Answering The Been There, Done That Tag

My lovely online friend Lindsay, from the blog Miss Lindsay Lane, shares some of the best online tags and Q&As I've ever come across. Over the years I've played along with several that she has posted about and today I'm delighted to bring you another that I discovered via her terrific site.

Like many of us, Lindsay and I both adore seeing the world, so the moment I spotted this delightful travel tag called Been There, Done That on her blog last autumn, I knew that I wanted to toss my hat into the ring and share my own answers with all of you (thank you for blogging about it, dear gal!).

Though winter has not yet vanished from our midst entirely yet, thankfully we're not too far away from that point and springs’ return will mean an even greater opportunity for potential travel, particularly of the road trip variety. A point that makes my travel adoring heart smile with glee!

I don't have any immediate trips planned at present, but the year is still young and one never knows what is waiting around the corner for them next. On this mild Friday morning however, I'll be staying put and answering the following selection of travel related questions.

By all means, if you're a fan tags and globetrotting, please feel free to play along on your own site as well (and then come back here to share a link to your post so that I can check out your wonderful answers, too).


Which countries have you visited so far?

Canada (my home country), America (though not nearly enough!), Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and technically if we count passing through Heathrow Airport, England (which I massively want to return and explore properply at long last!).


Which destination is at the top of your bucket list? In other words: where do you REALLY want to go some day?

Though I do find that the answer to this question changes as I get older, certain dream destinations remain the same and for me some of those include seeing the Yukon, Prince Edward Island, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Australia, and numerous places throughout the States.


What is your most ideal vacation (beach, shopping trip, cultural holidays, etc)?

For me I would have to say that my ideal trip usually involves a heavy dose of historical sites, vintage shopping and/or other vintage related happenings (such as meeting up with fellow vintae bloggers), and some much needed R&R. Spending time at or near the water is always hugely welcome as well!


Which place did you find so special, that you want to visit it again?

Tony Bennett's might be in San Francisco, but as I've mentioned before, mine will forever reside in Calgary, Alberta, where I lived for a couple of years in my late teens. There's just something about that bustling, beautiful prairie city that embedded itself in my soul and will continue to pull me back to visit time and time again.


Have you ever been sent to a nice location for work? If so, where?

To date mine and/or my husband's work has allowed me to visit Vancouver, Victoria (BC), Niagara Falls, and Montreal, as well as to live in both Toronto, Ontario and the country of Ireland.


With whom do you usually travel?

My husband, Tony. Thankfully we're both massive travel fans and love few things more in this world than the chance to get away together no matter where we’re headed.


Who would you like to go on a vacation with that you haven't recently or even? (This can be anyone: family, friends, or famous person.)

It would be flat out amazing to go on a culinary related trip with Anthony Bourdain. More realistically though, I'd love to go to the Yukon with my mom, as we have strong family ties there on her side stretching back to the Klondike gold rush and to date neither of us have ever been to this vast arctic corner of the country.


Who, or what, would you take to a desert island?

A satelite phone and computer, gallons of sunscreen, a comfy bed (or hammock), a well stocked outdoors survival bag, a water bottle, and a lifetime supply of books, paper and pens.


Have you ever been to a vacation in your own country?

Many times! In fact, I've taken far more trips within my own country, to date, than outside of it. So far I've had the pleasure of seeing a good chunk of British Columbia, as well as parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and (briefly) Quebec.


Would you rather go to a theme park or a zoo?

Theme park, please, especially if it's one of a historical related nature.


Would you rather have a winter or a summer vacation?

Funnily enough, I often prefer spring and fall travel, as the weather is usually quite agreeable and you can score some really welcome off-season rates/deals. But to answer the question as it was set out, I enjoy both fairly equally (summer would win out a touch more though) and am up for traveling any time of the year.


What is your best holiday memory?

That is a really hard question to answer, especially since I have positive memories from most trips that I've taken throughout my life. I madly adored the vacations that Tony and I took to Calgary in 2013 and the one we enjoyed on Vancouver Island in 2014, so both of those stand out as definitely high points on the travel front for me.


What is your least pleasant holiday memory?

I'm going to have to take the fifth here, as I'm afraid that's too personal for me to share publicly (but I will tell you that all of my worst trips to date happened in my childhood and teen years).


To which countries are you travelling this year?

