Oh to be inspired..lovely quotes

Oh quotes how we love you! Years ago when I was living far away from home, Leah and I started a quote game. The challenge was to post a quote on the other's wall and have them guess who said it. Our game encouraged and fostered our great love for quotes. Share yours in the comment section below! We would love to hear what nuggets of wisdom you have to say. : )

"This is the secret of life: the self lives only by dying, finds its identity (and its happiness) only by self-forgetfulness, self giving, self sacrifice, and agape love." -Dr. Peter Kreeft

"Elegance is the only beauty that never fades." Audrey Hepburn

"Don't forget this: the Lord never gets tired of forgiving, it is we that get tired of asking for forgiveness." Pope Francis

"If you do not live what you believe, you will end up believing what you live." Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstein

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." Thomas Merton

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm hand." Fr. Henri Nouwen

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." A.A. Milne

"It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life." J.R.R. Tolkien





 

Delicous Donuts! *Wheat free and Vegan*

Last weekend we had one of those moments in a garage sale that gave us a major thrift shopping high. In the middle of kids books, puzzles and old toys, hid a beautiful large donut pan!!!!!! Charlotte quickly pulled it out and to our delight it only one dollar. We did a little happy dance as these pans are normally around thirty dollars. It was also never used and non stick. After a few high fives we decided it was time to pull out our other mini donut pan and make our favourite, wheat free and vegan donuts.
This recipe is one we love as it is gentle on our tummies and best of all these donut babies are baked.

Happy donut eating!

Our favourite Donuts
adapted from Vegan YumYum

Preheat oven to 350'F

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of Spelt flour
1/2 cup of Sugar
1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
1/4 tsp of Salt
1/4 tsp of fresh Nutmeg
1/4 tsp of Cinnamon

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Now in a small saucepan combine the following:

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup of Soymilk
1/2 tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Egg Replacer for 1 Egg
4 Tbsp of Vegan Margarine, or Earth Balance

Cook over medium low heat and mix until the Vegan Margarine is melted. Watch the mixture and make sure it doesn't get hot. You should be able to stick your finger in the mixture and it should be warm.

When the dough is warm, add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It should be a soft dough.

Scoop dough into your ungreased lovely donut pan and bake for 12 minutes. Your tester should come out nice and clean. Invert the donut pan over a cooling rack to release donuts. Allow to cool before decorating.

Now if you feel like adding some delicious toppings we suggest:

Glaze:
1/2 Cup of sifted Icing Sugar
1 Tbsp of Soymilk
1/2 cup of sprinkles

Whisk soymilk and icing sugar together. Dip the donut in the glaze and then dip in the sprinkles. Transfer to a wire rack

To make a chocolaty glaze, add 4 Tbsp of sifted cocoa to the glaze.

Enjoy!

A Friday Ritual

One photo without explanation. A moment captured- a time to be still, to breathe and remember.

Happy Friday!

Fantastic summer fashion..not strap-tastic!

Today we want to share our tips on how to dress fantastic this summer... and not strap-tastic! 
What is strap-tastic? When a lovely lady attempts to cover up by wearing multiple layers of tank tops...as modeled by Leah below..

 

Ah summer! The time of hot sunshiney days, blues skies and of course less clothing. It can be overwhelming for a classy girl to try to dress modestly in a land of tank tops, bra-straps, and booty shorts. Especially if you have a concerned mama like ours who reminds us if our skirts are too short or if our shirts are too low. Our mama has taught us that you don’t need to dress in hootchy booty shorts or cleavage baring tees, to earn respect. Sing it girls: R-E-S-P-E-C-T : ) lol respect comes from the classy loving lady inside us all. 

How does a girl look fantastic and not strap-tastic? 

Here’s a few fashion ideas that we like to follow during the summer:

Tip #1: Tank tops as a base layer! Only one of course : ) Tank tops are a perfect way to bring those tops up to a respectful area and lengthen tees that are too short. 

Tip #2: Loose linen t-shirts! They are our number one favourite piece of summer clothing. We find ours at Zaras and wait until they go on sale. Watch for it..they usually have a summer sale in July/August and the linen shirts are $10.00 instead of $40.00! We have these linen shirts in all sizes, as on hot days the less stuck to you, the better! These shirts are an investment piece to your wardrobe and come in all colours and patterns. Also they are made out of linen. The most breathable, natural summer fabric. Enough said : ) 

Tip #3: Skirts! All three of us wear skirts different ways. We find skirts a nice option to wear instead of shorts. Charlotte likes to wear high waist, A line skirts that hit above the knee. Leah likes to wear all lengths of skirts. : ) She has them in maxi length, mid calf and above the knee. Her height and body shape allow all skirts to look great.  As for me, I like loose flowy skirts, and wear them higher too like Charlotte. I also love jean skirts and wear them all summer long. 

