Fall

It's Fall.

It's a precious time of year that reminds as all to take care of ourselves.

When our noses start to get stuffed up we need to take that echinacea, and eat some healthy homemade soup with extra kale added that we grew ourselves.

Your body is having as hard a time as your mind is with the change of the season.

Embrace it.

Reach out and grab those leaves falling from the trees. Give extra cozy hugs to all your friends. Have a soup party. Bake bread. Dance in your wool socks while listening to your fall soundtrack - what ever that may be.

Don't forget your coat.

Don't forget to thank Mother Earth. For providing what we need. For providing us with all this- all the seasons, the things that fill you with wonder. The sun that shines through the kitchen window. The sun that's different from the summer sun but just as glorious.

Fall reminds us to take care for winter. To stock our shelves, to harvest, to bring out the sweaters and socks we forgot existed. To buy those huge squash at the market, to buy the last summer fruit you can find and freeze it so you can taste a summer-sun strawberry smoothie months from now.

It's a time when you feel relief from the hot, hot summer months.

It's a time when you make plans. When you feel excited for the Winter to come. When you look forward to cuddles and coziness and good books and knitting and candles burning and discovering things about your lover you never knew before until you took the time to lay in bed with them and stare into their eyes for 35 minutes while keeping one another warm.

Happy Equinox!

Happy Fall!

I am filled with love and wanting to share.

Here is a fall mix for you.

I am totally 100% addicted to Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.

And Van Morrison.

And all I want to do is drink coffee and wear tights.

xo So much Love,

-C

Black eyes and fresh food

We are getting to be really busy these last few days, Dan started his exams, I picked up an extra shift today, and we are packing! As I write this Dan is sitting next to me packing up books and art supplies, humming along to Bob Marley. But, We have a few photos floating around that I wanted to share so here they are....

















At Dan's work (he works as a cook at a tapas bar and also a bar back) they had a Post Apocalyptic Fetish Night (what?) and those photos are the result of his costume... When he came home from work late that night I had no idea he was going to have a fake black eye and it really scared me for a minute.


















This is our lunch from Yesterday. French bread from a bakery in the Market here, 2 yummy Quebec cheeses, free-run eggs, Ontario green house tomatoes and really good Quebec spinach! Along with homemade mayonnaise, homemade chutney (that Dan's sister Rach gave us for Christmas) and black tea! Best lunch ever!
We went to the Market on Sunday (after we had a great (late) brunch at the Scone Witch, which is a really nice brunch/lunch place here and worth checking out!) and picked up some fresh Ontario produce, including these small red skinned potatoes. I thought we should use them for potato salad which is exactly what we did! It was so good and Dan plated it so beautifully! Such a summery meal!

Hearts,
-Ceilidh

TheSis Crew

Today I am writing about two of my favorite designers, and my best friends, who make up TheSis crew. Marnie and Lauren are sisters who live in Nelson BC, in a beautiful little mountain home! Marnie has been doing design work for ever working with clothing, printing, interior design etc., Lauren recently finished fashion design school in Vancouver BC, and is a magical fashion designer. They both dress amazingly well too!

















Marnie and Lauren on a trip they went on last summer to Montreal.

I have picked a few of my favorite pieces from there Etsy shop to show you here (and a few pieces that aren't on their etsy shop yet). Marnie and Lauren hand make clothing, re purpose used and vintage clothing, make jewelery, and Marnie also is an illustrator and makes prints of her works (found on her calendars in there Etsy shop)

Lauren's new creation, the t-shirt bandage dress and one of Marnie's summer collage t-shirt dresses.

Marnie's summer crop top paired with Laurens appliqued skirts(neither are available online yet) and another Bandage dress (this one is made from an old recycled sweater).

Their stuff is really, really hot and they are such lovely gals that it makes it all even better, you can read more about Lauren and Marnie on their blog here. And one last photo....

Marnie, Lauren and I at a friends birthday party before I left Nelson.

Hearts and extra love to M and L!
-C

Falling into place

Yesterday was a good day. We had been getting a bit worried about moving out to Halifax at the end of the month. We had no idea how we were going to get there, let alone how we were going to get all of our stuff there, and then yesterday everything seemed to fall right into place. Not only in terms of moving, but a few other things too. We've even got an apartment in Halifax that's 99% sure to be ours! It's nice when stuff like that happens!

Last night I made a really yummy, really healthy, really local warm salad for dinner. We didn't get to take any pictures of it, but at least I can tell you all about it!

