left hand endeavor

Fern & Rolland

2011-11-29T11:07:00.003-05:00

Hey guys! Not sure if any of you are still following me here - just a quick reminder that I've moved over to Wordpress under a new name "Fern and Rolland".

I just added a dozen new things to the Etsy shop - and will be adding a dozen more tonight!

As a thank you to those who are still following Left Hand Endeavor after all my months of being a bad blogger - I'd like to offer each of you 20% off anything in the shop with the coupon code LEFTHAND. Just enter it at checkout to get the discount! Thanks guys! xo

If you'd like to update your readers, the new link to the blog is :

http://fernandrolland.wordpress.com/

and to the shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/fernandrolland?ref=pr_shop_more

New Blog

2011-08-08T15:12:00.003-04:00

Click Here to get to Fern & Rolland (the new blog)!

Hey guys, I'm actually a little late on posting this here - I think all these missed night's sleep because of work have made me a little loopy, and I totally thought I'd already posted about the move here. Anyway, I've made the switch to Wordpress and started from scratch with a new blog that's a little more focused on travel than fashion. That isn't to say I won't throw in an outfit post or some inspiration from time to time if it the urge strikes, but the blog is mostly devoted to the beautiful things I see and the places I get to visit with my new job!

I'd be so happy if you guys would follow me there, your comments have always been my favourite to read! I'm sad to put Left Hand Endeavor to rest, but it's time for a change!

London, England

2011-06-28T13:02:00.003-04:00

After a long hiatus from the blogging world, and a complete overhaul of just about every single aspect of my life over the past year, I think I'm finally ready to say goodbye to Lefthandendeavor. This blog has taken me places I never expected it to take me, and brought me to meet some of my very favourite people on the planet, but I think it's time to move on!

That being said, I'm hardly giving up on blogging altogether! It's just that I'd like to start over, and create something that reflects my life the way it is now a little more. So I've gotten to work on a new blog that should be up and running sometime this Summer and I think it'll be a lot of fun. My new life takes me all over the world to some pretty cool places, and I think this new project will focus a lot more on those places and the interesting things I discover there.

As soon as i've ironed out the details, I'll post a link for you guys here.

In the mean time, here are a couple of photos of my visit to London last week, which is one of the first places my new job has taken me. I'm really excited to share more with you soon!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Summer! I miss you all and can't wait to be back in the blogging world full force!

Fern and Rolland March 29th

2011-03-30T23:47:00.003-04:00

As promised, another small update with more on the way soon!

Enjoy!

Blue Polka dot 50s sundress S/M

90s green silky pleated polka dot skirt S/M

60s cream crocheted top S

70's plaid wool jumper M

100% cotton purple and green plaid prairie skirt S

model: Danielle Bird

Fern and Rolland

2011-03-16T00:22:00.003-04:00

I realize it's been nearly five months since my last post, which is incredibly hard for me to believe, and I promise to work on a real blogpost soon, for any one who might still be following me after all this time (I miss you all so much!). In the meantime however, here are just a couple of things I put up in the new Etsy shop, Fern & Rolland. There should be five or six more items a week going up for the next little while, and hopefully the pictures will be a little better quality on the next round.

The beautiful lady modeling for me is my wonderful friend Danielle, who I asked to model for me because I think she makes everything look absolutely perfect, and I'm sure you'll agree, she is stunning!

I'm looking forward to get back into blogging more often after all these big changes in my life. I miss all of your wonderful comments and the friends I've made through this community! Hope you enjoy the new items:

Red White & Blue striped sundress XS

Navy & White stars and stripes 90's cropped cardigan

Seafoam Green 1970's ruffle collar daydress S/M

1990s Navy slouchy sweater with silk polka dot bow tie S/M

1960s gingham print minidress with peterpan collar and necktie XS

Daylight Savings Inspiration

2011-03-14T13:11:00.005-04:00

This time of year is always hard for me, reading blogs from warmer places where girls are chirping about going outside without tights, and nice sunny warm weather, while Montreal is still getting snowstorms and the ground is a treacherous icy deathtrap....

But daylight savings time came as a bit of a boost this year, longer days accompanied by the occasional melting icicle and the possibility of opening your bedroom window a crack (although it may require piling an extra blanket on your bed) are infusing me with just enough hope for Spring that I managed to drag an ounce of inspiration out of it. So in the name of keeping my spirits high, I'm going to post a couple of dream outfits I've come up with for this Spring/Summer season....enjoy!

(I have to go back into my folder and find the links to all these items, but they're a comin'!)

Murder Mystery Party

2010-10-17T23:22:00.004-04:00

It's strange, because Halloween has always been one of my favourite holidays (is it a holiday? you know what I mean)...but it seems like for the past three or four years it just ends up being a big old disappointment, and this year was about the same. I did get dressed up to stop by a party at one of my very best friend's apartments, but my costume was so last second, it didn't really merit pictures, and either way I forgot my camera. So once again, no pictures from Halloween itself. I did remember though that I never posted about the Murder-Mystery night that we had with the staff at the cafe I work at this Summer, and it seems appropriate as a post Halloween spooky post....although the pictures aren't very creepy.

The evening was a hit, we had candles and the script called for a 50s costume theme (which I thought was weird since it was supposed to be a high school reunion for the class of '57....who presumably would have noticed it wasn't the 50s anymore at their 10 year high school reunion...but anyhoo)...people got totally into character and the night was perfect. The food was darn delicious too! The pictures of all of us in Summer clothes also makes me miss hot Summer nights. Montreal has already seen snow, and we're slowly giving into boots and coats and hats and scarves.....ugh.

Cottage Weekend

2010-10-17T23:01:00.005-04:00

My Mother, being the wonderful lady that she is, decided to rent us a cottage for the weekend so my sister and her and I, and a couple of family friends could get away from the city for a quiet girls weekend in!
The whole thing was absolute perfection, just enough rainy weather to allow for some good book reading, and old movie watching - we watched the Stork Club! - and board game playing and delicious snack eating! We sat outside in adirondack chairs and read and talked and sipped wine and laughed a whole bunch and it was all absolutely perfect after a week of essays and midterms and presentations!

My sister and I snuck off to explore the woods for a little while and took some photos with her magical camera box...the leaves were extra pretty and the whole thing just reinforced why I love Autumn so much. All those colors, and everything smells so crisp and fresh, and the wind is somehow extra spooky and everything feels eerie in a perfectly mysterious kind of way.
It put me into Fall mood so bad, that I barely had time to put my bags down before setting up shop in the kitchen to bake a double batch of banana muffins with a brown sugar crumble top. I've been on this cleanse-diet thing for about 8 days now and so I couldn't even eat them myself (ok, ok I may have cheated and had a little....) but I handed them out to my roommates, and their parents and they went over very well!

Anyway, the cottage we stayed at was an absolute dream. Right in the middle of beautiful nowhere, and with ceramic tile floors that reminded me of a Spanish villa! There was a fire place and big wing back chairs to sit and read in....And the sun came out just enough for us to shop around the village near by, where I bought some really exciting muffin pan liners and a snail shaped napkin holder! And when we got back it got grey and rainy again, just the way I like it!

Now I think I'll curl up in my bed with some knitting and a Barbra Stanwyck film and get a good nights rest before another big week!

[outfit details]
chambray dress: H&M
blue wool coat: Dear Creatures via ModCloth
Hat & Scarf & Gloves: H&M
Boots: Urban Outfitters

Montreal Blogger Meetup

2010-09-30T22:10:00.002-04:00

This blogger meetup has been quite a long time coming actually, and I'm thrilled that it finally happened! Jessica from Aspen Tree Vintage contacted me a while back when I was in Delaware with Quincy and Johnny, suggesting we meet up along the way home. Unfortunately, it was sort of out of our way to stop in Philadelphia at that point, and we had school and work to get back to in a hurry, so it never worked out, but when she told me she would be visiting Montreal I was thrilled to bits!

I was also hugely nervous about playing host to people in my own city. All of the meet-ups I've had have been in other bloggers' territories and they've all been so great at showing me around to the best restaurants and vintage haunts in their neighborhoods, so I felt a lot of pressure to do right by Jessica. As it turns out, they did just fine without me, and while we had a lovely afternoon, I realized in talking to them that they already knew all the best spots to check out!
None the less we enjoyed some of Montreal's best vegan cuisine and then explored some of the prettier (albeit pricier) vintage shops along the Main. Jessica and Peter were endlessly charming, and had nothing but amazing stories of their travels, as well as their lives back in Philly, to tell.
I'm so glad I finally got the chance to meet this lovely blogger and I so look forward to our next meeting! You can read about her Montreal adventures here!

I'm back!

2010-09-07T15:15:00.002-04:00

Holy Moly I can barely believe it's already been nearly two months since my last post! I think that may be the longest I've ever gone without a single blogpost! Alas, I am back and very excited to get back into my blog, and my shop (finally) and your blogs and your shops! Montreal had an absolutely perfect Summer weather wise, and between work and moving and new friends, and an almost-Southern-roadtrip-reminiscent-month-long-heatwave, I just didn't ever find a minute that I wanted to spend in front of my computer screen!
School started today however, and the weather seems to have understood that Summer is over and cooled down about 15 degrees from one day to the next! I was very happy to be able to layer tights and a sweater with my dress as I headed to my modern drama class.

As bad as I've been at taking pictures of all the wonderful things I got up to all Summer, I did remember to have my sister, Allison snap a couple of pictures of us at the Brome Fair this labor day weekend. It's a bit of a tradition for me to end my Summer with the fair every year, and I didn't want to skip out on it this year,even though it was cold and rainy most of the day.
Well apparently it didn't deter anyone else either, because the fair was absolutely packed! Despite my anxiety in crowds full of Ed Hardy sporting parents with their litters of five screaming children, I managed to have a fantastic time, got to see sooo many amazing prize winning chickens, and 328lb pumpkin which got me all too excited for my family's annual pumpkin cook-off!

Anyway I really do have to apologize for being such a flaky blogger. I missed the internet world quite a bit, and for the most part tried to keep up with most of your blogs, but I just wasn't feeling inspired enough fashion wise to think up anything worth writing about, and truly I was far too caught up in having a wonderful Summer! My new neighborhood is absolutely lovely, filled with perfect ethnic grocery stores and vintage shops, and adorable cafes with the yummiest breakfast treats. My apartment itself is by far the prettiest I've had so far! The kitchen is an absolute dream, and I've already done so much baking, I will have to start documenting it and sharing recipes I discover with you!

Anyhow, it's safe to say I'm back! I have an exciting blogger meetup to post about later this week, and I also have a little folder building up of Fall inspiration that I'll probably do a post on at some point. I have so much reading and commenting to catch up on, but school starting means more time at cafes studying and then procrastinating with blogposts and comments, it also means colder weather and wanting to curl up in my living room with tea and a blanket and your blogs! I hope you all had a lovely Summer as well, and that the transition into Fall is wonderful. This is by far my favourite time of year!

Lalouka and Talenthouse

2010-07-21T13:35:00.003-04:00

I'm sure all of you remember my interview with Lara from Lalouka, and the lovely skirt she gave me...well she has proven herself even more wonderful and creative with this little video she just put out! There are only a few days to vote for this video, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, seeing as it speaks for itself, but this video really deserves every single one of your votes! So go here and do so before Friday!

A Short Video

2010-07-06T16:38:00.002-04:00

Untitled from Meaghan Kelly on Vimeo.

filmed and edited by Chris Jadah
starring my lovely sister, Allison & myself.
song by the Be Good Tanyas

Just a little behind the scenes peek at those photos I posted in my last post. My sister Allison is the lovely lady in the video with me, and her boyfriend Chris was awesome and filmed the whole thing for us and then edited it and put it on Vimeo for me because I just couldn't figure out how!
I'm no good on camera, so you'll have to forgive the horrible, obvious awkward parts...
When I filmed this I hadn't had the idea yet to make each video inspired by a photo from my Grandmother's collection, but after the fact, I was looking through them and it sort of reminded me of this photo of her alone when she was about my age. The photo is just really serene and pretty without being for anything special. I think that's what I was going for. Anyhow, I hope you like it! Thanks Chris and Allie (and Mike for those pictures!)

Fern & Rolland Vintage

2010-07-03T16:07:00.002-04:00

After a lot of rather cryptic talk about an Etsy project inspired by my Grandmother, I'm finally ready to unveil my new online vintage shop. Fern & Rolland is named for my beloved Grandmaman, and her late husband (My Grandpa). Aside from the name though, the whole thing is sort of infused with some bits and pieces of their personalities and the life they lived together. The idea came to me during a routine look through my Grandmother's photo album collection while I was visiting her one time. I couldn't help getting all nostalgic and sentimental about them, wishing I had known them when they were younger.

