A couple of weeks ago, I revealed my new collaboration with the Smitten Italy & Co shop and introduced you to Heather Carlson, a fellow Italophile who became my pal on Instagram. In case you missed it, Heather interviewed me about my love for Italy on her Merry Feast Travels blog.

For the second part of our Smitten Italy series, I interviewed Heather on her love for Italy and her advice to novice Italy-travelers. 

​"It’s based on our love of Italy and is for everyone who is #smittenwithitaly.

The shop officially launched in early 2017 with a small line of clothing for adults & kids. Now the shop has expanded with tote bags, mugs, art prints & digital art. We are thrilled to be adding our first collaboration with Veni Etiam Photography in 2018."

Heather describes how she fell head over heels with not only "vacation Italy" but also Italy's daily, authentic side that she discovered over time. 

"The first time it was all the typically romantic things. The street musicians, the architecture and art. Each time I returned, I learned more and appreciated additional things like the language, the people, the light, the history, and always the food. Food is so different from region to region and also from village to village. It blows my mind
how many wonderful and unique things there are to eat in Italy that many people have never heard of!"

Read Heather's Ultimate Bucket list for Food Lovers

"While living there, I saw a completely different side to Italy - crazy and frustrating yet continuously beautiful. And while I still love “vacation Italy,” living there really enriched my love and passion for the people and the country."

"Definitely Milan. While living there for several years, I really grew to love it. And I always love returning and continue to discover new things each time. It’s an amazing spot to base yourself, just a short train ride away from many wonderful destinations like the Lake district, Parma, Modena, Bologna, the Dolomites, Torino..." 

Read Heather's articles about Milan and daytrips to nearby towns

"Rome and Umbria," it seems Heather couldn't pick just one!

​"I love them both so much and instantly feel at home whenever I return. I now lead food and wine tours in Umbria with my Italian partner who owns a cooking school and Agriturismo near Assisi. I love helping food-loving travelers plan their own delicious Italy adventures."

Heather offered 3 tips for first-time Italy travelers:

1. Slow Down. Less is more for your daily schedule and in your itinerary. Allow breathing time to really sink into a place and experience it. Don’t dash from one site to another, or one city to another. Try to imagine that you will be coming back and don’t try to pack everything in to one trip.

2. Make Dinner Reservations. Book your first night’s dinner reservations before
arriving. I started doing this early on in my travels and have never regretted it
(especially when traveling with my kids) I love the thrill of the hunt of a good place to
eat, but get very grumpy if there is no plan and everyone is tired and hungry from a
long day of travel. Having a plan before we arrive takes the pressure off, and helps us
enjoy easing into our new location.

3. Eat dinner late with the locals. After your first night, adjust your dining times. Italians eat late compared to what we are used to in America. We struggled with that our first trip to Italy, and learned quickly that if you make a reservation for 7:30 when many restaurants open for dinner, you will be the only person there! What fun is that? To truly experience a bustling trattoria, adjust your time. By showing up at 8:30-9 (or later) you will soon be surrounded by the locals, enjoying your delicious homemade tagliatelle complete with delicious Italian ambiance!

Do YOU have an Italy travel tip to share? Leave a comment below. Heather and I would love to hear from you.

Visit the Smitten Italy shop for lots of fun Italy-related gift items, clothes and of course the Veni Etiam collection of Italy prints! 

To learn more from Heather, be sure to follow Merry Feast and Smitten Italy over on Instagram. She's always adding new goodies to the blog and the shop!

From my heart to yours.

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It's mid-September, although the weather gods are still totally convinced it's mid-July (fine by me!). And mid-September means one thing for certain every year: it's time for Etsy Made in Canada and our local edition Etsy Fait au Québec Montréal.

Over 100 artists, designers and makers from the Montreal area will gather under one (historic) roof to showcase and sell their incredible products with the community, which is becoming increasingly interesting in buying local.

