Sometimes the best gifts are the ones you enjoy all year round.

Deborah Lippmann “BOOM BOOM POW”

Sephorah by OPI “Charge It!”

“Audrey 100″ – a collection of unpublished photos graciously shared by Audrey Hepburn’s family

MIA since August – I know! I’ve been going crazy jumping full time into my business, Lou Photography, and haven’t had time to indulge in blogging for pleasure in food & fashion land. I’m going to attempt one post a week to jump back into things – today’s on some boxing day finds at RW&CO.

Since leaving my sales position in April, I haven’t picked anything up from this Canadian retailer that makes a variety of work and casual staples. They always have an amazing Boxing Day sale, at least 40%-50% off the lowest price off fall & winter merchandise. I picked up two winter coats I desperately needed since destroying a favorite a few weeks ago. The light grey will be perfect for client meetings and the second for throwing on as a loose and comfortable coat for long shoots. It’s cozy and resembles lounge-wear – whats not to love?

 My summer here in Halifax has not been very kind – fog or rain 80% of the time. Staying cozy and warm in a few staple pieces – black skinny jeans from Zara and a white blazer from Aritzia. My hair reached an all new level of perfection today, thanks to Meaghan Ryan from Alicia Melanson Hair & Aesthetics, pictures to follow.

Shoes: Aldo

Nails: Essie Limo-Scene

Toes: Essie Turquoise & Caicos

Blouse: Le Chateau

Watch: Skagen

We finished our anniversary celebration at Domaine de Grand Pré, the oldest winery in Nova Scotia and by far my favorite! We did the five o’clock tour, it was still hot, sunny, and there were gorgeous dark clouds over the vines. The tour was brief – we visited each type of grape Domaine de Grand Pré uses in their wines and discussed growing conditions, seasons, and the family who started the winery. After the tour, we went inside to the bar for a tasting of four whites, three reds, a sparkling wine and an ice wine. We bought our two favorite whites, Ortega and a 2009 L’Acadie for our next anniversary.

For supper we stayed on site and went to the award winning Le Caveau Restaurant. We sat inside to savor the air conditioning and munched on a basket of bread & butter and smoked salmon pate. To start we split a bowl of scallop & lobster chowder with spanish almond broth, spring onions and smoked paprika. Nate choose the buttered Morrocan chicken sauteed with peppers, garlic, dates and cashews on couscous with house-made chutney and I had an amazing entree of scallops & lobster on shredded zucchini rosti with seasonal vegetables smothered in a creamy savory sauce and washed down with a glass of Vidal Blanc.

To celebrate our first anniversary we ate a tasty breakfast at Two If By Sea the day before, then ventured south down to Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Home to Acadia University and the heart of Nova Scotia wine country we visited Foxhill Farm cheese factory before going to tastings at Luckett Vineyards which opened last year and Muir Murray estate winery. There was no production at Foxhill but we got to sample all of their cheeses and three flavors of quark (they make an amazing Parmesan and a peppercorn Gouda!) We bought herb and garlic quark and paired it with Tim Hortons everything bagels for a quick lunch. Quark is similar to cream cheese, with a very light and whipped texture and half the fat. Completely delicious!

Our first winery we visited was Luckett Vineyards, founded in 2010 by famous Pete’s Froutique owner Pete Luckett. I am all about well designed elements and their bottle labels complete with a telephone booth in the middle of the field had me hooked. We sampled seven varieties of red and whites and one ice wine and came home with our favorite white – L’Acadie Blanc.

The second Muir Murray was not very impressive, the doors were open and there were flies everywhere. Most importantly the three whites we tried did not make the cut and the atmosphere made us anxious to leave.

We finished the evening off with a tour of Domaine de Grand Pré and dinner at the fantastic on site restaurant, Le Caveau. Pics to follow!

Today I love: this gorgeous Italian home by Damilano Studio architects on Trendir. The floor to ceiling windows bring the outdoors in and open into a cozy reading room with plenty of my favorite interior design element – built in storage. Click here to see images of the whole house on Trendir.

Today I love: this color block leather shopper from ASOS, the pastels go perfect with this sunny breezy day in Halifax. Click here to buy this bag and see more images by ASOS.

Gorgeous Liz - effortlessly beautiful!

Day four in Ottawa: touring the center block of Parliament, meeting Liz a fellow NSCAD’er and an amazing blogger for a delish lunch at Milestones on Sussex (she introduced me to amazing iced tea infused with mint – self developed recipe to follow), a brisk stroll through the Byward Market, changing hotels for the weekend, fantastic wood oven pizza (basil, radicchio, Italian sausage, portebello’s and truffle oil on white with cream sauce and Beth’s proscuitto & mozza with traditional sauce on wheat) at The Grand on George, and exploring Sparks street and it’s un-obtainable Boutique goodies and drooling over Prada at Holt Renfew.

Day two & three of  my mini vacay in the capital: I did Lululemon’s lunch time yoga sesh on Parliament Hill with over 500 people in attendance (amazing-inspiring). It was a power yoga class, a delightfully sweaty workout in Ottawa’s mid-July heat. On day three I went to the National Gallery of Canada to see the Caravaggio exhibit and the rest of the collection. It was good, not a lot of contemporary work 0r sculpture (disappointing) but also not an overwhelming collection, I made it through in six hours with my sanity intact

Belt, shorts, purse, sunglasses: H&M Shoes: Feet First Blouse: Envy Necklace: Aldo Accessories

Yesterday morning I took off for Ottawa to meet my bestie, who’s training for the week in the city. I’m tagging along to get a much needed shopping-sunshine-yoga-gallery visiting-market hopping-food eating-summer vacation! I haven’t owned a watch since high school, and pulling out my phone to constantly check the time has been getting old so my favorite part of yesterdays shopping was splurging on a steel and gold Skagen watch at The Bay and 100% black silk Wilfred shorts from Aritzia. I picked up a perfect nude lipstick from Sephora, a white lightweight boyfriend blazer from Aritzia and a necklace I am dying to wear with my orange H&M shorts from Aldo Accessories. On Sussex there was a fun little interiors store called Zone set up like a boutique but with neat and very affordable products – I found the perfect pepper mill to replace our broken one. I’m waiting for Lululemon’s yoga class on parliament hill, then it’s off to explore more of the city and hopefully find some vintage shops and a good shoe store.

Lace Cover-up: Mink Pink  Black T: RW&CO Ears: Gold Stud Pearls Trousers: H&M Necklace: Target

Kiwi-lime ice pops, local Foxhill Farm non-homogenized milk in reusable glass bottles, ripe sweet valley strawberries in season and deep deep red to the core, re-discovering chocolate chip Clif bars,  eight new glass jars for pastas, flour, sugars, soy protein powder, oatmeal, and the always tasty ‘Craisins’, family picnics at Point Pleasant Park, days on the beach with Nate watching him surf at Lawrencetown, chowder made with fresh cream, Foxhill milk and the best haddock, lobster, scallops, shrimp, bacon, and garlic the province has to offer. This is what summer is made of!