Studio Update: New Girl and New Cardigan

A couple new items to Smoking Lily: ME! and a fantastic new cardigan. The cardigan will be available in 1 - 2 weeks, starting in black wool with beautiful blue buttons. It looks great on its own or tied with an Obi Belt. (I hear rumors of the cardigan coming in grey and cream. Shhhh)

Cherries!

I've been eating loads of cherries this summer, so I asked a pastry chef friend of mine, Rhonda, for recipe suggestions. She immediately said "Clafoutis!" (pronounced cla-foo-tee). Of course! How did I forget this classic French dish. I made it years ago with peaches, but the classic cherry version, baked with the pits in, is awesome. I particularly like it for breakfast or a snack the next day, although the hot juicy cherries with their almondy goodness from the pits is a great out-of-the-oven sensation...

Here's a shot of my second attempt (The first was a disaster as I was socializing too much and forgot to put in an ingredient, one cup of milk! You can only imagine the difference that would make in the end product. It was still edible, but my boyfriend's comment was that he "ate all he could" - oh dear). The second attempt faired much better, enjoyed by all - day of and day after!

East Van Photo Project

Calling all East Van Lily-ites! Just came across the totally cool, DIY community photo project, This Is East Van. They are accepting submissions for images that capture bits and bobs of the quintessence of contemporary East End life until August 15th, so get in there! ......PSSSST, glenda!

And thanks, yet again, to my friend Sean for the pic.

Vancouver Update: The importance of being solitary (sometimes!)

Having lots of quality time with friends and family is important--and nothing makes me happier than spending time with my bigger half--but the merits of being comfortable solo are too many to list here. My friend, Julie, in Montréal drew my attention to this lovely "video poem" earlier this week and it made me smile. (On an unrelated note, something else that makes me smile: a delightful couple from Switzerland just left the shop and were telling me how much Vancouver is really reminding them of Berlin. I guess lil' ol' Vancity is movin' up in the global coolness rankings!)

Lily of the Ages: Camouflage Jacket

I was looking through my closets for some old Lily garment to post, when I came across my Camouflage Jacket. I have worn, and loved, this jacket for 5 years. Every Fall it gets pulled out and gets chosen over my other jackets regularly. It has loads of extra features, like a detachable hood, and secret slits to get into your jeans pockets. It looks awesome with my camouflage Utility Skirt - coolest skirt suit ever!

Trish looks like she's unsure about something, but it can't be about the awesome jacket.

Maybe she's unsure about the future of "Lily of the Ages"?

As I was digging through a physical history of Smoking Lily in my closets, I thought "Is it a good idea to post this on our weblog?". It will only insight zillions of questions about when we are bringing it back, or why we are torturing you with things you can't have (judging by the number of questions, there are lots of you reading the blog - yay!).

So I think, to be kind, this will be our last "Lily of the Ages" post. As we prefer to keep anxiety levels low with our lovely customers, we will keep our cherished "vintage" Lily to ourselves.

We'll come up with a new post theme - one to insight excitement and interest, rather than frustration.

Ok, deep breath.... phewf!

Lily inspiration and Victoria store update!

Check out our new Succulent window display...

With our obis in new prints and colours!

Which came first the chicken or the egg?

Our beautiful new prints or our lovely new flower display?

Lily Inspiration: Mennonites Gone Wild

I recently had the pleasure of reading A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews, for my book club (yes, I am in a book club. Book clubs rule!) and would like to highly recommend it to anyone looking for their next summer read. Despite having won the 2004 Governor General's Award for English fiction, being nominated for the Giller Prize, and having spent an impressive amount of time on various bestseller lists, I had actually never heard of it or the author. I also had no idea that there were a bunch of Mennonites running around southern Saskatchewan--cool!

The novel is told in a sort of non-linear, memoir-type format by Nomi, a rebellious sixteen year-old girl from a fictional Mennonite town in the early eighties. For reasons that are unspecified at first, Nomi's mother and sister are no longer in contact with her and her father. There is a lot of longing for New York, an elegantly expressed soup of coming-of-age emotions, and a surprise ending that casts and entirely new light on all the preceding prose. An all-together very satisfying tale about unlikely people in an unusual place; has anybody else read it?