I don't have any travel plans at present, so I don't know if I'll be venturing abroad or not in 2016. Either way, I hope that Tony and I are able to get in at least a road trip or two closer to home, be it within Canada or to the States.


Where would you never go on holiday?

There are very few places that, under the right circumstances and keeping the limitations that my chronic health problems impose on me when I travel in mind, that I wouldn't be open to seeing. In general though, I wouldn't want to go anywhere that was currently in a state of war or extreme political unrest, or that was suffering from a serious epidemic.



{Travel = joy in my books and I truly love the chance to see more of the world, return to favourite destinations, and explore far and near alike whenever I can. Vintage image source.}

♥ ♥ ♥

Last December I penned a post called Seven Important Things That Travel Teaches Us, which hit on some of the lessons that a recent jaunt to Vancouver had reminded me about and that seeing the world in general helps us to learn.

There are so many, many perks to travelling, from these kinds of excellent life lessons to meeting to new friends, broadening your horizons, pushing your limits, and coming home with enough tales to keep even Marco Polo entertained.

So while I fully realize that it is unlikely I will ever traverse the whole globe, I'm okay with that fact. Just as long as I can continue to be able to hit the open road, sky, and/or water at least every now and then and, ideally, to sometimes visit places that I've never stepped foot in before, I will be a very - quite literally in some cases :) – happy camper.

7 important things that travel teaches us

As November came to an end, Tony and I spent nine lovely days in Vancouver this year. He was there for work and I was fortunate to be able to tag along, thus getting to enjoy my only trip so far (and most likely, for all of) this year. I'd long made peace with the idea that I wouldn't be traveling at all in 2015, so the sudden surprise of this getaway and the ensuing days spent in Vancouver was really and truly one of the best (early) Christmas presents I could have possibly asked for.

Like most enjoyable trips, this one felt like it flew by about as quickly as it takes to zip up a suitcase. Yet over the course of those nine days, I had a chance to do a lot of deep thinking - something, a blessing really, that travel almost always affords me and which is actually one of my favourite elements of getting away from home for a while - and also to be presented with various reminders of why it's so incredibly important to venture forth from our usual locations and daily lives alike at least every once in a while.

While most of us might, objectively, already be aware of the following points, it can be humbling and poignant alike to be reminded of them when we travel. Each of the following seven life lessons arose from me and/or both of us on our recent trip to Vancouver and while they're still all bracingly fresh in my mind, I wanted to share them here with you.


1. The journey can be as important as the final destination: This is so, so true. Case in point in a rather literal sense of the meaning: en route to Vancouver our GPS got a bit confused in the small town of Hope (as it has in the past) and ended up suggesting we take the back route (well, more like the non-highway route as opposed to an actual off-the-beaten path road).

At first we worried this would slow down our arrival time, but in the end it did no such thing and was an exciting way to go through several small and medium sized towns that I hadn't seen since I was a youngster and which Tony had never even so much as driven through so far. Each one brought back its own fun memories from many (many!) years ago and made me realize just how much time had elapsed since I was last in the neck of the (urban) woods.


So don't fear if you get a little lost, side tracked or turned around. It's all good and chances are, it will all work out in the end. Enjoy, savour, and relish the journey, for it is often every bit as amazing (and memorable!) as the destination itself.


2. The more you travel, the more you grow as a person: Seriously, you do. You learn things about yourself, you think outside of the box (or suitcase!), you make compromises, you try new things, you put some of your fears on the back burner, you challenge your own perceptions, you are confronted by personal demons and angels alike, and often you come home wiser (and more sure of your future) than when you left.


3. There's no time like the present: When in Rome is scarcely more apt than on a trip - be it to Italy or elsewhere. Seize the moment, give that funky looking restaurant a try, go parasailing with the friends you just made two days ago, splurge on that vintage hat/record/mountain bike/etc that you know you'll likely never find the same one of you in town (or perhaps even anywhere!), take a million photos (and Instagram them all!), go night swimming - just have a blast, live in the moment, and really get to know the soul of your destination. Chances are, it will stay with your own for ages to come.


4. You can easily - and happily - get by for a long time (if not forever) with a substantially reduced number of possessions and/or a small living space: I've never lived in a particularly large house, however all but a couple of my homes have been a fair bigger than your average budget friendly hotel room, yet I'm often struck when in one (a hotel room, that is) how easily and happily I can manage with the basic creature comforts (bed, powder room, hopefully a kitchenette, a desk or table and chairs, etc) and not yearn for more. Ditto for whatever I packed in my suitcase(s).

