Love It A Lot

Arizona or Bust

2012-02-14T09:00:00.002-05:00

So, Arizona is kind of pretty I guess. Oh man, it's almost impossible for me to type that sentence without including a big "NOT!!!!" at the end. Arizona is beautiful. Crazy Beautiful. Crazy/Beautiful. The landscape changes where ever you go, but there are always plenty of Cacti to keep you staring.

We went for 5 days to spend some time with Doug's rather large family. Well, large for my standards. In total there were 16 of us staying in one house, which included five lovely children under five. Hearing those numbers going in, I was pretty overwhelmed, but I can honestly say it was a really laid back, lovely time. McGinns, you're ok in my book!

I took a ton of pictures. There were so many amazing things to see and do that trying to blog about this trip was a little overwhelming. I decided to focus this post on just two places we visited.... Sedona and the Grand Canyon. If you have to see anything in the midwest, this is a pretty good start.

On on first full day there we drove to Sedona. Before I left, my friend Jeremy had described Sedona as "being on Mars" and he was totally right. It was like being on crazy/beautiful Mars, complete with spiritual vortexes.

This rock behind us is Bell Rock. Actually, it's behind and under us in this picture, since we had already climbed up pretty far at this point. From the ground it was really hard to get a decent shot of its magnitude, but if you google it you can get a better view. After most of the children had tired out and needed to head back home for naps, Doug and I, his brother Arlo and wife Megan got to stay and hike around. Climb to the top of Bell Rock you say? Well sure.

This is after a pretty amazing hike to the top. I know it looks like Doug is peeing in that first picture, but I promise you he isn't. The sun was just starting to set when we got to the top, and we had just enough time for some quick shots before it was time to scramble down, or be left on the top of a pointy rock in the Arizona desert, just us and some coyotes.

On Day 2 Doug and I woke up super early to make the almost four hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We decided to take a less touristy route to the Canyon, which meant driving through more desert and a Navajo reserve. We stopped for something called Navajo tacos, which I recommend everyone tries once in their life. I also got to see some adorable wild dogs, that Doug wouldn't let me feed my remaining tacos to. What gives Doug?

I was so excited about visiting the Grand Canyon leading up to the trip that once we were in Arizona, I started to get nervous I had built it up too much. What if it wasn't as good as I wanted to be? Hey guys, guess what? THE GRAND CANYON REALLY IS THAT AWESOME.

Yup.

Once we arrived in Grand Canyon park, we decided on the South Kaibab Trail Hike, because the Internet had told us that was the best one. Internet, you never lead me astray.

The trail was amazing, the views unreal. The trail itself didn't seem scary, but every time I looked back at where we had come from, saw the trail narrowly winding down the side of the canyon walls, I kind of gulped a little bit.

The hike was 3 miles long and the first half was entirely down hill. That meant that the 1.5 miles we had to walk back once we reached our destination was all uphill. The elevation change from the beginning of the trail to our stopping point was 1200 feet, which meant we would be climbing that on the way back. Fun times. I'll admit here that when we got to the almost-end of the trail, and saw those switchbacks in the picture below, I had a mild panic attack. Send in the mules I thought, I'm done.

Seriously. Do you see those tiny people climbing the trail on the right? Do you see the way the trail winds back and forth along the canyon rim? What you don't see is me sitting down just after this picture was taken, refusing to look up until I got my shit together.

Grand Canyon, you made a fool out of me.

Later this week: Arizona zoo featuring BABY GOATS.

Love Love Love

2012-02-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

I told you blogging would fall to the wayside while Jane was away. She was in sunny Phoenix, Arizona and I was back here in Hamilton being walloped with the worst chest cold that I've experienced in years. Somehow I still managed to be incredibly productive. A new window display (which I'm not all that happy with) and an entire revamp of the store. Acute bronchitis be damned, I needed to spruce things up for the loveliest of love filled days.

We've got lots of new Valentine's cards in from Fugu Fugu Press, Wit & Whistle and Rifle Paper Co. Boy-girl love, girl-girl love, boy-boy love. We've got it all for you and your lover.

Not to mention a selection of the sweetest vintage Valentines around.

This is one of my favourite new pieces that we've got in store. These hand crafted sterling silver mitten lariat necklace are made by our dear friend Erica Barta. Ever since we opened, we've been begging her to make us some. They are so delicate, and the red string that they hang from is such a sentimental touch.

She recently completed a jewelry residency in Montreal, and on her way back to BC left us with three of these precious pieces. I won't lie, I'm a little jealous already of the three lucky ladies of Hamilton who will get to call these their own.

A new batch of everyone's favourite mittens from Things By Slo. With super sweet hearts hand stitched on them for your sweetheart.

The Pin Pals continues to be one of our favourite artist that we carry. Probably because they keep hitting it out of the park with amazingly intricate pieces like these cross stitched brooches. Go ahead, wear your heart on your sleeve.

It's a little embarrassing how many Hand & Shadow pieces that I own myself. I can't get over Georgie's beautiful prints and colour variations. We've got in a new scarves, including a brand new snake print which is to die for. Each of her prints are done in a bleach print paste, so they never fade. Just like how your love will never fade.

I also made an executive financial decision while Jane was away. I decided to get posters printed for our event with Sartoria. We're so in love with the design that Mike came up with for this, and I wanted to share it around town. Man, he did a great job, didn't he? Plus, we were super happy to be able to get them printed by Tom at Copy Dog in his new location at Homegrown Hamilton. He's the best print guy we've ever met in our entire lives. Truth.

You can come and check out all these sweet pieces tonight at Art Crawl, where we'll be hosting our Show and Tell with Sartoria. So if none of these tickle your fancy, maybe a pair of custom longjohns made right on the spot for your sweetie will. And make sure to check out Needlework's grand opening just down the street. I haven't been this excited about an Art Crawl in a long time. I hope you're excited too.

Making Headlines

2012-02-03T12:15:00.001-05:00

We've got a lot of exciting news to share today. Really, all of these things should each have their own blog post dedicated to them, but I am JUST SO EXCITED to share it all, and I can't wait to slowly reveal each one every couple of days. I'm impatient like that. Plus, Jane just left for Arizona, leaving me to man the shop all by myself until next week, which means blogging might fall to the wayside.

First up, we've got Art Crawl in a week. Normally, we wouldn't be talking about it quite so early, but...

Sartoria is coming to town! We are thrilled to be hosting another Show and Tell event in the shop, and couldn't be more excited that Sara Torrie of Sartoria will be joining us with a brand new selection of her cashmere and merino underpinnings, as well as her sewing machine ready to sew custom longjohns on the spot for you or your sweetheart. Nothing says love like wanting to keep your honey warm and cozy all night long.

You can get more details about the event here. And don't worry, we'll remind you about it a million times before next Friday.

Just down the street from us at 174 James Street North, Needlework's grand opening party will be in full swing. Jane and I have been looking forward to this for MONTHS. The other day they posted a blog about a fabric shipment that came in and it finally hit me that this was actually happening. That there will actually be a resource downtown for beautiful and contemporary fabric and notions. Not to mention a creative workspace to boot! My heart grew a couple of sizes just thinking about it. Make sure you stop in and wish these two lovely ladies all the best in their new endeavour. It's going to change the face of downtown Hamilton. Believe me.

Remember when we hosted that intimate acoustic performance from Hands & Teeth a couple of weeks ago? Well our good friend, Russell Gibbs came out and shot some video of their set. I can't get over Natasha's soulful voice, and Russell's skills make the shop look so dreamy. We know so many talented people, it's crazy.

And last, but certainly not least, we have to take a moment today to wish our dear friend Kieran the happiest of birthdays. I won't embarrass him by revealing exactly what age he's turning, but it's a pretty big milestone. Kieran is one of our best friends, always dropping everything to lend a hand. Kieran was the first person we met in the community, and his passion and dedication to this (sometimes) uphill battle that we are fighting in trying to make the downtown core a more livable place is awe inspiring. He never gives up. And he always does the right thing.

He's humble and modest, and loves nothing more than a good shout-out. So here's to you, Kieran. Many happy returns. White Elephant loves you.

Happy Friday to you all!

Crossroads

2012-02-01T08:35:00.002-05:00

On Friday I'm headed to Phoenix, Arizona for 5 days with Doug and his family. We're only going to be a few hours away from the Grand Canyon, and that's pretty much #1 on my list of things to do. I find it almost impossible to look at pictures of it without dying to be there, immediately. Look at it. No seriously, LOOK at it.

I can't wait for the weather (even though if feels like spring in Hamilton today), and the landscapes. I'm planning to do lots of hiking. Is there anything else we should do? I don't really know anything at all about Phoenix. Got some hot tips? Let me know!

In the meantime, Hollie and the lovely interns will be manning the fort. We also have a pretty exciting announcement coming up about February's art crawl. As a reminder, Needlework will be celebrating their grand opening during art crawl night, so it's already going to be super mega awesome. We have something up our sleeves to make it even more awesome, if possible, so stay tuned!

(pictures via here and here and here)

Rare Hands Good

2012-01-26T09:12:00.000-05:00

January days are slow and peaceful here. But, as always, we've got new stuff coming in. And all local, y'all!

Ok, so our newest line Rare Specimens is something that I'm really excited about. Jane, on the other hand, is bashful about it. That's probably because she's the maker behind these natural mineral accessories.

Jane has always dabbled in jewelry making, but it's hard to find the time for our crafty side, right? I'm really thrilled that she's motivated about it again, because I mean, look at these earrings. They're lovely.

Eleven years ago during March Break Jane and I went to Florida. With her dad. It was one of the defining moments of our friendship, as road trips tend to be. While we were there, we combed the beach looking for "rare specimens" to bring home with us. As Jane is interested in using natural materials, the name is a nod to that. So obviously, I like that a lot.

Yay for Jane!

This past weekend, our store was home to an intimate acoustic performance from Toronto band Hands & Teeth, in anticipation of the release of their first full length album Hunting Season. They left a limited number of copies at the store, and if how fast their EP Enjoy Your Lifestyle sold here were any indication, these will go fast too. The album design was actually done by our friend and bandmate Adam, and I am really smitten by it. Just a really awesome and talented bunch of people to support all around.

We're super excited to now be stocking Good Night, Day knits. Knit here in Hamilton by Tara-Lynn, these sweet pieces are luxurious and super soft and warm. All of her designs are named after different small towns in Ontario, and it's such a genius and heartwarming idea.

Jane and I are both in love with the dip-dyed Meaford Cowl. We just can't seem to get a photo that will do it justice. The colour variations are so subtle, yet so very stunning.

I gave Jane the camera for this one and instructed her "more cowl, less face." If this were a school assignment and I were the teacher, I'd probably give her 40% on her composition. But, she tried. She should stick to jewelry making.

18 Days

2012-01-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

Internet, meet Kate & Liz. If they look familiar, it may be because you recognize them from one of the zillion other things these girls do. Like running Knit Nights at The Brain, planning craft fairs, making amazing installation walls for school projects, running beautifully curated vintage shops, working for Jenna Rose, and so much more. These ladies are dynamos. That's a word right?

Anyway, they have a new project up their sleeves, and it's going to be pretty damn exciting. In 18 days, at the February Art Crawl, they will be celebrating the grand opening of Needlework.

Needlework is going to be a fabric + creative workspace, with all sorts of amazing fabric, super interesting classes, sew by the hour facilities, patterns, books and more. It's going to be awesome, so mark your calendars. In the meantime, you can follow along with their progress over here on Kate's Blog, or over at their new website, I Love Needlework.

February 10th: super awesome things happening.

(photos from kate the hunter)

Hands & Teeth: Live at White Elephant

2012-01-18T09:59:00.005-05:00

Did we ever tell you our dear old friend AK is in the band Hands & Teeth? Did we ever tell you that the band Hands & Teeth is awesome? Both of these things are 100 % true.

These guys say they are a "rock and roll band from Toronto with a particular penchant for vocal harmonies", I say they are super effing cool. Cool enough that I'm pretty sure that our dear old friend who is in the band is going to become a full on rock star any day now. We're excited for this, but mostly so we can say "we knew him when...."

Anyway, Hands & Teeth just put out a new album, Hunting Season, and it's great. If you don't believe me you can listen to it yourself over at exclaim where the whole thing is streaming. Or, better yet, you can come see them play this Saturday at White Elephant, for free. They'll be at the shop at 3pm, promoting their new album and their show later that night at Casbah with a lovely little White Elephant set. It's going to be good.

To repeat: Hands & Teeth. Playing live. 3pm. Saturday January 21st.

Back At It

2012-01-13T12:22:00.002-05:00

Last week was kind of a write-off. Post holiday blues. But we're back in the swing of things over at the shop and online. Tons of stunning new pieces over at Ainslie Wood Co. (and hey, have you checked out our lookbook?) I died a little on the inside when I found that white tiered lace dress.

Over at the bricks and mortar, tonight is the first Art Crawl of 2012. You can check out the rundown over at H Mag. We'll hope to see you there.

2011 Retrospective, Part 2

2012-01-11T09:45:00.001-05:00

And so continues our year in review... man, it was a good year.

In July we made a picnic themed window, and hung an amazing vintage fringe bikini. An old lady later came into the store and told me "I normally would never come in here, but I saw that other lady come in first. I thought this place was a strip club because of that bikini".

In August we finally got a nice big White Elephant stamp and we began custom printing our bags. Lindsay, Krysten, and our newest intern Carly are AMAZING at this. Seriously. Carly is our newest intern at the shop, and although I don't have a picture of her, you'll just have to trust us that she's adorable and has helped us immensely.

In September Hollie, Gary, Mike and I accomplished a dream as old as our shop, and finally painted a big White Elephant mural on the side of the building.

We were also pretty busy with this little thing called Supercrawl.... maybe you've heard of it?

October was another amazing and busy month. We re-launched our online clothing site, Ainslie Wood Co., and got to visit the lovely ladies of Victoire again for the You Love Vintage and Vintage Loves You Sale. It was gorgeous dress overload. As an added bonus, Hollie finally got to see the Parliamentary Cats!

In November we started carrying a new artist in the shop, Marianne Chénard, and spent a lot of time getting ready for the busy Christmas Season.

In December we built one of my favorite windows yet, a beautiful lace and doily wonderland featuring an honest to goodness TEE PEE. Then we took a week off and slept the entire time, or something like that.

I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store!

2011 Retrospective, Part 1

2012-01-09T13:53:00.000-05:00

2011 was a good year at the shop. 2011 was a busy year at the shop. So busy, it's going to take me two posts to cover all the things I wanted to.

In January, our interns Krysten and Lindsay started. Hollie and I are so thankful for all the help they've given us, and the things we've got to accomplish as a result of their help. These ladies are pretty awesome all around.

In February, all four of us undertook a crafty window display that ended up on the Canadian Living blog. Not too shabby.

In March, we put up a window display we've used a couple times in the past, but I always love it. We also spent a lot of time getting ready for our first ever visit from the Victoire Ladies. It was so lovely to have them come down. Party time.

New sign alert! In April we finally picked up our new sign, one that lots of people in the community helped us to get after our first one was stolen. Dear new sign: I love you.

Man, May was so exciting I need a break just looking through it. All of us undertook a big project re-painting our outdoor bench in some bright spring shades. We hosted the first ever James St North Pop Up Shop with the ladies from Victoire, preloved, Robber, Fieldguided and Yarn Over Movement. I think we can safely call that a success. We also finally got around to creating our dream window display.... White Elephant Featuring KITTENS!

In June, our store became the backdrop for Spenny's new show, Single White Spenny. Seeing White Elephant all dolled up as Spenny's Funtastic Novelty Emporium was pretty amazing. We also hosted Jenna Rose's 5 year anniversary party during art crawl, and loved every minute of it.

