defend the silver lining

sometimes people have bad days. 

sometimes people feel lazy and sad and ugly for no reason.

and sometimes, all people need to feel a whole lot better is to wear a kick-ass pair of boots.

(a gorgeous view doesn't hurt either.)

dress- vintage // necklace- lia sophia, gift fr. my mom // boots- lammle's // bag- vintage

earlier I was feeling a little down in the dumps... sometimes I feel like good weather just exasperates my bad mood because I feel bad about feeling bad! but Brando and I went for a walk on the harbour front, bought a new record, and ate yummy hummus wraps. that really brightened my day.

also stars of the cheer-up-Sarah club, my new turquoise cowboy boots purchased in Canada's very own Cowtown! they're the perfect Calgary souvenir- I absolutely love them and have already gotten dozens of compliments. 

Marilyn was right; give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world! or at least her own gloominess, haha. 

♥

playing: classy girls- the lumineers

due South

well, it's been a very busy weekend!
between work and play and a few side projects....

this saturday fellow blogger friend Caitlin and I had a vintage and used clothing sale. it was a whole lot of work to pull off, but it went very well! we had a nice turnout, people seemed to really enjoy it, and it was fun! I had every intention of bringing my camera along and sharing photos with you today, but of course in all the hustle and bustle and foggy 6am brain, I forgot.
so instead, here's the next lot of photos from our roadtrip!

next stop, Louisville, Kentucky!

it was kind of an unexpected stopover, but what a fantastic city! it was definitely our favourite part of the trip. and how exactly did we end up so far out of the way of our cross-Canada route? well I'll tell you.

for my birthday, Brandon ingeniously got me tickets to see the Eagles here in Newfoundland. they've been one of my favourite bands since I was a kid! I was excited to go, but then Caitlin and I had a last minute schedule change for the road trip. I didn't want to miss the trip, but I didn't want to miss the Eagles either... so we looked up where else on the way (relatively!) they were playing and thought hey, wouldn't it be hilarious and awesome to see them in Kentucky?

long story short I sold my tickets in Newfoundland and we bought Eagles tickets for the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville!

it was an incredible city. 

if you've never been to Louisville, you have to go. you might think (like we did) "what the heck is there to do in Louisville?" but the answer is: SO MUCH. 

we saw the Eagles on the first night we arrived, and they were AMAZING. I was soooo happy. on day two, we went searching for Colonel Sanders' grave and visited the Louisville Slugger museum and factory. and day three was even more fun-packed!

there are great museums, city tours, historical sites, and amazing restaurants. we had so much fun there I can't even explain how vibrant and friendly and interesting it is. so just go. 

I'll have more Louisville pictures in the next couple days.

till then, have a good one! y'all come back now, ya hear?

(sorry, couldn't resist with the southern vibe...)

love love!

photos:

1. officially entering "the South."

2. Sarah & Caitlin go to White Castle!

3. the hilariously named local stadium where I finally saw the Eagles.

4. a statue in Cave Hill Cemetery

5. a Kentucky standard.

6. the Colonel himself!

7. a quaint and pleasant gravestone.

8. the world's largest baseball bat at the Louisville Slugger museum.

9. what a Babe!

10. those lady ball players sure looked snazzy.

11. striking a pose with Mickey Mantle's real bat.

chasing waterfalls

time for the second round of Sarah & Caitlin's road trip!

the next major stop on our journey was Toronto, where our brief affair with Ontario got off to a rocky start. we had tickets to TURF(Toronto Urban Roots Festival, since no one seems to know what it is...) and the T-dot transit system did everything it could to prevent us from actually getting there to enjoy it. yet, one wrong train, four subway tokens, a city bus, and a 15 minute cab ride later we were standing in a grassy field enjoying the crooning of one Zooey Deschanel.
we saw She & Him! twelve glorious, full songs (take that you ego-tripping gatekeeper!). we got free whiskey and bought band t-shirts.

and things kept improving from there.

the next day I made my first visit to Niagara Falls! one of the natural wonders of the world, only a few provinces away, and I had never seen it. we arrived on a hot sunny day and met some interesting people. it was a great falls experience!

t-shirt- she & him // skirt- modcloth // belt- american apparel // necklace- lia sophia // sunglasses- rosie the rebel

a friendly gentleman offered to take a photo of Caitlin and I together... and proceeded to quiz us on which falls was better- the Canadian or the American. obviously this was the first giveaway that he was an American (hehe). being Canucks we were very diplomatic about our answers (especially since we didn't really know which side was which) but ultimately we decided the Canadian falls was slightly nicer. to directly quote part of the conversation, "if you went over the American falls in a barrel you would most likely die." 

that's really our only legit reason.

yay Canada!

after avoiding an impending invitation for mini golf and eating a couple hot dogs, we moved on. only about 24 hours spent in Ontario all together, but many memorable moments. 

onward and southward!

next stop on the road trip is Louisville, and there were many more memorable experiences had there. 

stay tuned!

playing: closer- Tegan & Sara

pretty little things

I know a lot of bloggers do a "Friday favourites" feature, but I've tried to stay away from it... mainly because I think it would somehow cause me to do more online shopping, haha. there has been many a wish list made for this blog with good intentions that has slowly but surely emptied my wallet. I have very poor will power; just ask the empty bags of beef jerky in my trash can. 

lately, though, I've been quelling my (un?)natural urges with excessive Pinterest activity, and that seems to be working quite fine! 

so I thought I'd share a few of my favourite things right now. 

1. these terrarium necklaces by Woodii! they are so amazing. sadly this particular one (my favourite) is sold out, but there's tons of other great and unique jewellery.

