happy friday!

Posted by kait / August 31, 2012

Oh hey, it is the weekend again! And how lovely is it that it is also a long weekend? Pleased as punch, I am. No huge plans for this us – we always try to avoid the highways and tourist towns on big long weekends. I totally plan on hunkering down with my knitting projects (maybe something for Baby Yuhas?) and writing work and getting a ton done. Farmers Market visits, flea markets, garage sales – the usual haunts. Free People just opened at Chinook Centre so I would love to go check out their beautiful new store.

What are you up to this weekend? Road trips? Canoe rides? Back to school shopping? Nothing?

I also write for Vitamin Daily. Here are my posts for the week:

It’s a Small World After All – I am obsessed with terrariums!

Sometimes the search for a little R&R is thwarted by the time it takes to escape the hustle and bustle.

travel love: wayfarer’s campground

Posted by kait / August 30, 2012

We recently returned from quite possibly the most relaxing trip I have ever been on. I really really REALLY forgot about any troubles, stress or day-to-day junk. It was a good thing but it definitely made it hard to get back to the grind. We stayed at the best campsite ever – at Wayfarer’s Campground just outside Bigfork, Montana. Nestled right up against Flathead Lake, we fell asleep every night to the sounds of the waves and woke to the sounds of speed boats starting up. One of the days we visited the Vintage Whites Market where we picked up some sweet vintage things and enjoyed buckwheat crepes filled with pesto and brie and Sweet Peaks Huckleberry ice cream. Quite the dream, it’s true. A trip full of adventure we drove up the Road to the Sun through Glacier Mountain Park and got pulled over by a sheriff for speeding! Luckily, he didn’t give us a ticket – we just played dumb. I can’t wait to head down that way again soon – I find it super inspiring not to mention I love shopping at the Target and all of the great thrift stores!

Anyone have big plans for the long weekend? I’m gonna hunker down and do some serious work!

happy friday!

Posted by kait / August 24, 2012

Happy Friday, beautiful people! We are off to the great state of Montana for some camping and vintage shopping at the Vintage Whites Market. It has been kind of a difficult week – I think some glacier air will clear out the cobwebs residing in this messy head of mine.

Back next week with more regular content and some really fun stuff I am excited to share with you!

Have a good one! xo

swooning over the curiosity shoppe @ target

Posted by kait / August 23, 2012

Currently obsessing over The Curiosity Shoppe‘s line for Target that is coming out in a couple of weeks. I just can’t believe the beautiful wooden kitchen items like the arrow salad spoons or the American map cheese board? Not to mention the adorable printed napkins and placemats. Oh gosh!

I am going to have to get one of my US friends to hook me up with some of the goods! Not sure I can live without those arrow and tipi plates.

good eats // fried cornmeal okra

Posted by kait / August 21, 2012

Got a hankerin’ for some southern-fried eats? Inspired by the likes of Paula Dean, I recently picked up some fresh okra from the T&T Asian Supermarket and thought I’d do up a little fried snack. Sliced thinly, these crispy cornmeal snacks are soft inside and have a mild taste. I paired them with some zingy avocado mayo for dipping and enjoyed with some unsweetened lemonade. Now if only I had a porch…

what you’ll need:

fresh okra (sliced into 1/2 inch pieces)
cornmeal
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
fresh cracked pepper
dash of salt
oil

throw it together:

Fill heavy bottomed pot with 2 inches of vegetable oil. Whisk together egg and milk until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together cornmeal, black pepper and salt. Dip okra slices into egg mixture and then roll in cornmeal mixture. Drop into oil and cook until golden. Remove with metal slotted spoon and place on paper towel lined plate. Pat dry to remove excess oil. Serve up with a squirt of avocado mayo or even ketchup if you are feeling adventurous! Enjoy!

style // transition to fall

Posted by kait / August 20, 2012

The transition to fall is always the trickiest. When winter turns to spring, we gladly shed our parkas for spring dresses and no socks. We escape the restricting confines of tights and throw away our boots. But the transition from summer to fall is hard – it is so difficult to let go of the freedom of summer fashion. Pull on a dress, brush your hair – done. Fall means ACTUALLY doing your hair, yanking on layers and figuring out if it will be too hot or too cold today to wear that great woolen jacket you bought.

I am so thankful though that the lighthearted and playful colours that have been inspiring me all year are showing up in Fall 2012 lookbooks too – perhaps a sign that we might just start ignoring seasons altogether? I could learn to forget about black during the winter! I really could!

Anyways, I love this outfit so much I have pretty much snagged it as my uniform for September. Sweet little straight leg pants with a small crop and a lovely fitted boyfriend shirt. I’ve got them in so many different colours and even polkadot + bird prints!

where to buy:

I love these pants!

