white light

Loving these hues right now - nudes, whites, creams. I found some pieces recently that have me excited for the trip to Illinois Neil and I are about to take.. namely, Kork-Ease sandals, pretty floral clip-on earrings and pins made with vintage millinery flowers (found at a yard sale last weekend), and a pretty silk Evan Picone blouse I thrifted earlier this month. The blouse has a 1940s shape circa the 1970s, and it reminds me of the Madewell one Alexa Chung designed last fall that I couldn't afford.

But my favorite recent buy has to be this 1950s crochet lace sundress, found at the lovely Ms. Tips' Vintage. The vanilla-y lace is absolutely beautiful, so ornate and lovingly worn. The dress is for a college friend's wedding coming up this weekend.. and probably for several more weddings after that.

So many things to do before we leave on Thursday morning! Today, Neil and I visited Nashville's downtown library for the first time and picked up a good number of audiobooks for the trip. Including The Historian (one of my favorites!) and James Joyce (Portrait of the Artist), plus a little bit of David Sedaris for when fiction gets old. I even got away with picking up a nerdy book on conspiracy theories. We'll be spending about 22 hours in the car over five days, so it's good to be prepared.

PS.. so happy to be have my image in American Apparel's Best Of Seen & Submitted last week, and also to share with you guys that my sister Rhiannon is in Lucky Magazine this month! The older I get, the more proud I get of my two sisters.

A Lovely Weekend Walk

The weather was gorgeous here in Toronto over the weekend and we just couldn't resist heading out to enjoy it. The second that the boyfriend mentioned a w-a-l-k to Whiskey, he was bouncing around ready to go.

Can you see the desperation in his eyes as he waits for me to lace up my shoes?

I couldn't remember the last time that I was outside in just capris and a light jacket. It felt so great to be heading back towards good weather.

  

This is a demonstration of how I get Whiskey to jump up to my shoulders. He jumps to my bent knees, then climbs up to my shoulders while I hold on, just in case. Its my favorite way to get a hug from the puppy :)

I oohed and ahhed at every sign of spring that we saw. The little pops of colour gave me so much hope for what is still to come!

We decided to walk around the Trinity Bellwoods/Little Italy area of Toronto, which of course meant we had to stop into one of the fun little cafes and grab a coffee to go.

As the non-coffee drinker in the relationship, I was happy to stay outside with Whiskey and admire some of the fun motorcycles and convertibles that were making appearances again. Any sign that I see of warmer weather is welcomed with open arms. I am counting down the days to Flip Flop season.

With coffee in hand, our walk continued!

Whiskey was fascinated with all the other dogs outside to play sniff bark at.

Any attempts to discipline him were thwarted by his cuteness.

As we walked around this neighbourhood I kept falling in love with some of the older homes.

I loved the porch, double front doors and big vintage light fixture on this one.

And there were more little flowers outside of it too!

As we came into Little Italy, I saw one of my favorite little bistros. They have a great outdoor patio (perfect to people watching) and I can't wait for the weather to get nicer for patio season. Its one of the highlights of Toronto. We're such die hards about it here that most of the patios in Little Italy were packed already despite the fact that it is only the beginning of April!

Another favorite fixture of Little Italy is the Pink Twig Floral Boutique. They made gorgeous arrangements that are the perfect hostess gifts or birthday presents.

I love walking by and seeing what creative goodies they have for sale.

Later in the evening, we headed out to the movies to see "Hanna" and decided to stop by a little park on the East side of the city. Its amazing how much quieter it is when you get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown and just enjoy the peaceful sound of waves crashing along the shore of Lake Ontario.

The breeze was nice and cool as we walked along the large concrete break wall.

For dinner we grabbed some burgers from The Acme Burger Company for a little impromptu picnic down by the water.

They weren't too bad, but there was a lot of bun and little meat. I prefer a better burger to bun ratio.

From the rocks we could see downtown Toronto in the distance.

We were only 20 minutes away but it seemed like it was impossibly far. As the air got cooler, we started heading back to the big city that was calling us home.

It was a nice end to a wonderful weekend with my two favorite guys. Just being back at work now makes me wish that it was Friday already so that we can have another nice weekend outdoors!

Easter Decor Inspiration

Once I put together my Easter Tree, the whole apartment started to feel more like Spring. It may still be chilly outside, but inside we're celebrating the ever closer arrival of warmer weather. I've been making a few more little tweaks here and there, but I need some more inspiration, so I turned to the wonderful world of the web. Its amazing the ideas and inspiration that you can get from the creative people out there!

My all-time favorite inspiration is Martha Stewart and her amazing creative team. Just looking at this image of a bunny-inspired Easter Party makes me remember being a kid and going to the fun parties that my mother and her friends would put together. There would be games, colourful decorations and delicious pastel confections. I think that is where my chocolate Mini Eggs addiction started.

