Love Where You Live

If you read my blog posts at all, then you know a few things about me. You probably know that I live in Montreal, that I love fashion, that I have an Italian boyfriend, that I am a hopeless romantic, and that I hate winter... well, I'm trying my best to phase that last one out. I'm trying to stop with the complaining and learn to love where I live. They say that "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories" so, let's make us some warm memories! This year, I'm trying my best to put winter in it's place; show it that I'm the boss and it can't ruin my mood anymore. As B says 'You have to say IN YOUR FACE WINTER, and do your best to enjoy it'. Well, B, I'm trying to do just that. The sun was shinning today and despite the harsh wind, it was beautiful out so I decided to go for a walk in the park with E to show winter that I can learn to love it... as long as it tries to be kind to me as well :)

This is the park just a few blocks from our apartment.  It was pretty quiet today. 

E was so happy to get out. I hate the cold, so usually I only last about 5 minutes. 

E and I, having a nice, relaxing walk through the park... until...

Why is it that guys can never just have a nice, calm, romantic walk through the park? They always have to do something to turn it into a competition...

This used to be a beautiful, big tree that all the kids would climb all over in the summer. It was rotten, and they had to cut it down. This is all that is left of it. I hope they plant a new one.

Jacket and leggings here are from Zara, my muff is Mad Men for Banana Republic and was a gift from T for Christmas and I love it... They laughed and said I would only wear it on nights out to the theater, but I showed them :).  My boots are Ralph Lauren, you can find them here.

I love a good jumping picture... and thought this was a great idea. Until...

The ground was a little harder than I thought it was going to be.. Sad times :(

It was a lot icier than I thought it was going to be... lucky my boots have good grip.

After we were done taking pictures in the park, we walked through to the end where the public library is. Inside the same building as the library, there is a small, free, city botanical gardens. I had never been before, though you can see the flowers a little from the outside, so E and I decided to go in and take a look around.

Well, I'm glad we did... the flowers were beautiful and really brightened up my day. Who says you can't find flowers in Montreal in January? You just have to know where to look.

The colors and flowers were absolutely stunning. It may have been the sun shinning in the windows, or the breathtaking colors we rarely see in nature during the cold winter months... but something in the botanical gardens set off a spark in me. I realized, that all this time, I'd been hiding from winter instead of embracing it. I promised that this year would be thee year that I stop complaining about winter, and love where I live. Well, I'm getting there, slowly, and I'm having a pretty darn good time along the way. 

So here's to winter, and finding beauty in the everyday. 

With Love,

S