See? Busy! We'll do part two later this week.

Lookbook: Faded Forests

2012-01-05T10:59:00.002-05:00

We’ve been working on something for a while now, and today we are so excited to be able to show you. Probably over a year ago, Hollie had the idea to shoot a lookbook for Ainslie Wood Co. After a lot of work, and a truly amazing amount of help, it’s ready.

We hope you enjoy the first official Ainslie Wood Co. Lookbook: Faded Forests.

We named it Faded Forests after one of Emily Dickenson’s letters, but more so, because have you seen those pictures? If they are not the embodiment of faded forests, I don’t know what is.

I mentioned we had a lot of help, and when I say a lot, I mean WOW I CAN’T BELIEVE WE HAVE SUCH NICE FRIENDS. There are a lot of people to thank, so let me get through this.

First and foremost, we probably wouldn’t have undertook such a project if we didn’t know an amazingly talented photographer who was gracious enough to volunteer his services. Jesse Senko took all the photographs, provided most of the art direction, and turned a pretty simple photo shoot idea into something magnificent. Most of these shots were taken in total darkness, or at the very least, in absence of any real sunlight or flash. Do you know what kind of skills you need to have to pull that off? Serious skillz.

While we’re on the subject of Jesse, there are a lot more Senkos to thank. All the photos were taken up on his family farm, and his entire family was warm and gracious as a group of nine mostly-strangers took over their home with clothing racks, makeup applications and hair teasing. Jesse’s wife Melanie even cooked us an amazing meal and had snacks on hand all day. All of the Senkos are lovely, lovely people. Thanks guys.

We also lucked out by knowing a couple of uber-babes who modeled for us. Do you know how many beautiful and gorgeous friends we have? A lot. The modeling was done by Heather (co-owner of The Brain), Jessy, and Fehn. Hollie and I spent a good portion of the shoot going “Oh my god I can’t believe how pretty you are!” These girls were all serious troopers, putting up with something like a 10 hour shoot, and wearing skimpy dresses (or fringe bikinis) while standing in a freezing cold windy field. In some of the shots that we didn’t use, you can see gigantic goosebumps on their skin. Troopers I tell you, super babe troopers.

That’s not all though, not even close. When our hair and makeup assistant cancelled on us THE NIGHT BEFORE the shoot, we were in a complete panic. Hollie was going to try to learn to apply makeup via the internet that night, until some people stepped in and saved our asses. Hollie’s sister in law Allison Cillis did all the makeup, and it was just what we were hoping for. She did an amazing job. After some panicked twitter posts looking for someone who could do hair, the power of the Internet saved us and sent us Lee-Anne Wilson. Lee-Anne was nice enough to entertain a 10pm call from me asking if she could work with us on a shoot the following day, and then she delivered. Hollie and I had always imagined wind-swept, wavy, hippy chick hair, and that is exactly what we got.

Seriously, the entire shoot day was great. It was cold, raining, cloudy and took a million times longer than any of us thought, but it was so fun. The team of people that worked on this project made something that could be long and unpleasant into a fantastic experience. Even though we were working, it felt like we spent the better part of our evening just hanging out in a cabin in the woods, drinking some gin. If all photo shoots are like that, count me in.

We would also be crazy not to thank our amazingly talented friends Hubert Marczuk from MethodGroup for the amazing job he did with the lookbook website, and Mike Jerome, Designer to the Stars, for putting up with all our design requests as usual. They both put up with a flurry of emails from Hollie and I that almost always start with “that looks great, but can you do this…”
and were really both the sweetest. We had never met Hubert before this project, but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. He’s great. MethodGroup is great, and as an added bonus, he designed the site so that the pictures are always to scale. Try dragging and changing the size of your browser frame… it’s pretty neat.

Ok, I think I have everyone covered. Do I? Oh god I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Thank you to all our amazing friends who helped us. Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for looking at our lookbook.

Thank you thank you thank you.

Check out the full lookbook here.

Whitewashing

2012-01-02T20:34:00.000-05:00

I picked out a colour called "Swan Wing" for all the trimwork in our house. The name sounded beautiful and sad (I've always associated swans with a kind of noble sadness) and as the woman who mixed the colour for me said "well, it's white."

If I had an infinite amount of time (and patience to live in a torn apart environment) I would scrape all the layers of paint off of all of the woodwork in our home. Layers upon layers of faded olive and peach and cerulean blue, all obscuring a rich warm wood. I've previously moaned over how much wallpaper we scraped off the walls of this house initially, but right now there's nothing I'd rather do than chip away inch by inch the remnants of all its past lives. A cathartic process which I've come to actually enjoy, I suppose.

Sometimes though, you just have to cover things up with a fresh coat of paint. It really does make everything look better.

2011 was so good to me. It was one of the best years yet. I am sad to see it go, but I am also humbled with gratitude for all that has happened, and all that will continue to happen. That means the hardships and the blessings.

I haven't really given much thought to resolutions. I once read that if you make small resolutions all year, instead of in one big go, you'll have a better chance of sticking to them. So that's what I try to do - keep doing, keep making, keep thinking, keep trying, keep learning, keep changing, keep failing, keep improving. All that stuff. I try to do it all with a good heart.

It's pretty much all that I can do.

Break Time

2011-12-27T11:14:00.000-05:00

We'll be closed at the shop until January 3rd, 2012. We'll be making good use of all of this spare time by visiting family, friends and watching all the Die Hard movies. Maybe The Long Kiss Goodnight, too, we'll see how it goes. We were so overwhelmed with all of you who shopped and supported local this year, and we're so thankful for everything that 2011 brought. We hope Santa was good to all of you, and that 2012 will bring much love and joy to you and those that you love. See you in the new year, friends!

Gift Guide Round Up

2011-12-23T07:30:00.002-05:00

Don't freak out or anything, but you only have two days left until Christmas! If you haven't picked out all your gifts yet, you might be panicking. You might be pretty nervous right now, thinking of the terrible crowds and huge line up you'll have to face at the mall. You're sweating just thinking about it, aren't you?

Don't worry. We've got your back. If you missed our Holiday Gift Guides over the last two weeks, here's a quick refresher. Each one is linked back to the original guide.

For your girlfriend:

For your boyfriend:

For your best friend:

For the baby boomers:

For children:

For your daughter:

For yourself:

And there you have it! Surely that puts your mind at ease. We'll be open today from 11am - 8pm, and tomorrow (Christmas eve!) from 11am - 4pm. Happy Holidays everyone!

Gift Guide: Treat Yo'Self

2011-12-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

You've been so thoughtful this year. You've really been so considerate about each person on your Christmas list, and taken the time to get them a super special heartfelt gift. You're the best. You shopped local, gave back to your community, and now you get to feel good about the fact that you did good. Way to go you! You know what you deserve? To Treat Yo'Self! Enjoy a gift guide made special, just for you.

Have you been drooling over Tree & Kimball Jewelry for ever, but haven't actually purchased yourself one yet? Now is the time because we really have the most amazing selection of colourful necklaces and earrings right now. $27-$37. Treat yourself and your cat with the most adorable of all cat houses, The Loyal Luxe Cat Cabin. $25. Grab a beautiful necklace Is Was + Will Be, these colourful beaded works can be worn solo or layered, and pretty much go with everything. $36-$45.

Feeling proud of just how ready you are for Christmas this season? Show off how good you feel with a pair of Warrior Princess Earrings, locally made by Shoot from the Hip. $29. Finally get around to hanging some art on your walls like you've always meant to. These Oh My Cavalier Post Cards are perfect for small spaces. $3. Even though it feels like spring today, I assure you that winter is coming. Treat your neck right with some beautiful knits by YesJess. $26-$75.

Expecting some Christmas money that going's to be burning a hole in your pocket? Spend it wisely on a super luxe winter coat like this vintage one from Ainslie Wood Co. $150. Getting something pretty and delicate to hang around your neck this season, any of the pieces from Steel Magnolias will work just fine. $29-$35 Want to know what the ultimate in treating yourself is? It's a Cashmere Onesie Underwear from Sartoria. Seriously. $110.

You deserve it.

Gift Guide: For Your Daughters

2011-12-21T16:49:00.000-05:00

Parents, if you're anything like my own set, you are constantly asking your daughter what she would really like for Christmas. Never fear, White Elephant kills it when it comes to daughters. We have so many great gift ideas. You have my personal guarantee that everything below will be met with heartfelt gratitude.

The Erin Templeton Kiss + Make-Up Bag is perfect for holding all her beauty products, and is seriously stylish to boot. Double plus. $44. WORN is an independent Canadian fashion journal worth reading, and conveniently comes in a gift pack with 5 back issues. $26. Ben and Oliver Earrings are such a hit we constantly struggle to keep them in stock. Each pair is so cute, it really doesn't matter which one you pick out. $13-$15.

The Mechanical Animal Set from Oh My Cavalier is simply magical. As something maybe slightly impractical, but totally beautiful, it makes a really special Christmas gift. $26. Locally made Jenna Rose Circle Scarves are back in stock in a limited quantity, and really do make a perfect winter accessory. $38. Trust me when I say that absolutely anything from artist Leah Duncan will go over swimmingly. We have a huge selection of prints and tea towels, perfect for prettying up your daughter's apartment. $20-30.

Does your daughter leave her laundry all over the place? With this Jenna Rose Hamper she'll be excited to put it somewhere from now on. $80. Hand Stitched Barre ttes from The Pin Pals are a great stocking stuffer, and really lovely gift. $12. Finally, get her a beautiful necklace to wear this holiday season. I recommend the Pom Pom Necklace by Sew a Song; a perfect New Year's Eve accessory! $34.

I really do promise the above gifts will be enjoyed by almost any daughter, but if you're still struggling, may I recommend a gift certificate?

Gift Guide: For The Younger Generation

2011-12-20T12:25:00.000-05:00

We really try to have something for everyone in this shop of ours, even the wee ones. While you may be tempted to do most of your younger children shopping at a local toy store, we're happy to offer some options for gifts and stocking stuffers as well!

The Not Tuesday, Not Quite Round Beads Necklace is a great one for both young and old, but the polymer clay beads and the cotton cord makes this a great gift for little ones who haven't quite grasped the concept of delicate. $45. Simpli Jessi Handmade Dolls are a lifelong keepsake. Each doll is hand stitched and no two are alike. $65 - $75. Kate Broughton Animal Pins are popular among every age, but what child wouldn't love an adorable hedgehog brooch? $19 - $32.

These beautiful Hair Bows by MellaMade are made of 100 % felted wool, and are coincidentally 100% adorable. $7-14. Let your little one know just how proud you are with one of these hand-painted and hand-stitched Merit Badges by Lee Meszaros. The above badge is for "Knocking Socks Off". $25. We absolutely love these Crocheted Animals that are Handmade in Hamilton. We still have a variety of animals left, plus the ever-favorite sock monkey. $34.

Kate Durkin's Giraffe Pillows are hand embroidered. These adorable guys make a great new stuffed friend. $28. Let imaginations fly with these amazing paper Woodland Creatures Masks by (Kiss me) go. $9. Finally, for a perfect stocking stuffer for a creative young child, these DIY Paper Animal Puppets by Furze Chan are the best. $12.

Gift Guide: For The Baby Boomers

2011-12-19T12:37:00.001-05:00

This gift guide was actually requested by one of our customers over the weekend. They asked if we could do "a guide for old people." We took that as for your parents, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles. We find that introducing a handmade/artisan ethic with the older generation can be a little more difficult, but we're certain that we'll have something for every age on your list.

The BBQ Fun Salt and Pepper shakers by Brooklyn Rehab are just that - fun, yet masculine enough for your propane loving dad. $22. Does your mom spend her days in the garden? The Avant-Gardener market tote from Black Sheep Heap is the perfect thing for her. Fill it with some bulbs for her to plant in the springtime, and BOOM you've got yourself a pretty thoughtful gift. $20. The Tea Wallet from Sweet Stitch Shop is cute as a button, sweet as sugar, and protects your Granny's individual tea packages from getting mangled in her bag. $15.

Our Ming Shard Earrings from Asilomar Works are mom-approved earrings. Subtle and delicate, and nothing too flashy. $19.95. We've got a couple of these Tulip pillows from Chakra Pennywhistle still in. They are original hand drawn designs printed on organic cotton, stuffed with raw organic cotton, and sewn with organic cotton thread. And they're super pretty, too. $40. The Stubby pin from Touch the Dutch is enough Canadian nostalgia to make your dad smile, and simple enough for him to wear it on his coat's lapel without feeling too bashful about accessorizing. $35.

Our porcelain Maple Syrup Jugs from Marianne Chenard have been flying off the shelves. Elegant enough for anyone on your list. $28-$38. Every year, Jane gets her dad a calendar and I think that's a really sweet tradition. Gifting Oh My Cavalier's 2012 calendar would be a great way to start it with your own folks. $16. Inside Erin Templeton's leather Writer case is a Moleskin journal. Your bird-watching grandfather would appreciate such a well made tool for his field notes. $46.

Gift Guide: For Your BFF

2011-12-16T09:37:00.000-05:00

So many things, so little time. I still have what feels like a million people left on my shopping list, but at least I can breath easy now that I've got my BFF's gift out of the way. Do you still need something for that super special friend? I have some ideas....

These Wooden Bangles by Voz have been super popular at the shop this fall, and we just got a whole bunch of new ones in. $22. Sweetie Pie Press has an amazing selection of button packs, but both Hollie & I are partial to the kitten set she collaborated on with one of our favorite artists, Sarah McNeil. $6. I have long wanted one of the Hair Print Scarves from Hand and Shadow, and it blows my mind why I don't have one yet. We have a whole new order coming in sometime soon, and you can bet I'll be picking one up. You should too. $60.

Cashmere & Cotton Long Johns by Sartoria are the perfect splurge for a good friend. So warm, so cozy, and so so beautiful. $90 - $120. We still have one of these beautiful Glass Globe Necklaces left by Another Feather, and what a perfect gift it makes. $65. Let your BFF know just how much you love them by filling this tote by Paperwhite Studios in for them. Or, give them a marker and let them do it themselves. $25

Threadbare Supply Co. Bracelets are the perfect combination of hard & soft. Just like your friend. $38. Bespoke Uprising's Burlesque Ladies Tea Towels are something every girl need for their kitchen. Bonus: made in Hamilton. $15-$30. I just love these God's Eye Necklaces from nanoukiko, and you can bet your BFF does too. $25-$30.

It's a Christmas Goat!

2011-12-15T14:30:00.001-05:00

Hollie and I feel a little overwhelmed this time of year with gratefulness. We love and appreciate every single person who shops local, and shops handmade, even when it's sometimes easier to run out to the nearest box store.

We're really, really lucky to be able to do what we do and to have the support of our friends, family and community along the way. We wanted to give back, somehow, and we decided that a good way to start would be by supporting Oxfam. We're sending a happy little couple of goats to a place where they are needed, and these goats will come with animal vaccinations, animal health training and instruction on marketing the products these goats can provide. Not only that, but the goats will be purchased locally in the area they are most needed, and the first female kid produced by these goats will be given to another family who needs it.

We also chose to give the gift of a planted vegetable garden. It didn't come with any pictures of cute animals getting married though, so it's not nearly as cute. Needed and appreciated, yes. Cute, not so much.

Anyway, we really do want to say Thank You to everyone. You can consider this a gift from the entire community, because without you guys supporting us, we wouldn't be able to pay it forward, Kevin Spacey style. If you want to send your own super adorable goats, there's a whole variety of much-needed gifts available at Oxfam Unwrapped.

