Life – Audrey's 74

Audrey’s turns three and bids goodbye

Giulia Doyle — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 14:20:44 +0000

This week this blog turns three and this is post 220. This is also my last blog post.

I’ve been blogging for nearly six years, if you count my first blog, and have LOVED it! Blogging allowed me to do so many fun things and learn so much. It allowed me to share glimpses of our life, it challenged me to develop my photography skills, it served as a portfolio to do freelance photography and writing for print magazines and online publications and it gave me the opportunity to partner with some incredible brands. It served as an incredible creative outlet, particularly when my kids were little and because of this blog I have new friends that I never would have met otherwise.

But all things do come to an end and for this blog the end is here and now. I’m no longer drawn to it and just want to do some other things. I will still be on Instagram, and I’d love it if you followed along there.

Thank you all so much for following my blog for however long it’s been! I’ve enjoyed getting to know you and I’m sure I’ll be staying in touch with quite a few of you!

Cheers, Giulia

It’s a wrap – 2015

Giulia Doyle — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 20:17:37 +0000

It’s that time of the year already where I go back and think of all the things we did, the places we went, the food we ate and the fun we had. 2015 passed in a blink, faster than I can grasp – only one week left and I truly can’t think where time went. I posted a lot less this year, but was more active on Instagram. I had fun with the blog, but loved the challenge of the little square images captured on my phone. Life was busy with a six and eight year old, family life, school, activities, work and some travel.

Some 2015 highlights:

We split our vacation into three chunks this year and traveled to the Dominican Republic, Prince Edward County and Miami. It was wonderful, all were different and we had a lot of fun.
We hosted two pretty large parties this year: the Midsummer Party where everyone wore white and we enjoyed the longest day of the year and our Cookie Tasting party just the other week – a really sweet occasion.
I collaborated with The Land of Nod on my basement, here and here. And I added some Easter fun to our house with them as well.
I had another chance to work with Cup of Jo.
I was so happy that our house was featured on Design Sponge.
I also did some more styling and photography work for Ottawa Magazine.

So even though things were quieter on the blog – looks like things are still on a roll here at Audrey’s.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a cheers to 2016! Thank you for stopping by this little corner of the web, for following along and your feedback.

Cookie Tasting Party with Minted

Giulia Doyle — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 14:37:27 +0000

Have you kicked off the holiday season with a party yet? It looks like everyone is booked, attending cocktails, dinners or cookie exchanges. Since we like to gather friends, we decided to host something we were calling a ‘cookie tasting’ party. A fun and sweet way to get together, have everyone bring their cookies, allowing us to try a bunch of new treats.

As you know, I’m a big fan of Minted and have used their services even before I started blogging. Over the years, they’ve expanded their offerings and their party supplies are some of my favourites. This time I used the Rose Colored Glass suite – I loved the gold combined with the soft rose colour, with hints of the winter season seen in the evergreen visual. My favourites are banners which make any event a little more special, tent cards to label all the cookies and stickers which I used to upgrade store-bought cups and take-away boxes. Just some little touches to make the party come together.This time I also tried the new Minted online invitations, which they launched a couple of weeks back. I love the variety of the invites designed by independent artists, how much nicer they are than other online invites I’ve seen and how you can manage your guest list in one spot.

I could have ordered the online invite to match my party supplies, but I decided on a more specific cookie theme to illustrate the party – again, the pale pink pulled it all together. Online invites are still free during their beta phase and the one thing to note is that company firewalls could be an issue for the invite. I noticed that people receiving the invite on their private email didn’t have an issue receiving it, but people receiving it at work did have it end up in their spam folders at times. This was a great way for us to kick-off the season, mingle with friends and end up with a serious sugar overload. I’m always happy to put in the effort for people to get together, it really is nice to slow down, chat, have a drink and not think of our long to-do list. Happy holidays to you and enjoy the photo overload!Photo of Online Invite by Minted. Photo of sugar cookies with red sprinkles, macarons and Mexican hot chocolate cookies by Colin Rowe. Party supplies provided by Minted. Opinions are my own.

