Encore Montreal

Way back in July, I went to visit my friend Nicole in Montreal. I never finished posting all the photos from that trip, so here's the last batch. I figure I aught to at least finish doing that before I start getting into my festival photos from Pandemonium. Not to mention in less than a week I start my pastry classes and I'll probably have tasty things to share with you all too. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Montréal!



We went to a record and book shop, and got a bit lost in the Old Port area trying to find an art supply store. Chinatown was also quite amusing for me, and I probably enjoyed all the cute happy things a little too much hah. But hey, check out this happy little ravioli?!



On my last day we went to the Tam-Tams with some of Nicole's awesome friends. It was a gorgeous day and it was really nice just chilling in the shade and listening to the music and watching all the happy people doing much the same.



I had such a great weekend with Nicole. I just wish I'd been organized enough to go visit more than once this summer! I did so much with my summer though, I can't really complain. If you ever find yourself in Montreal on the right day for the Tam-Tams, I totally recommend going. Cheers!

Friend Friday - Vacation Style

Happy Friday everyone! I'm sorry I missed out on last week's FBFF but I was in training at work and it completely slipped my mind until days later. I'm not letting myself slip by so easily this week though, especially not when the subject is what to wear on vacation.

1. When it comes to packing for vacation what’s your mantra?
I spend a lot of time checking out weather reports before heading anywhere for any amount of time. Then I try to pack items for any possible weather occurrence. And then I pack a little extra, in case those original pieces somehow get dirtied/ruined during my adventures. I guess my mantra is paranoid over packing?

2. What are your must packs?
About a bizzilion pairs of socks (there is nothing worse than cold or soggy feet) and a good snuggly cardigan. Of course my MP3 player for the long boring transportation time. Oh, and a snack! I am notorious for packing snackables no matter where I go, and boy do the security staff get a laugh out of it when they search my bags sometimes haha...

Australia's first ever captive-born Galapagos tortoise.

3. What are you happy to leave behind?
I am most happy to leave behind the stupid little sock things I wear inside my closed-toe shoes at work. 8 hours in a shoe = gross, and the socks keep the grossness to a minimum, but they're ugly and uncomfortable and when I'm on summer vacay, my toesies go free!

4. Any packing secrets that help you get everything into one suitcase?
I'd hardly call it a secret, but I need to sit on my suitcase at the end to flatten everything enough so I can zip it shut. (Like I said, over packer!)

5. Beach reading… what are you taking with you to read in the sand?
Whatever I happen to be reading at the time I guess. I'm not a student or anything, so my reading habits are all purely for my own enjoyment. Right now I'm reading two books, one is a fictional zombie novel and the other is a non-fiction work about the marijuana business in Canada.

FIN.

To keep this from being too boring, I posted some photos from my Pinterest. Like most every other person I see using the site, I am also addicted. This is just a smattering of what I've got up there. The fare ranges from knick knacks, food, clothes, shoes and nature photos to craft DIY's, vintage photos, home decor ideas and animals. If you haven't joined already, let me know, I'd be happy to send you an invite! Just beware the addictiveness.

I hope you all have a super fun joy filled weekend. Cheers!

Goin' it Solo

It tends to garner strange reactions from people when I tell them I actually enjoy the 5 hour car rides by myself, whenever I go visit my parents. But it's 5 hours where I don't have to talk to anyone, I don't have to worry about anything except driving, and I can listen to my music as loud as I want - because there's nobody there to say otherwise! It's think time. It's me time. And I dig it. Especially when I get to do it on days as nice as this past Saturday.

It was warm, sunny, and positively wonderful. There was one frustrating thing about the day, and that was that the traffic was so heavy. I just couldn't chance stopping to take photos most of the time because it would have been dangerous to pull over. I took the above photo from my car while stopped at a traffic light, heh.

Dress - Purchased from Gotta Go Vintage on Etsy

Shoes - Spring

I pulled over at a rest stop and picnic area - the Trans Canada Highway in this area has absolutely gorgeous rest stops - and was super excited to get some photos. Of course I only too soon found out that once the breeze let up, black flies would come to torture me. Insane numbers of them would fly out of nowhere the minute the wind let up. And those suckers (no pun intended) will eat you alive in no time.

I didn't stick around too long because of the insects (an elderly couple arrived, unpacked lawn chairs, cracked beers, and then hastily made a retreat back into their vehicle the minute the breeze let up) but I'm glad I got a few shots in this dress. It's definitely going to be a summer staple for me.

There's something about the land in North Ontario that just speaks to me. The rolling hills, the lakes, rivers, creeks, swamps, and ponds. It's a very wild place, the further north you go, the further apart the settlements and the smaller those are too. (I was actually wondering if I'd find a gas station before running out of gas on my drive back, that's how sparse things are out there, even on the highway).

This is land that was populated by Native Americans not so long ago. My own French-Canadian ancestors were the loggers, miners and coureur-des-bois that helped open up this land. My great-great-grandfather was a lumberjack, one of the men who used to ride the logs down the rivers to the mills. I really do love this land, and it's a part of me as much as I am a part of it.

I hope you're all having a lovely week. There are more photos from my weekend - including a few dorky ones of me fooling around with fish - that I'll be sharing in another post. I also got a few more well-lit photos of this outfit, which I am happy about. And tomorrow is Friday, wee! Cheers!

Upper Canada Village - Alight at Night

So as I mentioned in today's first post, I went to Upper Canada Village this evening to go see all the Christmas lights. I got to wear my "new" Grandpa Sweater (as I fondly call it) that I also thrifted on Tuesday.

Sweater - Thrifted at Value Village

Shirt - Smartset

Skirt - Thrifted at Value Village

Tights - Sirens

Leg warmers - Ardene's

We picked a wonderful night to go it seems, as there was no wind and it wasn't too cold. It also helped that we picked up some fresh hot chocolate as we wandered through the village though!

Such cool buttons!

The Upper Canada Village is really amazing. They're all real buildings that were moved from their original place of foundation, and brought to this site. The furthest from which came any of the buildings was 53kms, making them all local.

It's awesome to stop and think about the fact that these buildings were built by the not-so-distant ancestors of the local people. Everything from the bakery, to an inn, the church, post office, tin smith and masonic temple... All local historical buildings preserved in the village.

My father, with and without flash hah. Snow!

We decided we really need to go back in the summer months. During the summer, the place is a fully functional village, with people "living" there all season round, going about the tasks of days gone by. The old fashioned bakery sells bread to visitors, using flour milled on site in the historical mill using water from the St-Laurent River that the village faces.





I had an absolutely amazing weekend, I hope you did too. Cheers!

Heading West

I've gone a bit AWOL with outfit posts lately, but that's because I've either been wearing something already seen, nothing thrifted or I'm just too busy and/or lazy to take photos... oops.

It'll probably be a little while longer before I start posting again too because on Saturday I'm catching a plane and heading out to Alberta. My partner lives out there and I haven't seen him since July, and I'll be spending my birthday with him. I figure, hopefully, I should be back on track by the middle of the 2nd week of November. Key word hopefully.

I packed my suitcase last night, carefully choosing all my outfits. I have to admit, I'm an over-packer in most cases. I bring thrice as many items of clothes as I'd ever need, for the ever looming just in case moment. It's so much easier to pack for warm weather... sweaters take so much room in a suitcase!

How do you pack when you go on a trip? Light and simple, or heavy and exaggerated like myself?

I'll leave you with a video of Peter, Paul and Mary playing Leaving on a Jet Plane. It always hits home for me because it's so close to my situation... and it's such a pretty song all by itself!



Cheers!