the fresh perspective...

HOLIDAZE It's time!  I'm taking some time off and won't be posting till I'm back from vacation.  For the next few days I'll be hanging out at splash pads, eating out, and doing some ultra light reading (I'm traveling with kiddos).

Holidaying with little ones can be interesting and if you're doing it alone, it can be tiring.  While the kids are sleeping I'm going to attempt to read a book and just take it all in.  I'll be looking forward to not cooking and cleaning,  I'll be looking forward to getting browner in the sun and I'll be looking forward to early nights...

Because the girls are with me, I'm planning most of my trip around them.  We will be going to the zoo and some random pools.  We'll be watching the movies of my youth Annie and The Little Rascals.  Along with my light reading, I would like to check out the Patti Smith exhibit at the AGO and cook a meal for my great hosts...

All in all, I'll be offline for ten glorious days.  I hope that all of you have planned some time to get away between now and the end of the summer.  As important as it is to have a job and work, and save, and be practical; it's just as important to take breaks, rest and be silly.  That's the fresh perspective...

the fresh perspective...

MOTIVATION

June is upon us and before we know it the heat and the insects will have us all complaining about cooler times and bug-less nights.  Until then, what are you doing to keep yourself motivated to enjoy the summer?  Are you a runner/outdoors type who is motivated by our longer days? Maybe you're a patio drinker that's motivated by the longer days?  Are you the type that gets the cottage itch and re-locates to the lake for the summer?  You might be the type that takes in all the city's festivals and shows for the summer.

I can't actually decide which category I fall into, but I do know that I'm getting some motivation to get more creative with fashion in general.  I've got a few shoots booked this summer and I'm getting excited about being able to do a little styling on the side.  I'm not sure that the average joe knows how much work, time, and planning actually goes into a proper photo shoot, but I'm ready for the task!

Motivation is a funny thing because we all have the capability to accomplish anything we would like, we just don't always know how to pull the trigger and get things done.  I think the majority of us do need something external to get us to accomplish more.  Something more external that forces us to look internally...  The nice weather and all the stylish people who come in and out of my life are motivating me to be more creative.  By the time you come into the shop in the fall, you will see the fruits of our labor and time.

Country living and lake life are where I'm getting my motivation from and hopefully it'll translate well on camera... That's it.  That's all...that's the fresh perspective...

the fresh perspective...

THE BRAID CROWN

Next week is the Academy Road Live festival and Freshair Boutique will be participating by setting up a braid bar. Between 2:30-3:30 we will be braiding hair and giving tips. If your hair is long, and you'd like to learn a little more about braiding then come on down. Braids are amazing and have been around for-ev-er! The new and improved braid is rough, messy, and full of texture. Back in the day we would make sure our braids were tight and secure. Now, we want them to look like they've fallen out a bit...

On June 8th we will be setting up our very first braid bar. The braid crown will be one of the styles and is one of my personal faves. Our receptionist (and Monday blogger) Pascale has taught herself how to do a braid crown. It's not easy, but she practiced, practiced, practiced...

If you are thinking about coming out next Saturday be sure to swing by the bar and maybe get a braid! It would be a good time to ask for some tips and tricks to help get you started. That's the fresh perspective...

**TIP-Braiding is easier to do on dirty hair and hair with a lot of texture. Don't be afraid to use some dry shampoo and toss your hair up with a braid on day three or four. The braid may buy you more time between washings... **

the fresh perspective...

FASHIONISTA Now that it's getting a little bit nicer here I'm excited to try some new styles for summer.  I have a floral print dress I picked up and have never worn yet, some shorty-shorts (short for me), and some sweet minty/blue pumps...  I like to push myself a little bit and like to try different trends and styles.  It doesn't always work out that they suit me, but I do try none the less.

Natalie from the tiny closet has some great taste and knows how to dress her very short frame.  Check out her blog and maybe get inspired!  That's the fresh perspective...

the fresh perspective...

Manitobans

The long weekend is here and I know a lot of people who are 'going to the lake'.  We're Manitobans, that's what we do.  This long weekend I'd like to tip my hat off to Manitoba and it's people.  Here are some interesting facts about our fair province!

