i love love love jules leather.

through obsessing over whistler, i found this dope duo who kills it in the leather goods department. how could i NOT share?

love jules leather is a joint venture for jules vagelatos and josh blodans from whistler. in 2008, jules started making handcrafted leather shoes after an apprenticeship with a leathersmith in Dartmouth (after graduating from NSCAD). in 2012, josh joined her and they have been working on an evolving line of amazing leather goods ever since. based out of their studio in whistler, they focus on classic inspiration, but as with jules and josh, their goods have a bit of an edge. and, it’s exciting to hear that they’ve moved from not just shoes, but necklaces, belts, and collaborations for new stuff this season (hint: ties, bowties and suspenders).

(from them) "a little handcrafted leather shoe company here in town.  we live pretty charmed lives, creatively paying the rent in one of the most beautiful places in the world.  when we’re not skiing/ biking/ dog walkin’ we’re crafting custom kicks & other accessories… and we’ll sleep when we’re dead."
they're currently working on shoes, a collaboration with sitka. and, to be perfectly honest, anyone who also uses the term 'we'll sleep when we're dead' as often as i do, must be perfectly kick ass.
and my ABSOLUTE favourites....
hopefully next time i'm in whistler, i'll get to meet these two rad leather geniuses. until then, i'll keep sighing over their goodies (originally found via whistler is awesome).
shop their etsy store here //  check out their amazing website (with swear words!) here  //  follow them on twitter here  //  buy their goodies in person here  //  check them out on facebook here  //  and they have a blooooooog. here. 
ooooh!! guys, guys! jules has these belts on sale right now, to clear out their workshop... BUY SOME!

'and i told you to be patient. and i told you to be fine. and i told you to be balanced. and i told you to be kind'

bon iver is a dream to me. and though this may seem like a cop out post, i just love him to death. so when i stumbled onto this graphic of the lyrics for 'skinny love', i was enamoured. and i had to share.
there's so much about this song. its simple words. its concise effort to convey what it means. its heartbreaking melody, and the sadness in the music that the words are held by. its beauty and stunning simplicity - and there are not many songs i love more than this one.
perhaps it's that we can all relate - to a love that we want nothing more than to hold onto... a love that maybe hurts a little more than it should, or weighs a little more on our shoulders than we thought it ever would. but a love nonetheless that you want to hold onto. 
but more than all the makings of a love song that echos of gutted feeling that a true love can give you, the music that supports this song is so hauntingly perfect. i listen to it once, and i can't stop listening for days. it's power from behind the words. instead of a quiet subtle love verse, it bangs out what we all want to yell in those moments. 
i know i've posted this version of this song before, but it's my favourite version. ever. so i'm going to use it again. and since it's my blog, i can do that. 
i just love this song. i hope you all enjoy. and if nothing else, just love justin vernon's red plaid shirt. don't be a snob.
"and at the end of all your lines. who will love you? who will fight? who will fall far behind?"
(the trouble with the internet sometimes, is that it becomes extremely challenging to find original sources of things.... this print came from holmbergh's pinterest, but it links to tumblr after tumblr... if you know the original source, please share!)

my weekend in summary

this weekend was FAR busier than i thought it would be... and i wish i slept twice as much as i did... but it was lovely, and good, and i got to see lots of people i love. so THAT is the important part.

