I love the changing of seasons, and I particularly love summers in Toronto. The flowers and foliage are so full of life, and the city transforms into a city within a garden, truly. It's a magical time of year, and with the anticipation of this little girl, even my hormones are fully on board with embracing summer and the much needed change of pace and bursting of life that it brings.
So first things first, this week I started with a full art reset - pulling out the print collection we have stored in the basement, tiny samplings from the days Luke was studying art, a couple of Paris honeymoon prints, and others from over the years. We're changing the frames on our walls from a palette of black and white film Paris photos that we printed and fit to the mood of winter, to a more colourful and playful palette. I'm feeling drawn to the light oak wood that's been trending, and I'm incorporating a few lighter frames from down the street at Above Ground Art Supply. Here's a few of the the looks we ended up with. I went definitely more playful in the kitchen with this 'magic trick' vintage print we found on our honeymoon in Paris years ago - hoping to mirror this same carefree laughter feeling around our own table.
I also went through a full closet re-haul, not only because of the dramatic change of weather, but also being 30+ weeks pregnant. Here are a few of my favourite ensembles of this stage. I'm grateful I've traditionally gravitated towards more baggy or roomy dresses over the years, purchasing a "special" dress for an event, occasion, or significant birthday. It's coming in handy for pregnancy clothing, so this is definitely a summer full of dresses. I love Lululemon's Align leggings (so beautifully stretchy!) and for the first time I shopped the Zara Kids section for not only shoes, but also crop tops and a couple pairs of sunnies. And for shoes, if you're also a US women's size 5, I'm telling you, you gotta embrace Zara's size 34 girls collection as I've just discovered. It's been so much fun. I also love this crinkled white skirt that has paired well with this years-old black crop from Madewell, with the matching white top it came with to make it a "set", or with this more special Oak and Fort top I wore the day of Rosie's baby shower. I sized up both in the Lululemon leggings and the H&M maternity set to allow all the stretch to happen in the last few months. There's somehow only a little bit of time left to go before we meet our baby girl!
I've found it important to strike a balance between beautifying our current space and finding a contentedness in it's limitations. I have shared this quote before, but it's seems especially applicable to what life right now, within this resetting of seasons, in the current and what sometimes feels like a not-yet phase we're in. We actually printed this one out for our office wall so we can see it daily, and I even have it pasted on my blog's home page. Here it is:
"Location has nothing to do with it. The great question is always will we see the holy potential of what's right in front
of us and will we shape it for the love of God in a way that affirms something that's true about Him in the world?"
-LANIER IVESTER
Do you switch out the art on your walls for seasons? I'd love to know. Ever since I got married, I feel the need to consistently rearrange our furniture, our art, come up with new iterations, and it was so intense that first year, I would literally wake up and be like "Luke I have a new vision for the house". Our small space (less than 500 sq ft) called for a necessary creativity with space, and I'm glad for that time. I want to embrace that same energy with where we're currently living, even if we don't plan to live here forever, I want to be all in. Also, I'm so excited to share a plethora of creative projects me and Luke have embarked on recently in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
Til next time I'll be rearranging probably,
Allie
If you want to see more of my maternity wardrobe recap, check out the latest video on my YouTube channel: my maternity capsule wardrobe.