Natural State

November 6, 2014November 11, 20148 Comments

Here are a few images I finally got developed from the Summer, when Ryan and I were camping in Bruce Peninsula National Park. These photos were taken at Horse Lake, which we had all to ourselves while shooting. I kind of wish I had brought more film with me – like I had in previous years while camping – but to be honest, the trip was more about relaxing, being with nature and each other, and sometimes it’s nice to just ignore your camera and not have any expectations for yourself.

I kind of like how rough these turned out – rough in the way that my hair is sort-of messy, and my makeup is barely there, and you can really notice my very questionable posture for a dancer. I like how film feels imperfect, and real, and that I, just like film, am imperfect, and real. There is something so liberating about not be able to check yourself in the mirror before shooting. I mean, when I shoot for this blog, I don’t bring a mirror with me to the location (I’m just too lazy to care about something like that), but before I leave the house, without a doubt, I have made sure I look okay. And with technology aka DSLRs, you can see what you look like immediately after taking a photo, which really acts as a mirror. With my Pentax, this is not possible, and being in the woods, the only mirror you may have brought with you is your tiny compact, and that’s in the car, far from where you are. Unlike DSLRs, I can’t see what every image looks like and fine tune the things I do not like for the next few snaps I take. There is no immediate editing, and no way to erase the image once the shutter has closed.

*photos by Ryan, taken with Pentax K1000

Dress: vintage

Sur Ma Tête / The Susie

November 4, 2014November 11, 20147 Comments

I thought it would be fun if I started a mini series about my vintage hat collection. You’ve seen a few of them on here already, but some of them don’t get seen often, and well, vintage hats!, I love them and thought they deserve a spotlight on this blog. My collection is not nearly as extensive as one might think, but I can show you what I do have and then hopefully just continue adding to this series as I get more, because one can never have too many vintage hats.

This gal here – I have named her Susie (I also thought it would be fun to name all my hats for this series) – hailing from the 1950s, is a pillbox hat with a veil and a sweet lil’ bow. I got Susie at one of my favourite vintage shops, Public Butter. I think she was actually the first vintage hat I ever purchased for myself, and thus, very special to me.

Name: Susie
Age: 60-65yrs (1950s)
Talents: is pink, has a bow, has a veil, makes you feel really cute, makes you think of candy, the fun-loving quirky girl of the hat world

Do you guys love vintage hats? Tell me about your favourites.

Hat: vintage via Public Butter
Blouse: vintage via Common Sort
Lipstick: So Chaud by Mac
Nail polish: 5th Avenue by Essie

With A Little Help From My Friends

November 3, 2014November 11, 20143 Comments

No, sadly, this is not my home. But it is Meaghan and Nick’s new apartment! Gorgeous, right!? (and of course my blogger brain immediately sees a nice place and thinks of all the photos I could take inside it). On Saturday morning I headed over to check out their new, beautiful digs and drink coffee with Meg. I’m sure some of you out there are like, “ya, whatever, it’s an apartment…you should see MY apartment.” But what you don’t know – unless you live in Toronto – is that finding a place like this, is not easy. The rent is either horrifying, or it gets snatched up within seconds or they just never become available because no one is giving that shit up. But, what we have found is word of mouth is the best way to find a nice place in Toronto. The good places are usually rented to a friend if the current tenant is leaving, which makes sense. When I was leaving the Everglades I had lots of people interested in taking my apartment. Good places just never get listed because there will absolutely be someone you know who wants to snatch it from you. Anyways, that’s my piece of advice for the day. Wanna find a nice place? Tell the internet/fb/instagram/whatever.

This has sort of been my go-to outfit for the last little while – a button up blouse of some sort, and a wool tartan skirt. The cold weather rolls in, and I’m always giving off 60s librarian vibes. I think I said at one point that I prefer dressing for Summer (that was probably when Winter lasted forever and I was hating everything), but I lied. I like this much, much better. Once it got cold, and I started pulling out all my Fall/Winter clothes, I sort of felt like myself again.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine was actually really great – one of those weekends where you get a lot accomplished, but also had time for friends and relaxation. I have the day off today, but I’ve got lots of photo taking to do, so I should get to that. Bye for now you lil’ freaks.

*photos by Meaghan

Blouse: thrifted
Skirt: vintage Pendleton via Public Butter
Belt: thrifted

If The Shoe Fits

October 27, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

Shoes are another item I don’t buy often. I own a lot of shoes, but most of them don’t get worn on a regular basis (and were bought years and years ago when I used to buy things just for the sake of buying something). In some respects, I am a hoarder of shoes. I have a very hard time letting go of them, so the huge shoe rack I have filled is mostly made up of shoes that I keep solely for “what if one day…” or for photo shoots I’m styling. I have the same few shoes in rotation on a day to day basis, and you see those on here quite often. Those shoes are the ones that I sought out after I saw them floating around the internet and fell totally in love (that’s sort of how I buy shoes now, I must be riveted by them first). The same goes for this pair I’m wearing. I follow a lot of local shops on instagram, one being Sylvie and Shimmy, a quaint boutique located in my old neighbourhood, Parkdale. I saw these shoes, (and another pair I ended up buying) on their instagram and knew I had to pop by. I was in luck that day. They had one pair left of each shoe, and both were my size, so I guess it was fate, or something like it. I now pretty well only by shoes I know will get a lot of wear, and slowly but surely I will hopefully start to let go of (or sell) the pairs that are collecting dust.

*photos by Meaghan

Blouse: H&M
Skirt: vintage via Public Butter
Coat: vintage via Gisela & Zoe
Shoes: Sylvie and Shimmy
Tote: H&M
Socks: Target

Tie Your Scarf On Tight

October 16, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

I almost forgot about these pictures, or rather, I wasn’t actually planning on ever sharing them. For whatever reason, I didn’t much like most of the ones we took, which happens from time to time. But here we are. Ryan snapped a couple shots of me while we were on our way to Thanksgiving dinner, bundled up in our coats and scarves. I always get excited on the first day of the season when I get to wear a scarf. I have a lot of scarves, although, only the same few get the most wear. But I’m sort of a scarf fiend. If I enter a thrift store with the intention of finding a new scarf, I usually come away with a few (they are only like $2, can you blame me!?) I used to be like this with bags/purses. Surprising right? How often do we see me with a bag/purse on this blog?! Almost never. I still own quite a few bags (some really nice ones, might I add), but I tend to only use 1 or 2 purses on a regular basis nowadays, so I often discard my bag for photographs. This is something I would like to change. I used to be able to find a bag I liked in most stores I frequented, but I don’t much care for the purses I find now. I prefer vintage purses, but they tend to be on the small side, and for me, I cram a lot of things into my purse, so a large purse is necessary on most days. I’ve been searching and searching for a large tapestry bag for quite awhile now, but to no avail. In the meantime I have bought some smaller ones, that I adore, but they don’t get nearly as much use as this faux-leather tote bag, which is a shame because I think a tapestry bag adorned with kitties is far more interesting than a plain black tote bag.