Happy Friday

Good news! In the  mail yesterday I received a new remote for my camera and I'm already back to taking outfit pics. Other good things happening:

• The trees are finally starting to blossom, I'm seeing some cherry blossoms and everything! 
• It's a long weekend.
• It's supposed to be relatively nice outside despite some rain predicted for tomorrow. 
• I'm going to Target finally! 
• I'm also going to see the new Star Trek movie. 
• Only two weeks till my parents come home from their trip to Italy, I'm missing them a lot! There's so much going on I wanna chat with them about! 
• It's almost time to start thinking about what to pack for Seattle! 
• Which always means I get to do a liiiitttle more shopping. (Those polka-dot Keds from yesterdays wishlist post? I found them at The Bay on clearance!)  

So much to be thankful for -- something about the Spring brings out the thankfullness in me!

I hope everyone has a great long weekend. See you Monday. ;) 

My Birthday Wishlist

Well, it's that time of year again. Summer is just around the corner, and that means my birthday!
I am extremely immature when it comes to my birthday (totally allowed one day a year right?). I like to get a big group of people together and barbeque in the backyard (a pinata is essential to a successful birthday barbeque), or maybe take a big group to the Zoo to do things like paddle boating and riding the kiddie train! My eighteenth birthday even included a roaring session of pin the tail on the donkey. This is serious business here.

Of course the other great thing about birthdays is you get presents (amirite?) and although I certainly don't expect people to buy me things I always put together a birthday wishlist for my significant other, parents and sister. Just in case they need some inspiration. The person who usually ends up buying the wishlisted items is, well, me. Because I long since learned the best birthday gifts come from yourself (amirite?). Unfortunately this year I've overshopped all April and May so I'm choosing to consider my birthday present to myself already bought. While my wallet recuperates I'll be thinking about these pretties:

This year I'm dreamin' hard about this Cambridge Satchel in coral. It's gorgeous, versatile and should probably last for forever. I feel like all my outfits would instantly appear more sophisticated. This is the problem with marketing.

I'm definitely on the search for a few summery dresses, something red is a must. The floral dress here is from Target and I cannot explain how excited I am to make it to the newly opened Target Canada locations. Of course I'm a little afraid I'll leave heart broken from disappointment (Americans really talk you up Target!). Until I go, I'm thinking positive!

The wall mounted record player is one I've been wanting for ages! It doesn't have the vintage charm of some record players, but I absolutely have no horizontal space. What I do have is vertical space, making this the perfect compromise.

I am really loving hanging planters -- it's the perfect solution for me and my gets-into-everything cat. Plus, those copper hangers are super cool right?

Shoes. Of course I want shoes. This year I'm thinking practical footwear, comfortable and walkable are best.

And lastly, I'm still digging the overall (I mean dungaree... sounds cooler?) trend. BUT I'm too chicken to pay for them with own money. LOL. I'll probably give in at some point.

Not on the list, but on my mind:

• I've decided I want a new phone and am thinking the Nexus 4. It looks perfect for me. 
• Kinda along the same path, I would like a Nexus 10 as well please. Thank you (It's a tablet, and I figure my tablet might as well match my phone, right?). 
• I still haven't purchased myself an Instax mini camera. This is extremely hard for even myself to believe, giving that it's been on my wishlist for years!

And that's the long and short of it. Mostly long as it turns out...I'm very passionate about buying me things. ;)

Casual Summer Style

I wore this outfit last week on one of our first slightly warm days. Haha. These jeans are the perfect staple for this in between weather we've been having -- chilly harsh winds and sunny warm skies. Plus, something about spring screams casual rolled jeans to me. Am I crazy? Probably not.

The blouse came in the mail recently and was an impulse purchase from A-Thread Apparel. Although I love the pattern and the shape of the blouse I find the neck slit to be way too low! Haha, I paired it with this little cardigan out of necessity because it helped hold my shirt up. I think a few well placed stitches will solve this problem. ;)

This is also the premier of my new Birkenstocks! Boy do I love them. They fulfill precisely what I desired of them. They don't flip and flop, they're comfortable and offer lots of support. I've been wearing them pretty much non stop, both because they seem to go with everything and because I'm trying to really break them in. So far my big toe and it's closest neighbor aren't quite sure what to make of something being wedged between them all the time (I'm not usually a wearer of flip flops!).

After I took these photos I took a look at them and went "time to paint your toe nails Kaitlyn", since then I've painted them a light green and they look much much nicer then here. Haha.

ASOS boyfriend jeans, Modcloth Birkenstocks, A-Thread blouse, Smart Set cardigan

Tommy the Kitten: Cell Phone Edition

I take a crap tun of pictures of my cat. Many of them with my DSLR. I have loads of artful, adorable pictures of the best quality. However, sometimes there's nothing quite as adorable as the things one catches with a bit of spontaneity. Cell phones do spontaneity well. I've shared some of these before, but they're still just as cute as last time (and there are some new additions as well).

Without further ado: Tommy the Cat, cell phone edition.