It might not have seemed like a ton back home, but in the sun or man-made light streaming through a hotel window, it often seems like an abundance and I delight in the creative styling challenges that such a small (temporary) capsule wardrobe provides. Each time I travel, I feel the need for less and less back home and am ever more content with what I already have.


5. We all need to step away from our computers/phones/tablets more often: The irony of saying this on a blog is not lost on me, I promise you. The longer that society as a whole becomes ever more immersed in the digital world, the more I feel, incredibly strongly, that we truly need to take more time out of most days to ensure that we connect with the real world, too. Get out there. Smell the salt air, let the wind whip your scarf around, read in the park, walk the joyfully noisy streets of a big city, fall asleep under the stars.

By all means, we can certainly use and benefit from the web, but we also need the original spider webs tangled in Mother Nature garden, real smiles not just emoticons, hugs from people in person, not merely trivial likes on a glowing electronic screen.


6. You may very well hate and also love a great deal about yourself and your current life while you travel: Without fail, I experience this to some degree whenever I travel. It's become almost like a ritual of sorts for me, but just like an intense sauna session, I know that from it, I'll sweat out some proverbial toxins and emerge with a clearer head and a renewed glow about me, so I roll with the punches and let them help to - see point #2 above - become a happier/wiser/hopefully better person.

In the same vein, I find it's important to remember that the person you are when you're away from your home environment - be it hiking the Alps, shopping in NYC, or touring a castle in Scotland - is not necessarily the same individual that you may be when you're at your usual house, living your daily life, working your usual job, and dealing with the all of the pressures big and small of home. So just because you may experience such a roller coaster of thoughts and emotions, it doesn't mean that you're doing a complete 180 for good - though sometimes it does and that can be incredible unto itself.


7. Traveling can help you be bolder and or more confident and/or outgoing: Hard as it may be for those who have never known me in person to believe, I am quite often ridiculously shy, I'm the poster child for introverts everywhere, and I am not exactly world famous for being the most outgoing of people. I don't see these as negatives per se (especially not being an introvert, I adore that I am the way that I am on that front), but sometimes I'm the first to admit that it would be great to be less shy/timid and interestingly, I am often more fearless and apt to "put myself out there" when I travel.

I think the excitement, happiness and adrenaline of traveling all play a huge roll there, but it could also be the fact that I know, I may never get a chance to seize said moment (aka, point #4) again and don't want to miss it just because I have a swarm of butterflies in my stomach.

No matter where you usually fall on shy to turbo outgoing scale, travel gives us the chance to push the boulders that are our comfort zones and discover new sides of ourselves in the process, which can definitely better our lives once we're home (sweet home) again.





{Travel can be awash with important lessons of all sizes. These are but seven of them, each of which I was recently reminded of. What are some of the things you've learned and/or been reminded of thanks to taking trips? Stylish vintage lady traveler/adventurer image source.}

♥ ♥ ♥

I don't think that I've ever travelled, even just for a long weekend, away from my usual corner of the world and not had thoughts that went on to alter my future, be it on a small or a grand scale. When I travel, I often feel like I could let go of almost everything (save for our pets and my closest relationships) at home and be completely, 100% happy - and who knows, maybe I could be, but that isn't realistic and it certainly isn't apt to happen anytime soon (if ever).

For me, that desire goes back to points number 4 and 6 above in particular. I firmly believe that we're not always the same people when we travel and while a few days, weeks, or even months away from our usual existence can be a true godsend/very helpful/healing/cathartic experience, after a while, most of us would still want to return to at least some elements of the world, career and set of goals that we've worked so hard to create up until this point.

Instead of parting ways entirely with our lives, often the far smarter and more rational approach is to keep thinking about those important thoughts that we had while we were away and use them to build, better, change, and improve our worlds once we've returned home, unpacked the last item from our toiletries bag, and uploaded our travel snaps to our computers. So often we - very understandably - forget that we have the power to just that - to alter our lives in ways big and small - and that we can, and should, do just that on a very regular basis.

Some things are set in stone or unable to really be altered, but others often can be. Doing so might be scary, risky, expensive, or unknown, but those are not reasons to let our desire to grow and to be happier beings hold us back for one red second.