jewelry ready to be shipped out; grates are distracting - i took more photos of it, than of the jewelry i tried to photograph on top of it; pool day at my parent's; a visit from my little piano playing genius; cooking up a storm for dinner for 5 and a half; drinks and conversations; photo tag.
friday: i gathered all my goodies i needed to send out to patient recipients, and headed to work. after a long (LONG) day, including a stop at karine's for lunch, i mailed things out (friend's and customers expecting mail - it's en route!), and then stopped off at the bead store for some last supplies for a custom wedding order i'm making. then met up with a friend for something quick to eat, some drinks, and the expendables 2 - as the only 2 females in the world (or maybe just toronto), who were counting down the days until it's release. btw - it's awesome. after the movie, we went our separate ways - she home, and i headed to mississauga to crash a house party for a birthday party. spent about an hour chatting and catching up, and then drove back to waterdown for the weekend.
saturday: woke up fairly early, and spent the morning with my mom - hanging out, catching up. then, when she ventured out for groceries, i spent the rest of the morning by the pool - reading, sleeping, all those things lazy spoiled children do (aka. things i never ever get to do). once she returned, we prepared dinner - with chantel, ryan and baby arriving for a visit. jeff stopped by after work, and the 5 (and a half - baby) of us spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, making salads, entrees, swimming (or trying to) with the baby, and chasing her around my parents VERY not baby proofed house. had a huge sit down dinner (and my mom pulled out a high chair that she was more than eager to use), and got to spend a good chunk of time with some of my favourite 'at-home' people. then, when they left to take the babe home to bed, we cleaned up, and jeff drove me to meet jake and kim at valen's - where they were camping. since i was exhausted, i played cell phone charger delivery woman, and we coordinated to meet the next day - and left them to their own devices for the evening. jeff and i headed back into waterdown to meet my sister, and another one of their friends matt for some drinks - aka. $11.99 pitchers. the night ended early, but it was a perfect way to spend a saturday night, and still manage to be in bed before midnight - not without a late night, homemade (vegan) ice cream sandwich treat.
sunday: woke up early to meet jake and kim for brunch halfway - in a perfectly charming breakfast nook with 4 kinds of wallpaper, and bacon to spare - and then the four of us piled in jeff's car to head to mount nemo for a hike. spent midday hiking up mountains, and climbing through cave's. no one fell off of any cliff face's, so we came out alright. we drove back to the parking lot of the diner, hugged goodbye, and jake and kim headed out. jeff and i did some packing for his parent's move into their new house this week, and got to go visit, and see the progress. we then wandered around burlington completing particularly productive tasks - including a car wash that created more mess than anything, surprise bags of chips, picking up work tools, and a very trusting pita purchase for  a halfway to dinner meal (he eats a LOT). when we finally arrived back home, we had dinner with his parents, and then had a good dexter viewing to cap the sunday. early early early to bed (he's a very good influence).
hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, filled with LOTS of sun, and perhaps relaxing in prep for the long weekend coming up.
happy monday everyone!

i just love...

guys. i can't help it.
this weekend is honestly not planned, and not crammed... if you could imagine.
my thoughts? going to see expendables 2 with a friend this evening, then the rest of the weekend just letting things happen. maybe a trup home to see my parents one day, maybe a swim, maybe a visit, maybe a farmers market, maybe some baking or cooking, maybe some purging, and clothing design/reconstruction. whatever happens, i can't wait to have a schedule wiiiiiiiiide open to play around with.
hope everyone has a phenomenal weekend.

the truth will make or break us.

