Fall Wishlists to SMILE about

Tomorrow is the first day of October. That means that the next four weeks hold promises of firey red leaves covering the ground, matching scarf and glove sets, little lace up granny boots, big wooly socks, cups of apple cinnamon tea, frazzled-all-night-study-session hair and far too many baked good to be healthy!
Things are cooling down around Montreal, and I couldn't be more excited about it! And while my (still unemployed) bank account is not letting me enjoy Fall shopping as much as I'm used to, I can still imaginary shop! Isn't that the best part of online shopping afterall? So I've compiled for you here a little list of my current Etsy wishlist. I think I could probably post 72 more just like it, but maybe I'll make it a weekly feature or something instead (how many times have I said that before?)...We'll see! Without further ado - my Autumn 2009 Etsy Wishlist ladies!

Vintage Sailor jacket from here; Black platform Sandals from here

I am imagining this little number with a black dress and some knee high socks!
Probably not the most practical of fall outfits, but practicality never did play a big role in my imaginary shopping sprees.



black velvet wedges from here; sparkly sandals from here; dreamy white dress from here

This little dress with a pair of my dream tights (white with little black polka dots) and those black velvet wedges actually hurts my heart a little bit it's so perfect. I think it's fairly obvious the outfit is inspired by yesterday's Lula post...none the less, it would be just as cute - I think - with some black opaque tights and those dreamy silver sparkly sandals - once again, I don't like practicality when it comes to my imagination...



paisley print mini tent dress from here; vintage riding boots from here

Ahhh there is the practical side of my brain! This paisley print mini tent dress would, imho be just about perfect paired with some tights, cozy knee highs and these vintage rubber riding boots! And maybe a little brown hat...I'm thinking sort of Edge of Love inspired...something perfect for trekking out into the woods for a picnic type of thing...


perfect dress from here; perfect granny boots from here

And while we're at it, I might as well end on a practical note! This perfect, perfect dress was one I was actually contemplating buying for real, but then it slipped out of sight just before I had the money in my paypal! I think it would be just dreamy with some sort of sheerish black tights and those wonderful wonderful lace up granny boots, which also sold just before I had a chance to snatch 'em up! Sigh, I gotta be quicker on my game! Of course the girl in the dress also makes me want to go drastic and dye my hair brown for the Fall. Do you think it would make me look more studious?? I'm always too chicken to do daring things like drastic hair color changes...

On a whole other note entirely...I received a super, duper flattering award from Maria at LuluLetty just the other day! I think the thing that got me smiling the most about it, was that she tagged me along side a very special lady who happens to be quickly growing on me as a close lifelong pal! I am so, so honored to be tagged with you sweet Quincy! And thank you Maria for choosing me! You're super duper sweet and I love, love, love your blog!

Here are the rules:
1. You have to post a song that makes you happy.
2. You can tag as many people as you want, there is no limit.
3. Say at least one thing about each blog you tag, that will make them smile, something nice about their blog that makes you smile when you read it!

1. I only discovered this song recently, but I can't listen to it without shimmying my shoulders and mouthing the words with a big goofy grin on my face. I even got Mike hooked on it! Thanks Pee Wee King! *smile smile smile smile*



2. I will keep with the trend of tagging two bloggers, since that seems to be the direction Maria and Quincy have both taken...and I'm going to tag Reilly from Cici Speaks and Alice Pleasance from The Cupcake Diary. Although if anyone else feels like doing this - it's actually kind of fun choosing a song that makes you smile - then please feel free!

3. Reilly's blog is one I only discovered recently, but quickly became completely addicted to! This girl is teeming with creativity and talent and I guarantee if you haven't started reading her blog yet, that one little visit to it will convince you to follow! She also has an Etsy shop worth keeping your eye on, because her eye for great vintage is up there with the best of 'em!

Alice's blog I've been reading for quite a while and aside from her wonderful wardrobe and sweet, sweet self, she's also incredibly talented! She recently started making the most wonderful hats and hair accessories that she is selling on Etsy and you should definitely make a point of checking it out! They could make absolutely lovely gifts for the holidays!!!

