Hat Island Series II: The Arrival

The first question you might have about Hat Island is, "Where is it?" Hat Island is a 35 minute ferry ride from Everett WA, across from Whidbey Island. The only way to get there, if you don't own your own boat, is by foot passenger ferry. This can prove to be a little more work, lugging everything you will need for your whole trip, but as you will see it is definitely worth it. And yes you need to bring just about everything (there is no general store on the island).


The house is divided into 2 separate parts. The main house and the bedroom wing. I really enjoyed this concept. There were 4 couples all staying together, and yet you felt a perfect degree apart. In the morning people who wanted to get up could do so, listen to music - done,  be as loud as they wish - fine, all without without waking anyone up.


The main house is an open layout. A wood-burning fireplace and exposed wood really add to the coziness. The patio sliding doors open completely to bring the outside in. We experimented with this open-air concept on the Saturday afternoon when the sun came out. 


I'm not sure if many of you can handle this, so try and get ready for it...no cable and no internet! I'm not going to lie, it felt good to not check twitter and email and text messages and the never ending stream of messages. None of it. You can fully relax.


We got to Hat Island at around 7pm on a Friday and within 20 minutes felt settled and ready for a fun intimate night with friends. We drank champagne, sipped scotch by the fire-place and got up close and personal with our good friend and food supplier Trader Joe. It was delightful. 

Cheers,

Charysse

Hat Island Series I: The Pre-Party

For the last six months, two of my girlfriends and I have been planning a ten year anniversary getaway for close friends of ours. We travelled to Hat Island in Washington for two nights. It started with telling them we were going to "Seattle" at the pre-party. Below are some little things we did to make the pre-party special for them.


They were dropping by for drinks before attending The Asteroids Galaxy Tour concert. So that, of course, was our theme. We had a limited budget because we wanted to save most of our money for Hat Island. I soaked off the labels of some bottles of Cava and made custom labels (pictured below). Talk to your printers if you are interested in doing that. They print them on sticker paper and cut down to size.


I also put the projector on and played a BBC Planets documentary for some background ambiance.


Two weeks later, we left for Hat Island. The next blog posts will be on our time spent there. 

Cheers,

Charysse

New Logo: SeaBreeze

Font Information:
Hero - Regular (Seabreeze)
Trade Gothic LT Std - Regular (Massage)


PANTONE Information:
Dark blue - 300U
Light blue - 2925U
Brown - 7533U


Cheers,
Charysse

Fondue

This last weekend my husband and I went to visit my parents on the Sunshine Coast. Their look is very much inspired by the 1960's. Every time we visit, I find myself wanting to do a fondue. So that's exactly what we did. A hot oil and cheese fondue. We had beef and prawns, accompanied by four different dipping sauces, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It can become quite an event. Of course we dressed the part too. I wore a Rag and Bone 1960's ski slope inspired sweater. Perfect for being cozy beside the fireplace.

Some people shy away from fondue's because it can be quite intimidating working with hot oil and trying to figure out what dipping sauces go with what. There's only a couple tips you must know before going into it. They are the following:

1 - There are hot oil pots and cheese pots. You can not use them for anything else. If you put cheese in a hot oil pot, it will burn. If you put hot oil in a cheese pot you could crack the pot.
2 - Do not put the oil down the drain. Put the lid on that night until the next morning when it has cooled completely. Pour into a large ziploc and place in the garbage.
3 - For hot oil, only use oils that have a high smoking point. For example: peanut, vegetable, canola or grape seed oils. 

For more tips and recipes visit: www.bestfondue.com


Cheers,
Charysse

My Perfume Vanity

On our first wedding anniversary, my husband thought it would be fun if we went perfume shopping. I won't get into the details, but basically I had a huge headache at the end of it and was extremely disappointed with what was available. In time, I came across The Perfume Shoppe. Not only did the owner Naz educate me, but also makes you feel like a million dollars. She takes into account your colouring and personality. 


Over the last couple years, I have slowly started to add to my collection (below are some photos of my perfume vanity.) For myself, I don't believe in wearing one "signature" scent. Every perfume will smell different on each person, therefore making it unique. Depending on my mood, depends on the scent I want to wear. So, if you can't jump a plane to Paris to pick your new scent, I strongly recommend you drop into The Perfume Shoppe. 

Here are some facts that I've learnt over my visits at the Perfume Shoppe with Naz:

1 - When traveling with perfume, always store in the box it came in.
2 - Never store your perfumes in the bathroom. Try to store in a cool and dark place. A dresser drawer perhaps, in original box.
3 - Mainstream brands tend to load their perfumes with chemicals and higher quantity of alcohol, whereas the real parfumeurs' scents tend to carry higher quality essential oils and higher quality of alcohol to hold these oils. 
4 - Perfume does go bad. The ones that are synthetically created go bad much faster than the parfumeurs' scents. 