I had a conversation with a good friend a short time ago – we were speaking to our recent brushes with online honesty. she was commenting that despite my constant support and borderline harassment from me for her to change her tumblr and twitter accounts to enable public viewing, she was simply nervous to let people into her world. she had encountered her first bit of criticism – or ‘hating’ – from a blogger she admired, and her reaction was what would be expected. someone you respect suddenly turns on you, and shows the same unkindness that they have spouted towards others…. it’s a shot to the gut. this friend said emphatically that she thought I was brave – to put my life and opinions out there, for the world to see. and, perhaps more importantly, for the world to criticize, and silently (and sometimes not so silently) judge.
my response to her was simply that I am no more brave than the next person – but perhaps it’s stupidity. I was always the kid who spoke before I thought. I was the one who said things that I later may regret, and would often think - mere seconds after the words left my mouth - that I perhaps should have kept the thought to myself. i’ve always had a problem with impulse control - i lack the ability to think before i speak, and hold those things in that we should not say out loud. but this i’ve learned: i’ve learned that sometimes... sometimes those things that slip through our grasps and leave our minds and mouths... sometimes, those are the things that most need to be said. sometimes those are the things no one else is brave enough to say.
‘once said, never unsaid’
and perhaps it is for this reason, she called me brave. perhaps, it is for this reason that after I wrote my first entry on something that resonated with people, and I received a few (3) phone calls and messages to ‘not write about things I know nothing about’. more importantly, I also received the most emails, messages, texts, and calls from friends, and followers, exclaiming that it was my best post yet, the best writing to date, and that I was more brave than they would ever be for writing it.
image from pinterest
i will not stop being who i am. i am, who i am. most people hate me... but there are a few - a select few - and they love me. the rest are simply without opinion. and at the end of the day (which i’ve written a few times before), i wrote for no one but me.
but. that's the thing about honesty - it can divide. so, where is the middle point? at what point does honestly become rudeness, and at what point is enough honesty, too much? 
i had a friend in university - she lived on my floor in first year, and then we shared a house with 3 other friends in second year. after essentially a year's worth of on-again off-again passive aggressive conflict, she made the decision to leave school, and our house (with much drama engrained in her departure). i recall one of the strongest parts of our relationship (when it existed) was her continued insistence that she valued my honest opinion immensely - that i was often the only person she could trust to be truthful, and tell her when something was wrong. whether that something as insignificant as her choice in clothing, or something major like a behaviour that was bothering me, and i wanted to clear the air. however, when she left, in her departing tirade (including a phone call from her mother - yes. this was a 20 something 'woman'. who had her mother call me) she said that she was sick of me telling her what i thought. that she wished when she asked for my opinion, i had just told her things to make her happy. 
ohhhhhh the many many things that are entirely wrong with that comment. 
nevertheless, it made me think. and though it was over 5 years ago, it continues to make me think - do people really want the truth? people claim they do, but what they really want is the truth that appeases them - they then want all other commentary on life to be fluffy stuff that makes them smile. they want a friend who keeps the hard truths locked up, and that same person who elaborates on the good truths, to make them seem larger than life. 
and for some time, i wondered if that was what i should be doing. 
would i have more friends? would i make more people happy? would people like me more? and then it occurred to me - quite recently, as i've had time (and reason) recently to reflect on some of my personal weaknesses (hey! i'm human! i'm WELL aware of the things that make me difficult to live with!)... why be someone else, if the person who i am most comfortable with is me? i have made great strides in the past short while to avoid toxic relationships - to emit from my life and social schedule those 'friends' who are more stressful than fulfilling to spend time with. so, if i've made great leaps and bounds in my level of happiness as a result of that, then what makes me think that i should be living a toxic and unfulfilling version of myself?
image from pinterest
now. please don't misinterpret - i embrace the truth about the downfalls of my verbal incompetencies. i speak out of turn often. i judge people, and sometimes let those judgements escape too quickly into a public forum. i make people uncomfortable, and edgy. and sometimes what i say is perceived as mean (though rarely intended that way). and those are not positive things - those are the things that people like me should strive to change. to restrain in certain ways. but the honesty when people ask? the truth when it hurts but someone wants it? the off the cuff remarks that work in some situations to ease the tension (aka. people can laugh at my stupidity - hence, making them feel better about themselves. trust me - this happens OFTEN)? these are all things i never want to lose. 
someone once told me that they trust when i tell them someone - positive, happy, engaging and serious - that they 100% trust that what i'm saying is the truth. i stepped back, puzzled, and asked them (honestly), 'do you not trust that of every one of your friends?', and they confirmed that they don't. they told me that because i will always tell them what i truly believe - when asked - whether good or bad, they know that when it is a good thing, i'm not dressing it up with frills and feel good emotions. they trust that i believe what i say, and that i will never lead them astray. and when push comes to shove, i want only the best for the people who i care about.
i guess what it comes down to is a fundamental truth about humans - we are all looking for some sort of truth, and some sort of level of acceptance from others. unfortunately, we all dabble that line between truth and acceptance differently... making it a challenge to navigate through life and relationships sometimes. i've learned to not give my (honest) opinion where someone doesn't ask for it, and to be honest in the most objective and kind way possible. i've learned that some people ask for the truth, and don't want it. i've learned sometimes it's best to keep things inside, and reflect on them later - either alone, or with another person who you can trust. and i hope i continue to learn these things and things like this, and build a character who continues to be true to myself, but also authentic to those around me. 
image from pinterest
we can never take back the things we say. and we all have some level of fear that people won't like us - and the truth can hurt. but saying what you mean, and meaning what you say is not necessarily brave (i still maintain that it requires some level of stupidity - particularly in my case) - it just means being who you are. taking the criticism and compliments as you can. and continuing to be a you that you love. and being authentic is the only way to do that. authenticity is built from truth telling, and respecting those around us, and the relationships we hold with them. 
and those things, i will never ever stop doing.