Merry Christmas!

Gift Guide: For Your Boyfriend

2011-12-15T09:05:00.002-05:00

Someone keep Doug away from the internet, or he's going to spoil his Christmas present! I thought I would make this gift guide for all the men-folk of White Elephant, or at least for the folks who buy the men-folk's gifts.

From left to right: these amazing ties from Good Heavens come all the way from South Africa, and come in a variety of colours and patterns. $44. Dear Edna is a local-Hamilton artiste who makes amazing aprons for the men (and women) in your life. $35 for this one here. For the man who has everything, I bet he doesn't have this In God We Trust Skillionaire Card Case. $65.

These double-sided bowties from Paukstukai are one of our most popular items, with good reason too. $28.50. Brand new to the shop, treat your man's special places with the most special of all wools - cashmere undies from Sartoria. $45. While a lot of our ladies styles have run out, we still have a good selection of some of the softest, warmest mittens around. Get him a pair of these Things By Slo mitts and he'll be happy all winter. $32.

We can't get enough of the screen printed hankies by Bearface, and your man won't either. $15. Let him dress up in fine (equestrian) style with these In God We Trust Horse Cufflinks. $60. And finally, if you want something a little different this year, treat him to one of these hand-knit neckties by Yes Jess. $33.

Hogtown Tour

2011-12-12T12:18:00.001-05:00

This weekend Mike and I had a friend's party to attend in Toronto on Saturday night, and on Sunday we had been planning on visiting City of Craft. Instead of making the trip into the city twice, we decided to get all fancy like and book ourselves a room at The Drake Hotel. And just wow. I didn't really take many photos, except for this David Lynch hotel hallway of my dreams. I've never stayed in a boutique hotel before, and I fear I may be spoiled for life.

Saturday night we had good tidings and cheer with good friends where I laughed so much and so hard all night that I ended up bursting a seam on my 1940's dress. So worth it.

After a delicious breakfast at The County General Sunday morning, we headed over to City of Craft. What an inspiring event. From the vendors, to the event space, to the decorations, to the positive vibe, it was the craft fair that I've always wanted to attend. Everyone had high energy, even considering it was the second day of the event. I chatted with so many makers that I am lucky enough to call my friends (Roisin! Bianca! Hazel! Tara-Lynn! Alexx and Ian!) and ran into so many more friends from the crafting community just out to support an awesome thing.

One thing you couldn't help but notice as soon as you walked in was Grant Heap s floral textile installation. It was a total showstopper. Made with pieces of found material, some of the textiles were collected during the time that he worked at the National Ballet of Canada. Thinking about the fact that it incorporates pieces of ballerina's extravagant costumes makes my heart all aflutter. Photos don't do it justice. I'm so happy that I saw this in person and that it will exist in my mind's eye forever.

After finishing up at City of Craft we headed out on our independant shop adventure. Down the street a little ways at The Workroom we were met by Rosalyn's smiling face. It's beautiful here. A happy place for people to learn and create together. It's made me really excited for Needlework to open up on our own street.

Next we stopped in and said hi to Liz from The Arthur. Her current space reminded me of White Elephant's first space. Cozy and homey and beautifully curated. Jane, I may have found something awesome for you here.

Finally, we headed to The Junction to check out Russet and Empire. Micah had just stopped by our shop about two weeks ago, so it was a joy to see her lovely smiling face twice this month. The Junction reminded me a little bit of Hamilton, in that it's a little rougher around the edges than most of the neighbourhoods we hit up that day, and Micah has just done an incredible job brightening up the area.

We hit more along the way - Type, Preloved, Coriander Girl, The Drake General Store, Shop Girls, Robber - and there were so many more stops that we just didn't have time to fit into our whirlwind tour. It was really inspiring to see so many independant retailers in Toronto. That's all Mike and I kept saying to each other as we walked around, "There's small shops! Everywhere! And they're all open!" Quite a change from Hamilton's retail landscape.

So, my love affair with Toronto has been reignited. It had been so long since I actually spent a significant amount of time in the city for pleasure (as opposed to business) and it was really nice to see all these hardworking folk work towards the same common goal of a more conscious and responsible type of consumerism. I'm happy to say that I got most of my Christmas shopping done, all locally, all from independant stores or designers, and for the third year now without stepping foot in a shopping mall. No matter what city you live in, you should try and do the same.

Gift Guide: For Your Girlfriend

2011-12-12T09:24:00.002-05:00

Gentleman, still searching for the perfect gift for your lady friend? My absolute best suggestion is to get her to head down to White Elephant and fill out our wish list. My second best suggestion is any of the lovely things you see here. They are all girlfriend approved.

From left to right: The Knoxville Scarf by YesJess. This drool-worthy scarf is super soft, super warm, and 1.9 meters long. $75. The Cat Teepee by Loyal Luxe is perfect for showing that you not only love her, you lovely her furry friend too. $25 The Martinique Ring by Maap Studio is one of my favorites, but any one of their handmade porcelain pieces will do just fine. $18-$50.

An Erin Templeton bag is the perfect Christmas present for almost any lady on your list. These bags are handmade with love, using 100% new and recycled leather. Erin Templeton goods run the gamut from $18 to $390. These Rose Earrings by Larque come in every color of the rainbow. $22. In God We Trust Sweet Nothings Necklaces are one of our most popular items. Ladies love them. $49.

Any of our necklaces by Little O by Wolfbrother would make a great gift. $38 This luxurious Zipper Cowl from Threadbare Supply Co. is the perfect mix of style and function. Made with 100% wool. $120.
Finally, absolutely any piece of jewelry from the amazing Tree and Kimball line will make a perfect holiday gift. $27-$37.

And there you have it! Of course, if you're still looking for ideas, I always recommend a White Elephant gift certificate.

Pine Boughs

2011-12-09T12:00:00.001-05:00

Just a little peek at our holiday window. I might have a new favourite. It makes me so happy to look at.

This window was a couple of different projects. Jane, Carly, Krysten and Lindsay all got to work making different textured garlands to hang for the backdrop. We bought pretty vintage lace curtains and tablecloths and tore them into strips. They braided and knotted some for dimension. We made more garlands out of coffee filters and sequined fabric. I lined the ground with quilt batting for "snow".

The most exciting part for me was building the teepee. I've been wanting to build one for a while, and had been collecting big branches that were shaped like a "Y". My father-in-law did some tree cutting in his backyard of dead fir and pine trees and I took as much greenery as I could fit in the backseat of our car. It only took me about half an hour to assemble the whole teepee, which makes me SO EXCITED at the prospect of making more. Like, maybe in the woods. That I can sleep in.

Mike is probably getting really nervous reading that, since he's convinced I'm going to end up as a crazy old hermit up north somewhere. I asked him the other day if he thought we should get rid of our fridge and stick to an old fashioned ice box, and he told me that my hippie ways were getting a little too extreme. We'll see though. I bet he'll have no complaints once my dream teepee in the woods has been built and we're both sleeping under the stars.

And speaking of Mike, he did the lovely new design for the blog. We've been wanting to freshen up the look for ages, but you know, life gets in the way. The new design is perfect. Mike is the best. If you see him around, let him know that you think so too.

Tonight is the last art crawl of the year, and the last one before Christmas. Come on down to the shop for some merry-making and for a chance to pick up some unique handmade gifts. Hopefully our window will put a smile on your face too.

Tree-Trimmin'

2011-12-06T12:03:00.001-05:00

This weekend was full of holiday goodness. We had our annual tree-trimming day at my in-laws, which included the actual cutting down of fir and pine trees with a chainsaw in the backyard. I took some of the greener branches for our new window display, which I am pretty excited about. But more on that later. It was a nice day spent with family.

Later on, we also helped to decorate our friend's first ever Christmas tree. A multitude of tinsel, fabric scrap wreaths, popcorn garland and paper chains. Our hosts made homemade egg nog and a pie that contained both maple syrup and bacon. Oh man.

It was a warm and wonderful weekend. I'm officially in the Christmas spirit, looking forward to more family and friend get-togethers, lots more good food, merry-making and of course, our Die Hard marathon. It's just not Christmas anymore without John McClane.

Good Heavens

2011-12-01T09:38:00.000-05:00

We are so happy to finally be able to say that White Elephant carries men's neckties by Good Heavens. These beautiful works of art came all the way from Cape Town, South Africa, and experienced their fair share of postal problems along the way. But they're here now, just in time for Christmas.

We have a variety of colors and patterns in stock, but since they're so amazingly cute, we don't think they'll last long. Better get down here quick! While you're at it, fill out the White Elephant Wish List so that stylish man of yours knows what you have your eye on as well.

Thank You

2011-11-29T19:55:00.001-05:00

I wanted to thank everyone for the kind comments and emails you sent. It's nice to know other people understand what you're going through and sympathize. I received a particular touching email from someone who witnessed the accident, and wrote to let me know that Atticus was surrounded by people trying to comfort him before he was taken to the vet. So nice.

I've been finding comfort in my other animals, Boo and Pepper, and letting them know how loved they are. Pepper and I have been going for a lot of walks through the forest lately, and she's been having the time of her life. The good things, ya know?

Atticus Finch

2011-11-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night, I was headed downtown to meet friends for dinner when I got a call from the Emergency Veterinary Hospital, saying they had my cat Atticus and he had been hit by a car. Tears welled up in my eyes the second they said those words, and I drove right over.

When I adopted him as a kitten, the shelter I got him from implanted a microchip in him, so the vet was able to track me down as a result. The phone number they had was out of date, but luckily I had listed my mom as an alternate contact, so they got a hold of her first. As soon as I got off the phone with the vet, my mom was calling to say she was on her way over too.

They let us into one of the exam rooms and brought Atticus out. By the time we got to see him he had been given some pain medication, and was wrapped up in a purple towel and lying on top of a heating pad to bring up his temperature. He was in shock.

We got to wait with him for about an hour, all while waiting for a vet to do an examination and see what was going on. I knew from the second I saw him, things did not look good. I'll never forget seeing him lying on the table in that towel, all four legs splayed out, because he could not put any weight on them. For the hour my mom and I waited in that room, he just lied there, occasionally looking at me, and often times just putting his head down and closing his eyes. It was heartbreaking. I kept rubbing his head and trying to let him know I was there.

After what felt like forever, the vet took him away to do an exam. I knew not to expect good news, but when he came back and said "I have bad news for you" my heart sank anyway. I don't think I stopped crying for the next 2 hours. Atticus had shattered his pelvis, injured his spine, and was showing neurological symptoms that indicated there was nothing anyone could do.

A few minutes later I was alone in a room with Atticus saying my goodbyes. He had a tiny IV in his paw, and would be given an injection that would put him to sleep. I put my nose up to his, like I do when I'm carrying him in my arms, and tried desperately to let him know I was there with him. Then he was given a needle and taken away. My poor baby.

Atticus was an absolutely amazing cat. I know everyone says that about their cats, but that's because we all love them so completely. I have so many amazing memories of him. Most recently I've been completely in love with the way he sits beside Doug on the couch, and always rests his paw over Doug's arm while he's playing xbox. Or how him & Boo will run beside me while I'm walking Pepper, darting across neighbours' lawns and through bushes. Lately, Atticus had taken to catching birds & mice, and then waiting patiently with them for me to open the front door. As soon as I did, he would charge at the door, bird in mouth, and try to sneak past me. This always resulted in me screaming and trying to shoo him away. Man, good times.

When I adopted Atticus, I had gone to the shelter because I saw a picture of his brother, Boo and fell in love. When I arrived, Boo was terrified of people and scared to move out of his crate. Atticus practically burst forth from the crate and climbed into my arms and immediately started purring. I decided to take them both home. From day one, that has been his personality. Scared of no one, constantly purring, and always looking to cuddle. He's also been an amazing brother to Boo, teaching him to hunt outside, fending off Pepper for him, and generally being adorable. I keep looking at Boo now, trying to figure out if he has any sense that Atticus is gone. I've been giving him extra special pets and cuddles.

It's been a rough weekend, made rougher by the fact that Doug is away in England until Friday, and was sound asleep while all this was happening. I'm so thankful the vet called my mom's house first, because I probably would have gone there alone otherwise, and been even more of a wreck. I am still a wreck, but at least I wasn't alone. Good friends have also been amazingly supportive throughout this super sad time.

Through all of this, I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am that my cats had microchips implanted in them. Atticus had only been outside for a couple of hours when this happened, and without the phone call, I wouldn't have even been concerned until he didn't return home today. By that time, he would have already been put to sleep and the animal hospital would probably have no record of him. I would have never known what happened to my poor kitty, and he would have been alone. I am endlessly comforted that I got to be there with him in the end.

P.S. I know people have very strong opinions about indoor and outdoor cats, but can I please please please ask that this not be to the time to leave comments about them.

Keep It Up

2011-11-25T08:52:00.000-05:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - it's crazy how much new stuff we have coming in these days. I can barely keep up. Non-stop drool factory over here, guys.

Kiss and Make-Up bags from Erin Templeton in the most luscious leather, and absolutely the best colour lines. These bags kill me. I die. I'm dead.

We've completely stock up in all of the exquisite leather pieces from Erin Templeton, including a sweet little rucksack, lots more purses, card cases and moleskine journal covers. Be prepared to lose it over each and every one.

I collected dolls when I was younger, and I still get the urge every so often to buy myself a really beautiful art doll. I'll admit, I have acted on that urge a couple of times. And if that's creepy, hey, whatever. I like dolls. I think more grown up people should like dolls. Especially if they have the ability to possess an uncanny resemblance to someone in your life, like the dolls from Simpli Jessi. I can't count how many times these dolls have been purchased as a gift because they reminded the giver so very much of their dear friend. And I think that's totally sweet.

Exquisite porcelain maple syrup containers from Marianne Chenard. They come in two sizes and are adorned with Canadian images. Beauty with function. Perfect.

iswas+willbe makes really delicate and really beautiful lengthy beaded necklaces. These look great layered or on their own. They also make me crave the Californian desert, for some reason. There must be some mysticism contained within.

Fun bangles from Voz in great geometric patterns and bold colours. Funny, these bracelets actually come to us from California. I must be subconsciously trying to bring the west coast to me, if I can't get to it myself.

Snoozer Loser scarves are close to our heart because they were one of the first things we got in the shop, and we were so excited to carry them. You can bet we still are! The Sewing Scissors scarf is by far our most popular, but I'm quite partial to their new Unicorn print. Lots of bold jewel tones to brighten up these dreary days.

This is our second round of BRFC screen-printed handkerchiefs in. We're always trying to find more things to carry for the stylish men out there, and these fit the bill perfectly.

Drop in this today or tomorrow for our Holiday Merry-Making event for some yuletide cheer, some crafting, some baked goods, and a peek at all these great handmade pieces.

Making Merry

2011-11-23T23:00:00.001-05:00

This weekend will be full of fun festive activities at the shop that we're really looking forward to. Tommorow night in preparation, I'll be making batches of popcorn to bring to the shop on Friday to string and make garland. Can you believe that I've never actually made popcorn garland?! Come make some for your halls too, they're looking a little bare.

Saturday we'll have a good old fashioned holiday bake sale with Cake & Loaf bringing a selection of delicious goodies from their divine Dundurn Street bakery. They'll be joining us from 1-5, or whenever they sell out!

We'll have extended hours, along with many other shops on the street. Make sure to stop in at Mixed Media, Relish, I Fiore, Humblepie, Chaise Musicale and Hawk and Sparrow for more fun holiday times! We'll be open 11-9pm on Friday and 11-7pm on Saturday. Drop by if you're in the 'hood!

