summer stories: guest post from Waking Life!

So, I can't believe today is September 1st. What happened to summer? I don't feel it's really over until my sister goes back to school next week, but it's undeniable that things are winding down. Which means I really need to ramp it up on the Summer Stories. Today I have Caitlin, who is basically an American version of me (my middle name is even Caitlin), except more stylish. ; ) I found Caitlin's blog before I had one myself, lost it, and was so glad to find it again. Apart from her enviable hair and great way with dresses and ankle socks (and hats), she writes, she drinks wine, and she enjoys a good moan and neurotic breakdown of life from time to time. As anyone who has been around here knows, all these things float my boat. Make sure to head over to Waking Life!


waking to the cool breeze through a lace curtain


perhaps a leisurely morning bike ride down a country road


getting my feet wet (almost)


drying out in the sun


exploring new secret swimming holes


reading a good book by the river's edge


Hi all! My name is Caitlin (from WAKING LIFE) and I am delighted to be posting today as part of Emily's summer series! As I'm sure her loyal readers know, Emily is totally awesome, and I have long considered her to be quite the kindred spirit. I always get excited when I see one of her rants pop up in my Google Reader :p

Anyway, although Emily's world travels are enviable beyond belief, I've been rather enjoying my lazy summer here in rural Vermont. This post will focus on the pleasures of luxuriously languid summer days. In my mind, there is nothing better than an afternoon spent soaking up the sun, reading a good book, and cooling off in a refreshing body of water. And of course, an al fresco dinner with lover/friends/family is always in order, topped off with a drink (or two) on my makeshift stoop.


driving around with the windows down/strolling through the forest


gathering at the garden


bumblebees and green beans


a drink at dusk


sitting on the stoop


sunset at shelburne pond/scrabble at the drive-in

Thanks again Caitlin...Life's all about the little adventures, and I seriously hope one day we can murder a bottle of wine on a stoop together!

a sneak peek of canada

I have about eight things I want to post (including a few more shots from Europe) but don't have time to put together anything coherent... a big thanks to everyone for the virtual thesis support group! An even bigger thanks to Dusana and Melis, who offered to proofread it! I'm touched, and if I was at all an organized person, I would take you up on it. Instead, my poor dad's going to get stuck with some mammoth correcting sessions at the eleventh hour!

Anyway, I thought you might like a glimpse of where I was last week, grainy from fading light though these photos be. This is where my grandfather lives, a few hours North of Toronto, on a little lake. This place is paradise in the summer, but obviously we picked the one week all summer to go up when it was raining and blowing a gale! I'm livid, as I'm obsessed with good weather and have a permanent storm cloud that follows me about... but at least it was good for getting some work done. ; p

Oh, and meet Bonnie, my family's dog.







Photos by Shona (my sister)

dress: Topshop via ebay, necklace: was Shona's, shoes: Primark, cardigan: is Shona's (I'm such a scrounger)

it's no go the country cot with a pot of pink geraniums

I don't usually buy too many clothing duplicates... that is, I don't own more than one pair of black heels (do I even own one, I wonder), no more than one denim shirt, no more than one black cardigan. I wouldn't even mention this, thinking it's completely normal, but it seems to me like a lot of people have favourite items, and buy them in multiple incarnations. I have a few items like that myself, and white dresses are one of them. I'm allowed one per year. ; ) (A pedant would say that this and this could also be construed as white dresses... but I'm not a pedant)

I saw this year's white dress a few months ago on Kater's blog, and was immediately consumed. It was the 2011 dream white dress! It had sleeves! It had lace! It was a bit Edwardian, a bit flapper, and very Emily. It was ridiculously expensive, international shipping was a joke. I plotted with my equally obsessed friend Emily to ship it to her, and she would ship it to me, but I couldn't commit.

And then... she found it in the actual store, on sale for something like a quarter of the price, and bought it for me (and correctly guessed my size)! I'm so grateful to her, over the moon happy with my dress, and really pleased to be one of an Emily-Emily-Kater triplet!







Photos taken by Albert, in Südstadt, Bonn

dress: J. Crew, shoes: Fly London, self-made citrine necklace.

all this unhappiness

I wore this outfit in order to feel like I'd gotten dressed, after a particularly annoying day of thesis-writing. I know I wear this shirt too much on the blog... but I wear it even more in real life!

Anyway, this is auto-posting, I'm out of town and away from the internet for a few days. I wanted to apologize for being the world's worst blog-friend recently, for not replying to comments or emails, and generally being one of those bloggers. I'm up to my neck in thesis--the deadline's coming up really soon--and quite stressed and unhappy about some other things, and really happy about some others, like hanging out with my family again. That first picture is not at all representative of life at the moment I'm afraid... I really will try to be better soon. An enormous thank you to those of you still out there!







Photos by Albert

shirt: vintage, shorts: H&M Wateraid collection, shoes: ebay, sunglasses H&M, bag: Middlesex University

summer stories: the readers edition part 1!

