Kinfolk Things

December 30, 2013November 11, 20144 Comments

If I said I was spoiled this Christmas, that would be an understatement. Friends and family were exceedingly generous and I feel so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful humans (thank you thank you, i love you). Now that things are winding down, I’m back in Toronto and the weather will remain cold for another few months (butts to that!), all I want to do is cook, bake (and eat!) and curl up under my new HBC blanket, drinking tea and having conversations with the ones I love. My boyfriend gave me The Kinfolk Table for Christmas, which is probably where the desire to stay indoors, make delicious food and enjoy the simple pleasures in life is coming from. Feeling major cozy lazy floppy vibes these days.

The dress I’m wearing I bought almost exactly one year ago during my trip to Austin, Tx. It’s another one of those articles that doesn’t get much wear. I love the color (cream4evr), silhouette, fabric and fit, but it’s just a bit too short for my taste. It seems to me some foolish person shortened it, which I absolutely cannot understand. Could you imagine if this dress was a midi dress…or even floor length? My god, It would be the dress of my dreams (pls, let us be married).

Dress: vintage via a small shop in Austin, Tx.
Hat: vintage via Common Sort
Slippers: canvas ballet slippers

Austin, Tx – Part 3

January 21, 2013November 11, 20144 Comments

On our third and final day in Austin, we tried to cram in as much sight seeing as possible before we had to drive back to the air port to catch our flight. We had talked about seeing the Barton Springs pretty much the entire time we were in Austin. The Barton Springs is a set of 4 natural water springs located in Zilker Park, where they have a man-made swimming pool that is filled with water from the main spring. It really is a beautiful sight, and had it not been under construction, or incredibly chilly, I would have loved to jump in!

During our trip, Matt kept saying he thought pretty much everywhere we went had been a place where they filmed a scene of Dazed and Confused. Although, I think in this case, he was correct. They did film a scene at one of Austin’s many Moonlight Towers, which was indeed located in Zilker Park. Pretty neat!

One thing I truly did love about Austin, and I can say this about several cities in the States, is that they have these adorably coloured houses. We would drive down entire streets, each house being totally unique in colour and style. I’d point to almost every house and notify Matt that I would like to live there. If I had taken a picture of every house I liked, there would probably be 100 photos to share. So we only took a few.

That’s about it for Austin! I would love to go back during the warmer months to really experience all the city has to offer, in terms of outdoor recreation. I really didn’t expect it to be as chilly as it was, and I definitely did not pack my suitcase with that in mind, hence the re-occurence of my big wool cardigan.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I spent most of my time putting the final touches on my apartment, which had been taking a back seat for the last few weeks. Feels nice to walk into my home with my frames on the walls, rather than on the floor.

*photos by Matt and I

Velvet Dress: thrifted and shortened by me
Cardigan: Vintage
Tights: Target
Boots: Mizz Mooz
Bag: Vintage
Crystal Necklace: gift from Matt
Gloves: gift from Meaghan

Austin, Tx – Part 2

January 14, 2013November 11, 20142 Comments

On our second day in Austin, we really didn’t take that many pictures, on account of the majority of our(my) time was spent shopping. The first evening had also fooled us into thinking it would be a lot warmer in Texas than it actually was. After shopping for about 1 hour I had to go back to our hotel to change into something a little warmer. Which was disappointing, as I was wearing one of my favourite dresses that Meg and I actually share custody of. We both fell madly inlove with this dress in the summer and decided to purchase it together.

We were lucky enough to be staying on South Congress Ave, which is home to an abundance of vintage and antique stores, and some delicious ~~wildly unhealthy~~ food. It was a bit unfortunate for Matt, as generally most vintage stores carried only women’s clothing. I am however, quite fortunate to have a boyfriend who will never complain about my lengthy and tedious quest to pick and try on clothing. Uncommon Objects was one of my favourite stores. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but if you have the time and patience, you can leave with some pretty amazing antique finds. I didn’t buy anything for myself, but I bought a little jewellery box from 1912 for Meg.

Austin also has an amazing array of food trucks. Gourdough’s has some pretty insane donut selections – yellow cake batter with fudge, apple pie filling with cream cheese icing, caramel and peanuts. Mighty Cone puts just about anything in a cone – chicken, shrimp, hot dogs, avocado. It was also vegetarian friendly which I thought was nice.

our hotel

yummmm! Gourdough’s!

In the evening we went to see The Body Shop at The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. I don’t normally like going to see movies while I’m on a trip, but Matt had told me about this theatre, and I knew we had to go. They have a full dinner and drinks menu (and bottomless popcorn!!!) that you can order from at any point throughout the movie. I wish Toronto had something like this. It makes the experience of going to a movie an actual event. Before the movie we took a walk around downtown Austin, and took a peek inside The Driskell Hotel built in 1886, which is said to be haunted.

Next week I’ll share with you my third and final day in Austin. For the time being I’ll dream of that delicious donut that made my teeth sting so much. Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was filled with lazy TV watching and silly card games with some good friends.

*photos by Matt and I

First Outfit:

Dress: Vintage
Tights: Target
Cardigan: UO
Shoes: Bass
Bag: Vintage

Second Oufit:

Shirt: Vintage DKNY
Pants: Cheap Monday
Trench: H&M
Socks: Target
Shoes: Bass
Bag: Vintage
Beret: Thrifted

Austin, Tx – Part 1

January 7, 2013November 11, 20144 Comments

As a Christmas gift this year, my wonderful boyfriend Matt surprised me with a trip to Austin, Texas to ring in the New Year and spend a couple days thereafter enjoying this beautiful (and friendly) city. One thing I knew I wanted to do during our trip was see a small western town. So with the help of the wonderful people working at our hotel, we got directions to a town that we could visit for a day trip. Matt had rented a car for the trip, which was a true life saver. I doubt we would have seen as much as we did without it. Especially, Wimberley, Tx.

Wimberley, located in Hays County, Texas, is a quaint town about 40 minutes outside Austin. The concierge at our hotel told us to take the scenic route to get there, and I am so glad we did. Looking out the car window all you could see was sprawling lands that went on for miles and miles. My excitement reached an ultimate high when we got to Wimberley and drove on a small gravel road right through a river (!!!) Unfortunately it was New Year’s day, so almost every shop was closed in town. But some friendly locals told us of some places we could visit, if only to see the old buildings and shops. I would just like to say every single person I met in Texas was incredibly friendly. They are some of the most hospitable people I have ever met. It was one of the first things we noticed. You were welcomed into almost every store/restaurant with a big friendly hello and smile. It felt wholly different than Toronto. I even heard a person say a genuine “Yeehaw!” This excited me more than it should have.

Here are a few photos we took in Wimberley. I apologize for the blurryness of some. My (also wonderful) parents bought me a DSLR for Christmas and I was still getting the hang of it at the beginning of the trip. So much to my dismay, a large number of photos from Wimberley turned out blurry.

wimberley7

After Wimberley, Matt wanted to have dinner at the infamous Salt Lick located in Driftwood, which we were told was not far from Wimberley. Being a vegetarian, there was very little to eat. I had some delicious mashed potatoes and coleslaw. But Matt got just about every barbecued meat they had to offer (or at least it seemed that way to me).

I’ll have a few more posts to share with you (I have not even said anything about Austin!!!), as I took about 500 photos during our trip. I hope you all had a great weekend!

*Photos by Matt and I

Dress: Vintage
Cardigan: Vintage via Public Butter
Necklace: Gift from matt’s mom
Socks: U/O
Shoes: Miz Mooz borrowed from Meg
Bag: Vintage via Junction Flea