Santa's Workshop

2011-11-22T09:17:00.001-05:00

The Santa area is all set up in Jackson Square, but as of yet I haven't seen the old man there. It's kind of neat to look at every day, and I think it's going to be pretty awesome to see kids visiting all the time once that gets underway.

I was at my mom's the other night and she pulled out a bunch of old Christmas photos. These santa ones were my fave. Those are my two brothers, Kevin and Mike with me and they were rocking some pretty serious sweat pants in all of them. I guess I am too. One month and three days until Christmas... can you believe it?

Wish List

2011-11-17T09:15:00.004-05:00

Oh my, is it that time already? I'm sort of in Christmas denial over here, because everything seems to be moving so quickly! At the shop, we don't really like to buy into the whole retail idea that the Christmas Season starts the day after Halloween, so we have avoided doing any holiday displays or Christmas themed posts just yet. That doesn't mean we aren't thinking about it though, and that doesn't mean you shouldn't be either....

Every year we get a ton of last minute shoppers on the 23rd and 24th. Not to make any judgements here, but I would say those last minute shoppers are about 95% male. Guys shopping for their ladies are one of my very favourite things about holidays at the shop because it's just so darn sweet to see those men trying to figure out just what their lady would love. Sometimes its hard for them so, so we decided to make it a little easier for everyone with a White Elephant Wish List!

See how great this thing works? That's a live demonstration above, with me being thrilled over the lovely things I'm going to get as gift now that I've filled out the wish list! Anyone who wants can sign their name to the wish list, along with a list of lovely things they have their eye on at the shop. When someone comes in looking for a gift for that special someone, BAM, they have a whole list of things waiting for them. A registry of sorts, for no occasion at all!

Starting this week we also have Christmas cards out in the shop. Did you know that etiquette states you're supposed to have your Christmas cards in the mail by December 1st? I didn't know that either, but Hollie loves etiquette. She's my go-to etiquette guide when Emily Post isn't available. We recently got in some amazing new cards from Rifle Paper Co., Fugu Fugu Press, Dutch Door Press and Fine Day Press, so you won't fail your etiquette lessons this year. We're looking out for you.

Come start your holiday shopping at White Elephant! We promise we won't overkill you with Christmas decorations, but we might be full of cheer.

Quiet Tones

2011-11-15T09:17:00.000-05:00

Life things! Life is good.

A little while ago I attempted to design my own embroidery sampler. I took some tracing paper, a transfer pencil, and a ruler and made a pattern based on different embroidery stitches that I wanted to practice or teach myself. I then transfered it onto a nice piece of slate coloured linen that I had. Being a huge perfectionist (which probably draws me to the meticulous nature of embroidery in the first place) I can see flaws all over the place - whether from my stitching or my initial drawing of the pattern. But I am generally pretty pleased with how it's turning out.

The slope that my satin stitches are taking is quite troublesome though. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and remove most of those stitches for a do-over. I'm not even going over my pattern lines anymore. I'm re-watching Mad Men most of the nights that I'm working on this, and I think I've turned my attention more to Don Draper than my piece of fabric.

Towards the end of the summer, I started to get anxious about how much I had canned this year, since eating responsibly is really important to me. I felt like there was never enough time, and that this summer was going to slip by me. And then one day I looked up at my kitchen bulkheads and I realized I had captured summer just fine for Mike and I.

I'm super happy with the amount of harvest that I preserved. For only a second year of knowing how to can, I really took full advantage of my developing skills. I was also graciously given a number of preserves as gifts this year, which was really special and thoughtful. So, I didn't do all that canning. Seven jars in that photo were gifts from lovely friends. But I did can a pretty darn good amount. Pickles, relishes, jams, sauces, whole fruits and vegetables. A good bounty.

Now I KNOW that they shouldn't be up there. The kitchen only has one window and the room doesn't get much natural light. We need to do a house reorganize and get shelving and then they will live in the basement. We're getting to it. I'm also kind of holding out to get the ball rolling on taking out the shower in the bathroom off of our kitchen and putting in my dream pantry.

And you have to admit that they look kind of pretty up there.

BUT I WILL PUT THEM IN A COOL DARK PLACE SOON.

The last thing that I preserved was my first attempt at apple butter. I did a big batch, using two slow cookers, because I had holiday presents in mind. Instead of chucking all the peels and cores in the green bin from this process, I decided to try and use every last scrap for something. Using these instructions I made my own apple scrap vinegar, which I imagine to be close to apple cider vinegar.

I don't cook with apple cider vinegar very often, but I do use it on my hair as a rinse. I only wash my hair once a week, and when I do I only use baking soda and apple cider vinegar. For almost a year now, I've cut out buying shampoo and conditioner, in favour of a more natural solution. Now I can cut out one more thing that requires a trip to the store. The vinegar still needs to ferment for six more weeks before I can use it, so I'm pretty excited to start 2012 off with a bigger push to get back to the basics with a lot more in my life.

This is an outfit I really love right now. Jane originally found this vintage Eaton's blouse for Ainslie Wood Co. and I'm having a hard time thinking about parting with it now that I've tried it on.

I paired it with slim black cigarette pants (not exactly "slim" with my thighs and booty), my Amy Kenny belt, dotted tights and brown oxfords, and I feel all kinds of fancy. I may have worn this outfit three times last week to different functions with different crowds. Don't tell.

I feel a little Edwardian and a little gothy, and it's just the perfect combination at this time of year. Foggy and dark and mysterious all day and all night.

I've put one more piece of jewelry into my limited rotation lately. When Jane and I were in Ottawa, Regine and Kate gifted me this awesome vintage "Holly" bracelet that they found. They knew it wasn't the right spelling of my name, but they couldn't pass it up. I wear it all the time.

As a child, I could never find the correct spelling of my name on all those novelty friendship bracelets and pocket mirrors, so I often ended up taking home the Hollie-with-a-Y option. It reminds me of one of my favourite pieces of jewelry I had growing up - a porcelain heart brooch with "Holly" written in black script surrounded by delicate painted flowers. I hadn't thought about that in years until they handed me this bracelet. A very welcome bit of nostalgia.

Yup, life is pretty beautiful right now.

Some Things

2011-11-09T09:47:00.000-05:00

This is my aunt, the babe. I was going through some boxes I keep meaning to unpack last night, and came across my special box of... things. It's a box full of the kind of stuff I absolutely love, can't bear to ever part with, but have no idea what to do with right now. These pictures, along with a hand full of others, were in there. I just love how babe-y my aunt looked.

My grandma, also a babe. She can be seen here too.

I found these at a flea market this summer and nearly peed. Original paper moon post cards, that have been written on the back and mailed. They are so so sweet. Prior to Hollie and Gary's paper moon shoot, I had never ever come across these in real life.

This is a vintage hankie that Hollie embroidered my initials on. Ridiculous pretty, right?

Some photo booth pictures I have carried around forever. That's me and my oldest brother Kevin, who can usually be found here jumping off mountains. He's kind of hard core that way.

A vintage post card that I absolutely love. This has been displayed somewhere in my apartment/house ever since I got it, almost 5 years ago. I don't know where it is, but I absolutely love it for the colors and the super awesome canoe.

Finally, some favourite jewels that I don't wear too often, even though I should. These weren't in my box of treasures, but rather sitting on top of my jewelry box, begging to be included in this post.

The little boy pendant was a gift from the girls at Victoire, almost a year ago today. I loved it at the time because it was so bizarre, but when I wore it last year to an annual Turkey Day Party, I quickly realized it looked like a baby picture of our friend Doug. Fast forward a year later and I'm living with Doug, so having a makeshift baby Doug pendant around my neck feels more special, and slightly creepy.

The green pendant is one I "borrowed" out of my mom's jewelry box in my teens, and still wear on occasion. It's pretty, plus she had a fairly good story behind it once that I can no longer remember. The third pendant is one I picked up a flea market years ago, and was solidly worn as my only piece of jewelry for a very long time. It's retired now, but I still love to look at it.

And that's that. Do you have a box full of treasures you don't quite know what to do with? How often do you go through it?

In The Shop

2011-11-07T10:48:00.000-05:00

In the last week, we've been slowly adding some of the amazing vintage dresses we brought back from Ottawa to the shop. Tons more of these beautiful pieces will be going into the shop over the coming weeks, so keep checking back.

In the meantime, can we all please agree that the top dress in this post is probably the prettiest thing any of us have ever seen? Thank you.

Hippie Hippie Shake

2011-11-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

Amy Kenny is one of the most uniquely talented people I know. She is a writer, a painter, a leather-worker, a bread-baker and a surfer, amongst other things. She is a lone wolf. A real hippie babe in the absolute best way.

She recently settled into her new studio and invited me over for a peek. Up until she moved into her new digs, her studio was crammed into a tiny space in her home. It's actually kind of unbelievable that she was able to be as productive as she was there. I'm so happy to see her have the space she deserves - an expansive room in a heritage building downtown, full of natural light and character.

Amy primarily uses her studio these days for her leather line, Shoot from the Hip, which we very enthusiastically carry at White Elephant. But it also serves as a painting studio, as well as storage, and backdrop for photos for her vintage clothing shop Lake and Larch. The day I visited she was working on her first pair of leather moccasins, which turned out amazingly.

Amy likes to experiment, frequently doing custom orders for customers. Mike carries an Amy Kenny wallet, and most recently, I asked her to make a belt for me based on a favourite (but tiny) vintage belt that I already own. What she provided has become my favourite belt, one that I wear everyday, and that makes me pleased to think about how lovely that leather will age and mature with me.

Amy sources her leather and tools as close to home as she can. She's found a huge resource in downtown business Tundra Leather. But Amy is interested in every part of the process. She recently acquired her hunting license with the intent to one day be able to source her own leather. She has plans to hunt up near Terrace Bay soon with her uncle for deer, and then has a local butcher lined up to take care of the meat and a local tanner who will take care of the hides. Her interest in hunting is not soley based on sourcing her own leather, but more from a desire to connect wholly with her food source. To prove to herself that she deserves to eat meat. Pretty rad.

Everything that Amy creates is bold and vivid. Her paintings are striking and usually done in contrasting colours. Her western-inspired leatherwork draws inspiration from traditional styles, but is stained in brilliant shades. She is enthusiastic and passionate and determined. And it translates into her personal style as well. I'm always really impressed with the different colours, textures and patterns that Amy combines into amazing outfits for herself. Like a modern, gem-toned Annie Oakley or something.

A strong Canadian theme flows through a lot of her work, and it's no surprise because if she's not in the studio, you can usually find Amy outdoors - cycling, surfing, hiking, camping. It's evident that she has a true respect and connection with our earth. Naturally, it comes through in her work.

And I can't possibly go on about Amy without mentioning the love of her life, Memphis. He's happy to spend his days alongside Amy at the studio. I'd be pretty happy to spend my days there too.

Check out Amy's work online, or come down to White Elephant to see in person what one of a kind items we currently have in stock from this incredibly talented Hamilton artist.

Lazy Sunday

2011-10-31T09:35:00.002-04:00

Man, what a weekend.

I get to see my friend Erica about every couple years or so, whenever she happens to be travelling across the country and decides makes a pit stop in Hamilton. We briefly lived together in Halifax, and getting to spend a few days with her is always amazing. This time she was on her way from BC to Quebec City, and stopped to spend some time in Hamilton. We took Pepper out to some of the trails around Dundas for a super beautiful hike near Borer's Falls.

We also tried our hand at friendship bracelets, which Erica hadn't made since she little, and I'm not sure I ever have. I used to make a lot of those spiral-style ones, and I could make a mean gimp bracelet, but I don't think I ever attempted a full fledged friendship bracelet before. I'm only about a third of the way through and my fingers are all cramped up.

There was also apple crisp, scary movies, delicious home cooked meals, and pumpkin carving!!!

Erica's pumpkin, on the right, was supposed to be a portrait of Doug. She had a little trouble with his beard, and as a result the entire front of his face fell out. When all hope was gone, she really turned it around with some clever toothpick use and a little ingenuity.

All in all, a really great fall weekend. I'm looking forward to giving out Halloween candy tonight, although I have so far failed at all attempts to come up with a costume.

This Is Our Life

2011-10-25T12:09:00.000-04:00

Our whirlwind weekend came to an end. And man, was it ever a good one. Ottawa ladies love their vintage, and we love Ottawa ladies.

We got into our capital city late Friday night after a 6 1/2 hour drive full of construction, traffic and a George Stromboulopoulos sighting at a rest stop in Port Hope. We tweeted that we saw him, and he tweeted us back a picture of him searching for us. It made us totally giddy and made the rest of the drive that much more bearable.

As soon as we arrived at Victoire, we set to work with the help of Regine, Katie and one of their fabulous employees, Emily. Steaming all of the dresses that got wrinkled in the car, attaching our new price tags that Mike designed with Victoire's PRICE GUN (we are so getting one) and sorting all the pieces by colour. What a serious haul. We talked about how exquisitely beautiful all this vintage was together, and how sad it is to think that each year the supply will dry up more and more.

Saturday we opened up bright and early to a lineup of people wanting to check out the collection. I don't think anyone was disappointed. So many good dresses went to so many good homes. There is seriously nothing more satisfying for me than to see an incredible, well-tailored dress fit someone like a glove. They just don't make them like that anymore. A woman visiting from the UK took home two beautifully crafted pieces. A girl walking by who stopped in without knowing that the sale was going on went home with her wedding dress. A couple of ladies bought dresses because they had balls to attend. Balls! Making real life fairy tales come true, over here.

Luckily we had some time for sight-seeing this time. I found out the last time that we visited that there are a whole bunch of stray cats that live behind Parliament Hill - The Canadian Parliamentary Cats. Why isn't this common knowledge? Maybe it is. It wasn't to me, anyways. We didn't have time to stop by last year, so I made it a priority that we visit Sunday morning. IT WAS GREAT. Stray cats, living in harmony with politicians, with their own little cat homes. Maybe White Elephant and Victoire will jointly sponsor these cats one day, as it is an volunteer based humane effort.

We had some chill out time too. With neighbourhood cats that Regine allows to stay in her apartment (we named him Morris and he snuggled and purred by our sides all night) and pizza and hamburgers and french pastries and good sandwiches. Cats, good food, vintage and shop talk are common themes when White Elephant and Victoire get together.

I seriously cannot gush over Regine and Katie enough. It's so weird to think that we only really met them in real life a mere year ago. It feels like we've known them forever. Without sounding overly cheesy, these ladies are big time inspirations. Our mentors. Smart, passionate, stylish women making a go for themselves, and making their city a better place. We can only dream that White Elephant will one day achieve all of their successes. If you're in Ottawa, make sure that visiting Victoire is on your list of things to do. You won't get a warmer greeting in the city than you will from these two.

We already planned our next trip back. We're going to do the vintage sale all over again in the spring. I'll be counting down the days, ladies. And we better start hoarding some amazing dresses starting now.

Drool

2011-10-20T10:58:00.000-04:00

Please excuse the radio silence over here. Hollie and I are feverishly preparing for our road trip to Ottawa this weekend for the You Love Vintage and Vintage Loves You sale. I hung up most of the dresses yesterday and proceeded to drool for the next ten minutes. The girls over at Victoire have promised tears as each dress goes, and I'm starting to feel the same way about some of these pieces. Can't I just hold on to a few of them? Please?

Ainslie Wood Update

2011-10-17T09:24:00.001-04:00

I know we've already mentioned this, but we're updating the Ainslie Wood Co. shop daily these days, Monday-Thursday. Just look at some of the pieces we added last week. We have tons more things photographed and measured, just waiting to be added this week. So many pretty things.

