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my childhood home in rural Alberta

Fall, Fashion, Makeup, Pattern Play, Winter

PATTERN PLAY | PAISLEY

Welcome back for a fresh installment in my PATTERN PLAY series today, friends! Earlier this autumn, we discussed all things snakeskin — one of AW18‘s hottest prints. While the pattern we’re focusing on in this post isn’t nearly as statement-making, I was absolutely thrilled to see a resurgence of paisley this season. Paisley is a very vintage feeling print that’s always had a special place in my wardrobe — but when I spotted this dress earlier this autumn (which I think would make a stunning holiday dress for you fellow bohemian beauties!) it was love at first sight! In true JustineCelina style I ordered her in 2 different colour stories and I have so much fun styling her up this autumn / winter. Today’s post, shot at my childhood home in rural Alberta, is dedicated to all things paisley — including the history of the print, styling options, tips to help you select your perfect paisley piece and tons of shoppable links at every price-point for your browsing pleasure!

Although I consider paisley to be a classic print, it’s also a polarizing one — you either love it or hate it. I personally love it! Paisley has graced the pages of JustineCelina many times, but made less of a statement (like in my vintage scarves, for example). It also has quite an interesting history! Although of Persian origin (the buta shape is characterized by an almond-shaped motif with a curved tip), paisley became popular in psychedelic culture in the 60’s thanks to The Beatles. The buta traditionally symbolizes fire and commonly makes an appearance on Persian carpets, rugs and textiles — but this season, we’ve seen it popping up more frequently in the form of dresses, skirts, blazers, scarves and ties. If you’re intrigued by this unconventional pattern and have been coveting a paisley piece of your own, settle in for a educational, fashion-focused read!

December 11, 2018 by Justine

Fall, Fashion, Local Love, Lookbooks, Pantone, Vintage, Work Wear

AUTUMN 2018 LOOKBOOK

Fellow fashionistas, this one’s for you! My Autumn 2018 Lookbook has been months in the making and a concept I’ve wanted to produce for about a year here at JustineCelina — but I could simply never find the time with my previous publishing schedule. While I did take a break from posting during my Intermission due to computer issues, thankfully my camera wasn’t affected — and neither was my love of autumnal fashion. In fact, I’ve mentioned many times here over the years that fall is my absolute favourite time of year to get dressed (we started shooting autumn style content in August!). Well, this year I’ve compiled a massive 12 outfit LOOKBOOK featuring everything I’ve been wearing over the past couple of months in both personal and professional settings, sprinkled with an overview of seasonal trends, styling tips and of course, tons of shoppable links!

While this post is getting to you about a month later than I originally intended due the loss of my previous laptop and 4 months of edited, beautifully catalogued style content (that one still stings!), I really wanted to take the time to execute it true to my original vision. Moving forward (dependent on your feedback, of course!), I’d like to publish a Lookbook at the onset of each new season featuring multi-outfit style inspiration — and then break each look out into a subsequent, more detailed oriented post as well as incorporate them into some of my pre-existing series — TREND GUIDES, HOW TO STYLE and PATTERN PLAY (I’m also kicking off a new WORK WEAR series in 2019 — more on that in this post!). That way, you get an overview of everything I’m wearing and loving for the new season at a glance in the Lookbook and can come back for more inspiration or information if you’d like to learn more about one of the looks, prints or pieces. While this post took a considerable of research, organization and coordination to create, I’m extremely pleased with how my first seasonal Lookbook came together — and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed creating it! Due to the timing of publication, many of the items featured in the post are currently on sale for Black Friday / Cyber Monday, which I’ve also made note of (because you know I love a great deal!). Alright, enough housekeeping — let’s get to the FASHION, shall we?!

November 25, 2018 by Justine

Fall, Music

OCTOBER 2018 SOUNDTRACK

Better late than never, right?! My October 2018 Soundtrack is the last regularly scheduled post I missed during my forced intermission — but I did want to get it out for you! As you’ve probably gathered, October was an extremely stressful month, but these are the tunes that kept me going! As always, this Monthly Soundtrack is a mashup of musical genres, artists and moods — 2.5 hours of everything my ears enjoyed most last month, with a healthy dose of calming instrumental. If you’re looking for some fresh, inspiring tunes to listen to while you work, think, create, get your sweat on, relax at home, hang out with friends or enjoy a long drive, this soundtrack is for you!

