August Break: Day Thirty-One!

My last August Break post is dedicated to catnapping.

I spent a lazy afternoon with a friend's cat (who I've been cat-sitting the past week).

I laid on the comfy red couch, with sun beams filtering in & a purring kitty on my belly.

Truly, the most peaceful way to spend an afternoon.

I am not embarrassed to admit I fell asleep for over 2 hours after taking these photos.

meow.

Now, I wonder if my friend Karen will mind if I swap cats with her?

Strongpaw (my kittycat) would never spend an afternoon snoozing on my belly.

I never had a better sleep than that afternoon catnap with Kahlo-cat.

I have so enjoyed taking the August Break 2011!

I can't believe this is the last day. 

I loved giving this focus on photography for an entire month.

I am totally psyched for September, though!

I'm a big autumn fan. It's the season that makes me the happiest.

Already, the cooler nights have set in and the days are getting shorter.

I can already see some leaves turning colour.

I'm giddy with anticipation!

with catnap wishes,

Caren

August Break: Day Thirty

 

Ben & Jerry's ice cream break! Astrid & I had our own pints to spoon goodness from.

 

Astrid, Jen (aka lucky jackson) and I all have wish bracelets. (make a wish!)

 

Twenty Six Mermaids wish bracelets

Gracie pup loves Astrid more than anything; that is a look of adoration!

This is the last Festival-related August Break post! I know I did more than my fair share of them the past few days, but you can't blame me - it was a weekend of festivaling! Worthy of many posts! :)

I am not much of a Festival girl, but the Folk Festival is a must for me. It's practically right next door to my house, and always has lovely artisans, food venders & so much music. It's not too crowded, and it's a fun-loving carefree crowd. Oddly enough, though, I'm not a crowd-girl. I prefer quiet low-key gatherings. The Folk Festival has just the right amount of festivities!

Next post is the last August Break one! And it'll be a quiet one.

xo

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Nine

The Good Lovlies {photo source: goodlovelies.com}

the Lovelies: Sue Passmore, Kerri Ough, Caroline Brooks

This August Break post is dedicated to The Good Lovelies. This is the loveliest of live music I have had the pleasure to listen to & watch. I wish I could've gotten better photos of these lovely ladies, but I didn't want to take photos whilst they were performing, and nor did I want to use a flash. Therefor, kind of crappy indoor shots ensue. Forgive me? You would if you got a chance to see them live, too! :)

"Lie Down" by The Good Lovelies (the audience had an interactive singing moment with this song at the concert; which has caused this song to be stuck in my head every day since - I am not complaining!)

It was entirely too awesome that the Jones soda Astrid got at the show had a vintage Brownie camera on its label! I admit, I wanted to bring the empty home with me (but we forgot in our post-music-blissfulness).


On the way back to the car, we passed by live music at McThirsty's Pint. This is one of the cool things about my hometown; music is everywhere!

Astrid, my mom, and I went to see The Good Lovelies this past Friday at The Market Hall (recently & beautifully refurbished) as part of the Peterborough Folk Festival. The concert also featured Melissa Payne as the opening act, and the evening was the kick off party to the Festival.

As soon as The Good Lovelies hit the stage, we knew we were in for a treat! I was entranced by their sweet voices, use of mandolin, banjo & percussions, plus their retro charm. We adored everything about these three singers - from their "no pants" requirement (they only wear dresses when performing) to their instrument-swaps and witty anecdotes; the concert was refreshing and wonderfully interactive.

I bought their CD after the show & it has been played numerous times since. Astrid & I cannot get their song "Lie Down" out of our heads, and often found ourselves humming/whistling/singing their tunes all weekend long. They are infectious, in a really really good way!

I forgot how good it was to listen to live music; thank you The Good Lovelies, for making that night one to remember!

xo

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Eight

A belated August Break day 28 is brought to you by (even more!) lucky jackson & the Peterborough Folk Festival! You'll notice that there aren't any music-related photos of my Festival visit. I should point out that this is primarily a music festival ... however, I always end up just visiting the artisans & food venders. I guess I'm less about music & more about looking/buying pretty things & eating good food. ;)

 

"It's all about us" textile art by lucky jackson

 

how genius is that? lucky kept her biz cards in a Fisher Price cash register! eep!