Tonight I'm going to be attending my very first fashion show ever in my little life!! I'm nervous and excited and anxious and jittery and all those things that cool people aren't before a fashion show I'm sure! But it doesn't matter, and I'm sure you'll all be hearing about it soon!

some inspiration from Lula Issue #9

When the Dark Spell video from the Lula website took the blog world by storm a little while back, I was consumed with giddy excitement to see the 9th issue in print! Ordinarily I try and avoid the scans that start to pop up everywhere before seeing the magazine for myself first. There's something about sitting in my bedroom with a cup of coffee, not knowing what to expect once I crack the cover, that is just too good to ruin with scanned images first. Well, I caved this time, and headed right over to the magazine forums at the Fashion spot, knowing full well some lucky European girlies would have scanned in some of their favourite editorials by now. I'm still not sure yet if I'm glad I did or not, but now that I have, I might as well post about them!

I'm absolutely smitten with this black and white, creepy silent film-ish editorial photographed by Yelena Yemchuk and brought to life by none other than this issue's cover girl - Karen Elson! I've got all kinds of ideas for inspired blog posts running around in my head now.

As far as outfit inspiration goes, it doesn't get much better than these two right here! I have a feeling that this Fall and Winter I'll be breaking the old "no-white-after-labour-day-rule" on nearly a daily basis! As if I needed any more reasons to keep my eyes peeled for lovely little white mini dresses to pair with polka dot tights and little velvet wedges or perfect little pixie boots...these two images have somehow managed to add to the roster of Ivory themed ideas I've got floating around up there in my noggin!

I hope I haven't ruined the magazine for anyone else, I think every time an issue is due to come out, the whole "blogosphere" goes a little crazy! Well here I am, right on that bandwagon! It's just too good not to join in the fun!

(all images found here)

Little Slowpoke!

Thanks to a whole two days of pure undisturbed rest, my cold was successfully beat and I was feeling more or less human again by Saturday. I suppose it helped that the roster of activities my Mother had planned for me were hard to turn down, sick or not!
First things first, our church is moving and had organized a big charity moving sale! There really isn't anything I like more than old ladies who collect too much junk and sell it to me "dust included" for pennies, if that! One lady even cornered me to ask if I liked her Autumn themed serving trays - I didn't, but I told her I did anyway - and then stuffed them in my bag and whispered "take them and run"!!!
Next, she took me to two thrift stores and bought me the lovely black jacket and little black loafers I'm wearing in my apple picking pics! She also found me the most wonderful brown oxfords with stacked heels and laces! What a dream that lady is!

Well, of course a sunny Saturday afternoon in Autumn wouldn't be complete with some sort of outdoors activity, and living where we do, we just can't get away with at least one apple picking adventure a year! And after seeing Anja's absolutely dreamy inspiration post involving apple picking, I just couldn't help myself! Mind you, I don't claim to look even a fraction as wonderful as the girls in that editorial do! But that doesn't take away from all the fun apple picking can be!
I'll be baking up a storm all week, and I think my Grandmother mentioned she might be free for our pumpkin cookoff next weekend! If that is the case, then you can definitely expect a post about it!

Here's hoping all your weekends were this lovely!

outfit details
plaid dress: a vintage store in Richmond, VA (hi Quincy!)
jacket & loafers: gift from my Mum
black tights: pharmacy
sunglasses &red hat: H&M

Listening to: Pee Wee King's "Slowpoke"

Red Letter Days update

A cup of coffee, some vitamin C and a hot shower later, I felt ready to post my new items after all! So here are a few additions to the shop for the week. My favourite item is by far the pink 1970's style boho dress with lace trim that my sister sewed herself a few years back! She said it isn't her style anymore and asked me to sell it on her behalf....
Check out the shop for more details!

Sick Day

I went to bed, cozily drugged up on cold medication, mentally planning some cute sick-day-inspired outfit post with a scarf, boots, cardigan and tuque...but then I woke up, and realized I'm in no shape whatsoever for outfit posts. My bed with it's three layers of quilts and pile of pillows has been my home for the past 48 hours or so and I don't intend on leaving it anytime soon!
All that to say, there won't be any new additions to the shop today! I promise once I am feeling human again that I'll photograph and measure and post my new items - because there really are some good ones! But in the mean time, I want everyone to have as perfect a weekend as possible so I can live vicariously through you all!

Worn Journal Blog

A little while ago I received a pretty exciting e-mail from Carmen at Worn Fashion Journal. She asked me to write up a little something for the Worn Journal blog about hair inspiration and since we were in the midst of a humid, sticky heat-wave in Montreal, and my hair was all things un-ruly, I decided a little frizzy hair inspiration was in order! I have to admit I was so ridiculously nervous writing for a magazine I like so much - even if it is online. I tried to think like I do when I'm writing for my own blog, but knowing an editor would read it made my stomach do flips and I suddenly felt like everything I wrote sounded silly and discombobulated. Well the end result is up, I'm still not sure how I feel about what I wrote, but if you'd like to check it out you can read the post here, and while you're at it be sure to check out the rest of the awesome articles! It's a Canadian magazine that focuses a lot on vintage and handmade stuff and they're really, really great! Their issues are available for purchase on Etsy too if you're interested in seeing them in print!

