Shopping (and buying) a bit of vintage

I Tweeted this morning how my car is currently chockablock with outdoor pillows, vintage watering cans and Italian tiles. And yesterday I hefted, nudged and toyed around with pea gravel, fake grass, ivy and ferns (both real and not), a fake hedge, flowers (more of the real and not real business) and a rather handsome teak garden bench - All for a book cover shoot. Yep, it's been a little on the busy side over the last while.

Luckily it hasn't been all nose-to-the-grindstone, since there was time over the weekend to wake up early and hit the Meister Markt Collector Show with our friend Laura Muir, who luckily brought her camera along to record the proceedings. That vintage airplane poster was a real winner, but a bit too rich for my blood at $75. And then I saw a vase. Loved the design and the fact it's marked 'Italy' is a total plus, and the price? At just $20 I had to have it. We finished off the morning hunting for records to add to my other half's collection, then headed off for a well-earned greasy breakfast. Oh, and for more vintage fun, click here to see what caught Laura's eye. [Images: Laura Muir]

Me and Mr Millan

I'm ending Friday as happy as a clam because, yep, Spot and I got the chance to fulfill just about every dog owner's dream this week - Hang out with Cesar Millan, who'd made his first ever trip to Toronto to talk about Swiffer and creating a clean and calm pet - and people - friendly home. But not just Cesar, since his gorgeous and incredibly calm Blue Pitbull, Junior, was also on hand for moral (and hand licking) support. And yes, of course I peppered him with tons of questions on Spot's bad habits which, no surprise, mostly came down to training, and letting our mischevious little Whippet know exactly who's boss...

That first shot shows Spot relaxing in his smart black Chilly Dogs coat before our meet-and-greet. The next shows me and Cesar chatting on the couch (I totally get what he said about not making cleaning stressful, and how your dog can pick up on those cranky vibes). And then the final snap caught Cesar in mid "Tsst" when Junior and Spot were getting a tad too rambunctious. Major thanks to writer/photographer Laura Muir (check out her cool blog here) who kindly came along and took all the pictures.