#EastSide

Back in 1993, The Pet Shop Boys sang go west, life is peaceful there, great song, right?! I thought so too and 9 years later, I decided to take their “advice” and move west, 549 km west to be exact. Sure it took me almost a decade to take that advice, but in my defence, I’ve always been late bloomer. Better late than never…

Since moving west, I’ve actually mostly lived in the west end hoods of the city with a short stint in Markham; shoutout to Markham. Here is a timeline of the hoods – in this particular order: Bloordale Village, Yonge/Davisville, then back to Bloordale Village, Corso Italia, then the real Italia and now last but not least, the East End. I know what you’re thinking.. damn, this girl’s been around! But hey, when your boyfriend is this hot you gotta explore all his neighbourhoods 😉

Soooo… full disclosure, as much as I am now a lover of the East Side and consider myself an east end-er, I had never been this far east on the subway line before moving here. When I got to Main St. station for the first time just over 4 years ago to come see this apartment, I literally said to myself, where the hell am I?! It was so strange to feel out of sorts in the city I had called home now for over a decade, but I made my way over to my new apartment, using my GPS, (how embarrassing, I know) and have never looked back since and no longer need my GPS either. Lol.

Strangely enough, I’ve felt a sense of comfort and nostalgia living here in the east end, a real feeling of home, more so than any other neighbourhood, I think mostly because I live within walking distance to the beach again. I say again, cause while in Italy, I lived in a cool little beach town called Ostia, about 30km outside of Rome. This town had everything I needed… amazing friends, great food, fabulous shopping and best of all, the sea and the beach, and since I wasn’t really working, I spent aaaaaa lot of time at the beach. It gave me solace and hope and lots of vitamin D; crucial ingredients to my happiness despite having some long unproductive days. So, living on the east side has given me a sense of continuation of the Italian life I once had, only better, cause I have a job now, 3 actually! But another surprising reason as to why it feels nostalgic is… get ready for it… it reminds me of the neighbourhood I grew up in, yup, the one in Montreal. I know!…it shocked me too. I still got some love for the ex and it’s true, we had some great times and made some great memories, but don’t get too excited Montreal peeps, cause in the words of Taylor Swift, we ain’t ever ever ever getting back together! It’s Toronto for LIFE! But cheers to all the hoods I’ve loved before!

Ok, back to business…

Since settling in the east end, I did what any self-respecting fashionista would do, find the best shopping spots of course! …and there’s so many independent boutiques worthy of leaving your hard earned dollars. I’ve definitely done some east end damage, that’s fo sho! But more than the shopping, there are so many hangouts worthy of your time and restaurants worthy of your cravings. #Truestory.

In the photo shoot we did below, with the uber talented photographer and rockstar friend, Kareen of Electrafire, we captured some my fave places, while wearing some of my fave new clothes from my fave boutiques in my fave hood. You get my drift…

Below, I list all the faves 🙂

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Shopping (Items featured in shoot are mentioned beside the store name below)

Body Blue / 199 Danforth Avenue / IG: @bodyblue_toronto (Floral Bomber Jacket)

Good Neighbour / 935 Queen St. East / IG: @goodnbr (Home is Toronto Tee and Camo Joggers)

Somewhere in Between / 261 Danforth Avenue / IG: @somewherenbetween

Bergstrom Originals / 781 Queen St. East / IG: @bergstromoriginals

Beast York / beastyork.com / IG: @beast_york_inc (Beast York Tee)

Fiveoseven Clothing / 496 Danforth Ave / IG: @fiveosevenclothing

Food / Hangouts

The Broadview Hotel / 106 Broadview Ave / IG: @broadviewhotel

Nomads Restobar / 699 Danforth Ave / IG: @nomadsdanforth

Mezes Restaurant / 456 Danforth Ave / IG: @mezesdanforth

Goods & Provisions / 1124 Queen St E. / http://www.goodsandprovisionsrestaurant.com

Goat Coffee Co. / 893 Pape Ave / IG: @goatcoffeeco

Zav Coffee Shop / 2048 Danforth Ave / IG: @zavcoffeeshop

Athens Bakery / 509 Danforth Ave / IG: @athenspastries

Breathtaking Views / Skyline

The Scarborough Bluffs

Riverdale Park

MY FAVE PLACE TO BE ANYTIME, ANYDAY, COLD, HOT, HAPPY, MAD ANGRY OR SAD

Woodbine Beach

The Beach almost always holds the answer 🙂

Well, we started off this post talking about going west and so now I’ll end this post about coming east and so I leave you with a fun song appropriately named East Side by Ellie. Enjoy! I would sing it for you myself but trust me, nobody wants that…