All Aboard the Wakefield Express!

Outfit details:
Dress: the Deschanel dress from Modcloth
Shoes: Aldo
Sunglasses: H&M
Vintage bag: My favourite flea market find!

Everything about our anniversary day trip aboard a 107 year old steam train ride to a little town called Wakefield was perfect! From the train conductor's little hat and overalls down to the perfect little covered bridge in town and all the quaint antique shops in between! The heat was almost unbearable once we stepped out of our air conditioned private booth on the train, and we were both glad we had thought to bring our swimsuits, and a change of clothes, because the town was built up around one of the prettiest little mountain lakes, which was incredibly refreshing to jump into!

I had mentioned that I was feeling inspired by the darker Lula looks from the issue before last, and although I was sure I'd change my mind, receiving my new Modcloth dress in the mail actually cemented the deal! The perfect little collar and polka dot print ended up being the perfect wardrobe for the perfectly 1930's decor inside the train! Unfortunately the heat was so sweltering, that I had to change right out of it as soon as I stepped off the train! Luckily for me, I had brought the sailor playsuit I bought off of Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy, finally getting the opportunity to wear it!

When the steam train arrived in Wakefield we spent some time in the village looking around at some adorable (and surprisingly affordable) antique shops and then headed down the train tracks to a little dock we had spotted along the day, changed (sneakily) into our swim wear and jumped in the ice cold, albeit refreshing lake water! I had forgotten about my irrational phobia of lake monsters and was reminded the hard way as I nearly hyperventilated my way back onto the dock in a total panic! Luckily Mike coaxed me back in and helped me try to conquer my fears! They still need some work, but we have all summer for that!

outfit details:
Sailor top and Gingham shorts: Sally Jane Vintage
Ballet flats: value village
Perfect bag: St-Michel Flea Market
Sunglasses: H&M

We finally headed back to the train when we heard its little steam whistle blowing and enjoyed the ride home playing "how well do you know me" -our favorite road trip quiz game - and planning our trip this summer!

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a greater anniversary celebration, and I highly recommend this little excursion to anyone in the Montreal/Ottawa area! I hope all you fellow Quebec-ers enjoyed your sunny day off today as much as I did!

This is Mike waving at all the little kids who stood and waved back as the train went by!


and THIS is the live accordion player who entertained us the whole way to Wakefield!
I felt weird filming him, so the video is short!

Fancy was my name*

Today I had to drive way out into the country to bring some work stuff to one of our clients, and I saw so many beautiful spots on my way home that I had to stop and take some pictures. My outfit today was inredibly simple. A sheer H&M blouse I borrowed from my roommate without asking (sorry Stef!) and a pair of thrifted shorts. It was too hot for anything else! It just so happened though, that I had a bunch of hats and shoes lying around in Mike's car (I am a pretty scattered person) and I decided to do some mixing and matching to see how different accessories could make my plain jane outfit sparkle a little! Here are the results:

Look number one and two were a little more casual. First I tied a floral print scarf around my head and kept my ballet flats on. Some girls (ahem, Jessica) wear head scarves perfectly. I always feel a little silly, but I was working with what I had in the car. For the second one I wore my boater and a pair of ankle lace-up stripey nautical-ish platform sandals that don't really fit me and they're kind of dirty, but I thrifted them anyway because I thought they might work for an outfit like this one...

Look number three involved a brown felt cloche-ish hat and some freshly picked daisies! I think it might be my favourite...

Finally, I put on the fascinator I bought off Modcloth and a pair of black and white 60's pumps and fancied it up a little. I'd been waiting to find a good outfit to wear the fascinator with, since it really is quite chic, and I originally bought it with that July wedding I'm going to in mind, but now I kind of like it paired with such a simple outfit...maybe I'll still wear it to the wedding, let myself be a little glamorous!

It was a lovely day spent with myself. It was strange taking outfit photos without Mike and Lola there, but aside from an almost-disaster involving some wind and my unsteady tripod, I very much enjoyed the freedom of taking my own pictures. Although Mike definitely does better! :)

I'm leaving in three hours for Ottawa! I'm sure I'll be so excited tomorrow night when I get home that I'll have a post up within an hour of getting home! For those of you in Quebec, have a lovely holiday tomorrow! And for everyone else, enjoy your Wednesday!

