Playing along with the I ♥ Spring Tag

Today is not only the first Saturday of April, but it just happens to be my darling mother's birthday as well. As such, it's especially jubilant day for me and not a time for long or overly serious blog posts in the slightest!

The sun is shining, the birds are (quite literally) singing right outside my window, the first gleeful hits of green are returning to the landscape and the world feels both alive and abuzz and with excitement and joy right now.

Back in 2013, I started seeing a fun little blog and YouTube video tag about spring appear on various sites (including Miss Budget Beauty) and tucked it away on my "to write a post about" list at the time.

Jump ahead three years, and today, on this blissful day, it seemed like the ideal time had come to answer the twelve quick questions in the I ♥ Spring Tag, before starting a fabulous day of birthday celebrations for my mom.

Playing along with the I ♥ Spring Tag

1. Favourite spring nail polish? Tough call!!! I really let the pastel adoring side of my wardrobe run wild and free in the spring, very much including with my nail polish picks, so it's tricky to narrow things down to just one favourite. That said, I do return year after year to Essie's Lilacism. It's such a cheery, sweet shade of purple that suits this season to a tee.






2. Must have spring lip colour?: Although I think it's been discontinued for a while, I still have the better part of a tube (that is holding up great), so I'm opting for one of the only coral shades that has ever looked good on me (coral face makeup + pink undertones in my skin are rarely a winning combo, but somehow this one works): MAC's Made With Love (seen in this outfit post from last May).



3. Favourite style of dress for spring? Something lightweight, immensely feminine, and very likely floral print (like the 1950s Horrockses stunners above!).




4. Favourite spring flower? There's sooo many to love and appreciate. How does one narrow it down to a single favourite. Hard, so hard! :) For the sake of their sublimely pretty scent alone, I think that lilacs may very well emerge as the winner for me in this camp, but I'm also partial to roses, hydrangeas, sweat peas (my mom's favourite flower), tulips, and lilies.





5. Favourite springtime (fashion) accessory? A great vintage straw hat and/or handbag (extra bonus points if flowers are involved with either), as they really symbolize the end of winter and return of warmer, milder weather and the gorgeous fashions that this chapter of the year entail.





6. What spring trends are you most looking forward to? Given that us vintage wearing folks usually make our own trends, this question isn't per se that applicable to my wardrobe, but in general some elements of springtime fashion that I adore and get excited for each year include the aforementioned straw accessories and floral dresses, pastel and/or sparkly jewelry, open toed shoes, capri pants, sheer (chiffon, silk, etc) scarves, lightweight mid-century blouses, and a royal garden's worth of hair flowers.





7. Favourite spring candle? Ooohh, good question! I'm a very avid candle buyer and user and definitely enjoy pairing many of my choices with the different seasons. When it comes to spring, I'd say probably something light and floral or subtly sweet, such as a jasmine (Voluspa, whose entire line of products I madly adore, makes an especially sublime jasmine candle, pictured above), lemon, rose or peach scent.




8. Favourite perfume/body spray for spring? For the past about 14 – 15 years now, my go-to warm weather scent has been Romance from Ralph Lauren. It's a truly beautiful classic that I will keep reaching for each spring and summer for as long as it's on the market.




9. What is spring like where you live? It generally starts around the beginning of April, when we hop from snow to rain that will usually last into May. From that point onward, the days generally start to heat up quite quickly as we live in one of the warmest parts of Canada, and by the beginning of June, it's not uncommon to feel like summer is here already.




10. What is your favourite thing about spring? That it means winter is over! :D I'm only half kidding there, but more seriously, hmmmmm, there's so much to adore about spring! From the return of yard sale season to the dipping one's toes in the lake (or ocean) again to the seasonal produce, a bevy of blooms everywhere to the spring's various holidays, and of course all of sweet, gorgeous warm weather vintage fashions themselves, too!




11. Are you a spring cleaner? Majorly so! We did a lot of our spring cleaning and around-the-house DIY jobs back in January, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be busting out the ol' elbow grease at various points this spring, too.





12. Any plans for spring break or upcoming vacations? None at the moment (boo!!!), but one never knows what exciting travel adventure is waiting for them next, and even if a bigger getaway isn't in the cards this spring, I suspect Tony and I will try to get in a weekend road trip or two now that roads are becoming a lot safer to drive on again.

I'm not going to tap anyone specifically, so all means, if you'd like to play along, too, please do!

Spring is a stellar season and one that doesn't necessarily get as much love on the blog/YouTube video tag front as the other three, so I say we shower it with an April shower’s worth of blog tag answers this time around. :)

{To learn more about a specific image used in this post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

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Here's to the start of April and what I hope will be a brilliant fourth month of the year for everyone! I have oodles of fun things in the works for both this month and the rest of spring - including lots of exciting warm(er) weather outfit posts - and can hardly wait to share such happenings here with all with you.

First though, I'm off to celebrate the birth of the woman who gave me life. My sweet mama, who I love, cherish and am grateful for beyond words - and whose birthday has always ensured that April kicked off on an especially happy note for our family.