To see the full list of vendors, follow this link.
To RSVP to the event (it's free!), go here.

Veni Etiam Photography will also be there all weekend long with tons of new items in the Montreal collection, the brand new Havana collection, magnets and gift items, coffee tables, a surprise new product (come see for yourself!) and new frames available on the spot in the exact sizes of my prints! I'll have reduced prices on prints and custom orders, so if you have questions about sizing or anything else, feel free to reach out even before the event!

P.S. If you're curious, this post belongs to the theme #TradeThursday, part of the Etsy Montreal Social Media Challenge. The artists who are participating as vendors in the annual Etsy Fait au Quebec (Made in Canada) market are encouraged to share behind the scenes posts as they prepare for the show. Follow along with all of us on Instagram with the main hashtags #etsyfaitauquebecmtl and #etsymtl. 

We all hope to see you there!

From my heart to yours.

It's no secret that I love to write. But, now and then, I love to lose myself in others' words and photographs. 

Here are 5 books that I keep handy on my shelf and LOVE to flip through:

• Falling Cloudberries. I have always had a weak spot for cookbooks, but those written by Tessa Kiros are just dream-inducing. I first discovered Tessa's series of cookbooks when I landed on her book called Venezia, which is essentially THE perfect combination of scrumptious recipes, dreamy storytelling and gorgeous photography. Fun fact: it was Venezia that made me fall in love with the art of food photography and changed my way of looking at things very early on, when I first began to experiment with a camera. Falling Cloudberries is replete with Tessa's family recipes that blend cultures and generations. As usual, the photography by Manos Chatzikonstantis makes you drool as much as the ingredients do. I highly recommend all her books, but I find this one has a great variety of recipes at different levels of complexity. Find out more about Falling Cloudberries.

• 111 Places in Venice that You Must Not Miss. If you know me a little bit, I don't have to go into extreme detail about why I love this book! I stumbled upon Gerd W. Sievers' book this summer and I was instantly hooked. For someone who has known and loved Venice for decades and has even studied Venetian art history, I was over the moon about how this book has made me discover new interesting facts about my lagoon city. It goes sestiere by sestiere, dedicating two pages to a place - sometimes a monument, an architectural detail or a food - and interwoven in its description are elements of history, culture, myth and legend. It is written in a style that is enjoyable and easy to follow; you can easily pick up where you left off. Photographs and practical information (about opening times, vaporetto stops and other visitor tips and trivia) make the book a multi-purpose guide for Venice lovers. Find out more about 111 Places in Venice that You Must Not Miss.

• The Mindfulness Pocket Book. This book is the perfect book to own if you want to improve in your practice of mindfulness on a daily basis. Gill Hasson has filled this book with meaningful, realistic exercises to help you to slow down, to notice, to feel aligned and peaceful and in control of your perspectives and reactions. What I love about this book is the way the content is organized - it is concise, impactful and super easy to immediately get value out of its pages. You don't have to read the chapters in order and, although it is a small book, it is so rich that you can learn from revisiting its content more than once. It is also filled with quotes to reflect on. I have gifted this book to friends and family, and I love keeping it accessible so that I can refer to it often. Find out more about The Mindfulness Pocket Book.

• How to Be a Wildflower. My Mom gave me this book and it is literally filled with inspiration, childish wonder and fresh air. Katie Daisy is an illustrator who is deeply inspired by the natural landscape that surrounded her during her childhood. Wildflowers, creeks, cornfields, hummingbirds, fireflies, and star constellations are alive and well between the colorful pages of this magical book of illustrations and quotes. As you flip through its pages, you can feel the summer breeze, smell the earth, the trees and the flowers, you can see the golden light of the setting sun in the cornfields, and the movement of the fresh linen hanging on the line. Katie has captured childhood and nature in her pages. She calls it a field guide and encourages you to travel with it and record your own inspirations, even giving you space to press flowers between the pages. Reading it, you can't help but feel more aware, more grounded and more connected to nature and life. I loved it so much, I bought some of Katie's prints for my garden. The book makes a wonderful gift for anyone who loves nature, illustrations, quotes and the simple joys in life. Find out more about How to Be a Wildflower.

