Lunch with The New Girl | Oretta Toronto

One of the best pasta’s I’ve had in Toronto – al dente – reminds me of the pasta I had in the Amalfi Coast. 

With new encounters, you never know what’s going to happen. I decided recently to start a personal blog to share some of my “archived” photos that have not seen the light of day and to share my travels (currently in Tulum for a couple of days – follow @withmayreese on IG), some of my favourite food and things to do – basically, I can blog about anything I want! Whereas, my photography website is a little more curated to showcase my work. With this new journey, I’m fairly new and don’t really have an idea aside from blogging photos like I do for my photography work. It’s a different game if you ask me – from what I know so far. I found a fitting quote by Edward Weston:

If to live is to express the emotions of life, then to create art is to express the life of emotions.

Last December, I met up with The New Girl, Darlene, to pick her brain a little about blogging. I was so glad that she wanted to meet with me – it was a little easier because we have a mutual friend, Cynthia, who connected us. We met for lunch at Oretta, a newly opened restaurant in the King West area (now the newest brunch spot for bloggers hehe), late December the week of their opening. It’s a beautiful space! They have a private event space upstairs that fit about 60-80 guests – perfect for bridal showers, small weddings, and special occasions (this is my wedding photography instincts talking). It was so nice to hear Darlene’s story and perspective as the new girl who just moved to Toronto and started a blog just over a year ago. We enjoyed a great lunch, laughed a lot, chatted away – needless to say, we got along really well. There’s just something about other people that connects you to them instantly – such as personality, life stories, interests, and aspirations – and I’m glad we have a lot of similar interests and sense of humour that we became friends right away.