For more information

Website: www.theperfumeshoppe.com
Twitter: @Parfum_Guru

Located at the Sinclair Centre in Vancouver, BC

Cheers,
Charysse

Analog

Someone sent me a link to a new app called "Analog" (www.realmacsoftware.com/analog). When I looked it up there was a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had a feeling I had seen the photo before. I went through our family photos, and lo and behold, I found a photo that was taken in the 1970's, by my mom (pictured below). The great thing about analog is that you can get this effect, that my family photo's from the 1960/70's have, for your photo's from today.

Cheers,
Charysse

Family Photos

A while back, a friend was over and could not believe that the framed photos I had, were actually family photos. She thought I had purchased them. I am lucky to have such a collection of great photos in the family. Here's why:

My late grandpa Edward Carriveau was an outstanding photographer. The photos below are family holidays that took place in the 1960's in Mexico and Hawaii. All were taken on slides, which ensures the quality is outstanding and can be blown up to poster size. I never met my Grandpa Edward but am extremely happy to have these photos. Why can't life look like this now? I guess that explains why I try to create moments and moods with parties and family occasions.

I hope this inspires you to go through your own family photos. Believe me, you'll be surprised at what you find.

Note: The photo I use as my banner on this blog, is one of them. That's my dad jumping into the pool, to the left is my grandma, her sister and my stylish grandpa.

Cheers,

Charysse

Charade (1963)

One of my all time favourite movies is Charade. It's a romantic thriller (yes romantic thrillers exist). Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn really make this movie for me. All their banter back and forth is worth the watch alone. In the older movies they put a lot of work into the opening credits. I love the work in this one - it encapsulates the 60's for me. Even the fact that Henry Mancini did the soundtrack - makes this a must see. 

Cheers,

Charysse

New Logo: C'est Manifique

A new little company C'est Manifique, is a home based business in Yaletown customizing in manicures and soon to expand into pedicures as well.  What makes Manifique unique is that they specialize in Gel Polish. Gel polish does not chip, lift or crack for up to three weeks. Most nail salons offer this, but only carry a couple colours. C'est Manifique has quite the collection and is adding weekly. As the French would say, C'est Magnifique!

Logo Information: 

American Typewriter - Condensed Light, Champagne - Regular.

Company Information:


Jenna Lambkin
604 880 01369


#903 - 980 Cooperage Way
Vancouver, BC
Buzz 3038


Gel Polish Manicures: $30
Full Service Regular Polish Manicures: $15


Cheers,
Charysse

France Series - Côte d'Azur: Top Cinq

No.5 Azure Maison
Azure Maison is waterfront and so close to all the markets and shops in Antibes. We stayed here for one week in May 2009 and I think about it often. There are four floors with a patio looking over the sea. Sleeps four. Upon arriving, there was a bottle of wine, fresh flowers and basic foods like eggs and cheese from the local market. The only problem is that you feel torn because you came all the way to France, but you don't want to leave your rental. For more information check out their website below.

www.azuremaison.com


Cheers,
Charysse

France Series - Côte d'Azur: Top Cinq

No.4 Antibes
The first time we went to the Côte d'Azur we stayed one week in Antibes. They have great markets, restaurants and shops. And if you have the time, swing by the Musee Picasso and the Absinthe Bar.

Cheers,
Charysse

France Series - Côte d'Azur: Top Cinq

No.3 The Beaches
The Côte d'Azur definitely has a wide selection of beaches. From white sand and turquoise water to red rocks and emerald green waters - they each have a unique feel. The red rock beach we went to, there was so much salt in the water it lifted you up making it even more easy to relax. Then if you felt like a little adventure, climb one of the rocks and jump off (bottom photo).

Cheers,
Charysse

France Series - Côte d'Azur: Top Cinq

No.2 Beach Chairs in Juan-les-Pins
Renting beach chairs on the French Riviera can be expensive, and sometimes over rated. But if you find a gem, be prepared to feel like a million dollars. I'm not sure if it's the being served champagne in my chair or having lunch with white table cloths while your feet are digging into the sand - but there is definitely something special here. The whole time, I felt like I could have spotted a young Cary Grant pull up in a boat in little shorts - that would have been the icing on the cake - but hey, we can't have it all.

Cheers,
Charysse

France Series - Côte d'Azur: Top Cinq

No.1 Château Beaupré Deleuze
In a small town in Provence lays one of the most unique Château's. I had the pleasure of staying at the Château Beaupré Deleuze in Saint Laurent des Arbres for two nights. It works as a B&B - but if there are more than two of you, you might consider renting one of the cottages which is what we did. Drinking pastis while playing a game of boule is perfection.  It was romantic and picturesque.

All guests receive breakfast in the parlor room, but since no one else was staying there, the Château was ours for the taking.

Cheers,

Charysse

France Series - Paris: Top Cinq

No. 5 The Food
I've heard mixed reviews about food in Paris. But lets be honest. Every single city in the world is going to have some bad, some good and some fabulous restaurants. Thankfully I've only experienced the latter in Paris. In Vancouver, we are definitely spoiled when it comes to around the world flavours. But when in Paris, eat French. From croque-madame to roast chicken - C'est Magnifique!

Cheers,
Charysse