Time with my Sister : Gifting, Thrifting and Eating

It was my sister Camille’s birthday recently so the two of us got together for an afternoon celebration.

She came over to our place first, where I gave her a gift, that she seemed to like as much as I’d hoped she would.

I decorated the present with a feather topper, as previously described in this post.

I made her one of these “renewable scent” sachets, along with a bottle of pure essential oil in her favourite scent, Lavender. (It was this one from New Zealand company By Nature, which I found at HomeSense.)

Then, with her driving, we headed over to the east-end for a bit of thrift-store shopping. Readers will know that I’m right into thrifting, and it is, without question, this lady who piqued that interest in me. She is the queen of vintage treasure hunting, made evident in this post featuring pictures of some of her great finds.

First we went to a new-to-me place called Double Take on Gerrard near Parliament, where I picked up a vintage milk glass little bowl, three cute ceramic chick napkin-rings and a stainless steel bracelet. The bowl matches a few I already have, which we use all the time, the chicks can stand up on their own so I plan to use them as decorations on our cabinet at Easter time, rather than as actual napkin-rings, and the bracelet, made by jewellery company Monet, is great ; I’ve already worn it quite a few times and love it. It’s smaller than an average bangle so doesn’t slip off. All of that set me back $3.

Then we dropped down Parliament street a few blocks to The Salvation Army Thrift Store, which might have been the largest, most filled-with-stuff thrift store I’ve ever seen. There was so much to look at that we didn’t get to see it all before we began to get hungry and our parking at the meter outside was about to expire. I got a vintage cotton Men’s pj top, with a Woolworth’s label, a blue drinking glass to match one we already have, a vintage stainless steel egg-cup, which the sweet lady at cash gave me for free and which will also be used for Easter decorating, and a few new-vintage Pyrex fruit bowls, which also match some we already have and love so I was glad to find more.

We’d planned ahead to have our favourite takeaway food forlunch, Middle Eastern, which we picked up and brought back to my place. She used to live in around here and was craving the delicious food she missed being able to easily get at Falafel Queen, on the north/east corner of Queen Street West and Bathurst.

I’d not tried them before but she is right — they make it very well. We each had a Falafel Sandwich, which was freshly made as we waited and contained some unique house-made pickled red cabbage, a Vegetable Samosa, which the friendly server had just made before we arrived, and a Baklava to share.

Afterwards, we had a cup of tea, and sat and talked until she had to leave to make it to her guitar class on time.

Thanks for checking out what I’ve been up to. I appreciate your visit and hope your week is going well so far.
xo loulou

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