Hello I'm in Delaware pt 2

I just can't believe that tomorrow is my last day here in Selbyville with Quincy and Jonny! The four of us have just been having so much fun, and I really think that spending this much time with Quincy has cemented the fact that we were meant to be friends! Blogger meetups are such a strange thing, and can be so nerve wracking that it's hard to really let go and be yourself around a person, but after this week of shopping and movie watching and blog talking and sight seeing I really think of Quincy not so much as Q's Daydream, but really as just Quincy! (And I like her even more!)

outfit details:
On Quincy:
Vintage pink dress: from me!
Belt, Purse & Hat: Vintage thrifted
Shoes: Payless!!!
Cardigan: Forever 21

On Me:
Vintage burnt orange dress with perfect buttons: Quincy's!
Belt & Purse: Thrifted vintage
Cardigan & Shoes: Gifts from Quincy
Socks: From the swap I did with Brianne

Since my last post we've been getting up to loads of fun things, and eating so much good food! Our evening Office marathons have quickly grown into a tradition, and we've been indulging in our inner lush-es and drinking wine and rhum and cokes almost nightly!
Tonight was especially great because we all went out for a really great dinner at The Globe in Berlin! We all got our fix of Maryland seafood, and the chocolate silk pie was just about as close to heaven as I think I'll ever get! And what really made the whole thing even greater was the fact that they play old Charlie Chaplin silents on a big projector screen and we were sitting right next to it!

I haven't been able to stop giggling with Quincy these past couple of days and I'm actually so, so sad that tomorrow is our last day here! This morning she let me raid her closet and I picked out this fantastic dress because I fell in love with the buttons on it! Those shoes are the ones she picked out for me for my birthday in November, and that cardigan is also a gift from her, so really I'm all decked out in Q's Daydream yet again! And I just remembered that those vintage socks are from the swap I did with Brianne way back!

Quincy wore that pink dress I found at my favourite vintage shop in Montreal. It's the one I wore on my birthday, but I've since hemmed it and it just looks so much better on her I think I might just give it to her! And her little t-strap wedges are nearly too good to be true aren't they?

Anyhow, this old abandoned house was on our way to the restaurant we ate at and we couldn't resist doing a photoshoot in front of it. It really was so windy and cold but we were so giddy and excited to have a partner in crime that it really didn't even feel so bad! Doing blogposts with someone else is so much more fun and somehow comforting when it comes to standing in front of creepy-falling-apart-old-houses!
We have another really exciting day tomorrow, and another really fun blogpost planned, so I'll leave you with these photos and all my ramblings now, and get back to olympic-watching and wine drinking and giggling with my wonderful new friend!

Linking blogs

Still having so much fun with Quincy and her Mum and Jonny in Delaware! We'll be taking more blog photos today for sure!

On a rather unrelated note, I am rebuilding my blog roster because in going through it recently I realized a large number of the blogs I had linked on the right hand side of my own blog were no longer working. So...if you would like me to link your blog here, don't be shy, leave me a quick comment including the link to your blog and it'll be up in a jiffy!

Hello, I'm in Delaware

It's finally time for me to reveal the destination of my mystery road trip with Mike! I've been excited about this trip for ages, and it barely seems real now that it's here! So Monday morning we packed ourselves back into that trusty minivan (the one that carried us across the South this Summer!) and headed down to that Mason Dixon line to spend the week at Quincy and Jonny's house in Delaware! We've already done so many wonderful things and they've taken us to about a million thrift shops where we've found heaps of treasures for next to nothing!

on Quincy
dress: from Me!
shoes: Seychelles
bow headband: H&M
belt & bag: thrifted

On Me:
top: thrifted
skirt: from Quincy!
shoes: Modcloth
belt: thrifted
John Romain purse: thrifted

Quincy and I met up this summer in Baltimore, and I think it's safe to say that we hit it off right from the get go! She's one of the most endearing people I've ever met, and she's got just about the greatest eye for vintage there is! I've now had the pleasure of raiding her closet and boy oh boy does she have an enviable collection of dresses and skirts and cardigans and shoes in there! And I have to mention how great her house is! I'm sure a bunch of you have probably already seen pictures through her blog, but boy oh boy she makes me excited to decorate!

Anyhow, these past couple of days have been just fantastic! We've done so many fun things and these two are just the greatest hosts! Mike and Jonny have been putting together jingles in Jonny's home studio, and we've all been marathoning the office and eating absolutely delicious food! Today was a beautiful day so we headed out onto the boardwalk and took pictures by the ocean, and then we drove over to Assateague and saw those wild ponies you may have seen in Quincy's post about the island!

