Avril

There is nothing more emblematic of spring for me then fresh flowers and pretty raincoats! 

This month I asked my friend Ariane to pick a couple of coveted and loved items. So, here is what miss April picked:  

This raincoat

Boots similar to those

This bag

Something sweet 

A leather glasses case made by her boyfriend

....and also made the wish for a dog to bring home. 

I chose to add this sweater. 

If there were 48hrs in a day, I would totally knit that for her. 

ps: I am having a hard time uploading my image without blogger ri-sizing it. For the full size desktop (2500x1400px) please download it from the FB page here. It seems to be re-sized down there as well. I'll try to figure it out before the next month. Sorry about this! 

Geneviève

Happy Birthday to my dear old friend Geneviève. 

No matter the distance, country and continent, I always cherished your friendship. I'm so very lucky to have you near right now! 

xx

That dress is from the designer Orla Kiely, a common love we share.

(Geneviève is much more talented then me at rendering fabric and pretty dresses, though!)

Fall...

Some looks I'm looking forward to this fall. (I'll try to look this good) 

All photos from the copyright cemetery Pinterest. All I could trace back is the photo of the first leather jacket up top, it's from Free People. Otherwise all dead ends. I'm sorry. I'm a bad person. 

Spring II

Happy weekend, everyone! 

xo

OOTD

Real sketchy, real fast. 

Spring

We're all ready, I think.

And, one day I'll man up and buy this bag. 

Hush Puppies

 Last spring I had the true delight of working on some lifestyle images for Hush Puppies. They contacted me and were inspired by my Manly Hipster Calendar, and it was, obviously, an honor to pair my illustrations with their shoes! I do love menswear, sometimes even more then women's fashion. (I secretly buy the GQ a couple times a year, I cannot help myself.) 

 It was a fun process, to sort of pin point at some great trends / styles in menswear to match with three different versions of a new shoe coming out this fall. You can see more about this collection here. 

 And now some of my - read, woman - favorite shoes from their recent collections. That cute motorcycle-ish boot is coming my way via mail soon!! Can't wait for fresher weather to be able to even *think* about wearing fall clothes. Fall is my utmost favorite season, and summer my least one, so this is a time of the year when I can get so so so impatient for that shift to happen. It has been particularly warm here this weekend, and... I'm ready. 

I want to cuddle puppies and wear cute fall outfits too!! 

PLAY. EAT. NAP. 

Amen!!

Our Capital... And Joe Fresh

 Here... I'll say it fast... I like Ottawa. A lot. Every time I go, I find new things to love. Maybe this is not so so popular on my side of the province border...But I say, whatev. Last week we did a little overnight trip to Gatineau / Ottawa to visit Guillaume's sister. She took us out to one of her favorite restaurant, that we had been dying (no, really, we talked about it often) to try. Whalesbone, on Bank St. This place is teeny-tiny, rsv is a must. Even for a party of 3, on a thursday, at 6pm. It's busy but not loud, pricy but not outrageous. And seriously... when the food arrives, you don't regret any penny. Our expectations were met, big time! I had the hanger steak, and the boyfriend had walleye fish. (Fish is their specialty, and it's also an oyster house. But I had eaten a lot of those recently so I felt like a change!) I heard the menu is always changing, with what is fresh from the market each day, I love that! 

 Speaking of love, here's something I wore for brunch on Sunday. JOE. FRESH. My new lover. I like to buy quality over quantity when it comes to shoes (ie: Pretty Ballerina flats, were pricy, but this is the fourth summer they see. Who can say as much about their A*#do flats?), purses (whether it's from a store or a flea market, I buy real leather purses, that will age nicely with time, instead of burst at the seems if you carry too much in it, which we ALL do.) 

Top and jeans: Joe Fresh

Purse: Garage sale find. 

Shoes: Pretty Ballerina

Scarf: Gift from a friend, I believe it was HnM. 

A Girly Post : Shoes

 I know, for a fact, that most women can identify to this. That moment when, you KNOW, you deserve some new shoes. You KNOW it will make everything feel right, and that somehow you did something to earn this. The right to go and buy yourself some awesome new shoes. Either for fall, or for summer, or for no reason at all... Sometimes you just need new pretty things to put on your feet and walk around with. 

