#livemontreal

La brume dans mes Lunettes

Location:  378 Rue Saint-Zotique E

Metro station: Beaubien

Hello friends ♡ It’s certainly been a while since I’ve written on this blog… I apologize for that - I’ve been caught up with school and midterms, but I tried my best to update my Instagram at least (IG: legendoftamar). 

I come back to talk about one of my all time favorite coffee shops in Montreal. I’ve been saving this one because it’s not only one of the best I’ve gone to, but it also holds a special place in my heart. 

Let’s take ourselves back about a few months ago. On a cold November morning. Fall had just given in to an overwhelming snow storm, introducing winter to Montreal. When the first snowfall hits Montreal, a lot changes in the city. People get angrier, drivers forget how to drive, students arrive to school an hour into their lecture, the bus system gets suspended; basically, everyone loses their mind. Including me. 

I woke up that morning in a bad mood. I was in a bad mood not because of the snow. I was in a bad mood every morning. To understand why, we have to take ourselves back to many other moments of my life and frankly we don’t have time to relive so much of the past. Long story short, I have anxiety. And at that point of my life, it was taking over. I couldn’t deal with it and I didn’t want to deal with it and instead I woke up every morning in a miserable mood. I put on my makeup and put on my smile and went on with my day. But this morning, something in me changed. Maybe it was the snow that made me go insane. 

I was determined to go to a cafe before school. To leave the stress behind for a few hours. To runaway to a place I felt comfortable and at ease. I decided to take an earlier bus to the metro and make it to a cafe I had been wanting to go for so long. And where does the insanity come into play? The coffee shop was a good 10 minute walk away from the metro station. A 10 minute walk in a snow storm. In Montreal. Not Vancouver - where their snowstorm is basically 3 snowflakes per hour. It was pouring and the wind was insane but I still did it. The snow made me lose my rational thinking, but sometimes it’s good to be illogical and just go for it. I was the only one walking on the streets. My motivation impressed me. However, I should mention that I also forgot to save the route to the shop since I didn’t have cellphone data. I walked up and down streets like a lost little pigeon.. in a  middle of a snowstorm… but I found the place eventually. You couldn’t imagine my happiness when I saw “La Brume” through my snow-covered glasses.

As I was going in, I thought how lucky I was going to be to have the whole place to myself since no one else is as crazy as me to go out on a day like this. But when I opened the door, I realized the cafe was packed. To almost its limit. I could hear laughter, coffee brewing, milk being steamed, keyboard typing. I could smell freshly made pastries and fresh coffee. And the coffee shop scene I was witnessing - of baristas running around, students working and friends talking - was beautiful. Coming in from an almost deserted winter storm, where only the snowflakes dared to dance in the wind, I was greeted with warmth and people. The barista spotted me in the crowd of people and said hello from behind his counter. Sitting down in a little corner on the bar by the window, I looked around and all I could feel was happiness. Coffee lovers’ passion for coffee and company is contagious. I caught myself smiling and it wasn’t part of the make up this time. This was better than having the place to myself. 

This shop really does live up to its name. “La Brume dans mes Lunettes” means “fog in my glasses” in French. All their windows were fogged up, which gave the shop a gorgeous feel and isolated the cafe from the cold scene of the winter storm. My actual glasses did fog up also when I came in, so bonus points for that! I also realized the cafe had a little corner for an individual seating by two windows which was probably their best seat. Maybe I’ll get it next time. The walls were covered with interest art and decorations. Their main aesthetic was wooden. It was an overall beautiful cafe.

I spent an hour pretending to read my Differential Equations notes, but really all I was doing was taking pictures of my latte. But it made me happy. And sometimes, that’s all that matters. Sometimes you have to treat yourself to a beautiful moment - outside of school, outside of routine, or just outside, in a snowstorm.. It’s important to take some time to regenerate. If you’ve been going through a tough time - may it be for a few years or a few days - and you suddenly get the urge to spoil yourself by running away from reality for a little bit, do it. If you’ve been working hard to try to figure out life and doing your best to be your best, then you deserve having moments that make you happy. Getting out of your usual cycle can make you see life in a different way and put a lot in perspective. In my case, it allowed me to stop. Take a breath. Freeze in the cold. Rethink. Regenerate. And decide. Decide that I wanted to be happy. Decide that I wanted to stop being a slave to my anxiety and start learning to deal with it.

IG: legendoftamar

Grabbed my new ‘Montreal Indie Coffee Passport’ a few days ago and I am way too happy about that.

Coffee Passports are offered in selected cities. They cost 30$+tax. And why are you paying 30$ for a piece of paper? Well the passport includes 30 different indie cafes. You are allowed to go to each cafe once and order a free drink from their selected menu!

