46 - wishing you well // friday favourites

i love this imaginative wishing well made with bricks, acrylic paint, and dura-lar and installed directly onto a gallery floor by artist Michelle Blade. it even includes coins contributed by viewers, presumably tossed in as they each cast their own "wish." in the spirit of wishing wells, real or imaginative, i wish you a warm and wonderful weekend.... i am leaving tomorrow morning for a two-week visit (less a vacation or getaway than a much-needed reunion) with andrew, who completed his year-long, condensed forestry technician program today, received his Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF) silver ring, and is now officially a forester! i am so proud of him and i can't wait to celebrate with snuggles as we continue to build our lives together.

i leave you with some favourites, new and old and mostly forestry-inspired:

this song. it melts my heart and reminds me of my love with andrew.
this forester-architect's tree house, built soild using whole trees.
this dreamy woodland cottage. yes, please.
all this green.
this reclaimed wood table, made from an old hatch.
this worker-styled shirt. rugged, down-to-earth & pretty all-in-one.
and these canadian poplar trousers. named after the tree?


xo

45 - nova lily: naturally autumn

cotton lace and merino wool are two of my favourite and most cherised materials. it's not surprising that they are taking centre stage in the new nova lily fall collection, available in the shop.

left to right:

WOLLE merino wool felt circle pendant necklace

white IVORY BLOSSOM lace necklace with paper script beads

snow white ICICLE antique lace dangle earrings

OMBRE lace and merino wool felt necklace

44 - keyword: breathe

sometimes we need to remember to just breathe.

left to right:

lungs illustration by darren booth // kara akciger print by amylin loglisci

lungs intaglio print by meg clarke // breathe (artist's hair on cotton) by liyen chong

just breathe sterling silver lungs necklace by markhed designs // porcelain scultpure by kate macdowell

lungs from lisa solomon's body doily series // untitled (heart lungs) by helen pynor (knitted human hair) // 

embroidered botanical study: lung by sarah maloney

43 - kitty love

so hunter has been extremely sick and has been hospitalized since Monday. when we brought him to the vet Monday evening, there was a high risk that he was facing kidney failure, in which case there would be very little that could be done to save him. i have never been so stressed out and sick with worry - i came so close to accidentally killing my cat because i brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers into the house, which included lilies, and he ate its leaves. LILIES, it turns out, ARE EXTREMELY TOXIC TO CATS. if the toxins are fully absorbed into the system, it often results in kidney damage, acute renal faliure, and in many cases death. it is virtually a miracle that hunter did not suffer kidney failure given the length of time that passed from when he first ingested the plant leaves until we sought veterinary care. while it is possible that something other than the lilies made him sick, i have learned a valuable life-saving lesson and am actively informing cat owners and lovers of the toxicity of lilies. if you have a cat, never bring lilies into the house!

the little survivor is pulling through and he's coming home tonight! i can't wait to snuggle and baby him. i am so thankful and relieved. his warm, gentle, and loving presence in our lives is irreplaceable. i know i am biased, but he is the most amazing feline i have ever known and anyone who meets him immediately falls in love with him. we figure he has already been through 3 of his 9 lives (he was incredibly sick when we first saved him as a kitten, and he was just sick with a urinary tract infection this winter) and only has 6 remaining. he's such a little heartbreaker, i love him to death - or in his case, a strong, healthy life.

42 - monday morning delights

i had nothing substantial in the house for breakfast this morning, so i magically scraped together just enough ingredients to make a batch of raspberry white chocolate scones! i love being inspired and motivated to cook or bake out of necessity. i am always delightfully surpised at what i can put together out of what seems like nothing, an acquired skill that i have learned from andrew, who is a well-seasoned cook and my personal chef. as he always insists, the best cooking comes from poverty, which forces you to be creative and use every last scrap of food around. nothing goes to waste. 

i first fell madly in love with raspberry white chocolate scones when i was living in Edmonton, Alberta. they were a regular feature at a local bakery and cafe around the corner from my house, where i would wander in the morning or as an afternoon break from writing my master's thesis specifically to indulge in this delicous treat. while the cafe was undergoing renovations and expansion, the quality of the scones became inconsistent and i suddenly realized that i was paying far too much for something i could easily make for myself. after searching long and hard and trying various recipes, which inevitably came with failures, this one is consistently the best i have tried and has become a classic in my kitchen:

RASPBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE SCONES

2 cups flour
1/3 cup fine raw sugar, plus extra for garnish
1 tsp. baking poweder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
6 tbsp. cold butter
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/3 - 1/2 cup white chcolate chunks
3/4 - 1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup vanilla (or plain) yogourt, plus extra for wash
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg

1. preheat oven to 375 F.
2. combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. mix in lemon zest then cut in cold butter until the mixture is crumbly.
3. stir in white chocolate chunks and fresh raspberries. if you are using frozen berries, avoid adding them until after you mix the dough or they will thaw and make a big fuscia mess.
4. mix together yogourt, vanilla extract, and egg. add to dry ingredients and mix to combine as best as you can. be as gentle as possible so that the raspberries don't break apart. don't be afraid of getting dirty! i use my hands because the dough is so delicate. it will seem like it is not going to work and like you have done something wrong, but if you trust that it will turn out you will end up with beautiful scones!
5. scoop rounds of dough and shape, placing them on abaking sheet. brush lightly with remaining yogourt combined with a little bit of milk, or an egg wash. dust with sugar (like to use a rougher sugar for this).
6. bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden, fluffy, and a toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean.
7. transfer to wire rack to cool.

makes 8 medium-sized scones or 6 large scones.


what inspires you to get creative in the kitchen?

41 - friday favourites // happy weekend

what are you doing this weekend? i have SO much work to catch up on before i head to visit andrew next week, and given that i have a minor injury to my foot (which, it turns out, might be tendonitis), i will be staying in for a quiet weekend filled with research and reading. my kitty is also sick from eating the leaves from the beautiful bouquet of flowers i bought last weekend, so i want to stay home to keep a close eye on him. i just realized that i have yet to properly introduce him - his full name is dr. hunter s. thomcat, although we typically call him hunter or any one of the following nicknames: stinkles, sir meows-a-lot, count scratchula, superbad, professor pukaface, mr. snuggle-up-with-us, general good boy, and simply, the kitten. he is a true sweetheart and is the best animal personality i have ever known. the above series of photos was taken on our balcony this summer as he was eyeing his backyard friend, squirrely. he is an endless source of snuggles, love, and happiness.

here are a few of my favourites from this week:

this photo from this portfolio. it makes me feel so grounded.

this organic cotton dress in olive green. comfy & chic.

this sweet birch wood decor for the future baby bear.

this classic 1959 song. always a favourite.
this nightwood bedroom makeover video. 

this inspiring photo blog.
these small stumps.

have a wonderful weekend! xo

40 - nova lily: first fall

here's a peak at a few new vintage-inspired items in the shop for fall.

left: empress vintage red wine agate necklace
top right: white sparrow vintage porcelain bauble necklace
bottom right: terra vintage agate sticks and stones dangle earrings

39 - montreal spice station

last weekend i finally checked out the new Spice Station in Montreal's mile end neighbourhood, right next door to one of my favourite local shops, Arterie Boutique & Friperie (how can i not love it? we do, afterall, share the same artful name!). the gourmet shop, which originated in Silver Lake, California, offers a stunning array of carefully selected and blended herbs, spices, chiles, salts, sugars, and teas from around the world, displayed in large apothecary jars on floor-to-ceiling shelves made from relcaimed wood. warm and inviting, the mix of colours, textures, and aromas tantalizes the senses and opens up a world of possibilities.

i came home with only a small selection based primarily on what we were preparing for dinner: whole pink peppercorns, first friday fish blend (a fish seasoning made with organic dill pollen), cinnamon sugar, and sherwood forest herbal tea.

but i am eager to try some of their chiles (there were so many to choose from!), whole black lime, harissa blend, himalayan pink salt, bali coconut lime salt, french lavender, sassafras leaves (used to make root beer), cinnamon saigon, raspberry sugar, and bourbon vanilla rooibos bush tea, among so many others.

or how about this cooking with Julia quintessential french spice and herb set? it would make a wonderful gift, but is also a great way to get your Julia on!

sigh, i think i'm in culinary heaven. and if i've wet your appetite, you can order almost any of these and other delights from the Spice Station website.