A silly post about silly dreams

This post is sort of silly really. Sort of an escapist one, in response to how overwhelmed I am by this semester in school. I've had this long time fantasy of moving away from Montreal. I love this city so much, but I really am someone who likes to make changes a lot, and I've made just about all the changes I can think of within my hometown, and now I'm sort of looking to try something new.
The problem is, simply put, I'm darn lazy! I look for apartments every day in different cities around the US and Canada on Craigslist or MLS, and lots of times I find things that I could totally afford, especially if I could convince Mike to come along, but a coupled fear of being far away from my family, and of the process of moving to a different place, has kept my feet firmly planted in the icy cold Montreal ground.
Well last night I was trolling the Athens, GA Craigslist page for apartments, and stumbled upon this dream house right here. It sort of got me thinking, lots of other people do it! Move to different cities, provinces, states or even countries, and I want to do it too! But I really am the worst with all things paper work, and I'm wondering if any of you have any advice as to the process behind moving between the US and Canada. You wouldn't think it would be very complicated, seeing as we're neighbours, but something tells me there will be lots of beaurocratic obstacles that will discourage me really early on, and I'd love to hear from some people who have done it!
While I don't think I'll be moving soon enough to snatch this beauty of a barn up, I could totally see myself in the next couple of years, somewhere in the South enjoying longer Summers, milder Winters and all the charm I felt when I was there this Summer. Not to mention I'd be closer to some pretty wonderful ladies who I've come to consider good friends of mine!
Advice? Please!

Etsy Inspiration: Q's Daydream

Top Left: Yellow "Fisherman Sweater"; Bottom Left: 1960s shorts; Right: Quincy herself!

I spent most of my day holed away in a coffee shop corner with my laptop and books writing discombobulated thoughts about Frank Capra's political message in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Now that it's in, I'd like to say I feel relieved, but unfortunately, all of the coffee I drank to keep my brain working, combined with that loopy feeling that comes from staring at a computer screen all day has got me more jittery than relaxed! So I'm passing my time doing anything I can which doesn't involve my brain, and one of my favourite ways to unwind when I can sense I won't be falling asleep anytime soon, is to imaginary online shop! I've done posts like these before and people seem to like them, so I'm going for it again, except this time I'm imaginary shopping in one, very special to me Etsy shop, owned and run by a very wonderful girl, and dear friend of mine, Quincy!

On the Left: 1960's mini dress SOLD; On the Right: 1950s buttercup coat

I'm sure most of you are more than familiar with her blog and her shop, but just in case you weren't already, I thought I'd get you hooked! I've been following this girl's blog for ages, and when she opened her shop I was so excited! Well, I was afforded the lucky opportunity to meet her and her hubby this Summer on my trip across part of the USA, and she didn't disappoint! All the girls I met along the way were as wonderful and quirky and hilarious as they seem in the online realm and more, and Quincy was no exception! She's a down to earth, super silly in a good way, charming sweetheart of a girl and her husband is so great too!

On the Left: 1930s/40s blue sweater SOLD; On the Right: vintage Pendleton plaid skirt

She recently decided to make selling online her full time job, and I happen to know just how busy she's been updating it regularly and with some of the most fantastic items!!! She works really hard to make her shop great, and the result is incredible, and if you're as addicted to buying on Etsy as I am, then you'll be making weekly, if not twice weekly trips to her shop to see what new things she's posted! I took the liberty of including some of her sold items in this wishlist because it's an imaginary shopping spree, and therefore I can do whatever I want, but any items that are currently for sale in her shop are linked below the picture. You can follow her on Twitter too if you want to know when she updates!

Old Montreal

outfit details:
dress: vintage and altered by me
coat: urban behaviour
bag and boots: urban outfitters

I wish I could provide you guys with a pretty, vintage inspired, girly-yet-spooky Halloween post like so many other bloggers, but the truth is, this was Mike and my first Halloween together (he's been on tour with his band every other year) and we went ahead with our silly homemade Marge and Homer costumes! There is a picture up of us on my facebook for anyone who wants to see it, I only had one picture, and I sort of felt like it didn't make for a good blogpost, so instead I'm posting about me and Mike's adventures in Old Montreal from last Friday! We've both been so busy lately with job related stuff, school work and his band leaving on tour tomorrow, that we've had trouble finding time for our usual urban adventures...So on Friday, we both played hooky and spent the afternoon wandering around the historic district of Montreal. Armed with extra large coffees, we walked up and down all the cobble stone streets mostly people watching and stopping to read all the historical plaques we came across....It felt really great to be able to walk around being nerdy like we love to do. Simple things like that take the back burner to busy schedules so easily, and it can be so comforting to get back to them, even if they're just silly habits like coffee and walking around the city.

