Books and Miscellanea at the Do-tique 2

On the screen...

Coco Chanel

Starring Shirley Maclaine

This made for tv movie has all the makings of the ultimate chic(k) flick. It's a rags to riches tale with a love story where "the prince" who comes to woo Chanel lives in a beautiful French country manor, has gorgeous Iberian horses to ride, presents jewellery as gifts and generally takes his lady around dressed nicely to fancy parties and polo matches with fine champagne. Naturally all goes awry for a while, but then ends well with Coco's success as a fashion designer.

It is all part of my plan to watch the three movies about Coco Chanel that I have heard about lately. Was there a Chanel fashion trend last year? All three were made between 2008-2009! The other two are:

Coco Before Chanel

Starring Audrey Tatou

and

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky

Starring Anna Mouglalis

Off the Bookshelf...

Book Manuscript

I am beginning work on proof reading a manuscript for a book by one of my personal mentors. It is a project I am not at liberty to share details on, but it is a great honour to have been asked for input and I am enjoying reading through it. 

The Littles and their Friends
William T. Little

We were able to bring back this vintage read from Hubby's childhood during our recent trip to Alberta. Baby seems to be enjoying the awesome illustrated vignettes like "The Brook Tinies" who live in a cave near the brook and "The Trash Tinies" who use scraps from The Bigs to make their home.

John Henry Newman: A Biography (Oxford)

Ian Ker

The founder of Wendy's restaurants must have been thinking of this book when he founded the chain - it is a whopper! Weighing in at 700 some odd pages plus notes, only a dedicated nerd would try to worm though this book. I understand it is everything you ever wanted to know and more about the Oxford movement, Oratorians, and Newman's life and career.

DIY Wine Snob

Members of the Society of Dilettanti, by William Say 

(Image Courtesy of Shutterstock)

If you live anywhere between Toronto - Montreal - Ottawa or are in the mood for an overnight trip, you certainly need to check out the Prince Edward County Taste Trail.

Ontario is better known for the Niagara wine region, but Eastern Ontario is certainly in the running (if not surpassing!) for high quality local wines. We have been touring and sampling wines in this area for about 4 years now. Though I have developed a small list of favourites, there seem to be new wineries opening up each year and new wines being introduced by the existing wineries as well.

Business seems to be picking up over time, but the nice thing is that this area is still somewhat "undiscovered". If you are there on an off day, you are likely to have the whole place to yourself. Things are still pretty un-touristy in that there are no admission fees to visit and usually the tasting fees are minimal or waived with purchase.

The Grange of Prince Edward (2010)       Photo Credit: Filia Artis

So then, on to how to become your own wine snob...

If you are like me and know little about wines and tasting techniques, here are the steps:

1. Ask the server to make a suggestion for you from their list. He or she will usually explain the grape growing and cellaring process and the taste you should expect.
2. Pretend you are a wine drinker. Copy that wine swirling thing and then breathe deeply into the glass, inhaling the aroma. Take a small sip and slowly enjoy the flavors.
3. Ask for a second glass of something similar if you like what you had or something totally different if you didn't.
4. Repeat step (2)
5. If you like what you've tried, buy a bottle. If not, tell the server why and allow them to make another suggestion or choose not to buy from that winery.

My list of favorites is growing, but there are certainly wines out there that I did not much care for. Since it is still a developing region, you get to experience a few good ones and a few "works in progress", so it is a good place to taste a number of different wines and buy the ones you like.

The other thing to know going into this is that you will see some of the grapes that you are used to, but since Eastern Ontario is a bit different in terms of climate from other major wine regions (France, California, Italy, South America, etc.), you will see a lot of names that are not as common. Growing conditions here are better for cold weather grapes like Riesling, Baco Noir, Pinot Noir, and Gamay Noir.

List of favourites

Sandbanks Estate Winery
Foch Reserve

Sandbanks Estate Winery
Riesling

The Grange of Prince Edward Inc

2007 Trumpour’s Mill 

Estate Bottled Pinot Noir

  By Chadsey's Cairns
2007 Gamay Noir

Wapoos Estates Winery
Geisenheim Semi-Dry

The most excellently snobbish part in all of this is that you will have progressed beyond running to the store every time you have unexpected guests, as your cupboard will have a small stock and secondly, many of these wines are not available in stores, so you can remain smug in knowing you are serving a one of a kind wine that you personally chose during an "exclusive VIP tasting".

