Lovely Places: St. Jacob’s Market

We decided to head out of the city Saturday morning for a drive to Amish Country and spend the morning at the St. Jacob’s Market.

So much amazing food, great venders, and farmers with their fresh produce.
Of course there is also a great antique barn across the road.

An amazing lily farmer!

This was so stunning!

The heat was intense, but we bought this fresh 1 Liter lemonade with fresh fruit!
A definite thirst quencher.

And over at the antique barn, there were so many things I could have bought,
but I walked away empty handed as I know we don’t NEED anything.

There was this great set of 4 pyrex mixing bowl!

This awesome vintage fan…on the way home I was thinking about it.

There was something about this tall chair I loved.

An entire shelf full of various pyrex. Although I found the prices to be a little too steep.

And this was just the cutest children’s ice cream parlour table and chair set.

I shouldn’t say I walked away empty handed. We bought our weeks groceries at the market, all fresh and full of Ontario goodness!

Muskoka Getaway

Thanks to my lovely aunt and uncle and their generous wedding gift, we were able to spend a wonderful weekend at the amazing Rosseau Muskoka Marriott Resort and Spa.

Photo from website

It was so cozy and wonderful with a fireplace in our suite, watching a heavy snowfall outside. Breakfast was served to our room in the morning before we headed home.
 

Outside we were struck by the sheer beauty of freshly fallen snow on the once bare trees. The sun was bright and cheerful as we drove home, in stark contrast to the –10 outside.

A really cute log home on a hill.

We also stopped in this store: Muskoka Living Interiors
Located just outside Port Carling, Ontario, this enormous interior design store was certainly something else. The stock alone was unbelievable, but when I saw a few price tags, well, let’s just say we were like little kid’s when your mom says, “Don’t touch anything here!”

Beautiful pieces and wonderfully designed.

Loved this paisley type print.


We both really love this and thought it would be a great thing to have in our home.
Idea! Project for me. People, it’s a stencil, some paint and a rustic frame that can be made out of barn board. Somehow I don’t think the price is quite right at $352 dollars!
Just saying.

Nifty Nests {Jessica}

I’m starting a new feature on my blog today called Nifty Nests. The short and simple of it is to share a cozy, quaint and lovely home of someone I know. If anyone of my readers is interested in sharing their home, please email me to let me know.

So I’m starting this off with one of my best friends, Jessica from The Graceful Oven. (Please check out her delicious cooking blog)  Her adorable family recently moved into her Grandma's old house. Here's what she had to say about her charming, cozy home:

It feels so natural for me to live in this house. I grew up here, in a sense, coming over for Christmas and birthdays and Sunday roasts, running through the yard, watching my Grandparent’s garden and shovel snow.



My Grandfather bought it right after WWII for my his little family of three to live in. Eventually, three grew to eight and the little house kept giving.
















 







Our home is full of old sturdy things with a story, practical things that work in my small space, homemade decorations and fun things my kids can play with and not have to worry about breaking.



I can count on one hand the things I have in my house that are new. In fact, my daughter, Clara, was baffled by the concept of The Brick and Leons and the like. She was quite sure everyone bought furniture at the Sally Anne or found it on the side of the road.



My furniture, art, dishes and accessories are almost all thrifted, found, inherited from a great aunt or handmade. Though this started from necessity, it soon became what I felt most at home with.



There are secret cubby holes built into walls,




a little fold away cookbook holder in the kitchen, chipped paint here and there revealing colours once covering these walls,



old linens and kitchen gadgets left behind are a reminder to me of my Grandparents, their love for each other and a contentment with simple things.

Wasn’t that just lovely? Thanks Jess for sharing your home with us! Love you! Don’t you just adore the pull out cook book holder? What about the retro paper in the kid’s bedroom? Or that cute mason jar light her hubby made?

Happy weekend!

Lovely Places in Toronto: Avenue Road Flower Shops

I learned about these glorious flower shops about 3 years ago. The seasonal variety is always amazing and they always carry every other kind flower (prices vary of course through out the year) such as lilies and roses. There are 4 different stores that tend to carry the same things with almost the same prices so, I don't have one store that I like more than the others. It's definitely a fun strip of store to visit, if you like flowers I guess, and pick a bouquet for yourself or someone you love.

Lovely Places in Toronto: Coriander Girl

I happened upon this lovely blog and fabulous store that I just can't wait to visit! Coriander Girl is a delicious mix of floral eye candy and antique goodness. Her designs are similar to the Small Stump girls in Califiornia, but I'm glad to have found some wonderful Canadian talent!

 

  

  

A perfect green pitcher. 

  

Old mason jars. 

  

I love her brown paper packaging. 

  

Poppies!

 

She uses a lot of my favorite flowers, like hydragias.

Anthropologie Store Find

So, during a walk on one of my lunches through Yorkville, I happily discovered that there is an Anthropologie store only two blocks from me! Like, WHAT? Seriously, how could I have missed this for almost a year now!? To say the least I was stoked and spent a good portion of the remainder of my lunch browsing the two level wonder. I can't wait to find some sales on items that I adore once they do a summer clearance.

Antique Adventures

Have you ever stepped into an overwhelming space so full of 'stuff' that you just don't know where to begin and wonder how it will ever end? Such is the experience of entering an Antique Barn or Antique warehouse. A single building full of small vending booths, each holding a wide variety of nic-nacs and collectibles, vintage finds and of course some junk.
These pictures are from St. Jacobs, Ontario.

I purchased this lovely Shabby Chic mirror. It will hang above my couch, but I just need to get the proper wall hanging stuff because it's quite heavy. I just love it! And I also found this

I also found this wonderful Herb Sampler book.
I love these graphic watercolour paintings.
I might cut some pages out and frame them...not sure yet.