Tickle Me Turquoise by Flakes Paperie

Days in the California desert

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Cory and I were fortunate to plan a short trip following the One of a Kind Show.  It was last minute (as are all trips when your husband's in the military) and exactly what we needed (ok, wanted).  Having both been absorbed with work the last few months it was great to finally spend quality time together...and it was oh so easy to leave behind the dreary, cold Ontario weather to bask in California's 30 degree dry desert heat. 

Our first few nights were spent at The Orbit In (and it's sister property The Hideaway), which were incredibly authentic in their mid-century architecture and decor, an era of design we both love which is abundant in PS and was a big part of our decision to travel there.  Our first room was outfitted with fantastic retro furniture including a record player and even had an outdoor shower with mountain views.  I repeat outdoor shower with mountain views.  Biking through the quiet desert modern neighbourhoods was definitely a highlight - bungalows, each one our dream home, with clean, modern simplicity, walls made of glass and perfectly manicured lawns.  I could go on all day. I've already started working on a stationery collection inspired by the trip and these bungalows in particular, which I'm pretty darn excited about.  

Other highlights include exploring Joshua Tree National Park in our rental jeep, drinking mexican hot chocolate (my new obsession), people watching at the Ace, buying cheap booze at Rite Aid (ok, this is my husband's favourite thing, "Look at how cheap this is! I mean we have to buy it."), sipping said cheap booze by the poolside fire in the evening while channeling Don Draper (...ok, like a female Don Draper), swimming in salt water pools and drying off in the hot sun. Sigh...we are already dreaming of going back.

Hope you have a happy holiday...

Just two more days until Christmas!  Last year at this time Cory and I had just returned from a nice little trip to NYC. Here's a little video we took one afternoon while waiting for the subway. I think we let ours go by at least twice so we could keep enjoying the music. Sigh, one of the many reasons I love New York at Christmas...

NYC Subway Christmas from Flakes Paperie on Vimeo.

 

NE: Final stop, Cape Cod

After Boston we drove through to the tip of Cape Cod, to the fabulous Provincetown.  Immediately we loved it.  The town itself is full of quaint shops, galleries and restaurants and has a surprisingly lively nightlife. We spent one evening taking it all in at a karaoke bar hosted by a drag queen, in short - amazing. She described P-town as a "gay fishing village" which actually sums it up nicely. It's uber liberal with wonderful people, fresh seafood galore and of course, amazing beaches. What's not to love?! 

Our hotel was an old motel that had been recently renovated in a pretty hip style.  Cory somehow worked his magic and scored us an ocean view king room for $59 (score) and as an added bonus the room was turquoise. Double score.

Although the weather was pretty foggy at times we were still able to enjoy our time outside and explore the many beaches.  We saw lots of seals poke their heads out of the water but unfortunately due to the weather no whale watching tours were operating.  Just one more reason to go back I suppose!  After mowing down on fresh seafood one day we wandered along the Pier and looked at all the fishing boats, many old and rusted with layers of peeling paint (my favourite). The behemoth seagulls were super-sized and though I worried they might try to eat me, they mostly just picked out the lobster remnants from the netting.  

Provincetown is definitely on my 'must return to' list, preferably with some good friends in peak season when we can really enjoy the vast beaches and our experience can be more like this Vampire Weekend video, only with more hula hoops and keytars.

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa on MUZU.TV 

After Cape Cod we drove straight back to Ontario - stopping in Providence, Rhode Island for lunch, and for me to load up on supplies at the super awesome RISD art store. Not a bad little week I'd say! 

NE: Part III

Continuing on with our New England road trip - the next stop was Boston.  We didn't have much time,  but we wandered enough to get a feel for the city.  We stayed 2 nights in Cambridge, and went out to a few bars in Harvard Square at night. While during the day, we did the usual: eating, shopping, sightseeing and squirrel stalking. Not a bad little stopover.

NE: Part II

With fall drawing to a close and the chilly nights and bare trees of winter approaching, I thought what better time to show the second part of our New England road trip as I'm already reminiscing about the changing leaves of fall. After Maine, Cory and I drove to New Hampshire.  Now all I really knew about New Hampshire was that it is the setting of John Irving novels (that alone was a draw), you don't legally have to wear a seat-belt (huh?) and that there's no tax. And darn it, that was enough.  We absolutely loved it!  We ate delicious food (hello crab cakes and local beer), shopped and explored the area -starting with a drive up Mount Washington, which offered incredible above the clouds views.  On our last day we drove the Kancamagus Highway, which lived up to it's title as one of the most beautiful fall drives in the US.  