Basically it consisted of some boiled, then thinly sliced and pan-fried beets, kale fried with maple syrup, pan-fried carrot and parsnip, hemp hearts, apple, parsley and goat cheese. Holy cow was it good! And eating a meal like that just makes you feel so good, getting those 5-10 servings of fruits and veggies in one bowl of salady-goodness.

We've been really busy lately trying to get stuff in order, so, sorry about the lack of posts. Hopefully we'll get some more going soon. In the mean time you should watch the show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution". He is the coolest friggin' chef ever, and he's awesome in so many ways.
Also, cook some food, play or listen to some music, sing, enjoy spring, send a letter, take a day off from everything, learn something new, read a book, finish something you've started, start something new, and have lots of fun! That's what we'll be doing for the next little while.

Um, Yes!

I just found this Metric video and I am in love with it (but mostly just with Emily Haines, the lady singer). She is SUCH a babe! Phew!

METRIC - Sick Muse - OFFICIAL VIDEO from Metric Music on Vimeo.

Check out her solo stuff too, She is a gem! Plus, she does one of the best covers of Don't think twice, it's alright , in my opinion, with her Metric band mate James Shaw (which is also one of my favorite songs to sing with Dan!). Also, they are a Canadian band, which just kind of adds to how wonderful they are.

Right now I am going out to enjoy a Shirley Temple and watch a movie at this cool restaurant called the Imperial, It's really close to where we live, and my friend Rene hosts cool movies there every Tuesday for free! Tonight he is showing Harold and Maude. In the past 2 months I have had 4 Shirley Temples, after not having them for years. They are so good!!!

Hearts,
-C

Tea, yogurt and more!

As Ceilidh mentioned yesterday, we've been doing some pretty fun creative projects lately, so I'll tell you about a couple that I did, along with some food that I cooked the other night!

First was a (very late) birthday present for my Dad. He's a pretty big tea drinker, so after thinking about a few different options I decided to make some tea as "from scratch" as I could. No, I didn't grow the tea, but I mixed up a couple different black teas with cinnamon, cloves, a touch of pepper, and a few dried cranberries. Then, I put that all into tea bags which I sewed up and put on little tags. Finally, Ceilidh covered an empty tea box with brown paper, and I put all the tea bags inside.

Later, I decorated it a bit, put the ingredient list and a description of the tea, and finally my parents' address and sent the box in the mail just like that. I called it "Shelter From the Storm" because my dad is a big Dylan fan, and because the name fit the tea pretty well.

A few days ago I made something that we've been meaning to make for a while: Yogurt! It's easier than you could ever imagine, and takes less time than you'd think. Use whole milk to get nice thick yogurt, add granola and honey and enjoy!



Heat one quart of milk to 180°F. Cool to 113°F. Mix a bit of the milk with a couple tablespoons of yogurt. Add that mixture back into the milk. Let sit in a warm place for at least 5 hours. Refrigerate.




A couple years ago when I was living in France my Dad would constantly tell me that I should go out for omelette et frites. The other night, that's what we had for dinner! It's a quick, easy meal. Deep frying the fries takes a while, but if you don't have the time, you can bake them, or just pan fry the potatoes, for a less oily meal. Bon appetit!

As of Late.....

Lately, Dan and I have been getting up to some pretty creative endeavors, but we have also been taking a lot of time to enjoy the spring sunshine. We have been sitting on the porch a lot basking in the sun (I pretend I am a cat) and playing guitar. We have such a cute little neighbour, she is probably3, who likes to join in on her ukulele.

Our bed is a really good place
to lay in the sun too.

We received roses from a family friend of Dan's, as a congratulations for something we will surely be talking about soon on here!!! And I bought some really great cotton which I am going to knit into pretty baby things for my sisters soon-to-be- baby! The colours are glorious!

My favorite project I have gotten up to recently was making special valentines day cards for a bunch of my girl friends in BC. Above is the one I sent to my best friend L. They turned out really lovely and were so much fun to make and I know they brought smiles to the faces of my friends. Plus, I got some pretty great mail in return (my favorite chocolate, hand made Alice in Wonderland envelopes, machine sew cards!).

















And, Last but not least, Dan and I bought a new to us Polaroid camera yesterday after we sourced out a few places online where you can still buy film! We are really excited about it because we are using it for a very special project (details to come!), now we just need to wait for our film to arrive. Also, if you are wondering how we get our pictures to be all cool and polaroid-y now we use this really simple program (that is kinda annoyingly slow) called Poladroid, which you can download for free here!

Hearts,

-C