exceptionally nerdy

Early last week, I found myself back at Snakes & Lattes. With the intention of playing some new games, I discovered Carcassonne. It's a tile-based German-style board game and has a sort of medieval vibe. It was extremely fun though I found myself feeling exceptionally nerdy playing it and moreover enjoying it. The feeling seemed to linger.

After lunch I made my way to Midoco, an art & office supply store. They had a huge selection of art materials and some quirky things too. I was drawn to the Pac-Man 30th anniversary Moleskine notebooks and Space Invader erasers, which were not in fact real Space Invaders erasers. I failed to read the label and ended up taking home "Space Intruder" erasers. I suppose the were just never approved by Taito and could not use the name. They are awfully similar to the Space Invaders though. I'm not sure if I'd ever actually use these erasers. They're far too adorable.

To top it all off, I ended my day snapping photos in front of a comic book store.

T.Babaton Bateau T-shirt - Aritzia, midi skirt - Club Monaco, sandals - American Eagle.

arepa café

The other night I grabbed a late-night bite at Arepa Café. It's this great little Venezuelan place at 490 Queen St. West. Essentially an arepa is a sort of pancake-like bread made of cornmeal or flour dough and then stuffed with whatever ingredients. With my first time having one I decided to get the Reina Pepiada, which they nicknamed "The Curvy Queen". It was filled with chicken, avocado, ren onions, and coriander. Extremely delicious!
I also got to try some epanadas, and a brownie and alfajor for dessert. Everything was so great there — the food, the casual setting, the artwork, the friendly staff. Consider me a return customer.
Visit Arepa Café's blog here for more info.

park lunch

It was a short but sweet trip on Queen St. I grabbed lunch at Chippy's, which I've been craving all summer. We wandered across the street to the park to eat our fish & chips there. It's absolutely relaxing to sit in the park mid-day. A bonus is the amount of adorable dogs that pass through.

For dessert we stopped by Nadége, this darling French pastisserie nearby. Since I was trying to make my visits snappy I took very few photos of the place, but I hope to return again to take some better shots. The design of the cafe is beautiful in its minimalist style.

I picked up two macarons: blackberry chocolate (above) and cappucino (below).

I also visited Preloved and The Paper Place while I was around. The Paper Place might as well have been made for me. Growing up I was always the kid who carefully unwrapped gifts to save the wrapping — even the bows and ribbons. I was also the kid who would tediously follow instructions to make perfectly folded origami creations. In fact, I'm very much the same person today.

The Paper Place is my go-to paper goods store. They have the cutest selection as well as other little knick knacks. I'm definitely visiting again soon for these silk screened pencil cases!

disposable

Back in Novemeber of last year, Hazel gave me a Kodak disposable camera along with a few other goodies for my birthday. After about nine months of carrying it around and carefully choosing objects, scenes, and moments to capture, I've finally finished the film and got the photos developed. It's really been years since I've been in even close proximity to a disposable camera let alone used one. In fact, I've never used one because in the time that disposable cameras were actually go-to cameras, I was a mere toddler.

So with my first real attempt at using one I have to say it's really a game of hit-and-miss with this camera. I found that the photos where I was too close to an object turned out as mysterious blobs. I also had a finger-over-the-flash strategy to opt for "natural light" but this did not work out as well as I planned. There was a total of 25 photos though only 10 mediocre shots made it onto my blog. The whimsical, sporadic, and lo-fi nature of disposable cameras worked against me this time around.

I'm glad that 100% of the shots I took in Europe turned out well — 100% being two out of two, haha. Anywho, the photo above is a look inside a store window in Stuttgart, Germany. I had spotted this figurine which I have named "fat-bottomed deer". My intention was to think about it and come back to purchase it after I had looked around elsewhere. But it was just my luck that when I did decided I wanted it and returned to the store it was closed. Unfortunately, we left Stuttgart the very next morning and I was unable to revisit the shop again. Rule #1 while travelling: If you see something you like, buy it — because you never know if you're going to see it again. But actually rule #1 should be: If you see a washroom, use it.

This second Europe photo is in the Mercedes-Benz Museum when my digital camera had run out of battery and I was itching to capture the ceiling of changing-coloured lights.

mad men

Banana Republic Mad Men ® Collection

Designed exclusively in collaboration with Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant, Banana Republic has released this limited edition line. I can't say that I'm a follower of the show but the collection was inspired by the feminine silhouettes of the 1960's style, which I do love. I've lately entered a red lipstick phase that I haven't broken yet. What better way to compliment it than with this collection.

View the rest of the Banana Republic: Mad Men collection here.