more of Toronto

Here are a couple more photos from my Toronto visit. Next time I definitely would like to check out the Royal Ontario Museum. The building itself was an interesting mix of modern edgy (no pun intended) design and the old classic stone building. Had I looked into the museum times beforehand I would've probably gone here first. The first set of photos below art from outside the Royal Ontario Museum, the others are buildings from the campus behind it.

a great Toronto cafe

After the shoe museum, I was look for some time to catch up on my emails and work on my laptop (not to mention rest my feet from having the carry the extra weight of that laptop!). I wandered into L’Espresso Bar Mercurio and I'm glad I did! Initally I was only going to get some tea but seeing their menu and the fresh and delicious sounding options I got lunch there as well! I enjoyed an incredible green tea (I'm not positive which one specifically that they offer) and then had their beet salad. It was a simple salad combination, containing arugola, beets, pear and shaved asiago cheese with a citrus oil dressing, but it was fantastic. I wish there was a place like this near me now.

The Bata Shoe Museum

The Bata Shoe Museum is dedicated to shoes, their design and their history, located in Toronto. I was skeptical about this one actually, since I'm not overly into fashion and I, compared to some women, am pretty low key about my shoes. But this was a fun stop. There was a floor with an exhibit highlighting more artistic shoe sculptures and designs as well as how shoes have appeared in artwork. Then there was a section dedicated to the American (and Canadian?) Indian's footwear. Across from that were shoes and accessories from the flapper era, this was easily my favorite set of footwear displayed. The bottom floors were a more general history along with rows of celebrity shoes.

A neat detail was added to the stairs connecting the floors. They included holes in the stairs so that people beneath the stairs could eye people's shoes!

Port Hope in Canada

I loved this stop while we were up north! We stayed at a great bed and breakfast that had the perfect mix of home comfort and modern hotel, plus the breakfast was delicious. If you're ever in the area you should definitely stay at Hill and Dale Manor.

We, once again, got into the town pretty late and just went straight to sleep. The next day we explored some of the local shops and found a couple of great pieces. If I can find the name of the shops I'll definitely post them for you here!

traveling in Canada

I recently got back from traveling in Canada with Jeff. We started in Montreal and then made our way to Toronto (stopping in a great little town in between called Port Hope). We weren't in Montreal long, coming in pretty late to the hotel and grabbing dinner at a great restaurant that I've unfortunately forgotten the name of. The next day I was able to check out the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and wander around a little, checking out a couple churches and seeing a bit of the city, before we were on our way to Port Hope.

Congratulations to Cassandra and David!

Cassandra and David were married today at Bill Miller's Castle in Branford, CT. It was a gorgeous fall day and the couple looked great! Here's a sneak peek of the day's photos.. more to come soon!

bermuda waters

I'm finally going through more of the photos from my Bermuda vacation in July and looking at how I may want to print some of the photos to remind me of those blue blue skies and water over this coming winter!

checking out other feeds

I'm finding some awesome blogs with wedding inspiration and design ideas. I'm going to add my favorites to the Wedding Sites section of my blog!

lumix lx5

I know bugs aren't the most glamourous subject matter, but I wanted to share this photo with you. I shot it yesterday with my point and shoot camera, the Lumix LX5, and I'm pretty amazed at the depth of field and the ability of the camera to focus while so close to this bug. Definitely a nice little camera!

help stop cancer

In the wake of the loss of Steve Jobs, I can't help but be reminded that more research and attention is necessary to rid our world of cancer. Many of us have personally been effected by the loss caused by cancer and we need to work together to come up with a cure.

There are a lot of ways we can help, volunteering our time, fundraising, raising awareness, and I hope that working together we can prevent the tragedies of this disease. I can across the signature cuff below on Lovely Bride, proceeds go to a great cause and it's beautifully designed.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and artist Melissa Joy Manning has partnered with Greenwich Jewelers to design and sell a signature cuff. Both Melissa and Greenwich Jewelers will be donating the profits to their respective research foundations, BCRF and Susan G. Komen.

 

If you know of any other great fundraisers or ways to contribute I'd love to hear about them, comment here or shoot me an email.