Market Christmas

It's freezing out there! It's a humdinger of a winter day today! Minus 8 in the morning and up to -6 and that's it. I stopped by the ocean just before sunrise to take some photos but my hands wouldn't work!Do you know what I do? Each time I visit someplace I add that city weather into my iPhone app, and so I can tell you that while it was -6 here, it was -26 in Calgary and only 11 in San Francisco. Bet everyone from East to South is shivering in their boots! It's that darn Jet Stream. Back up North with you! So in the meantime, we went shopping and looking around for some Christmas inspiration.Do you like market shopping?We do. We love it. Farmer's markets, craft markets, public markets...off the beaten path flea markets...any other market you can think of. Lately Chloe and I have been browsing around some of our favourite markets.Come see the cool things that we discovered. :)It's a lemon! Buddha's hand lemon. Incredibly fragrant and also makes the best candied lemon peel, I understand, because it's not bitter.Look what else we found: These incredible figurines. Don't you love the beaded whiskers and the little jewels in their ears?Doesn't it look like markets might be places where you can find something for everyone on your list? I think so. I love places where so many different makers, from craftspeople to farmers to importers come together under one roof. Who else likes to go into hat shops and try on hats? We just can't help ourselves. :)C and I spent a little extra time in one of our favourite shop, Paper Ya.It's beautiful and full of Christmas whimsy plus the most incredible journals, papers, and every kind of writing supplies you can imagine.And some thing you probably can't imagine...lolSomething new we discovered today: this Good Soap. We love the coconut scent; it's absolutely delicious, (although if coconut's not your thing then it also comes in about 8 different scents) and we love that it's a Fairtrade certified product.So now to make that list and check it twice. Tell if you found a favourite thing at your market. Inspiration is always the best thing.