Anyhow, my shop will have seasonal videos inspired by a picture of them, the first of which I'll be posting early next week. The shop itself is scheduled to be open on the 16th of this month, and will be updated weekly from that point onwards. But I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of some of the summery dresses that will be in there this season. I hope you like 'em. I'll release the URL as well as an email contact and facebook page info once the opening is closer. And stay tuned for a grand opening giveaway and sale!

Also, thanks again for being so patient with me and my horrible erratic posting habits...that will all be remedied this month when I finally get the internet back at my house! Regular posts again! Promise!

*All photos by Mike

Forgotten Photos from Concord

2010-06-29T12:39:00.002-04:00

I uploaded these at the same time as the pictures from the Wayside, but completely forgot we had even taken them until today! These are also from Concord, MA, but from Louisa May Alcott's actual house, instead of the one she lived in later on with a bunch of other authors. The house is really woodsy and looks like it could easily be haunted, but it also looks just like the one where the March sisters lived, which greatly reduces its creepiness!

Looking through these made me pick up my copy of Little Women to read it again, and while I was unpacking my boxes I found my dvd of the Katherine Hepburn version of the movie, so I watched it. It reminded me of Christmas, and somehow made me excited for it, even though I couldn't be happier its officially Summer!

I've only got a couple more months to fit as much reading as I possibly can in before I start school and my book choices are dictated to me! Do any of you have any suggestions for good Summer reads? I'm half way through Leonard Cohen's second novel, which is really pretty to read, although slightly more artsy than I'm used to. I think I'd like to read more slow moving old-American novels like "Oh Pioneers!" and "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". Feel free to comment your suggestions to me!

We're still unpacking boxes and getting things set up, and there are still some renovations to be done in the basement, but my new neighborhood is perfect for Summer, and as soon as Mike gets back will be full of blogphoto opportunities! Plus I'm right around the corner from one of my favourite vintage shops, the one where I got my accordion! (Which is coming along I might add! - Jessica, Rhiannon get your instruments ready!)

Finally moved in!

2010-06-26T11:54:00.003-04:00

This week has just been awful! But the move is finally done and I've spent my first night in my brand new room! I am so excited about this apartment and as soon as I have a couple days off to decorate and organize I'll be posting pictures for sure!
In the mean time, here are some photos we took outside of Mike's Mom's show a couple of weeks ago because the sunset was just too pretty over this big field! I think I'll stop blabbing and let these pictures speak for how happy I feel to not have to carry any more boxes from a truck into a house!

Boston, The Arboretum and a Blogger Meetup!

2010-06-18T16:37:00.003-04:00

I was a horrible blogger on my trip to Boston and didn't take nearly enough pictures of all the wonderful things we did! I was so excited to have Mike back, and to reunite with my friends Libby and Allie in Boston that I completely forgot to take out my camera! On my last day though I did get some pictures of Mike and Allie and I at the Arboretum, which really was one of the highlights of the whole trip! Not to say it didn't have competition though! The trip was mostly highlights really. And it ended on the most wonderful note as I got to spend the afternoon with Josie and Josh and Elisa who I had had the pleasure of meeting the night before at Tory Row for drinks and veggie burgers!

Other moments worth honorary mention:

Breakfast with Libby at a restaurant that I can't remember the name of for the life of me (Zeigfeids, Zigfried, Zedgeits? Ugh I don't remember), but banana-stuffed french toast......mmmmm!
A Wednesday night dance party involving a super mix which included the likes of T-Rex, The Animals, Pulp AND David Bowie!
A Daria marathon on Allie's comfiest of comfy couches
Walking part of the freedom trail with our newfound Australian pals and exploring parts of Boston we hadn't discovered, as well as seeing some pretty neat old cemeteries!
Discovering Jamaica Plains and all the pretty little vintage shops on South Street, buying baked doggy treats for Lola and two new vintage dresses for me (and a third from the famous Bobby from Boston!) as well as delicious take out mexican food!

Allie and Libby were fantastic tour guides, taking us to all their favourite spots. We explored the South End which was an absolute dream to walk around, and the North End and Jamaica Plains and then a little of Cambridge as well, though mostly for ice cream and drinking! The whole trip couldn't have been better, and I'm so glad that I finally made the effort to go. It's right next door and I never end up making the drive over! Hopefully I can go back again soon and explore the area even more!

One of the reasons for the trip, among a long standing love for the city, was that Josie and Josh would be there, and boy were they a lot of fun! They couldn't have been any sweeter or fun to be around, and their Australian accents were really great to listen to (I finally figured out who says to-mah-to!). We had a great time exploring and swapping travel stories and comparing Canadian and Australian culture, which is strangely similar! They're really fantastic people and it was a pleasure to spend time with them (you too Elisa!) I can't wait to follow the rest of their world tour!

***Disclaimer***
I am really tired, and just finished work and I'm sitting in a pretty loud cafe right now, so you'll have to excuse any spelling or sentence structure mistakes...I'll probably re-read this in a few days and hate it and re write parts of it....but in the mean time, sorry!

The Wayside

2010-06-11T00:10:00.002-04:00

I've been meaning to get to Concord, Massachusetts for a pretty long time now, ever since I found out that that is where Louisa May Alcott lived and wrote Little Women from. But I really didn't expect to love the town as much as I did. The big traditional New England style homes (that are sort of Gothic, and remind me of wholesome Barbra Stanwyck Christmas movies) and the abundance of literary history combined to make it my new very favourite nearby weekend destination! We ate really delicious New England clam chowder and grilled tomato mozzerella basil pesto sandwiches at a local cafe, and I think overall it was just one of the prettiest small towns I've seen!

I got a little inspired by some of the girls who have been posting about wearing more 70s dresses with longer hemlines lately, and when I thrifted this number last week I couldn't help myself. To be honest I felt totally comfortable in it, the loose flowy fabric was sort of nice, but I still don't think I could wear it around Montreal....I'd just feel too awkward and silly. Here though, I just sort of felt like it fit perfectly with the super green foliage and the pretty honeybees buzzing around the honeysuckle plants.

This house in particular was bought by Nathaniel Hawthorne and turned into a bit of a literary residence, a whole bunch of authors have lived there, including Louisa May Alcott for a little while, and walking around in the sort of grey rainy weather, made it really easy for me to picture Miss Alcott running around in the woods catching bugs and generally just being a tom boy. It also made me wish I could sit in that perfectly peeling screened in porch writing wonderful stories and playing out scripts up in the attic of the old house. The whole day was really lovely, and it ended on a wonderful note when I finally got to meet Josie of Frances Baker and her boyfriend Josh and their friend Elisa, who are all on one of the most wonderful road trips I can possibly imagine! We're meeting them again tomorrow to walk the Freedom Trail and visit Boston like tourists....So I'll try to get some pictures! I'll also have to share the dress I bought at the loveliest vintage shop called Bobby from Boston.

A long silly post about nothing!

2010-06-03T14:50:00.002-04:00

Well the countdown to Mike's return has begun! His flight gets in Tuesday night and we'll be leaving the very next morning for a few days in Boston together! After that it'll be lots of packing and organizing and cleaning because we get the keys to our new home on the 21st! Suffices to say from the 21st to about the 25th I fully expect to be eyeball deep in paint cans, unpacked boxes and furniture arranging! There's something so exciting about a fresh start in a new home, and Lord knows I've had my share since moving out of my parents house a few years ago, but even though I dread moving day itself, I never stop getting excited to make a new place my own.

Anyhoo, here are a few of the many things I've been doing to keep busy while Mike is away! In less than a month I'll have the internet back at my apartment, and I'll be back to posting a little more regularly and hopefully being better at replying to comments! I also will be launching a brand new Etsy shop, which I'm very excited about. I'll be posting a few pictures and a video sometime next week to show you what it's all about. But I'm really excited to get back into selling on Etsy, it is loads of fun, but just not very practical when I only get to check my e-mail every three or four days!

I know that in my last post I promised photos of my vegan baking endeavors. Truth be told my vegan challenge has been put on hold for a bit, since I started breaking out in hives these past couple weeks. I'm trying to identify the culprit, and I'm starting to think it might be soy or chickpeas. Either way, I've found the whole lifestyle pretty hard to maintain. Cooking for myself at home is one thing, but it's next to impossible to go to any family dinners without feeling really rude turning down delicious home cooked meals. So I'm not really sure if it'll stick or not. We'll have to see how this allergy thing turns out! I have however been very busy enjoying sangria and fresh veggies with my friend Isabel, hiking the mountain in Montreal with my Mom and sister, and lying in bed watching the Office with Lola as I drowsily fall into a Benadryl induced sleeps! Other than that, I've made a really yummy mint lemonade, visited a bird sanctuary with Yana and sat by the water with my sister, her boyfriend Chris, and my mom! We've been so so lucky with weather here!

I've also taken my shiny blue bicycle (Barbra-Jean) on many a bike ride around Montreal! I usually bring a book and wind up sitting somewhere sunny and letting myself get right into whatever it is I'm reading. I already mentioned that I got finished with Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood", which Rhiannon was nice enough to send my way in a package with some wonderful music! In the same way I fell in love with Carson McCuller's "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" I totally fell in love with this book too. It was just so perfectly slow moving with almost no real story line, but it reminds me of the sort of motionless hot sticky southern air and the weird people you meet in small Southern towns. And even though Wise Blood takes place in rural Georgia, for some reason it reminded me of little towns in Mississippi that Mike and I drove through last year, and the weird people who worked in the corner stores and highway side antique shops we'd go into.

And I guess other than that I've just spent a ton of time enjoying the sunshine, driving out to my parents house (Mike being gone always makes me strangely homesick for some reason) and doing a lot of reading. I'll be really glad to have my partner in crime back in a few days, but the time to myself has been good! Now I just need to remember to take pictures of the things I do so I can document it like this more often!

I know I say it every time, but I can't say thanks enough for your super sweet comments! They always really make my day!

The Felix House revisited

2010-05-28T13:42:00.002-04:00

I just dug these up from a couple of months ago. My sister joined Mike and I for dinner at his Mom's house, and we stopped by the old Felix Leclerc house again so she could see it in all it's decaying, crumbly gloriousness. It was a gorgeous day, sort of a fluke weekend in the middle of April, the weather got all perfect and Spring timey, and all the leaves started to come out and then we got snow again. All that has changed though and now it feels like mid July here in Montreal. Yesterday was so hot out, it was comparable to the temperatures we felt on our Southern road trip last Summer!

Anyhow, this dress is something I have worn about a million times since my sister's friend gave it to her a couple years ago. I can't believe it hasn't shown up on this blog before...and I think I'll need to do it justice in a post where you can see it a little clearer. But it's a handmade dress that this girl's Grandmother made for herself years ago, and it's just about my favourite item in my closet! The rest is all thrifted, except those sandals that are Miss Mooz that I bought via Endless.com and had shipped to Quincy who so graciously shipped them across the border to me! I wear them all the time, they're the comfiest things in the world!

Well Mike gets back in a little over a week and we're leaving the very next morning for a few days in Boston where I have a very exciting blogger meetup planned! One I've been hoping to make happen for ages, but hasn't been possible until now! Either way, Boston is so pretty that I'm sure lots of blog photo opportunities will present themselves and I'll have some material to share with you guys for Mike's next tour!

Random Post

2010-05-14T16:04:00.003-04:00

Outfit Details:
shorts: Aryn K via Modcloth
hat & tights: UO
jacket: H&M

I wanna thank you all so much for all the awesome vegan cooking sites you sent me! I've accumulated quite a stack of recipes I'd like to try, and I think I'll start with some baking this weekend! In the mean time, I'll leave you with a small list of things I'm into right now. Since this blog is turning into a personal journal anyway!

The Black Keys & Bones Malones. Both of these groups have a way of making me feel like I get cooler when I listen to them. I'll be seeing them both live soon. Bones Malones actually used to work at the cafe I work at and will be performing here next week, and if any of you are in Montreal, you should definitely stop by and check it out! Especially if you're into raspy Tom Waits-ish blues and such! As for the Black Keys, well they're playing our Montreal music fest, Osheaga and I'll be there this year, since Mike and I couldn't afford a trip to Tennessee for Bonnaroo!
Francesca's post about wanting to overhaul her closet and fill it with simple pinks and blacks and navy blues! It hit the nail right on the head with how I've been feeling too!
Homemade mint lemonade. I don't generally like mint in things, but I never knew how much more I would like my lemonade with some fresh mint in there!
Vegan Yum Yum, which a bunch of you suggested to me. It's page after page after page of delicious vegan recipes, that are really, really well explained and so pretty to look at!
Small Czech towns that Mike is visiting and writing me about right now! And the fact that his band, Trigger Effect made it into the top ten of three different categories of the Montreal Mirror's Best of Montreal 2010 Poll!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! If all goes according to plan I will be surrounding myself with packing boxes and egg substitutes, and will try to remember to take pictures of my baking endeavors to share with you next week!

