MOVEMBER CANADA AND THE POWER OF THE MOUSTACHE!! | IT'S A NEW DAY | Nov 4

It is simply amazing the power that a moustache can have!

We are one week into Movember. For those of you that are not familiar with Movember;  it is a global movement which encourages men to grow a moustache for the 30 days of November to raise awareness of men's health issues particularly prostate and testicular cancers as well as mental health challenges.
 

The Movember Foundation is focused on living with and beyond cancer, staying mentally healthy and living with and beyond mental illness.  Mo (short for moustache) Bros begin the month without any facial hair and then grow and groom their Mo for the remainder of November while requesting donations from family and friends to donate to this very worthy cause.
 

Mo Sistas are the women that support the Mo and encourage the Mo Bros in their lives. They participate in fund raising activities and do basically everything that the Mo Bros do without growing a MO. Some women have decided to grow their underarm hair in support of the Mo for the month of November. I applaud their dedication to the movement.
 

  Here are the official Rules from Movember.org 
 

1. On Shadowe'en (October 31st), the complete moustache region, including the entire upper lip and the handlebar zones, must be completely shaved.
2. For the entire duration of Movember (Movember 1st - 35th inclusive), no hair shall be allowed to grow in the goatee zone - being any facial area below the bottom lip.
3. There is to be no joining of the moustache to sideburns.  
4. Failure to conform to all of these rules may, at the discretion of the official Movember Committee, result in instant blacklisting and may void invitation to the end of Month festivities (this year lip-marked for Movember 35th!)
5. Movember Committee accepts no responsibility for lost jobs, rashes, food/beer encrustments or any other such mishaps caused to the wearer (or his partner) of a Movember Moustache. You grew it yourself.

  

Some Mo Inspiration...

 

photos | courtesy of Google

 

 There is still time to sign up for Movember. Register here. 

 

HAPPY MOVEMBER!!

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com 

THE HOLIDAY MOVIE HOUSE PICS | SLO MO SUNDAY SERIES | JAN 4

Happy Slo Mo Sunday!

It is pouring rain here in Pickering, Ontario, Canada.  All my errands that were on my list for today are now complete and I am thinking that it is the perfect day to relax on the couch, wrapped in a cozy throw, with a warm cup of tea to watch a few movies. 

Photo - Quentin-De-Briey

I love romantic comedies. The Holiday ( A Nancy Meyers Film) is one of our favourites and is the first movie up for viewing today. 

Not to spoil the movie but to give you a brief overview ~ This story is about two women, one living in the English countryside (Kate Winslet) and the other living in LA (Cameron Diaz) who swap houses for a few weeks. Both find love in each others cities. Kate falls in love with Jack Black in LA while Cameron falls in love with Jude Law in England.

What I like most about the movie is not so much the story line although quite cute in my opinion, it is the two houses that these women live in.  Both quite opposite to each other not only in geographic location but also in style and size.

Here are a few Pics all Courtesy of Google

Cameron's LA House (Amanda in the movie) - This Tuscan Styled villa is located in San Marino and was designed by Architect Wallace Neff in 1928. He and his family lived in the house in the 1930's.  This 10, 324 sq ft house has 9 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Apparently, only the exterior was used in this film and the interiors were built on a sound stage.

This amazing backyard/pool is featured quite a few times in the film.  

Gorgeous!!!

Love this fabulous contemporary staircase with the casual neutral runner.  

Here is a shot of the living room looking in from the hallway.

This shot is from the livingroom looking out to the hallway. As you can see the walls throughout are a creamy white, with grey slate flooring throughout.  The pallet is mostly neutrals and the furniture style is transitional with both contemporary and traditional pieces however, the entire house is leaning toward a more contemporary edge.

Media Room - Great place to watch movies!

This corridor is looking toward the entryway and is located off the kitchen-eating area.

I am loving the slipcovers and the green accents from the plants. Most people find this look too bland but it is my personal favourite.  I find it fresh, clean and uncomplicated.

Another shot of that corridor from the eating area of the kitchen 

A shot of the Kitchen from the eating area.  Love those lanterns. 

True tranquility in this bedroom.  With a flick of a switch, the automated blinds close and turn this room into a peaceful, sleep sanctuary.

This lovely spa bathroom was never used in the movie.

