joshua tree, i love you.

J O S H U A    T R E E    F O R E V E R (!!!)

I love Joshua Tree. This place is legit pure magic and I am all about the vibe, all dayyyy. Pete and I went to JT for the first time last year when we went on our Cali trip, you can check out that post here.

We knew we wanted to go back to Joshua Tree, especially since it's just so close to so many other great places! We couldn't imagine not making the trip back to see such an incredibly cool place. So, we did just that! This time we just stayed in a cute air b&b for two nights. 

It was very cold in JT this time around, and sadly it was amidst the government shut downs, although while we were in the park everything still looked so amazing and beautiful. Hoping things are all sorted and back to normal now.

I'll be honest, there's not that much to do in Joshua Tree, I mean in addition to the fact that it's the coolest place ever inside the actual park. In that case you could get lost forever inside the park, because it is truly pure magic.

My favourite thing to do is go there for the sunset. Pete and I legit chased the sunset this time (lol) we were actually running around to find  the best spot to see the sunset and take some awesome pics. It's safe to say we found it! It was literally frigid cold there but so worth experiencing something so damn beautiful.

Other favourites while in Joshua Tree:

pie for the people: A very delicious pizza place! Even though you basically always have to wait an hour and twenty minutes to eat it, I do feel like it's worth it.

country kitchen: We really wanted to go here last year but the wait was always so long. This is a teeny tiny diner with the nicest people and most delicious (greasy breakfast) I'm gonna go ahead and say it, the hashbrowns changed my life.

shop the mesa: My new favourite store. When you walk into a store and the owner offers you a mimosa for while you shop, you know it's gonna be a good time. This store is so beautiful, so bright and curated with amazing things. I got some really cute stuff like pom-poms + palo santo.

yucca bowl: When Pete found out there was a old school bowling alley with a mid-week special I was 110% on board. I love bowling! Omg we had so much fun here, the people there were so nice and it was like going back in time. $1.25 per game on Tuesday's - best $$$ we spent all trip!

hoof + the horn: Loveee this shop, and loved it last year too. A really amazing mix of clothes, decor, pins, jewels, candles, blankets and beyond. I got some palo santo perfume, pins, and Pete and I got the most beautiful navaho blanket for our house (it was only $50 and is legit beautiful.

joshua tree rock shop: Bless Pete's soul for putting up with my recent love of gems and crystals (lol) I wandered around the rock shop and was really thinking about the special gems I wanted from JT because it's a place that channels a lot of good energy. There were SO many options but I got three gems that are super special now!

moon wind trading co: This is a newer shop in JT, and is kinda in the middle of nowhere but I love that about it. Beautiful curation of goodies, especially the jewellery. Honestly, I just loved looking at everything because it was quite dreamy.

joshua tree coffee co: We loveeee coffee, so much that we did was like 15-20 minutes for our road trip coffees from JT Coffee Co. Worth it though because they were damn good! And everyone was so nice, I love nice people.

giant rock meeting room + coffee house: What an amazing spot! New to Joshua Tree, this is a beautiful spot right next to Moon Wind Trading Co. The staff were so nice (nice people everywhere) and the coffee was so so good. We sat by the window and the sun was shining so bright as we enjoyed some really damn good coffees.

I think everyone needs to experience the beauty of Joshua Tree at some point in their lives. I feel super thankful we got to go there two years in a row! JT, do you love me? Yes.

palm springs, i love you.

 P  A  L  M       S  P  R  I  N  G  S

Omg, okay I love Palm Springs! Pete and I were both pretty pumped to add this to our list of places to visit during this years California trip. I sure am glad we went there because it did not disappoint.

PS is such a cool place, very one of a kind and of course a huge reason I loved it and wanted to visit was all of the beautiful colours. The archiecture and vibe is just amazing, we were totally in awe and definitely took so many photos!

The people were so nice and friendly and we were honestly all smiles during our time there.

This was the only place where we stayed in hotels (the other locations using air b+b and hopper) but I think we did an awesome job finding the perfect places to stay. We're a super solid team when it comes to that.

During our time in Palm Springs we stayed at The Riviera and The Saguaro, both of which were pure *magic*.  The Riviera was huge, and so beautiful inside! Really cool interiors and a fun, colourful lobby, and really big, nice pools. We had so much fun swimming in the sunshine and in the evening while staying there! The Saguaro, for obviously reasons was my choice dream. The hotel is literally a rainbow, the rooms are so fun and colourful, and the lobby is filled with happy, colourful things like a glass case of vintage barbies and a ping pong table. 