Spring time Productivity

2010-05-10T16:08:00.004-04:00

I think I'm going through my annual bout of Spring-weather-induced productivity fever! I feel like I must be repeating myself at this point, but between school being over and Mike being away, I have all this time to myself and I thought it would drag on, but it's more like there aren't enough hours in the day! I keep accidentally staying up way too late reading (Just got done with a Flannery O'Connor novel Rhiannon sent me a few months back, and am finally getting started on Leonard Cohen's first novel....something I should've read ages ago!) and then getting up really early to walk Lola and go to work and then when I come home I just want to cook new vegan recipes and make crafts and listen to Bessie Smith until it's time to read again!

To be honest, I'm sort of relieved not to have the internet right now, because I feel like I'm just getting so much more done! I've even written real letters to some friends and family in far away places, and sent it to them by snail mail! And I took up my knitting again, and I've even got TWO houseplants now! If I can get these guys through the Summer, I'll look into starting a little urban garden in my new apartment! Honestly I get like this every Spring time, I get all fed up of the internet and I feel like it prevents me from living my life to the fullest, and that seems to be the general consensus in the blogging world right now from what I've read, but it's probably just Spring fever, and I think by next Winter when it gets chilly again I'll be happy to lie under the blankets reading blogs and spending a few hours just replying to comments and e-mails.
In the mean time though, you'll have to forgive me for being a bad commenter! And know that I still appreciate all of your comments so, so much! It's just hard when I only check the internet sporadically from internet cafes.

Anyhow, these are just some more pictures from my weekend in Sutton with Mike. Tomorrow is the one week mark from when he left, which means only four more to go! Bare with me while I get really sad and pathetic as the time goes on! Truth be told, he's been touring since we started dating three years ago, but I still haven't gotten any better at being independent while he's gone. Anyway, this was at the prettiest cemetery I've seen since the one we visited in Savannah, GA last Summer. It is tiny and right in the middle of a big field, down a dirt road surrounded by mountains and greenery and all the tomb stones are old and cracked and creepy and nobody was around and the patches of dead grass made it even better. We spent a really long time there reading the names and the dates on the stones, and then we drove for a really long time down random back roads through the mountains and it was just a beautiful warm perfect day! I'm glad we took pictures, cause I sort of wanna remember it for a really long time!

Thanks again for all your sweet comments all the time. They mean so much to me! And sorry for two outfit posts in a row. I don't have much time to browse the web for inspiring things to post about, so in the mean time, it'll just be random pictures of me and the things I've been doing!

A weekend in the Townships

2010-05-06T00:09:00.007-04:00

Mike left with his band (Trigger Effect)yesterday for a five week tour of Europe, and while I can't quite figure out how I'll get through five weeks of him being so, so far away, I'm also so incredibly excited for him that I think I'll get by! (You should all go check his tour dates and go see 'em play if they're in your neck o' the woods! I promise if you introduce yourself to Mike - the sweaty drummer guy - he'll be super friendly and you'll become great pals! Plus their music is awesome!) Anyhoo, in order to keep up our ongoing pre-tour tradition, we packed up and got out of the city for the weekend to spend some quality one on one time together before he flies over the ocean to such a distant land!

So this time, we headed back to a little place called Sutton, which we spent some time in a few years back, probably before I was blogging....we brought our bikes with us and planned our weekend around taking some sort of a scenic bike ride around the Eastern Townships, which is a super picturesque part of Quebec which sort of lines the Vermont border.
After a long interrogation (in vain might I add) with the clerk at the information booth, we finally found out about the sort of path we were looking for from a man we met at an antique store, and headed out working hard to convince ourselves that the sort of overcast weather would be good and keep us cool....but in the end the sun took its cue and right as we hopped on our bikes it showed its face and didn't go away at all, except for a fifteen minute downpoor about two thirds of the way into our ride back to the cottage.

We did good for beginners, and did about thirty miles of beautiful scenic bike riding, and then rewarded ourselves with a picnic and some sun-soaking by a really pretty stream we found along the way! Anyhow, the whole weekend was just perfect, filled with silly inside jokes and lazy nights in and busy days out and fancy antique stores and road side junk shops and perfect weather and just about all the good quality time two people can fit into one weekend, so it wasn't so bad seeing him off seeing as we got all that good stuff in before hand!

Now I'm all lost and don't know what to do since I finally finished my semester, and don't have the internet, and my boyfriend is on tour, and all my friends work during the day, so today I got back on my bike and discovered some really pretty bike paths right near my apartment! Although, its sort of sad I'm discovering them now when we'll be changing neighbourhoods in just a couple of months...but we'll just have to discover them around there too! I've also given myself a personal challenge to try going vegan for the time that Mike is gone. I have no idea how I'll fare, since my love for cheese and eggs and milk are sometiemes more powerful than whatever will power I may have, and I'll have to change my baking habits, but there isn't much better a time than now while Mike is away and I'm only shopping for myself, and really I don't bake as much in Summer anyway....are any of you guys vegan too? Any good recipes you might wanna suggest?

By the way, thanks for still reading, despite my overdrawn silences and lack of consistent posts or comments! I love you guys and all your blogs andI still check them whenever I get the chance!

Still Alive!

2010-04-27T14:57:00.002-04:00

There is still no internet at our place, and I don't think we'll be splurging for our own connection untill we move into our new place in July! The exciting news is that Mike and I will be moving in together for the very first time and we're both very excited!
Mike and I also have a little weekend getaway planned this weekend before he leaves for a long tour with his band around Europe. So we should get some good blog pictures finally!

I also wanted to say thank you all so, so much for all your super sweet comments about my Grandmother! She's doing really well, and as of tomorrow I'm going to have tons of free time to spend with her and the rest of my wonderful family too!
That picture up there is of her around my age.....and also a sneak peak at a project I've had some time to work on since losing my internet connection! But more on that soon!

Bad Blogger pt. 603

2010-03-29T18:40:00.002-04:00

outfit details;
blouse: UO
skirt: thrifted
tights: UO
shoes: ASOS
sunglasses: from Rehoboth Beach

As if I wasn't already bad enough about updating this thing and replying to comments with school and a recent job change keeping me busy, then the world decided to throw apartment hunting and some sad family news in the mix. On top of all of that the internet connection we were stealing from our neighbor recently became password protected, so now I can only update my blog from work, if I think to bring my laptop with me!

I guess it isn't all so bad, this time of the school year (exams, essays, readings ah!!!!) always gets to me and I start to go a little crazy.
One thing the lack of internet at my apartment has done for my life however is made me take advantage of my downtime a little more though! The other day I made tea cup and mason jar candles with Yana (I wanna be neighbours forever!!!) and we went over some exciting photos and fonts for the final prep stages of my upcoming Etsy project! And besides that I've been lucky enough to find time to go thrifting three times in the past two weeks! So I guess it isn't all bad!

I am always really torn about posting really personal news on my blog, because while I know all of your comments will be sweet and supportive and make me feel better, I get a little creeped out about people I don't know are reading this, reading about my personal life....but we recently found out my Grandmaman has liver cancer and while she's 87, and still very healthy aside from this, we're all really hoping she won't suffer too much from this, and if it isn't too much to ask, I'd love if you could include her in your prayers, or just maybe think positive thoughts for her and send some good energy her way. She's a really special lady, and a big inspiration to me!

I hope you all had wonderful sunny weekends. Montreal is predicting gorgeous warm sunny weather this week, and right now I'm staring at just about the most perfect sunset I've seen in years, and wishing Mike were here with my camera so we could capture it! Oh well, I'll have to take a picture with my mind instead!

Imaginary Shopping on Etsy

2010-03-25T15:02:00.003-04:00

War Effort dress from Nineteen Thirty Five Vintage
Leather Wedges from Skin & Wood
Straw Hat from Looks Vintage

I think I'd wear this outfit on a bike ride somewhere out in the country. I'd throw a quilt in my front basket and somehow have Robert Johnson playing from the air. It would all be very cliche. But perfect.

Silk PeterPan Collar Blouse from friends of mine at Young Captive Vintage (modeled by my best friend!)
Black ankle Boots from Principessa Micranie
Floral Flouncy Shorts from Allen Company Inc

This would definitely be a weekend outfit. Some slouchy off white socks popping out of the top of those boots, and maybe a brooch and a side pony tail. It makes me think of drinking iced coffees and walking around Mike's (soon to be our shared) neighborhood!
Also, two Montreal girls joined forces and put together Young Captive Vintage on Etsy which has got loads of perfect scarves and sweaters and blouses like this one! The pretty girl modeling this shirt is my long time best friend and old roomie, Stef!

One piece Swimsuit from Fraulein Caroline
Patchwork Skirt from Persephone Vintage
Cream Colored Cable Knit Cardigan from Thrush

This is, to me, the ultimate hot-sticky Summer day outfit, and the cardigan is perfect to transition into a night time campfire! That bathing suit is so good I might just buy it even though I can't afford it!

Frilly flowy perfect Summer dress from Young Captive
Suede Mod Boots from Lapine Ours
Brown Leather Satchel from Allen Company Inc

Another vision of beauty fro Young Captive Vintage, that dress makes me swoon! I think I'd wear this to walk around out in the country somewhere with Mike and Lola. But just so I don't look too frilly and girly, I would throw in some leather and suede to roughen it up just a little!

Americana Sleeveless Sailor Blouse from Decades Baltimore (SOLD)
Wooden Platform Shoes from Beekeepers Vintage
Hawaii Straw Bag from Ring and Crow

And finally this outfit, which I think is absolutely perfect for weekends at the beach and fourth of July holidays to New Hampshire....well Iguess I just said it all right there. It deserves some cotton candy, or a lobster roll, or maybe just some sand and a bucket!

Supayana Spring 2010 & a WORN contest!

2010-03-23T14:57:00.003-04:00

I promise not to get all gushy and sentimental here, but somedays I have to stop what I'm doing and pinch myself to make sure I'm not sleeping! Since I started this blog a couple of years ago, it's taken my in ten million directions I never ever dreamed I'd end up going, and introduced me to some of the most wonderful, talented and amazing people I've ever met! Every once in a while I get e-mails from people saying they've found me through my blog, and offering me opportunities to work on really wonderful projects, and every single time that happens I get all giddy and disbelieving that I am lucky enough to be able to work with all these awesome people!
Well this time around it was Yana (who I actually approached a few months ago to interview her about her awesome line Supayana....and who also became my neighbour this Winter!) who asked me if I'd be willing to model for her Spring line, to which I responded a nervous, but whole-heartedly enthusiastic YES!

I am not even sure how to put this collection into words,except that it's got everything that a Spring line should; ruffles and pom poms and vintage floral fabrics and charm coming out the ears! We were originally looking to take photos in a nearby greenhouse Yana discovered recently, but it was being renovated, so I was lucky enough to peek into her awesome studio (and act totally goofy and starstruck when I met Angie, the awesomeness behind the brand Norwegian Wood!)...where we ended up shooting the outfits!

I'm so excited that I got to work on this with you Yana! And even though I was still painfully shy and awkward through most of the shoot, it was easy to have fun because I loved every single piece and because Yana kept cracking funny jokes and making it all seem like we were just hanging out!

Anyhow I'll leave you with the pictures of her Spring collection. You can shop the collection through Etsy, or look at her exciting new website for retail locations!
You can also find Yana on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or through her blog!

And while we're on the topic of awesome opportunities afforded to me thanks to this blog, I've still been working as a (bad) monthly contributor (my monthly contributions are always late, I'm sorry Serah-Marie!) for the WORN magazine blog, and I think all of you online vintage sellers should take a gander at the awesome contest they recently posted!

If you’re an online retailer with style for sale (including clothing and accessories, cosmetics, and books and magazines about or related to fashion),YOUR Picture is Worth a THOUSAND ADS…
(More, if you’re feeling literal.) Get your camera, your markers, your mirror, your neighbour, your mom – whatever you need – and get ready to give a shout out. This is your chance to win a spot in WORN Fashion Journal’s issue 10:
Just recreate the cover of WORN issue 9.

Your ad will appear in print in our own Maynard Street Market, putting it into the hands of readers in Canada and the US, the UK, Europe, Japan, and Australia just in time for a little spring shopping.

Your options are wide open: reinterpret the image any way you like, and with whomever (or whatever) you like. Just make sure your entry (and your ad design) hits our inbox by midnight on Sunday March 28th.