*Listening to: Reba McEntire....and I'm not ashamed of it!

I'll be waitin' in Jackson, Behind my Jaypan Fan

I realize that it's probably totally inappropriate for me to gush about my relationship on my blog, and I don't expect anyone to be particularly excited about this, but today was Mike and I's second anniversary and I'm really quite excited about it! Without boring you with details about how wonderful everything is, I really would like to express what a wonderful boy I've got!

He deserves a whole bunch of credit for being so great, and always coming up with such wonderful things for us to do! He's usually the one who takes all of my outfit photos and his pretty little face is rarely featured here, so I thought I'd show some pictures of us over the last two years.

This is probably so irrelevant to most people, but the Johnny Cash & June Carter song "Jackson" has always been our song, and we've always said we would dance to it at our wedding some day, so I chose a lyric from that song as the title for this post. I don't know why it's our song really, since the lyrics are so far from applicable, but it really just reminds me of him everytime I hear it, and it's also my ringtone when he calls.

Well, now that most of you have probably just about lost your lunch over this post, I'll call it quits and hope I haven't lost the respect of my blogger pals for being a gushy girlfriend!
Tomorrow evening we take off for Ottawa to eat at Big Daddy's Crab Shack and Oyster Bar in Ottawa. We'll be sleeping at my cousin Kelly's house and then it's All Aboard the Wakefield Express bright and early Wednesday morning. I've got my outfit all picked out and I just can't wait to show you all!

I hope you're all enjoying your second day of summer! Me and Stef, my best friend of 10 years and roommate (until next Wednesday) went for our first jog of the summer tonight, and I feel great!

Daddy's Girl

Dress: Ladies of Leisure on Etsy
Shoes: and old pair of my Mom's
Clutch: Thrifted and Dyed by my Sister
Sunglasses: U.O.

Every year since I was too little to remember, my family has gone to eat at my dad's Golf Course for Father's Day dinner. As a young'n, it was my favourite because me and my sister got to order Shirley Temples and dance around the greens in pretty party dresses and those shiny pleather shoes kids like to wear that click when you walk...
Now that I'm older, I still get just as excited about wearing a pretty dress and some fancy shoes, and I think I will always order a Shirley Temple when I go there.

I hope you all spent a lovely Father's Day with your Papas!

A Picnic in the Park

I just got home from writing the first of my two finals and am so relieved at how well it went I wanted to reward myself. Since it's cold and rainy and I'm just not in the mood to leave my house right now I figured I'd make it an online retail sort of reward! I'm so pleased with the results it yielded I can't quite express my giddyness! This perfect little peach number and the wonderful little picnic basket style purse will be perfect for the summer and picnicking in parks or by waterfalls! Both are from Chicken Candy Dinner on Etsy and I think I might wear them all summer long!

Now I'm off to escape into Nancy Mitford's Highland Fling and possibly drift off on the couch! Sigh!

Also, for those of you who haven't already heard about this (I know I hadn't), Shayla at The Mysterious Life of the Metropolitan Housewife is hosting a lovely vintage hair related giveaway which ends June 30th! go and check it out!

To the Loonie Bin for me!

I've had to repeat to myself that this is my last week of insanity about a hundred times a day to keep from going completely coo-coo!
The amount of work-work and school-work which has piled up in the last two days barely seems feasible in just one little week!
Luckily though, I have just about the swellest guy a gal could have and, seeing how stressed out I've been, he opted to show me what he had planned for our second anniversary next Tuesday, and boy oh boy he's outdone himself yet again!

All Aboard the Wakefield Steam Engine! The very last Steam Train in existence in Canada runs along a little track through the Gatineau mountains just outside of Ottawa. The train ride includes coffee and breakfast and you get your own private little cart with a window! The train ride is an hour and a half each way and lets you off in the historic town of Wakefield to explore for two hours before heading back to the station!
I spent my day trying to figure out what I'll wear for the occasion! For some reason I'm feeling totally inspired by those dark Lula girls from two issues ago, and I think I might do something like that. Then again, I'm saying that now, there's a good chance my mind will have changed about 16 times from now till next Tuesday and I might end up in some pastel floral print frilliness instead!

Needless to say this will merit an outfit post and a really great write up! Thank God for Mike, because I swear I'd have pulled all my hair out by now and then I might wind up being featured as one of those Vaudeville Freaks Jessica just wrote about in her fantastic new blog!

