the february mix

From the archives... On the way up to Sentinel Pass

The February Mix
Madder Red - Yeasayer
Escape Artist - The Zolas
Albatross - The Besnard Lakes
Dreams - Youngblood Hawke
Dear Fellow Traveller - Sea Wolf
Powa - Tune-Yards
Four Winds - Bright Eyes
Brain - Banks
Bloodflood - alt-J
Fur Hildegard von Bingen - Devendra Banhart
Robbers - The 1975
Mind Over Matter - Young the Giant

This years Sasquatch lineup was released yesterday, and boy does it ever look good. It's been a few years since I've gone to the festival, and I am itching to head out to the Gorge for the May weekend. There are a few tracks on this playlist from artists who will be playing the festival, as well as some other, older songs that I still can't get enough of. There's not a lot of new scattered in here except for Young the Giant, who released their new album, Mind Over Matter, late last month. Guys, I'm into it. I'm really into it. Especially this track.

You can give the February playlist a listen on Rdio. I'm also compiling a playlist of artists who are playing Maysquatch, which can be found here. What are you listening to?

- s

the january mix

The January Mix
Waiting Game – Banks
Poet – Bastille
Moneygrabber – Fitz & the Tantrums
Atlas – Shannon Saunders
Turn Away – Mikal Cronin
Farewell Transmission – Songs: Ohia
Acetate – Volcano Choir
Medusa – Gems
Months – The Middle East
Always Alright – Alabama Shakes

Streaming available on Rdio.

2013 has come to a close (thankfully), and we’re looking forward to the coming year here at with wanderlust. We have some new features coming up and are hoping to be popping in a bit more regularly.

First up, I’ll be moving my monthly mixes from aussi belle to with wanderlust (the old mixes are found here). It seems like 2014 is going to be an exciting year for music, although I’m not sure how it can get much better than last year. The January Mix features some of my favorite new artists who really hit the scene in 2013 (Banks, Shannon Saunders, Gems), and others who have been around for a while and released some really good shit last year. Enjoy!

- s

mountain getaway

This past weekend my parents and I spent some time in Canmore, AB. We ate, we shopped, and ate some more. It is always lovely to get away from the city, and spend some time embracing that fresh mountain air. Growing up, we would spend about a week at a time in Canmore. There was a skating camp that took place each summer after a big competition in Edmonton, and it was truly the highlight of our summers. At the time, Canmore was still a tiny little town—one grocery store, no condos, and what they call “downtown” now, was really the only part of the town. I remember spending time painting ceramics, skateboarding, going into Banff, and going horseback riding. Since then it’s grown quite a bit, but has still managed to keep its small-town feel.

They always say that the mountain air makes you sleep well. In my case, it definitely did! I was in bed on Saturday night at 9pm and up by 530am. If you know me at all, this is incredibly uncharacteristic. It felt nice watching the sun rise though—especially since I was on the balcony in my new Manitobah Mukluks and new bunny rabbit pyjamas Sam got me for Christmas!

A few years back my parents decided to get a place in Canmore. Since then, it has turned into their home-away-from-home, and they like to spend as much time as possible there. I certainly don’t blame them! It is so beautiful, and the mountain air is refreshing. Whenever I’m home in Alberta, I like to spend time up there either with my parents or friends.

Breakfast at Communitea and working on the blog

In the summer we typically like to go hiking, and in the winter, my parents do a lot of snow-shoeing. I went one year, but this year (due to my lack of proper winter boots, which I have ordered and am waiting for in the mail) we didn’t get a chance to go. Hopefully this summer I’ll be able to get some more hiking in, and next winter maybe even some skiing…

How were your holidays? Over here we are embracing our last week of break until school starts...

-g

community garden

A few weeks ago (okay… at this point it is probably looking more like a month since I am wearing SHORTS in these photos) my friend Amelia and I went for a walk here in Ottawa. This is something we do frequently, but this day Amelia suggested we walk on over to Main St. to check out this beautiful Children’s Garden that she had stumbled upon a couple weeks prior.




So off we walked! Fall had just hit Ottawa, and the colours had just changed, The leaves were falling, and slowly but surely we had come into Fall. The weather here has been a bit strange, and we had a warmer than average Fall, and we sort of just jumped right into the beautiful colours etc., but didn’t have the cool weather. Of course—typical Calgarian here talking about the weather… it follows you, okay! Or is this just a Canadian thing?




The Children’s Garden is REALLY cool. It’s located in Old Ottawa East, right down the street from St. Paul’s University. It’s not only a beautiful neighbourhood, but the garden is full of colour, an organic garden, compost bins, trees, and a place for story time.




It was really fun playing in the leaves, checking out the little nooks and crannies of the garden and overall just feeling like a kid again! Not only is the sustainability aspect of the garden really cool, but it was fun to just let go and adventure and explore like kids do.






Mucho thanks to Amelia for bringing me here, as well as taking my picture while playing in the leaves. It was a great afternoon!

Ottawa-based? Visiting Ottawa? Check out their website here for more info.