a little house smack dab in the woods and did our best to pretend we didn't live in the most populated city in the United States that also happens to have recently come down with a slight touch of Ebola. I decided to take a little footage and make a short film because you're not really truly in nature unless you have a camera strapped around your neck, right? Isn't that what Thoreau said? Also because I think this will be funny to watch in 30 years.

Sidenote: I actually had the surreal experience of interviewing First Aid Kit last week, and I think being in their magical presence was what prompted this little endeavor. So as we stomp through the forest to their sweet sibling harmonies, pretend we're Swedish and everything will be 100x better.

And here are the beautiful ladies behind the soundtrack ("Stay Gold" was a close second but it's a little dark so "My Silver Lining" it was):
      

   A photo posted by chantal strasburger (@chantagold) on Oct 10, 2014 at 11:17am PDT

Oh, and on the way back we made a pitstop to the Vanderbilt mansion because why not?

Pinterest Picks of the Week

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been spending quite a bit of time on Pinterest lately. One must practice constant vigilance in planning for their future house, defining their personal style, and finding fitness motivation, otherwise who knows what might happen. I figured I'd start sharing my favorite images each week because there really are some beautiful graphics on that site. Check out my Pinterest boards to see the original pins, and don't be surprised if you get sucked into the blackhole of DIYs and OOTDs.

A Weekend Outing

This past weekend I received the most welcome text from my friend Michael saying, "Hey! Let's go on an adventure!" When I moved to NYC, the first advice someone told me was: "In order to live in New York City, you have to leave New York City." For this specific person I think that entailed more of a weekend-trip to-a-house-in-the-hamptons kind of deal, but until I sign the lease on my beach house, I'm content with a slightly less glamorous approach. After living here for 8 months now (!!!) I completely understand the sentiment; as wonderful as this concrete jungle is, human beings need nature. 

So Ariella, Michael and I voluntarily woke up at 7 a.m. on a rainy Saturday morning, hopped on over to Grand Central Station and, with coffee cups and pretzel packs in hand, boarded the Metro North. What an incredibly pleasant experience! We spent the train ride catching up, listening to Michael's dramatic reading of the mind-blowing NYTimes article on Mole People, and re-introducing ourselves to the concept of scenic views. 

We got off at the beautiful little town of Cold Spring and made our way up Main Street, which was, in fact, their main street. Not a ton going on at Cold Spring, which made a day trip more manageable. Every storefront on Main St. was jam-packed with antique stores ("depression-era glass and Bakelite nicknacks" according to our Hudson River Valley pamphlet) and everyone was SO NICE. I forgot that there are people in this world who will give you the time of day without expecting something in return.

 We had the most scrumptious brunch of bacon-basted poached eggs, raspberry cornmeal pancakes and babka french toast at Hudson Hil's Cafe & Market (HIGHLY recommended if you're ever in the 'hood) and perused Old Souls, the local hiking shop (a super hip transplant from Brooklyn). We then set upon our trail, getting directions and advice from locals and finding ourselves down a wooded path that led to a beautiful waterfall, all set in the historic site of the West Point Foundry Preserve. Along our hike we:

gawked at the beautiful babbling brook,

 risked our lives while channeling our inner Troop Beverly Hills,

drank from the fountain of youth (not me, though. I played enough Oregon Trail to know this is exactly how you get dysentery),

and contemplated the meaning of life.

Once we were thoroughly soaked to the bone, we wanted one thing: soup. Thankfully, we found just the spot and downed bowls of butternut squash and chili. As soon as we were nice and cozy on the inside (though still very damp on the outside),  we grabbed a few muffins from a local bakery for the road and jumped back on the ole steel horse.

All in all, I would do it again in a heartbeat (but maybe wear a real raincoat and two more layers.) The round trip cost $25, and for a ticket out of town, it's not a bad deal. Heck, if I had a lot of work to do or a good book to read, I would head out and spend the day in a cute coffee shop along the way, just for the change of scenery. But of course as the weather gets nicer, there will be a million and one things to do in the city every weekend and it will get harder and harder to get out. I guess I just found the upside to bad weather.

