october odds and ends

Montreal is full of cool things. Here were some of my favourites this month:

Antique vignette portraits at Style LABO, an awesome store full of wonderful (if pricey) treasures on Rue Bernard in Montreal's Mile End neighbourhood.



Having breakfast at La Croissanterie Figaro, which has (you guessed it) the city's best croissants and an atmosphere akin to the best Parisian cafés.

Puces Pop, a semi-annual pop-up market that's packed with arts, crafts, and food. It's held in the basement of a Polish church, so you can always count on grabbing some perogies or cabbage rolls to fuel your shopping. This year there was a bakery from Brooklyn visiting and they were selling fantastic mini cupcakes, such as the bacon cinnamon (hells yeah) variety below.

Just walking the streets of my neighbourhood in the fall has gotta be one of the purest forms of pleasure. The colours are so bright, everything smells amazing, and the people watching is world-class.

I love when it's the end of the warm season and multiple layers of ivy have covered the walls of many buildings in the city.

You can't beat the moody skies of October.

Hot chocolate on a crisp, cool day is heavenly.

And, there is nothing like stocking up on new reading material at one of the many fall book fairs in the city.

After being super busy and out of town for half of the past month, I'm looking forward to having a slightly more low key November, curled up with all the books, hot chocolate and cozy fall outfits a girl could ask for.

my photo on the huffington post!

One of my colleagues tweeted to let me know that one of my photos of McGill is up on the Huffington Post today. I can't tell you how happy this made me!

montreal shopping: rokokonut par kitsch 'n swell

Here I am drooling over accessories at Rokokonut, a brand new store on Montreal's Rue St-Laurent. This store is so amazing, and so new it doesn't even have a website yet. You can check out the site of its parent store Kitsch 'n Swell if you really want to, but I'd suggest reading this review by Apartment Therapy instead.

So come to Montreal, venture into this '60s boudoir, and see for yourself. Tacky chic jewellery, vintage corsets, depression glassware, bedazzled pasties, and many a fringed lantern await you.

cinderella

This photo was taken at the Jean Talon Market a few weeks ago. I loved this because I imagine it could only have been placed there by the elderly couple who ran the vegetable stand. It must be a grandchild's artistic accomplishment. It made me smile when I was buying cauliflower.

I love how the scribbled patches on the colouring book page enliven the boring-ass picture in the same way the art piece does the dusty wall onto which it was placed.

I also kind of want this version of Cinderella's dress.

milk ad - rue sherbrooke

more nista

More photos of Nista >>

nista

Nista is a band of fabulous folks. Check out their music and shenanigans.

in the mirror

My photo of freelance journalist Sarah Lolley on the cover (and on pg 31) of Montreal Mirror today. She's in the bottom left corner. Congrats to Sarah for being named a "Noisemaker 2010."Click here to view the online version.

Sarah's first book, Emilie and the Mighty Om, a children's book about yoga, will be released fall 2010. Follow her on Twitter.

on bodies rock summer '09

Two photos of a whole bunch to come. I am so proud of these guys! They played a rockin' show at the i(heart)music festival in Ottawa this weekend, and were mentioned in The Guardian's music blog last week.

Getting pretty good momentum going before going on tour next month!

on bodies

On Bodies, a band consisting of Mark, Sheena and Brian (my dear friends and boyfriend) recently finished recording its EP. The launch is happening a month from today, but I am too excited to wait until then to tell you about them.

A snippet from their bio:

On Bodies’ anatomy consists of a melodious torso with three separate, distinct heads: Mark Ambrose Harris, whose deep dramatic baritone serenades an introspective set of keys; Sheena Hoszko, whose raw soaring vocals blend beautifully with the distorted lines of her bass; and Brian Fauteux, who knits it all together on the drums, providing an unbreakable backbone for the band’s sweeping compositions...

If this piques your interest, go check out their Myspace, Facebook fan page, or CBC Radio 3 page.

And, if they eventually post their song "Ballad for an Old man," you might just hear me busting out some opera in the background. I feel lucky to have even been a tiny part of this fantastic album.

the office

This is my boss: Montreal's coolest Italian-Canadian, rockabilly chef/author/comedienne, Nadia G. I know it's not usually kosher to blog about one's work, but seeing as I work in social media, and considering that I'm a pretty big fan of my job, I figure it can't hurt to share this with you (just this once).

Last week we hosted a book signing for Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen cookbook here in Montreal. The night was awesome: great readings and musical performances, lots of free food and drink (which y'all better b'leive I indulged in), and many feisty Italian relatives abound.

Promoting this book, the web and mobile tv series its based on, and the upcoming lifestyle website (will let you know when it's launching, but should be within a few days), is what my job entails. Not bad at all!

behind and in front of the camera

As a photographer, it is often super awkward to be photographed. At the same time, it's great practice to sit and be the subject of another artist's work (to see how they work, and to learn from it). Farah and I put our artists' photo shyness aside and got together on Saturday to do portraits of each other for a women artist exhibition that's happening here in Montreal. These portraits are just a few of the collection we worked on together.

Farah is an extremely talented graphic and web designer, as well as (clearly) a photographer. I am a huge fan of her work, and am so happy that she's the one designing my forthcoming website. Being friends with her is one of the things that makes me happy to live in Montreal.