DESIGN LOVE: ADLER PICKS

When we were in Austin, Texas this past August, we happily happened upon the Jonathan Adler shop. A long time fan and collector of Adler pieces, I was so excited to finally be in one of his beautiful and zany boutiques. I was on the hunt for a fun travel souvenir for my M+D because Adler is totally their style too. I ended up settling on a stunning porcelain banana peel bud vase that goes perfectly with my parents’ pop art-esque dining room. One of my favourite parts of the time we spent in the shop was chatting with the incredibly friendly sales staff while touring through their collection of Rex Ray‘s collage work. Not only were the collages stunning in person but it was really refreshing (and exciting) to be around people who genuinely love their job and make it their mission to create an inspiring environment for both their clients as well as fellow co-workers. I mean, how could you not be inspired when you are surrounded by Jonathan Adler goodness?

They just launched their Friends & Family Sale today (runs until Monday) with an amazing flat deal of 20% of your entire purchase. Since I was in the mood to be dreaming up my wishlist for a living room makeover (ie. procrastinating from other housework) so I took a peek through their new collections and found SO many things that would fit so perfectly into my life. The ideal mix of mid-century modern design and a bit of cheeky flash, I fell in love. Yup.

Shop away, my friends! Don’t forget to use the Discount Code: FF2013 when you checkout!

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Mrs. Godfrey Chair

Brass Edie Ring Box

Ceramic Bird

Sputnik Flush Mount

Ping Pong Paddle + Cover

Icon Duchess Wristlet

Stepped Chevron Ski Hat

 

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MEET STANDARD ISSUE

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Oh hey, it’s September. Where has this summer gone, friends? Probably the busiest, most disorienting summer I’ve ever experienced – it surely has been a great one albeit a fast one. Where have I been, you might ask? Hastily working on a ‘new baby’ of sorts with a new collaborator, my friend Mackenzie Clarke. We launched a new Canadian lifestyle site called Standard Issue on the third of June. Over these past three months we have put nearly every inch of ourselves into this new online magazine. It has been tricky with balancing our freelance careers, travel and regular life stuff but we’ve loved every minute of it. And I want to share this with you. This summer was our soft launch but with us averaging 2-3 posts per day of curated and original content, Standard Issue has morphed into something we had always imagined but did not realize would happen so quickly for us. We’ve had the opportunity of working with some incredible local businesses such as Village Ice Cream, Camp Clothing Co. and Seed + Soil. This city is jampacked with some of the most talented photographers and videographers and we are so thankful to get to work with them – thanks to Blair Marie Photography, Heather Saitz, Jessika Hunter and Tom Kucy for helping us create incredible original content. We hosted a Stampede Party + DIY Craft at Anthropologie which was an absolute blast and success – you can check out our video by Tom Kucy here. There is so much more to come from us – pop-up dinner parties, DIY workshops and blogging networking opportunities – we want to you to be there for every minute of it.

I invite you to take a look at Standard Issue when you get a chance. We’ve got everything from travel, style, decor and sweet things for the little people in our lives. We have a big focus on local – so watch for new launches, shop profiles and local spotlights. You can follow us on , , and – we hope you want to be friends.

As for yuppielove, now that things are getting back to normal around here and life is returning to routine, you’ll be seeing a lot more regular posts coming up. I’ve got some exciting new weekly columns I am writing and more projects that I would love to get you involved with. Stay tuned, pals.

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#MYMIX WITH EBAY CANADA + GIVEAWAY

I love personalized shopping. Especially when you are shopping online. The less you have to search, the better in my books. MyMix just went live on eBay Canada on Tuesday July 2nd and I have been loving it ever since! A similar look to Pinterest – the Feed makes it easy to search for stuff you love in a super visual way. The lovely folks at eBay Canada sent over a $100 PayPal gift certificate for me (and one for a very lucky reader – see below) to try out the new Feed application on the site and pick out some great new goods just in time for summer vacations.

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MyMix is a super sweet collection of summertime must-haves to keep me looking cute and having fun. I’ve been missing the days of Polaroids so I picked up a baby blue Fuji Instax Mini and a pack of Instax film to capture all of my summer adventures – from music festivals to road trips to a fun night out with my girlfriends – I can’t wait to use it. I also love shooting with my DLSR camera so I picked up an adorable new strap for it. I’ll be more inspired to pick it up and bring it out with me when it looks so cute with the polka dot strap.

