The reason why I love Montreal so much is how its slow pace allows you to explore and appreciate the city. Even after living here for over 17 years, I still discover new interesting spots around the city every week. From murals to new restaurants or cafes, Montreal is laid-back yet ever-changing. While living in the same place for so many years, it's easy to fall victim to the same routine and risk taking for granted everything that the city has to offer. My advice: take a day every week (most likely on a weekend for most) where you cross out that routine to-do list and give yourself the freedom to explore or try something new in the city. Perhaps it could be finally trying that brunch spot you saved on your Instagram or just walking by the colourful houses near le Plateau Mont-Royal. In my opinion, part of living a good life is stepping out of your daily routine to discover or learn something new about your surroundings.
I'd love to know what good living means to you. Share what a good life is to you with the hashtag #MadeForGoodLiving and tag @FrankAndOak for a chance to get featured on their Instagram. Feel free to click into the tag if you're also interested in seeing what others have written too!
Have a great end of the week and best of luck on finals to anyone else in my shoes!
I'm of course referring to the pattern and not the song. Not gonna lie, I was unsure if it was spelled gingham or gangnam ... I blame PSY lol. One thing for sure, this checkered gingham pattern is definitely a timeless trend especially for the fall. I found this cute summery top online from Popcherry, they're one of Australia's largest online retail stores and their prices are honestly very good for the clothes you get. I also ordered three other things from them and they were all true to size. One of the pieces had a completely different texture from what I expected (it was rather flimsy). However, same goes for every other online retailer, it's important to pay attention to the photos and description to know what kind of material to expect. A great thing about Popcherry is that each item listing actually a pretty accurate "Details" section. It usually provides information on whether the fabric is sturdy or flimsy which I totally didn't pay attention to at the time. Online purchases can always be a miss-or-hit but you can definitely avoid many misses if you set your expectations in the right direction by being well informed. By the way, wouldn't it be great if one day there was a way to see how every outfit from online shops actually fit on you using virtual reality? C'mon technology! Anyways overall, I was satisfied with my experience with them and would recommend it (note that delivery to Canada usually takes a little less than 2 weeks since it's shipped from Australia).
I also recently added this corduroy jacket from The Cords Co to my fall staples. It definitely adds some texture to this outfit so I don't entirely look like a black blob. I think it's a great idea to play around with textures when you're only wearing one or two solid colours to make every piece stand out. To be completely honest, this is probably the only corduroy piece I own but I'm absolutely in love with it. I was never a fan of corduroy to begin with because I feel like it usually looks slightly too washed off and easy to stain. However, there's something about the material for this one that makes it look lustrous while also keeping that vintage vibe that we associate to corduroy. It may be slowly growing on me... hmmm.
Finally, if you know me well or have been reading my blog, you probably know I usually don't wear much jewelry. If I do wear some, it's 99% of the time very minimal and subtle. This is why I picked this small wishbone necklace from an online store called Thea Winston. It was actually recently launched by a friend of mine (hi Sean). There are still a limited selection of items available but I highly recommend you stay tuned for what's to come! If you're interested in any of the pieces and are in Montreal, feel free to message me and I can probably arrange something with him to save you the shipping. You could also save 10% off your entire purchase (use "PING10" at checkout) if order directly before Dec 2nd.
ALSO, I've partnered up with Daniel Wellington from now throughout holidays season so you guys can still get 15% off until end 2017!
