I feel like I say this every month, but the month of May slipped away from me. March and April (both of which feel like a lifetime ago), were a bit of a lull for me in terms of travel, work, shopping, and well everything. Not in a bad way, it’s extremely nice to slow down and take everything day-by-day. I moved in March to my new (current) apartment, and felt like I needed 2 months of rest *which I gladly took* after that.
Safe to say, I became very accustomed to slow living, and once May rolled around I was in a full-body shock as to how busy the month was about to be. I started the month off in Tofino with some friends. I am determined to spend more time in my tent this summer (I understand this may seem like a hilarious ask to some), so we packed our camping gear in the car and headed to the island.
It was the perfect kick off to camping season. Good company, good eats, and surprisingly the best therm-a-rest sleep I’ve ever had.
My 2 Tofino take-aways (other than spending time outside, of course), are Merge and Jeju. My aching love for Merge should be a surprise to absolutely no one, as I’ve ranted about their balmy summer candle more times than I can count. But the store has an impeccable selection of curated ceramics, books, and other goods that give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
My favourite in-house Merge pieces right now, are the hemp-henley, the tank, and the balmy summer candle.
Jeju is a Korean restaurant located right in the heart of Tofino, and I kid you not- one of the best meals I’ve ever had. We ordered the KFC Lettuce wraps *x2, it’s that good*, spiced tofu, and then I devoured the baby back ribs pictured above. If you’re heading to that part of the island… this is my TOP restaurant recommendation.
After Tofino, I had a week at home to film some work, and I was off to Zion National Park with FP Movement on a brand trip. I had previously been to Zion about 10 years prior with my family, so I was so excited to explore further.
We stayed at Under Canvas, which felt like a hidden sanctuary. It’s located right outside the park, with insane 360-views.
We went canyoneering, horseback riding, hiking, sand boarding, ATV’ing, and just hung out and got to know each other. Something I especially appreciated about this trip, which also made me feel exceptionally special, was that the FP movement team only invited 5 other influencers/media to join. It was so wonderful to be able to talk to everyone that was present, and actually get to know each other throughout the week.
Some of my favourite FP movement pieces I was wearing throughout the week included; the Champ is Here pants, Hit the Slopes fleece jacket, the Final Call Hoodie, and the Tighten Up mini bra.
Once I landed back in Vancouver, I had one of my best friends of all time waiting for me in my apt to spend the weekend together. Of course, it rained pretty much the whole time- but we spent the 2 days we had together hitting all of my favourite Vancouver spots. I was recently asked to describe my perfect day in Vancouver, by another friend of mine… and this is it (this is also what I did that weekend):
Begin with a workout class at House Concepts → grab a smoothie from their kitchen→ galavant on 4th for an hour or two hitting all of the shops (reformation, arc, aritzia (now), mejuri, old faithful, mine and yours, turf) → go to their there for matcha (my personal fav matcha in the city) → drive to Hunnybee for brunch → peruse Gaston as fast as possible (aka pop into One of a few, all of the Neighbour stores, Stussy, COS) → quick seawall bike ride/walk if weather permitting → reconvene and go to Bar Tartare for din & a bottle of natty wine → when you’re inevitably still hungry 2 hours after that, order sushi and lights out.
I took 2 photos that whole weekend. One very bad photo of our bottle of wine, and one of art inside Aritzia. Please enjoy:
The two following weeks, were even more of a whirlwind than the first two. It was location scout, after location scout, and endless amounts of shoot planning for an upcoming project. Something I feel like I’ve never spoken online about, is that I’m also a Creative Producer. I have always been under the impression, that people followed me for styling/fashion recommendations, and that other aspects of work/life were not of interest. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Anyways- what’s really interesting about the way work is right now, is that I’ll produce, but then I’ll also be the talent. One day I hope to no longer be the talent *at least not always* but being in front of the camera is quite fun.
I am not spoiling anything else until the video is complete. But here are some snaps from this recent project:
While still in the midst of shooting this project, we need to take a brief intermission to give this cake the spotlight it deserves. My friend Tianna was hosting a birthday party, and my task was to bring the cake. Another thing I feel like I rarely talk about, is how much I love to bake and cook. I try to film myself but I run into 2 roadblocks almost always. 1. blanking on things to say because I feel like I need to concentrate, and 2. the absolute chaos occurring in the background while I am frantically trying to make everything is most certainly not aesthetic whatsoever. Props to people who make food-content, because I don’t know how you do it.
Anyways, a moment for the cake. I found the recipe on Substack from Saweeties. It’s a pistachio olive oil cake, with brown butter honey vanilla soak, and strawberry, raspberry compote.
10-hours after our last shoot day, I flew back home to Ontario, where I also have an ideal 24-hours in Toronto that involves all of 3 things. If you’ve been here since the Toronto round-up from last Spring, you will already know what I’m about to gush about. My favourite restaurant that used to feel like a hidden gem (not so hidden anymore because I get 60 videos per week about it- jealous of everyone who can just go here on a weekly basis), is Taverne Bernhardts.
The coziest, yummiest, most heart warming restaurant of all time. They just don’t make them like this in Vancouver. It is seriously the only place I care about eating dinner in Toronto when I come back home to visit (but also open to recommendations too please). My order pretty much remains the same every time: the greenie salad, full-chicken, fries, the sundae, orange wine + one of the rotating specials. It’s the first recommendation I give to people who are new/or visiting Toronto, and I’ve never had a bad review.
To put into perspective how much I love this restaurant, I scheduled a reservation 1.5 hours after my flight landed and was fully prepared to bring my luggage inside if I had to.
Next on my 24 stop in Toronto, was a trip to Uncle Studios. Their space is designed to absolute perfection, which is absolutely a nod to the impeccable quality of their clothing. The baggy jean, is hands-down my favourite and most flattering pair of denim that I own.
This time, I picked up 2 of the tanks to layer, the vintage trouser, and the workwear bomber. Also just realizing as I’m liking that they gave me a discount code, CHLOE15. I’ll be using this code myself, cause it’s truly just the best stuff.
I spent the day there with Rachel, their partnerships and community lead, who was also a co-worker of mine in Whistler ~3 years ago. Safe to say, we had a lot of giggles and a lot of catching up to do. I tried on the entire store (I think), and already know what’s next on my buy list.
My last TO pitstop was Vilda’s for lunch (ceaseroni, always), and then a race back home before the GTA traffic began.
The last few days of May included friend catch-ups, eating, bike rides, ice cream and basically laying around catching up on sleep from the month prior.
June is going to be busier than May, I can’t wait.
Talk soon x
-Chloe
If you're ever back in Tofino, don't forget about Ucluelet. Theres some gems there too and if you can get a reservation into Pluvio, I'd recommend going!