sometimes i think, i remember you in high school. then i think, holy s*&! are you doing some great things!

this is the latest single from my friend joel van dijk shot by another friend of mine marcus mcdougald and starring joel's super pretty (and talented!) girlfriend leah king.  in short there is a lot of greatness tied up in this one amazing song and video!  seeing projects that these two put out (both together and individually) always makes me pretty happy for those two geeky faced kids i went to school with.  okay, maybe not geeky faced, but you get it right?  i don't keep in contact nearly as mush as i would like but i always look forward to whatever creative thing they have on the go, always, and this latest venture is for sure one of my favourites!

happy listening and viewing! 

rome :: in photos

florence, cinque terre, venice, munich, monsheim and paris to follow!

and you ask...why do i love this holiday so???

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

home.

{a pretty home i walk by every day- love passing by these two trees!}

handsome and i have been home for a little over a week now and i must say it's great to be home!  we came back to the most amazing fall colours i have seen in toronto.  the weather seems to be skipping ahead a bit because it pretty much feels like winter, but that's okay!  it just means bulky sweaters, knee high boots and cozy scarfs, and who doesn't like that right!?

plus halloween {a.k.a. my most favourite holiday} is just a few short weeks away, hooray!!  the other night, it was all i had in me to not parade costco's halloween and christmas aisles for hours.  i am pretty exited for our costume this year too!  we have had some pretty good ones over the years, but this year, our costume will be a bit more special.

 there are some pretty exciting things to look forward to in the next few months, halloween being just the start!

photos from the phone :: september

postcard from two cities :: florence & rome

i am a bit behind with these posts because internet access is a bit spotty but sad to say we are heading home early tomorrow morning {weep weep} so here is a combined postcard of two cities!

i know i have declared love for a lot of the places we have been to, but florence, florence captured my heart completely.  we keep chatting about which city we think we move to and have pretty much tied it up between florence and munich.  on the first night there we met a women from the town i graduated high school  in from northern california- and as an add on, turns out i graduated with her daughter!  then at dinner, two people from toronto ended up sitting right next to us- such a small world!  the bonus of florence was for sure meeting up with an old co-worker for gelato and dinner on our last day.  if colorado would have represented, i would have felt complete!

we finished the trip off in rome, wonderful, amazing rome!  between jay and i we pretty much kept saying "it must be so great to constantly live amongst so much history and art!"  you look left, you look right, you look straight ahead, all you see is beautifully crafted buildings and sculptures you can't believe someone once made by hand.  i'm pretty happy we ended in rome because in just a few short days, it feels like we took a week's worth of site seeing in.  plus, we had the most amazing gelato, hands down, here in rome!  if you ever come be sure to make time for giolitti as you tour around one spectacular city.

if we were to get the chance to head back to any city we have visited thus far, it would for sure be florence... or paris...or cinque terre, oh my i can't decided.  i really do just love them all!

au revoir, freilos, ciao lovely places- we had the most amazing time!

for everyone who provided us with pages amongst pages of suggested places to go, thank you so much!  i'll post more pictures soon once i can organize the hundreds we took!

postcard from cinque terre

if there is one thing i can say about this picture it is that it does no justice for how  amazing cinque terre actually is!  we stayed in vernazza which is one town away from the more popular cinque terre town monterosso.  this was one of my most anticipated places to visit on this trip because really, who doesn't love bright little towns overlooking an amazing ocean?!

even though the town is small {as in one street small} there is so much to see!  the churches are fantastic and there is so much history to take in.  there is also a hiking path that connects each city which is something everyone should do!  it's one hard path though, really!  they tell you it is easy, but it's pretty much a straight incline. and even though we may have been lapped by a 70 year old couple {seriously}, the hike is very much worth it!  you walk through olive gardens and old stone paths- it's just beautiful!  plus, we sort of got the chance to work off all the pizza, pasta, wine, beer and gelato we have been consuming!  that's good right?!

postcard from venice

venice….oh venice, how i love you so!  getting lost on the little streets with gelato stands at every turn is so wonderful…so so wonderful indeed!

all through italy jay and i are spending about a day and a half in each city, which is absolutely not enough time we know, but i love how much we cram in to one day!  because of the parisian and italian we dined with in paris, we got a few good tips on taking a water taxi to burano and murano while in venice for a little something extra.  

so we took them up on their tip and spent the morning touring from one side of the lower part of venice to the other before hopping a water taxi to the two other islands.  burano is my kind of place!  it is surrounded by water and full of the brightest coloured houses, and the sweetest people ever!  it was the loveliest sunny day too which we were so fortunate for! 

somehow we seem to be missing the rain in each city, lucky us!

postcard from munich

am a little behind in my posts as we are well in to our trip through italy {and almost done…weep weep} but here is a little something about munich- also known as jay’s heaven.

i will admit, i didn’t really know what to do in munich other than oktoberfest and had to do a bit of research before we arrived.  i knew there was a lot of history to be seen but i didn’t really know to expect or where to go to see it.  after touring around, i can safely say, it’s everywhere.  seriously, everywhere!  you can’t walk two steps without seeing something amazing.  restaurants and shops and beer halls are all in or around some kind of medieval building.  our first night there we had dinner right next to bavaria’s oldest gothic church, right next to it!

oktoberfest was amazing {of course} and i am super happy we were able to learn a few german drinking songs in monsheim beforehand!  while i loved every minute of being in the tent, i think i loved seeing the overwhelming glee in jay’s eyes with each new liter of beer ordered.  no one could stop that man from cheers-ing with people nearby!

we also rented an apartment from the cutest family who seriously helped us out by letting us stay in their daughter’s room one night when our booking dates got messed up.  they even made us breakfast the next day. thanks so much again anja and axel, and really, emma for letting us borrow your room!

stay tuned for venice and cinque terre!