Our hotel was a beaut, built into the mountains with an outdoor heated pool, which we took advantage of in the evening. Faaantastic. Now normally I'm not into the whole outlet thing, especially when on holiday, but the fact that there was no tax coupled with the presence of both a Stonewall Kitchen and J.Crew outlet, I mean seriously. What choice did we have?  I could post a million more leaves and mountains photos, but I don't want you taking a nosedive into your keyboard, so instead I'll wrap it up by saying NH was a trip highlight and we hope to return, perhaps for a ski/snowboard trip?   

Up next, Cape Cod... 

NE: Part 1

As I mentioned, Cory and I recently returned from a New England road trip.  I flew out to meet him in New Brunswick and we began our drive through Maine, down roads lined with changing leaves until we reached the beautiful city of Portland (not to be confused with the 'Portlandia' Portland in Oregon). It was a beautiful seaside city with old cobblestone streets, loads of restaurants and historic buildings.  

We did a little bar hopping in the evening and during the day enjoyed lobster rolls while exploring the Old Port.  I took a million photos of the fishing boats and old back alley dilapidated buildings down by the water (check out the mossy roof!) and as with so many places we visited throughout our trip, I wished we'd had more time!  

Northern trek

Before our Muskoka holiday, Cory and drove up to visit his parents in Elliot Lake for a few days. We boated, over-indulged in some fantastic food and drink, relaxed and spent lots of time in the garden, mostly feeding this guy...

I also took the opportunity to snap lots of pictures of their expertly maintained, colourful crop of gorgeous flowers. I must to remember to steal some Lavender to plant next year...

p.s. Stay tuned for some beauty wedding invitation suites in the coming days!

Refreshed.

I'm back from a fantastic holiday cottaging in Muskoka and feeling refreshed! Of course I wish I was still lounging on the dock with Cory, nose-deep in a great book, drinking orange pressé (perhaps with a little vodka when the clock strikes noon) and strawberry daiquiris, yumm. We ate like kings and had lots of good ol' fashioned family bonding.

Along with copious amounts of dock-flopping and reading (I finished two fantastic books) I also spent loads of time with my hilarious niece and nephew. For my nephew this mostly involved him jumping bravely in the lake over and over and over again (fear not, his Dad was in the water in the photo below).  Meanwhile my niece, a veritable girly girl if ever there was one, enjoyed our watercolour painting sessions and insisted I give her a new hairstyle every single day (admittedly, some more successful than others).  She also loved using my face painting crayons to draw on the entire family. When I suggested we sport matching mustaches, I didn't realize that mine, as drawn by her, would include a full beard. Like Joaquin Phoenix circa 2009 full. And so that concluded the face painting.  

It was a fantastic holiday with amazing family.  I definitely suffered from a case of the post-holiday blahs, but now I'm feeling ready to delve into the huge heap of Christmas design/print work crowding my desk!  

nyc jaunt

As I mentioned in the last post, I've just returned from a few days off. It seems I'd been living in my studio lately and so I was very much looking forward to a short break - in NYC no less. My Dad and I booked our trip several months ago - he had meetings to attend and I love any excuse to go to New York and so I happily tagged along!

I had the mornings to myself to wander - scribbling design ideas in Bryant Park, drooling over the macaroon & cupcake trucks, strolling in the Flatiron district, shopping of course, over-indulging in baked goods - fabulous! 

The rest of the time was spent showing my Dad the sights and experiencing some new ones myself. We definitely kept busy (feet.hurt); had a leisurely paddle in the central park lake, discovered great restaurants, killed some rainy hours in the Museum of Natural History, explored different neighbourhoods on foot, took a tram ride, partook in quality people watching in Washington Square Park and finished it with a trip to the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene.  

Another great trip to NYC, this time with my super duper Dad (belated Father's day shout out)!  Now if only it had been longer...

Brief, self-indulgent travelogue: Morocco

Sharing the Moroccan pastilla recipe in yesterday's post made me want to dwell a little more on that beautiful country and so I have scanned some photos from our unforgettable shoestring trip. 

In Morocco, we were kings...or at least it felt that way as we could actually afford to buy food - no longer did we have to stuff baguettes in our backpacks and eat nutella from the jar - of course eating said food in Morocco perhaps wasn't always the right decision (details spared). Needless to say, Morocco was a visual delight; a veritable kaleidoscope of pattern and colour that continues to inspire me as an artist and designer.  

Our trip began in Tangiers, then it was on to Fès, Meknès and Marrakech.  From there we took a desert trip that consisted of a terrifying drive through the Atlas Mountains (the term 'hairpin turn' doesn't quite do it justice), stops in several picturesque Berber villages followed by an indescribably uncomfortable, yet visually stunning camel trek into the Sahara.  I tell ya, there's nothing quite like sleeping in a tent in the desert surrounded by nomadic Berbers urging you to sing Celine Dion. Definitely a trip I hope to do again some day...sigh.