• 52 lists for happiness. This is another book I am currently "reading", as you may have noticed from another recent post. I put "reading" in quotation marks because this book's mission is actually to inspire you to fill its pages - it is a book of lists, as the title suggests, that prompt you to contemplate what brings you joy, to reflect on your past experiences, and to invest in your values, passions and goals. When you read Moorea Seal's table of contents, her 52 lists may seem daunting at first. But, the truth is, they are extremely rewarding to explore. At the bottom of each list is a little "take action" bubble, which gives you the impetus to do something with the list you just thought up -- something that will align you more clearly with what brings you happiness and makes you feel fulfilled. I have tremendously enjoyed sitting in my little urban garden this summer and taking 10 minutes at a time with this book. I like to open it up a random page and see whether the list speaks to me at that moment. Focusing my thought and my energy onto this exercise of reflection has left me feeling content, fulfilled and empowered each time. Find out more about 52 lists for happiness.

I hope you found a little bit of inspiration in this edition of Feature Friday.

Tell me: Have you read any of these 5 books? Do you plan to pick one up?
Leave me a comment and let me know. I love to hear from you!

From my heart to yours.

As part of my brand new "Feature Friday" project to highlight inspiring members of the community, I interviewed Canadian author Jeremy Ethan Cohen to discuss his intriguing first novel "An Apocalyptic Legend".

Jeremy is an ESL teacher at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, and has been writing for as long as he can remember. While unpublished short stories and a children's book are tucked away in his home office, "An Apocalyptic Legend" is his first work to grace the shelves of several Montreal bookstores. Jeremy describes the novel as a descriptive, multilayered psychological fantasy, and gave me a tour of its style, themes and his process of writing in our interview. 

WITHOUT SPOILERS, WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT?
In short, after a battle between divinities, one god has resurfaced and is trying to manipulate an individual to bring about the end of the world. Two adolescents have discovered what is going on and are trying to stop this from happening.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES IT SPECIAL AS A STORY?
I don’t think it’s a story that’s been told before, with its own organic twists, turns and unpredictability. Once you’ve finished reading it, you might feel a sense of satisfaction at seeing at how it all wraps up.

WHAT GENRE DO YOU THINK YOUR NOVEL FITS MOST IN? 
I like to call it a psychological fantasy, but it also mixes the mythological and spiritual. Plus, the style could be considered Gothic, to an extent, because of the tone and descriptiveness.

IF YOU THINK OF YOUR STORY, WHAT 3 WORDS COME IMMEDIATELY TO MIND? 
Complex, intriguing and descriptive.

YOU SAY YOUR BOOK IS MULTILAYERED. CAN YOU ELABORATE A BIT ON THAT?
I think the book looks at different levels of consciousness, awareness – so, levels of the psyche, in a way. Plus, there’s an understated level of magic, not quite at the forefront but which plays an important part nonetheless.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE MOST POWERFUL THEMES IN YOUR STORY?
Faith, brotherhood, memory.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PASSAGE IN THE BOOK?
I always think of one chapter. I like the imagery, the emotion, the raw naivety of one particular character in the scene. It takes place in a sort of purgatory.

IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE STORY THAT SURPRISED YOU OR TOOK A DIFFERENT TURN THAN YOU EXPECTED?
As I was writing, sometimes something would happen that would actually surprise me. It’s like the ideas were coming out and taking the plot in an unexpected direction. But, I can’t fully answer this question without giving too much away. Once finished, and seeing how the plot wrapped up, I was surprised to see little connections throughout the book that I hadn’t intentionally planned out.

WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR WRITING A BOOK?
I had originally written it as a short story. Then, one day, it’s like a door opened and I saw its potential and where it could go. From that point on my only inspiration was getting the story out, which was just pure enjoyment.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE IT? 
About six years. I’m quite a slow, meticulous writer. I started it back when I was at Concordia University – I spent a lot of time writing rather than studying!

WHAT AUTHORS OR STORIES DO YOU THINK HAVE SHAPED YOU AS AN AUTHOR?
Frank Herbert’s Dune, for instance, and other novels with the themes of “destiny” or “fate”. Also, Ursula Le Guin, especially for her Earthsea novels.

WHAT HAVE YOU READ THAT HAS MADE YOU CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION ON FICTION?
For one, Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. It pushed me to look at the depth writing, the subtext and subtleties. I believe An Apocalyptic Legend has a multileveled style, which asks the reader to be a bit patient and attentive. Also, Margaret Atwood’s novels – her writing technique is at a level that awes and inspires me.

ARE THERE AUTHORS YOU DISLIKED AT FIRST BUT THEN GREW INTO?
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and other Gothic literature. When I got more and more into reading classic science fiction, fantasy and horror, I picked up Poe’s stories again and really started to appreciate how the English language could be manipulated and used with such complexity and beauty. I started to see how English could be used in a more nuanced way.

YOUR STORY HAS POWERFUL CHARACTERS. HOW DID YOU CREATE THEM?
I’ve always been drawn to characters that are wise beyond their years – how knowledge and intelligence sets them apart, but brings with it challenges and conflict.

DO THEY REMIND YOU OF OTHER CHARACTERS OR ANYONE YOU KNOW? 
As I was writing, I didn’t have anyone in mind, but after rereading and talking about it with others who have read it, I realized, hey, there are people from my life who helped to form some characters.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES YOUR CHARACTERS RELATABLE FOR YOUR READERS?
Due to the conflicts they face, the devotion and emotions they feel, and the difficult choices they have to make.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF WRITING FOR YOU? HOW DID THAT EVOLVE OVER THE COURSE OF WRITING YOUR NOVEL?
​I think the grinding attention to detail – in every sentence or bit of dialogue – makes the writing process emotionally demanding for me! In terms of how it evolved…I think after having finished writing An Apocalyptic Legend, I felt a sense of accomplishment and relief, but I am sure it will still take as much creative energy (maybe even more) to write my next book. I feel a bit of self-imposed pressure. I’m mulling over new ideas and am excited about continuing to write, but sometimes I feel even more critical towards my own writing.

WHAT IS THE IDEAL MARKET FOR YOUR BOOKS?
Older teens who are perceptive readers, and adults as well.

WHAT ELSE MIGHT YOUR READERS HAVE READ AND ENJOYED?Well, Dune and the Earthsea novels, as mentioned, because of the similar style, and how the reader can gather a lot from the subtext and insinuations.

IF YOU COULD COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR READERS, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM?
If you do choose to read my novel, give yourself a chance to get immersed in the story. If you feel that it’s at first challenging to read, I can pretty confidently tell you that you’ll find your rhythm and almost adapt to the style.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS AND DREAMS YOU HAVE FOR THIS NOVEL?
It would be great if a publisher picked it up. My immediate goal is just to get exposure and for people to read it, hopefully like it (haha!) and to, also hopefully, give me feedback.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
Well, I’ve got a sequel in mind. In the first story, fairly hefty decisions were made and I feel that there might be some fallout. The idea is still brewing, but I’m getting close to breaking the ice. I also have some short story ideas that I’d like to get started on. They’re all linked by a common theme, but I’d like to try writing each story in a separate style.​

For more about the book and upcoming events, follow Jeremy on his blog and Facebook page. You can currently find "An Apocalyptic Legend" at Chapters, Indigo Books & Music and Drawn & Quarterly in Montreal. Thank you, Jeremy, for such an interesting and insightful interview! 

Are you an artist, author, travel destination, restaurant or café and want your story to be featured in "Feature Friday"? Send me a message and I'll share how it works!