So if you do the math - if you get a latte (for example) from each location (4$x30) you will have a value of 120$ on a passport you spent 30$ on. Not a bad deal!

The purpose of this is to motivate you to try different locations in your city! Main challenge: try ALL 30 of them! They are valid from January 15 to August 14, 2017.

Here’s to making more discoveries and explorations…

First stop: Café 1880.

For more info, visit www.indiecoffeepassport.com

Hello beautiful people!!!

So… I have some pretty big news for you.

As you may know, I’ve been using Tumblr as my primary blog but I’m so happy to finally announce that I have made a Montreal Cafe Crawl blog online!!!!

It would mean the world to me if you checked it out <3

www.exploringmtlcafes.com

Insta:legendoftamar

Facebook:exploringmontrealcafes

Cafe Larue et Fils

Location:  405 Rue Jarry E

Metro Station: Jarry

My midterms just ended and I’m finally taking a breath of fresh air. I’m claustrophobic in this structure we call reality and I feel like I can peep my head out of the prison a bit.

I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed with school and general real-life pressure. Don’t get me wrong, I love life and I feel lucky to be able to go to University. But it becomes a lot of weight on our shoulders. Work can pile up pretty quickly. There’s no more time for drawing or painting, playing music or doing anything hobby-like. There is time for doodles and iPhone photography, but nothing in a form of a project. And I sort of miss that. I miss being able to pour out my emotions to create. It’s too risky now. Once I rediscover the passion to make art, I’ll never go back to science again. But it’s all about balance, right?

Just a few days ago, I had the chance to go to one of my favorite bands’ concert. The Lumineers. I was looking forward to the date, but was too preoccupied with all my plans and assignments to really take a moment and realize just how excited I was for this show. I had bought the tickets a while ago and the date sort of creeped up on me a few days before the concert. 

But let me tell you, this concert gave me something I was longing for such a long time. Pure, raw, simple emotion. Music in its simplest form: an acoustic guitar, a tambourine and a cello. Beautiful melodies that made me feel so much - so much that I had repressed for the past few years in order to concentrate on school. 

I felt like I was out of my confined office for once. I realized I had put myself there. And as a consequence, became claustrophobic. 

Life is all about balance. And it’s also about survival. 

We all need those little things in life that keep us happy and keep us motivated to carry on and live through the hard steps. 

I need to play music, I need to doodle because it’s the way I preserve my true self. It’s easy to be confined. As much as we hate it, we put ourselves in that claustrophobic situation because we think it’s the most secure option. We destroy our true essence because we think it’s not good enough for the real world. 

Truth is - we need to get out of confinement - we need to breathe. We need to breathe to function and live and thrive. Without our pure happiness, who are we? 

I realized that going to coffee shops is a survival instinct. It’s my way to escape from reality and find happiness in a cup of coffee every morning. Yes, it’s disguised as my “spot to study” or my “spot to only get coffee before school” but it’s also my “spot to escape”. I may not go to concerts every day, I may not draw anymore, I may not pick up the guitar every weekend. I unconsciously prohibited myself from enjoying life that way in order to be a grown up. But the real human in me craved escapism and needed to get out of the little box. And if that’s in the form of coffee - so be it.

This cafe shown above is one of my favorite spots to go to before school. It’s on my way to Concordia and it’s also right in front of the metro. It’’s not time consuming to get here. The people are very nice. The playlist playing in the background is almost always swing music and it relaxes me each time. The lighting that comes in the cafe is like a glimpse from heaven - so nice to sit next to the huge windows. Their decor is warmed toned and also makes you feel warm inside. They always have beautiful plants and flowers around the cafe. PS: Try to look for some mini hidden origami in their plants… :)

The latte is amazing and their latte art is on point every single time. Plus, it’s on the coffee passport, so for you Indie Coffee Passport holders, don’t miss this place! There’s a Larue & Fils at Jean Talon also, but I haven’t been to that one yet.

So if you’re like me (and you probably are), get your daily fix here. We all need time to unwind.

More and more do I consider coffee as more than a beverage. It’s a way to keep us sane. It’s our daily routine that gives us some time to think about a simple cup of coffee. It’s a way to bring people together, it’s a way to enjoy yourself. 

Currently listening: Flapper Girl - Lumineers

S/O to all those who went to their show in Montreal <3

Now that Montreal’s all snowed in (yes, I had thought it was spring too…), thought I would share my Tommy cafe pics with you. Throwing it back to a beautiful day in March that gave me way too much hope on an early spring… Nonethess, such a cute spot in Old Montreal to check out! It’s really one of the best in the city. <3

Sidenote: The acai bowl wasn’t mine. My friend asked a stranger to Instagram his aesthetic food. 

IG: legendoftamar