I LOVED THESE PLACES IN PALM SPRINGS:

Mr Rex's Dinosaur Adventure // Such a cool spot and awesome views. We didn't pay to go in (and I don't think you should either, lolz)
El Jefe // Cute little mexican restaurant in the Saguaro. We had a delicious dinner and some damn good margaritas there!
Icecream + Shop // Legit the cutest Icecream parlour with an adorrrrable little shop inside, they're famous for their neon #palmspringsisbetter sign!
Draughtsman // Really beautiful restaurant/pub with delicious food, happy hour  deals + fun games outside. Loved the vibe!
Ace Hotel //  Love any Ace Hotel really! but this was an awesome spot. The whole look of it was so rad, and we obvi had to do photobooth photos!
King's Highway // The restaurant inside the Ace is cool AF. A pretty basic menu but again, really lovely staff and I had a delicious classic breakfast with damn good hash browns.
Thick As Thieves // Obsessed with this shop. Cutest shop we found in Palm Springs tbh. Got an adorable pennant and really cool fortune telling book there.
Norma's // Absolutely beautiful spot for brunch inside The Parker Hotel, probably the best brunch we've ever had. We felt very famous while there, and the staff were *the* best!
Moorten Botanical Garden // We absolutely loved this ($5 to get in!) and so many incredible, unique plants everywhere. Great photo ops for sure.
Birba // The most delicious food (the pizza was bomb!) and the service was so good. I love all of the outdoor patios that L.A has, with their heaters and everything! So good.
The Shops at 1345 // The beautiful building (with pretty pink walls) is filled with all sorts of amazing vendors inside. Decor, clothing, vintage, and everything in between
Elvis' Honeymoon House // We went to look at the outside but the tours were pretty pricey. The house is SO cool and legit in one of the coolest neighbourhoods ever.

Palm Springs is really just a dream. We had so much fun walking around and I was  definitely spending all my time drooling and reacting to all the cute, colourful things. My new favourite flower that is literally everywhere is called Bougainvillea and it's simply wonderful.

Palm Springs is amazing, and you should go there.              

a weekend in montreal

Oh Hello There + Happy Sunday

For the May long weekend, Pete and I took off to Montreal. We had both never really been (me a few times for work but never got to explore) We wanted a little weekend getaway and this seemed like the perfect option!

We always talk about how we want to travel around Canada more, but theres always so many other options and local adventures are often forgotten. One of my 18 for 2018 goals was to go to Montreal too!

We did Air B&B which is what we almost always do when we travel. We got a little place in Mile End because after some research, that hood felt the most "us". We definitely wanted this to be a chill trip of just wandering around the city, eating delicious food (carbs) and drinking amazing drinks (mostly wine and coffee) We took the train there on Friday morning (v fun, would def recommend!) and flew home Monday morning so we didn't have too much time.

We definitely made the most of it though! Lots of walking around, drooling over pretty flowers, drinking delicious coffee, seeing stylish french people, snapping lots of pics, drinking fancy (and not so fancy) wine and enjoying ourselves.

Below are some recommendations based on places we went while in Montreal, and a random mix of colourful snaps from our trip! I really enjoyed Montreal and think you will too! 

Restaurants:

Tommy Cafe

Larrys

Sparrow Bar

Brasserie Bernard

St-Viateur Bagel Shop

L' Gros Luxe

Coffee Shops:

September Surf

Cafe Pista

Cafe Myriade

Le Petit Dep

Cafe Olimpico

Shopping:

Boucle & Papier

Simons

V DeV Maison

Mercantile

Annex Vintage

Wandering:

Atwater Market

Old Montreal

Tam-Tams in the park

colourful L.A.

h e l l o   m o n d a y! ( &   a p r i l )

This is one of my final California blog posts, and today I am sharing some colourful snaps from our time in L.A.! We stayed in Silver Lake, which is a super hip, cool and fun area! Out Air B&B was amaaaazing and so very cool. It had such an awesome vibe so it was fun to hang there and listen to tunes, have a few drinks and just chill. Our hosts were beyond lovely.

We knew L.A. would be wonderful and filled with cool little spots, sunshine and celebrities! So many people had told us how key it is to have a car when exploring this city, and that could definitely not be more true! I've never been to a city that was more spread out than L.A. and it actually made me appreciate Toronto even more!

Our days were spent walking around in the (perfect) sunshine, checking out coffee shops, cool stores, restaurants and so many beautiful, bright colours! One of my favourite parts of Cali in general was all the inspirational quotes everywhere and all of the bright colours.

We spent most of our time exploring Silver Lake, Echo Park and West Hollywood. Oh, annnnnd I finally got to cross off a big dream of mine! A bus tour! lolz. I always try to get Pete to do one of these when we travel, and he finally caved this time. We did a hop on hop off tour of Hollywood and it! was! so! fun!

We saw a lot of cool shit while we were in L.A. and here are just a few snaps of what we saw! Surprisingly, this is the spot I took the least amount of photos!

Check out my other Cali posts if you'd like:

 // shop pigment // i fell in love with joshua tree 

// 5 things to do in venice beach // i fell in love with a coffee + flower shop

Here are some sweet places we went to in Los Angeles!:

Yolk

Alfred Coffee

Sawyer

Dinette

Mohawk Bend

Ostrich Farm

Shout Out & About

Paul Smith Pink Wall

Dinosaur Coffee

In & Out Burger

The Black Cat

Micheltorena Stairs