Now let's get on a plane and fly over to England to the very quaint Rosehill Cottage that Kate (Iris in the movie) lives in.  

Believe it or not this house was built especially for this movie so it is really not an old cottage!

A shot of the entryway and cozy livingroom

This shot from the entryway into the livingroom showing one of the fireplaces

Shot of the kitchen-eating area which has another fireplace

Library

Bathroom with soaking tub. 

If you had to choose between the two homes which would it be??

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle.

http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

HAPPY LABOUR DAY LONG WEEKEND! | HOLIDAY

The weather has been bang on this Labour Day Weekend!!

Temperatures have been hovering around the 30 degree Celsius mark these past several days with extremely high humidity levels.

The kiddies will all be back in their classrooms tomorrow which is a sure sign that fall will be peaking it's head around the corner really soon. 

Here's hoping you have been enjoying this lovely last weekend of the summer, embracing this wonderful time of year, spending time with family and friends, cooking up some great food but have also had a chance to carve out just a little time for yourself for some needed R & R.

Image - Courtesy of Google

Cheers!!

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco-Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle.

Please visit us at 

https://www.soulierdesignstudio.com 

LUX OUTDOOR LIVING | SLO MO SUNDAYS SERIES | JULY 6

The weather where we live is SIMPLY OUTSTANDING today!

I would have to say that it is a PERFECT SUMMER DAY. Not a cloud in the sky, temperatures are around 27 degrees Celcius and the sun is just beaming. Such a glorious backdrop to set the mood for backyard lounging on this SLO MO SUNDAY. 

Speaking of lounging, we have certainly come along way in the outdoor furniture selection of days gone by. No matter what style or decor you prefer, the sky is the limit on choices that are available. 

Outdoor rooms are now an extension of our interiors with many green homes being built and designed with spaces that create calm, relaxed social environments to support family areas as well as to entertain friends. Many of these homes are outfitted with expansive sliding glass doors from the interior living space to enhance the indoor-outdoor nature of the home. This is a perfect opportunity to extend your colour schemes and style to your outdoor living space.  

Here is some fabulous outdoor lounging furniture from a LUXURY Online Boutique I adore called LUXDECO  that I would like to share with you.  These pieces are UV Colour Fast, Washable, Weather Resistant, Pest and Fungus Free, Non-Toxic, Completely Maintenance Free.

Basically - I want ALL of these pieces. Enjoy!! 

All pictures courtesy of LUXDECO

We would love to hear from you.  Which are your favorites?

 Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco-Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle.

Please visit us at https://www.soulierdesignstudio.com 

MONTREAL - GALERIE YOUN, GREAT FOOD, ART EXHIBITS | KICKING BACK ON THE WEEKEND | APRIL 25

What an absolute BLAST!!

I very much enjoyed an exciting trip to Montreal this past weekend with my husband and daughter.  We were invited to attend a Gala Event at Galerie Youn in downtown Montreal where my son, Jamie Bradbury's work is currently on exhibit. Jamie a Visual Artist, recently moved from London, England to Montreal and Saturday night was the Gala Opening for his show.

The founder and director of the gallery is Juno Youn, who also co-founded and directed SPIN Gallery in Toronto (Ontario) from 1999 to 2007 prior to moving to Montreal, Canada.  Galerie Youn represents several contemporary artists from around the world and participates in various art fairs and exhibitions each year.

GALERIE YOUN

Jamie's work primarily explores race, globalization and multiculturalism through the use of drawing, painting, sculptural installations, and writing.  He recently lectured at McGill University and will be participating in a conference at Oxford University in London, England in July and then he is off to a residency in Atina, Italy. Not long ago, Jamie was shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize curated by Photoworks. Some of his works are held in private and public collections such as the National Portrait Gallery of Canada. 

Jamie Bradbury - Visual Artist

Here is a couple of his pieces from the past few years that are not in his current Exhibition at Galerie Youn.
    

                                                                      Graphite (Pencil) on paper  

Learning from the Master - This watercolour painting is of himself viewing a spectacular piece in a gallery.

  

Fritz - Another watercolour painting

(Ok, I am a very proud Momma bragging about her VERY talented son !!)