Miami

Giulia Doyle — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:44:11 +0000

Those of you that follow me on Instagram saw that we escaped Ottawa a few weeks ago for some Miami sun. It was a wonderful week filled with lots of swimming at the pool and beach, celebrating my birthday, the zoo, some local exploring, meeting up with an old friend from high-school and eating more food than we probably should. Our hotel was amazing – not only was it beautifully decorated, but the staff were helpful, friendly and just all around superb. I’m ready to go back any time! Where we stayed, played and ate:

Shelborne Whyndham Hotel South Beach
A day at the pool at the Biltmore Hotel for my birthday
Shake Shack
News Cafe
Yardbird for some Southern Fried Chicken
The Miami Zoo
Miami Seaquarium
Jungle Island
Miami Children’s Museum

Photos by Giulia Doyle and Bruno Doyle

Holiday Cards – do you send them?

Giulia Doyle — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 19:06:29 +0000

So, we just put away our Halloween decor and it’s early November. We also just received our order form from school for the school Christmas cards, which is a cute fundraiser in which the kids create their own Christmas cards. Naturally we have to order those cards, and though I love those cards, I do often miss being able to order personalized photo cards.

You know I am a big fan of Minted and I’ve used their services for party invites, party supplies, as well as personalized tags for my Christmas gifts and the most amazing wrapping paper. When they contacted me to see if I wanted to order holiday cards, I was going to decline, because I already have my supply of Christmas cards.

But then I remembered that I help my grand-parents every year with their Christmas cards and that I’ve ordered from Minted many times already! My grandparents have been sending personalized cards for 65+ years – I remember creating collages with them and bringing them to the copy shop to create their one-of-a-kind holiday card.

We just completed the card for this year and it’s ready to be sent off to Minted, but here I’m sharing some cards I love, some with photos, others without. The choices are great, varied and what I love most is the quality of the cards, the convenience and that Minted works with artists worldwide. And every year they come up with more great stuff, which just makes me want to come back. Do you send holiday cards?
All opinions are my own. Minted supplied this year’s holiday cards. Images taken from Minted website.

Prince Edward County

Giulia Doyle — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 17:21:05 +0000

Back in July we decided to take a week and spend it in Prince Edward County. It really is a wonderful place just two plus hour drive from us. Farms, vineyards, great food, amazing beaches, cute boutiques and lots of makers. We enjoyed perfect weather, toured the area and couldn’t get enough of the water and great food.

I’ve written a lot about PEC already on this blog, so these pictures will do all the talking this time. Just another new stop since we stopped by last time that is worth eating at – The Drake Devonshire Hotel in Wellington!

Modern Nautical Glam Basement Reveal with The Land of Nod

Giulia Doyle — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 12:53:38 +0000

It’s been a while since I talked about our basement reno – the reason is simple. It took us forever to complete it! As per usual in home renos, we underestimated the time we really had available to us to work on the project and everything took longer than we thought it would. But here we are – project complete, ready for us to hang out and guests to sleep comfortably.

If you recall, I had created a mood board with the help of Creative Director, Danielle Kurtz at The Land of Nod. She helped me push my ‘ho hum’ nautical design ideas and make this basement a bit more fun and glam. I think all the pieces work together beautifully and play nicely off the neutral whites. This basement is now a fresh, bright and happy space.

So what did we do? We insulated all the walls, framed, ran electrical, dry-walled, painted, and installed sub-floors, vapor barriers and our wallpaper wall. We brought in much needed storage in neutral white, brought down our guest bed and made things much cozier with rugs, bedding, and pillows from the Land of Nod, added storage baskets, night stands, some great art and a mirror, a reading lamp and table lamp and seating for the kids. I was also so excited to use the giant D on our crazy wallpaper wall!

So, along with a couple DIYs, such as the rope wrapped support post, the white sconces I sprayed painted navy blue and the leather pulls to update my old dresser, I think this Modern Nautical Glam Basement is a success and I could not have done it without the amazing help from the Land of Nod. What do you think?