On the drive home, snow covered mountains flanking each side of the steep mountain roads we were traversing, Tony and I talked about this very point and decided that the actions we'll take from here on out - some presently known, others to be discovered as time goes on - in the pursuit of such will be called our Happiness Project.

We'll be looking for ways to concretely make our days even happier and to focus, realistically, on more of what we truly - in our heart of hearts - want out of life. For the greatest journey any of us will ever take is life itself and on that trip, there is always more to learn and see and do, which hopefully will include plenty more actual travelling to destinations near and far alike – lessons aplenty no doubt served up along the way.

In which I feed a little herd of seals - also known as one of the best days of my life!

Outfit details

Blue and white bandana: eBay
Red plastic rose earrings: Claire's
Red plastic vintage necklace: Gift with online purchase years ago
Plaid shirt: Warehouse One
Burgundy lace trimmed camisole: Fairweather
Vintage reproduction green knit bolero: Miss Beta Knits
Vintage white, blue and red enamel anchor brooch: (probably) eBay
Side button 1940s style jeans: Freddies of Pinewood
Blue and white plastic stretch bracelets: Both thrifted
Red cross body mini satchel bag: eBay
Black and white saddle shoes: eBay
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red


Photography by Tony Cangiano

♥ ♥ ♥

The past four months have flown by nearly at the speed of light. A mixture of marvelous holidays, poor health, bursts of productivity, powerful snow storms, and the start of 2015. Some days it feels like a rather long time since we were on Vancouver Island and yet there are also moments when it's almost as though we're still there. Those two weeks were the one of the biggest highlights of the past year for both Tony and I, who adore traveling to no end, so the latter point comes as no surprise to me.

Ill health and equally poor weather has not made for the best of conditions when it comes to taking photos around these parts lately, so before January wraps up entirely, I wanted to share at least one outfit post with you this month and thus I'm dipping into the Victoria trip vault and pulling out these snaps from what was truly an incredibly fun afternoon.

You may remember from my post 10 highlights from our awesome trip to Vancouver Island, that I chatted about the rainy day on which we had the immense joy of feeding a small herd of harbour seals at the wharf in Victoria.

Seals have been one of my favourite animals for as far back as I have memories, but never before that day had I gotten the chance to get anywhere near that close to them - let alone help to give them a free lunch! :)

The seals that congregate at the wharf there know that tourists and locals alike want nothing more than to provide them with freshly caught fish (which one purchases from a small fish monger's shop a few feet from the water's edge), but even if they're used to interacting with humans, that doesn't mean that they're not still entirely wild. They most certainly are and it's important to keep that in mind if you're interacting with these darling creatures.

Known, entirely affectionately, to locals as Rock Sausages, the seals are a hearty, friendly bunch, each with their own distinct personalities. It was fascinating to kneel down on the dock, heavy raindrop all but landing with a thud around me, and gingerly hand fish to these beautiful marine mammals. Their behaviour struck both Tony and I instantly of being incredibly dog-like and indeed, one of the sweetest of the bunch reminded us a great deal of our own dog, Annie.

It doesn't take long to feed a hungry pack of harbour seals a small plate of fish, so once we had (and after we'd taken no shortage of photographs of them), Tony and I ventured a little further down the wharf to a walkway that runs between the rows of vibrantly coloured floating homes that also reside in this corner of the mighty Pacific Ocean.

Knowing this was going to be a rugged sort of outdoors-y day, I'd dressed the part in an outfit centered my beloved Freddies of Pinewood 1940s style side button jeans and a truly fantastic bespoke pine green knit bolero that my dear friend Beta from Miss Beta Knits created for me as an incredibly kind review gift last year.

Beta, a passionate knitter, mother, wife, and fellow vintage loving lady resides in Portugal and is truly one of the kindest and sweetest people you could ever cross paths with. Her charming Etsy shop is filled with a carefully curated selection of knits that she creates using genuine mid-century patterns, such as scarves, gloves, berets, and boleros akin to the one I'm wearing in these photos. Beta also takes custom orders, so if there's a knit project you've been hankering to have made she may very well be the gal for the job.