Speaking of pretty things, this Saturday is the You Love Vintage and Vintage Loves You sale at Victoire! I cannot wait. Seriously. Besides another chance to see our lovely friends Katie and Regine, we get to finally unveil the amazing collection of vintage dresses we have been hoarding like madwomen. I'm also dying to see the collection the girls have amassed, and judging from this sneak peak it's going to be amazing. We'll make sure to add anything that's leftover to the shop next week, although to be honest, we're hoping we get to come back with empty bags!

Shiny New

2011-10-13T11:42:00.000-04:00

It's actually a little crazy how much new stuff we've been getting in these days. A good thing too, since Supercrawl cleared us right out. I thought maybe we'd have some downtime in between that and gearing up for the holiday season, but that's totally not our style over here. Yesterday we even had a little bit of a visual stress/clutter meltdown because of all the new things we have, and how little room we have. I guess that means that you'll have to come down and take some of it off of our hands.

First introduced to Katie Walker at the Beehive Summer Craft Fair, her silk and cotton hand-dyed and silk screened scarves are gorgeous. They brighten up our branch so merrily! Seriously great prints.

A huge new shipment of MaaP Studio's porcelain rings and earrings came in and have made their home on an amazing under-lit deco tiered stand that we picked up at Aberfoyle. I love the organic look of these statement pieces so much. There's one ring that has braille along the outside, which a customer told us read "love". LOVE.

New issues and more back issues of Worn in stock. If you're not familiar with the publication, it's a timeless fashion journal printed in Toronto. We've got a limited number of gift packs, which include multiple issues, to get any new readers up to speed.

These clay bauble necklaces from Not Tuesday are just awesome. Beautiful colour palettes mean they lend themselves to being a work of art as much as being a personal accessory.

More tea towels in from the ever popular Leah Duncan. Her geometric designs are sure to please everyone. And do I spy some knits in behind there? Yes, we've brought them out. But don't worry, all of our mittens and hats and scarves are super cute to make the transition a little easier for everyone. We have to ask our knit artists to start creating allllll the way at the beginning of the summer, so when you wear these pieces, make sure to think of all the hot, sweaty love that went into making them for you.

Ben and Oliver! Ben and Oliver! Ben and Oliver! We've finally acquired more of these best sellers. Versatile and subtle, these can be worn with anything and offer a hint of bashful femininity to any outfit. I actually can't believe that I don't own a pair of these myself yet. I vow to buy myself a pair of black roses studs soon. There. It's on the internet. I have to stick to my word now.

Oh man. Speaking of things that I bought from the store...we just got Jenna Rose's fall/winter 2011 pieces in yesterday and OH MY GOD. We rave and rave and rave about Jenna on here, but she keeps hitting them out of the park. Like this ship bag for example. I immediately bought one in brown with some birthday money, even though we only ordered two for the shop. I couldn't help myself. So, now we've just got this lone guy left. He won't be here long, I'm sure of it. It's a beautiful bag, meticulously crafted with such a high attention to detail, just like everything that Jenna creates.

Look ma! I'm modeling! In addition to the ship bag, we also got a ton of tea towels in Jenna's new prints and colours, and some wicked circle scarves. Last week I picked up some new lighting equipment for Ainslie Wood Co. photoshoots (among other things) and tested out some portraiture in the back room. That glorious light! That gorgeous honeycomb print scarf! However, I'm pretty sure it would look better on you. Come down and try it on sometime.

Geez, this is only like, a third of the new work that has come in lately. We're carrying a number of new artists including iswas+willbe, Marianne Chenard, Wit & Whistle, and Threadbare Supply Co. We've got restocks of old favourites with new designs from Oh My Cavalier, Kate Broughton and Things by Slo. And 100 bowties from Paukstukai are on their way to us as we speak.

Oh! And all of our natural, handmade soap from Rocky Top Soap Shop is on sale. There's just so many reasons to come visit. Damn.

Birthdays All Around

2011-10-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

Today is Hollie's birthday! Yesterday was also the three year birthday of our store!! Celebration time!

Hollie and I have been officially friends for 11 years now. We've known each other longer, but thinking that far back hurts my head. In so many ways we are completely opposite people, and in others, we are exactly the same. Case in point, while she was just recently telling the Internet she wanted to see pics of me eating a sandwich in order to believe it, I was sending her those exact pictures without knowing about her tweets. That's really a terrible example, but you get the idea. I think.

Despite our individual differences or similarities, each one of us is hell of a lot different than we were 11 years ago. Yet, we've managed to do it. White Elephant the retail shop has been open for three years, White Elephant online has been going for over four, and this blog that we've been running together is celebrating five years. I think that means we won. It's not always easy, to run a business with a friend and to stay friends, to grow with any one person for that long, but if it was that easy making it this long wouldn't feel so sweet. Opening a business in the middle of a recession is an uphill battle, and we've come this far and are still talking to each other.

WE DID IT HOLLIE. WE ARE SUCCESSFUL VENTURE CAPITALISTS. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

Happy Birthday Hollie and our communal baby, White Elephant.

By the way. That is the most embarrassing picture of Hollie and I in existence. I feel OK about posting it because this picture marked the opening of White Elephant, and also I'm pretty sure I am equally as embarrassed as Hollie is about this picture, so it's not like one of us is hanging the other out to dry. Don't kill me, OK Hollie?

(photo c/o Jeff Tessier for HMag)

Gift Certificates Now Available

2011-10-05T16:19:00.002-04:00

We just got amazing new gift certificates printed for the shop, thanks to our designer to the stars, Mike and lovingly printed by Tom at Copydog. I love them so much. Would it be weird to give everyone on my Christmas list a gift certificate to my own shop? They're just so pretty!

Gift certificates are available in any denomination and come adorably wrapped up in twine. Available now at the shop!

Back In Action

2011-10-03T12:01:00.000-04:00

OMG, we're totally back online over at Ainslie Wood Co. with so many pretty new things in stock. And starting next week, we'll be updating with amazing vintage pieces daily. Daily! OMG. OMG. OMG. Right!?

Vintage Loves You

2011-09-29T08:14:00.000-04:00

The one thing that Jane and I were really excited about when we moved into our bigger space across the street was the huge back room that came along with it. We had just launched our vintage clothing line Ainslie Wood Co. online in December 2009, and every week I would lug home our dress form ("Judy") and bags of clothing and shoot them in the natural light of my bedroom. When finished, I'd lug it all right back to the store.

It was exhausting.

Naturally, one of our first plans was to convert the back room into an office/studio where all the clothing could stay and be photographed when we moved in June of 2010. Then, life happened. And all we could focus on was the bricks and mortar shop. Keeping up with the online world is hard, man.

Bit by bit we chipped away on preparing it. We got ourselves more help in the form of our lovely interns Lindsay, Krysten and Carly. We organized the cuss out of our stock and our office supplies. We painted the back wall the same gray as my bedroom. We uncovered a previously boarded up window for more natural light. It's finally finally finally at the point of being a functional workspace.

The next step was collecting enough beautiful clothing for an amazing relaunch. Which is happening Monday, October 3rd. Mark it on your calendar now.

Jane and I aren't typically hoarders. Besides the fleeting "oh my god, I never want to sell this, it's just too GOOD" feelings that we always experience when coming across an incredible new piece, we almost always try to get it in the shop right away. I won't lie, it's hard. Combined with the anxiety that there is a finite supply of exquisite vintage in the world, I sometimes want to take everything home for myself. But there is something so seriously satisfying about seeing a vintage piece go home with the right person. It fits them perfectly and there's not another piece like it around and it's just meant to be, you know?

But we collected pieces slowly and kept them aside for our relaunch. We were drawn to a muted palette, reminiscent of autumn colours. Rust, gold, cognac, cream, sage. Chunky knit sweaters, velvet, brocade, tartan, capes, fur stoles, wiggle dresses, maxi skirts, leather riding boots. Pieces you can layer with ease. I'm so excited for you guys to see the full collection. It's so much better than this sneak peek. Monday, Monday, Monday.

On top of the clothing that we've been saving for our fall relaunch, we've also got a whole other secret stockpile dedicated entirely for the You Love Vintage and Vintage Loves You event that we'll be attending in Ottawa on October 22nd. It's hosted by our sister souls Regine and Katie from our sister shop Victoire. We have been looking forward to this for MONTHS. For this event we collected strictly party dresses. Tulle, silk, satin, crinoline, bows, and sheen. Although we didn't have a colour scheme in mind, one kind of developed in itself of soft blues, silver, white and rose. It's magical when that happens. This event is going to be bananas. Some of these dresses make me want to cry tears of joy, no joke. If you're in Ottawa, you should definitely check it out. And if you're in Hamilton, maybe you should consider making the trip to our beautiful capital city that weekend.

Looking over this post makes me realize the insane luck we've had lately in sourcing all these pieces. Collecting vintage is how White Elephant was started, and it's definitely both Jane and I's favourite aspect of the job. And, I think we're pretty good at it too. Eventually, we'd like to get our vintage decor back online. Baby steps for now.

Monday, October 3rd. Ainslie Wood Co. is back. We'll probably remind you like a hundred more times before then.

Time Lapse

2011-09-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

TA DA! Our good friend Gary (seen here spraying the wall) has a really great interval timer feature on his camera that he uses to document all sorts of his construction projects. He has done some really incredible restoration work on buildings in the core, and it's always so fascinating to watch a couple of minutes worth of footage, that in reality is months worth of work. We commissioned him to do one of our mural from start to finish. Certainly not as much work as restoring an entire heritage building, but we're happy with it all the same.

Enjoy!

PS - I stupidly forgot to mention that Mike assembled all of Gary's footage together. He's our #1 Handsy Boy.

Crafty City

2011-09-23T09:35:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night I traveled to Toronto to participate as a guest juror for City of Craft. I was so honoured to be a part of the process, and totally in awe of the efficiency of the City of Craft committee, the talent of all the applicants, and the venue in which the jurying was held - The Ontario Craft Council. The jury consisted of Becky Johnson (founder of City of Craft and of Sweetie Pie Press), Jen Anisef (another founder of C.O.C., of Toronto Craft Alert and a member of The Beehive), artist extraordinaire Hazel Meyer and myself. Jen realized that I was the first out-of-town guest juror that they've ever had. Go Hamilton!

This year they received their highest number of applicants at just over 300. We spent many hours into the night scoring and snacking and soaking up the crafty goodness. It was an incredible opportunity to be introduced to some amazing local talent that I haven't yet come across for the shop.

I went home totally inspired and with a loot bag that included a set of Becky's security envelope buttons (oh, how I've lusted after these!) and a teatowel from Bespoke Uprising. I'm super stoked for the show, happening December 10th and 11th at The Theatre Centre at 1087 Queen Street West. It's gonna be so good.

Hurray for cross-city craft love!

Apples and Horses

2011-09-21T13:09:00.002-04:00

This weekend Doug and I made a quick trip up to Meyers Apple Farm. I haven't been apple picking since I was little, and I was excited. (Confession: I was less excited about the apples than I was about the promise of horses and animals on the farm. As a kid we used to pick apples at a farm that had a whole barn full of animals. I remember that there were often puppies and baby piglets, and there was usually no one around to tell you not to climb into the pen with them and pick them up.) I didn't mention this to Doug, but I chose our apple farm based on the promise of farm animals. The promise of Apple Cider came in second, and the actual presence of apples was a distant third.

But there were apples. Lots of them.

The actual amount of apples present was overwhelming. It's hard to imagine a single farm needing to produce that many apples, let alone all the other farms all over the world that are doing it at the exact same time. How many pies can we possibly bake? We decided to forgo the bushel size baskets of apples as we were still trying to finish off an apple pie that my mom had given us a week earlier, and instead picked enough to fill up a 10lb bag. That took approximately 5 minutes, and that included apple eating, ahem, I mean apple quality control testing time.

After that, it was off to what I went there for. The animals.

This is my friend Dog. Dog loves lazing around the farm, keeping a watchful eye on the other animals in the pen. He's always happy to roll over for a belly scratch. I'm sure he has a better, cuter name, but I think Dog suits him just fine.

Oh hai. I am in love with this lovely lady, who came here all the way from Ireland. Isn't she sweet? She was nursing a baby at the time, but she was still happy to come over for some sweet nose pets. I pretty much hogged all the lovely nose petting time I could get, while children and seniors looked on eagerly waiting their turn. Could I have shared? Sure... but I was pretty happy to keep her all to myself.

I think I need a horse. Are there bylaws about keeping one in your backyard? What if I build a stable?

These Days

2011-09-19T14:30:00.001-04:00

Seasons changing. Autumn is by far my favourite time of year. The weather, the clothing, the colours, the nights spent at home, the crafting projects, the harvest. It's the time of year that I feel most inspired. I can feel the lure of getting my den ready for hibernation.

Our friend Christie had been graciously loaning us one of her incredible pieces "from the high level bridge" to hang in our living room, up until recently. When she needed it back for some upcoming shows, we borrowed three of our science posters from the shop and put them in its place. Having such a remarkable piece of artwork hanging in our house for so long was such a gift, and although they can't compare, I do quite like the detail and colour in the posters very much. They match the muted tones I already have running through the house, and satisfy the super nerdy aspect of my personality.

Since getting this book, I've been slowly adding to the amount of houseplants we own. I inherited some from our friend Gabby when she moved back to Vancouver, and picked up a few of my own at the market. I've got a number of the easier plants - pothos, philos, spider and palms - so I decided to take on my first fern. I'm dedicated to making sure they all survive under my care. It makes me happy to see my window filled with greenery.

As a gift, our friend Tim gave Mike and I this beautiful antique drafting table. We had been on the hunt for one for Mike's studio. And this one is perfect. Solid wood with metal mechanisms. Built in Toronto. The leftover splotches of paint act as a reminder that it has had a good life acting as a tool for creativity.

It will eventually be moving upstairs, but we're in the (long and halted) process of redoing the floors in Mike's room. For the meantime while it sits in our dining room, I placed some family group photos along the bottom. They're mostly of members of my family in Hungary from the 30's and 40's. Farm life, factory life, military life. No one takes posed group photos like this anymore.

We've had a hornets nest growing on the underside of our house for the last two summers. I was ecstatic when Mike first showed it to me, knowing that I may be able to add it to my collection of natural curiosities at some point.

This past weekend we borrowed a 20+ foot ladder to try and clean out our eavestroughs. That was less than successful (we've got a really tall house) but we were able to remove the nest. I had been monitoring it all year, and it didn't seem like the colony came back. There was no activity this summer, and we figured we were safe to remove it. Mike and I alternated being on the ladder and trying to wedge it off, each getting a little freaked out that we would in fact be disturbing an inhabited nest. I feel a little badly about removing it so forcefully, and not coming across it naturally, as I have with all of my other relics. Although the cells inside were dead or dormant, we had a tough time removing them all. Nature is incredible. This solid and exquisite structure made by such tiny creatures.

This year has actually been a really tough year at the farm. A wet, wet spring mixed with a dry, dry summer didn't provide for the best growing conditions. Not to mention a busy summer. Being able to spend a couple of hours at the farm is amazing and fun and rewarding, but we get to go home after each trip. The amount of work that goes into the upkeep and maintenance a farm is astonishing to think about, and we should all go hug the next farmer we see. Growing food ain't no joke.

We spent all afternoon Sunday picking weeds and harvesting food with a group of friends. Sheepishly, it was the first time in a long time that I was able to make it up, because of my busy summer schedule. It turned out to be among the biggest bounty we've taken home yet this year. Pumpkin, potatoes, tomatoes, beets, rutabaga, brussels sprouts, apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, broccoli, garlic, banana peppers and beautiful zinnias and marigolds from our natural dye garden. I'll be spending time making soups and stews and just a little bit more canning before we switch over to root vegetables for the long haul.

