With BC finally getting on the Family Day bandwagon we snuck a 4-day getaway to Salt Spring Island to escape and unwind. Here’s a couple highlights from our mini adventure:

cozy Casita

First up was checking into the cutest casita this side of Mexico. Carl and Tracy of Frida’s Villa & Cottage welcomed us to their adorable studio with fresh lime margaritas. Pet-friendly with a wood-burning stove, full kitchen stocked with amazing breakfast foods (including fresh eggs from their neighbour, Art) and an ocean view, this little cabin was the perfect find. (Note: you need to ask about the casita as it isn’t listed on the site)

Coffee Talk

Morningside Bakery & Cafe in Fulford was our first stop. Owned by Manon and Alan you can expect great coffee, a selection of delish and health-conscious food as well as stimulating conversation. We went in for a latte and stayed for an hour discussing South America, the state of society and whether we’ll all have drones following us at some point in the near future. I love me some strong coffee and conversation and this little cafe serves it right up.

Hiking Ruckle Park

We made the most of a rain-free day and headed to Ruckle Park for a leisurely stroll. As per usual this stroll morphed into a solid 10 km hike around the coast of the southern tip of the island.  Don’t miss King’s Cove.

Dinner Time

After our solid hike we decided to forgo cooking and try Bruce’s Kitchen, a local fave. What it lacks in ambiance this restaurant makes up for with flavourful and creative dishes made from locally-sourced products. The famous chicken pot pie made this hiker pretty happy.

A couple of other highlights include:

• visiting the Salt Spring Island Cheese Company, where you can sample about 20 different kinds of cheese (might I recommend the Juliette?)
• hanging out on Beddis Beach
• catching the views from Mt. Maxwell

Basically, this is what you’ll feel like on Salt Spring Island, can you tell we’ll be back?

You can’t really go wrong with black and white. You can, however, end up looking like you should be waiting tables. My tip? Add a big old necklace (even better if it’s a gold belt your mom wore in the 80s) and a bright clutch.  Done and done.

I just can’t stay away from stripes, and from the past few posts , it seems I also have an issue with brights. And looky here, I paired both stripes and brights together for work the other day (yes, I can wear shorts to work, yes be jealous).

This sweater has been the best all-time buy from J.Crew. It’s season-less style goes with everything from beat-up jeans to fluoro coral shorts. It’s that one piece that I always turn too when I have less than 10 minutes to get ready— the stripes are kind of a distraction technique for for messy hair and wrinkled jeans. You heard it here first.

I’ve never thought you have to trade comfort for style, to me it’s all in the approach. Take a couple of basics in neutral colours, thrown in cute flats, choose a statement piece (I’m along the lines of go big or go home) and voila—chic and comfy.

Running errands doesn’t have to mean sweatpants .

Vancouver hasn’t been all that warm this summer so I am making it as summery as possible by adding bright colours into my wardrobe.

Currently I’m all over neon yellow but that’s a pretty hard one to pull off as a solid colour, luckily Madewell came to my rescue with their amazing Patternplay Sweater. Creating a taupe and neon yellow chevron…how do they always get it right?

Even though I adore this sweater I hope that it gets to take a nice, long summer nap — it can wake up when it’s fall.