This shirt is sublime.

Aqua Floral outfit is a dream!

the best time of year: calgary folk fest

Posted by kait / August 19, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, we packed up half our camping gear (because you kinda need it) and headed out to the Calgary Folk Music Festival. This was our first year being tarp-people. By no means, were we the kind of tarp people that stay over night waiting to get the best spot closest to the stage. Nah, we held back near the trees and had a cozy spot for our friends and family to sit with us and enjoy four days of amazing music. My highlights of the festival were Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, Justin Townes Earle, Sarah Jarosz, Beirut and Chris Isaak. Not to mention all of the delicious food we ate all weekend, the beautiful weather and our awesome friends. Thanks to Holly for the nice pic of Byron and I!

Already counting down until next year! x

sock dreams

Posted by kait / August 18, 2012

Loving these fanciful socks from Anthropologie. Perfectly paired with some cool prints. Makes me just want to lie around all autumn in a big sweater and socks and think about art.

Prints:

ship

typewriter

Happy Friday!

Posted by kait / August 17, 2012

It has been a great week despite developing a summer cold on Monday. There is nothing worse than being sick and phlegmy in the summer time but somehow I overcame the symptoms and had a great week regardless. I yanked myself out of the house on Monday for a mid-day breakfast with my sweet friend Amanda at a favourite neighbourhood diner. Tuesday marked the blog launch and lunch with my sweet friend Chelsea. Byron and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary which was so special. We had terrible weather that day so we ordered in sushi and watched movies all night. Wednesday’s highlights include a coffee + gabfest with my pal Sue and then later heading to with Byron to meet up with the Swerve crew to wish Meghan (my editor at Swerve) off on her next career journey. I was seriously grateful for the delicious pints of Rock Creek Cider – it had already felt like a long week! Yesterday was the best – got to do some fall wardrobe shopping and then headed off to Stash Needle Art Lounge with for our first knitting lesson. It was awesome. The night capped off with some hangouts at our favourite new store The UnCommons which just opened in Inglewood. Our friends Lisa and James are the masterminds behind it and we are just so excited for everything else they will be stocking.

Thank goodness it is Friday! I have a long weekend of work ahead of me – how annoying that the weather forecast is so fantastic. It’s going to be hard to stay motivated. We shall see…..

I also write for Vitamin Daily and the Get Down. Check out my latest posts here:

Standard brunch in Calgary just got some competition.

I taught myself to knit once and it didn’t really work. Thank goodness for Stash.

Does your jewelry evoke dreamy forest adventures and fields of wild flowers? Believe it or not, it can.

I am suddenly inspired to do those dishes!

Who doesn’t love cupcakes? I am smitten with this new cake boutique downtown!

Have a great weekend! xo

welcome to the new yuppielove!

Posted by kait / August 14, 2012

Meet the new yuppielove! While the old yuppielove was super lovable and cute and comfortable, it was time to mix things up a bit. Thanks to the design wizardry of Alyssa Yuhas, this mere webpage has become a visual representation of the innerworkings of my brain. It is pretty amazing to think that a year ago, Alyssa and I went for coffee to talk about web design and what she could possibly do for me. It took a whole year to get us to this point and everything that happened along the way was pretty exciting and life-changing.

The two of us both quit our day jobs and even before I knew I was going to quit – I hired her. It is so important in our industry to keep the flow of cash moving in and out of creative pockets. I think I even explained that to Alyssa once – how I was paid to write an article and then paid her to design something for me and then she would hire someone to photograph something for a project and that person would go and buy the product that I originally wrote about. It doesn’t always happen that way or in that sort of order but I think it does happen. We are a human chain of creativity and cash.

The inspiration process had to be the most fun of all. Pulling bits and pieces of what I like and love the most about design, type and imagery was a really interesting process. You can take a peek at some of the process on to see what kind of stuff I was drawing inspiration from.

The great thing about the new design is that it scrolls. Hallelujah! While at one point, I love the article-ness of the previous design, scrolling is a huge step in the right direction. What was I thinking? I am also very pleased about having a better format to showcase the writing I do for magazines, blogs and other publications – I just feel I can do a lot more visually. I’m no longer stuck in my little box. That is another reason why two heads are better than one. You can learn so much from other people – even though you may consider yourself some sort of expert-of-all-trades – it is highly important that you listen and learn.

Well, I hope you love the new yuppielove as much as I do. It is pretty exciting and nervewracking to share this labour of love with you all. But it is an excellent day (I was married today 2 years ago!) and I am feeling really good about it. Let me know what you think! As always, it is a work in progress in terms of updating my writing portfolio and more but this is pretty much what you get and I hope you love it.