Tip #4: Pick shorts and skirts that pass your finger tips! An easy way to see if your shorts and skirts hit a classy length, is to rest your arms in a natural state and see where your finger tips fall. 



 

Tip #5: Accessorize! Summer is the best time to pull out lots of jewelry. If you are sporting a neutral outfit like Charlotte’s linen t-shirt and shorts, dress it up with accessories. A basic outfit is like a blank canvas for fun necklaces, bangles and earrings. 

Be creative, have fun and stay fantastic  all you classy ladies! 

*SNEAK PEAK* Truly Charlotte!

The month of June for Charlotte equals Art Festival time! She has been busy all year coming up with new stuffies, shirts, designs etc to feature at her upcoming shows. In two weeks she will be at the New Art Festival  which is a fabulous art show in the middle of the city. It is in a very pretty park in central Ottawa, and is free admission. Over a hundred artists are there from Sat-Sun rain or shine. This is Charlotte's third year, and we are all very excited as her creations just get lovelier and lovelier!

If you are in or around Ottawa come by 38 Patterson and say hello to Charlotte (and us :) and check out her wares! We will be there all weekend.

A few cool facts about Truly Charlotte:

• All of Truly Charlotte's stuffies are eco-friendly as they are made out of recycled wool and are stuffed with a hundred percent sheep fleece. The fleece is purchased from our friends at Madonna House.
• Truly Charlotte's t-shirts are hand painted and are one of a kind. They are a hundred percent cotton and are original designs. 
• The play mats are hand felted and made out of a hundred percent wool. Little people (and adults too!) love playing with them.
• Truly Charlotte's paintings are a creation of wet felted wool and embroidery.
• Hand painted and dyed baby onesies will also be for sale. They are a hundred percent cotton and each one is an original piece of art.
• Prices are super affordable and all proceeds are going towards Charlotte's Art School fund! : )

COME and VISIT!

Classy Summer Hair

Summer time is the best for rocking the different updos. We tend to stop blow drying/ straightening our hair in the summer, as it is just too hot. Also Ottawa is too humid, and by the time we step outside the hours spent straightening our locks, feels like a big waste as the summer frizz sets in.

 

In the past, women wore their hair up all the time. Elaborate updos and twisty knots were an expected part of a woman's dress. The lovely 1800-1900 ladies had updos that kept their necks cool, their hair clean, and also gave them classy silhouettes.

Instead of giving into the voices of the scissors that say: chop, cut, lighten your load of heavy hot hair, we listen and look to the voices of the classy ladies from the past. Women who rocked gloves, top knots and curly twisty, pretty updos. 

Charlotte loves a high bun, as it keeps her hair off her neck and dresses up her look. To switch the look up a bit, Leah did a simple French braid underneath and came up with the: 

The Classy Zipper Bun!

 

 

 

(You will need a friend, roomie, sister, mother to help you with the first part)

Step 1: Flip your hair upside down. Have your designated braider-friend plait a French Braid starting at the nape of your neck, upwards.

Step 2: Braid as high as your would like your bun, leaving the ends loose. Secure in a ponytail.

Step 3: Wrap your ponytail around a couple of times and secure in place with a few bobby pins. 

 

Ta-da! Finished! 

How to handle the humidity hair!

Whew I don't know about you, but for us this past week was sweltering hot. Ottawa was rushed into summer with days of thirty-seven degrees Celsius and hello humidity!
During these humid days hair can often be uncooperative and let's just face it: frizzy, slick, sweaty, stuck to your neck, heavy, hot, semi-curly/ straight-monster on your head..and that's when we get tempted and wonder why do we have such long hair? Should we chop it off and go for the retro bob?

Thankfully Leah's updos save our manes and our hair sanity!

Here is a simple humidity-beater updo, that requires absolutely no bobby pins!You only need a stretchy, elastic headband. It looks great in curly, straight and the best in semi- frizzy/sweaty hair! Give it a shot.

The Headband Updo

Step 1: Place the headband over your hair and push it down.

Step 2: Starting above your right ear, take two inch pieces of hair and flip them under the headband.





























Step 3: Holding the ends of that section, pick up another two inch piece of hair and flip under the headband. Repeat until you get to the middle/back section of you hair. Leave those pieces and start twisting/ flipping on the left side of hair.































Step 4: When you reach the back section, twist and flip in two inch  sections. Keep twisting the hair around until you get a messy bun. Voila! If your headband feels like it is falling you can secure it in place with a couple of bobby pins.