This is the second product that I've received and review from Beta (the first was one of her fabulous Miss Marple scarves) and I truly hope that it's not the last that I'm able to add to my wardrobe from her talented knitting needles, because both are extremely well made, comfortable, soft, and delightfully vintage appropriate.

I have sported this dark green knit bolero more than any other sweater of cardigan in my wardrobe this fall and winter (especially during Christmas time, when its holiday tree hue was especially fitting) and I absolute love it to bits. It's chunky and cozy and as every bit as sweet as those precious harbour seals were.

Though four months have passed since we left for our two week holiday to Vancouver Island, the memories of that adventure packed fortnight are crystal clear in my mind still and I know that many of them, especially those of the day we fed a little heard of uber adorable seals will stay with me always. A dear and beautiful reminder of just how special Mother Nature and all her wild children are - not to mention how much they adore being handed platefuls of their favourite food!

Bar none, this was/is one of my favourite days in my whole life and I'm so happy to that we captured it on camera. You can bet your last smelt that I'll be down at the dock tossing fish to the seals the next - and all future - time(s) I'm in the majestically lovely city of Victoria and should you happen to be there yourself, I can't recommend doing so highly enough. It really is one of the more enjoyable experiences that you could ever have!

10 highlights from our awesome trip to Vancouver Island

Like so very many of the best holidays do, our recent fortnight on Vancouver Island sped past at the speed of light. What had been diligently saved and planned for over the course of many months, came and was done before we could blink - or so it felt. In reality, we filled our days wonderfully and crossed many entries off of our to-do list (though quite a few remain for future visits, which will no doubt include revisiting some of our new favourites again as well) and it's hard to cap today's post at just ten entries.

The weather during our trip was a bit of a surprise, as it rained profusely for some, or all, of just about every day that we were there. I might have expected as much in the spring, especially being smack dab on the Pacific Ocean with its relatively damp Canadian West Coast climate, but I didn't see it coming for the start of fall and will certainly keep as much in mind now when it comes to booking future trips to Victoria or elsewhere on Vancouver Island. As a result of the the fact that it was pouring kitties and puppies right, left and center, we didn't get to do as many outdoor activities - including outfit photo shoots - as we'd hoped for, but ultimately it was okay, because the damp weather just meant that we did more things inside (and still managed to get a few shoots, which I'll be sharing snaps from in outfit posts here throughout the fall).

Though vintage related going ons were a part of this trip, and we intentionally planned for the travel dates that we did so as to correspond on the Victoria Vintage Expo (see entry #10 below), this trip was not solely focused on buying for the Etsy shop or myself, in part because I wanted it (the trip) to be something of a breather from me from work and I'm very happy to say that it was (just as it was for Tony, who needed some respite from the long, exhausting workdays he puts in all year long as well).

Save for two days when I simply wasn't doing well enough on the health front to leave the house (one of which Tony had fun going fishing on), we were out and about everyday of the trip and saw, did and enjoyed various places and experiences on each of them. I'm sincerely impressed with how much we accomplished, while still feeling like we were relaxing and taking things at a manageable pace in the process. Though this trip wasn't as life altering for me as last year's journey to Calgary, I didn't go into it expecting it to be and was thankful for the fact that it felt like a proper, relaxing holiday.

That said, I certainly experienced some important thoughts and gained a clearer picture on how to move forward with juggling the demands of both my blog and Etsy shop, without (hopefully) doing (new) serious damage to my health. There had been some very worrisome warning signs and major flare-ups indicating that I was at risk of doing so towards the end of the summer, due to the insanely long hours and amount of physical work I was putting in on that front, plus the stress that was arising from that situation, so taking a break where we did couldn’t have come at a better time.

Even the rain couldn't dampen (pun intended :D) my spirits while we were on Vancouver Island and I'm so glad that Tony and I selected it as our holiday destination for 2014. I have fallen madly, head-over-heels with Victoria and the Island as a whole (to the point where, no joke, I'd happily pack up and move there today if such is possible, which it isn't for a multitude of reasons - but perhaps one distant day it will be) and can scarcely wait to get back there again on the double!

Until then though, I'll have fun reflecting on the many stellar memories we made during our 2014 vacation, very much including each and every one of the following ten activities, sights and experiences (which are in completely random order, not a top ten kind of list - it would be darn near impossible for me to do so, as I adored each one in so many ways!).