 

He likes to curl up in our dirty laundry or my discarded bath robe. I'm glad someone appreciates my terrible cleanliness.

 Getting too big for his shoe box.

 Look at that face? Haha, this is my favorite.


Anyway, you might be able to tell I'm stalling. It's because I have no other pictures to share. Haha. Still waiting on my camera remote... cats are just as entertaining right?

Summer in the City

This summer Nick and I are looking forward to a couple little vacations to make our summer really grand. In Edmonton we aren't blessed with an abundance of great weather, during the summer we have a couple months of truly beautiful days. Mostly, we like to stick around close to home in the summer to enjoy outdoor markets, festivals, and other wonderful things Edmonton has to offer. Last year our favorite thing to do was take a random weekday off work and go swimming at one of the outdoor pools.

This year we've scheduled two week long vacations and we're excited to be taking our first summer trips together! First on the schedule is a week in Seattle to take in all of the delicious food, fabulous shopping, and some of the awesome history of the city. The above outfit is one I would definitely wear on our trip to Seattle! I can picture wearing those adorable, and comfortable shoes to walk up and down the steep city hills, and a pop of color provided by a versatile bag is always right for shopping.

Next on the agenda is a week in Canmore! We've never been to this particular mountain destination before and we're super excited to be taking a trip with another couple and two of our best friends. First is a short road trip with some great stops and then a week spent hiking, lounging, and enjoying the hot springs.

It's great to have some getaways to look forward to for the summer, I'm really hoping we can get beck to Mexico this winter as well. ;) In the meantime though, we are so lucky to live in a city that is bustling with entrepreneurship and many many things to do close to home. I love supporting small business owners and there are all kinds of things to enjoy; from hand crafted cheese to carefully chosen olive oils.  We've done the 'staycation' many times and we try to get out to see art exhibits, listen to music, and sometimes there's a lot of joy to be found just in a walk through a sunny, green park.

If you've never been there are also some great river spots outside of Edmonton that can provide you with that feeling of a beach vacation. My favorite is Pembina river -- clear and crisp and beautiful (not green and soupy like many of Albertas lakes..).

I hope everybody is starting to feel as excited as I am for Summer!

First Summer Outfit

Nick snapped these outfit pics on our trip downtown last Saturday afternoon. The weather was finally warming up and I took a chance by going bare legged. Boy, was I glad I did! It felt fantastic to be out and about with even my knees exposed. We had such a good time, and it is always refreshing to take outfit pictures outside! 

Every chance I get right now I wear my 'cat jacket'. My mum purchased me this jean jacket last year and I didn't get to wear it much due to the six months of winter that followed. While it waited for it's chance to see the light I spruced it up with a few cat related embellishments. The Stay Home Club patch was a perfect addition to set the tone and the 'meow' and 'cat lady' pins make me incredibly giddy. Haha.In case you noticed, I'm basically copying beautiful lady Kaylah of The Dainty Squid.

This week we have been truly blessed, not only with great weather, but with great friends and family who know how to have fun and can make an epic feast using only a barbeque and a few food items. On Sunday we had a chipotle smokie and hamburger barbeque at Nick's parents home, and on Tuesday we had the best time ever with my sister and her boyfriend barbequing steaks and corn on the cob. Man, was that a good meal. We even popped a bottle of champagne! What a way to kick of barbeque season.

Smart set sheer top, H&M zebra sundress, knee socks and Chelsea boots, Reitmans jean jacket, Stay Home Club patch, cat lady pins Thora Ford on Etsy, sunglasses Joe Fresh, camera bag JoTotes

Style Inspiration: Clara Oswald

It has been a long time since I did a post on my style inspirations -- not 'cause I didn't love the feature but because I have trouble coming up with characters and people who inspire me who aren't bloggers or friends! I've previously talked about Audrey Horne and Jackie O', two icons of fashion and style who have been around for many years. It's odd that my follow up should be newcomer Jenna Louise Coleman who plays The Dr's newest companion: Clara Oswald.

I was struck  immediately upon seeing the petite actress with how lovely and sweet her appearance is. Despite the fact she probably hits the gym more than I do I felt that her body type was familiar, in fact it was not so different from my own body type. The clothes that she wears I feel I could wear. She gravitates towards some of my favorite pairings -- sweet dresses in figure flattering shapes mixed with edgier accessories. Military jacket and a gauzy midi dress -- a cute polka dotted jumper and a fedora! That plaid pinafore dress? I own one similar.

Not only is the girl adorable, but her wardrobe is too. One of the several reasons I'm adoring the newest companion in one of my favorite shows.

Here's how I would emulate Clara's contrast-y look:

A Little of This and A Little of That

 

I wore this outfit a little while ago and tried very hard to take a picture of it with my self timer, haha, I am never going to be able to go back to self timed photos. SUCH a pain in the butt. I couldn't get the lighting right, or the focus... I miss my remote. Hopefully it will come in the next couple days. In the meantime I was able to get a few outfit photos this weekend taken by Mr. Nick. He complained the whole time though. ;)

Anyway, I loved this outfit, the mustard and navy combo is my new favorite.