 For me, that time had come. I know that buying ballerines and sandals, when fall is just around the corner, might not seem very clever... But! But! Is it me or summer kind of stretches a bit further every year now? It will be warm, and even later, I will love those new flats with jeans, jackets, when the weather chills out. And! I think those Dr Marten wedges are going to look terrific with dark socks, or opaque tights. :) 

I saw these cute Reef flats in Virginia, but they did not have my size. Montreal Magic. Period.

 I pretty much never wear heels. I'm always scared I'll be uncomfortable and will want to walk bare-foot all the way home. So I don't buy shoes I'm not likely to wear, ever. But lately, I've been wanting some sort of feminine alternative to everyday sandals. Something high*er* but not so high that I don't feel natural in it. Those are seriously sooooo comfy. The plastic sole makes them really bouncy, and the arch is not too pronounced. Feels manageable! I hope I'll wear them A LOT. 

Back

 And... We're back. This was an amazing week.. Finding ourselves disconnected from... Well pretty much everything (who lives without internet connection now days!?) felt very good. We knew we could have had wifi at the island's McDonalds.. but really, that was just out of the plan. The weather was cloudy for most of the week, which had me bummed out a bit at first, but it did not actually rain. We have been able to swim-swim-swim in the ocean without worrying too much about sunburns, or sun-excaustion. Just making small plans for each day, one day at the time, was very relaxing. Spending quality time with my family is always so much fun, and makes me realize how lucky I am. :) We ate SO MUCH seafood. The price is really reasonable, and the produce also was cheap and so good. (Hello fresh ripe peaches!?) 

 The long drive is so, so worth it. We decided to cut the drive back in two, and stayed in Cape May NJ on sunday. Cape May is beautiful. It always strikes me. When I was 5, 7, 25.. now. And even though it was a super fun afternoon and night; the waves were very strong (even bigger - taller then the ones in Chincoteague, that can still flip a grown man upside down!), we swam for almost 2 hours straight, then enjoyed a restaurant me and my parents loved from our vacations 20 or so years ago (The Lobster House, on the marina - was hectic but worth it!)... We realized just how much we love our small beach town. It's so much more quiet... There is just less people. And the vacationers are more laid back, they really all seam to be tuned to the same relax beat. Cape May kept making us think... Jersey, in a negative connotation way. (not in the awesome lush nature beautiful state kind of way.) So yes, it's still worth it to go all the way south to our tranquil - less urban getaway. The refuge is so... untouched. And it feels much better to the soul.

 I feel there is so many things I could say about this awesome vacation... Swimming in the crushing waves and feeling all salty, seeing groups of dolphins having fun in the waves too in the distance . Feeling like rockstars on the beach with our new Hudson Bay Company towels, cooking live blue crab! Tasting Virginia wines, enjoying out favorite beach food at Woody's Eatery, scratching mosquito bites... I could go on and on. I still have some more photos, taken on roll (!!) That I'll get, and share, later this week. I'm thinking that maybe next year I'll have to work on a vacation city guide, to show my appreciation to this area. Until then... 

A Girly Post

 Like, hum, pretty much every body who is of female gender, I have been in love with the ombré look for most of 2012. I love how it applies to so many things right now; furniture, fabric, HAIR, clothes, ect. I just gave myself a bit of ombré love via those nails! (Please ignore my atrocious cuticles and short-short nails.) 

 To get the look: Use a semi opaque nail polish. I'm using Essie Poppy-Razzi in Camera. You basically make three layers, starting a bit under the middle of your nail. Then going up for each coat. Using a top-coat once it's dry is a must, since it will unify your three coats, and smooth out the difference in thickness that you might have from each layer. 

 I love how fun it looks, and it's really not that hard / painful to do. Even your right hand will look decent, since you don't need to be 'that' precise. Have fun! 

July

those earrings, instagrams, and photos that, sadly, lead to nowhere from pinterest. 

 A little thought to that waaaarm and summery month that just passed. I turned 27. Went on plenty of weekend day trips. Learnt to slow down a little. And got plenty of love from this amazing man, my family, that cute/bratsy dog of mine, and dear, dear friends.