I’ve been absolutely loving the new She & Him album, Volume 3. I only have the digital album but wanted to get a copy for the record player too – everything just sounds better on vinyl, right? Zooey Deschanel’s voice is just gorgeous – can’t wait to put it on for spontaneous dance parties in the living room!

Lastly, I had to pick up this J.Crew-inspired statement necklace. My favourite colour of flowers – I see myself wearing this well into fall with pretty dresses & tees. Completely adorable.

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To help celebrate MyMix and inspire you to find those must-have summer items, whether you’re looking for the perfect summery white dress or cat eye sunglasses, eBay Canada would like to offer one of my readers a $100 PayPal Gift Certificate to use on eBay!

All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me why you love shopping on eBay. Make sure you leave your name and email address in the provided fields! For more chances to win you can tweet me at using the #MyMix hashtag and Contest ends on Monday, July 8. Open to Canadian readers only. Good luck!

UPDATE: Congrats to the winner Tammy D! I am so excited to hear what treasures you find on eBay Canada! Thanks to everyone who entered!

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Make It An Analogue Day + Giveaway!

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Do you ever shoot with film? Do you ever take a moment away from your precious smartphone to press down on the shutter of a real film camera? Personally, I love to shoot analogue. I love the excitement of getting back a roll of film and never quite knowing what the results will be. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t – you never really know but sometimes you get some amazing images out of it. My favourite cameras for experimenting are Lomography cameras. I have been shooting on various forms of  LOMO for over 10 years. Recently, I’ve been shooting on a DianaMini, Action Sampler and the La Sardina. The best time to take photos is obviously in the summer – the light is perfect and there is so much more to capture than in the hibernating months of winter. Just sharing a sampling here of my favourite images i have taken as of late. Every time I travel, I try to bring my cameras with me to really capture a different side of my travels.

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Shooting on a sunny day is best – you can really capture some amazing images. Flowers photograph amazing with a LOMO camera – a certain nostalgic vibe rings through and just looks incredible.

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I also love shooting at night with a coloured flash. Great for capturing your pals in a bar or while out for dinner – you can come up with some amazing images on a night to remember.

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Because I love my LOMO cameras so much, especially my new La Sardina, I thought it would be great to partner with Lomography Canada to do a giveaway for my lovely readers. I want you to start shooting analogue this summer and I am going to do so by giving away a La Sardina St. Tropez Fontanette!

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Entering is simple! Leave a comment here with your name & email address about why you want to shoot analogue this summer! The contest is open to Canadian readers only. Contest ends on May 24th and will be announced here.

For more chances to win, follow Lomography Canada and . After you have done so, leave a comment here to let us know that you have done so.

Good luck & stay analogue!

Here are some great images shot with a La Sardina from Lomography to get you inspired:

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What I Learned at Alt Summit

Well, this post is incredibly overdue but it was only now that I felt prompted to write it. It has been just over a month since I attended Altitude Summit in Salt Lake City. It really took me a while to absorb exactly what I learned and achieved out of the three days of extreme networking. As soon as I had returned from ALT, I headed back down to Colorado for a media fam trip to Vail Resorts for a week. The end of January was kind of a blur but now it is all coming back to me.

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I have to really give a big shout-out to everyone who wrote amazing recap posts about ALT. Here were my favourite recaps that absolutely captured the essence of ALT:

Leslie Fandrich: After ALT – Making New Connections

The Proper Pinwheel: The Business of Alt’s Business Cards

Whitney Johnson: Advanced Blogging Skills

Bright Bold & Beautiful: 25 Things I Learned at ALT

It was my second year at the design conference and just like the first year it was overwhelmingly inspiring and creative for me. I thought instead of recapping every single thing I did while I was there, I thought I would break it down into my ultimate highlights from those three days.

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Traveling with . I was really lucky to be traveling with a great friend and kindred spirit to ALT. We traipsed from the Grand America all the way to Whole Foods and back again with heavy bags stocked with Pellegrino, fruit & gluten-free treats. We partied and listened and learned. I think I also learned a lot from Shelley during the trip and I look forward to see what she does this year.