2. I am in desperate need of some overalls. I just need a pair, guys. to wear with a baseball tee and patterned tights. 

I love these from Topshop, worn by the ever-adorable Keiko Lynn. 

3. I'm addicted to boots. I want every pair I see (no will power, remember?), especially this gorgeous emerald green pair from Lulu*s, and these cream Free People sale items. 

4. cold weather is coming, which means I get to bust out my favourite accessories; circle scarves! 

this ombre one from Victory Garden Yarn is a little out of my price range, but it's so pretty it's almost tempting...

5. this cookbook looks perfect for me & Brando. it's filled with simple recipes that only use one cooking utensil per meal for two people. I would be motivated to cook more often if there were fewer dirty dishes! you can buy this at Modcloth right now. 

6. speaking of Modcloth, I am smitten with their upcoming winter coat collection. I am not in need of a winter coat by a long shot, but these two just look soooo cozy and cute...

7. more cold weather accessories; I'd love this sweet bow headband from Three Bird Nest for chilly days when I can't wear a hat.

8. I've been really wanting a cool retro fan lately. they're cool AND practical! this mini one is from Hi-Brow Modern. 

9. cartoon-print dresses are the coolest. I'm a big fan of any garment that allows me to wear several of my favourite foods on my body without literally being covered in cheese. both these are from Modcloth. 

10. I'm not usually fan of Guess bags, but the summer line was really nice. this bag is way cuter in person.

11. this prairie cat print from The Wheat Field makes my heart happy!

12. we've been lamenting our lack of storage lately, and I'm really into the whole industrial look, like this shelving cart from Joss & Main.

13. I've been swooning over these two gorgeous dames and their style: Lily Collins + Christina Hendricks. 

and those are my favourite things right now! 

you're welcome. 

♥

playing: lion heart- of monsters & men

tres bien ensemble...

for someone with so much travel experience, I really haven't been to much of Canada. I mean, it's a pretty big country and all... but I still think I'd like to make it to every province & territory someday. and ever since I was little, I've wanted to see Montreal.

it's pretty close as the plane flies, but my very first time in Montreal was this summer. it was the first major stop on mine and Caitlin's cross-country road trip adventure!

like I mentioned before, Caitlin and I spent most of our first (full) day exploring the city on foot. we walked around the nice commercial streets, browsed a shop or two, and stopped for a bite to eat. we had lunch at this place called Les Trois Brasseurs, and it was delicious! I had this traditional French pizza thing that was spicy and amazing and yet, I ate the whole thing. it was an especially enjoyable restaurant experience because we got to eat on the rooftop balcony, so we had a great view of the busy streets. 

later we made our way to Vieux Port, which is (as a direct translation!) the old port. it was really pretty and had plenty of interesting little shops and hidden treasuries- there were even a bunch of street artist and painters selling their work. 

I should also mentioned that we made use of the bixi bike service, which I declare to be awesomesauce! being huge wusses, we first needed to practice riding them around the parking lot of the CBC before we felt secure enough to venture onto actual roads. then I discovered how fun and convenient city bike riding is! if you want a fun, cheap way to get around Montreal, I definitely recommend the bixis. just make sure you wear shorts under your dress...

my lovely friends Gloria and Doug were kind enough to put us up for a couple days, and we really appreciate it! I hadn't seen them since we all graduated from King's together, and it was so wonderful to finally get together with them. they had some great suggestions of what to check out in the city, and Caitlin and I did a few of them on day two!

my favourite suggestion was to visit Shwartz's Deli, which is famous in Montreal for two things: amazing smoked meat sandwiches, and being owned by Celine Dion. 

we didn't see Celine, but we can definitely attest to the delicious sandwiches. noms!

we also went to the Grace Kelly exhibit at the McCord museum, where we saw pieces from Princess Grace's real wardrobe AND her Oscar ohemgee! 

and we visited this crazy awesome vintage store that had an actual swimming pool of clothing... as in, take off your shoes, dig through a six-foot pile, swimming pool of clothes. I wish I had gotten photos of that place, but unfortunately I didn't think about it. if you ever go to Montreal and wanna go, I'm sure Gloria will remember the name for you! haha

this is Caitlin in front of Notre Dame Cathedral near Vieux Port!

sadly we only had two short days to spend in Montreal... but that was long enough for me to know that I love it. I'm already scheming how to go back in soon to check out a hockey game (go Habs!) and spend more time with my friends! 

vive la Quebec!

playing: Michelle- the beatles

bye bye, Montreal

hello again, friends!
two posts in a row? this is a bit of a roll for me!

Caitlin and I got back from our epic road trip over a month ago, but I'm sure you're all still dying to know more about it...

well, you're in luck! because I have right here a few photos from our too-brief stay in Montreal.
except, well... they're all of me.

hrrrrmmm, yes....

this is the outfit I wore for my first ever day in the beautiful Montreal!

we spent most of the day just walking around and exploring, stopping often to drink coffee and eat snacks. we are very big on the snacks. and the beer. and the snacks... you get the picture. 

our visit landed us in the middle of the Jazz Festival, so there were lots of fun sights and sounds to take in!

skirt- modcloth // shirt- smart set // purse- american eagle

this skirt has quickly become one of my favourites. I always get compliments when I wear it, and I love that the colourful pattern makes it go with almost anything. it makes me feel instantly stylish, which is what made it the perfect wardrobe choice for wandering this stylish city!

I want to say that I'll share more Montreal photos soon... but let's face it, Sarah's promises seem made to be broken. so let's just cross our fingers and hope I don't get overly distracted by netflix, or real life, or something ridiculous like that...

peace in the Canadian East!

playing: this velvet glove- red hot chilli peppers