Out & About : Wolseley

Hello all!

I had such a lovely weekend and took full advantage of the gorgeous autumn weather. Wolseley is one of my favourite Winnipeg neighbours even though I don’t get down there very often.

Here’s my weekend highlights:

{I completed the crossword puzzle!}

The Winnipeg Etsy Street Team had a craft sale on Saturday. Thank you to Daphne your post last week that reminded me! I often find Etsy overwhelming so I was excited to have an opportunity to see local products in person. I was so glad I went!

{Pretty soap dish I got at the sale for $5!}

{Sock yarn I purchased at Wolseley Wool}

Best wool shop ever! I often get frustrated when I can’t find the type of yarn I want in the colour I want. This place has everything.

How was your weekend?

What I’m Going to Miss About My Neighbourhood: #4 Elm Tree Canopies

Hi all! This next entry in the series has perfect timing with our gorgeous fall weather lately!

4. Elm Tree CanopiesWinnipeg is known for its elm trees particularly in the older neighbourhoods. In these neighbourhoods, the streets are a bit narrower allowing the trees to completely cover the area below. It’s so beautiful and especially romantic when the leaves start to change colour and gently fall to the ground below.

Check out the rest of this series: 10/9/8/7/6/5.

What do you love about your neighbourhood?

What I’m Going to Miss About My Neighbourhood: #5 St. Boniface Library

Hi all!

Did you know that October is library month? It’s true!

5. St. Boniface Library

{St. Boniface Library}

The St. Boniface Library is now one of my all time favourite libraries right up there with the Banff Park Library. I like them both for the same reasons. They have a great selection but you’re only exposed to a small amount of it at a time. Because of the smaller selections, I find that I’m more likely to try something new rather than the same type of books I generally go for.

For those who aren’t familiar with St. Boniface, it’s a large french speaking community within Winnipeg, Canada. Its library, (the one picture above), holds books that are primarily French. I would estimate that about 90% of the libraries books are French. The English books take about 3 or 4 rows as well as some racks of paperbacks. Of course, because it’s part of the Winnipeg public library system, I was able to order English books and pick them up there. However, sometimes you just need to browse you know?

At this library, I took a chance on books and authors I honestly wouldn’t have picked up at larger libraries. That’s the benefit of smaller libraries and sometimes fewer options.

Check out the rest of this series: 10/9/8/7/6.

What do you love about your neighbourhood?

What I’m Going to Miss About My Neighbourhood: #6 St. Boniface Post Office

Hi all!

6. St. Boniface Post Office

{St. Boniface Post Office}

This might be a weird place to miss but I’m really attached to the St. B Post Office for a couple of reasons:

• There are very few freestanding post offices anymore.
• I get to practice my French by eavesdropping on the other patrons.
• The main post office guy there is so quick! Seriously, if I have to send 4 packages at once, he has them processed and ready to go in 5 minutes.
• Parking right out the door! So handy when you just want to run in and out.

Check out the rest of this series: 10/9/8/7.

What do you love about your neighbourhood?

What I’m Going to Miss About My Neighbourhood: #7 Le Croissant

Hi all!

I’m so behind on this series! I moved over a month ago already.

7. Le Croissant

{Le Croissant}

Without a doubt, one of the places I’m going to miss the most is Le Croissant. This little bakery makes the absolutely best croissants in Winnipeg. One of my favourite things to do was to wake up and walk the 20 or so minutes to the bakery to pick up a croissant for an am break. If you haven’t been there already, you really have to go. Just get there early to make sure there’s a bit of a selection. I personally love the selection of fruit croissants that arrive in the summer.

 {A raspberry croissant}

Check out #10 , #9 and #8.

What do you love about your neighbourhood?

Out & About : Toronto!

Happy Monday everybody! I hope you’ve enjoyed your long weekend. I spent this weekend recovering from the last week in Toronto.  Even though I’ve been back since late Wednesday, it seems I needed a few days to just sleep. I think my feet have recovered from all the pavement pounding by this point.

Last Friday morning, I flew into Toronto to enjoy the weekend by myself before a work conference. I love Toronto! I know it’s kind of frowned upon for anyone to say they like Toronto (at least in Western Canada) but I love any chance to hang out there for a few days. Due to a last minute error with hotel reservations (LONG STORY), I found myself the night before my flight with nowhere to stay.  That’s how I ended up in Scarborough two hours after I landed via bus, train, train and bus.