 

lucky's booth just screamed to be photographed; Astrid obliged!

lucky & Astrid = so much pretty!

the four bloggy artsy friends: Astrid, lucky jackson, Mel of Needle & Nest Design and I! 

xox all around, in Polaroid form no less! (thanks to the stranger who took this using my trusty Spectra!)

More weekend festival festivities in photograph-form coming up in the next couple of posts ... yup, the weekend was that stuffed full of awesomeness that I have multiple posts about the same event. woohoo!
Caren

p.s. pop over to Astrid's blog & Mel's blog to see more photos & fun from our festival weekend!

Sunday Smile: Hula Hoops

Polaroid of happy hula hoopers (including a friend's daughter, Ava)

A Sunday Smile with an animated GIF of me hula hooping, you say?

Yes. Yes that's just the thing to make for smiles (possibly giggles & even a snort?)

{animated GIF will just repeat itself for hours of entertainment!}

I had no idea I could even hula hoop my hips about, but I did, and it totally made me smile.

Like an idiot. 

I need to get one of these bad boys so I can hoop it up at home.

Great freaking work out, too! The hoop I'm using above is weighted.

It was awesome to have a bevy of hoops to play with at the Peterborough Folk Festival.

More posts with content from the PFF will be coming soon, via my August Break posts!

Stay tuned for handmade goodness, art, pretty ladies, the Good Lovelies, and more!

hoopily,

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Seven

August Break's day 27 is brought to you by ...  Harry Potter!

I took the above polaroid in Campbellford, Ontario.

 Aron movie theatre's sign practically begged for its picture to be taken. 

Terribly cool to see Harry Potter on such an old school sign!

I took a multitude of polaroids that one day. 

An entire film pack, in fact (that's 10 polaroids)! 

I love The Impossible Project's Spectra film;  - in particular the Softtone. 

I'm addicted! I really should buy all their stock. ;)

wannabe wizard,

Muggle Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Six

 

Giant vintage area carpet ... you have no idea how much I wish I brought it home!

 

Oh so retro flower power Postcards album - filled with vintage postcards! Score!

 
feeling Lucky? grab a garbage bag, fill it up, and thrift your hearts out! Busy Bees style!

This is what it looks like when you scrape the bottom of your purse to pay for thrifty goodness.
The above change paid for a Polaroid SX70 & a mint vintage Brownie. Colour me happy!

MmmMmm - greasy spoon restaurant coffee!

post-Busy Bees thrift craze = happy (but hungry) ladies!

Lucky & I spent the day thrift shopping yesterday. And so today's August Break is brought to you by thrifty goodness! Is there anything better than digging through piles of crap to find that diamond-in-the-rough?
(that is a rhetorical question, because obviously the answer is "no ma'am! nothing better!")

Busy Bees is a happy place found in Campbellford, Ontario. It's only open in the summer months.
We happened to arrive on a "fill a bag for a few bucks" day. So we took said bags, filled 'em up, and went to town! I could've filled 3 garbage bags worth of goodies, but I only filled one - the seams were busting!
I have a deep urge to go back and fill a few more bags, but I'm all thrifted out.
(um, that's a lie, I'm going yard saling tomorrow ... a girl can never be "thrifted out")

If you're thrifting over the weekend, may the thrift Force be with you!

xo

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Five

Today's August Break is brought to you by Childhood!

Happy little plastic blasts from our past:

 

Fisher Price little people collection = supreme awesomeness!

 

"He looked at her with longing, but she never gave him the time of day."

Superman & Wonder Woman: the love story.

 

Plastic toy animals waiting for little hands to rescue them from their glass prison!

tiny little colourful toy cameras = happiness at your fingertips!