There is something about the whimsical drawings of this Tablecloth and napkin set (Pottery Barn Easter Bunny Floral Garden Napkin $39.50) that evokes all the colours and growth of Spring. If I didn't have a knack for spilling blueberry jam on nice white linens, I'd splurge for a set of these adorable napkins.

These fun Crepe Carrots take a little work to make them, but it seems worth it when you see them all nestled in a basket together. These would also be cute as place cards at an Easter Brunch, or as the topper on a sweet Easter present (perhaps a box of Carrot Cupcakes?)

Brightly coloured eggs are symbolic of Spring's arrival and these Speckle Swirl Glass Eggs (Crate & Barrel, $19.95 for set of 12) are a beautiful addition to Easter decor with their soft speckled design in soft pastel colours. I saw these in person the other day and they were just as pretty as the look here!

Those eggs would look great nestled in a potted hyacinth like these eggs above.

With so much new life growing outside right now, it wonderful to bring the outdoors inside. Martha Stewart showed this great (and simple) way to add some colour to your table. Place a painted egg shell inside an eggcup and fill with beautiful flowers from outdoors. I especially love the use of the crisp white Lily of the Valley with the vivid violets of the pansies.

How do you like to decorate to celebrate the arrival of Spring?

How to make an Easter Tree

Things are finally starting to feel a little like Spring around here, which means that its time to get some Easter decorations out! This year I decided to make a little Easter Tree to put on the bookshelf in the living room. It seemed like just the ticket for brightening the place up for the new season!

I tried to use some things that I already had like the terracotta pot, paint and filler, and in the end the whole project only cost me $7, including the bunnies! Not bad considering how expensive a tree like this would be from a decor store.

To start off, I applied shellac to the interior and exterior of the pot. Using a foam brush, I made a thin layer, allowed it to dry and then applied another thin layer. Just to be sure that it was no longer sticky, I let it completely dry overnight.

The next morning, I used a small foam roller to apply pale yellow acrylic paint. To prevent any uneven areas, I did several thin layers, allowing drying time between each coating. Once it was completely dry, I cut a piece of craft oasis (foam) to fit the inside.

These sticks made the tree so much easier to made. Originally I was going to attach my own plastic eggs to branches I found outside, but when I noticed these at the dollar store (Dollarama, for all you fellow Canadians) I realized that my work was done for me. At $1 a branch, I picked one in every colour - pink, yellow, purple, green and blue.

I love the sweet little buds and the speckled details in the eggs. I still can't believe that these were only a dollar!

Before putting the branches in, I made sure that the oasis block was firmly in place.

I cut the branches to the desired height, then wrapped them together with some brown florists tape. I didn't want them to wobble in the oasis, so I wrapped some blue poster putty around the base to secure everything.

To hide the oasis and the putty, I used some packing grass that I had from a package that was delivered. Its nice to find a way to reuse something like that!

These sweet little bunnies were also a dollar store find. Originally I was going to paint them over with matte paint, but in the end I loved the little hand painted details, like the nose, ears and eyes.

Its amazing how a little bit of colour in your apartment can do wonders for your mood!

Next time I made something like this, I might take the time to grow some real cat grass to have along the edges, but that takes about two weeks of forethought, and I'm lucky if I have two hours.

To keep with the theme, I also rearranged the books on the shelf to try and match the Spring colours. I usually keep them organize in a rainbow pattern (or even red and pink for Valentine's Day), but this decor just seemed to call for pastels.

I've made a few other little Spring tweaks to the apartment lately and I'll be sure to post them this week.

Have you been doing any Spring decorating?

How excited are you for warmer weather to be on the way?

spring in shelby park

Photos by Neil!

Vintage Denim Shirt, High Waisted Trousers, Belt - Thrifted

Cream Floral Mesh Bandeau - American Apparel

Wood Wedge Sandals - Madewell

Warm weather has officially hit Nashville, and yesterday Neil and I went to Shelby Park to enjoy it. We brought our little dog (and the loveliest vintage blanket borrowed from Colleen) and took a walk around East Nashville's Shelby Park, following it up with nutella ice cream from Pied Piper.

This outfit is my first attempt at the minimalist trend I told you I wanted to try out.. but I added a bit of blue to it with the denim shirt. And short tops with super high waisted bottoms are going to be a staple for me this summertime, I think.

And now for the winner of the peter pan collar giveaway! The winner is.. Rachael! Rachael, shoot me an email with your address and I'll get the denim collar out to you asap! For those that didn't win - don't worry, I've got another giveaway coming up soon.

Happy weekend, all!