Picnic at Fort Chambly

Friday couldn't have come soon enough for Mike and I and as soon as his work day ended we rushed out of the city across the river and down to the town of Chambly to have a picnic at the Fort there! I haven't been inside since my elementary school took us on a field trip there, and I would have loved to go in and take pictures, but the place closed at 4pm to visitors. So instead we settled our blanket by the water, tied Lola to a tree and enjoyed our bottle of Merlot and some cheese and bread, channeling Paris the best way we knew how!

The weather was perfect and as Mike dozed off in the shade, I got right into Nancy Mitford's "Highland Fling" - one of the nine fantastic books I scored at a used bookstore near Mike's place! - I still haven't finished reading the Letters Between Six Sisters bio of the Mitford girls, but the book is so darn heavy it's hard to carry around in my little purse, so I save that one for bedtime reading and am reading her novels as public transit and picnic reads!

Tonight I'll be sharing in a pitcher of Sangria with my sister and her lovely friends to celebrate her best friend Sam's final days as an unmarried gal! It should be loads of fun and at least mildly humiliating for her - in a good way of course - and I'm looking forward to it!

Tonight also represents the official 7 day count down until my freedom! As of next Sunday I'll be done my summer classes, my final exams AND my job! And on top of that, I'll be moving back to my parents place for the summer, which means lots of time for visiting Grandma, long car rides to pretty locations, thrifting new items for Red Letter Days and jogging with Lola!

May your Sundays be as lazy as mine!

And a Pitcher to Go!

My Mom in the 70's at just about my age!

This is the final stretch! One more week of class, two days of finals and two weeks of work! Then I move back to my parents house, pack my bags and head off on vacation with the most wonderful man in the world!
In the mean time, the little free time I can find is spent with my puppy, my family, my boyfriend and Stef, because this is our last two weeks living together and that's making me pretty sad!

On Loop: Portland Oregon - Loretta Lynn & Jack White

Rainy day blog tags

I received two tags this week, one from the always-inspiring Rhiannon at Liebe Marlene and the other from the lovely Charlotte at Like Whoaah. The tag involves answering 22 random questions and then tagging 8 more bloggers! I've already seen this things going around to a bunch of people, so I'm sorry in advance if I tag anyone who has already been tagged!

1. What is your current obsession?

Right at the moment I'm obsessed with the idea of a complete wardrobe overhaul. All I can think of wearing this summer are simple, easy to throw on cotton sun dresses or skirts and tank tops with sandals or low heels. I'm desperately trying to wrestle my inner pack-rat and become the minimalist I so desperately wish I was by nature! I'd be so happy if my room could look as pretty and simple as the rooms in the doll house that was featured in Lula!

2. What is your weirdest obsession?

I'm not sure! I guess to some people it might seem weird that I am obsessed with the tv show Reba. I've come to consider all its characters my friends, and I miss them if I don't watch the show at least once a week. I suppose that is kind of weird!

3. What do you see outside your window?

My window faces the street so usually I can see the old man who lives across from me sitting out on his stoop in a bathrobe drinking coffee...but I'm also facing a really pretty duplex which was built in the 1850's and never altered! It's white with turquoise window panes!

4. What is your favourite color?

My favourite color changes depending on my mood, but I'd say right now it's a tie between an old Venetian pink or some shade of Teal.

5. What is your weakness?

Old couples! I just can't walk past one without imagining their story and getting all romantic and silly.

6. What animal would you be?

I'd like to think I'd be my puppy dog, Lola, but truth be told she is just way more social than I ever will be and I think I'd probably choose to be a little bird so I could fly all over the place and observe people from a distance.

7. What would you like to learn how to do?

I'd definitely like to learn to play the ukulele so Hank could become more than an accessory...but I've also developed an interest in tap dancing and quilting!

8. What do you want to never happen in life?

I definitely don't like the idea of losing my marbles as I get older...but I also don't like the idea of running into a moose on the side of the highway!

9. What is on your bedside table?

I just got rid of my bedside table, but when I still had one, I had an alarm clock, a lamp and a vase with some flowers in it.

10. What's the last thing you bought?

I just came home from thrifting a very pretty yellow and white dress that I'm hoping is fancy enough for the wedding I've been invited to this July! I'm sure I'll be posting pictures eventually!

