The Scadding Cabin

December 3, 2012November 11, 20144 Comments

Last Saturday, Alex and I went for a walk, determined to take some blog photos despite the cold. We walked over to The Scadding Cabin which is just down by Lake Ontario, at the bottom of our street, and the light was so perfect, we decided it would be fun to take film photos instead of digital ones. Neither of us know a thing about photography, so we just kind of let the scenery and the sunset do all the work, and we are pretty happy with how they turned out…. It made us both want to learn a thing or two about film cameras, though, so that we can take even nicer ones in the future. These are our favorites from the roll of film we finished.

The Scadding Cabin, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have a very exciting, or scandalous history (except, maybe for the fact that John Scadding was killed by a falling tree), but it is the oldest building in Toronto!

The cabin was build in 1794, by John Scadding, who managed Colonel John Graves Simcoe’s estate back in England. John Scadding followed his employer to Canada in 1792 and built himself a tiny little one bedroom log cabin which burnt down, so he built himself another one, which is this one here. The cabin was moved from the east bank of the Don River, where it was originally built, to the Exhibition grounds, by the York Pioneers and Historical Society as a historical exhibit for the first Industrial Exhibition.

Apparently they open the cabin up for visits every year at the Canadian National Exhibition, which Alex and I actually went to this Summer, but we must have been too distracted by tilt-a-whirls and broken down fun houses to notice. Maybe next year we’ll take a peek inside.

Outfit Details:

Alex:

Velvet floral jumper, blouse, belt and bag: Thrifted

Watch: Nixon

Black desert boots: Aldo

Meaghan:

Sweater: Brandy Melville

Skirt: Urban Outfitters

Tan chelsea boots: Asos.com

Posted by Meaghan

Dundurn Castle

November 19, 2012November 11, 2014Leave a comment

Photos by Matt!

Navy Shift Dress: H&M
Mustard Orange Collared Silk Blouse: vintage DKNY
Navy Trapeze Swing Wool Coat: vintage
Black Thigh High Socks: Target
Cork Heeled T-strap Sandals: Bass
Brown Leather Bag: thrifted (in the hallway of my old apartment building)

Recently my boyfriend Matt and I took a day trip to Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. We were passing through on our way back to Toronto from a wonderful time in Niagara Falls (which deserves it’s own post). Matt grew up in Hamilton and told me about this beautiful Castle that he thought would be fun to take a look at.

It was such a strange day. Sunny blue skies, and then down pours on and off all day. Fortunately for us, it immediately stopped raining when we got to the Castle. Just enough time for us to take a peek around before the rain started up again. The Castle was not open to take a look inside, which did slightly disappoint me. But the grounds were beautiful, so it did not bother me too much.

Dundurn Castle built in 1835, belonged to Sir Allan McNab, a lawyer, landowner, railway magnate and Premier of the United Canadas from 1854-1856. The Estate was built around the brick shell of Col. Richard Beasley’s colonial home.The land it is located on is known as Burlington Heights. The British Army, during the War of 1812, established a military post at the site. Sir Allan MacNab later used elements of the post into the construction of Dundurn Castle during the 1830’s. There are some old forts that have now been turned into pretty little gardens. Unfortunately they were locked, so I only got to peek over some fences (which were the same height as me). Had I been a little more adventurous (or wearing different shoes and maybe pants) I would have hopped over.

There was a pretty little back house behind the Castle which interested me the most. Again, it was locked so I could only peer through windows to take a look inside. It looked a little more touristy than I had hoped. You could tell it had been restored from its original condition. It did look old, but not the old I was hoping for.There were more people roaming the grounds than I would have liked. It was difficult to get a nice picture of any of the buildings without having a family, wedding party, or small child in the shot. The rain didn’t keep anyone away that day.

As soon as we got back into the car the rain came pouring down. Matt said it was fate, the sun had been shining just for us.

On the way home Matt and I went to pick up some bagels and pastries to bring home with us. And I had to stop myself from visiting any vintage stores along the way. Which wasn’t too difficult, because I had no intention of being in the rain any longer than was necessary. Once we picked up Gus (my pup) from Meaghan’s, we spent the rest of the evening on the couch watching Reservoir Dogs and eating homemade pizza.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Bye all!

Posted by Alex

Welcome!

November 11, 2012November 11, 20147 Comments

Hello, and welcome to Larkspur! In this blog we’ll be posting about weekly shop updates to our (soon to come!) vintage Etsy store, craft and DIY projects, as well as other fashion related things that we like! We always love to hear from readers, so don’t be shy to leave comments with your thoughts/suggestions/questions or a link to your own blog/shop. We’re pretty excited about getting our shop started, and we’ll keep you updated as we progress.

Hi there! My name is Alex, I’m 24 and live in Toronto with my sweet little Bichon Frise, Gustave (the light of my life). In addition to being in love with fashion since I can remember, I’m also a professional dancer, which is what brought me to Toronto 5 years ago.

I met Meaghan only 1 year ago, but we instantly clicked. We share the same fashion and lifestyle aesthetic, which brought us to decide to start our own Etsy shop, as well as this Blog. On top of adoring her, I also think she has a great eye for all things vintage and can’t wait to put our minds together and see what beautiful things we can thrift together for all you wonderful people.

My name is Meaghan. I got into blogging and Etsy probably three or four years ago -with the exception of an extended hiatus or two – and have loved every minute of it.

I live with Lola, my Dachshund, in our cozy little tuna can in Toronto. I moved here from Montreal almost two years ago, when I was hired as a flight attendant. This city feels like home now, thanks to friends like Alex.

It won’t take you long to see why I’m so excited to work alongside Alex – she’s a wonderful, funny, creative girl with an absolutely amazing eye for nice things, and we’re ready to put our heads together to offer you guys a great selection of vintage gems!