A week or so ago, I invited my readers to contribute a photo with a brief description to my Summer Stories series. I received lots of great responses (and am still accepting, go here for instructions), and here's the first batch. If your photo hasn't appeared, don't worry; I just wanted to keep these posts a manageable size, so yours will be in a future post. Thanks so much to everyone who has sent me a picture--I'm really enjoying getting to share everyone's summers a little bit! Without further ado....

Well, with slightly further ado. I see this spelt on various blogs ALL THE TIME as "without further adieu." Just saying. That is so wrong. It's ado, like Much Ado about Nothing. Pet peeve. Sorry. ; D



from Georgia of The Velvettes

"This photo best represents my summer to me. Even though it's the middle of winter here. It was taken last December on a little road trip with friends. We stayed in an historic villa by the shore in a tiny settlement, and spent the days exploring an abandoned primary school and jumping off the wharf and drinking beer deep into the nights. On a frosty morning like this one, I'd give almost anything to be back there."


from Ashley of She's Come Undone

"Sangria is pretty much the perfect summer drink, usually clothed in its best summer outfit (a funky colored glass, and some fruit to boot). Totally my drink of choice to unwind as the summer sun sets upon the sea. Ahhhh..."

[I'm in total agreement....]


from Xavi

"This is the romanic church called Sant Pere de Graudescales, in the walley d'Ora, just in the center of Catalonia. I visited it this last July. I fell in love with the tranquility of the area. This nice church with quiet cows around, inspired me a lot. This area is very important in the whole history of Catalonia (several centuries)."


from Alison-Claire of Holland 1945

"My love took this photo of me on our trip to Hawaii this summer. It was our first time snorkeling, and we had an absolute blast! The reef was neon green and the fish and sea turtles let us swim with them all week!"


from Annebeth of The Styling Dutchman

"I had to use this pic since that entire post was my tribute to summer :-)
Summer weather has been incredibly disappointing over here in Western Europe, so this one simple day of biking around our town was basically my perfect summer's day. Sun, a gentle breeze and beautiful surroundings shared with my love."

Thanks again, ladies and gent for infusing some extra travel, romance, and erm, alcohol, into my summer. The rest of you, I hope you enjoyed!

a city with an undeserved reputation

This is going to be a bit of a mega-post, as Ashley likes to call them. So, after getting thoroughly soaked in Bruges, we fled to a hotel in Brussels (Antwerp was recommended to me, but Brussels was closer so... Luckily the next day, while not exactly warm, was a bit more photogenic than the previous one.

I was in Brussels once about seven years ago, and at the time I thought it was one of the most beautiful cities I'd ever seen. Ever since then, when I'd tell people how much I loved Brussels, I'd get the response "Really? Brussels is the most boring place on the planet!" To the degree that I started to wonder if I was just excessively boring myself.







So, back in Brussels, I still think the city centre is absolutely gorgeous. The main square in particular... I really can't think of one that I like better anywhere. Looking at the city and keeping all the professions of boredom in mind, I can kind of see what they were talking about. It doesn't seem the liveliest place--although we went to a nice area the night we arrived and had an awesome Japanese dinner surrounded by cooler-than-thou francophones who (hehe) really couldn't use chopsticks. ; D

But I think the "most boring place on the planet" label is totally undeserved (despite the rich bureaucrats it must be full of). When I contrast Brussels with Cologne, for example, which is considered to be a cool party city, I really wouldn't say that Cologne was that much more interesting (and much less pretty). It's funny how some places get tarred with the boring brush and others are celebrated--essentially as a result of having a large hipster population as far as I can tell. Anyway, rant over. I like Brussels. And I'm not boring. Pfff.









So, this is also my first time trying milkmaid braids... my hair isn't really long enough but I french braided them with my head upside down (an idea I got from Annebeth) and it kind of worked. I liked how disproportionately large my head felt... a bit like a bobble head!

And then we finished off with lunch and some beers... and yes, that's three beers between two of us. ; )



Photos by Albert and I

citrine neclace: made by me, shirt: Urban Outfitters, jeans: Warehouse, shoes: ebay, bag: via Mom, sunglasses: H&M

"hell is the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking bruges"

The title is a quote from the 2008 movie In Bruges, which is a very dark comedy, (Ralph Fiennes' other pure evil role) and highly recommended. One of the central jokes is that the main character is sent to Bruges, in Belgium, to enjoy himself in the beautiful surroundings, but absolutely hates it.

Bruges is a very beautiful and well preserved Medieval Flemish city. I didn't hate it at all... but I have to say the weather was absolutely appalling the day we were there... probably the worst day of the whole summer, and between being soaked and miserable and spending much of the day hiding out in various pubs and shops to avoid the torrential rain, I can't say I have the fondest memories of it! I wish I could say we'd taken some beautiful pictures of it at least, but it simply poured as soon as we'd finished my outfit shots. Grrr. I imagine it would be magical on a frosty winter's day however.

This lovely dress has a story of it's own, and one that I'll tell you next time I wear it (very soon). Right, off to bed, my jet lag is making me incoherent again!




Damn tourists... the questionable joys of Europe in the summer...




Avoiding the rain with apple pie...

photos by Albert

dress: J. Crew, shoes: Steve Madden via ebay, cardigan: car boot sale, purse: vintage via Mom