Tomorrow they're saying snow here in Delaware, so we're thinking we'll be doing more indoorsy stuff, but that's alright because they have the coziest couch and the widest selection of old movies! Besides I have a brand new (for me) pair of 1970's high waisted jeans that I'm going to hem and take pictures of while I'm here! And anyway, as soon as it stops snowing we've got a long list of things to discover around the Delaware/Maryland area, including another visit to a boardwalk! It's going to be awful having to leave this wonderful house and our wonderful hosts and going back to a freezing cold Montreal month of March and work and school and a pile of essays....but none of that matters for another few days, so I'm going to go back to gabbing about blogs and vintage with Quincy now and put off thinking about responsibilities until it's time!

If you don't already follow Quincy you can find her blog here and her shop here!

Dear Creatures and My Accordion

This morning my sister and her boyfriend and Mike all came with me to Steve's music to pick up my accordion, and it sounds just like new! Only it's better because it's a 1960's Italian made accordion with perfectly aged brown leather straps! When I first got it (for a steal at Kavanagh!) it sounded like something out of a horror movie when I played, but now that it's been all tuned up, it sounds like a magical time machine that takes me back to my Europe trip, or even better, to a little room in Montmartre with Edith Piaf! Honestly though, I can't stop youtubing tutorial videos and remembering the feeling of travelling through the South of France on a train, listening to Yann Tiersen. And honestly there aren't very many times in my life I remember feeling as wonderful and inspired as when Mike and I were wandering around luxurious gardens and centuries old cemeteries in Paris...drinking hot wine and talking for hours in all the different arrondissements. But I digress...

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) from Fossils on Vimeo.

The point I was going to make with all this silly reminiscent talk of travelling and accordion playing, was that it ties in really well with how excited I am about the SS10 collection Dear Creatures just posted on their website. The concept is described as being inspired by the Jacques Demy/Catherine Deneuve movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which has to be one of the prettiest French films I've seen. Besides making me want to go blonde again, and reminding me of all the things I love and miss about Europe, it's also just pure good old fashioned entertainment and makes me think of rainy days (in a good way) and my Grandmother and delicious pastries...

And besides all of that, the collection is just so pretty, and wearable and perfect for prancing around outside this Spring. I probably won't be able to buy myself any of the pieces, but maybe they can serve as inspiration for me to get to work on that new sewing machine I got for Christmas!

a Few of my Favourite Things

I don't have much of anything interesting to say tonight, but I just found these pictures I took right after Christmas of two of my favourite gifts. Really there are so many more, like the wonderful yellow cardigan my Mom bought me and the baking stuff that my Sister bought for me, but I guess these were the only two I was able to get any decent shots of....
I won't go into too much detail as the pictures do most of the explaining, but the sewing machine is a 1948 Singer model which Mike got for me and his stepdad place into this perfect little sewing table! That sewing chair with the perfect red rose print on it is something my parents inherited when my Granny passed away, and now it is in my room!

As for that everything-I've-ever-dreamed-of Mary Poppins sized carpet bag, well it was a gift from Mike's Mom, Marie-Andree. She combined it with some very clever Mary Poppins quotes and even included a hint as to what Mike's gift might be....it ended up being a coat stand, which she had tried to somehow wrap in the bag, so I could pull it out like M.P., but it didn't work so well without the whole magical aspect, so she hid it under the stairs!
It was a wonderful Christmas! I'll really have to take some pictures of me carrying that bag so you can get an idea just how large it really is. It seems strange that I don't already have any pictures of me carrying it, since I take it with me absolutely everywhere and get comments on it every single day!

Saint Gabriel House

outfit details:
black silk blouse & bowtie: thrifted
velvet floral skirt: Lalouka on Etsy
black tights: HUE
platform wedge sandals: ModCloth (supersale!!)
Navy pea coat: Dear Creatures via Modcloth
black floral hair comb: part of an Etsy trade I did with Lauren from Blooming Leopold

Last weekend before Montreal became a sub-arctic nightmare, complete with snowdrifts and life threatening icicles, Mike and I ventured out into the mild, albeit rainy weather to take some blog pictures. This skirt was given to me by Lara who you all were introduced to in my last post, from her Lalouka line on Etsy. I love the thing just about to death and I've been having trouble putting other outfits on since I got it. The velvet fabric is so soft, and the big zipper down the front makes me feel edgy and avant garde.