Let me know if you ever want to adventure!

 xx C

Let's Compare Accents

I've often said that if I could have any super power, it would be the ability to speak any language. Can you imagine being able to travel the world and communicate with anyone wherever you were? This would come especially handy in Papua New Guinea. Why? (Fun fact alert) Because there are over 820 languages spoken there! That's why! And think of the savings you'd get from not being a ripped-off tourist! When I was traveling in Tibet a few summers ago, I would use my (sub-par) Mandarin to bargain with the vendors is Lhasa, "我是个穷学生。我没有钱！" (I'm a poor student. I have no money!) and they thought it was hilarious, this white girl with a terrible accent, and would give me excellent discounts. 非常好!

Any who, Amy Walker might have the next best thing. This woman can do just about any accent, from the subtitles within London, to the various states of the US. She flawlessly moves from one to another which blows my mind. This is coming from a girl who was raised by a British mother and a Texan father but can do neither accents (I think I've been neutralized.) However, I did play Cecily in a production of "The Importance of Being Ernest" and, for a brief period of time, I was told by several that I had the best accent in the cast. But I think that just happens when you eat that many crumpets and imbibe that much tea. And wear period costumes. 

 Impressed with Amy? Think you can do better? Show me your best Praha accent and I'll be the judge of that. 

Spotted on A Cup of Jo.

Gift Guide Part II: For Your Father Who Tuned Into ALL Of Your College Radio Shows No Matter What, Buys CDs From Local Musicians In Every Country He Travels To, And Somehow Knows Everything About Everything.

1. Random House "Rise and Fall of Apartheid" by Okwui Enwezor and Rory Bester $75 Just seems like one of those poignant and thought-provoking gifts in lieu of recent events (RIP).

2. Jonathan Adler Brass Devil Pencil Sharpener $95 It's gold and would look lovely on his desk.

3. Are Naturals Fresh Organic Bay Leaf Wreaths with Rosemary $40 Hang it up on the kitchen door for the holidays and continue to use it in your cooking for the rest of the year!

4. Blue Tree 14kt Gold-Plated Slinky $150 For that inner child.

5. J. Crew Marled Socks $17 Isn't it funny how when you're young socks are the worst gift ever and now they are literally the best?

6. This is Ground Cord Tacos $25 for five These leather pouches will stop all his chords from getting tangled. Also they're called tacos. ha ha.

7. Jawbone Mini Jambox $180 Upgrade his old Jambox to these brighter and shinier ones.

8. Mike's Hot Honey $10 Chili-infused honey made in Brooklyn. So whenever he eats it he'll think of his daughter and start crying.

9. We See Beauty Aphrodite of Milos Candle $190 Because why not.

10. MistoBox Case Coffee Roasters- Decaf Marvailla $16 "Fig, Raisin, Comforting" from Guatamala. For the man who only ever drinks decaf, which I will never understand.

11. Boutiques de Musées Leonardo Da Vinci Luggage Label $10 He'll look sophisticated and intellectual as he travels the world.

12. Fantastic Man Magazine $33 for two The older brother to The Gentlewoman (see Gift Guide Part I).

13. Two Tickets to the Monty Python 2014 Reunion Tour $300 Because this man taught you the importance of British comedy. 

14. Lone Flag Bradley Mountain Traveler's Mug $20 For when he visits me in Brooklyn. To fit in with the locals. And be hip.

15. Alexander Wang Black Croc Embossed Coaster Set $55 Feel swanky with designers' more cost-effective luxury items. 

And today is a SPECIAL Gift Guide post because it's also my father's Birthday! So gotta double up on the presents. Happy birthday to the best father I've ever had!! 

The Stans

During the month of August I had the most extraordinary experience traveling around Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with the fam. Needless to say, I knew next to nothing about this part of the world- we just don't tend to cover much of Central Asia in the American education system. But each country was uniquely fascinating, from their role in the Silk Road to the influences that impacted their cultures ie. everyone speaks Russian in addition to local languages due to their inclusion in the former Soviet Union. Turkmenistan alone was mind-blowing; it's considered the North Korea of Central Asia and deserves it's own post, so keep an eye out for it. (For a head start, check out the extremely beautiful but incredibly bizarre city of Aşgabat.)

My amateur interest in filming trips started last summer when I was awarded a research grant to study textiles in Southeast Asia. I decided to make a short movie covering my experiences in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand (I watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat three consecutive mornings to get the perfect shot for the opening scene). I found that the video was such a wonderful souvenir that I did the same for a family trip to Cuba last winter. 

Throughout the Stans trip I captured footage of the ruins, monuments, mosques, madrasas, deserts and markets that we visited. I figured it would be an interesting insight into an area of the world relatively unknown to the West. Enjoy!

P.S. Make sure to watch it in HD.