Some of my most played tracks during October included The Echelon Effect’s Your First Light My Eventide, Bon Vie’s Entirety, Tracey Chattaway’s Light The Night, Kiiara’s Gloe, Equanimous’s Forest, Dreamer’s Delight’s Starborne, Attom’s Golden Hour, Middle Kids Salt Eyes, Only Evening’s Emily and Blackbird Blackbird’s B There 2 Hold You. I hope you enjoy one of the more chill playlists I’ve published here at JustineCelina over the years and that it brings your some peace and tranquility during these busy, pre-holiday times!

November 16, 2018 by Justine

Music, Summer, Travel

AUGUST 2018 SOUNDTRACK

Like the final, fleeting month of summer, my August 2018 Soundtrack is short n’ sweet! August was full of a lot of BTS hustle (I have so many exciting projects, collaborations and fresh content to share with you this autumn!), but also a lot of time outdoors enjoying our beautiful weather, wildfire smoke and all! If you follow along with my RECIPES here at JustineCelina, you may remember that I mentioned we found a patch of saskatoon bushes growing wild next to a field of canola earlier this summer — well, this is the field of canola! While typically we shoot our annual canola photos in the field behind my childhood home in rural Alberta, this summer they planted a different crop, so we headed south in search of blooming yellow fields and hit the jackpot!

While the canola crops have since been harvested, they always bloom around my birthday in early August and it’s my favourite time of year! I thought this image was the perfect album cover for my August Soundtrack — inspired by carefree summer days, roadtrips, outdoor adventures and the mesmerizing beauty of our natural landscape. This eclectic, 2.5 hour playlist is a mashup of nearly every different genre and mood, but some highlights include Yoke Lore’s Good Pain, RAC’s Mission 3 (Hk), Wild Nothing’s Letting Go, ayokay and Nightly’s Sleepless Nights, Andrew Rothchild’s Routine, Death Cab for Cutie‘s entire new album Thank You For Today, Penguin Cafe’s Ricercar, G-Easy & Kehlani’s Good Life, Akasha System’s No Reality, Gus Glasser’s Heaven, Sweep’s don’t let it stress and Those Who Ride With Giant’s The Promise of the Setting Sun. If you’re in the mood to discover some fresh, feel good tunes, crank this playlist up and enjoy summer 2018’s last long weekend!

August 31, 2018 by Justine

Fashion, Gluten Free, Local Love, Paleo, Salads & Bowls, Summer, Vegan, Vegetarian

SUMMER BOUNTY SALAD WITH SASKATOON CIDER VINAIGRETTE

Welcome back for another seasonally inspired RECIPE, beautiful people! I’m currently typing to you from my impromptu outdoor office at my childhood home in rural Alberta on this gorgeous August afternoon. The bees are buzzing, the butterflies are fluttering and the sweet scents of summer crops are lingering on the country air — it’s the ideal setting to publish my Summer Bounty Salad with Saskatoon Cider Vinaigrette, don’t you think? If you’ve been reading JustineCelina since last summer you may remember the delicious, clean Wild Saskatoon Berry Crumble I came up with after a friend let us forage their farm to take advantage of the plentiful crop. It was saskatoon overload (in the best way possible!) so I took the opportunity to work on a few more saskatoon themed recipes — but because of my intensive testing process I wasn’t able to publish them before the season ended. Excited to bring those recipes to the blog this summer, we headed south in search of fleeting saskatoons and canola — and we ended up finding a beautiful field of canola (annual photos coming soon!) with wild saskatoon bushes growing alongside it. Honestly, what are the chances?!

My Summer Bounty Salad with Saskatoon Cider Vinaigrette is inspired by the abundant seasonal produce and herbs available at our local markets (and in the wild!) at the height of summer! This colourful, local, ultra fresh salad can be on your table in 15 minutes and is brimming with incredible, heart-healthy, antioxidant-rich superfoods and nutrients. Straight from our Alberta farms to your table, a vitamin-infused bed of baby spinach and arugula showcases a striking mosaic of freshly picked saskatoon berries, garden peas, shredded golden beets, crisp radishes, fresh mint, sunflower seeds and scallions — dressed with a punchy Saskatoon Cider Vinaigrette celebrating Alberta’s favorite berry. Enjoy this feel good salad as a light, plant based entrée whenever you’re in the mood for something quick and nutritious, or as a beautiful accompaniment to grilled fish (it’s great with with trout or salmon), meat or tofu!