1. Whale Watching on the Pacific Ocean

This was one of the top activities that I'd been daydreaming of doing on the Island and I'm so grateful that it was able to happen, as I have a profound love of whales (and animals in general) and had never done so before. We booked our three hour long excursion with the well known Price of Whales company (in part because their boats offered smooth sailing and washrooms, both a must for me) and lucked out with the fact that we were on the water during one of the few sunny afternoons of our trip.

Though the sightings were a bit slow to come at first, around the half way mark we spotted a few minke whales, then as we got out even further into the gorgeous blue Pacific ocean, several majestic orca whales, a few seals, and for all of about two seconds, one endlessly adorable brown sea otter. The captain of the boat did a stellar job of keeping the required (it's the law) 100 yards from all of the ocean critters, but at one point an orca surfaced close to the boat of its own accord and when it did, Tony was able to capture the photo above. It was inspiring and immensely fun to see these intelligent, amazing animals up close and I will treasure the memory of my first whale watching trip for as long as I live.

2. Hanging out with history at the Royal BC Museum

And speaking of animals, back on dry land, during an especially rainy morning, we hightailed it to the wonderful Royal BC Museum, which I don't believe I'd been to in more than twenty years. One of the province's largest and best museums, it is a "must see" for any history, archaeology, or nature buff who happens to be in the area, as it houses a stellar mixture of historical exhibits, animal displays (including its famous woolly mammoth, which has been there for at least as long as I have memories of visiting the museum), and plenty of interesting sociological related exhibits, too. Naturally, I was especially smitten with the small historical costume and memorabilia wing, where I took (low light) snaps of several exhibits pertaining to the early and mid-twentieth century, including this beautiful pink 1940s maternity dress with matching accessories.

3. Attending my first live Russell Peters show

Tony was really on the ball, checking online for exciting local events every morning and in doing so one day, he discovered that there was going to be a Russell Peters comedy show that very evening. Tickets were still available, so he booked two for us on the double and we eagerly passed the hours until we we headed over to the Save On Foods Memorial Center to watch this world famous comedian work his humorous magic on the crowd. We've both been huge Russell Peters fans for many years now and always said we'd make it to one of his shows, if possible, so getting to do just that while on holiday was like an extra big cherry on top of the fabulous ice cream sundae that was our whole vacation. He was dynamite in person and I would definitely pay to see him crack up the audience again anytime!

4. Getting to travel on the ferry again

 

I love boats, always, always will, but despite living in a town with two large lakes, I hadn't had the pleasure of riding around on for many years now due to my health and it had been nearly sixteen years actually since I was last on a ferry, so the trip to and from Vancouver Island itself was definitely one of the highlights of this vacation for me. We had completely smooth sailing in both directions and even spotted a couple of whales wayyyyy off in the distance on voyage to the Island.

5. Visiting the Robert Bateman Centre Gallery

When I was a little girl my parents had a large, hardcover coffee table book of world renewed Canadian wildlife painter Robert Bateman's work which was indeed on our living coffee table for several years. It was through this tomb of phenomenally beautiful artwork that my lifelong love of Bateman's work was born and to this day, he remains my favourite Canadian - and wildlife in general - artist ever.

Visiting the Robert Bateman Centre Gallery, which is devoted to his work, was one of the top things I hoped to do in Victoria and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. Spacious rooms teeming with his paintings, sketches, and other creative works invite viewers to linger and even interact with them (through a specially designed app, as well as sound buttons you can press alongside many paintings to hear various bird sounds that correspond with a given piece of art), and cause one to happily reflect on just how incredibly blessed we are by nature and how we must do all that we can to preserve what remains of it for future generations.

6. Seeing the ocean in Parksville

Tony and I took some day trips to nearby towns and communities around Victoria, the furthest point of which was the incredibly pretty ocean town of Parksville, where we went thrift store shopping and explored two breathtaking beaches, which were made all the more lovely by the fact that fall's colour palette was beginning to return to the area. Parksville was my favourite location outside of Victoria itself that we saw and I really look forward to visiting again in the future (as well as exploring even further up and down the Island).

7. Antique shopping around the island

Skipping a photo here on purpose...I want to surprise you with lots of great new listings of what I bought on our travels in the shop as the year progresses! (I'm such a tease, I know! :D)

 Having last been on the Island when I was 14.5 years old, I'd not had a chance to go vintage or antique shopping there as an adult yet and was seriously eager to do so. While Victoria (and various other Island towns and cities) has some vintage stores, and they're all great, it was the abundance of antique stores nearly everywhere we travelled the knocked my socks off most of all. There are dozens of them on Vancouver Island and I only got to a small handful during our two weeks there.