I'm going to try and squeeze out as much inspiration from this autumn as I can. If the year so far has been any indication, it should be a magical one.

Sweet As Ice

2011-09-16T11:09:00.005-04:00

Don't they look like the sweetest girls ever? That's Linds and Meg, the owners of Sweet Ice Snow Cones. If you were at Supercrawl (and of course you were) you might have seen their adorable snow cone stand. At first glance, you might just think they are a snow cone stand like any other, but they are so much more than that.

Meg and Linds make all their snow cone syrups from scratch. They buy local fruit from Bennett's Apples and Cider, source locally roasted coffee beans from Detour Coffee for their espresso flavors, and crush the ice themselves. Are you impressed yet?

Before trying a Sweet Ice Snow Cone, I never knew how huge of a difference a homemade syrup could make. Who knows what's in those gallon sized jugs of syrup they pour over carnival snow cones? I just spent a solid 10 minutes googling it online, and couldn't find a single ingredient listing. My guess is lots and lots of corn syrup.

Besides the health benefits of the Sweet Ice homemade syrups, there is another way more exciting benefit: the flavors. Raspberry Lemon, Peaches and Honey, Espresso, Apple Cider, Strawberry Lime and more... the taste is out of this world good. So far I've tried the Peaches and Honey, Raspberry Lemon and Raspberry Mint, and I can't pick a favourite. I think this means I need to try the rest before deciding.

I'm continually amazed by all the people I know doing wonderful, creative things. Meg and Linds are no exception, and I'm thrilled to see more of their delicious Sweet Ice Snow Cone stand at future events.

And trust me, we will be seeing them. The girls recently acquired this adorable 1960s Shasta trailer, and after some hard work and TLC, you can expect to see Sweet Ice operating out of this baby next summer. That pain you just felt in your heart was complete and utter jealously.

Finally, the girls are busy these days organizing what is sure to be an amazing dance party. DJ Donna Lovejoy, Alcoholic Snow Cones, Lite Brite Decor and more means the Sweet Ice Dance Party is an event you don't want to miss. Seriously. You don't. Go check it out on facebook and buy a ticket in advance. You'll be happy with your decision.

(Photo Credit: Jubilee Art & Design and Steph Gribbe)

Hamilton Totes Are Back

2011-09-15T09:02:00.000-04:00

Don't think that now that Supercrawl is over things are going to get quiet over here. Hollie and I are busy with new and exciting projects, continuing to stock the store, and planning upcoming road trips for super exciting things we'll announce soon. Basically, BUSY.

We have so much new stock in the store these days that I know I need to do a whole blog post about it, but until I get a chance, I just wanted to let all of you know that Jenna rose Hamilton Totes are back! We got 20 of these totes in stock just before Supercrawl, and they are already going fast. Get them while they're hot!

Supercrawl Guys, Supercrawl

2011-09-13T11:51:00.000-04:00

So this weekend was the big event. Big, huge, gigantic event that we spent the last month and a half preparing for. And it was everything we hoped it would be and more. Police estimated crowds of 50,000 strolling the streets of downtown Hamilton. A Super Saturday indeed.

I'm blown away by the dedication and passion of all the people I know who made this happen. The Supercrawl committees, the volunteers, the shop owners and the patrons. Thank you to everyone who made this such a great time.

Isn't that banner cute? Tim (head honcho of Supercrawl) has two young daughters and they surprised their hardworking dad with it last week. He hung it in a place of honour at Supercrawl base camp.

The curatorial committee especially did an incredible job with the selection and execution of pieces. Max Streicher's "Giants Ascending" was a showstopping installation on the rooftop of Mixed Media. There should be more things like this on the tops of buildings in every day life. How magical is this?

The Beehive pulled together and put up our "Knit Night on the Brain" installation. Many, many, many hours of knitting and stitching and crocheting went into this, resulting in many, many, many sore fingers and hands. It wasn't in vain, because it turned out just awesome. I've never been a part of a big installation like this, so it was pretty surreal to see it all pieced together, and to watch people's reaction as they looked up and realized that it was all knit.

It's already been taken down, and I'm lamenting the fact that it couldn't be a permanent addition to the bar. But, those scarves must now be donated to those in need, and that makes us feel pretty good.

We had so much help with this project, it's crazy to think about. I can say from all of us that we love all of our helpers very much.

Lots and lots of street art, including from the chalk that Jane and I put outside the shop for people to go nuts with again this year. In an article in our local paper, it was mistakenly described as "the children's area".

A favourite of mine was Hive from the TH&B collective. Another piece of art that you may have missed if you weren't looking carefully enough. I love that kind of stuff. My favourite exhibit of the event was Matthew Schofield's Place Holder at Buttrum & Son. What I wouldn't give to take one of those pieces home with me.

When we have chalk, balloons and candy, I guess you can't blame them for thinking that we were the children's area. What can we say? We try to lure them in early.

Mike and Andrew graciously agreed to be our balloon vendors for the day. After watching "The Red Balloon" in the summer with some friends (currently their three year old's favourite movie) we wondered why you didn't see balloon vendors with the huge bunches of balloons anymore. Turns out it's because balloons sell like hotcakes, and kids are lining up for them faster than you can fill them with helium. Next year, we'll fill every single balloon in advance, and then maybe there will be enough to fulfill my dream of Mike or Andrew almost being able to float away.

Also, the most popular colour for balloons? Purple, by far. Least favourite? Green and white.

The window was a labour of love that was completed with much help. When I told my sister-in-law Allison about our balloon vendor plans, she said it would be cute if our window display was hot air balloons. What a good idea! So we made paper mache balloons, and got our resident artist Krysten to paint most of them, inspired by vintage hot air balloon photos. Jane and I added the textural detailing afterwards, and I wove all the baskets by hand. We bought fresh sod and laid it down in the window. We put in a Jenna Rose Hamilton tote so that it would seem as though the balloons were flying over downtown Hamilton.

Isn't it just the sweetest? And I know, I know. Polarizing filter. I'll get one eventually. I kind of like the dreamy effect that a window glare gives, though.

The night was capped off with an amazing performance from Broken Social Scene. The crowd was massive. It was surreal to see that many people in downtown Hamilton. A great sight. I was lucky enough to capture it from the roof of a friends building.

And now, we sleep. This weekend was a whirlwind. We have some more exciting projects for fall in the works, but I'm looking forward to not having anything too urgent on my plate for the next little while.

Hamilton, we love you. Thanks for an inspiring weekend.

Paint Paint Paint

2011-09-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

Well, we couldn't keep this a secret for much longer after it was completed. We spent Labour Day labouring away on a mural of our logo. And we are SO thrilled with the results. We're in love, actually. It brightens up the graffiti covered streetscape a bit. Next time you're on James Street North, look up.

One Supercrawl prep project down, only a couple more to go. Oh man, oh man, oh man. You're coming, right?

Makeover Story

2011-09-06T09:15:00.004-04:00

Years and years ago, I saw a picture of Victoria's stools on sfgirlbybay. One look at those, and I literally spent years searching eBay, Etsy, flea markets, estate sales and good old fashioned googling for something similar. I had a breakfast bar in my old apartment, and they would be the perfect thing.

Enter last October: I had just given my two months notice to my landlord, and was moving out on December 1st. I was away in Ellicottville, NY for Thanksgiving Weekend, and passed a garage sale on the side of the road. I immediately did a u-turn when I spotted a pair of black wrought iron stools. I couldn't believe my luck. When I got out of the car, things got even more exciting when I discovered the seller wanted $7.00 for the pair. Amazzzzingggg.

Even still, I almost didn't pick them up. I was moving in a couple months, I wouldn't have a breakfast bar anymore, and I didn't think they were quite the same thing as I had been looking for. Yes, that's right, I almost passed up something I had been searching for for YEARS, when they were only seven dollars.

Luckily my roommate at the time, Gabby, convinced me I was crazy to leave them behind. She wisely talked me into parting with my hard earned money, and we threw those stools in the back seat and went home for turkey dinner. Dear Gabby: I love you.

When I got home and re-visited sfgirlbybay, I was overjoyed to discover these stools were practically THE EXACT SAME. FOR SEVEN DOLLARS. The pictures above are the only "before" pictures I have of these stools, but you get the idea.

Quickly, I found a fabric I fell in love with online over at Proud Mary. Proud Mary is a socially conscious textile company that works with global textiles artisans and makes sure they receive a fair wage. Also, their designs are gorgeous. The Mojave Fabric, which is hand-printed using potatoes in South Africa, immediately became the most beautiful fabric I had ever seen, and actually became the basis for the entire decorating and color scheme of my last apartment. I was so happy when Harper, the owner and operator of Proud Mary, graciously agreed to a trade for one yard of this fabric.

Fast forward to this week when I FINALLY got around to re-doing these stools. A few coats of spray paint, a staple gun, and themostbeautifulfabricintheworld quickly turned these beauties into something I've always dreamed of. Even though there's not really space for them in my new home, I'm loading one of these beauties into my car tonight to bring to the shop. We need something higher to sit on behind our front desk, and I am overjoyed at the prospect of these being used and loved everyday.

Stools stools stools stools stools.

Roof Party

2011-09-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

No big deal. Just on the roof of White Elephant with a power washer. Gary helped us begin a project that we gave ourselves the deadline of Supercrawl to have finished by. It's handy to have a friend with a power washer who doesn't mind heights. We're really excited about this one. But you'll have to wait until we're finished to see.

What other projects are on our plate that have Supercrawl as the deadline, you ask? Why there's paper macheing, painting, basket weaving, shelf constructing, entire store rearranging, restocking, electrical work, rubber stamping, stenciling, and maybe, if we get a chance, sleeping.

We hope that you've already marked it down in your calendars for next Saturday September 10th. It's going to be a really amazing event. I'm happy to say that the shop is looking really good these days. And in the next week, it's going to look so much better.

Oh my gosh. It's September already. The countdown is on.

Movin' and Shakin'

2011-08-29T14:10:00.002-04:00

Things have been busy busy around here lately. We’re heading into fall, which means a busy store season with lots of restocking, SUPERCRAWL is just around the corner and we have big plans for that, and on top of all that, I just moved. Again.

The best part about my new place (well, that’s a lie, there are a million best parts about my new place) but one of the best parts about it is it has a beautiful finished attic that has been waiting patiently for someone to use it. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be the perfect place to set up a home office, something I’ve always desperately needed but never had room for. This room will give me the space to keep all our White Elephant files and documents in one place. Hopefully this means I will be able to come up with a somewhat coherent filing and organization system that will keep me on track with all that pesky bookkeeping work.

I haven’t even started using the space yet, and already I’m dreaming about how to decorate it. For now, I started simple with one of my favourite Oh My Cavalier prints from the shop.

This beautiful desk and chair was already in the attic, on loan from a friend who needed someplace to store extra furniture. Aside from that, I haven’t really done anything else to the room yet except move our paperwork in. The windows are my absolute favourite part, and the maple tree view isn’t bad either. I moved in a plant that I’m determined to keep alive, and a little glass Bluebird that I’ve brought with me through many apartments because it reminds me of the one my mom always above our kitchen sink.

Of course, I brought an old love seat up there too, so that Pepper has somewhere to lie while I’m working away. She’s already taking advantage of this every chance she gets.

Back at the shop, things are busy and exciting. We have tons of new product coming in every day, and hardly any time to display it. We’ve been very slowly re-merchandising corner by corner, with the hope that everything will be done by Supercrawl.

We just got these beautiful wooden bracelets by Voz Clothing and Art last week, and already I’m struggling to decide which colours I should take home. A huge new shipment of We Dream In Colour came in a few weeks ago as well, always a store favourite.

I’m thrilled to say we now carry pottery by Bread and Butter Pottery, a Halifax-based artist we met at the Beehive Craft Fair. I can tell you right now that every day those Bacon and Eggs don’t come home with me is a miracle of self-restraint.

On Friday we received a HUGE shipment of Steel Magnolia pieces, and they are already going fast. We have a ton of pieces out in the shop right now, and more that are waiting to be displayed.

Finally, Hollie and I have been doing a lot of vintage shopping for White Elephant lately, and I may have scored by favourite piece ever. This giant model sailboat is a dream come true, and at this point, a labour of love. The sails had to come off to fit this thing in my car, and since then I’ve spent hours trying to get it all back together. I think I finally succeeded.

That’s just a little taste of what’s being going on around these parts. There are so many exciting things happening these days, I can hardly keep up.

A Look Back

2011-08-23T09:34:00.001-04:00

These pictures came to us by way of our friend Matt Jelly, who received them from them another friend. Originally, these photos came directly from the owner of Hamilton Jewellers, a store that was on James Street North when these pictures were taken, and is still standing there today. I believe the current owner took these himself, back in the good ol' days.

When I saw them, the first thing I did was gasp at how pretty our little shop looks. I love how bright and vivid the purple tiles are, and that the original Susie's Cafe sign still hangs. Those tiles are the first thing Hollie and I ever noticed about our building, and for years we dreamed of one day operating White Elephant in it because of them. It's amazing to us that we are now in our dream building.

The more I looked around the picture, the more I am nostalgic for this forgotten time. Just look at Leon Furs in all it's glory. That sign is different than the one standing there today, but it is as beautiful as ever! And the House of Kay building is blowing my mind. What I wouldn't give to have something other than a vacant warehouse operating there today! It's also amazing to see that the picture and street scape extends past the Leon Furs building, and isn't just a gravel parking lot. Sigh.

Despite what we may have lost, isn't it amazing to look at this picture and realize James Street is now just as vibrant as ever? Leon Furs is in the process of being renovated as we speak, Susie's Cafe has been transformed into White Elephant, and the rest of the street is constantly undergoing some form of transformation. In the last five months we've seen Relish Vintage, Humble P ie, and Home all open their doors, and Mulberry Street Coffee House just celebrated their first anniversary as well. Good things are happening.

PS. It's not lost on me that there appears to be someone being arrested in front of our shop in the first picture. Some things never change.

Urban Planning

2011-08-17T14:28:00.019-04:00

This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of my favourite books, The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. I first read it when Mike and I moved back to Hamilton more than five years ago. I had always deeply romanticized the idea of living in Toronto, but once we actually made the move, that big city felt exceptionally lonely. We weren't a part of anything bigger. We moved back, finally felt at home, and started getting active within our community.

I initially read this book to help me better understand what elements need to be at play to create a truly great city. While reading it I couldn't stop nodding my head in agreement. Jacobs undeniably knows what she is talking about. I could recognize immediately that Hamilton has incredible potential to become a great city from what she spoke of. Her analogies are easy to understand and it's a highly informative, relevant and straightforward read. I find myself referencing this book often. I feel nerdy citing it as one of my favourite books, but it's true. You should read it.

Lately, we've been receiving a lot of comments on the blog from Torontonians about how we're making the idea of moving to Hamilton easier to digest. It's an amazing compliment to receive. If I could guess as to why, it's because we show an appreciation for the beauty that Hamilton has to offer. That we can be a diverse, vibrant and culture-filled city.

Yet, we're in the process of losing another building in our core. Yesterday demolition started on the Federal Building - a landmark I've known all my life. While not exceptionally beautiful or architecturally stunning, it is a crushing defeat all the same. And there has been a blatant disregard to properly save the stone panels that noted Canadian sculptor Elizabeth Holbrook was commissioned to create for the facade.

The Board of Education Building sits across the street, facing the same perilous fate of destruction. And I am tired of writing polite letters to city council asking them to change their views. I am tired of signing petitions. I am tired of getting invested in buildings which aren't my own only to see them torn down by shortsighted developers and council members. I am getting tired of fighting, and there is still so much work to be done, and I am still so young in the grand scheme of things. That is not a good sign when you have young people who are dying to be active in your municipality and your poor choices are making them apathetic. Engage your citizens. Make them proud.