All of the wonderment you see above can be found at the sweetly talented Lucky Jackson's studio.

I want to live there amongst the toys & art & fabric & happiness.

It's impossible to leave Lucky's home without feeling inspired,

even if only to sit down & play awhile!

Spent the day today with Lucky, and loved every minute of it. We thrifted til we dropped & then some! Those stories are for another post, though. Today is all about the colourful memories from childhood found in her art studio/toy collection room. Seriously swoon-worthy space from a seriously swoon-worthy artist!

Lucky's website

Lucky's Etsy shop

Always find time to play in a day!

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Four

 

Today is my 24th day of August Break goodness.

And it's a day full of latte goodness!

I used my two favourite mugs to whip up some yummy lattes this morning.

One for me, and one for my mom.

It's a lovely ceremony, the making of a latte.

I use my Chemex coffee maker & heat up milk (either goat's or almond).

I froth up the milk in the mug; I add honey or agave nectar.

Then I add the rich yummy coffee to the frothy goodness.

Voila!

Would you like a cup?

The mugs above are definitely my go-to ones. They make me happy, no matter what.

The red hearts mug is vintage Waechtersbach (West Germany) - a happy thrift find.

The cupcake mug is made by a favourite Etsy artisan of mine, Stepanka.

Coffee or tea time is always a special time, don't you find?

xo

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Three

 

It's all about Cats vs Dogs in this August Break post!

My neighbour's cat Patience came by for a visit, which I adore.

Grace, on the other hand, is not the biggest of fans of these kitty visits.

I talk to Patience like this, "oh, you handsome boy, have you come to help me garden today?"

and this, "who's the best boy? yes, you are. you're the best little buddy."

Obviously, Grace gets very jealous.

And I sound like a very crazy cat lady.

 

Patience (aka F-Man) likes to plop down in front of Grace & show his belly off. meow.

Grace responds by getting up on her hind legs & showing off her Meerkat impersonation skills.

Gracie's victory dance?

Oh, animated GIFs, you're fun.

Who won the Cats vs Dogs battle today?

Well, it's always the cat. Silly.

~Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-Two

 

Today's August Break is brought to you by little things I found in nature;

all in my backyard (my favourite place to dig in the dirt).

Above is a tiny cup-like mushroom I had never seen before.

I became mesmerized; visited it at least 5x today before photographing.

It truly looks like a cup, holding tiny seeds (some sort of stamen?).

the tiny fungi above? the size of an eraser head. So tiny, so wonderfully weird!

 

And then there were the bumblebees. 

Oh, joyful little creatures who dance amongst the blossoms!

This little guy was really loading up on pollen. 

He was sort of bumbling about with the weight!

I love the fuzziness of his back;

I wish I could've petted him a little.

 

The red dragonfly below was delicately chasing the breeze.

I watched him float from rock to leaf to flower to earth.

Finally, he alit on the evergreen shrub and stayed awhile.

I couldn't help but admire his ruby glow.

This little grasshopper was trying to get away from me, walking along my wheelbarrow.
I know I share too many photos of these little fellas, but they are the most fun to photograph!

If you can, step outside and find a bit of nature, get down low and take a peek at what lies beneath. You never know what little bits of life you may find there.

Caren

August Break: Day Twenty-One

 

August Break is brought to you by a recovery day (which was my yesterday).

Which included green tea, gigantic pancakes, and wearing of stripes & an owl.
My post-Yard Sale self was in dire need of Doing Nothing.
I did a very good job of living up to that expectation on Sunday!

I wore the above outfit for all of 1 hour (long enough to get said gigantic pancakes),

then found myself back in PJs and in need of quiet time.

Watched a BBC series entitled 'Lost in Austen' - very transportative

(recommend for anyone who enjoys mixing up the classics).

I hope you, too, find some time to pause & simply watch the world for a while. I find it helps to ground oneself in the now & let some worries slip away.

xo

Caren

p.s. today will be bringing you two August Break posts, to make up for the lack of one yesterday. :)