Crafting tiaras with Land of Nod. During a particularly busy day at ALT (the combination of panels & freelance work deadlines was stressing me out a bit), I decided to take a break and craft with the lovely ladies from Land of Nod. The tiara I made ended up being part of my outfit that night for the Mini Parties.altsummit3

Spending time with Jana. My other ALT roomie was the delightful Jana Roach from the Vintage Whites Market. I met her last year at ALT and had also attended two of her markets in Montana this past summer so I was super excited to see her again. That girl is one vintage glamour queen. I loved checking out here amazing outfits every night at the parties. I know so much more will come out of our friendship – hopefully a collaboration soon!

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Spontaneous Balloon Party with Color Me Katie. This was quite possibly the moment where the overwhelming goodness exploded in my brain. It was like “ohmygosh! this is so amazing and i can’t believe it is happening right now -slash- i think i am going to cry because i can’t believe this is happening right now’. Yes, I was feeling a little emotional during my trip. Anyways, Katie was so endearing as a public speaker and was so inspiring in her art practice. It was really refreshing to hear from someone who was so actively ‘do-ing’ and ‘living’ her life as opposed to the feeling you get from some bloggers that they are strictly just doing things to make a buck. She ended her keynote with a big balloon party that was an absolute blast. What a great way to end the conference.

Thought-provoking conversation instigated by Chris Anderson’s keynote on the next industrial revolution. I have still yet to delve into Chris Anderson‘s book that we were kindly gifted during the first lunch keynote of the conference but I have been thinking about his talk ever since. Essentially, he talked about how we are entering a new age of industrial revolution where we will start using the technology that has been invented over the past 20 years to the fullest extent. He focused a lot on 3D printers, a concept that still boggles my mind.

There was truly so many aspects of ALT that have already impacted my outlook on blogging and freelance work. The community surrounding ALT is incredible and exciting with new opportunities to be the best you can be around every corner. I am sure I will still be mulling over my experience until next January. A year goes by quickly…

Images all from .

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a very minted holiday

Have you met Minted? Based out of San Francisco, they are one of the best resources on the web to purchase custom greeting cards along with beautiful artist prints (addicted to these) and their newly launched party decor line! With Christmas nearly just one month away, it is about time that we all dig out our favourite pen and get writing our Christmas cards.

Today I want to share my favourites out of their new holiday collection of cards. As if like a magnet, I gravitate towards the hand-drawn type cards almost immediately. I love the simplicity and the child-like nature to them. I would definitely want to receive one of these in my mailbox!

I love the colour palette of these last two cards. Cream, green and red – just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I am just wondering though – we don’t have any cute kids or pets like these beautifully photogenic families – hope people will like a card with our goofy mugs on it! Tough luck…. :)

 

This post was sponsored by minted.com but includes my own opinions and reviews of the product.

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follow your dreams….and blog!

Oh yes, here I am again, about to point out the amazing blogging expertise Alt Summit has to offer. Beyond the conference and the fabulous online classes, they have recently launched their blog which is chock full of incredible free advice and tips for being a successful blogger. It is a great place to start when you are lost on the internet, grasping at straws, trying to figure out how and what and why you should be blogging.

I have discovered several posts on here that have already helped me that I would love to share with you here.

8 Tips for Great Blogging: So many excellent ideas on how manage your time blogging, staying inspired and bringing your online life into the offline world.

SEO: How to Start and End a Post Well: The best post ever if you never knew what the Alternate Text column was for when uploading photos onto your blog. Makes a world of difference to have those keywords placed there.

Travel Blogging: Taking Unique Photos: While we all see the world differently sometimes when we are traveling a touristy area we often take very similar photos. The key to great travel blogging is to capture something a little bit different. This blog post will help inspire you to look for the unexpected details you can snap away at.

For blogging inspiration and business advice check out the new Alt blog! Also, if you blog about Alt Summit and the great resources on the Alt blog you will be entered to win full registration to January’s conference. You just can’t beat that.

Photo by Tina Fussell.

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welcome to the new yuppielove!

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.

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design love // carolyn quartermaine

Just fell in love with Carolyn Quartermaine‘s beautiful textiles and styling. Her upholstered chairs are so stunning that if I owned one I swear, I would just sit on another chair and gaze at it lovingly. Everything about her colour palette makes me happy inside and I wish I could deck out my whole house with her beautiful fabric panels.

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design love // spicebox whisky

The branding of Spicebox Canadian Spiced Whisky is just so perfect. Inspired by the prohibition – the design is classic. And tasty too!

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