THE RULES:
1) Contest submissions must be digitally submitted in print quality size (minimum 1000 pixels wide).

2) By submitting entries/images, contestants consent to give WORN Fashion Journal permission to reproduce said images on the WORN website, in print, or for promotional purposes.

3) All entries will be judged and a winner chosen by WORN staff. The winner will be notified by email.

4) Contest deadline is midnight, Sunday March 28th, 2010

5) SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS AND AD DESIGNS TO dearworn @ wornjournal.com

6) Winner must submit their ad design within 5 days of notification. Winning ad will be printed in full colour in the WORN issue 10 Maynard Street Market ad pages.

Westmount Park

2010-03-17T23:40:00.001-04:00

outfit details:
navy jacket with perfect striped lining: H&M
sunglasses: Rehoboth Beach, MD
70s blue floral dress: from Certex and soon to be added to a Spring shop update!
creamy sheer tights: U.O.
Tan wedges: Modcloth

I can't believe it's already been a week since my last post! Its officially that time of year again, when exams and essays and piles of school readings are upon me, and I don't even notice that a week has gone by since the last time I had time to sit on the couch watching Arrested Development and blogging and eating grilled cheeses with Lola by my side! I spent the most wonderful afternoon visiting possible future apartments with Mike today! Which we followed up with a picnic in the park! And coffees and a walk around his neighborhood looking at bikes and guitars and vintage shops that are filled with loads of charming (albeit overpriced) junky goodness!

We ended up in Westmount Park right around sundown when the light was so pretty we would have been crazy not to stop and take some blog photos! Plus I was wearing my brand new Modcloth shoes which just came in the mail yesterday and which are so much comfier than I ever expected they would be! I guess I thought that such a slanty wedge would sort of make my weak and whiny ankles wobble and that I'd stumble and fall down a lot, but I felt ever so graceful walking around on grass and climbing big oddly shaped trees in them! And they're the first really spring timey pair of shoes I've got this season, and with the miraculous weather we've been having here (no snow in March!) I sort of had to wear them out right away in case a mid March blizzard hits and ruins all my Spring time hopes and dreams!

Anyway it was just one of those wonderful days when even the pile of school work in the back of your mind doesn't really bother you because you're just having so much fun! Both Mike and I have been so deep into work and school obligations recently that we've barely had time for things like walking through parks making inappropriate jokes in front of children, or driving around the fancier neighborhoods and scaring old snobby rich ladies by pretending to yell at them from inside our car when they cut us off! (They're so easy to get a rise out of!)....It was just a totally spontaneous Wednesday afternoon, and although it was fruitless as far as apartment hunting goes, it was totally wonderful in terms of perfect Springtimey afternoons! I don't know if it was a little bit of St Patricks day spirit that had the whole city sort of buzzing today, but there was definitely a little extra skip in everyone's step!

Thanks Libby!

2010-03-17T22:43:00.004-04:00

I suppose that this post requires me to admit that I'm absolutely horrible at keeping up with music. I should probably be better at it, seeing as Mike is a musician, and he is always discovering new artists, but I'm just so lazy and I never go to shows and I don't have a radio, or cable, so I don't really even know where I'd find out about all the great music there is out there, and that is why I rely on dear friends like Libby! Libby is the one who introduced me to two of my most favouritest bands a couple of years ago (though I was extra late on discovering these bands too) Matt Pond PA and The National, and just today she sent me an e-mail with this video attached and I haven't been able to stop listening to it since!
So a big old thank you is in order to Libby for sending me tunes that I quickly add to my roster of ten artists - now eleven - which I over play on repeat and drive Mike crazy with!
And while we're talking about this video....could it make me want Summer to come any faster?

My Hometown

2010-03-10T00:11:00.003-05:00

Outfit Details:
Red dress: Bedo, thrifted
Shoes: gift from Quincy
Socks: H&M
Cardigan: Forever 21
Nautical scarf: thrifted

Last night Mike and I headed to the airport at 2am to pick up my folks on their way back from a week in Cuba! Today, I made the sleepy decision to skip my classes and do some online shopping! I was good and widdled my massive topshop shopping spree down to just one pair of shoes from endless.com! Now if that isn't discipline I don't know what is! I think I'd like to save some of my tax refund money to pick out one of my favourite pieces from Nadinoo or Dear Creatures though, since their Spring and Summer collections are just too good to be true.

Anyhow, tonight we went to my parents house for dinner and I think being there and smelling Spring time in the air (even though I know I can't set my hopes too high on Spring really being here....it's nice while it lasts!), and walking Lola around my old neighbourhood made me miss living out in the sticks a little. City life is great for all the conveniences and how much shopping and original stuff there is to do, but sometimes I sort of miss having to drive everywhere and being able to walk Lola down a quiet street and hearing birds chirping....Montreal is gorgeous as far as cities to live in go, but I'm starting to get anxious to finally be done with school and be able to explore other places....or maybe even settle back into my little small town....we'll see!

This week is a busy one, so I won't have time for much in the way of posts, but I think I'm due for an imaginary Etsy shopping spree and maybe I'll post some pictures of a fun fashion related event I'll be attending on Thursday night with my friend Lindsay!
Hope you all have a lovely week!

Another Special Lady!

2010-03-06T18:36:00.003-05:00

You'll have to forgive me if this blog is becoming something of a diary about all the new friends it's lead me to making, but I'm endlessly amazed by all of the friendly, beautiful, intelligent and stylish girls there are out there who I never would have had the chance of coming across were it not for this dreamy interweb-blog-land!

On that note, I'm excited to finally be able to post about the wonderful lady behind the blog Faux-Naif! A couple of months ago I received a very cryptic comment from Faux Naif saying she had some exciting news to share with me, and exciting it was! She secretly revealed her long hidden location to me in an e-mail, and it just so happened to be...Montreal! Not two streets away from my first apartment, and only a couple of miles from my current one!

It took us a little while to finally set up a meeting (two full time students, even when they do live in the same city, are not always the easiest people to get together!)....but we finally went for a delicious breakfast at Cafe Joe on St-Antoine on Thursday morning and enjoyed some really delicious grilled cheeses and fried potatoes for breakfast! We reveled in the sunshiney warmth that is so unlike Montreal in March and walked to my very favourite park to take some blog photos together!

She was so sweet, and showered me with endless and way-too-sweet flattery, and she made me feel so good I had an extra skip in my step for the rest of the day! And if you haven't already started following her blog you absolutely must! She's witty and eloquent and poetic and beautiful and sort of sarcastic and self deprecating in the best way possible!
After leaving Quincy's house and coming back home to Montreal it made me sort of sad for a few days to think about how far away my new friend is, and how I wish all of us bloggers could be closer together so we could do fun blogposts together and go on thrifting adventures all the time and just sit around drinking wine and watching old movies, and it sort of feels nice to know there's a likeminded, wonderful girl like that right in my own hometown!

Thanks for the meetup Missy!
(P.S. Quincy I still miss you so much!)

Rehoboth Beach

2010-03-01T21:11:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited about this post! This video means the world to me and I've already watched it about a hundred times now! It's just about the best memory of my trip to Quincy's place that I can imagine! I won't blab for once, I'll just let the pictures of warm, sunny Rehoboth Beach speak for themselves....enjoy!

Photos by Mike & Jonny
Video by Jonny

/albums/v239/goosed_tape/two.jpg">

Hello I'm in Delaware pt 2

2010-02-26T20:39:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-26T10:15:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-24T16:47:00.006-05:00

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

2010-02-16T12:19:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-04T02:31:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-02T02:31:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-01T23:25:00.005-05:00

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

My Girl Crush #2

2010-01-26T14:30:00.004-05:00

images from here and here

About a week ago, when I was writing about The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, I admitted to having a major she-crush on Lily Cole. Well, since then I've come to the realization that I think I have far more "girl crushes" than I do male ones! Tennessee Thomas is right up there at the top of my list of favourite females to stalk on street style blogs. Really it all comes down to my wondering what it must be like to be so effortlessly stylish and to be friends with all the other effortlessly stylish girls out there! To do fun things like make short films for Lula with my gal pals, and to show up on street style blogs looking all adorable with a little basket purse...Plus I think I have to think it's awesome that she's a drummer since Mike is a drummer and he goes crazy for girl drummers!

images from here and here

I'm just so in awe of these girls who all pose for pictures together at these fantastic events and do really creative things with their lives and seem to have so much fun all the time! Mind you, I have loads of fun doing the things I do, and to be honest I'd be awful at being one of them because I have a tendency to fall asleep around 11pm every night and to shy away from parties because I just get really awkward around people I don't know very well. But it could be fun to fill Tennessee's wonderful little saddle shoes just for a day!

image from here

I've actually been doing a whole lot more online shopping than I should be doing recently, but most of the things I'm buying are in preparation for Spring time and two very exciting trips I have planned! One to visit a friend I made this Summer, and another to check out the University of British Columbia campus in case (fingers crossed) I get in and would be moving there in the Fall! It's going to be tough not to post about my new finds before then, but I really do wanna try to save them until then since I won't be able to do much more shopping until then, and having new outfits to wear on a trip makes it that much more exciting! Plus I'm sure that me and mystery friend will be taking LOADS of blog photos together when I visit, so I'll need some fresh wardrobe changes for sure!

Images from here and here

Back to homework distractions, it's probably the first time since I started school that I'm ahead on school work and I'd like to try to keep it that way. I do have a pretty exciting interview planned with a really wonderful Etsy seller later this week so at least I have something exciting to post about!

image from here

Kavanagh & Quincy

2010-01-22T17:28:00.003-05:00

This post is long overdue in a few different ways. For one thing, these pictures were taken the same day as the Westmount Park pictures, so they've sort of just been sitting around my computer for a while, and secondly, the outfit I'm wearing is one I've been meaning to post here since about November! The problem is it's been too cold to show it properly outdoors, and the couple of times it was warm enough, we weren't around the house an I didn't have it ready. Anyway, I do intend on posting it again with better lighting and in a worthier setting, but I was just so excited to have an indoor place to take pictures, that I jumped on the opportunity!

So the dress and sweater that you see in these photos are from the lovely, wonderful, friendly, generous and always stylish Quincy from Q's Daydream, and she sent them to me for my birthday in November!!!! I've worn this outfit about a hundred times since then, but really just hadn't gotten around to picture taking, what with Mike being gone, then the holidays and then school starting plus the rotten Winter weather...the dress is actually a wrap around number in big blue and black gingham print and the little crocheted sweater is a dream! I wear it with just about everything! She also sent me a magnificent pair of brown backless pumps and I love them just to death, but it really isn't the right weather to be wearing them right now, so I'll have to debut those in Spring.

As for the shop I'm in in these photos, well it's one that opened not too long ago on Sherbrooke street in NDG, which is the neighborhood Mike lives in! The owner, Beau and his Father greeted us as we walked in and Mike got into a long conversation with him about vintage drums and music and bands and they seemed to hit it off almost right away! The whole time they talked, I walked around with googly eyes suffering from sensory overload and admiring all the pretty things contained in one place! I ended up leaving with a perfect knit 1960's mini dress with brown embroidered flowers on the pockets, as well as a white accordion from Italy that has got to be about 75 years old! It's currently at Steve's Music getting all fixed up so I can learn to play it and eventually form that band Jessica and Rhiannon and I have been talking about putting together when we eventually all get together and meet up!

Anyway, the shop is a total beauty and dusty and dimly lit in a good way, so you feel like you're in a little Southern thrift store. Or at least I did. And they serve you coffee from a gigantic old espresso machine and Beau reminded me of Jack White sort of with his leather jacket and jeans and scraggly hair and paleness..and the way he would sit in the back playing blues guitar.
I don't know how many Montreal readers I actually have, but if any of you are out there, and you haven't already checked it out it really is worth it. And if you aren't from here, but you're coming to visit, e-mail me and I'll give you more details! It isn't like the city is lacking in good vintage, but Kavanagh really did bring something new to the mix, and I have to admit that just going in to hang out is a wonderful time!

Beaver Lake

2010-01-14T21:34:00.004-05:00

outfit detais:
cardigan & dress: H&M
tights: HUE
skates: thrifted
headband: Ardene (embarassing?)

For the past couple of weeks, Mike and I have both had our Wednesdays off from work and school and we've been so good at taking advantage of those days to get some good adventuring around Montreal in! One of our New Years resolutions this year as a couple was to conquer our usual Wintertime blues by doing fun outdoorsy stuff so it didn't seem to dreadfully long. Well yesterday was the first time we stuck to that resolution and I have to admit it sort of made Winter feel warmer and less awful! And suddenly I thought I might not be as excited for Spring as I said in my last post!