Did I mention that some of the higher end wines are still under $20 a bottle and that a lot of these are available through online ordering from the wineries?

Good websites to check out for more information:

Wines of Canada

Taste Trail

The County Wines

DIY Rating: 8

It's a lot more time consuming than going to the local store, 

but the tasting is a lot of fun and you can act like a real-life wine connaisseur!

Touring the County

Since the weather is cool, but beautiful, we'll be heading out on a Do-tique road trip to tour Prince Edward County. It is one of our favorite areas and is becoming well known for its wines, artesanal cheeses, fresh produce and antiques.

Take a look at

Taste Trail

Pumpkins on the ferry home (2009)                         Photo Credit: Filia Artis

Shopaholic

                                                                                   Photo Credit: Getty Images

Have you ever thought about what kind of shopper you are? It's sort of like the criminal profiling they do on those tv murder mystery shows - where is the serial killer going to strike next?

Are you a "sniper shopper" kind of person? You arrive at the store with one or maybe two items in mind. You limit yourself to whatever options are available there at that time, purchase and leave.

                                                                           Photo Credit: davidszondy.com

Or are you a "hunt and gather" sort of shopper? Hours spent online and looking at catalogs, gathering ideas from other people's homes and shopping around for weeks to finally get that perfect item (hopefully on sale by the time you've made up your mind!).

                                                            Photo Credit: Emile Frechon

When it comes to home furnishings, I am certainly an idea gatherer and slow to make a purchase. One of the ways that I collect ideas (in addition to reading countless design blogs, online shopping and studying catalogs) is to always take a digital camera along with me to the store.

I keep a file in iphoto of all the furnishings that I like and then it's easy to take a look at them when I am in my own home and to evaluate which styles I like and which I should perhaps leave for another project. One trick that I also do is to photograph the price tag so that I can get an idea of what a good price will be down the road. Somehow, it is also easier to judge whether the item is affordable when you get home rather than when you are enthralled in the moment at the store.

The final advantage to this technique is that you can put together an idea board at home with pieces from different stores and see how they all work together from the photos.

So, how about:

Ikea

Pier 1

HomeSense

HomeSense

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Ikea

And if this sort of cut and paste, shop and shop and shop some more kind of project doesn't appeal to you, my recommendation would be to try out your local decorating centre. They can help you with picking out paint colours and they will often have access to lots of sample books with furniture, carpets, textiles and flooring and can put it all together for you. 

The two locations I have visited in Kingston are:

Reid & Siemonsen Design Group

and

Randall's Paint and Decorating

I have had pretty good experience with Randall's in terms of getting advice on choosing paint colours for my home. They have decorators on hand so if you come in with photos or samples for other parts of the room, they can help put the look together. A decorator will also come to your home for a charge and I believe you might receive a discount on the paint purchase if you use their decor services. I hear from the ladies there that they serve a large number of customers who have painted and are unhappy with their own colour choices, so if you are less than expert, it might be worth the cost to have someone help you get it right the first time.

I have not had a chance to try out R&S, but they do have an amazing sample room which you can get permission to look through yourself. There was virtually nothing you would not be able to find there!

DIY Rating:

10 for always taking a camera to the store with you

5 for thinking through whether you like to shop or 

whether you have room in your budget to hire some help

Did someone say "Equestrian"?

        Image courtesy of Heather Clawson at Habitually Chic

Any of my fair readers who know me personally will be quick to assure you that I am a serious horse fan! Though I have never owned my own horse, I had a chance to train for some years under riding master, Frank Grelo as a teen and have returned to riding again in more recent years.

Riding Master Frank Grelo and one of his Andalusian stallions

I am also a serious fan of Heather Clawson and her blog Habitually Chic. A short while ago, I posted this comment on her site:

"Speaking of which, since you love Hermes, which makes saddles, and Ralph Lauren, which is also always so equestrian, and since we're talking about ponies, maybe, just maybe you could have a post of any images of saddles being displayed as part of interior design...