One More Cup of Coffee

There's something to be said for that "Monday-morning-nostalgic-about-how-much-fun-you-had-all-weekend-and-sort-of-sad-about-returning-to-real-life" blues-y feeling. I think it's almost comforting to me at this point, and easily helped by a cup of hot coffee, some 1920's radio and a pile of homework. My outfit this morning was completely and 100% inspired by Rhiannon's "Lumberjack" outfit that she posted about yesterday. I'm going to have to give her all the credit, it just seemed like the perfect beginning of Fall, Monday morning outfit.

outfit details:
plaid shirt - American Eagle Outfitters, Thrifted
Black & Grey skirt: chosen from my little sister's wonderful closet
black t-strap shoes: Aldo
white socks: H&M
Brown belt: thrifted

A Farewell to Summer at Green Acres

With school having started, Summer officially ending this week and cold weather in our not-so-distant futures, Mike and I thought this weekend should be spent doing as much fun outdoorsy stuff as possible before it's too late!
Lucky for us, it just so happened to be one of the nicest weekends we've had here weather-wise, and a bunch of our friends just so happened to have invited us to a slew of bonfires, cottages and barbecues! Usually we're such hermits we opt for staying home and watching nerdy sci-fi TV show marathons, or just walking around our parents home-towns with Lola. This weekend we decided to act our age for once and we dove head first into all sorts of fun - and boy oh boy am I ever glad we did!

Friday night we stayed up all night talking to old high school friends of mine around a bonfire at my friend Liane's family's farm! She gave us a personalized tour of the farm and even let us hold her chickens! (Those photos are on Mike's phone, but I'll upload them to my Flickr eventually!)
Saturday afternoon, one of my very best pals, Ashley's baby boy turned one and we rang it in right with a big barbecue and gifts and balloons and lots of Curious George loot!
Finally Saturday night we set off to Melbourne County in the Eastern Townships to spend the rest of our weekend with my friend Vanessa at Green Acres - her boyfriend's family ranch!
Well, if campfires and s'mores and golden retrievers and friends aren't enough to make a gal like me giddy, then ponies, fish ponds, horseback riding and rolls of hay are!
Everett's family are really the greatest and I can't thank them enough for inviting us up to their huge 40 acre property for a day of absolutely perfect end of Summer fun! Honestly though, no matter how much I love this upcoming Fall and Holiday season, there really is something so sad about Summer ending isn't there?

Red Letter Days

This week's update should kick start the regular Friday updates! Although they won't always be this big! I got my sister in on the fun this week because she's been curious about Etsy for quite some time now! So she's guest modeling a few of the items and to be honest it's a relief cause she looks way better in most of these things than I do! Be sure to check out the shop for more details on each item!

Click HERE to get to the store!

Fay Fortune follies!

This Film in History class I'm taking really is too good to be true. We just got into talking about the production code, so our teacher is showing us all these pre code films to emphasize how big a difference it made. Well yesterday we watched two really great films, both directed by Mervyn LeRoy just before the code was put into effect.

The first was a stressful movie about a falsely accused criminal sentenced to ten years work in a Georgia chain gang. He eventually escapes and the whole thing is incredibly action packed. The second is one I have seen, if not too many times before, but never get tired of; Gold Digger of 1933. It's everything a Busby Berkely film should be and is made that much more exciting by the fact that Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Ginger Rogers all dance around singing!
I literally walked away from my class with a skip in my step and I think I may have caught myself once or twice pretending to bury my face into a big fur collar as I hummed "Forgotten Man" to myself. I'm going to be so sad when this class is over. I've already convinced Mike to come with me to visual media ressources center at our school so we can view all of the old films my teacher has on reserve there!

Why oh Why can't all classes be this good?

Atwater Market

I think this weekend was one of the most unplanned successes I've had in a while! We spent almost the whole weekend at the baseball field watching my sister's boyfriend play in the provincials. They made it all the way to the finals and the last game was so exciting I nearly jumped out of my seat! In the end they lost the final game, but not without bringing their A-game, they managed second best team in the province and Chris was player of the game!