Beaver Lake is a pretty little lake in the middle of a forest in the middle of Mount Royal, which is the teensy little mountain which Montreal is built up on! It's really a pretty wonderful little escape from the city, right in the middle of the city itself! And in the wintertime they have a pretty little skating rink and a not-so-rustic glass cabin, which serves delicious hot chocolate, even if it is out of a machine and way over priced (next time we're bringing our own!).

Anyway we spent part of our afternoon skating there and sipping hot chocolate together inside to warm up, and then we drove to my favourite (highly secret) vintage heaven in Montreal (thanks Yana - it's the greatest!). Mike was looking for a key to wind up the old mantle clock I bought him for Christmas, which he wasn't able to find this time, but I did manage to come home with two beautiful pink floral 1920's bathmats/rugs. I have to do a post soon showing off the wonderful new/old things I've acquired in the past couple of months! It's on my list, along with the post I already have put together about a great new vintage shop in NDG which also features an outfit a dear friend of mine sent me on my birthday which is wayyyy overdue to be featured. But I was so excited about these wintery photos today I thought I'd post them while I was still feeling so fond of the frigid season (holy alliteration!).

I just couldn't help myself

2010-01-12T22:45:00.003-05:00

I'm jumping right on the bandwagon with every other blogger who has already posted these, because I really think UO's Spring 2010 catalog is just too pretty. Chances are I won't buy a single item because I just can't bring myself to spend money there sometimes, but I'll definitely look at it daily and imagine that the weather here is even half way as wonderful as it looks to be in these photos! I just can't wait to be able to wear little silk dresses with straw hats and socks with little delicate t-strap sandals...or maybe i'll dare to get myself those sky-high platform sandals that are popping up all over the place! Being 5" taller really would be wonderful, even if it is only for a couple months a year! It just wouldn't be responsible to buy them and wear them in Montreal snow...I'd just topple over into a snowbank and freeze to death!
Anyhow, I'll leave you with these images to warm you up, even though I'm sure you've all already seen them about a hundred times!

Westmount Park

2010-01-10T16:13:00.003-05:00

Yesterday ended up being one of the most wonderful, spontaneous, perfect Saturdays in a long, long time! Between last semester ending, and then the holidays, it had been a while since Mike and I were able to spend a day entirely on our own doing whatever we wanted, and despite being brutally cold outside, the sun was shining and it all just fit together perfectly!
We started the day out on the laziest possible foot, just lying around in bed for ages reading books and talking (I've been escaping Winter with the Pinckney novel Rhiannon sent me in the mail, and Mike is reading 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea!). When we did eventually decide to get out of bed, we meandered over to St-Viateur bagel for the best Montreal breakfast we could think of, and then since we were in NDG anyway, we decided just to brave the cold and walk around the Monkland Village for a while.

We visited our favourite used book shop and got coffees and then ended up at a new vintage shop that opened up not too long ago on Sherbrooke street called Kavanagh (which I will elaborate on later this week!), where I bought my very own accordion!!!!!!! As well as a perfect 60's knitted cream color dress with brown embroidered flowers on the pockets, which I will surely be debuting on the blog soon!
Anyway, we ended up at Steve's Music store because Mike had to replace some broken drum skins and then drove around looking at different neighbourhoods we'd like to live in someday. As the sun was starting to set we couldn't help stopping in Westmount park, which is just down the road from where my first apartment was, to take some blog photos of the Pink Martini coat I bought in Ottawa when I was there for New Years. (The coat was on mega sale and it's so cozy and warm and I love it so much. Although I still think the Dear Creatures one I bought on Modcloth is my favourite coat ever, just because of how soft it is and because of the cute little plaid pattern inside.) We ended the night on a high note at my friend Mel's apartment with a heated game of Pictionary and a round or two of Balderdash.

We were supposed to go for tacos tonight with some friends of Mike's but I think we might be staying in after all. I can't even imagine layering on tights and scarves and coats and boots right now to face the outside world. I think I'll stay curled up happily on the couch watching old Arrested Development episodes and finishing up that Pinckney novel I was talking about earlier! It's easier to pretend I'm in Charleston with Judith than to admit that I'm in Montreal in the middle of January!

My little review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

2010-01-07T09:46:00.004-05:00

I have to confess to being one of those people who falls completely in love with characters in movies. Other people can be so casual about their favourite models, singers, actors, etc. but I still get all coocoo at the thought of Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands, or James Cagney in Public Enemy! Mike thinks I'm still thirteen at heart because left to my own devices for too long, I might wind up covering my walls in posters of my movie crushes like I used to with that blonde haired Sawa kid!

It happens with men and women alike, I think it's got a lot to do with the types of characters these people play. But in other cases, it really is just something about the person's face that gets me.

Allow me to segway into the point of this post...
Tuesday night, Mike took me to see the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I've never actually seen any of Terry Gilliam's movies, except Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas - which I thought was just too strange to even sit through. I've never been a fan of Monty Python, but was sort of forced to let it grow on me because my sister and my Dad and Mike all love it so, so much. So it's sort of weird that I was so obsessed with the idea of seeing this film, but something in the previews made me think of old 1930's travelling circuses and of Jessica from The Cats Pajama's favourite old film "Freaks". Plus Lily Cole has been a serious she-crush of mine ever since I saw her in this editorial alongside Marilyn Manson. She has such a Lula girl look to her and I think her huge eyes, big red hair, tiny little mouth and paler than pale skin make her look just like a procelain doll. (Do I sound creepy yet?).

Anyway, the movie was pretty great. It has some holes, and it doesn't make all that much sense, but visually it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, Freaks, Harry Potter and Hunter S Thompson's brain all mashed together. And Tom Waits playing the devil really made Mike and I happy too! Plus Lily's gypsy-esque wardrobe made me want to stack layers of paisley print shawls and skirts on myself and tie bells around my ankles! The head of hair on that girl just isn't fair. I'm gonna keep working on growing out the messy mop on my head and see about going red by the end of 2010!

Suffices to say, if you don't mind sitting through a few acid trippy moments, this movie is worth checking out, if only for it's visual appeal and the raspy sound of Tom Wait's wonderful voice! And an all star male cast including Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger, Jude Law and Colin Ferrell (who I sort of don't like, but was okay in this movie) aren't too hard on the eyes either...

A Year in Review (and some Blogger Resolutions)

2010-01-04T19:25:00.005-05:00

New Years Eve Day along the side of the highway to Ottawa
Coat: Dear Creatures via ModCloth
tights: HUE
shoes: Thrifted
Glasses: Brooks Brothers
Scarf: H&M

True to tradition, I'm doing this post a week behind all the other fashion blogger ladies, but here is my "2009-a-year-in-review" blogpost, a few days late, but better late than never!
I think I'll devote this review-and-resolutions-post mostly to my blogging year, since my personal year was mediocre at best. As far as this blog is concerned though, the past 12 months have taken me all kinds of places I never thought I'd go (both literally and figuratively)!
Honestly, this blog has introduced me to some of the friendliest most positive people I've ever encountered, and meeting a select few of them in person this Summer only solidified the friendships I've made online and made me all the more attached to this wonderful little world we've all created.

From Top Left to Bottom Right:
1. My newest friend and obsession Hank, the Ukulele; 2. Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, TN had to be one of the prettiest spots to take blog photos that I've ever been!; 3. Mike and I have never taken much time to explore Montreal, but my blog lead us to different places we read about for blog taking photos and in the process we fell in love with certain areas, in this case Old Montreal. ; 4. This is from the Fall when I went through a phase where I only wore white dresses with black tights. I'm still working on getting out of that phase....it's just so easy!; 5. Last Spring, Mike and I visited the Felix House where his step dad raised his two boys. Unfortunately it became a historical home and was taken over by the local government and Mike's family wasn't allowed to live there anymore, but it was the prettiest place to sneak around taking pictures at!; 6. Another favourite spot I discovered because of wanting blog photos was Angringon Park, I already know once the weather gets warmer that I'll be spending lots of time there.

So since my year was consumed with massive amounts of school work and job hunts and moving twice and falling outs with sort-of-friends, I'd like to dedicate my New Years post to all of you who really are the some of the most positive influences in my life! So here are some pictures of my favourite blogging moments from these past 12 months.

BLOGGER MEETUPS!

From Top Left to Bottom Right
1. Rhiannon from LiebeMarlene in Atlanta, GA; 2. Lauren from Blooming Leopold in Nashville, TN; 3. Aya from Strawberry Koi in Chicago, IL; 4. Quincy from Q's Daydream in Baltimore, MD

My meetups this Summer were the highlight of my year by far. I was equally nervous every time I showed up to the meeting points, but each and every one of the girls I met was as unique and wonderful and quirky and fun as they come across to be in their blogs and they put me right at ease every time! It's such a strange feeling to be meeting someone you feel like you're friends with already, but you've never heard their voice, or how seen their mannerisms...it definitely made me appreciate these new friends of mine as more than just faces on a screen! And to be honest I think meeting such creative spirits sort of got me motivated to work on my blog and I can honestly say it's grown in leaps and bounds since the Summer!

So on that note, I'd like to welcome the new year with open arms and share with you a few online resolutions I've made for the brand new decade we're entering! I can only hope this year will bring even more wonderful new friendships, and strengthen others!

MY 2010 NEW YEARS BLOGGER RESOLUTIONS

Post weekly items to my Etsy Shop
Read up on and visit lots of historical spots within driving distance (and remember to take blog photos!)
Come up with original topics to write about both here and for my monthly WORN contribution.
Meet even more blogger girls!
Try to stay up to date in responding to all your wonderful comments!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T20:30:00.003-05:00

I actually didn't take any pictures this year! I was far too caught up in huge holiday meals, waking up with headaches from too much Christmas wine and random Christmas Star Wars marathons! I have some very exciting gifts to post about here, including one 1940s Singer sewing machine and one Mary Poppins sized GORGEOUS carpet bag! I also got the most perfect mustard yellow knitted cardigan and some awesome baking and kitchen wares! And my gift to myself was the Dear Creatures jacket on Modcloth, which I received on Christmas Eve! All of these items will be properly photographed with my sisters' brand spanking new fancy DSLR camera soon! What an exciting Christmas! I hope that you all had an equally wonderful Holiday!

If you have a minute, check out the interview I did with the WORN magazine blog! I'll be writing monthly contributions to the blog, and although I'm totally self conscious about my answers, I'd love for all of you to read the interview!

Tis the Season

2009-12-20T10:33:00.003-05:00

The holidays are sort of finally starting to feel like holidays to me. Even though I'm not quite done all my school stuff, and I am still working a whole bunch. Mike is done his exams now and we get to spend time doing very Mike-and-Meaghanish things which are my favourite things to do. Last night was his annual office Christmas party, which is always the event that jumpstarts our holiday cocktail party season. I don't have much of a budget for holiday wear this year so I decided to remix a bunch of dresses I've already worn. This is the Modcloth dress I got for my anniversary with Mike last Spring and I wore it on that steam train ride to Wakefield...the pictures Mike took that day actually won me a contest with Modcloth, and even though I wear it all the time, it's one I have been scared to take pictures in since that day because those are some of my favourites Mike has ever taken!

Anyhoo, this is my Christmas tree and my two little ones and my Christmas outfit number one. Our next three events are just regular family dinners, but I think they're the ones I'm most excited about! Even though last night was a fancy cocktail party with fancy people and fancy drinks and food in a fancy hotel, the thought of sitting with Mike, my sister and her boyfriend at the kid's table getting secretly drunk off wine and apple cider is more exciting to me than all that fancy stuff!

North Country Blues

2009-12-18T14:09:00.003-05:00

I think this might be the very last of the outdoor photoshoots Mike and I do until April or May. Since this day (which was also very cold) temperatures in Montreal have dropped to about -20 degrees (Celsius of course), and me standing outside in open toe shoes and silk playsuits just won't be an option anymore, even if it is only for the few seconds it took me to stand there for Mike to snap these.

Either way, I thought I'd share my white Christmas weather with all of you who don't get snow for Christmas. I hate Winter, I'm not a very Winter-Sporty kind of girl and most winters I end up feeling sort of blue because my bundled up sprints from my door to the subway don't provide enough sunlight or fresh air for my brain! But this year I'm determined to invest in some really warm, modern Northern outerwear and do things like build snowmen and go ice skating and take walks on the mountain and maybe I'll even attempt skiing again, although I don't know how willing my brain will be to let me plummet down a mountain at full speed....last time I tried I was in Alberta and I gave up after one run and sat in the cabin drinking hot rhum Toddy's all weekend!

I'm strangely unexcited for Christmas this year. Maybe it's because my exams go right up until the 22nd and I am more focused on those, but even though most of my shopping is done and my outfits are planned, it just isn't really sinking in that it's a week away today!