Anyhow, it's back to reality for both of us! Mike leaves on tour tomorrow for a week, then he's back for a week (just in time for my birthday) before he leaves again for another three weeks! His band (Trigger Effect) will be travelling across Canada with Priestess, and if any of you are along their path, you should go check out the show! Spot the drummer and let him know you know me, and I'm sure you'll make his day! (Drummers never do get the credit they deserve!)
In the mean time, I'll be canning, pickling, baking, sewing and knitting in preparation for my homemade Christmas! I've got all my weekends till the big day booked with crafting and cooking plans which should (hopefully) provide me with acceptable gifts to give out! Wouldn't it be fun if we all organized a big vintage clothing swap? Pick names out of a virtual hat and pick something out for the person we picked? Does anyone else want to organize that? I'm just too busy!!!

Inspiration: Brownies circa 1961

These past two days, I spent every free moment I had at McGill annual charity drive Book Fair. Room after room of dusty old books ranging from subjects like "Girlhood in the 1920s" to Frank Capra's autobiography with just about anything you can imagine in between! I'm still sore from carting my first load of books with me on the subway all the way home, and while my second load was smaller, it was none the less packed with treasures! The lady I was paying at the end of my spree was quick to figure out I was "some kind of an old fashioned girl" when she saw most of my books were about things like "The joys of Girlhood", "Recipes of Quality", Ginger Rogers' autobiography and a pretty great silent film book with fantastic pictures I'll be scanning in next time I visit my parents!

While I can't pick a favourite of all the gems I came home with, the Brownie Annual handbook from 1961 that I came across has to be a contender for greatest find! Not only does it have instructions on how to acquire certain Brownie badges, but it also has the most wonderful illustrations, and reminded me how inspired I was by the Dear Creatures collection for this Autumn!
Well the new kitten and Lola and I asked my sis if she'd be willing to do a silly little photoshoot of me in my most Brownie inspired outfit! I was working with what I already have in my closet, but this is what I came up with! The dress is something I found in the kids section at Value Village. It's totally strange and sort of unflattering, and just the tiniest bit too short to actually wear out of the house, even with tights on....but I love it too much because of the little tie and the peter pan collar, so sometimes I put it on with a skirt over as a little blouse...The hat was on sale at Urban Outfitters this week, and while I'm still not sure about the stud-like things, I like how it fits and it's keepin' me head warm! The shoes were thrifted by my Mom for me not too long ago and I love them to death. It's too bad in less than a month it'll be too snowy here to wear them out of the house...so I'm getting all the use I can out of them for now...

**I'm sorry if I've been horrible at responding to comments recently. I take the time to read all of your blogs, I'm usually just so rushed with school and essays and the new job that I have to close the computer before I get the chance to comment back! But I appreciate all your comments all the time, and I promise to catch up on all that I've missed as soon as things slow down!**

***Anyone have suggestions as to what we should name kitty? We aren't sure yet if it's a boy or a girl (gonna have to get the vet's opinion...though I'm thinking boy?) and we can't figure out what to name him/her!***

Just another rainy day

I'v been feeling so uninspired by my closet recently. It seems like most of my Fall outfits are things I already pieced together last year, and this year I'm just not feeling it anymore! I finally found a part time job this week, so that I'll be able to afford Christmas gifts and maybe a nice birthday dress for myself, but up till now, new clothes (or old clothes!) just haven't been an option really! All of this to say, that this outfit has actually already been done and posted about, last Spring actually! Except it was warm enough to skip the tights and cardigan, and instead of leaves there were pretty flowers...and I didn't have these shoes at the time....
Anyhow, we did go thrifting this weekend to complete our Halloween costumes...and while Mike's is almost ready to wear, all I managed to buy were those little frogs and mice that are posing in my Mom's garden there...I couldn't help myself! The mice reminded me of that slowpoke book I loved when I was a kid, about the slow poke mouse who's sister wears a funny hat....and the frog look just like Buster Keaton to me! They're no longer in the garden of course, but resting safely in my room now!