I grew up spending time downtown. I am a born and bred Hamiltonian. I, with many others, am working tooth and nail to make this city a better place. To clean up our image to those who stick their nose up at us, as a primarily blue collar city. To make our downtown a place that people want to move to from other cities, or spend time in with their families. A core rifled with unused vacant buildings, and even worse, parking lots from the buildings that you've let be destroyed for little good reason, is not the best welcome mat. As a Hamiltonian who lives and works (and works and works and works) downtown, I demand better.

If you want to get involved and get your voice heard you can contact Jason Farr, the councillor for downtown Hamilton, and Mayor Bob Bratina. Let them know that heritage preservation is important, that reusing old buildings is almost always a better alternative to demolition. Let them know that we've already lost so much. You can check out this page on s aving The Board of Education building, before it's too late. We're a city of ambitious people. We always have been. I have to believe that we have the potential to create change.

And read Jane Jacobs. As much and as often as you can.

Sweetness

2011-08-10T17:15:00.010-04:00

I'm beginning to get nostalgic for summer already. It's been the best of recent years. Filled with bike rides and ice cream cones and beach trips and and great projects. I want to remember every second of it.

Apricots are one of my favourite summer fruits. My palette tends to leans more towards sour and spicy, which means I find their tart flavour intoxicating. They've got such a short season, so when I saw them appear at the market I knew I had to try my hand at preserving some. I preserved them in two ways - an apricot and honey jam, and the halved fruit in a medium syrup of sugar and honey. The trick to this both times was to let the fruit and honey and sugar macerate. The jam I let sit for a couple of hours, the preserves overnight. Holy moly. The pieces of fruit were literally dripping with sugary sweetness. I can't wait to crack open a jar in the winter accompanied with some good cheese.

And I think apricots look so darn pretty, too. Exactly like summer. I've been canning as much as possible these days. Stuff that I'll actually eat and appreciate come winter. Batches of jams and fruits and pickles and beans. I can't wait for tomatoes.

Summer isn't too busy around White Elephant. Both Jane and I believe in a really fair life/work balance, as hard as it can be with us both still working other jobs. We don't stress too much with huge projects in the summer. A new window display here, a little remerchandising, a couple of restocks of new product, but nothing overwhelming. We've gotten a lot of help from Krysten, Lindsay, and our newest addition, Carly, in terms of taking care of things here while our summer calendars get booked with weddings and farming and camping and generally taking advantage of every second of beautiful weather before the dark and the cold set in. We love these girls.

Besides, we have to save all of our energy for Supercrawl in September. It's going to be amazing this year, with an incredible lineup of musicians, artists and events. Jane and I have been brainstorming ideas for months, and it's really going to be go time in a couple of weeks on a couple of huge endeavors. Literally, huge. The definition being "extraordinarily large in bulk, quantity, or extent".

One smaller project that we have been meaning to get underway ever since we opened, probably, is to customize our shopping bags. We finally got around to ordering a new rubber stamp with our updated logo. Krysten got to stamping these just in time for this week's Art Crawl. We might take an exacto knife and trim off some excess rubber that is leaving extra markings, but we're kind of in love with the way they look. DIY perfection.

What was that I was saying about not really taking on big undertakings in the summer? Well, to be honest, this month is kind of an exception. But it's not my fault. It just kind of happened. Along with our regular Art Crawl festivities of candy and socializin' at White Elephant, which happen every month, we've got The Beehive Summer Craft Fair that will be happening this weekend as well. Which we planned the date aaaaallllll the way back in February. We're such a big collective, and we're a pretty efficient and organized group, so no complaints of overextension there.

But then, I was invited to participate in an art show. It was a very flattering offer, and I couldn't turn it down, to be shown alongside some really great talent. Thus, some of my photographs will be available to view during Farewells at Buttrum & Son (144 James Street North) this weekend. I've been back and forth to Toronto for 15 minute errands at Toronto Image Works about five times this month. I'm as happy as I can be about how they turned out, besides all that nasty, pesty insecurity about putting up pieces for display, that I imagine naturally comes along with things like this. The store and the craft fair, I am immeasurably proud of, but I am for the most part promoting other people's beautiful designs with all my hard work. These photos are my own. That's scary. Please be careful with my lionheart if you stop by for a peek.

It seems as though these things would happen in three's. Hopefully you'll be able to make it out to this month's crawl. It should be a great one. And the best way to bid goodbye to the sweetest of summers.

Cheese Please!

2011-08-08T09:15:00.004-04:00

Last week I came across a super easy Homemade Ricotta recipe on Shutterbean. So easy, I was determined to make it that very day. I guess when you are supposed to be packing up your apartment (I'm moving) making cheese is a way better idea.

I found the recipe here, but it's originally an Ina Garten recipe that you can find here.

Step 1: Gather your ingredients. Realize there isn't a good place in your kitchen to take pictures, so lay everything out nicely on the floor.

Step 2: Notice the recipe calls for "Good White Wine Vinegar" and NOT "Good White Vinegar". Become significantly less confused about what exactly constitutes Good White Vinegar. Be happy you have some White Wine Vinegar in the pantry, and re-take the picture.

Step 3: Cover a large sieve with a double layer of damp cheese cloth, and sit it over a large bowl. Get another large stainless steel pot out.

Step 4: Pour the milk and cream into the pot. Stir in the salt, and slowly bring it to a boil.

Step 5: Stir in the vinegar. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute. Argue in this time about whether you should put another layer of cheesecloth down. The vinegar will make the milk & cream start to curdle, turning it into curds and whey.

Step 6: After your timer starts beeping at you to let you know a minute is up, pour the mixture into the cheese cloth lined sieve. Let this sit for 40 minutes, occasionally discarding the liquid in the bowl.

Step 7: Realize you’re late for work. Ask your boyfriend to take a picture of the finished product for you. Become impressed with his cheese photo taking skillz. (You should also take the cheese out of the cheese cloth at this point, and put it in a bowl and eat it. You can cover it with saran wrap and it should keep in the fridge for 4-5 days.)

Come home later that night to discover your dog got into the garbage can and ate all the cheese-soaked cheese cloth. Watch in horror as she tries to wretch it up, but it gets stuck in her throat so you have to help pull it out. Have a fitful, sleepless night because you are terrified she ate more of it and it's going to cause a blockage in her stomach somewhere.

Wake up to the joyful sight that your dog is still happily alive. Begin searching for recipes to use your homemade ricotta with. I'm going to try this.

THE END.

PS. You can probably skip most of step 7. It's optional.

MARRIED

2011-08-03T09:35:00.001-04:00

On the weekend, a bunch of us had the immense pleasure of attending Kate & Erick’s wedding. It was amazing. First of all, have you ever seen such a beautiful set up? Kate crafted most of the decorations herself, her mom and aunt grew the flowers for all the centerpieces in their gardens, the Beehive girls made the beeswax candles, and Kate and the bridal party made the adorable jam favors that are sitting on each plate. Plus, the entire wedding party came the day before to start setting up. Kate even made her own wedding cake. Amazing, right?

Oh, but that’s not all. Outside there were croquet games and lawn bowling. Antique quilts in the grass for lounging, baskets of fresh fruit, lemonade, and after the ceremony…. Mojitos! I promise the pictures above are not staged, even though they look like some bizarre casual wear catalogue.

The wedding was held at Balls Falls Conversation Area, which has absolutely beautiful grounds. Our group arrived a little early, so we got to walk around and explore. The waterfall that area is named after had run completely dry. I think we might need some rain around these parts.

On the left is Kieran C. Dickson, demonstrating why he should be the next Lord of the Dance. Watch out Flatly, Kieran’s coming. (He was actually walking that way because he was so happy with his croquet playing, but Riverdance is so much more fun.) On the right is some more wedding loungers who I suspect were a few mojitos in at this point.

Here’s where the pictures get a little tipsier. I don’t have any pictures of the beautiful ceremony because my camera wasn’t good enough to capture anything but fuzziness inside the adorable old chapel. All the pictures from this point out are from the…. DANCE PARTY.

DJ Donna Lovejoy absolutely killed it with her musical selections all night; she had the whole wedding dancing for what must have been hours. At one point the school bus shuttle we had booked (yes, we took a school bus) arrived at the wedding to take us home, and a bunch of people came up to me to say “pleasssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeee…. just one more song!” I’m pretty sure that is the sign of a successful dance party. Even Hollie (who was the event’s official wedding photography) got to put down her camera and dance for the evening.

Kate & Erick danced their butts off as well, and managed to bring the adorable stag & doe that was originally intended for her wedding cake, but ended up as place holders at their sweetheart table onto the dance floor. Have you ever seen a cuter married couple?

All in all, it was an amazing night, and I’ve heard not one, but MANY people refer to it as the best wedding they’ve ever been to. Good job you guys, good job.

PS. YOU ARE MARRRRRRRRRRRRRIEEEEEEEEDDDDDDD

Busy Bees

2011-07-29T17:32:00.003-04:00

The Beehive Summer Craft Fair is only two weeks away, and we're all pretty excited about it. The Beehive ladies have been working non-stop to get things ready (some of them are even working non-stop while also planning their own wedding which happens to be tomorrow), and it's going to be awesome. Trust me.

Actually, you don't even need to trust me. If you've been following the Beehive blog, or if you've happened to glance at the Craft Fair website, you'll see the amazing amount of talented artists that are coming to the craft fair and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

Besides the amazing amount of talent, did you know that Donna Lovejoy will be DJing a special Friday night set, or that Amanda McCavour will be doing one of her amazing installations? I know, right? Fellow Bee Meg is also going to be busting out her old-fashioned, all-natural snow cone shack right next door too. Can you handle this? I can't.

Basically, it's going to be amazing, and you should start getting excited. Mark it in your calendars. Are you feeling pains of jealously? Wish you were involved? You can be. The Beehive ladies are looking for volunteers to help out on the August 12th and 13th at the craft fair. If you're up for the job send them an email to beehivecraftcollective[AT]gmail.com

PS. While I have your Beehive-related attention, have you heard about the Supercrawl Art Installation they are doing? They are knitting the entire facade of the brain, and looking for knitting helpers. You can read about it here and here. There is also a pattern available here for you to download and help.

Worker's Workroom

2011-07-26T09:39:00.011-04:00

Spending summer days in my studio. I'm surrounding myself with some pretty dreamy inspiration lately. Creams and tans and gold and lace. I've been trying really hard to make time to work on things in this place of my own. Mend things. Create things. To just slow down and simply think about things. It's getting easier and easier to do that.

I've had the chance to do some vintage collecting over the past couple of weeks, and have come across some incredible pieces. Some really incredible pieces. Before they make their way to the store, they sit in my studio with me. Among my most recent finds, a vintage wicker picnic basket in the shape of a suitcase with leather straps on the inside for holding cutlery and dishes and maybe, quite possibly, a bottle of wine. Beautifully aged leather straps to keep it shut too. I haven't decided if I want to part with this. Currently I'm imagining it strapped to the back of my bike.

This dress may be my favourite find ever. I feel like I say that a lot, but this one is beyond compare. A wartime cotton voile wedding gown with floral cut-work detailing, sheer short sleeves over a sweetheart neckline, and removable long fingerless gloves, all in a soft antiquated white. I tried to play dress up in this, but my hips didn't make the cut. I can't wait to see the beautiful bride that takes this home. In fact, I'd actually like to be invited to the wedding because I want to see the look on everyone's face as you walk down that aisle.

When we attended our friend's wedding in Mexico, they gave out paper fans on the beach. I took mine home and carried it around with me, finding it useful to have on hand in this heat that we're experiencing. I couldn't turn down this vintage Japanese paper fan when I saw it. Delicate cream paper dotted with silver sparkle paint and warm rose-toned wood. Stay hot forever, please.

It's funny, I love accessories - I opened a whole shop with my love of jewelry and adornments as a driving force - but lately I find myself returning to the most simple and the oldest pieces of jewelry that I own, again and again. The necklace is a tiny gold heart that I received as a baby. It has two small dents from where I used to bite on it while I was teething. The bracelet was given to me on my 25th birthday by my Aunt, who was given it on her 25th birthday. It's a delicate gold bangle with an etched floral design, and I believe has been in our family since the beginning of the 20th century. We have very few antiques or heirlooms on either side of my family, so this piece is very precious to me. I can (and do) wear these with anything.

If my 15 year old self could see me now, wearing all this gold jewelry, I'd probably gag myself with a spoon. The fact that I'm starting to dress like my mother, in more classic pieces, would totally not go over well either. Khaki slacks, navy stripes, buttoned up oxfords and huaraches. It's weird how that actually happens.

You'll probably see me in this outfit a number of times in the summer. Thrifted silk blouse and leather belt (which leatherworker Amy Kenny borrowed to make a similar belt herself out of the dimension s) and pleated cream skirt from Urban Outfitters that I bought a couple of years ago. I feel very daytime fancy in it. And a little bit like I should be drinking lemonade on a front porch swing somewhere in the South.

I bought this Field Notes notepad ages ago from Dave at Mixed Media. I bought it with the intention of doing something good with it. Filling it with really good things. It has, so far, remained empty. But I still carry it with me every day. I liked the steno book style of it, and though it'd be easier to use on my travels. I also kind of fell for the Hobo Symbol Quick Reference Guide on the back cover.

It will be filled with really good things soon.

My studio is home to most of my Beehive projects. I've finished up one scarf already for our knit installation piece, and chose these colours for my second one. I really like the combination of these two, Linen and Butterscotch from Lion Brand's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick collection. Even though it's been incredibly hot to knit, I'm really proud that I've actually been able to pick up knitting (and from a pattern at that!) again, and it keeps me going.

The ladies of the Beehive made beeswax candles in old mason jars a couple of weeks ago in celebration of Kate's upcoming wedding. We made them with the intention of her using them on all of her wedding tables. It took two evenings worth of work, and we made over 20 candles. Wanting to make sure that they would all actually work and stay lit, I took one to test it out. It worked! And smelled amazing.

My studio also holds my books, my embroidery, my sewing machine and quilting supplies, my collection of cameras and all of my photography equipment and darkroom supplies. At times, I think that I should stop stretching myself thin and focus on one interest to really develop it, but then I think that life is too short not to try your hand at everything. I'm okay with not always being the best. At least I gave it a good shot. I feel abundantly lucky to be able to have my very own space to try.

Roadside Woes

2011-07-20T09:08:00.000-04:00

On the way back from a camping trip this past weekend we hit traffic, bad traffic, just outside of Toronto. After sitting in a sweltering non-air conditioned vehicle for about 30 minutes without moving an inch, we finally turned on the radio to hear that the accident up ahead was so bad that all lanes of the 401 were closed. Oh, awesome. With a car full of campers, camping gear and a dog, what were we to do in this situation?

Chill out of course. We unpacked the camping chairs, dug out our books, searched through the coolers for left over drinks and snacks, and re-applied our sunscreen. Pepper even got a walk down the shoulder of the completely stopped 401. She was a big hit with the other stuck drivers.

After about 2 hours, police officers started turning cars around one by one on the highway. We had to drive the wrong way down the 401, pull a u-turn at the first exit we came to, and then we finally head towards home.

Hot Off The Presses

2011-07-14T09:27:00.001-04:00

We've had a steady stream of new goods coming in to the shop lately, so steady that it's been hard to keep up with all of it! One of the things I am most excited about is this huge new shipment of bow ties from Paukstukai. Straight from Lithuania, we can barely keep these amazing bow ties in stock. At $17 each, it's no wonder.