• Manitoba basks in more than 2,300 hours of bright sunshine each year.
• Winnipeg has held the "Slurpee Capital of the World" title for six years in a row, gulping 400,000 of the semi-frozen soft drinks per month.
• The Golden Boy, gilded in 24 carat gold, towers 77 m (255 ft) atop the Manitoba Legislative Building. Sculpted and cast in France, the statute spent the First World War in the hold of a ship, crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean after the ship was commandeered for troop transport.
• The Manitoba Legislative Building is a stunning example of Beaux-Arts Classic architecture completed in 1920 out of unique Tyndall limestone quarried in Garson, Manitoba.
• The name Manitoba is believed to come from the words "manitowapow" (Cree) or "manito bau" (Ojibway), which mean "straight of the spirit" and refer to an island in Lake Manitoba Narrows where a "manitou" or "great spirit" beat his drums.
• The beaver is the world's largest rodent and its luxurious pelt fuelled the 19th century fur trade, leading to the exploration and eventual settlement of Manitoba by Europeans.
• At one point in geological history, Manitoba was an alpine province with huge mountain ranges.

• Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba are all that is left of glacial Lake Agassiz that once covered most of the province.
• Churchill, Manitoba, is known as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World" for being the most accessible place to view polar bears in the wild.
• There are more than 120 public and private golf courses in Manitoba, with some of the most scenic found in Hecla, the Whiteshell and Riding Mountain National Park.
• Comedian Bob Hope played his first game of golf in Winnipeg.
• Winnipeg was the first city in Canada to establish a United Way charity.
• The Harlequin Romance publishing empire began in Winnipeg.
• Winnipeg was the first city in the world to develop the 911 emergency phone number.
• Souris, Manitoba, is famous for its 177 m (582 ft) free-suspension footbridge over the Souris River - more than 40 metres longer and reportedly bouncier than the West Coast's famous Capilano Swinging Bridge.
• With its century-old banks and warehouse buildings, Winnipeg's historic Exchange District boasts the best-preserved, largest collection of terra cotta and cut-stone architecture in North America. Hollywood filmmakers love the area as a location setting for period-piece movies, such as "Jesse James" featuring Brad Pitt.
• Winnipeg's Union Station was designed by the same architects responsible for New York's Grand Central Station.

• The Winnipeg Folk Festival, one of North America's largest outdoor folk music festivals, turns Birds Hill Provincial Park into Manitoba's third largest population centre every July. Over 55,000 music lovers from across the continent come together for this four-day celebration.
• As North America's second largest alternative theatre festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival draws more than 130 performing companies into the historic Exchange District each summer for 12 jam-packed days of edgy and comic performances. Theatre companies come from as far afield as Australia, South Africa, France, Scotland and New York.
• Manitoba produces more than 25,000 pounds of gold medal, award-winning golden caviar from Whitefish roe and exports it worldwide.
• The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest and North America's second oldest dance company.
• The Winnipeg Art Gallery has the world's largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art, including over 9,000 works from sculpture, prints and textiles to paintings.
• The first million-dollar hockey player was Bobby Hull, the "Golden Jet". He played for the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association in 1972 and received his cheque at a public celebration at the famous Winnipeg intersection of Portage and Main.
• In addition to producing coins for Canada, Winnipeg's Royal Canadian Mint has minted currency for 60 countries around the globe.
• The international polling company Angus Reid began in Winnipeg.
• Assiniboine Forest in Winnipeg is the largest urban nature park in Canada and home to 80 species of birds.
• Spruce Woods Provincial Park is home to an ecological rarity in Manitoba - a desert-like area known as Spirit Sands featuring 30 m sand dunes.
• People have been meeting at The Forks in Winnipeg for thousands of years. The famous junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, once a gathering place for Manitoba's first peoples and later a bustling fur trading post, is now a popular 21st century attraction.

Have a great long weekend even if you're not 'going to the lake'... That's the fresh perspective...

***I took this info from here.

the fresh perspective...

I sometimes like to read lyrics to songs as poems.  For me, when I read, the meaning is deepened.  This Alicia Keys song is wonderful, but as a poem?  I feel it's even better. [audio http://freshairboutique.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/10-i-need-you.m4a]

Tell someone today, how important they are to you.  Tell someone how much they mean to you.  We shouldn't have to wait for an event like Mother's Day to reach out to the ones we truly love...  That's the fresh perspective...

**"I Need You"

The sand loves when..the waves come The sky can't wait...for the light of the sun So how could you...look me in my eye And not see what, what I feel inside Tell me how could you... doubt the fact that I I love you... I love you

Don't you ever...think like that. Don't you ever...never do that? There will never be two things...that go together better Than you and me....

North needs south east needs west... No needs yes yes yes Up needs down life needs death... No needs yes yes yes

I need you I need you I need you

-Alicia Keys

**an excerpt