Now back to that hot pot of coffee and the less than exciting British Lit exam I have to study tonight. I think English Literature is making me hate some of those old British poets I loved so dearly before they became the topics of the essays I have to write by the end of today! Ah!

Me and Orson Welles

2009-12-13T08:44:00.003-05:00

Last night I went to see Me and Orson Welles after dinner with my sister and her friends. I went in with absolutely no expectations because I really couldn't tell if I would love or hate the film, but I ended up loving it!
It was one of those movies that makes you want to move to New York City and dive head first into something exciting! But above and beyond all the cheesy real life inspiration it provided, miss Claire Danes' wardrobe was just about the best I've seen! It was perfectly in line with what's been inspiring me lately. 1930's collars and blouses and little short sleeved sweaters, and her hair!!!!! I still haven't really mastered the art of putting curlers in my hair, probably for lack of patience, but this movie makes me want to try.
I won't ramble on too long about it, but I think this movie is worth seeing simply for her wardrobe! I also ended up really liking the movie itself, but should some of you not be as into it, I'm sure those clothes won't disappoint!

As for Zac Efron, well despite being guilty of gossiping about how "cute" he is with my 12 year old Goddaughter, Lauren, I actually had my doubts about him playing this role, but he's really not so bad in it! And he looks sort of adorable in his scruffy 1930's pants and suspenders combo running around NYC with his ukulele...
I'll leave you with that, I don't want to say too much, but I definitely recommend seeing it, even if you wait for it to come out on DVD!

First Snow!

2009-12-09T21:25:00.003-05:00

With Mike back from tour, I've been more than excited to get back into taking blog photos again. Somehow I think the whole thing is more fun when he's around to turn it into an adventure, and I feel too self conscious setting up a tripod and all that jazz. Besides, usually giggling ensues and it winds up being a grand old time with Mike!
Tonight was supposed to be set aside to taking pictures of the super duper outfit that Quincy sent me for my birthday last month, but a combination of about 6 inches of fresh snow and a lack of daytime availability made it next to impossible! You can sort of catch a little glimpse of it through my open jacket in one of these pictures, but there will be more I promise you!
In the mean time, this snow has arrived at the perfect time to make me want to stay inside my apartment or at coffee shops and write these three last papers that will conclude this insane semester!

I can't thank you guys enough for all your ridiculously sweet comments on my last post! I think you guys are better moral support than any real life friends I may have! Reading all your wonderful blogs and hearing from you makes my day, and I just thought I'd throw a big thank you out there! I really do promise to be better at commenting and replying to comments in about a week when this madness is all behind me!

Is it snowing anywhere else yet?

Worst Blogger Ever Award!

2009-12-06T22:17:00.003-05:00

I have so much catching up to do! I feel like the very worst blogger there is right now! I even promised that Etsy update and actually just have not had time to take those pictures!
I have three essays and two finals left to write and then I swear, come December 18th I'll be all over your blogs leaving comments and responding to the wonderful ones you always leave me!
New pictures and new Etsy items and new stories to tell!
For now, here is a teeny sneak peak at the beautiful blue silk playsuit from the 1940's that I picked up at my favourite secret spot! I've been to a couple of antique expos this month, and am planning on hitting so many estate sales in the new year, so Red Letter Days is in for some more than exciting updates....for now though, all I can say is Thanks for all your super sweet comments! I love you guys so much! Hope you're all in the Christmas spirit and ready for the holidays! We're expecting snow this week in Montreal! Yay! Now off I go to make some apple cider to help me get this paper done!

Red Letter Days

2009-11-30T20:40:00.003-05:00

A little while back I decided to put my shop in Vacation Mode because a busy school and work schedule were just about making me crazy! Your flood of really sweet comments and emails meant so much to me, and I have to admit I've been missing it all so much!
The semester is finally winding down and I decided I would re open in time for the holidays because I've been collecting a few items here and there that I think you all might like!
I'll be adding them all to the shop at the end of this week; there are hats and coats and dresses and shoes and some really great accessories too....
It should be a pretty exciting update. In the meantime, the items that were there when I shut the store down are still in there and up for grabs.

I also have some not-so-vintage items that I'm thinking of selling on the blog, but I'm not really sure how well that would work...have any of you tried it before? Has it worked well?

Thanks for your patience and sweet words all semester! I am going to be such a better blogger and be able to comment on all my favourites again!

Imaginary Shopping

2009-11-27T23:35:00.003-05:00

It's the very end of the semester and I'm in my final crunch! I'm so excited and motivated to do my work right now because I know that by the end of next week it'll be all over!
In the mean time, in the very little spare time I'm allowing myself, I've been over at my Grandmother's house sewing Christmas presents for people and eating really delicious food while we listen to Frank Sinatra Christmas albums. Today when I got home I was wishing I could afford to go online shopping for some Christmas and New Years eve outfits, and some general winter wear, so I headed over to Top Shop! I'm not sure if I'll end up actually buying any of these. Part of me would rather go thrift some outfits in real life. There's just something more satisfying about it to me. But we all know how fun imaginary shopping can be, and so I filled my cart up to the brim and gave myself a 1000 pound budget! Here are some of the things that found their way into my basket!

I'd kill for that velvet playsuit, though I'm not sure if I'd pull it off the way I'm imagining it in my head...and the little gray sailor coat is so, so cute! The sequin beret will probably never actually land on my head, but I like how it looks on other girls! And while I will probably hold out for a really pretty, well fitted vintage one, I'm really hoping to get my hands on a nice fur coat this winter. I sometimes feel silly in them, and I know how controversial the whole thing can be, but there is just something about them that is so sophisticated and grown up. That's probably why I feel so silly whenever I try one on....because I really don't feel like I'm grown up, or sophisticated. But maybe if I find the perfect one, I can save it for when I am! The wonderful heaven I found a few weeks ago has a whole basement full of them, so maybe I'll spend a few hours trying each and every single one on this week.....
I hope all you lucky American girls enjoy your Thanksgiving festivities this weekend! My sister and I made apple cider tonight and watched Home Alone. That's about as much celebrating as I'll be doing, so do lots for me and post about it so I can live vicariously through all of you!!!!

Winter in Detroit, 1966

2009-11-23T11:46:00.004-05:00

This past week has been sort of hard and filled with things I didn't really want to have to deal with, and made me sort of sad, and I decided to head back to my parents house for the weekend and indulge in really homey comforts, like my Mom, and Dad and kitty cat, Whiskers, and homecooked meals.

One of my very favourite things to do when I go home to my Mom & Dad's is looking through old photo albums of theirs. I do the same thing when I go to my Grandma's apartment, she always thinks I must be getting tired of looking at the same old pictures, and she says they're faded and you can't see well anyway, but I think that's what I love most about them.

This set of pictures of my Mom is one of my absolute favourites! They are all from the Winter of 1966, when she was about 13 or 14 and living in Detroit. I think it's funny to look at them, because I can actually see resemblances between her at that age, and what I looked like at 13. Although, I would never dare to compare myself to her, she was such a beautiful, well dressed young girl, and at 13 I can safely say I was sort of round and awkward with hair that I didn't understand and a really, really unfortunate sense of style. But her face, I see myself a little bit in her face!

Anyway, I spent such a wonderful weekend with my Mommy, that I really wanted to share her with you guys, so you could all see how pretty and stylish and wonderful she was (and is!). Her first reaction, when I asked her if I could post these was "they say you have to be careful what you put on the internet these days"...and "they're all faded...I don't know why you'd want to" but finally .. "you can post them if you'd like to!" I told her she'd have to read the comments on this post, because I know how much some of you will appreciate how pretty and nostalgic some of these old faded photographs are! So I hope you enjoy them, and be sure to let me know what you think of them, I want to show my Mom after!!

Toast

2009-11-20T20:54:00.006-05:00

I found Toast via Dear Golden's sweet sweet blog, and am quite sure I'm probably one of the last people on earth who knows about it. That's usually how it is with collections such as these. None the less, I couldn't stop myself from posting these, considering how inspired I am by the wonderful layer=ability of all these pieces, especially in light of the super duper cold weather we're already dealing with here! And with snow just around the corner, those boots couldn't look any more tempting to me right now!

Toast is only in the UK from what I can tell, and all of their items online are listed in British Pounds, which unfortunately for me means that their reasonable prices become slightly less reasonable when converted. But wow oh wow those photos on the rocky beaches and in those beautiful old mansions! And it's really worthwhile checking out the videos they have in their video & podcasts section of the website! They're totally creepy in a strange Lula-Dark-Spell way, and make me wish more than ever I was somewhere in the English countryside, or roaming around Ireland, rowing little boats on lakes, and exploring big green hills with little bouquets of handpicked flowers!

The whole set is probably the second most inspiring Winter collection I've come across since the Sally Scott images I posted here not long ago. I get so unmotivated this time of year by all the cold weather. It isn't pretty and snowy yet, but it's bitter and cold and dark in the mornings, and while it isn't quite winter coat and winter boots weather yet, it's too cold for all my Fall jackets, and inspiration like this is exactly what I needed to break me out of my November blahs!

Montebello Pt. 2

2009-11-16T20:01:00.004-05:00

outfit details:
red dress & sparkly bow shoe clips: H&M
tights: HUE
Black Wedges: Browns
Glasses: Brooks Brothers

Well there isn't much left to tell about the fantabulous weekend Mike planned for me, but I thought I'd post the evening pictures we took inside the hotel! The Cheateau Montebello would be best described as a gigantic log cabin castle! It was built in 1930 to attract tourists to Montebello, and a year later a matching log cabin style train station popped up too! The train station has since been turned into an information kiosk and the teenage boy who works there is going through just about the worst awkward phase I've seen! Poor boy.
Anyhow, after supper, Mike and I snuck in some hotel pool time, and then we did my favourite thing to do in a hotel ... sneak around barefoot looking for secret rooms! We didn't find any secret rooms, but there was an exciting chimney fire in the fancy lobby, and I kicked Mike's ass at Battleship before we followed some Hall & Oates music down some stairs and stumbled upon a room full of middle aged men and women dancing in their socks to the sounds of the bell hop belting "Your Kiss is on my List" at the top of his lungs! We contemplated joining, but instead we opted for more fireside chats and exploring random corridors, to no avail.
I'm already planning our next trip to a little small town, though it'll have to wait until December, since Mike leaves on tour this week until December 8th! Oh how lonely I will be!

Montebello

2009-11-16T10:49:00.007-05:00

Mike seems to have outdone himself yet again by planning me the very best birthday I've ever, ever had! Last year we were on vacation in France for my birthday, and I was going through a bit of a Marie-Antoinette phase, so Mike woke up extra early, bought me strawberries, macarons and delicious French pastries and took me to Versailles for the day! I was having trouble coming up with ideas for this year, but I knew I wanted it to be just me and Mike, and maybe some family too. He took matters into his own hands, knowing full well that, left up to me, we wouldn't do much of anything at all, and he really did plan the best weekend ever!

We drove about two hours out of Montreal to a town called Montebello, which was made extra interesting for me when we stumbled across Louis Josephe Papineau's manor, and learned that the whole town was built up by him in the 1850s! One of my classes this semester is on the history of Quebec before the confederation, and this little historic site couldn't have been better suited to the subject we're studying right now! The manor itself is only open for visits in the Summer months, but Mike and I were quite content just wandering around the grounds, as usual!

After spending the morning exploring our hotel grounds, we headed out to Omega Park, where we befriended lots of different types of critters! Bison and deer and wild boar and even some little baby black bears came right up to our car to munch on carrots. One of the bigger deer actually tried to steal our entire bag! But Mike fought him for it and we salvaged most of it! Though I think he wound up with a mouthful of plastic!

This little pink dress is my new very favourite thing. I really have had trouble taking it off these past few days! I found it at The Little Shoppe, which deserves a post all of it's own! It fit me so perfect I really couldnt have left it behind. Unfortunately I never even thought of taking my sweater off to photograph the whole thing, but I'm sure it will be showing up here again....and again....! The little gray, wool set were a gift from Mike's Grandmother, who wore them on her wedding day when she was about my age! I love the set so much and I think I'll keep it until I have grandkids of my own to hand it down to!

The icing on the cake definitely had to be coming home to my parents' house though! After all the wonderful things Mike put together for me already, he also snuck in an awesome surprise party for me with all my cousins and aunts and uncles! My Mom and Dad made the house look perfect, and cooked the most delicious selection of foods for everyone and some of my cousins drove in all the way from Ottawa!!! It really was one of the most wonderful birthdays I've ever, ever had!

Packed my bags.

2009-11-12T19:28:00.003-05:00

I'm so, so excited about this weekend! It sort of feels like its been ages since Mike and I managed a full blown escape from the city, and it couldn't have come at a better time!