Shop the Look: Wood Rock Lamp with Black Shade / Hempisphere Floor Lamp/ Ahmaze Quilt / Swiss Dot Sheets / Wood Cubby Shelf / Not Giant Enough Letter / Ice Cream Art / Half Tone Basket / Pinstripe Storage Bins/ In Print Storage Baskets / Sunburst Mirror / Geo Throw Pillow / Hello Pillow / Patina Rug /Faux Leather Seats / Wall Hanging/ Wall paper / Additional art on wall already owned and from Minted / Sofa / Closets / Dresser / Bookcases / Sconces/

The Land of Nod provided me with items I used in my basement. I wrote about it on their blog Honest to Nod. There was no payment for this blog post and review. All words and opinions are my own.

Midsummer Night Party with Minted

Giulia Doyle — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:15:36 +0000

The end of the school year was busy, one special event after another and summer sports activities starting. Despite our busy schedule, I wanted to gather a group of friends, colleagues and neighbors to ring in the summer and celebrate Midsummer. It turned out to be a beautiful night and with the help of Minted I was was able to bring it up a notch with their beautiful party decorations and fabric selection.

We celebrated summer and the longest day of the year with a buffet, everyone dressed in white and games on the front lawn. The weather cooperated, which was a big relief. I served my quinoa salad, a simple pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, roasted tomatoes on arugula with some feta, pea dip, gazpacho, sausages, my brownies, raspberry cream cake, a sharlotka made with nectarines, lemon cupcakes and red velvet cake with mascarpone cream and berries served in a cup.

It was nice to come together, relax and see the kids play well as a group. It was a late night for everyone, but that’s what this time of the year is about – we’ll be longing for long summer nights soon enough, grubby fingers, sticky faces and all.

Minted provided me with party decorations and fabric I used for the backdrop and tablerunner. I used the soft floral fabric, ginkgo party supplies and 60 feet of Lotka banners.

Dominican Republic – Samana

Giulia Doyle — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 13:43:32 +0000

We took a much needed break from the Arctic cold and headed south to Samana in the Dominican Republic. This area is less developed than other areas in the country and only has four hotels. I don’t usually book all inclusive, but this year an easy warm vacation seemed like the right thing to do. We didn’t regret it! The hotel was very nice, the food was quite good, the staff was amazing, the amenities great and we had a wonderful room.We mostly hung out at the beach and pool. The kids enjoyed the water immensely, however, we decided to head out on a whale watching tour, since all the humpback whales were in Samana bay for birthing and mating. Seeing the animals that close was amazing. The Dominican Republic is part of a huge research program related to the humpback whales, with very limited tourist visits and detailed tracking of the whales.Next up a full-day excursion of the peninsula, visiting a school, plantations, marble quarries, small towns, road side restaurants and more beaches of course. It was a wonderful break from the cold. All of us loved it! Enjoy the photo overload!Photos by Giulia Doyle and Bruno Doyle

Tabletop Photography Class on atly.com

Giulia Doyle — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:31:50 +0000

Well, this week I was supposed to share a wonderful and fun birthday cake with you, but the weather got in the way and I was stranded in North America’s most eastern town, missing my son’s birthday party. He did have a grand time with his friends though and a bunch of store-bought cupcakes. I’ll try and make the cake for him in the next couple of weeks, and if I do, I’ll share it here.

In lieu of cake, I thought I’d share my new online tabletop photography class I’m teaching on atly.com. I decided after teaching a photography workshop last fall, that I’d take the content, expand on it and adapt it for online learning. This was quite a bit of work, but I’m super pleased with how it turned out – even the world of video, which was very scary for me.

In this course, I will walk you through seeing and using available light, effective framing and creative composition, using surfaces and backgrounds, colour choices, getting the most from simple equipment and building your visual brand. You will leave this course with skills that can be put to use immediately on your blog or online shop. And you’ll have life-long access, which is perfect if you want to refresh your knowledge or work on an assignment later on.

If you have a chance, check it out. It would be fun to see you there.