I’ve found myself in some hairy situations while travelling but being in Scarborough is not one of them. I loved the reactions of some of my Toronto based colleagues when they found out though. They acted as though it was the most dangerous place to be (even though some live there). It was well worth the trek out there just for their reactions alone.

After I checked in, I boarded the bus again to head back downtown to the Art Gallery of Ontario. The AGO has been on my list to hit up every time I’ve travelled annually to Toronto. For some reason or another, I can never get down there. I’m still kicking myself for missing last year’s MoMA exhibit. This time around, it was the final weekend of their Picasso exhibit. There was no way I was missing that.

Unfortunately, attending the exhibit a few days before it closes made it really crowded and busy. I can’t imagine how much worse it would’ve been on Saturday. It was definitely worth going to and I feel like I learned a lot. My only regret is that the rest of the gallery was closed by the time I finished the Picasso exhibit. I was trying to check out the Group of Seven but didn’t get very far. Another reason to return in the future.

Day 2

My plan for Saturday was to hit up Kensington Market. I hadn’t been there for a couple of years and I love checking everything out.

I really didn’t find a lot but I had a gorgeous brunch at Kensington Cornerstone. I’m a sucker for anywhere that says they’re serving fresh squeezed lemonade. I had their poached eggs with brie and hollandaise. Soooo good. Why they don’t just call it eggs benedict is beyond me.

After this, I headed down to Queen St. W and found this cute wallet at Cards & Presents. I always seem to pop into this store when I’m nearby and was so happy to find a wallet. It’s so hard to find a wallet you like, you know?

They also had a soft grey one as well but since my last wallet was a neutral, hot pink was destined to win.

Day 3

On Sunday, I was only going to have a bit of time as I’d have to check in for our conference around 4 pm. So I decided to head to Leslieville. I had never been before so I was really excited to find something new. I always tend to head to Queen St. W in Toronto because it’s where I know but sometimes you have to check out other places. Can I just say that I love Leslieville!? I wish I had more time (and that it wasn’t so hot) to check things out.

Outside of the Arts Market, I fell in love with these chairs. Honestly, they’d be perfect for my soon to be dining room.

I bought some wool (it had to be done!) at The Purple Purl, (love it when wool stores have customers knitting away when you visit), and picked up some macarons (and homemade pink lemonade) at Bobbette & Belle. I’d love to live at Bobbette & Belle. It’s my dream aesthetic with candy as an added bonus. Finally, I also stopped by Tango Palace Coffee Company for (you guessed it), fresh squeezed lemonade and a shortbread cookie. I love the atmosphere at Tango and I could definitely see that this would be where I’d hang out if I lived in the area. So relaxing and cozy.

So that’s it! By the time the conference started I could barely walk thanks to running all over the place. Where are some of your favourite bits of Toronto? Let me know and I’ll start a list for my next visit.

What I’m Going to Miss About My Neighbourhood: #8 Le Garage Cafe!

Hi all!

It has been such a lousy couple of weeks for me. I was ill, then I was trying to move in 40C weather and I’ve just finished with a bout of teeth grinding. Just bad news bears all around. So behind in my posts!

8. Le Garage Cafe!

{Le Garage Cafe}

When I was younger, there seemed to be a lot more restaurants on Provencher Blvd than there is currently. More importantly, there seemed to be more places that had fantastic poutine. However, when I moved there I couldn’t seem to find what I was looking for. Fortunately, Le Garage Cafe has fantastic poutine and features great live music. It’s one of the places I know I’ll be meeting people for lunch when I head over to that end of the city.

{My favourite veggie burger & poutine}

If you’re looking for a place to hear such great live music and meal, check out Le Garage Cafe next time you’re in St. B!

Check out #10 and #9.

What do you love about your neighbourhood?

Out & About: Blind Date at MTC

Hi all,

Tonight I went with my mom to see Blind Date, a play that’s currently running at MTC’s Warehouse theatre. It is super cute and really very funny. The premise is this: Mimi, a single girl is waiting for her blind date to show up. When he doesn’t, she scours the audience looking for a replacement blind date. The intro of the audience member to the play and to the audience is really well done. I have to admit, I did feel really anxious for the guy. He played his part really well! I thought it could’ve have ended earlier. It’s about 90 minutes with no intermission.
Photo credit: MTC

I don’t think you could really have an intermission for this kind of thing but I thought that the guy needed a break! Cutting it by 15-30 minutes would’ve kept it on a high. It was tremendously funny and the concept worked incredibly well. It’s only playing for a few more days, so if you have a chance, go check it out! I’m sure it’s different every night because there’d me a new “date” and a new way to flow the conversation. We really have to hand it to the guys who go oup there. It gets pretty randy up there but they (and their girlfriends!) are such good sports.