11. What do you think about the person who tagged you?

Rhiannon seems to me to be one of the most down to earth ladies there is, which is impressive as she is a mild celebrity in the vintage blogging community! It's thanks to her sweet and encouraging comments that I decided to give my blog a direction and start my Etsy shop!

12. What was your favourite children's book?

I don't know that I can choose! I remember there was one about a slow poke mouse whose sister was always telling him to hurry up...but then he beat her to his Grandma's house and got to eat more cake than her. I don't remember what it was called, but I remember that the sister wore her hat upside down and I thought she had a pretty dress!

13. Who do you want to meet in person?

This may seem silly, but I'm going to have to agree with what Aya wrote as her answer to this and say, that right now I'd be overjoyed to meet some of the lovely ladies who make up the vintage blogging community. I'm not someone who has that many "real life" friends, and sometimes I just feel I have more of an affinity with my "internet" friends!

14. What did you want to be as a child?

I was one of the millions who dreamed of being a glamorous Hollywood actress. I used to rehearse scenes from Gone With the Wind alone in my bedroom and pretend to faint all the time when nobody was looking! I've since become someone who prefers simplicity and am working towards a teaching degree so I can have a little house in a little town and teach at a little school.

15. What did you dream about last night?

All my dreams recently have been about getting in trouble for cheating scary mafioso men out of large sums of money and then trying to hide from them as they send their goons after me! Last night's episode involved a jacket with 700 000$ cash in the pocket (I don't know how it all fit in the pocket...) which Mike and I took and then had to hide from the scary mobster man who came to claim his jacket!

16. Which to you prefer, day or night?

My favourite time of day is the really early morning, when birds are extra chirpy and there aren't any cars or traffic and the light is just right and you feel like you have the whole day ahead of you!

17. What's your favourite piece of clothing in your closet?

I wake up every morning and gaze longingly at the little sailor playsuit I bought from miss Sally Jane Vintage not too long ago. It's taking all the self control I have to wait until the summer to debut this little gem!

18. What's your plan for tomorrow?

Tomorrow I am going to see Elton John and Billy Joel perform with a whole slew of family!

19. What would you like to get your hands on right now?

A clone of myself who could get all my work and school related stuff done for me and I could spend the next 4 weeks with my Grandma, sewing up simple cotton outfits and baking delicious pies!

20. What is your must-have of the moment?

I'm on the lookout for the perfect pair of glasses. I really liked those Riley's by Oliver Peoples, but on my hunt for a similar vintage, or at least, cheaper pair, I realized that that shape doesn't suit my face. Now I'm desperately trying to find something original so I don't settle on the plastic square frames that every single other person in Montreal is wearing!

21. What's your favourite tea flavour?

Irish Breakfast!

22. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

Although there are a million places I'm dying to explore, I've got my summer road trip on the brain and all I can think about is rowing a little boat through some of those marshy forests like in the Notebook, and picnicking under Spanish moss!

Now I'm supposed to tag eight other bloggers..so...Brianne Lee, Charlotte, Frances, Elena, Quincy, Kerri, Susan and Priscilla, it's your turns (and anyone else who wants to fill this out!)

Mrs. Henderson Presents...

I'm sure I'm late on this discovery, as I am on most things, but Mike's little brother, Jeremy (who was recently featured here on this very blog!) suggested I watch the movie "Mrs. Henderson Presents" on the basis that Judi Dench's character reminds him of who I will be in the future! A quirky old lady who carries her wiener dog (which coincidentally looks exactly like Lola!) around with her everywhere and wears strange hats and big fur coats!

While I can only hope to be even half as classy and strange as Mrs. Henderson (who is a real person!), I still managed to thoroughly enjoy the movie not only for it's story line but also for it's wonderful 30's and 40's costumes and hairstyles! The whole Revuedeville take on Vaudeville has suddenly made me want to take tap dancing lessons and start wearing more sequins and ankle socks with little bows on my shoes!

I "tapped" all the way back to Mike's room when the movie was over, and went to my e-bay where I had been watching a black and pink tap dancing "dress" for the past seven days and clicked on the buy-it-now option immediately! I am quite sure that when this little gem comes in the mail I'll be tap dancing around my house in it all day long!