Revisiting a yummy soup!

September = Soup Month, there are (is?) just no two ways about it.

So I decided to make an old recipe of mine, the Butternut Squash and Roasted Red Pepper Soup of some time ago. I added something new though! A few leaves of sage blended in with the pepper - YAA-HUM!

And Cheese Toast. Everything is better with cheese toast.

Won't you try it out?

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it. Click here to read rest of story...

The summer of change

This is the official Summer of Change. I ought not to make such a grandiose pronouncement, as it seems every summer is full of stuff happening -- of growth, of dreams and developments. But this one might trump it all.

21 weeks. My belly is growing and my heart is full of hope.

And so it is that I find myself drawn towards inspiration, wherever I can get it.

There are the tweets and blogs of Danielle from White Hot Truth, with this recent one just a fantastic example of what I get out of following this great woman.

Follow her. You will be glad.

I have also been collecting images from each and every corner of the internet - at least the internet that I know. I often don't remember where these came from but I will give credit where I can, and beg for forgiveness where I can't. Here are the things that are inspiring me these days, and why. I hope you can get something from them too!

Words of healing from Sheye Rosemeyer

Quilts, quilts, quilts. I can't get enough quilts. I am ready to sew, looking for a machine and can't wait to
see my work on our beds.
Some might call this "nesting". I call it wonderful. Who wouldn't want to create
a lovely, handmade life and home? I feel I must get the following book:
The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art & the Comforts of Home
Sewing patterns on eBay.

Unfortunately these beautiful ones are in Japanese!

Tofino, BC. We need to get there, and soon.

Bringing the outside in, with tables that still resemble trees. Pic, I think, from Remodelista (Terence Conran suite).

The continued search for doors like this, for our washroom and my office - maybe even our bedrooms too.

The continued search for a set of antique blueprint drawers, but settling for the time being on an Alex set of drawers from IKEA.

Dreaming about living in a home with coved ceilings like this one I found online, and the one below we saw in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy at the Messner Mountain Museum.
I don't know where this is from! It's the blog of a family who moved from North America to Europe. I am sure I have the link in my database, and this image is why I would go back for a read.

Cindy Crawford's mid-40s legs. There's hope for me yet.

My Fiorentini and Baker beauties. When will you be mine?

examples of grace and beauty, whether styled or not...Marion Cotillard

Diane Kruger

and Fantastic blogger Gillian Young, who is off on another French adventure (I am just slightly envious!)

Vanity Fair's 2009 International Best-Dressed List

I have a hard drive that is full to overflowing, with all of the images I save...but looking at them and getting inspired to live a good life, and to keep dreaming and doing, makes it worth the computer crashes!

Click here to read rest of story...

Monday morning

A great day! I have a guest post over at decor8, one of my favorite design/dwelling/house and home blogs.

AND despite the fact that Friday, Saturday and Sunday were packed over here at our household with friends, family, cooking and more unpacking, I think that my blog friend Corey had an even better weekend than I did. Hint: she sort of hung out at the brocantes with Brangelina!


Click here to read rest of story...

ModernGear Shoes: Giving my money the boot

This is going to be the fall and winter of THE boot. I have decided. I thought last year would be the year I'd find the boots I have been dreaming of, but it just didn't happen so I was relegated to wearing my probably 8, maybe 10-year-old square toe mid-calf zip-up boots. They're in fine shape but their silhouette isn't exactly timeless, and isn't exactly of-the-moment, either, when boots are decidedly more biker-babe.

I also have a great pair of Fly London wedge-heeled black leather boots but as you probably know I am a 37-year-old woman with the ankles of an 80-year-old woman, because of my Rheumatoid Arthritis. High heels are out, and I can't even walk in wedges anymore.

So my search for the perfect boot factors in more than heel height, shaft height, quality of leather, etc. It becomes about whether or not I can do up a zipper on a cold, rainy afternoon when my hands are stiff. It becomes about whether the pull-on boot's ankle part is so tight that I can't point my toes with my partially fused ankle to negotiate that tight turn. It's a complex procedure, and it's going to be a long hunt.

The quest started out innocently enough with an online visit to GravityPope.com. Now, I loves me some Gravity Pope - have since they first opened up in Edmonton, and am not sure how many pairs of shoes I have bought from them (in retrospect, probably not that many but how many I have tried on and coveted - now that numbers in the triple-digit territory).

I even wrote about the clothing side of Gravity Pope in Vancouver for the Globe and Mail's Style Section, when the soft goods store opened up - read about it at TamaraMedia.com, excerpted below:

Zen and the art of shopping

Though it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon, sometimes shopping can be less than soothing.

Jostling for space with other bargain hunters among racks overflowing with the latest must-haves and shouting to the salesperson over blaring music are not exactly conducive to a chilled-out experience.

Once in a while, though, you walk out with bags in hand and a Zen-like smile on your face, having lost all track of time in a boutique that has got it right. Like the new Gravity Pope Tailored Goods clothing store.

The 1,800-square-foot space is the sister shop to the popular Gravity Pope shoe store next door and joins Gravity Pope clothing and shoe stores in Edmonton and Calgary.

Walk in and the first striking features aren’t the Tocca dresses or Paul Smith cardigans.

White Carrera marble floors glisten and gleam. Light from the mirrored, spinning chandelier bounces off the walls. Two reupholstered Louis XIV chairs sit against the back wall underneath iridescent aluminum light fixtures, grouped as an installation piece, while a dapper antique mannequin from Paris stands watch.

