Rainy Day Garden

Just before the long weekend, I was able to get my patio pots planted, and after only a week to settle in after being transplanted they've already started getting bigger!!

This is the first year I've put flowers in the pots - as the only sunny spot in the yard I used to keep trying to grow tomatoes. After getting only about 3 tomatoes off the two plants last year, I finally had to admit defeat. But these flowers are looking pretty damn cheerful!

And remember that post I did about Ilya and I pruning our wisteria vine? Well it's started blooming and it's BEAUTIFUL!

I mean, seriously, look at those flowers! And on top of being all huge and beautiful and old-fashioned looking, they smell divine. yum.

Stay tuned - more garden posts are coming. Everything is just exploding with growth and blooms!

Facelift!

Relish is getting a facelift! Last weekend, Ilya and I started on the first coat of paint for Relish's new cheery storefront.



just getting started...



I'm admiring our work



isn't it bad luck to stand underneath a ladder? whoops!



ilya is hard at work



we are SO almost done! and poor Ilya had the crappy job of climbing the ladder a thousand times. and in flip-flops, too!

Stay tuned - only 2 or 3 more coats of paint to go! And yes, the door will be painted as well. Anyone have any colour suggestions?

Relish on Beaux Mondes' Blog!

Does everyone know about the Beaux Mondes blog yet? Because you should. I only discovered them a few months ago thanks to Heather at LuLu & Lavigne, and thank goodness I did. Not only are the photos totally incredible, but bloggers Stephanie and Jacklyn are always on top of new great things happening in and around Hamilton so it's a great source of information.

And as a bonus, they just posted a blog about my shop Relish, which is very exciting! You can see the post here. Enjoy!

New Website!

Guess who finally has a website? Me! And by "me" I actually mean my shop Relish - come have a look!

http://www.relishvintage.ca/



I just created the site this week, and it's already got all kinds of information like the shop's location and hours, as well as all the new product lines I carry.

Be sure to keep an eye on this - I'll be updating it whenever I receive new products or product lines. Trust me, this will be exciting!

So happy Saturday, and I hope everyone has a very happy, sunny long weekend!

New Fun Stuff

Well despite the rain, Friday's Art Crawl was tons of fun and lots of people were out to enjoy the festivities.

High five to everyone who braved the rain! As usual, Friday was a scramble to get things ready, but as a result, there is some great new stuff in the shop this week, including these tissue paper Poms from PomTree you can see in the window..... Such a great hit of much-needed springtime colour!

Victoria Alstein was kind enough to agree to have some of her incredible artwork on display for Art Crawl. If you didn't make it down here on, be sure to stop by in the next week or two to check out her stuff - it's pretty damn awesome.

I've also added another vintage table that I've just refinished. As usual, bright green looks incredible with all types of wood!

This awesome bright red chair is a vintage Vico Magistretti designer chair - made in Italy!!

Another great chair made in the 1930's and newly re-uphostered, just waiting for a new home.

And finally (because I just had to include this) a beautiful floral bouquet sent by my sister Becca and her family from Alberta! Thanks Bec and Kostas & Kaia!

I Love You, Mexico!

Yay, Mexico!

For those of you who don't know, I just returned from a fantastic vacation in southern Baja, Mexico. I had never been before, and it was incredible. I was struck most of all by the totally foreign landscape - completely arid desert everywhere!

Despite seeming desolate at first, there were so many kinds of amazing plants growing everywhere!

And the cacti were enourmous! I had to take this photo with the car in it, just to capture the size of this thing!

Even the road to the beach looked like this.

Luckily, being a long peninsula, there was coastline everwhere, so tons of beaches...

...and lots of surfing! (not that I can surf at all, but I sure am good at watching!)

Ahh, another day at the beach (actually at a beautiful oasis of palm trees).

The town we spent most of the week in was Todos Santos - totally charming, dusty, quiet little place with absolutely perfect weather all the time.

More Todos Santos...

High five for the use of ridiculously bright colours on houses!

I miss you already, Mexico!