en plein air

So I have this lovely spring wedding to go to in the next couple of weeks and so have been on the hunt for a new dress. I wanted it to be super girly and spring-like, plus I wanted it to hide any and all post-baby body flaws still lingering around. Enter the En Plein Air dress from Anthropologie. A quick hemming, some new shoes and perhaps a shawl for the ceremony and here's an ensemble that this lady is more than thrilled with! Part of me wants to get little white gloves to fully complete the "Peggy Olson" feel of this dress.

Now the real question though -- do I make it easy on myself and just go with a simple nude heel or do I go on a hunt and try and match shoes to one of the colours in this dress??

crazy stupid love

Seriously, there is nothing about this movie that should appeal to me. The title is bad, the story looks so predictable - even the trailer music is bad. And yet, at the 2 minute and 21 second mark this movie became my must see film of the spring.

a girl and her dog

Here is a scene that takes place pretty much every day in our house. Lu messily eating something and Sadie waiting, waiting for her to either drop said messy something or hold her hand out in a request for her to clean her fingers. A great deal of concentration on both their parts...




And before you ask, yes, it seems lately my couch pillows are always strewn about like that.

marmalade magic

So maybe you're like me and when you think of marmalade you think of this strange bitter jelly eaten by old ladies at tea time. That pretty much sums up what I thought of it and I never really knew what to do with it. Well enter a great savoury recipe to change my opinion and colour me a marmalade lover. This orange ginger beef was easy and just over the top flavourful and loaded with gingery goodness. Also, I'm sure since the marmalade I used was homemade by my neighbour Brittainy that it just made things that much yummier. I swear, the next time I've got a cold, this dinner is gonna be what heals me. It just tasted like a big bowl of healthy.


Ingredients
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 blade simmering steak, boneless, about 1 pound or .5 kg
2 onions, chopped
1 knob ginger, rinsed well, unpeeled, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of Soy sauce
1x10 ounce can of beef stock
1 cup of orange marmalade
1 cup of orange juice
1 tablespoon of five-spice powder (optional)
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bag of baby spinach
1 cup of bean sprouts
1 bunch of green onions, chopped

• Preheat the pot over a medium high heat then add the oil. Sear the steak on both sides until evenly browned. Add the onions and ginger and stir for a few minutes until lightly browned. If the pan starts to burn, add a splash of water and continue…
• Add the soy sauce, orange juice, marmalade, beef stock and five-spice powder. Rinse the cilantro well then thinly chop the root end of the bunch, add to the pot. Reserve the leaves. Bring all the ingredients to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid and continue simmering until tender, about 1 hour.
• When the meat is tender enough, break it into smaller chunks. Split the spinach and bean sprouts evenly between four bowls. Stir the green onions into the broth then ladle into each bowl. Top with a sprinkling of the reserved cilantro leaves. Enjoy!

r.i.p elizabeth

I mean honestly, look how beautiful this woman was. It's staggering really. I'm still desperate to read Furious Love, the book that tells the love story between her and Richard Burton - a couple known to kick everyone off movie sets so they could get busy. Now that was a real Hollywood couple.

the suburb

Seriously loving Camilla Engman's adorable little art project - so easy and simple and yet so adorable. I can imagine making a whole little village of houses with some rugrats on a rainy afternoon.

cupcake birds

Meet the cupcake birds Trudy and James - fantastic paintings by the uber-talented Lisa Congdon. Sound familiar? Yes we like her a lot here and have talked about her great art before.

for lu

Every time Sadie eats her dogfood she always has to come and "tell" us about it. She'll walk in from the kitchen and wiggle her way over to one of us, tail wagging, bum wiggling, licking her lips and she'll bury her head in your lap, happier than anything. While she does this I say stuff like "Did you eat some food? Was it delicious? Oh I bet it was so delicious! So good!" etc etc. The more I say stuff like that, the happier she gets. When she's done with me I'll say "go tell Marc how good your food was" and she'll trot over to Marc and repeat the whole song and dance.

Yesterday you were laying on the floor kicking your feet and cooing away before your bedtime and after Sadie "told" me about how good her dinner was I said "go tell Lu how good your food was" and she trotted over to you all wiggly and happy and leaned over you "telling" you about her delicious dinner. Of course you laughed at her and the more you laughed the more her tail wagged - like your laughing was the equivalent of us asking her if her food was delicious.

