A Garden Party

I’d like to share with you my little slice of paradise from last week! One of my best friends has left us for 4 months abroad in France, and so it seemed fitting to have a classy little afternoon of treats to see her off! You’d be amazed how full you can get off all these little snacks...by the end of day, as it finally started to get dark, we were too stuffed to move!
I found some lovely glass pieces from Value Village which were perfect for our get together; I had been looking for a beautiful sandwich platter for awhile, and came across one that was just perfect for our fresh cucumber sandwiches. I found the glass container for our strawberry vanilla lemonade at Value Village as well, and I’ll be able to use it in the fall as well for serving wine! I came across the punch bowl there as well, which we used to scoop out copious amount of sangria!




I found these lovely cameo pieces in a local baking shop called Scoop-n-Save Ltd. and thought they would be an excellent match for my London fog cupcakes. I made mini ones this time, using the same recipe I’ve posted here earlier this summer. I liked the effect piping the icing gave them this time, as opposed to using the tried and true butter knife technique.



These were probably my favourite snack of the afternoon...I introduce to you: pink lemonade cupcakes! I stumbled upon this recipe trying to find something quick and easy for the party. These are certainly easy to make, and they were so tasty I was eating the leftovers for breakfast and dinner the rest of the week! You can find the recipe here: http://www.ericasweettooth.com/2010/04/pink-lemonade-cupcakes.html They are surprisingly light and fluffy, and have the perfect amount of tartness. I highly recommend them!



My cake pops were definitely a first attempt... I was hoping to be super creative and put little Chanel C’s on them with black icing, but they didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped. Dipping them in the white chocolate was much fussier than I’d expected! I’ll let you know once I perfect this one :)





One of the lovely girls also brought some carrot cake muffins, stuffed full of raisins and walnuts. They were absolutely amazing! I didn’t know I could eat so many cupcakes in one sitting...but I wanted to make sure I had at least one of everything. If you want something sweet, but not too sweet to give you a toothache, these are a great option. Very filling!

A DIY Project: Yesterday's Dress

I am by no means talented with the sewing machine, but it’s easy to use for this mini-project...

I found this dress by Necessary Objects in Winners, but when I tried it on it didn’t quite fit right on top. I couldn’t zip up the back past the skirt. The dress was otherwise just too perfect, though, so I bought it anyway!

To fix the zipper issue, I took some inspiration from a dress I saw on someone a while ago at a dance. The back was held together by large horizontal pieces of black elastic. I decided to create this look on my dress, in order to bridge the gap in the zipper on top. I added a sketch below of how I envisioned this working; I found a picture online of a dress similar to what I saw...sorry I don’t have the photo cred, if someone knows where it is originally from, please let me know and I’ll add it in.



I folded over the fabric on either side of the zipper so that the zipper no longer showed. You can see how I sewed down both sides to hide the zipper.



I went over the elastic a few times on each side, just to make sure it won’t rip.





And that’s it! Now I’m so glad I bought this dress, even though it didn’t originally fit. Now it’s one of my favourite dresses!

Look of the Week: A Bright Day Downtown

So I went downtown with the girls to find some good food, ice cream, and shopping! We were starving and came across one of the new food trucks on the streets...and I must say it was fantastic! Maybe it helped that it was a beautiful day, and we ate in front of the Art Gallery fountain, but the sandwiches they are making up at La Brasserie are A-maazing! After that, my friend sent out a shoutout on twitter for someone to give us directions to this place called 'Bella Gelateria'. And thank you to whoever sent us to the right place, because it was soooo tasty! We found it on the corner of the Fairmont Waterfront, and their selection of flavours was robust. Best of all, my decision was easy because...they had Early Grey!! One of the best cones I've had in a long time!

The dress you see me wearing in this post is one I picked up from Winner before summer started up. I'm going to do a post tomorrow on how I got this gem to fit me, because it was not quite perfect when I bought it. I'm so glad I still bought it that day, because it's one of my favourite summer pieces now! There's nothing better than wearing bright colours to make you feel like summer has really arrived!

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I've just recently had my wisdom teeth out, so my productivity has gone down quite a bit. I promise, more posts to come! Hint: I've got some darling shots from a garden party I hosted for one my best friend's going away...she's leaving us for Paris!














Dress-Necessary Objects (repurposed), Shoes-BeWild, Belt-Urban Behaviour, Sunglasses-Claire’s

Look of the Week - Derby Reach

Our shoot the other day ended with my photographer and I both covered in mosquito bites..so I sincerely hope it was worth it! There is a long winding trail call the Fort-to-Fort Trail, which hugs the Fraser River near Fort Langley. There is a great park there called Derby Reach, which is great for an adorable picnic by the water. If you follow along the trail from there as we did, you find this abandoned skeleton of a barn you'll see in the photos below. I am very much not a fan of spiderwebs and spiders..so hopping around the barn was somewhat uncomfortable...