This morning Mikey and I strolled around a local farmer's market picking up all kinds of tasty fresh fruits and vegetables and made the most delicious pasta primavera. I have already baked a couple of pies and crisps and coming up soon will be my family's annual pumpkin-cookoff, which I'm definitely looking forward to!

I hope all of your weekends were as spontaneously wonderful!

Baby Elephant Walk!

We've had the most perfect weather here in Montreal this week and today was far from the exception! My sister's boyfriend, Chris' baseball team - The Hemmingford Ravens - was playing in provincials and we all decided to go out and cheer him on! Well his team won the morning game and we ended up staying for the evening game too! We spent the whole day out there doing all kinds of typical baseball game things! My outfit is nothing new, except for the beautiful black purse I'm sporting, which as a really unexpected gift from the always lovely Quincy who also sent me a beautiful pair of black 40's pumps which I have every intention of featuring here soon! Lola had an absolutely wonderful day, playing with other dogs and chasing people around tail wagging!

The Ravens played their hearts out and are ranking first so far, semi-finals and finals are tomorrow and I got so into it all I think I might go spend another day at the baseball field!

Red Letter Days update

I'm so sorry for how inconsistent I've been with this shop update business. First I was living out of my parents' house and then I moved in, and now I'm starting school and it just seems to be getting harder and harder to develop any sort of routine. But I'm hoping to get back to weekly updates. I'll probably make them on Fridays (except this week since I just put new items in).
I'm expecting to add at least six new items each Friday from next week onwards. In the mean time there are seven new items in there now! Three great blouses, two amazing wool pencil skirts and two dresses that I'm paticularly excited about. I'm dropped one or two of the prices, so take a look if there are things you were eyeing, they might have gone down a little!

Holy Sweet Potato Casserole!

I really wish I could find the words to express just how great my first day back at school has been! I think it all started on the right foot because I had toast with the fresh creamy honey I bought at the Brome Fair yesterday for breakfast. After that the whole day just seemed to unravel like a dream!
My first class was American Literature 1914-1945. We'll be reading Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, Dos Passos & Yezierska among other greats! Our teacher is a sweet lady and although she spent nearly two hours on the syllabus today, I expect we're going to get along great!
Well I was nervous for my evening class because I had really high hopes for it - Film in History!
The course description read something along the lines of:
American History between 1920 and 1950 as seen through the eyes of the directors of the Golden Age of Cinema.

Well with all my great expectations, it would have been easy to feel disappointed, except it was quite the opposite! On our very first day we watched Joan Crawford dancing around in a perfect late 1920's wardrobe in Our Dancing Daughters, a silent film with Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian. Then - as if that wasn't enough goodness for one Tuesday evening classroom - the teacher showed Barbra Stanwyck's BabyFace! I had seen it before and it's one of my favourite precode Hollywood films! Ole' Barb's character is just too spunky for her own good and her wardrobe just about had me crumpled over in a jealous pile on the floor! I walked back to the subway wishing for pretty blouses like the one she is wearing in the opening scene, and perfectly 1930's heels...and what I wouldn't give to pull hats off as perfect as Stanwyck with her awesome head of hair and perfect face!

Well I came home - in an unstoppably good mood - to the smell of sweet potato casserole and a honey mustard pork roast, all home made for me by my man who snuck into my new apartment while I was in class! Now can anyone think of a better way to celebrate two awesome classes than sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pecans inside? Cause I sure can't! I'm not sure I even deserve all this goodness! I'm gonna need to do some paying forward soon to weigh out all the good karma on my side!

The Brome Fair

outfit details:
skirt & blouse: Killer Trash Vintage in Baltimore, MD
shoes, purse & belt: thrifted
sunglasses: H&M

Since I met Mike, labour day weekend has sort of been this stressful time when we have ten million things to get done before school starts. It doesn't help that he is usually right at the peak of his busy season at work, and that his band's big Fear & Loathing festival falls on the Sunday night. I think this year was the first year since we've been dating that we were able to really enjoy the holiday weekend, which was always my favourite holiday when I was a kid. It just seems like you can count on great weather, good garage sales and an all together great way to end your Summer on the right note!

The llamas made me think of you Jessica!