Anyway, back to the event it was a huge success with a lot of media coverage and was highly attended despite the torrential rainfall the entire day and evening.  Fabulous wine, hors d'oeuvres, music and wonderful conversation with so many new acquaintances were the highlights of this spectacular night.

Unfortunately, this weekend very boldly reiterated that my 7 years of French study in school didn't stick; my French is totally non existent!!

As mentioned, Saturday it poured rain the entire day and unfortunately we did not get out to see the sites as we had intended. It has been many years since I visited Montreal and I remember just loving Old Montreal and really wanted to visit again.  So we drove around Old Montreal site seeing which is by the way, sheer decadence for the eyes! I can certainly see why it is a major tourist attraction. Beautiful cafes, restaurants and wonderful shops line the gorgeous streets.

The architecture and cobbled streets are breathtaking and have been restored/maintained to preserve the look and feel of its days as a settlement. Many of the buildings date back to the 17th century. The lovely horse-drawn caleches or carriages certainly help retain the feeling of days gone by.  Simply Amazing!

Here are a few images that I snapped with my Blackberry this weekend, highlighting some of the exquisite Architecture 

 Enjoy! 

If you have not had the pleasure of visiting Montreal, I would highly recommend it but there are just a few tidbits of important information that I would like to share with you before you go........

There are no right turns on a red light, the green flashing light is at the end instead of at the beginning and I recommend, you will thank me for this one, that if you do not know how to speak/read French that you bring along an English/French dictionary. This will assist you in reading the parking signs that are everywhere. We ended up with a $53.00 ticket because we parked in a permit parking only zone. My husband was seriously ticked!!!

I actually cannot wait to return to Montreal again and this trip has inspired me to take up French. I signed up for Duolingo recommended to me by Jamie my son. You can learn several different languages in Duolingo. It is a very effective language learning tool which is completely free with no hidden fees.

So far, I have completed a french lesson each day since my trip and surprisingly, after all these years of not speaking any French whatsoever, I actually have retained more French that I thought.  Love it!!

à bientôt 

(Bye for now)

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability and Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle
Please visit us at http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

FIRST DAY OF SPRING - WE WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS! | IT'S A NEW DAY | MARCH 20

OH yeeeeeeeeessssss, Spring officially arrived today at 12:57pm EST.
 

That is the good news, however, the bad news is that there is still piles and piles of snow in my back and front yards and it is still freeeeeeezing! Here in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area, we have set some new records weather-wise with 89 days of snow this winter so far; apparently, it's not over. Old man winter just won't pack his bags. It has been a really long one and it has been exceptionally dreary.

Despite the white stuff all over the yards, one thing we know for certain is that beautiful sunny, warm days are peeking around the corner and very, very soon, after wearing them day after day for what seems an eternity, we will be shedding our heavy winter coats, boots, scarves, gloves and hats. When that day comes, I will be dancing in the streets!!

Since spring is a time of renewal, growth and new life, you will notice a huge positive upward, refreshing shift in the energy in your home by practicing this same shedding. I don't know about you, but I am itching to spruce up my home after the very long winter season with some spring/summer touches and bright vibrant colours.  I simply can't wait to store away the heavy winter throws, change up the decorative cushions from the dark earthy tones to ones with more cheery hues, add some fragrant fresh flowers to the tables and bust open all the windows for some fresh air.

Here's hoping that some springtime inspiration for your home will get you into the decorating mood!

Starting with some fabulous cheery furnishings......


I am crazy about this lime green banquette. photo courtesy of Google

Wow, this gorgeous rich orange velvet bed is a show stopper!

If you would prefer something with a more beachy, cool feel this amazing tufted bed is for you!

Now for a few accessories ...

Here's a great plum jar lamp topped with a fresh linen shade to add a splash of spring into your room.

A lovely and elegant Tortoise Glass Table Lamp

This brightly coloured throw cushion would brighten up any room

I just had to add this pillow. This was my favourite song when I was a little girl.  

This hand-tufted wool rug's pattern gives this piece an exotic feel, but it's neutral background allows it to fit into any decor. 

photo courtesy of Google

the most beautiful accessory of all; compliments of mother nature ...

Happy Spring!

All furnishings from One Kings Lane one of my affiliates.

For further information about these products, there is a picture link on this page.

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability and Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle
Please visit us at http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com