I would recommend wearing an outfit like this somewhere along the mediterranian, maybe in Monte Carlo..a nice wide-brimmed white hat would be a perfect touch. I forgot to bring mine along for this shoot, but if I'm ever in the area, I'll have it ready :)
Sometimes we realize we have to much black and white in our wardrobes. It's easy to throw in one colourful item into your outfit, and it makes a world of difference!
I must also point out that Value Village is a great place to find fabulously vintage shoes, which is where I acquired these black, white and grey beauties below. And only 8 dollars! Too tempting to pass up! I suggest you take a peek sometime if you haven't before.

One last thing, I should point out the skirt I'm wearing belonged to my mom, and I have since shortened the hemline to make it a little more modern. It's something you can do at home really easily and BAM! you gain a new skirt at no cost! I've taken lots of stuff that my mom and nana and neighbour have given me and reworked them to make them fit my wardrobe. You'll see more of it in the coming weeks!

















Shirt-Urban Behaviour, Skirt-Mom’s (repurposed), Shoes-Fioni, Earrings-vintage, Belt-Urban Behaviour, Sunglasses-Claire’s

Look of the Week: Fort Langley

This shoot was from a while back, but it was the epitome of a hot summer day! We Vancouverites have to hold onto those days so dearly, seeing as they've been so far and few between this summer. Fort Langley has really grown on me over the last year; the shops are more current and have stuff I actually love, and the food is just great...oh and it's all in adorable venue! You've already seen the Little White House and Traceycakes in my previous posts, but there is so much more than that. We quickly got a shot of my favourite drink place, Eighteen 27 on our way around town; their sangria is the best, and so are their yam fries and chocolate fondue! Highly recommended.
As for my outfit, the dress was my mom's, which she made herself. I shortened the hemline a bit, since it didn't fit as well when it was longer. I actually found the pattern for it in the crawlspace the other day and have been thinking about making the same dress in a different colour. People's favourite part of the outfit by far seemed to be the hat, though! The straw hat is an easy accessory that lightens up the outfit, and balances out the boldness if the dress. If I were downtown, I'd probably go without the hat, but for a day in the suburbs, it's perfect! (Not to mention you can tell my pale face could use some protection from the sun!)















Dress-My Mom's, Belt-Urban Planet, Shoes-Bewild, Hat-From childhood, Purse-vintage

Look of the Week: Vancouver Seawall

Well today happened to be a beautiful day after all! The weather here has been so far from summer-like that we were all very greatful to see some heat today. So I thought this shoot from June would be appropriate, which was probably the last time we had real summer sun. Me and my photographer buddy took a walk down the seawall near English Bay. Being near the water allowed for a very nice breeze, not to mention an amazing view of the ocean. We ended up having lunch at the Boathouse, which is right on the water at English Bay. The fish and chips was great, and whatever that tropical bellini was, it was amazing! I got quite a burn from sitting on their sundeck, but the view of the beach from there was too good to pass up.
My outfit was slightly grecian inspired, with all my accesories being gold to compliment the royal blue of the dress. I love my heels more than most, but for walking the seawall, some sandals were more practical; I didn't feel like I had to sacrifice too much, since these gold flats fit the bill. My belt used to be my mom's, and I got a compliment on it from a random passerby at the beach. It has a lovely leaf detail on the front..sometimes you find the interesting treasures in your own home! The dress was exceptionally comfortable all day, even in the hot sun. It was probably also a good thing it covered up my lower half, so I didn't burn as much as I could have. Remember that sunscreen, people!













Dress-Urban Behaviour, Belt-Mom's, Shoes-Just Earl, Ring-H&M, Aviators-Steve Madden, Purse-MK

Fashionable Eats: London Fog Cupcakes

I was inspired by all the cupcakes I’ve tasted at Traceycakes and the Little White House, and I decided to try making one of them myself! I did a quick google search for London Fog cupcakes and picked one that didn’t look too complicated. My first batch failed due to what I later realized was a typo in the recipe. The second time I cheated a little and used a boxed cake mix to save on time. You can easily use a boxed mix instead of making your own batter from scratch, because the only adjustment to a regular cupcake is that you are infusing the batter with earl grey. The icing I did from scratch based on the online recipe, and it’s my favourite part! To make your own, check out the site I used: http://happylamp.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/london-fog-cupcakes-a-food-experiment/

Just make sure to use 1 ¼ cup of milk for the batter, not just ¼ cup!! These have become my new favourite cupcakes!

Happy baking <3