Hi everyone,

I’m back from Italy, a trip that was lovely but that I wandered through with a heavy heart. I’m devastated that Spencer is sick. Christina has been an incredible friend to me since we met when I moved to Calgary. When she met Spencer, I was lucky to gain another incredible friend.

I’ve had the privilege to watch Christina and Spencer together many times – whether it’s been during our dinners at OJ’s or over sushi, watching Oscars at their condo or relaxing at my family’s cabin – and I know that their relationship will be such a force in fighting his illness. Individually, they are both strong, awesome people; together, they are an unstoppable team.

As for the Toque Girls blog, Christina and I have always said that we’re in this together. We’re both in or we’re both out. I fully support Christina’s choice to stop writing and, so, this will be my last blog post. We’ve had such a great time with you for nearly three years, but it’s time to move on. This summer, I want to spend time with Christina and Spencer, my family and my friends. I can think of nothing more important.

So, to our readers, thank you for your support the last three years, for encouraging us along the way, for the many kind comments you left on Christina’s post last week. You have moved us.

To Spencer, thank you for your friendship, not to mention your support of our blog since Day 1. You’ve been our one and only Toque Guy. To Christina, I couldn’t ask for a better friend or co-blogger. Thank you for being you.

We’ll tackle the next chapter together.

~Michelle

This is the hardest post I’ve ever written. It will also be my last.

Last Friday, my husband, my true love, Spencer, was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer. We are devastated and stunned.

For five years, we — he, really — have given up so much to get through his surgical residency. So many weekends apart, so many nights he spent in the hospital, so many things we didn’t have time to do together. Now, here we are, two weeks from the end of residency, and everything has suddenly crumbled. I feel like we’ve been pushed off the roof of a skyscraper and we’re falling so slowly and so quickly at the same time. Everyone who loves us is reaching out to grab us, but we’re still falling.

Over the last three years, I often felt like I gushed about Spencer too much on the blog. But I couldn’t help it. We are true loves and best of friends. He is the centre of my world. During our wedding ceremony, the priest asked each of us why we wanted to marry to the other. I said that it’s because my happiest moments are always with Spencer. That remains true and will always be true.

So I am giving up the blog. I have to dedicate all my energy to the battle we have ahead. We can do this. My husband is exceptional in every way. He’s young, strong, an incredible athlete. He’s driven and motivated. He does amazing things. And he will be exceptional here.

To our readers, thanks for checking in everyday. Please remember Spencer in your thoughts and prayers. To my co-blogger, Michelle, thank you for your kindness and love. I know you’ll post when you get home from Italy and tell everyone about your plans. To our friends and family, Spencer and I feel tremendously loved and we know you are an army around us. Our nephews are magic to us.

To Spencer, you know how I feel. I don’t need to tell you here. xo

~Chris

My grandfather, Poppy, died yesterday. I don’t have the heart for a big post today. But I’d like to tell you a little bit about him. He had a full, incredible life. He lived to be 96 years old and had enough personality for 10 men. He was a fisherman, a storyteller, a grand lover of life. He celebrated at least one of his 90-something birthdays in the pub.

Below, a photo of my nephew, his great-grandson, visiting him in Newfoundland last summer.

~Chris

Happy February! Can you believe we’re 1/12th done 2013? Neither can we. We celebrated the last night of January with a Phillips beer tasting at National. The Beer. Was. Delicious. Chris will give you more details on Wednesday. Till then, here’s a quick shot from last night.

We plan on easing into February with a low-key weekend. Chris is pumped to catch up on Homeland and Michelle is excited to check out a few places she’s been wanting to explore, like Vine Arts, Bite Groceria and Vendome Cafe.

Now, on to the list:

• Michelle’s fashion story about Poppy Barley, an Edmonton start-up specializing in made-to-measure boots (which are gorgeous!!), ran in the Calgary Herald on Tuesday. Check the story out here. (Sidenote: Michelle is now saving her pennies for the military-style boots.)
• For those of you hosting Super Bowl parties, please enjoy this Macho Nacho Dip recipe we posted in 2011. Always a crowd-pleaser.
• This Laura Mercier luxe eye-and-cheek palette looks fantastic! The colours are perfect. It’s on Chris’ list of treats to buy when she needs a treat.
• Check out Rolling Stones’ list of the 50 funniest people right now. Let be your guide for searching out Youtube videos. It will be your favourite part of the day. (To make things easy, here’s the Daniel Kitson pigeon video. Ha!)
• Our latest new favourite chocolate bar: Moonstruck, preferably in dark with sea salt.
• This Madewell linen tee is outrageously comfortable. Chris wants one in every colour.
• If you haven’t seen Kid President’s Pep Talk this week, watch it. It is amazing, especially if you’re in need of a boost.  “The world needs you. Stop being boring.”

On that note, have a great, not-boring weekend and we’ll see you Monday.

~The Toque Girls

Happy Monday, everyone. Hope you had a great weekend. I had a girls’ weekend that began at the excellent Wings of Hope lunch and then migrated to Banff. We hit many of my favourite spots — the Rimrock for a snack, Wild Flour for coffee, Maple Leaf Grille for dinner — and returned yesterday. Now it’s back to real life.

To ease the transition into the workweek, let’s get to some jewelry news and a giveaway for Toque Girls followers! Rachel Mielke, the CEO of Hillberg & Berk, let us know that she’ll be opening up a holiday store in Calgary on November 3. The store will be located at 110 – 880 16th Avenue SW in Mount Royal Village. We love Hillberg & Berk’s designs and I own a few pieces myself. Check out the stunners below, all of which will be available at the holiday store.

This sterling silver, kyanite, tiger eye, rutilated quartz, crystal quartz and Swarovski bracelet goes for $365:

All you have to do to enter is comment on this blog post by Thursday at 5 p.m. Easy peasy.

We’ll announce the winner on Friday. Should it be you, the earrings will await your pickup from the holiday store. Good luck!

~Michelle