Adventures with butterflies and an Edwardian castle

Outfit details

1940s/1950s navy blue hat with whimsical bow: Jardin Antiques in Okanagan Falls
Faux pearl stud earrings: either Claire's or eBay
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥
Vintage gold bow brooch: Probably thrifted or eBay (had for years)
1970s/80s does 1940s/50s orange and navy plaid dress: Diaphanous Vintage
Black faux leather skinny belt: eBay
1950s navy blue gloves: (probably) eBay
Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore
1950s/60s grey handbag: Running Rabbit Studio
Black seamed nude stockings: eBay
Navy blue pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Russian Red


Photography by Tony Cangiano

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Doesn't the title of today's post sound like every little girl's dream day out? :)

Though I had hoped to have a more festive outfit post to share with all of you today, between numerous health issues I’ve been contending with and a jam packed work load and social calendar this fall (and now winter), Tony and I have only had a chance to do two photo shoots since we returned from Victoria some 2.5 months ago now (and those would be the last two outfit posts I've shared here in recent weeks). That said, I'll still try to get a Christmassy ensemble up before the year is over, if a shoot is able to happen in the coming days.

That is one of the beauties of the holiday season isn't it? It's quite literally a small season unto itself and affords one the chance to do all kinds of fun, festive, highly photo worthy things over the span of multiple days or even weeks.

Right now though, let me hop away from the mulled cider, sublimely scented pine trees, and dazzling outdoor light displays and to our Vancouver Island vacation back at the start of autumn. Nearly every day of our two week holiday was bursting with activities and on one of the later days, we visited two places I'd wanted to see for many years now. Though, in actuality, we only went into one of them (more on that a little later on).

Our first big stop for the day was the breathtakingly beautiful Victoria Butterfly Gardens, which are located between the cities of Victoria and Sidney. Butterflies have always been very near and dear to my heart, to the extent that I almost see them as a personal mascot of sorts. On top of that, they're endlessly lovely and also very relaxing to watch, so I knew that a trip (a first for both Tony and I) to the Butterfly Gardens was a must on our holiday.

Tony had a Groupon coupon for the Gardens, which saved us a fair bit on admission, but I would have happily paid full price to get in, if we'd had to. Housed in a large climate controlled building, the gardens are a lush, tropical paradise of verdant plants and many, many different species of butterflies from around the world, as well as a few other lovely critters, such as different types of birds (like parrots and flamingos), frogs, koi fish, tortoises, and lizards.

The environment, as one might imagine, is humid, but not uncomfortably so (at least to me) and I greatly enjoyed the leisurely visit we had there, snapping cell phone photos, reading the information plaques on different species, and hoping that a butterfly might land on one of us (none did, but then again, we didn't see them do so on any other visitors either - perhaps next time!). There is something deeply enchanting, even magical about being surrounded by countless butterflies and a smatter of wild critters that most of us don't commonly come in contact with. It brings out your inner child, your inner lepidopterist, and your inner animal biologist all at the same time.

We capped off our visit to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens with a stop at the gift shop, where I treaded myself to a cuter than cute little plush green caterpillar toy (I have zero qualms with admitting I'm a thirty-year old woman who still adores stuffed animals! :)), before heading off to explore various other local sights. As the day wound down, we thought we'd try to visit Hatley Castle near the super charming town of Sooke.

By the time we got there however, the visiting hours were almost over for the day, so we decided that instead of being terribly rushed, we'd just do a quick photo shoot on the lawn and instead make a point to arrive much earlier in the day on a future trip trip to the Island.

Built in 1908, Hatley Castle is located in Colwood and is a Classified Federal Heritage Building that since 1995, has been used by the Royal Roads University. The castle - one of exceedingly few homes ever built, let alone still standing, in Canada to ever call itself such - was commissioned by wealthly Scottish Lieutenant Governor James Dunsmuir and his wife, Laura, who set highly renewed Canadian architect Samuel Maclure to work designing and constructing a gigantic mansion comprised of 40 rooms. The castle has what is known as a Scottish baronial style and shows elements of Tudor, Victorian and early Edwardian design influences. In the spirit of traditional European private estates, the Dunsmuirs christened their sprawling home and gardens Hatley Park.

The building remained in the Dunsmuir family until the end of the thirties, when it was sold to the Government of Canada. Over the course of the next few decades, it was used as the Royal Roads Military College, a Canadian naval training academy. Today, as mentioned above, it belongs to the Royal Roads University and is enjoyed by the students, staff and public in different capacities, including tours of its grand and stately rooms and gardens.

Extremely fascinatingly, in 1940, when the WW2 was in full force already in Europe, a contingency escape plan was made that would allow for King King George VI, his wife (the Queen Mother), and their two daughters (Elizabeth and Margaret) to reside in Canada at Hatley Castle. Though the Royal Family decided to weather the long war years at home in England, had the opted to leave, it my understanding that Hatley Castle would have been their most likely choice of a North American abode for the duration.