August 8, 2018 by Justine

Flowers, Giveaways, Local Love, Pantone, Summer, Vegetarian, Wine & Cocktails

JAPANESE LILAC GIN LEMONADE

I’m not really sure what’s happened — but this year, my love of cocktails is outshining my love of sangria (hey… no hard feelings sangria — we had a really good run!). I’ve also been dreaming of publishing a lavender lemonade for years — but funny enough, it’s never made it’s way onto these pages. I had the most delicious lavender lemonade the summer before I started blogging at some small town in interior British Columbia on our way back from a music festival — and I’ve been determined to create an equally delicious lavender lemonade ever since! That said, I know there are tons of lavender lemonade recipes out there, but now that I have a few solid years of COCKTAIL development under my belt and some incredible, unique, delicious ingredients in my bar, I thought I’d give it a go this summer!

So, while I fully intended this recipe to be a vodka-based lavender lemonade, as I moved though a rather intense testing process (remember when I mentioned I was cocktail testing over the long weekend?), I ended up swapping lavender for lilacs and vodka for gin — and I’m so glad I did! My Japanese Lilac Gin Lemonade tastes like summertime in the country and is very near to my heart — incorporating Japanese Lilac blossoms from the tree at my childhood home in rural Alberta, honey from the hives just across the stream and Eau Claire Distillery‘s award winning Parlour Gin distilled from the flourishing barley crops and unique botanicals of Alberta’s prairies. This floral-kissed, lightly effervescent lemonade was created with a thoughtful, hand crafted, farm-to-glass approach and made for lazy summer days on the patio, easy entertaining and watching the sunset behind glowing fields of canola! Join myself and my Connecting Over Cocktails crew to indulge in a summer inspired cocktail menu (check out their creations at the end of this post!) and enter to win bottle of the best gin I’ve ever tasted, along with a Tour & Tasting for 2 at Turner Valley’s Eau Claire Distillery! Cheers to hot summer nights, refreshing gourmet cocktails and the celebrating the bountiful offerings of this beautiful land!

July 15, 2018 by Justine

Fashion, Occasions, Sponsored, Vintage, What to Wear to

WHAT TO WEAR TO | THE CALGARY STAMPEDE, PART II

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth is just around the corner — and today, in partnership with Saks OFF 5TH, I’m thrilled to bring you an updated What to Wear to | The Calgary Stampede post! Longtime readers will know how passionate I am about fully embracing the unique sartorial opportunities the Stampede provides. Growing up on the Alberta prairies, I’ve seen my fair share of western wear over the years and it has undoubtedly shaped my personal style. I’m all about looking the part and dressing your best for any occasion — the Calgary Stampede included! These wild 10 days are packed full of incredible networking opportunities, endless parties, fanfare, live entertainment and world-class culinary experiences — and each year, I curate a few western inspired outfits with a modern, bohemian sensibility to carry me though in style. If you’re looking for some fresh Stampede fashion ideas for both personal and professional settings, I’ve totally got you covered!

This year I’ve swapped my vintage turquoise for gold accents, my fringe bag for this blush pink beauty, my vintage cowboy boots for my favourite pair of OTK western boots and my undone braids for a flat brimmed hat, but one thing remains — the quintessential little white dress! Many of you came along on my Saks OFF 5TH shopping trip at Cross Iron Mills via Insta Stories earlier this month as I sourced items for this look. I found so many incredible pieces (I actually ended up purchasing a few other items that will be trickling into my style content soon!), but this sweet, flowy little alice + olivia Danna Lace Inset Dress stole my heart! And you know I love a good deal, so I was ecstatic to score it for 60% off (at $147.99 from $370!). Come along with me to the rolling, sunlit fields near my childhood home in rural Alberta today as I break down how to style the perfect LWD for The 2018 Calgary Stampede!

June 27, 2018 by Justine

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