caribbean cruise

just a few shots from our week sailing around the caribbean. didn't bring my fancy camera, so i forgot to take a lot of pictures. swelteringly hot, unimaginable colours, lots of sailing, fresh fruits and veggies and we spotted many iguanas. nobody got too seasick...and although we never thought of ourselves as cruise people...i think we'd do it again.

xo

twenty-two

graduate

travel to italy, california, southern usa, asia

write, write, write

run a half marathon

apply for grants to start my business (shh)

paint

play cello

more dancing

add another few meals to my cooking repertoire

make five items of clothing

buy a bicycle

go as sugar free as my sweet tooth can bear

group vacation

karaoke

devise a signature cocktail

email old friends

learn to shoot in manual

qualify to teach zumba

live in a beautiful apartment

start a new tradition

perfect speaking french

take more videos & instant photos

visit besties in england

buy a kitchenaid mixer

blog, often

xo

an exhausting amount of apartment inspiration.

good god, i love photos of homes. perhaps this has to do with the fact that i have been living in my parents house with virtually no furniture for the past year (lots of moving around, lots of stuff in storage), so i'm lusting after a space to paint and furnish and decorate and call my own. 

as it turns out, i collect a whole lot of home style images on my desktop after i see them on the internet and like...immediately want to live in them. i'm getting very excited about (eventually, hopefully soonish) having a place to myself in some great city. hopefully with exposed brick, floral wallpaper, giant windows, painted dressers, and evidently a lot of pink, turquoise, bookshelves, and photo walls. maybe a fireplace and a claw-foot tub too. 

...a girl can dream, right? what's in yours?

xo

*if you know where any of these images came from, i would so love to know. i've collected them over the past 4 years and rather stupidly not taken notice of what the original sources are. 

violet winter issue

Our winter issue launches today!

 Check it out for some ever beautiful photos, ideas and stories. It's such an absolute pleasure to be part of this project, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy making it.

xo

P.s. if you have a small business or service online, we're always accepting advertisers and would love to work with you. Just leave me a comment and I'll point you in the right direction!

P.p.s. if you can't get enough Violet, follow us on Twitter or head on over to our blog where we do regular posts on living fully, and all of our favourite things.

when my parents were my age they had an almost one-year-old kid.*

and two dogs. and almost another kid. so, you know, they had to work insanely hard at everything in a very Real Life way, not just a Gotta Finish University way.

sometimes i think about this a little too much, and then i take huge advantage of being 21 and completely irresponsible. and i stay in bed for a few hours painting my nails, reading gatsby (my beautiful new collector's edition from ryan's sister), and watching father of the bride and planning imaginary dream vacations. 

also sometimes i dedicate entire mornings to moisturizing my whole body (back included...and you know that takes time) and dancing around my room, singing loudly and off-key while getting dressed. did i mention the other hours spent on food blogs and browsing etsy? and occasionally taking myself out to lunch with my notebook and just like, eating soup and writing? not to forget the cocktail nights with my girlfriends and the disappearing off to europe for a while. and the three fitness classes i signed up for this semester. and recklessly buying another camera while i have perilously teeny funds in my bank account. sometimes i give myself an entire makeover in sephora. or hang around with my sisters rating celebrity men cuteness on a scale of 1-10. 

not bad. not bad at all.

apparently i am really milking this not-growing-up thing. and i'm doing it for you, mom & dad! just think of all the times you couldn't do any of that! no but seriously. i love babies, but it's totally great not having any right now. definitely loving this state of self-indulgence. 

xo

*alternate title: on not growing up, and really rather liking it.

i resolve to...

told you i was big on resolutions. in fact, this is only a handful from the real list, but i thought i could only subject you to so much. like i said though, i'm pretty good at making them happen. some are little and very easy to accomplish, others are going to take more work. i'm a goal-setter, though. and a big dreamer. so i make resolutions even in july. 

 what are yours? are you more of a one-resolution gal, or do you have a bit of a novel like me?

xo

twenty eleven in photos

this year zoomed by for me. a whirlwind of travel {amsterdam, paris, london, toronto, montreal, cheltenham}, family, dearest old friends and brand new ones, lots of amazing food, starting to run again, sisters, goofy dogs all over the place, my 21st birthday, getting to know my grandma even better, the stress and excitement about 4th year journalism school, music festivals, visiting ryan's family, new apartments, a photoshoot with the amazing miss kim, writing for the violet {a huge highlight of my year}, lots of reading, a big crush on hemingway, falling even more crazy in love with my guy, quitting my job, having all my important belongings stolen and slowly replacing them, so many nights spent talking until dawn, bad health, big dreams, and starting to put plans in place. 

there was a lot of stress this year, a LOT. but also so much goodness. i'm very happy to breathe out this year and make space for something even better.

i know the new year is going to be one of the best ever. 2012. i will graduate and finally, finally, start to make my own life. and i'll turn 22, which is my favourite number, and i have always suspected that wonderful things will happen at 22. i have a list of resolutions as long as my arm {...and my other arm} that i can't wait to get started on. if you know me, you know even my daily to-do lists take up a whole page, so i have a field day with resolutions. but i'm good at keeping them. of everything i resolved last year, the only thing i didn't manage was playing cello again. so i'm carrying it forward. but this is material for a whole other post...

i hope your holidays were all fabulous, dolls. i'm so excited for what this year will bring, and even more so to have you along with me.

lots of love

xo