I have no doubt that this place will be a treasure trove of blog-worthy photo spots so I'm packing three whole outfits for 1.5 days! Some will argue I'm over packing, but here is how I defend it:

- It all fits in one bag

- I need a practical outfit for the hiking and petting zoo portion of the trip

- A girl's gotta have some choice

- I love that new dress of mine too much and refuse to leave without it. In fact I think I will wear it every day for the rest of my life!

Tomorrow morning we're both going into work really early in the morning and then we'll be leaving mid day for our log cabin adventure! I hope we get spooked by angry Friday the 13th ghosts at the abandoned train station in town, or that something exciting happens like a Moose charging at something (so long as it isn't me) or we spot a sasquatch in the woods!

I have packed two dresses, and one practical outfit. The purple dress was on mega sale at UO, but I'm kind of upset by how much it shrank in the wash. The pink one is from the magical piece of heaven I discovered recently thanks to Yana (who is going to be my neighbour oh-so-soon!) which I plan on going back to on a weekly basis until I am poor and forced to sell my unborn children to acquire more of this lady's old junk! The pants are something I found at Salvation Army a couple years back and have only had the guts to wear once. I still don't know if I like them or not, but was inspired by this picture of Marie Prevost to give them another chance. This time I'll make Mike take an outfit photo so you can judge for yourselves whether they were a sweet find, or something I should immediately donate back to Salvation Army!

The sweet little floral sandals are completely impractical and I simply don't care, they are a pair of never-worn thrifted Seychelles sandals that nearly broke my heart! And the billy boots, well that's the practical side of my brain...As for the book, well I don't know if I'll end up bringing it. I've been dying to dig into this Ginger Rogers auto biography, but I have so much reading left to do for school that it seems silly to get into a book that I won't be able to get even a quarter inch through before having to put it down and pick Chaucer and Browning back up...we'll see. Maybe I'll bring one of Nancy Mitford's teeny tiny little light reads and satisfy myself with that for the weekend. Or maybe I will just bring my Christmas knitting projects and forget about reading all together!

Birthday Wishlist

2009-11-11T12:21:00.004-05:00

This Friday, I'll be celebrating my 24th birthday with Mike at a really cool log cabin themed inn way out in the country. I've already packed my favourite weekender bag with one perfect outdoorsy outfit, and a special birthday dress which I bought myself last week. In the meantime, as a means of procrastinating on this term paper, I've been browsing my favourite sites looking for things I could buy myself with my birthday money...Here is the wishlist I've put together for myself so far...

Modcloth is always one of the first spots I check when I'm putting together wishlists, and this yellow coat has been on it since they listed it last week! The sandals and dress probably won't make it into my closet, but that coat! That one has good chances of finding it's way into my mailbox!

I've been completely obsessed with T-Rex ever since I met Rhiannon and she told me how much she loved them. I still don't have any of their albums though, and am forced to listen to them on youtube all the time! I'd really love to get my hands on their earlier stuff too, from before they shortened their name. And maybe a Marc Bolan biography while I'm at it....

This is a bit of a mishmash. The top is from Urban Outfitters,and just seems like it would go perfectly with a little jumper or a black skirt....the Dead Weather album is something I've been meaning to get my hands on for some time now, and my friend Josh has promised to make me a copy! Hurray! I actually can't remember where I found these polka dot tights specifically, possibly also Urban Outfitters..I saved them to my inspiration folder a while back on one of my imaginary online shopping sprees..if anyone knows, feel free to tell me!

Finally, these TCM box sets are constantly reappearing on my birthday and Christmas wishlists! I would especially love to have the Forbidden Hollywood collections, but Buster Keaton and Greta Garbo silents seem pretty dreamy too! There was also a Film Noir box set I saw for sale at a video store near my place, which I might see about getting for myself too...Honestly I have a tendency to spend all my money on things like clothes, coffees and trinkets for my house and I barely ever spend my money on things like albums and movies, but I think it's time to start....

So there you have it, my 2009 birthday wishlist! We'll see in a few weeks which items I end up buying myself, if any. Although I really think that mustard yellow jacket is at the top of my list. And really, with the winters we have in Montreal, it's hard to ever feel guilty about spending money on a coat, seeing as I'll wear it nearly every day for about six months!
I'll definitely be posting about our weekend getaway after this weekend! I have no doubt there will be beautiful picture taking spots where we're headed!

A silly post about silly dreams

2009-11-07T09:27:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-03T23:50:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-02T16:42:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-29T21:13:00.003-04:00

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

2009-10-26T09:22:00.003-04:00

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

2009-10-25T09:23:00.003-04:00

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

2009-10-21T23:16:00.002-04:00

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!

On Vacation!

2009-10-19T20:52:00.003-04:00

I'm sort of sad to announce that I'm taking a short break from selling online. Things are just so crazy with school these days, and I just can't find the time for regular updates and getting to the post office often enough. For those of you who were following the shop, it isn't gone forever! My sister and I actually have something in the works that we're hoping to debut around the holidays, and I'm hoping the time I gain from putting Red Letter Days in vacation mode, will give us extra time to work out all our ideas!
As for the blog, I have way too much fun blogging and reading all of your blogs to let that fall to the wayside! So you can continue to expect regular updates and comments from me!
Thanks to all of you who think my useless ramblings are worth reading!!! Your comments always mean more to me than you know!

Sally Scott FW 09/10

2009-10-18T14:33:00.002-04:00

I've never been the girl who discovers new designers. I don't follow Fashion Weeks and I rarely pick up fashion magazines, unless their editorials are particulrly eye-catching. That being said, every once in a while another blogger will post about a designer or collection they really like and I can't help but bookmark it to my inspiration folder! This Fall/Winter collection by Sally Scott was one I discovered through Vim & Verve a few days ago, and I haven't been able to stop gazing at their website ever since!

Winter may seem far away for some bloggers who are still looking forward to Fall and Thanksgiving, but really, here in Montreal we're right on the cusp - we even saw snowflakes the other day! - and I've been meaning to find some weather-appropriate fashion inspiration! These looks are so perfectly layered and involve so many cozy items, I sort of feel like it is just what I've been looking for!

I can't really understand their website since the whole thing is written in Japanese, but it's worth checking out! Each picture I've posted here is actually a video, and they all seem to sum up exactly what makes those first few cold months so perfect! There is something so whimsical about the first snowfall and ice rinks right before the holidays, and these videos really do capture that feeling perfectly! I'll leave you with the pictures now, but don't be surprised if you find yourself whistling perfectly holiday inspired Bing Crosby tunes for the rest of the day!

Interview with Yana of Supayana

2009-10-15T12:47:00.002-04:00

Aside from the comfort I get from reading my favourite blogs with my morning coffee, and from the wonderful friends I've made in the process, the blogging community has also opened my eyes to how many amazing people there are out there who are doing something really outstanding and creative with their lives! It takes so much courage to take the leap and decide to go out on your own and pursue something you love, and I'm just so in awe of the people who make it happen for themselves!
Yana is definitely one of those people! I discovered her designs for the first time in one of my favourite Montreal thrift stores, La Gaillarde, and immediately went to look her up online. Her Etsy store is what dreams are made of; she mixes some vintage pieces with her own designs and the whole thing comes together perfectly. I was so intimidated at first to approach her about answering questions for my silly little blog, but she quickly put me at ease just being the sweet, friendly, positive person that she is! All of her answers were totally inspiring to me, she clearly loves what she does and seems to be having the greatest time doing something that started when she was a kid! I hope you'll all find her designs and answers and lifestyle as inspiring as I did!

If you haven't already, make sure to take the time and check out her Blog, Etsy shop and Flickr, I promise she is worth the visit!

How early on in life did you get into fashion and creating your own designs?

My mom taught me how to sew and at first I would just make clothing for my dolls and stuffed animals. In high school I started experimenting with human clothes, and let me tell you...that was not the highlight of my career. Weird plaid pants that ripped at the seams, hoodies with crazy cat ears, AHHH! It's so funny to look back though.

What do you think the advantages are to buying and selling online?

There are many advantages to both buying and selling online. For buyers, online shopping provides both convenience and a chance to buy something extremely unique. For sellers, it's a great way to expose your brand to the entire world and to get full retail price for your product.

When you made the decision to become a designer, what were the first steps you had to take to make it all happen?

I was actually studying speech pathology in University when I decided I wanted to go fashion full time. I started by selling my clothes on eBay (before Etsy was around) and my clothes became really popular. At the time, I was just doing it as a side project to help pay for school, but after I graduated my line was so popular that I could make a living off of what I love.

Got any tips for girls out there who are skeptical about taking the risk and turning their passions into a living?

Just remember that it takes time to build your company, so it won't happen over night. Start out by doing it part time, so you still have enough money to make ends meet. Then when you build up your clientele and start getting more sales, take the big leap! Quit your job and work for yourself. It's the best thing EVER!

What sorts of goals, both long term and short term do you have for your company?

Well, some of my short term goals include moving my work studio into a beautiful 2000 sq foot industrial space with my friends Angie of Norwegian Wood, Marc of Broundoor, and Michelle. It will be a great inspiration to share a space with so many creative people. My line is kind of getting too big for my apartment, and there's clothing everywhere, so I need to take it to the next level. As for long term goals....I know I want to be able to wholesale more, so I'm trying to figure out how to get more local production going so I can meet the demand.

I can't thank Yana enough for agreeing to the feature! She just came back from what sounds like the most wonderful trip to Paris (which you can read about on her blog) and I'm so excited to see what sorts of exciting things are up her sleeve for the future! Thanks Yana!

You can also follow Yana on Twitter and Facebook!

Dream of the perfect life *

2009-10-13T00:46:00.002-04:00

I think I'm one of those people who starts to think about her birthday about a month before it arrives. Most years I've spent planning what I'll do or wear or who I'll spend it with, but this year, while I am still on the lookout for a perfect birthday dress, I can't say I have any expectations! My birthday this year will be on a Friday the 13th and I've been racking my brain trying to come up with the perfect spooky idea to celebrate. If I were anywhere near Atlanta I'd be sneaking through old Confederate cemeteries with Rhiannon, Drew and Mike, trying to conjure up spirits for sure! But it's cold here and there will be no sneaking into cemeteries for me! In the process of trying to come up with an idea, I started reminiscing about last year and was hit with the realization that no birthday will ever compare to last year's and I think that's why I just don't care so much this time around!

Mike and I were on our very first trip to Europe last November and on the day of my birthday he made all my dreams come true when he woke me up with two train tickets to Versailles, a red balloon, fresh strawberries and a box of macarons! He hit my obsession with the Sophia Coppola version of Marie-Antoinette straight on the head and we literally spent about eight hours walking around the gardens and sitting in the Petit Trianon pretending we were old French Royalty...only minus the mobs of hungry people who want to kill us...
While I have no doubt that I will have many more wonderful birthdays in my lifetime - especially with Mike's talents in surprises - I really and truly believe this one will go down in the books as the greatest I've ever celebrated!

*"Natural's Not In It" by Gang of Four, taken off the Marie Antoinette Soundtrack

Canadian Thanksgiving

2009-10-11T18:02:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in Canada, a holiday which Canadians celebrate a month earlier than our American neighbours - probably for seasonal reasons. My family definitely does holidays right, and this one is no exception! Especially seeing as our annual pumpkin cooking festival began today! We've already made about 6 different pumpkin pie recipes, several batches of muffins and cookies. A couple of pumpkin loaves (the recipe for which was kindly sent over by the lovely Quincy!) and a delicious soup are in the works and we'll be broiling the seeds in no time! Unfortunately I was too caught up in mashing up pumpkins to remember to take very many pictures, but Mike and my sister and I did get out of the house to take Lola for a walk and I couldn't help myself when I saw all the pretty colors in the park! It really is the peak of Autumn here and my parents live in one of the most picturesque places I've seen as far as scenic places go!

I tried my very best to put a competitive edge on the day, but for the life of me I couldn't rial up a competitive bone in my mother's body. Besides, we only have one oven and it became so complicated to think of ways to make it a contest that we just gave up and helped each other put all the recipes together! We're about to chow down on all our delicious grub now, but I just thought I'd take the time to wish all of my fellow Canadian online friends a very very happy holiday weekend! And even if it isn't a holiday across the border, do something a little festive and think of me! Next week I'm hoping to get started on the planning of the squirreling party my Mother and I are going to throw (and by throw I mean for just the two of us!)...

outfit details:
white dress was 50 cents at the PSC mission, the sleeves and dress were shortened;
tights from the pharmacy;
sunglasses H&M;
dreamy dreamy black velvet wedges from this seller on Etsy (she is the sweetest and I'm so so glad I messaged her!)