As with antique stores everywhere, some have very reasonable prices, others are laughably expensive and a plenty fall in between the two. Luckily we hit a few that were quite well priced and I was delighted to score several items for the Etsy shop, as well as a couple of great treasures (such as a c. 1950s copper charm bracelet with mining themed/gold rush themed charms that I madly adore) for my own wardrobe/collection, too. Of all the places I've visited so far in Canada, I can confidently say that Vancouver Island has the largest concentration of antique stores I've ever seen in this country (and as such, I will definitely be returning their primarily for the purpose of sourcing and shopping likely many times in the future).

8. Feeding the harbour seals at Fisherman's Wharf

Without a doubt, seals are one of my all-time favourite animals, so when I learned that there was a group of that that lived in the waters of Fisherman's Wharf in Victoria, which the public was encouraged to feed, I couldn't hightail it down there fast enough to do so. In the rain (surprise, surprise! ;)) we did just that, buying $5.00 trays of small, whole fish to feed them from an onsite fish monger's shop. They were mind blowingly adorable, cute as can be, and very friendly. If I lived in Victoria, I know I'd be there every week feeding and visiting with them (and plan to do so on all future trips to Victoria). You can see another photo of the seals that I took here.

9. The amazing abundance of heritage and vintage housing & buildings

Just as Vancouver Island has the largest number of antique stores I've encountered in Canada, so too does it have - by a very long shot - the greatest volume of heritage and vintage houses and buildings (many of them dating to before 1900) I've had the great pleasure of seeing anywhere in the country. Victoria and the Island as a whole have done a tremendous job of preserving these architectural treasures and ensured that I had some gorgeous old school eye candy wherever I went throughout the trip. In fact, at once point Tony even said (and tweeted) that if I was a city, I would be Victoria (because of all the vintage and history to be had there), and I couldn't agree with him more. (The photo above is of the back side of the stunning Legislature Building in Victoria.)

10. Attending the annual Victoria Vintage Expo

Last, but unequivocally not last, one of the biggest standouts of our time on the Island was attending the annual Victoria Vintage Expo, which was held on both floors of the beautiful, historic Crystal Garden Conference center. The two day event brought in vendors and thousands of attendees from across Canada and the the United States, and was absolutely jam packed.

We were there when the doors opened at 4pm on Friday afternoon and didn't leave until shortly before they closed at 10pm that night. During that time, I worked at break neck speed to see ever vendor (I hope I didn't miss any!) and also took part in the fun little fashion show that they had, in which I won for the best accessories category, which was quite an honour.

As it was (yet again) raining that afternoon and we were soooo busy once inside the show, which was too crowded in most spots to take photos anyhow, we didn't get in an outfit shoot that day, but thankfully there were at least two photographers who had been hired to document the day and both of took my picture. Some of their snaps are up on the Victoria Vintage Expo Facebook page and that's where this image of me hails from. I truly adored this event, which was far larger and even better than I'd dreamed it would be and will definitely be returning as a customer, seller, or - most likely - both in future years.


{Orca whale photograph via Tony's Instagram, picture of me at the Victoria Vintage Fair via their official Facebook page. All other photos taken by me and shared on my Instagram.}

♥ ♥ ♥

As you can see, we did a lot in the span of just two weeks - and this isn't even a complete list by any means (two other fabulous highlights included attending opening night of a live performance of Pride & Prejudice at the Langham Court Theater and getting to go shopping in person at Forever 21 again for the first time since we lived in Toronto).


Some of the loveliest moments were also those when we were just walking or driving around the city, getting to know its history rich personality and many perks better, and I wouldn't have traded them for anything, as they really helped familiarize us with BC's capital and endear this sweepingly beautiful place to my heart all the more.

I don't have the slightest idea where we may venture off on holiday next year (assuming such is possible), but wherever it may be, you can bet that I'll have my iPhone at the ready, Instagram as we go, and post about it once we're home. Who knows, given how very much I've fallen madly in love Victoria, maybe we'll be making a repeat performance there (that would be A-okay with me!). :)