I’ve been MIA for a bit, but it’s been for a purpose.

I launched my Etsy store: Sweet Lime Culture.

Lemme give you some background on the store. I am Canadian, born and raised, on the ice rink is where I spent most of my days. Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool,
and all freezing at the bus stop outside of the school.

LOL–ok, ok, let me stop.

So, I was born and raised in Montreal in the middle of a large Caribbean community. The accents and phrases from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Vincent and Haiti became the soundtrack of my childhood and adolescence. It shaped who I am and what feels like home. Whenever I travel to the islands, I step off the plane and am embraced by the islanders, I feel at home.

As much as I feel connected to the islands, I see life through the eyes of a Canadian-born Black woman who is the child of immigrants. Caribbean life in Canada is hearing those accents from various islands creating their own slang and own ex-pat Caribbean culture in enclaves throughout this cold country.

It brings a certain type of warmth to life in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton or wherever the Caribbean community calls home.

It’s a duality of cultures and I love it. That’s how Sweet Lime Culture Etsy store was born. It’s Caribbean culture in words and phrases — it’s the Caribbean in Canada, whether you are from the Bahamas or Barbados. Check out some of the designs:

Fun, eh?

So, I’ve taken those words and put my own spin on them. Go and visit the shop–I hope you find something you like and get something sweet in your life.