We feel super lucky to have the amazingly talented (and super duper lovely) Roisin of Bespoke Uprising living in Hamilton these days. Her studio is literally across the street from us, so we not only get the pleasure of seeing her on a regular basis now, but we also get fresh stock of her amazing tea towels. Score.

These uh-maz-ing lockets by Odd Bird Designs are a new product in the store, and we are drooling. We have a bunch of designs, and at $46 each, they're all equally lovely. Our intern Lindsay picked one up this week, and I have a feeling a lot more people will be doing the same.

Super cute items from a new artist in our shop, Sweetstitch Shop. Her tea wallets and pin cushions come in great fabrics, make perfect gifts, and only cost $15 and $10 respectively.

You better hurry if you want one of Jenna Rose's Hamilton Totes; we only have 10 in stock! At $38, these screened totes are hand-screened, sturdy and fully lined. I use mine every day and it has held up to some pretty tough beatings, as well as a boat load of drool from my dog.

Finally, we just got a new shipment from one of our favorite artists, Toronto-based Touch the Dutch. Her Canadiana line is absolutely amazing, and I am thrilled to be carrying the Canadian Hero Pin (above, right) back in the shop again. Plus... antler rings!

We've been steadily getting everything out in the shop this week, and we're still expecting more packages to arrive at our doorstep soon. Come check it out!

Summer Window

2011-07-12T13:43:00.005-04:00

Quilts, picnic baskets, fringed bikinis, kites and peonies oh my! This is probably one of my favourite windows we've ever had. It was pretty fun to conceptualize and put together. And it makes me so happy every time I walk by and catch a glimpse of it.

I filled it with as many things that remind me of summer loving as I possibly could. The Good Girl handbag from Erin Templeton, the Farm teatowels from Bespoke Uprising, Pinwheel Necklace from Homako, a wooden bookmark adorned with an acorn from Bliss In A Teacup, notebook from My Secret Admiral, turquoise handcrafted arrows from Verla Evans and a fox mask from Abigail Brown. I'd love to wear and bring all of these things to a picnic.

It's been pointed out that I need a polarized filter to get rid of the glare. I took this last photo with my iPhone and not my actual camera. I thought I had the correct filter at home for my camera, but then I remembered that I shattered it while working a wedding last year. Better than shattering my lens, though. I really can't have nice things.

I made the kite myself out of some vintage barkcloth we had hanging around our back room. The picnic basket was borrowed from our friend Laura. We bought some streamers from a party store in Mississauga, and the quilt is borrowed from Jane's own home. The juice jug which holds the arrows was found in the basement of our store when we moved in, and we acquired the badminton rackets on one of our many shopping trips. I picked up the bouquet of peonies (plus another one for inside the store) at the Hamilton Farmers' Market.

Oh, and we musn't forget about that incredible vintage bikini and boater hat, both of which will be available on Ainslie Wood Co. later this month. We've been so swamped with real life store that online store totally falls to the wayside. But keep checking back for a super relaunch with super cute new stuff for you to wear. Cross my heart.

Again!

2011-07-08T18:17:00.001-04:00

It's Art Crawl time again! We've been busy getting the store neat and tidy and full of new things. Hollie made the window look adorable this month, and we picked out picnic-themed candy to match. The weather is gorgeous, and there is going to be some amazing art this month. Can you think of a better reason to come out? I can't.

Cottage Featuring Dogs

2011-07-07T09:58:00.000-04:00

I got to spend a little bit of last weekend at our friends Jon Liz's cottage. Pepper came too, and Gabby. We carpooled up in Sean & Amy's station wagon, and Sean made a fence to keep the dogs and their drool in the back of the car. Unfortunately, Pepper just loves people too much, and she quickly found a way to get her head through. She rode like that for most of the 3 hour drive.

The cottage was on a gorgeous bay in Innisfil. The lake itself was big and cold, but completely refreshing on a hot Friday afternoon. The dogs, and there were lots of dogs, loved it.

To the left is Yeti. He is by far the most well behaved dog I know. He can high five! The gate was up so that we could keep Memphis, in the middle, off his leash. Left to his own devices he will find a squirrel or a nice smell, chase it into the woods, get lost, and never come back. Pepper is supposed to be the same, but her Basset Hound instincts are broken due to her crippling (but adorable) separation anxiety.

Boardgames, BBQ, Beers and Babies were some highlights of the weekend. Gabby got to play her first game of Settlers of Catan, which was good timing since she is moving away on Monday. Not to brag or anything, but I won. Bam.

While Amy took the dogs for a final walk before going home, Sean & Doug decided to try to bring a bike rack back to Hamilton. The most logical way that two engineers decided to do this, was by throwing some logs on top of the car, sitting the roof rack on top of the logs, and then tying it all down with straps that loudly vibrated in the wind for the entire drive. At least we provided entertainment for the other cars?

Simple Syrup

2011-07-05T13:48:00.011-04:00

I got some Ontario strawberries from the market that were going to go bad if they weren't used up quickly. These weren't the first strawberries I'd be taking home this season, and I had already made a big batch of jam, and various baked goods previously. I decided to make some strawberry lemonade inspired by this recipe. I wanted to use a lot more strawberries than this recipe called for, so I loosely adapted it based on what I had, and how much I wanted to make. It's such a simple concoction, that I wasn't too worried about playing around with the ratios.

6 cups of hulled strawberries
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 cups of lemon juice
3 cups water
Fresh mint and whole strawberries to garnish

Puree the hulled strawberries. In a saucepan, heat 1 1/2 cups of water and the sugar just enough so that the sugar completely dissolves, making a simple syrup. Add the syrup to the strawberries, along with the lemon juice. Add remaining cups of water to dilute. Let cool. Garnish with whole strawberries and mint, pour over ice and serve.

I didn't bother straining out the chunks with a cheesecloth, because I don't mind pieces of fruit in my drinks. I loved this drink. And while raiding my in-laws liqour cabinet, I found a bottle of Sloe Gin, which I have been searching for at LCBO's across the province for probably about two years now. And that's not including the McGuiness brand, which I don't expect to be prepared authentically. Although I don't think this was a particularly fine bottle that I tried, it mixed pretty well with the lemonade. A tart and refreshing summer drink. With or without the sloe gin.

Many Happy Returns

2011-07-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

I threw Mike a birthday BBQ this past holiday Friday. We had over family and good friends to help us celebrate, mainly by eating good food. Both Mike and myself have birthdays that fall over long weekends, his with Canada Day and mine with Thanksgiving. This can be a blessing and a curse, as we often get an extra day to celebrate, but it means that sometimes friends are out of town camping or at cottages, or that you have to have turkey family dinners three nights in a row. Which isn't actually that bad.

The weather was perfect all weekend long. We spent our time outside from sunrise to sunset each day.

I made my own hamburgers and bought homemade sausages from Jepson's Meat at the market. I made some batches of mint lemonade and limeade, and baked a strawberry rhubarb crisp and a vegan strawberry banana coconut loaf. I've been experimenting with a lot of vegan baking lately, mostly for my friend Amanda, and everything seems to turn out so dense. This loaf tasted pretty great, but I'll have to try again to see if I can get it to rise any more. I put a sparkler in the strawberry rhubarb crisp and it was as cute as any cake.

My dream is to make a birthday cake like Nikole Herriot from Forty Sixth at Grace makes a birthday cake. Oh man, so beautiful. Next year will be Mike's 30th. I might make it my goal for that special occasion.

We live close to Bayfront Park, so at dusk the whole lot of us headed over on foot, on bikes and with wagons in tow to watch the Canada Day fireworks display. We spotted an empty clearing from the top of the hill to lay down our blankets, which was surprising for how attended the event always is. I'm a real sucker for fireworks, and Bayfront is a spectacular location for them. My favourite are the super sparkly ones. No really, I don't know how else to describe them except the sparkly ones that look like waterfalls of glitter. You know the ones I mean.

We ended up celebrating again with friends on Saturday (his actual birthday) and poolside at his parents house on Sunday. I wouldn't be upset if every weekend in the summer consisted of barbeques, ice cream, fireworks and bike rides. It's like the definition of the season. And it is absolute perfection.

Oh, Canada

2011-07-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

There's no better way to spend Canada Day than with the people you love, some good BBQin', and sweet sunshine. Cold gin and lime juice in mason jars helps too, I guess.

We'll be spending today celebrating Mike's birthday. There are plans for bike rides and fireworks later in the evening, and I can't think of a more perfect cap to the night. I hope your weekend is excellent.

Concrete Jungle

2011-06-27T09:50:00.000-04:00

I went to New York almost a month ago now, but I uploaded all the pictures on the day my hard drive crashed, so it's taken me a while to get a chance to post about it. It was my first trip to New York, and even though we were only there for a weekend, I feel like I did SO much. I'm excited to go back again now, and spend more time in some of the places I loved, and check out the ones I wish I had managed to squeeze in.

We stayed in a beautiful apartment in Brooklyn, that Doug’s parents found online. It was the top floor of a three-storey Brownstone, and managed to fit Doug & I, his parents, and his brother all in one apartment. Not bad Brooklyn, not bad.

The owner of the building was a model who traveled a lot, and decorated the apartment with pieces she found all over the world. There were tons of interesting things to look at all over, and I really appreciated the personal touches.

Once we dropped off our bags at the apartment, we hopped on the subway over to Manhattan, and were non-stop busy. We left the apartment early each morning and came back around midnight each night, completely exhausted. We took the sweltering Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty, ate amazing food, rode those double-decker bus tours all over the city, saw Harry Potter and John Larouquette sing & dance in How To Succeed in Business Without Ever Really Trying, and more.

The highlight of the trip for me was our bike ride around Central Park. Next time I go back to New York, I plan to spend a lot more time there, taking it all in. I always knew the park was big, but I think gargantuan might be a better word. Later, when we stood on top of 30 Rock and looked down, the sheer enormity of it kind of took my breath away. We biked that?

Also, while we were riding I got to see a sky-typing marriage proposal. Interesting fact: this sky-typing required 6 planes to do it, but is still a hell of a lot cheaper than sky-writing. This was actually the first of two proposals I saw while in New York, the second one happened in Times Square later that afternoon. I’ve never seen any marriage proposals in my life, and in one day I saw two? New York: The City of Love?

With a lot of area to cover in a very short period of time, the bus tours were actually a great way to see the city. The enjoyableness of the experience was pretty much directly related to how good the tour guide was, and in this department we hit the jackpot, and rock bottom. We saw an entire spectrum of tour guides in our three days there, and some of our bus tours became more of a character study than a city tour. Even so, it was worth it. Now that I’ve seen a quick overview of almost the entire city by bus, I know which areas I want to go back and see more of.

New York, I think you made a fan out of me.

Back Garden

2011-06-23T09:16:00.001-04:00

Our backyard has been my favourite place to spend time as of late. We're lucky enough to have a nice, big, private space in the city, and I've been making good use of it - tending to our garden, working on my computer outside, or just enjoying the sunshine and the company of my cats.

Asparagus starts for the farm that are itching to be transplanted (but that we won't be able to eat for four more years), my San Marzano tomatoes plants, and some arugula sprouting. I'm anxiously awaiting for my tomatoes to develop, so that I can pick them, eat them, can them, and eat them some more. San Marzanos are widely considered to be the best sauce tomatoes, and I'm really looking forward to testing this belief. Especially over and over again in the dead of winter.

Not that I'm thinking about or looking forward to winter, per say.

We hung our clothesline a couple of weekends ago, a project that we've been meaning to do since we moved in. And I now smell each piece of dry clothing at least three times before it's folded in the hamper.

The pots in the background were full of hops plants, growing beautifully with their vines starting to wrap around the fence. My plan was to transplant them at the farm this weekend, but two days ago I caught a squirrel chewing through the stem of one of them. I shooed him away and upon closer inspection, I noticed that he had gotten to all of them, and mangled them terribly. Heartbreak.

Later on that day, my neighbour mentioned in passing that one of my cats has killed two squirrels in the past little while, and I couldn't help but do a little victory dance inside of my head. I really wanted to grow those hops. Next year.

When I was younger, I had a spring horse at my grandparents house. It was one of my favourite toys, and I often still think about it. Its image appears in my dreams frequently. Last year, Jenna and I went to the Waterford flea market, and I couldn't pass up on this one, for some reason. I love the colours, and the detailing, and the fact that the legs are actually wooden. I keep it in the backyard now for when younger visitors come over to play.

My lavender plant blooming again from last year, and the ground covering stonecrop that the previous owners must have planted. I was nervous about my lavender coming back this year, after reading that some people have difficulty growing it, but it came back bigger than ever. I'm really interested in trying to use it in different preserving recipes this summer. I really hope it blooms enough so that I'm able to try.

Grow From the Inside

2011-06-21T01:40:00.002-04:00

Life at home is pretty good these days. Tomorrow's date is the two year anniversary (thank you, five year diary) of my first evening shift in Toronto, with the work contract that would slowly eat away at my soul. It broke me down so much that I didn't even realize that it had been two whole summers of commuting the opposite hours of my husband, and most of my friends, and the world in general. I really didn't have time to take in a lot of the smaller pleasures of day to day life. These past five months of spare evenings that I've had since leaving my job in January have been incredible and rejuvenating, and it just seems to keep getting better.

I know I've talked about it a lot, but I just can't get over how different my life is these days. And I am very grateful.

I made jam for the first time on the weekend. As my shift at the farmer's market was coming to an end on Saturday night, a vendor friend of mine asked if I wanted to take home some raspberries that he couldn't sell and was going to get rid of anyways. Mike and I spent Sunday morning picking out all the good berries from about 150 pints, and I ended up making just under a dozen jars of pretty delicious jam.

I also baked my first two loaves of bread. We ate them before I thought of taking any photos. Two once intimidating cooking/baking/canning projects under my belt. I'm ready to run away to the Yukon and live in a cabin in the woods now.

Working on my first personal embroidery project in ages, I've decided to do my first sampler, and learn all the stitches and techniques properly. I'm going through the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework (a Beehive favourite) and teaching myself stitch by stitch. I'm particularly inspired by this sampler, and love the idea of working on something similar once I finish this "practice run" of mine.

I've been making frequent trips to Central library and taking home books on weaving and blackwork embroidery, trying to satiate my urge to learn about all forms of textile craft. It feels really good to be able to have the time to create with my hands again, and to learn how to do things properly.

Because their needlework guide is so informative, I couldn't pass up on the Reader's Digest edition of Success with House Plants when I saw it at Value Village. I have never, ever, had luck with houseplants, except for the really hardy Pothos. You couldn't kill one of those if you tried. But, I'm like, kind of a farmer now or something, so I figure I just have to give it another shot.

This book seems pretty extensive and really helpful. I've seen it a couple more times since I found my copy, so I'd suggest picking one up if you want a good guide for house plants. Fingers crossed that it will help me. I really want to be that house with macrame planters hanging in every square inch of natural light.

More free time means more free time at the farm which means more free time wandering through the brush looking for magical things and actually coming across them, like this fox skull. I love you, fox skull.

A rare good thing to come out of working was my tax return. Which I haven't even received yet due to the Canada Post worker's strike, but promptly bought a pair of TOMS Grey Chambray Cordones with it in mind. They are classic and adorable, and I didn't have them more than a week when I got a spot bleach on one of them. A common theme in my life is the struggle between being completely utilitarian and having an overwhelming desire to keep my nice things nice. Utilitarianism wins more often than not.

Life is good. Along with all of my personal self-bettering projects, I'm working on a couple of really exciting ones for White Elephant and The Beehive as well. I'm really looking forward to this Summer. How about you?