Maybe this is because I just got a new saddle, but don't have a barn to keep it in and am not quite sure how to incorporate it into the decor. :-)"

In response, she has now created two awesome posts:

EQUESTRIAN CHIC 

Image courtesy of Heather Clawson at Habitually Chic

and 

EQUESTRIAN CHIC: PART DEUX

Image courtesy of Heather Clawson at Habitually Chic

This May, I became the owner of a new (used) Wintec Isabelle Werth dressage saddle which I am loathe to store away in a closet or in my laundry room. Heather has helped me come up with some great looks for horse stuff in the home and I look forward to sharing my final design with you in the near future.

Isabell Werth, German Dressage Champion at the Beijing Olympics, 2008

The "new" saddle which is technically for my daughter when she grows up...

Until then, tally ho and take a peek at Habitually Chic for a little taste of all things stylish, chic, pony club and New York!

Filia Artis and Jackson on a cold morning

DIY Rating: 10 for trying out riding horses

I have seen riders begin at 4 years of age and I have seen beginner riders in their 60's. 

It truly is a sport for anyone of every age and yes, it is a full body workout. 

Simply be warned that it is extremely addictive if you do happen to like it!

Women at Work

Jean Proctor (nee Young) 1938/39      Photo Credit: IWM / Jean Young

Since so much of my reading lately has been around women and WWII, I got to thinking tonight about women's role in the war effort, perhaps the greatest DIY project ever since each and every citizen was called upon to participate in some way. Above is a picture of a woman named Jean Proctor who was a member of the Women's Land Army in England back during WWII. These women helped to keep the British farms going in the absence of male farmers. Her story was featured here as part of the media coverage for an exhibition entitled "Outbreak 1939" at the Imperial War Museum, London. The exhibit, "highlights stories, voices and memories of the ordinary people who experienced the build up to and preparation for war."

Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber Tennessee, February 1943. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

This is a beautiful image I also saw for the first time tonight of an American woman participating in the great industrial push that came along with the war. It is part of a set of the only colour photographs that were taken at this time in America and featured in a 2006 exhibit, Bound for Glory: America in Color. (hat tip to Plog, Photo Blogs from the Denver Post)

Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Above is an image of female railroad workers also from the same exhibit.

So all of this leads me to think about a particular expression I have been hearing a rather lot of lately...

It all started when I was pregnant and bored and started watching a lot of tv. There was a commercial for a local tractor dealer whose jingle began:

"Gotta git 'er done or just doin 'er for fun..."

I have also been hearing gentlemen encourage one another with:

"Git 'r done!" and "Giv' r good!" 

Since this blog deals a fair bit with getting things done, I have been wondering about how this phrase came about. Why is the job suddenly a passive "she"? Is it possible to "do him for fun" too? Maybe it is all as innocent as referring to a ship as "she"? I think I might find these expressions somewhat offensive, but I'm not sure if that is being overly sensitive.

I don't have much of an answer, but I hope these images will be a response - namely that these ladies sure as hell can give 'r right back when it comes to hard work!

On a more humorous note, this is more likely what the less-enlightened imagine when they picture woman + tractor:

Home Sweet Home

                                                                                            All Photos: Filia Artis

We three here at The Do-tique arrived home safely last night after our visit to Falher, Alberta, home of the world's largest bee and site of my sister-in-law's wedding.

We begin with a congratulations to the newly married couple on this special occasion!

The Bride and Groom made an exciting Alberta-style entrance into the reception atop a small John Deere tractor.

Since this is a blog about DIY culture, here is one of the many thoughtful wedding accessories that the new Mrs. I. created herself (with some help, I believe).

Here are the cute homemade jams that our bride presented to her guests as favors:

The Bride's gorgeous bouquet was made by a local grocery store. 

I got a bit of a "behind the scenes" look at how the DIY aspects of the reception were created. The key to Mrs. I.'s recipe was a small army of family and friends who were able to help with setting up all the decor for the hall and who provided all of the catering for the wedding as well as looking after cleanup.

Martha and many others would like to have us ladies believe that we should and indeed can do it all ourselves. My feeling is that it often leaves brides feeling much like my friend the bumblebee above. Brides-to-be must remember to delegate where possible and that time and sanity are priceless!

Baby and her cousin test driving the Bride and Groom's MG convertible

In other news, we did happen to receive this gift from Grandma and Grandpa, so stay tuned to see what it might be transformed into in the near future!