Right then, back to work - thanks for indulging me!

A taste of Morocco...

Several years ago I travelled Morocco with my good friend Jess.  We were on the uber budget, post-university 'backpack through Europe' adventure and Morocco was one of our last stops.  It was definitely a trip highlight, a place so rich in sights, sounds and scents - rich in culture and kindness and of course, cuisine. One of our favourite dishes was a flaky pastry dish flavoured with cinnamon, almonds and raisins called pastilla. I thank the language barrier because had we of actually known that the pastilla we ate was made with pigeon (gasp, the horror!) we probably wouldn't have eaten it and I never would have known about this fabulous dish.  After much googling, I recently found this delicious recipe for chicken pastilla on the drool-worthy blog, La Tartine Gourmande. One of the best things about pastilla is the scent of cinnamon and saffron that waft through the house while it bakes - yumm! 

Photos from our trip to Morocco in the next post...

Gifted

On our second last day in New York, Cory and I spent the afternoon in Brooklyn.  We visited an old friend (wait, does that make it sound like she's old?) and then stopped by the Brooklyn Flea's Gifted holiday market. It was full of art, screen-printed clothing, jewelry and vintage goodies...although truthfully Cory was mostly mesmerized by the vaults of the old bank that housed the market. It was an interesting building I must say.   

We bought a tiny 'rainy day in New York' painting by ArtHouse, which I can't wait to hang and I bought a pretty darn fantastic "Holy Shitake" shirt from Black Sheep Heap. I'm still kicking myself for not buying a New York or Paris bag from MapTote - it's proof positive that I need to stop asking Cory, "should I buy this?" seriously, of course I should...but I didn't. Dang. I guess the note card I bought at the MOMA store will have to suffice. 

After the Flea we popped by Bark for a yummy hotdog and burger, which is a bit like Toronto's Craft Burger (yumm) only it has 'dogs too. 

All in all, it was a nice lil' day/night in Brooklyn!

New York, New Year

Hello there! Thanks for stopping by considering I haven't posted in ages - yikes, better add that to the resolution list (it'll come right after 'stop pretending screen-printing is a valid form of exercise').  Anyways, terrible blogging aside, my husband and I had a terrific Christmas with our families after which we had a nice few days on the slopes in Collingwood and finished off the year with our fabulous friends at our ridiculous costume party (photos NOT forthcoming).  Thanks 2010, it's been swell. 

To start this year's post off, I thought I'd show a few pictures from our recent trip to NYC. We visited just before Christmas (and before the major snowfall) and although it was damn cold, the city was warm with glow of holiday lights and decorations. The itinerary went a lot like this: eat, shop, eat, drink, shop, eat, sightsee, eat, drink, eat, eat.  Yup, it was another great trip to New York. We visited many of our favourite places (which I keep track of in this handy sucker), discovered some wonderful new places and did the usual walk through Central Park - mostly so I could binge eat toasted peanuts. 

Sigh...I heart New York.

Taking a moment...

A few years back, during a trek through Europe, I was fortunate enough to visit Ypres, Vimy Ridge and the Normandy Beaches with my dear friend Jess and my now husband Cory. We all took so much from the experience and of course, it comes to mind every year at this time; In Ypres, the echo of the Last Post at the Menin Gate and learning that farmers continue to find ordinance, and even remains, while tending to their fields.  We found our family names among the lists of lives lost on monuments and considered our Grandfathers experiences in a new light.  The immense pride we all felt as we first drove through the maple tree lined road on our way to Vimy Ridge and first caught site of the awe-inspiring Canadian monument, not a single tourist present.  Viewing the endless sea of white crosses upon crosses at the American Memorial at Omaha Beach and the unassuming quiet and beauty of Juno Beach.

I would just like to take a moment to give thanks to the many men and women who have risked or sacrificed their lives for our Country, as well as give great thanks and unwavering respect to those who continue to do so, including my amazing husband.

xo     

Beaches, blue skies and feta...one year ago

To think just one year ago at this time I was lying on a beach in the Greek Islands, my biggest worry being how I would find room to eat dinner after already shoving my face with so many olives and vino.  Yes sir, it was one heck of a honeymoon. We spent time in Athens, and explored much of Santorini, but it was our time in the picture perfect Oia that topped it all. Apart from our fantastic villa, the gorgeous views and the fresh seafood, there was a particular dish at a fabulous restaurant in Oia, Ambrosia & Nectar, that I would go back to in a second.  It's a warm piece of feta wrapped in phyllo pastry, drizzled with greek honey and candied figs (see my picture below).  Ohhhhh mercy.  I think we ate it 3 times in 4 days.  You can get the recipe here - looks like the Food Network's Giada visited the restaurant and shared it on her show.  I tell you, it is deeeee-lish!