Carpet Baggin'

2009-10-07T20:13:00.002-04:00

So long as I'm in school full-time, you can pretty much count on these imaginary shopping posts. This week I fell a little bit in love with this carpet bag I found on Etsy, and decided I would make outfits around it. So, every outfit is designed to match the bag - and then there are a couple that don't match it, but I sort of like the mis-matchy thing anyway. Also - the review I wrote for the Worn blog is up now. For those of you who are interested, you can check it out here! I was totally nervous to write for them again - especially since they sent me to the show and all, I didn't want to let them down, so I hope it's alright! Don't be shy to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Edwardian dress from here; Red granny boots from here

dream blouse, grey shorts & black tights from Anthropologie

Perfect red dress from 13Bees; Black Wedge ankle boots from U.O.

Yellow jacket from ModCloth; Black wedge ankle boots from U.O.

Mustard Yellow Handknit Sweater from The Greedy Seagull; Tweed A-Line Skirt from here; Brown Leather Ankle boots from here

Silk dress with ruffles & White Biker jacket from U.O.

Red Shirtwaist Dress from Anthropologie; Black jacket with fur collar (I lost the link!)

Yellow dress from here; burnt orange tights from Anthropologie; Black wedge ankle boots from U.O.

Nesting and Nestling

2009-10-06T23:16:00.002-04:00

This is a mash up of a bunch of pictures from the last few days/weeks. October has always been a favourite month of mine. Here in Canada it means Thanksgiving, for one thing, and for another, it means beautiful colors and markets teeming with root vegetables and colorful booths selling gourds and earth cherries for pennies! It means my apartment smells like butternut-squash soup and apple crisp and that my puppy and I can go for extra long walks and explore new neighbourhoods. And when we get home, we're both so tuckered out that we cuddle on the couch and watch old movies or listen to Louis Armstrong together.

There isn't much in this world that is more comforting to me than Fall, which is a feeling most people share I think. Casey already mentioned that it sends right into nesting mode, and I have to agree! This weekend is officially the pumpkin cookoff, and the week after that my Mom and I are having a "squirreling party" when we'll can a bunch of great things like pears and peaches and cherries as preserves for the winter! In the mean time I've been here at my apartment taking breaks from studying to make things like orzo with fresh dill and lemon!
I do hope everyone else is having as lovely an October as I have so far! From the looks of all the wonderful blogposts, I'm not the only one enjoying this awesome season!

a little Worn out!

2009-10-05T23:58:00.002-04:00

This weekend marked my very last moments of freedom for the next several weeks! Upon closer inspection of my course schedules today I realized that all of my midterms and exams are crammed into the next fifteen days or so, and they seem to have sort of snuck up on me like they always do. It’s all too familiar a tune, one I whistle every semester around this time! That being said, I can’t say I’m all that stressed about it all. There is something sort of comforting to me about crunch time at school. Maybe it’s because it gives me a bonafide excuse to stay in my apartment with apple-cinnamon tea and home made banana bread, or maybe it’s just the comfort found in mundane routine, but I sort of like coming home to a pile of homework and rewarding myself with a good movie under the covers with Lola and my teapot!

In fact this colder weather, combined with my on-again-off-again cold has even affected my online shopping habits! Last week I was browsing all my favourite Etsy shops with a million outfit ideas floating around in my head, but this week I just keep looking at stores like this one that sell perfect little pie moulds and cookie cutters!

Well, at least I celebrated the temporary end of my social life in style! Worn Fashion Journal sent me to a Fashion Pop Montreal event that was showcasing six talented local designers who each created six pieces in the hopes of winning a pretty sweet prize! The whole night was wonderful, but I'll let you guys read more about it later this week when my mini-review of the night shows up on the Worn Blog. Needless to say I was all kinds of nervous about going to the event. For one thing, despite growing up here I somehow don't know a soul and big events where everyone knows everyone scare me since I always end up awkwardly sitting in a corner reading the program until the show starts...I also didn't really know what on earth to wear to a fashion show! I ended up lucking out when I found this dress at the Mission in Point Saint Charles for somethinglike 50 cents! It originally went to about my ankles and looked more like a moo-moo than a dress, but a quick hem and a bright pair of tights and I felt pretty pleased with my sort of 80's version of a 20's inspired look....

If you don't hear from me for a while it's because I'm swamped with work. And if I do post, well it's either because I'm being very efficient and getting all my work done quickly, or because I'm procrastinating, like right now, and writing to you guys instead of for my professors! Good luck to all the other students who are on the verge of a big mid term crunch!

Fall Wishlists to SMILE about

2009-09-30T16:08:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-28T22:21:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-09-27T22:50:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-25T17:32:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-25T10:15:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-22T14:18:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-21T12:39:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-20T22:15:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-18T18:27:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-09-16T15:16:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-13T23:54:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-09-12T23:13:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-09T15:01:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-09-08T22:37:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-08T10:11:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-03T20:05:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-02T08:20:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-09-01T12:23:00.003-04:00

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!

The Tree Pod?

2009-08-31T12:01:00.004-04:00

(The quilt is handmade by my Grandmaman!)

I'm not sure how or why this tradition started, but I've always named the apartments I live in! My last apartment was appropriately nicknamed "The Coop" because my best friend Stef and I thought that's where a couple o' hens like us should dwell!
Well I just moved into my new apartment with my younger sister and we were trying to figure out what this apartment felt like to us...Mike suggested we call it "The Pod" because he thinks we're two peas and we deserve a pod to stay in...I thought the explanation was cute, but The Pod minus the cute story behind it just sounds like some weird spaceship or something...
Then my sister's boyfriend, Chris suggested that we call it the treehouse because it's up on the second floor and just really feels like a little fort/treehouse that you'd want to live in as a kid!

We are still deliberating on the issue, what do you guys think?

Birds of a Fether

2009-08-28T12:35:00.003-04:00

I found this over at Vim and Verve

Even if her collections weren't as wonderful as they are, I think I'd still love her just for being so darn cute! Her hair!

(Red Letter Days update to come later today!)

Brianne Swap Pt. 4 With a special Guest!

2009-08-26T20:52:00.003-04:00

My sister and I have turned our parents house upside down in preparation for our move this Sunday...so we were all too glad to take a break for a little cheesy photo "sesh" when we saw how pretty it was outside!
This move is exciting for both of us for sure, but particularly for my sister since it will be her first apartment, and I thought we should make this set of photos particularly country-mouse inspired since we'll be city-mice again come Monday morning!

I wanted to feature part four of my Brianne swap series, and this seemed like a perfect setting for it. I like wearing really fancy things to do really outdoorsy stuff. My sister wore the dress I bought from Chicken Dinner Candybar a few months back and she looks so perfect in it, I'm afraid I'll feel all self conscious in it now after seeing how perfectly she wears it!
Anyhow, I don't have anything very interesting to say today since the last three days of my life have consisted of packing, packing and more packing! Once we're all settled in I'm sure I'll have lots of interesting stuff to tell you!

On Allie:
Dress from Chicken Dinner Candybar on Etsy
Belt: from the Brianne swap
Shoes: from Spring

On Me:
Dress from the Brianne swap
Belt: thrifted
Shoes: Aldo

Allison Rae

2009-08-24T15:43:00.003-04:00

This weekend my sister and I drove by the little antique barn that the family-up-the-street-from -s run, and were surprised to see it open! They sort of just open up the doors whenever they feel like, and I rarely happen to be around when that day comes!
The barn is sort of a dust filled dream with all it's trinkets and old rusty farm tools! The sun always manages to filter in just right so that it catches the dust and makes little sparkly trails from the windows! If I were any good at picture taking I would have captured it, but it didn't quite come out in the pictures.

Anyway, this is my little sister, Allison! I'm not sure I've ever "featured" her here on my blog or not! She deserves a spot though! she's just adorable and all kinds of original in the way she combines old with new so flawlessly!
She's got a little jumper on that my Grandmother made for us last year and she paired it with the prettiest little purse!
Maybe if you leave sweet enough comments, she'll consider starting a blog (or at least a Flickr account) of her own! :)

Our Hiking Club!

2009-08-22T16:54:00.003-04:00

My sister and I finally got around to taking Mike and Chris up the hiking trails on Mont Saint Hilaire today! It was a hot, hazy summer day and the weather turned the hike into quite a work out, but the view from the top was more than worthwhile!
We've all agreed we're going to buy passes to the trails this Autumn and go up there for lakeside picnics and weekly hikes together.

We finished the day off with barbecued hamburgers and a little bit of poolside time, and now we're heading over to N.D.G. to celebrate my cousin's cafe's 5th birthday! If anyone in the Montreal area is reading this, make sure to come over to Shaika cafe on Sherbrooke right across from Girouard Park. It's sure to be a good night!

Red Letter Days update

2009-08-21T16:43:00.003-04:00

Left Hand Adventures -Nice, FR

2009-08-21T00:45:00.003-04:00

After realizing how much complaining I've been doing about the hot and sticky weather we've been having, I had to stop and wonder what I'm doing differently nowadays that's making Summer less exciting and wonderful than it was when I was a kid...well this lead me to thinking about adventures, and well, one thought led to another and somehow I wound up reminiscing about our trip to Europe and then it wandered particularly to our stay in Nice.

I don't claim, by any stretch of the imagination, to have seen enough of the world to qualify as a world traveller, but it was almost a year ago now that Mike and I were galavanting about Europe together letting our feeling of worldliness go to our heads a little!

I promised an occasional travel post and I have every intention of delivering on that promise, right now, today!

Nice, FR

Nice is a dirty little town with rows and rows of sketchy hotels and even sketchier locals! The beach is made of rocks, not sand and we were warned repeatedly to watch for pick pockets at every turn! That being said, it's beautiful! It's old, and lovely and oh-so European and just a quintessential French Riviera stop to make!

The water looks like clear blue paint, the rocks (though they aren't sand) are smooth and slimy when they're wet, the leather skinned locals make for excellent people watching and the nightlife is tacky in the best possible way (think big casino themed hotels with crooners - or strange mexican restaurants with 3$ mojitos!)...

On weekends there is the strangest little outdoor antique market which is ridiculously overpriced, but probably one of the most interesting places I've ever seen! Old French men who collect old French military paraphernalia line the street along side little old ladies with hat collections that would make any girl swoon!

The seafood is amazing, if you like seafood and the whole city smells like saltwater in a good way! You can climb up on rocky ledges and read Hemmingway till the sun goes down, and nobody will bother you!

And the pretty squares and cobblestone streets date back to the days when royalty were lead in by horse and carriage for winter getaways!

Nice is unfortunately one of the cities we collected the least amount of business cards from, and so names of restaurants and shops are missing from this post. If I can find the scrapbook I made for Mike when we got back, I will edit as many of the names and addresses as I can remember into this post later on.

In the meantime, if you're planning any trips to the South of France, walk along La Promenade des Anglais, make a stop at Place Massena and go up to Rue de la France and Boulevard de la Buffa for amazing local food - don't miss out on the Salade Nicoise!

And probably the best part is, you're only a train ride away from Paris, Barcelona and the rest of the French Riviera! Oh and Monaco is a 20 minute, 1$ bus ride away! But that will have to be for another post! I hope I did this little part of the world justice!

Bonne Soiree Tout le Monde!

Brianne Swap Pt. 3

2009-08-19T14:26:00.003-04:00

If anyone has been following my Brianne Swap mini series, you already know that the girl sent me a little box of heaven! Each piece I wear is better than the last somehow and I just don't think I can find locations pretty enough to do the items justice!
My hair was a big frizzy-pool-hair-rats-nest this morning and knowing I had about eight hours of house work ahead of me made me too lazy to wash and fix it, so braided it would be! Once my hair was done, I looked in my closet to decide what to wear and a little light from heaven shone down on this sailor playsuit telling me I had no choice!

Well a little red lipstick, a hair bow and a Glen Gray record later I was dancing around my house imagining I had received news that my hubby was coming home from war or some silly thing. I can't dance for the life of me, so I can only hope my neighbours didn't see me!
With Lola on my lap and some oldies 990 on the radio I set off to try and find a worthy location to shoot this item, and as I drove by an old marina with a bunch of old waterplanes outside I had to stop and catch my breath! Unfortunately I'm only brave with my man by my side, and I was way too chicken to go and set up my tripod in front of the men who were outside in uniforms washing their planes....

so I drove a little further and settled for the Chambly falls as a location. Not that they aren't picturesque, but it just wasn't the feel I was hoping for with these photos. None the less, this outfit speaks for itself, and so here we have edition three of my Brianne Swap series!
And really, with all the complaining I've been doing about the summer heat, a nice little summer playsuit was just what I needed to remind me how fun summer can be if you just indulge a little in it!