[trip style = sun & camping]
{Happy 4th of July to our US readers. Enjoy the festivities and fireworks! After a fun weekend in Bellevue, today I'm celebrating in Seattle with some Canadian and US friends on a boat: trip style = cruising---well, sailing actually. Thank goodness we recently published our seafaring style guide, Buoy Oh Buoy for Fashion Friday.}
Lately, I've noticed a lot of lantern lip service: between friends, on twitter and blogs, and on the big screen. I'm wondering if it has something to do with evening summer parties, camping or the movie The Green Lantern? A combination of all three perhaps?
When I was a kid, a lantern was a craft we made in Brownies {like Girl Scouts} with scissors, a paper bag and a votive. We would cut out star and heart shapes in the bag, place the votive inside and voila: a lantern that could be used to light a dark path at night. These rudimentary lanterns were fun, and still are, but it seems in North America we are either ahead or behind the times {depending on how you look at it} in comparison to Thailand and Poland. They have flying lanterns, like mini versions of hot air ballons.
Summer Lantern Loving Camping Lanterns Thankfully, 99% of all modern camping lanterns no longer use a combination of glass and fire to light the way. Nowadays, cranks or batteries will do the trick. As one of my favourite camping necessities, lanterns do everything from the light the path to the potty at night, to gather people around the picnic table to play cards. Aside from beach bonfires, they are a summer essential for anyone who enjoys trip style = camping & glamping.
The Green Lantern Instead of releasing lanterns into the sky, BC native Ryan Renolds is the lantern in the sky. Playing a superhuman, he is bestowed with a mystical and glowing ring that gives him otherworldly powers in the summer blockbuster movie, The Green Lantern.
The Hangover II The Hangover II is pretty raunchy, but the last scene is serene and mystical. The release of flying fire balls surrounded by paper cylinders {sounds like a recipe for disaster, but looks gorgeous} into the dark of night leaves you longing to attend a destination wedding in Thailand.
Poland On June 21st the Polish people celebrated the shortest night of the year, with an impromptu, Facebook-organized gathering releasing over 11,000 glowing orbs into the night sky. See the twinkling video below. EMBED-11,000 Lanterns Floating Over Poland - Watch more free videos
[Image by @tripstyler of pictures sourced from the web]