Mike's birthday was a week ago, and I'm sure most of you know that I was planning a day of surprises for him. I could never dream of matching his birthday surprise for me last year - we were on vacation in Europe, and he took me to Versailles and bought me macarons so I could pretend to be Marie Antoinette for a day - but I did my best with what we had at hand.
First things first, we went to this crazy tree climbing adventure spot, where you zipline down the mountain and climb in all these ingenious little tree houses up at the tops of the trees. It was loads of fun, although we're both pretty sore from all the climbing...Next stop was the Brome Fair, which has sort of been a Labour Day staple for me since I was a kid, but Mike had never been! It's mostly just a farmer's fair where their prize winning piggies and horses and cows are displayed, there are lots of creaky unreliable carnival rides and enough cotton candy and candied apples to make anyone -including me - sick to their stomachs! There is a tilt-a-whirl and country music playing from every speaker...There are tractor pulls and corn on the cob...it's pretty much a dream for country mice like us! We had a great time and were so excited when our wonderful friends Stef and Taylor decided to join us for the fun! We ended up going for dinner at the Spaghetti Ranch which was worth all the detours and getting lost on dark country roads...We spent the entire meal reminiscing and giggling about being fourteen and then headed home in our seperate cars for an early night!

I should also point out that Mike's band's festival was a huge success! Tons of people came out and all the bands played really well! It was loads of fun to see all kinds of people I never see because of my inability to stay awake past 10pm!
I can't wait to read about what everyone else got up to on their long weekend! I start school in about two hours and I've never been so giddy to walk to the subway with my brown leather backpack and brown plaid skirt (yes the one from my last post!)...Fall really doesn't dissapoint!

Brianne Swap Pt. 5

A combination of a few things - the smell of Fall in the air, my new apartment, and picking up my booklist for school - has got my inner bookwormy-hermit side coming out from it's summer hiding spot! I was so excited to see Faulkner on my booklist I dove into his book right away without even finishing the Fitzgerald I was reading! It seems to mean so much more to me when I read his stuff now that I can picture him in his pretty white house scribbling the outline for his stories on his bedroom wall and sipping brandy with his wife! I'll be really glad to have a professor who can actually help me understand it, so I can stop pretending!

I even pulled out this little plaid pencil skirt from my closet and thought it would make a perfectly studious back to school outfit if I paired it with this wonderful little white blouse that Brianne sent me in the swap! It's such an easy outfit and it will work so well with tights and flats, or maybe a little belted cardigan, I get the feeling this might be one of those outfits I wear far more often than is acceptable!

The weather has been so perfect here, all sunshine and breezes and the little back porch right off my bedroom faces this wonderful little alleyway with gangs of alley cats and the smell of delicious barbecue! There is even a little old man that plays the violin somewhere in the mix! I sat out there with a cup of hot coffee reading for at least an hour tonight, until the sun went down and the porch light attracted too many hairy moths for my liking...
It's off to the couch with me now to watch Roman Holiday - again! Have a Lovely Thursday!

St-Michel de Vaudreuil

Today is Mike's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE! - and last night we went to his Mom's house in Vaudreuil for some good old fashioned birthday cake! We were driving right in rush hour and opted to take the scenic route there, which is considerably longer, but better than sitting in traffic. I saw so many perfect blog-picture taking opportunities along the way, but we didn't want to be late for dinner. We ended up making record time and so Mike suggested we stop at his favourite spot in his little home town - St Michel church. It's a 400 year old church and it's just beautiful. We went for midnight mass last year at Christmas just so Mike could show me the big Archangel that he wants to get tattooed on him someday...
Anyway, the lighting was all off for getting any good pictures of the building. It wasn't until we snuck out behind the church and saw the light pouring in through the old tombstones like that, that we decided it was the perfect opportunity for some blog photos!
(I hope I'm not the only one who has blog photos on the brain so constantly!)

Dinner was wonderful and Mike had a great time! We took the fast way home and both fell asleep upon arrival like the two old folks that we really are on the inside. Tonight we'll be barbecue-ing at his house with his friends and on Monday I have a special surprise birthday outting planned for him!!! I'm sure you'll all know all about it once it happens! :)

My apartment is coming together beautifully! Fall breezes keep drifting in through all the open windows and our front porch is just about made for sipping coffee early in the morning. We've been listening to perfect Fall music and watching old movies like the 1930's version of Little Women! I'll be posting more once the empty-box occupation is over....

Red Letter Days End of Summer Sale!

I was sitting in my new still-sort-of-empty-except-for-a-million-boxes apartment wondering how to make space, and I realized that three of those boxes were things I had forgotten I had stored for Red Letter Days this Fall and Winter.
Now I'm hoping to ship out as many of the things that are currently in the shop as possible. So I'm offering 20% off everything in the store! All you have to do is send me a message when you purchase an item, telling me you saw this post and I'll refund you 20% of the price of the item (before shipping) through paypal!