This weekend was awesome! It's finally go-outside-and-enjoy-spring weather and we did just that. Friday night I was ready to party after being cooped up in the apartment for three weeks with my cold and then nursing Nick back to health during his cold (it took me two weeks to feel better, and he was better after one. Just saying. I'm a better nurse). 

We wanted to hang out with friends but everyone was busy so we decided on a date night! We headed downtown and started our date at new establishment Cavern where we sampled some cheeses, wines, and treated ourselves to her dessert cheese and chocolate pairing. Divine! After that Mr. Nick was still peckish so we walked back to our favorite spot, Cask and Barrel. There we were happy to sit at the bar and chat with our favorite bar tender Kyle! I may have drunk a little too much wine but we had a great time talking and eating delicious food!

Saturday we lounged around the house until the afternoon had crept up on us, then we again headed downtown to try the Mercer Tavern. I took lots of pics of our dinner so I'll wait to tell you about it in detail. ;) We walked back to Cavern to have even more cheese then headed quickly home to catch our movie! Iron Man 3 was excellent, the best in the series, and made a great end to our day.

Sunday we did some more lounging, I spent some serious time reading a cat behavior book called "Starting from Scratch" by behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennet. I'm learning a lot and am getting really enthusiastic about cat training! To kick things off we headed to Pet Smart to pick up some clickers and a cat tree! Tommy really needed a taller scratching post so he could stretch and also something tall to climb other then our entertainment center. Considering I woke up to this:

I would say our shopping trip was very successful! My mum is an interior decorator so she kinda impressed her distaste for cat furniture on me from a young age, despite that I don't mind the look of our new cat tower and I think it sits rather unassuming in this corner. I even kinda like how it adds more vertical interest to that blank space on the wall. Tommy was rubbing all over it, scratching it and climbing it last night so I think he's gonna be quite happy to have a piece of furniture just for him. Hopefully he'll no longer feel the need to sit on top of our television.

After bringing home the cat furniture we headed to Nicks parents house for the first BBQ of the season! We all sat outside in lawn chairs and let me tell you it felt soooo darn good! I'm breaking in my Birkenstock sandals yesterday and today and I can't wait to order some more dresses for summer frolicking. I have this one and this one on my mind. ;)

Whew! Glad I got to tell you a little about my weekend, I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed some of the warm weather. If it's cold where you are... I have no sympathy. Haha, JK I know just how you feel. ;)

Delicious Popcorn Cookies

Not long ago I purchased myself the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman and so far I've made a couple highly successful and delicious dishes. My first, and most favorite recipe ever, was the Buttered Popcorn Cookie! Now, everyone I tell about this cookie is skeptical at first but I can tell you, and you can clearly see from these pictures, that it is the best idea anyone has ever had. These cookies are delicious! I would perhaps use slightly less popcorn, and one could experiment by adding chocolate chips or caramel to the recipe, but best start with the basics and follow it straight from the book:

 Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or canola oil
1/3 cup popcorn kernels (as I say, perhaps only go with 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
To make the popcorn: Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan until hot. Add the kernels, and cover, shaking the pan to make sure all the kernels are in contact with the bottom of the pan.  As soon as you hear the first few kernels pop, agitate the pan and don't stop until they're all done popping! (5 minutes or so).  Remove from heat, add melted butter and salt, and transfer to bowl.

Dough: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until smooth. Whisk flour and baking soda together.  Stir flour mixture into butter-sugar mixture, until combined.  Fold in popcorn, making sure to get dough well distributed.  It’s okay if the popcorn breaks as you’re mixing, and don’t worry if it seems like there's too much popcorn for the amount of dough. There is a lot of popcorn in each cookie and it does provide an amazing crunch. If you only went with 1/4 cup of kernals you'll find forming your cookies a little easier. I found I had about a quarter cup of unused popcorn in my mixing bowl at the end I had to toss.

Bake: Roll dough into mounds the size of a golf ball or slightly bigger.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, making sure to leave a 2 inch gap between cookies.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.  Let cool for a minute or so on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.

Makes about 24 cookies

And there you have it. I would highly recommend this cookbook, it really does have a little bit of everything, and all with a delightful spin.

Golden Mountains

So my camera remote is still MIA (just ordered a backup today so this NEVER happens again, haha), but I forced Mr. Nick to take some photos of me yesterday in this new outfit. It's bizarre what a difference there is between photos Nick takes and photos I take with my tripod and remote combination. He's rather tall and I somehow end up looking short and chubby when seen from that angle, not to mention you can see all of the messy-ness in the background! Gah.

The skirt is from etsy seller Thief and Bandit and was made in Nova Scotia! Love shopping Canadian. ;)

I'm currently itching for some nice weather so I can wear all my lovely summer clothes again. I think this silk cargo tank is going to get plenty of wear, as well as some lovely dresses and other tops I've picked up in the last couple of weeks. OH and my Birkenstocks came in the mail! I can't wait to break those babies in, they're adorable!

Skirt Thief and Bandit, H&M booties, Madewell silk cargo blouse, and H&M sweater.