In other news, I won a sponsorship on Holly Knitlightly’s blog for the month of April. Yay! Holly has been gracious enough to allow me to do a giveaway of beauty products on her blog. Holly’s a ferocious knitter and is constantly knitting up blankets to donate. Such an inspiration! To enter the giveaway, click here.

Out & About: The Fighting Days at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

For the last few years, my parents have had season tickets to the MTC. As a result, I’m often called at the 11th hour to accompany one of them when the other is ill or working. The last couple of times I’ve attended have not been the best. One time I was really bored and another my mom fell asleep but still wouldn’t leave at intermission. lol. So when my mom called me on Tuesday night, I was a bit skeptical but since I haven’t been in awhile I was actually pretty excited to go. Plus, I love pre-ordering drinks for intermission. For some ridiculous reason it makes me feel fancy.

Without a doubt, The Fighting Days is one of the best plays I’ve ever seen. Sadly, its run ends on Saturday but I still wanted to tell you about all about it. The Fighting Days takes place in Winnipeg prior to World War I as women are trying to get the vote. Immediately after reading the synopsis, I thought it would definitely be focused on Nellie McClung. Of course, Nellie was included (how could she not be) but the focus was primarily on Francis Beynon someone who I knew nothing about. I really commend Wendy Lill (the playwright) for taking that angle.

What I found so incredible about this production was that the votes for women aspect wasn’t the main plot point. In fact, the Suffragette movement was just the catalyst for Francis’ growth as an independent thinker. We get to see her blossom from a timid country mouse to a journalist with a very unpopular opinion on conscription. Wendy Lill did such an amazing job on making these women three dimensional characters which isn’t always easy when it comes to historical figures. I also appreciated that she didn’t shy away from the more disappointing viewpoints held by many suffragettes at the time. The set design was also fantastic! I’m a big fan of set design (the only thing that got me through Brief Encounter last year) and I thought they did such a terrific job.

This play made me grateful for two things: one, I’ve never known a world where I didn’t have a voice and two that someone else did all that fighting for me. Honestly, I don’t know how they did it. I was exhausted just watching it. I’ve never taken for granted that I have the right to vote and that’s why I never miss the opportunity to do it. I know that my grandmother (89) and her sister (101!) were not considered “people” under law when they were born. That’s what gets me to the polls even when our political options aren’t very inspiring. Anyway, if you have the opportunity to see this production in the future, please do so. It’s fabulous. In case you’re interested, here’s a link to a review (with video) on CBC’s website.

Have you seen any great plays lately? Let me know and I’ll keep an eye out!

Out & About : Assiniboine Park Gardens

On Saturday, I took advantage of being up early and headed across the city to the Assiniboine Park. The park is adjacent to the Assiniboine Zoo and Assiniboine Forest. My goal was to check out the gardens and the brand new Butterfly Garden. I have a tendancy to only go in the spring or fall and then I miss all the flowers!

I was delighted to see a herb garden outside of the Star Grill in the Conservatory. Puts my little herb planter to shame.
Think of all the pesto you can make with all this basil!

 Now in the English Gardens: Peonies! My all time absolute favourite.

I was thrilled that the lilacs were still out. They’re in a shady spot so they hung on longer than most. Doesn’t look like they’ll be here much longer! I love that you can smell them before you can see them.

Poppies! I didn’t know they could get so big! The blossoms would take up both hands for sure.

At the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden: Lily pads! Don’t you just love them? They’re just so magical to me.

Blurry shot of some bells. So pretty!

Roses!

I love dragonflies so I was thrilled to see a lot of them on my walk. Keeps the mosquitos away!

‘The Boy with The Boot’ is famous around here because it often seems to be the victim of pranks. He has been stolen before. Poor kid.
 
This was in the conservatory. I don’t know what it is. It just looked cool.

I love stuff like this. Not sure if you can see but it’s a little door and there’s a line of laundry above it. It’s a make believe fort. Very Peter Pan and the lost boys. Very cute.
So where are the butterflies?! When I got home I did some research and it turns out they’re in the zoo not the gardens like I originally thought. Definitely have a reason to return now!