I think it would made a splendid temporary home, had they opted to leave England during the war and indeed, even just standing on the grounds of this majestic mansion - as much a castle (as its name implies) as one will find anywhere in this country - I couldn't help but feel a bit regal myself! :)

While we didn't get to see inside this towering grey stone castle that day, it was a pleasure just to be so near to it and to pose for some photos in what is essentially its present day backyard (at the time that the Dunsmuirs built their home here, the grounds were larger, but some of the land has been sold off over the years). Avid movie buffs may find that Hatley Castle looks familiar and indeed it may, as it has been used as a backdrop and/or setting for numerous TV shows and movies over the years, including as Professor Xavier's castle in some of the X-Men films.

Should you happen to find yourself on Vancouver Island anytime, I can't recommend visiting either (or both) of these places highly enough and I hope that on our next trip to that part of the country, we will indeed step foot inside Hatley Castle - no doubt (assuming they're permitted) with a new set of photos to follow.

Right now though, the only traveling we're doing is to visit nearby relatives in the Okanagan, very much including my mom and step-dad's house here in town, where we're spending many of the festive days of this beautiful season.

I hope that you're each having a marvelously merry December and that you enjoyed this look at another exciting day from our 2014 Vancouver Island adventure. I have some more photos from it to share with you still, so be sure to watch for further Victoria related posts in early 2015.

Happiest Christmas Eve, Eve wishes, my dear friends!

*PS*

Speaking of Christmas, don't forget that Chronically Vintage's exciting Buy More, Save More holiday season sale continues over in my Etsy shop until January 5, 2015. I don't plan on holding another big sale again for quite a while, so now is definitely the time to swoop in and pick up those items you've been eyeing lately, all at wonderfully discounted prices.

We're going to Vancouver Island for two awesome weeks!

At long last, after at least four months since the first major steps towards our next genuine vacation (aka, not a work related trip of Tony's that I tag along for, but an outright, good, old-fashioned holiday) materialized, I can finally reveal to you today that later this month, we're going to be spending two weeks on Vancouver Island.

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We've rented a small, beautifully furnished and equipped private house (via the very handy online service and hotel alternative Airbnb) in Victoria, which will be our base while on Island. A lot of the time there will no doubt be spent in Victoria itself, but we also hope to take some daytrips elsewhere, such as Nanaimo, Duncan, and Sooke - perhaps even as far north as Campbell River, where I've heard very good things about a vintage clothing shop called, rather charmingly, Britches and Hose (though at some three hours away from Victoria, there's no guarantee we'll make it there - hopefully!).

Just as when we headed to Vancouver last spring, I've lined up a few really terrific guest posts from fellow vintage bloggers to keep things active here in my absence. My Etsy shop will also remain open while I'm away from home and new orders are certainly welcome, though it should be noted that they won't ship out until I'm home again in early October.

While I have been to Vancouver Island and B.C.'s capital city of Victoria before, I haven't set even so much as one foot on this large, majestically beautiful Pacific Ocean hugged chunk of land since I was 14 years old - more than half my lifetime ago and I don't profess for the tiniest of moments to know the layout of the city very well. In fact, save for a few major attractions and standout memories from my early youth, there's little I know firsthand about this vibrant city, which makes me all the more excited to hop in the car later this month and hightail down there to quickly learn a whole lot more.

We'll be leaving Penticton on September 22nd and returning on the evening of October 4th. As usual when we go away, Annie will be staying at the lovely dog boarding kennel in Oliver that she just adores and my sweet mother will be house sitting our place and looking after our cat, Stella in our absence.

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As Victoria is situated on an island floating out in the ocean off the shores of our province of British Columbia, it can only be reached by air travel or ferry and it is the latter that we'll be floating on to reach our lovely holiday destination. I've always madly adored taking the ferry to the Island and am as giddy about the prospect of doing so as I am about any other element of this trip, which is a much needed breather from the daily grind for both Tony and I.

I (we) intentionally timed our trip to Victoria to correspond with the upcoming annual Victoria Vintage Expo, which is taking place there on September 26th and 27th. I'll be going as a shopper, not a seller this time around, but who knows, perhaps I'll be back in future years with a table of my own. There are so few events like this in our province, let alone ones I'm able to make it to (the few that do exist are are usually located hours away from Penticton), so I'm truly jumping for joy at the prospect of attending one of B.C.'s only vintage expos.

In fact, I'm hopping with happiness about this whole trip. We worked very hard, saved and sacrificed incredibly diligently, and put in a lot of effort to make this trip happen. I'm so glad that we did, because there are few things - even knowing that hitting the road will do a number on my health, as it always does - that I adore, or gain more from, in this world than travel.

Yippee! Hurrah! And three very big - and very excited - cheers! Here we come (okay, in three weeks time), Victoria - prepare to be two residents richer for a couple of weeks and a little lighter on the vintage clothing and jewelry front when we leave! :)