Summer of Wonder

Things I really need to get back on track with this year: blogging, writing in general, and being channelling my creativity. It’s just over halfway through the year, and I’ve blogged a  grand total of twice. Which is poor form considering that I used to blog 3 times a week (or every single day for a while). 

It’s become rather clear to me that to a certain extent that I’ve lost my writer’s voice. I never lost my creative eye, since I continue to enjoy the art of fashion in everyday life and I’ve been successfully channeling some photographic output into my Instagram feed, but somehow putting that all together with an exposé into a cohesive blogpost has fallen by the wayside. Some days I chalk up this lack of output to the fact that I have a full time job (that mentally exhausts me) or that I find the prairie landscape to be an uninspiring locale (I’m too tied up in the variety of being a BC girl at heart to really understand the monotony of the flatlands). But these are just excuses to a certain extent, since for a while I pulled through all these hold-ups and created some wonderful things and wrote some great pieces. 

As those of you who follow me on other social media outlets (or know me in real life) are well aware of, I recently spent a few weeks on my first trip across the Atlantic to the beautiful South of France and the ever-interesting streets of London. I found myself revelling in the new-ness of the entire situation, even when many of the places were familiar through my reading or I was exhausted from not enough sleep.

What they say about travel changing you is absolutely true. Not so much during (I was still awake at 6am and ready for bed by 9pm - old habits die hard or not at all), but when I returned to reality I found myself very much wanting. Wanting more from the life that I had settled into. Wanting more from the people around me. Wanting more from myself. And ultimately realizing that it’s time to find a new voice. 

I may not have achieved this goal yet, but what is abundantly clear is that I won’t find it by letting the status quo lie. So here’s to the beginning, based on the present & the past, the good & the bad, and on an end that I can’t even see yet. 

Let the new wild rumpus begin!

** image of Shakespeare's Globe interior, Southbank, London, UK; 2016-06-12

Oh, the Times: 2016 Styleboard

*all images from Tumblr, all videos from  YouTube

Let me Take you There: a Sunday Shoe Story

Besides books, my favourite way of experiencing other cultures is through food. I grew up being an extremely picky eater, but I have since broadened my horizons to encompass all kinds off foreign food. I’ve eaten my way through the Ukraine (cabbage rolls), Japan (donburi), China (deep fried squid), and Greece (souvakli), but my favourite place to travel through food is Italy. Pasta, garlic bread, sausage, and most importantly: pizza!

Most people don’t consider pizza to be very exciting, but I ask you, how many of you actually make your own pizza? From scratch. Well, I do, and contrary to what everyone seems to think, it’s one of the easiest recipes ever. So easy in fact, that I don’t consider my recipe to be at all secret (like my recipe for triple chocolate orgasm cookies). So today you’re all getting a free trip to Italy, courtesy of my pizza recipe!

Ingredients

1 cup flour (white, whole wheat, or a mix)

1 ½ tsp yeast

1 ½ tsp sugar (optional)

¼ tsp salt

½ cup warm water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

toppings (seriously, go wild)

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large mixing bowl dissolve yeast, sugar, and salt in the warm water. Add oil, then flour, and mix well. Should make a soft dough, but add more flour if it’s too sticky to knead. [This is the part when you’re supposed to knead and let the dough rise, but I don’t because I prefer a thin, crispy crust. Feel free to knead dough for a few minutes and let rise for 15 minutes if you disagree.] Roll out dough and place on a baking sheet (I usually add a bit of oil to the sheet, so that the crust doesn’t stick). Add whatever ingredients you want for toppings – I’m a big fan of the “everthing in my fridge that could possibly taste good on a pizza” method. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

And while you’re waiting for your delicious pizza to cook, use that time to plan out your outfit for tomorrow! It saves time, and distracts you from the pizza, because waiting for a pizza to cook is the longest 15-20 minutes of your life. 

Be Wild boots; Dior purse; vintage necklace; Seductions tights; Kensie skirt; Dotti shirt