Anyway, as we were taking these I tried to climb up on this little stone well we found in the back of the building, but a little old lady popped her head out the door and told us we weren't allowed. I climbed down apologising profusely, feeling like a teenager again, and not in a good way, and then she yelled at me some more for wearing sandals in the winter and not having a coat on (My coat was obviously not very far away, since Montreal mild is nothing even close to being short sleeves weather...)

Anyhow, I felt sort of funny after being scolded by the old lady who worked there, because I usually end up making friends with her type, and I suddenly got nervous they would remember me and shun me if I ever went to visit the inside of the house...which at this point I probably never will. Regardless, Lola had a blast running around outside and not freezing her little belly thanks to the little leather jacket my Grandmother made her for Christmas! And while they probably weren't the most practical for navigating the icy-wet terrain that is Montreal in Winter, those Modcloth sandals really are a dream! The easiest things to walk in I've ever owned. I have a strange feeling they won't leave my feet this Spring and Summer!

Lalouka

All photos by Safesolvent

This past week I met up with Lara who is the brains, beauty and creative genius behind Lalouka, a brand of clothing she created from scratch and is doing really awesome things with! She was probably one of the sweetest girls I've met, not to mention totally inspiring and absolutely adorable! We talked about loads of things and I found out that she studied in Theatre Design at Concordia University, and that she just recently applied to grad school in NYC and London! On top of running both her vintage online shop and her handmade brand, as well as her awesome blog, she also works on local plays doing things like set designs.
I had loads of fun talking to her about Montreal related things and finding out what people we know in common - just to prove how small a city Montreal can be, her little brother Alex (a.k.a. Charles Gregory Day) happens to be a friend of mine, and used to play in a band with Mike!

Anyway, I just think that Lara is a girl most definitely worth getting to know, so I put together just a few silly interview questions that might give you guys some more insight into the wonderful person who created and runs Lalouka. Be sure to stop by and check out both her shops, but specifically, keep an eye on Lalouka because I have a feeling she has some wonderful tricks up her sleeve, and I for one cannot wait to see what sorts of magic she'll produce for her Spring line! So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to...Lara.

When you were little you must have been the best at playing dressup! What kinds of costumes and games were your favourite to put together?

As a child I loved old movies and musicals, I was captivated by their vibrancy and theatricality. When I was about 6 years old I came up with a character I named Flame Day, she was a glamourous hollywood star inspired by Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor. I wore my moms red silk knee length dress (which was like a gown on me), her most rhinestone encrusted heels and a black silk scarf. My little brother became Charles Gregory Day and I would dress him in his best suit and my father's tie.
(Alex I am telling everyone about this!)

If you were given the chance to organize a tea party for any five women living or otherwise, who would you choose and what would they be wearing in your vision?

Audrey Hepburn wearing something from the film Funny Face.
Beth Ditto (Gossip) wearing the fierce gold outfit from the Heavy Cross video.
Anna Karina wearing an adorable sailor inspired number.
I feel I should include a blogger but its so hard to choose just one! I think Anja from Clever Nettle has great style and I think we'd have a lot in common so she's my blogger pick.
and last but no least Hedwig Schmidt wearing the "car wash" outfi from the Sugar Daddy scene.
Yes, I know it's a strange grouping, but wouldn't it be the best tea party ever?



What sources do you look to for inspiration when you're coming up with your designs?

Fabric shopping is probably my favourite thing in the world. I often go with no idea what I want and just look around and let myself get inspired by the fabric. I love to use unexpected colours, prints and textures in my designs. I'm also pretty addicted to street style blogs, I aim to make really wearable clothes so I find it inspiring to see what people from all over the world are wearing.



What's the story behind Lalouka? How did you end up choosing to name your store that?

I had a really hard time coming up with a name for my shop. I must have thought about it for months. Lalouka is a sort of abbreviation of my name, (La)ra (Lou)ise (Ka)luza. I thought it sounded quite cute and it was something a little different.

What kinds of plans do you have for your shop in the future? Where are you hoping to take it? What kinds of exciting things can we look forward to?

I'm hoping to turn my shop into a real business that can sustain me financially along side the theatre work that I do. I have a lot of respect for the Etsy sellers who have managed to do that. I interned with Angie of Norwegian Wood and learned so much from her that i'm only now beginning to incorporate into my business.
I'm also starting to work on my spring collection which is revitalizing when it's so cold and snowy outside. Hopefully I'll sell it in some boutiques around Montreal as well as online.

Find Lara online:
Lalouka on Etsy
Lalouka on Wordpress
The Crumpet Closet vintage on Etsy
Prim and Proper on Tumblr