The Creative Life: Creating Urban Craft

Guys! For the past month-and-a-half or so, I've been working on a not-so-secret project that I haven't had a chance to share here yet. We're launching a new craft show here in Ottawa called Urban Craft! I'm incredibly excited about it, to say the least, and it's been so fun working on it.

We were inspired by other monthly shows that have become wildly popular in other cities, and wanted to bring the idea to Ottawa. We also really wanted to provide a place where crafters and artisanal food producers could sell their creations every month in an indoor setting. Out of all this grew Urban Craft, a curated show that will be taking place in Hintonburg, an up-and-coming neighborhood in Ottawa.

The show has an indie and modern focus and we are incredibly excited about the vendors who have signed on. The talent that we've discovered through Urban Craft is ridiculously amazing and we can't wait for the first show, which will be taking place in a little over two weeks. Urban Craft will run the first Saturday of every month from 10am-2pm at The GCTC (on the corner of Holland & Wellington, for the locals).

We worked with our favorite graphic designer, Potomac Studio, who created our branding/identity as well as these awesome-as-heck posters which just came back from the printer yesterday. I'm giddy with excitement!

More information & all the juicy details at our brand new website here

A Weekend Away & A New Shop

{on the st. lawrence}
Over the August long weekend here in Canada, some lovely friends invited us down to their parent's home in Gananoque, Ontario. The city--and their incredible home--lies on the St. Lawrence River. In this part of the country, the St. Lawrence divides the U.S. from Canada, and is also home to the 1000 Islands area. The area, as you can imagine, is spotted with islands--over 1700 of them--and is so incredibly gorgeous.

{back yard}
We spent the weekend on the river on our friends boat and jet ski and it's safe to say that I am now hell-bent on owning a house on the river and a boat. Some day...some day.

{sunset}
On Saturday we had a chance to explore quaint downtown Gananoque. It was filled with old pubs, retro candy stores, and stores you didn't even know existed anymore. As we walked down toward Gananoque's marina, I said to my beau Robin that what the town really needed was a lovely, modern coffee shop and cute boutiques. No sooner than the words came out of my mouth that we stumbled upon the most amazing thing ever: an old building which had been renovated and converted into 3 spaces and now housed a BBQ joint, the most beautiful coffee shop ever and one of the best decorated and curated boutiques I've seen in a while! In doing some more research, I discovered the place, called Axleworks, has been designed to help transform their part of the city into a bustling arts and cultural area. My kind of place!

The smell of the BBQ wafting out of the restaurant and Pig Iron BBQ's neat sign (which I didn't get a chance to snap a pic of) are what drew us in and lead us down the rabbit hole. While we were really disappointed we didn't get a chance to eat at Pig Iron while in town, we had a chance to snap a pic of their menu which reminds me that we need to go back to Gananoque very. soon.

{BBQ}
As we wandered into the business next door, we came upon this gorgeousness:

{amazing coffee bar}
The Socialist Pig is seriously one of the loveliest cafe's I've come across. It included a bar built from books(!), tables made out of old suitcases(!), a huge communal table topped off with a full chalkboard wall featuring the cafe's menu and a lovely chandelier. Utterly swoon-worthy. We had to indulge, of course, and had a couple of infused iced teas and lemonades. They were as wonderful as the decor.

{adorably clever}
We then stumbled next door onto my favorite discovery of the weekend: Steel. One of the loveliest boutiques I've seen with the most eclectic yet refined decor and displays around. I was instantly smitten with this place and snapped a few quick pictures while I was there. The owner, Shannon, has done such a great job of curating the space both in terms of merchandise and displays.

{steel.}
I emailed the store immediately after we arrived home to ask if they would carry urbanite in their store. To my absolute delight, she said yes and we popped a package full of goodies in the mail to her yesterday. If you're ever in the area--or on the 401 somewhere between Toronto -or- Kingston and Ottawa--stop in to Gananoque and Axleworks. I think you'll love it as much as I did!

Alfie.

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our household, Alfie.

He is probably the most prolific aloe plant I've ever met in my life, and he came to live with us by way of our generous neighbor, Anita.

Alfie quickly outgrew his original digs, so I decided to spread the Alfie love around.

Which didn't come without its own challenges--some potting soil managed to escape the craft paper barrier I laid down...

And now there are five Alfies (Alfi?)...ready for new, loving homes. All of this pales in comparison to these little babies:

Which came from my the garden my beau planted just around the corner (at our local community garden). I'm pretty impressed with him.

Springtime in Colorado

I moved to Canada in October 2009 and promptly decided to plant my feet firmly there. Life became so full and so busy so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to come back to my home country, the U.S., until...now. So it's been a year and a half since I've been at home in the amazing state of Colorado. It's been so wonderful to be here--I've practically consumed my weight in Mexican food and spent a large amount of quality time with Target.

For those of you who have never been, Colorado is a lovely place (and a lovely place to grow up). So I thought I'd share some photos...

Spring in Colorado means...gorgeous trees in bloom! When I left Canada a week ago, parts of the lakes and rivers will still frozen over. To see trees in full bloom like this makes me giddy.

Long roads that you can see for miles and mountains that are gorgeous even when it's hazy!

Hanging out at the Denver Art Museum on a gorgeous day.

Baking GIANT cookies with my mom. We made equally GIANT ice cream sandwiches for my nephews with them!

And...THIS view outside my bedroom window every. single. evening. Swoon.

the creative life: rockin' the tv appearances

This is me. On tv. Awesome.

My partner Robin and I run a little show called Wed By Hand. It’s a handmade, eco-friendly and DIY-themed wedding show; one of only 4 of its kind in all of North America! We’re running the second edition of the show on February 6th and the biggest morning show asked us to come on! You’ll see a couple of my lovely jewels in there as well. Happy Friday!

the creative life: our tea collection

you’ve heard about my tour de tea project. now, a casual peek at our collection of 60+ teas. someday soon i’ll get around to taking a nicer picture & list out all the varieties. for now, enjoy the tea overload!