I clicked on gravitypope.com, and immediately headed over to the casual boots section. I decided to document the process by taking screen shots of the boots I liked, and then call and see which ones they had before I went in to the store. Here is how it went, and my feedback from trying on.

These ones they didn't have in stock:
These ones they did.
Oh Steve. I couldn't even get my foot into this one! Are you making these for insect-thin supermodels only?

These might have been good - they sure look good, but the leather of the shaft is quite soft and they flop over. Now, due to my lack of flexibility in hips and back, to say nothing of the fact that my five-month-pregnant belly gets in the way, and I can't casually slip on a boot when sitting down or crouching. Rather, I have to step into said boot, and then sit down and wrestle them on. The Sendra boots would just flop over, making it impossible to step into them. So, they're out.
I was familiar with this Fiorentini and Baker boot from my friend Lainey's site, but they fit about a half-size too big. Darn it - the buckles opened up and the boot shaft split to make for easy donning, but the size 36 was just too big and they don't have them in 35.
Then I slipped on these beauties. And despite an initial slight struggle to get them on (during which the great saleslady gave me a secret tip that actually worked...), well...I was stepping into something comfortable and chic and suddenly, all was right in the world. I was not a young fashionable woman in the body of an old geriatric, I had the potential to dress like I wanted to. I could be a French gamine with knee socks and ruffled dress, I could be a biker babe with tucked in skinny jeans and an equally hot leather jacket, I could be a pregnant mama in maternity tights and a plaid tunic. I envisioned all the outfits I wanted to put together with style, with sass,
with personality and yes...with $710 boots.

Ahem.

Cough, cough.

(Sound of crickets.)

Slight glitch.

Luckily, Gravity Pope has layaway. A 20% deposit later and they're now on the shelf in the back room with my name written on the box.

Sure, I'll continue looking as I start saving, but I think I'm done for. I figure I will finish making payments on them by the time the snow melts next spring...Anyone need an article written or an essay edited for cheap?!
Click here to read rest of story...

ModernGear Pooches: Rein in your dog with a (fashionable) rope

When The Sartorialist gives his seal of approval in his nod to the most stylish and chic, you know something is a style must-have. As it turns out, quite often something appears in one of his amazing photographs of amazing people, that is also functional as well as fashionable.

I was delighted to see this was the case in today's post from New York. I first off appreciated not the cute dress, fabulous hair or beautiful sandals on the woman, but rather the rope leash that she was using to lead her gorgeous dog. Commenters are saying the same thing.

Image from TheSartorialist

The leash reminded me of some I had seen in a magazine, though I had no recollection of the name...so I did a little digging around and lo and behold - if you want such a rope leash to complete your look and to be a very strong and effective lead for your pooch, look no further than... Found My Animal.

Image from Found My Animal

The leashes will appeal to animal-loving folks and vegans alike because the rope is a great alternative to leather, and they're extremely strong and durable. The hardware (solid brass o-rings and clips) enable you to wear or use the leash in a variety of ways:

Image from Found My Animal

And what's perhaps the most beautiful thing of all about these leashes, is that 25% of all profits go to the Louis Animal Foundation, a "unique non-profit group dedicated to spaying/neutering and providing homes for animals who have not yet 'found' their people."

Prices run from $52-$60 for the natural rope leash, which also comes in black. Found My Animal also has collars, and will be introducing harnesses soon as well.

Images from Found My Animal

I am a dog person, through-and-through and I love the idea that this leash is strong and durable, keeping my guy safe. But the fashion lover in me unabashedly supports something that is so good-looking AND, has The Sartorialist's tail wagging as well.
Click here to read rest of story...

What's new...

I've got plans, people, big plans.

Did you ever feel like you were close to being where you were supposed to be, but just slightly off? Or, a version of this thought process in a twitter:
shanenickersonRT @csussin: Sometimes in conversation I am improvising as a character close to my age, weight and height rather than speaking my own mind.

I get that. That's kind of, sort of, a little bit, what I feel about my blogging.

Because I know where I want to be, and I know where I have been, and the two aren't exactly the same...not quite identical.

It all started with Danielle LaPorte of White Hot Truth.

I had a phone Fire Starter session with Danielle that I had been looking forward to for weeks and weeks - I was supposed to take part in a group session in Los Angeles but had to go to Vancouver that weekend, so Danielle said we could make it up on the phone.

Now, about Danielle. Keywords that come to mind are: soothing, groovy, connected, whipsmart. I needed her perspective, her opinion, her way of cutting through the excess to get to the core. And it worked...

So basically I can't say much more because the path isn't entirely laid out yet, but I can say that ModernGearTV.com and TamaraMedia.com will be amalgamating at some point soon. I can say that I'll still be doing product reviews - trying things out and telling you all about them - but I'll also be telling the stories of people, places and things that I find interesting.

Because what's maybe been missing in all of this is the fact that for the past 15 years I have been, in one way or another, a storyteller. I've told stories on television, on the radio, in newspapers and magazines, and on the internet (sometimes live on a stage too). I have enjoyed every minute of that. And if I truly want to make a go of my own little space on these here interwebs, of entertaining and informing the people who spend their time in this space, then I want it to be 100% true to my vision and my personality.

So please stay tuned! I'll of course let you know where I'm going website address-wise, and I'll continue to post until it's all settled in and looking pretty. (And as you know, these things take time...) I would LOVE to have you come along, I don't want to lose even one of you.

Hope you are all well and happy. I know I sure am.
Click here to read rest of story...