The month of October has been icy cold and rainy so far, so when we got one warm day (although there wasn't a spot of sun in the sky) we took advantage of it and got out of the house! We wandered over to the pretty little farm near my parents house that is for sale. We've been imagining ourselves buying it recently, and we went to it and sort of imagined what types of things we'd do out on the porch, or in the barn....maybe a big barn of drums for Mike to practice in, and the stable could somehow be converted into some big giant sewing room with a record player and a rocking chair and a wall of different colored yarn! There is even a window over the sink that looks just about perfect for chilling a pie fresh out of the oven!

On a completely different note, we just got wind that Mike's Mom and her boyfriend, who were on vacation in Spain and Portugal these past two weeks, got married in Gibraltar at the same place as John and Yoko! So tonight, Mike and I will be heading to her place to celebrate, and to eat lots and lots of cake! But first, we'll be taking a walking tour of Old Montreal with my history class today, and I'm all kinds of excited to learn about the strange differences in the way people lived in the early 19th century and the way it all looks now! I'll be taking pictures for sure!

Rowan Oak

In my last post I mentioned that reading Faulkner for school was making me day dream about our Southern road trip, and our visit to his home a whole bunch! Well, the beauty of a blog is that it serves as a sort of time capsule, and I spent a long time yesterday reviewing my Southern Road Trip posts, doing a lot of sighing and calling Mike to reminisce about funny things that happened in different towns. When I came to the post about Faulkner's house in Oxford, Mississippi, I realized I only ever posted about the day we didn't get to visit inside! I was so determined to walk around it and see the wall where he wrote the outline of "The Fable", that we slept in the back of our minivan that night - in a Walmart parking lot - just to be able to see the house the next day!

this is the famous outline for "The Fable" written on his bedroom wall!

Anyhow, we finally did make it to his house, and I was so glad that the tour was self guided! While guided tours can be really great, Mike and I just kept making up stories about Bill and his wife having arguments in one room, and drinking brandy on the porch! The house is really beautiful, and so worth seeing - especially since it's free to get in! - if you're ever in the town of Oxford, Mississippi - which is a really nice town! - you should definitely take the time to visit!
I'll stop my ramblings now and leave you with some pictures I took of the rooms!

Angrignon Park

I have to start off by saying how much I appreciate all the more-than-super-sweet comments you all left on my last post! It always melts my heart a little bit the way everyone is so supportive in this community, and I got totally sentimental when I read all the wonderful things you had to say!

Things have been so crazy lately between Mike and I's loaded schedules and I was starting to feel like it had been ages since we went on any sort of blog-inspired outing! (Those tend to be my favourite, cause we stop in pretty places that we probably wouldn't stop at if I weren't looking for a spot to take outfit photos...)
Well anyway, tonight barely counted as a blog outing, we were on our way to Mike's step-mother's birthday party and we drove by Angrignon Park which I have been meaning to visit since I moved to my neighbourhood. It's a huge park with winding dirt trails and lots of pretty trees, one of those places where people read books by little man-made lakes where ducks swim (the ones that haven't flown South yet...lucky ducks). Anyhow, with all the leaves all kinds of pretty colors, it barely mattered that it was a grey and rainy day! We walked just a little bit and then got cold and just took a few silly pictures of me hiding in some reeds and sitting in the grass...most of them are blurry and out of focus because we were rushing the whole thing. But we had so much fun just being out of the house together and acting silly. We walked around singing and kicking our heels and spent most of the birthday dinner making stupid jokes and being fairly anti social!

Tomorrow is back to studying for midterms and writing long papers about Frank Capra and World War I and stuff like that. It isn't so bad really, just tons and tons of work. Next week we'll be starting on Faulkner in my American Literature class, and I really can't wait to hear my teacher and class mates make sense of all the stuff I'm only pretending to understand! I can't help it, every time I get ten pages in, I realize I've been daydreaming about being back at his home in Oxford, Mississippi, and I have to go back and read it all over because I didn't retain anything!
Soon the semester will be over though, and the holidays will start and I'll be able to watch Frank Capra films for fun, rather than for school again!

outfit details
blue dress: from a Renaissance Fripe Prix
black jacket: from an antique mall in Pigeon Forge, TN
black belt: thrifted from somewhere!
grey tights: pharmaprix
Black velvet wedges: from this dreamy Etsy seller
Weird felt and sequin star clips: handmade by me
black shiny purse of my dreams: from my dear friend Quincy

I hope everyone else had as lovely a Wednesday as I did! Even if your weather is as cold, grey and rainy as ours!