I love that you have a dog and that Sadie has a baby.

kitchen tub?

I know a lot of people would think that a working bathtub in the kitchen is kinda gross but I gotta say, I love it. I can imagine cooking dinner and having Lu splashing away happily in her little kid-size tub. Or doing some afternoon baking alongside a happy kid having a sunshiney mid-day bath. And forget having a highchair - just strip the kid down and let her feed herself in the tub - perfectly positioned for a post-dinner hosedown!


But seriously, this is from a pretty amazing home in Toronto - there's a full house tour over at The Marion House Book and I highly recommend checking out all the pics, they're pretty amazing. I think when I'm in Toronto next month I'm going to find this house, befriend the owners and use that tub. Here's a few samples:

puffball pouf

So VivaTerra is charging $148 for this Puffball Pouf stool. I could totally make this...

vintage nursery

Seriously loving this vintage nursery tour over at Ohdeedoh. I've tried to use a lot of vintage stuff in Lu's nursery (my old baby furniture and baby toys, art repurposed from other places in the house, old family pieces etc) but this nursery really gives me something to aim for. I love the handmade fabric garland and keep seeing it everywhere - I'm gonna have to learn to sew and fashion my own I think.

Also the lucky girl who gets this room, her name is Poesy and I just love that.

ultimate loyalty

We've all been seeing some pretty amazing video footage coming out of Japan these last few days and here's one from our canine friends. Even with everything around them falling apart, with no food or help coming their way, this dog refuses to leave the side of his injured companion. Good news is both dogs were rescued by the videographer. Dogs are awesome, hands down.

turkey and leek pie

Marc made this for dinner tonight - Turkey and Leek Pie courtesy of Jamie Oliver. So delicious and pretty much Christmas in a dish. The only thing that would have made it better was if we had the leftover stuffing to toss in there as well. I think while Marc is at work tomorrow I will secretly make another pan of it and eat it all myself before he gets home.

three potato four

I love creeping the Three Potato Four site/blog and imagining what great antique finds I could snap up and stash in my place. This week 10% of their sales will be donated to rescue efforts in Japan. I mean, it would be silly to NOT shop there now right??

in case you need more reasons...

Ryan Gosling on this blog - no surprise here. But in case (for some strange reason) you needed a final push to get on the Ryan Hotness Bandwagon, here's a shot of him lifting his old dog into his van. How can you not fall in love with a guy who carries his senior citizen dog around??

I mean, honestly.....

danny and annie

This short film fills my heart with warm fuzzy love and then breaks it in half. I often imagine Marc and I as an old couple - happy in our life, remembering how we met and how we fell in love, lovingly mocking each other and our silly habits. Thinking about being that same old couple, dealing with the time when one of us leaves the other one, well I can't even imagine it. This couple tells their story in a way that leaves me hoping that when the time comes, we will still be as in love as we are now.

It's more than a little bit of a tearjerker though so have some tissues handy...

kitchen stalking

I've added this kitchen picture to the old memory banks for sure. The bones are pretty much my ideal kitchen - it just needs a little sass, some vintage lights, and a bit more colour and I'd be drooling.

welcome back

Please forgive me blogland??? I know it's been forever since I've checked in but I've recently decided that my new project will be to try and write at least once a week, ideally every couple days. Obviously with a wee one taking up my days, it's hard to find the time to surf the web period let alone find even more time to post pictures, tell stories and, quite frankly, try to sound clever about just about anything.

I'm gonna try and still write about all the same things I used to but I will admit now, as much as I don't want to be one of those women who have a baby and it becomes all she talks about, this blog will definitely be taking a bit of a turn towards things kid-related. I can't help it. Kid stuff is kinda important now and my internet searches, in addition to celebrity gossip, now often include things like "hip baby clothes" and "handmade baby toys." I've found some pretty cool stuff and I'm gonna wanna share that stuff too. So please just bear with me and I'll try to post often, show you pretty things, and will try not to be 100% baby-centric.

But if it seems I'm not holding true to my promise to post more often, just try to remember - if you had a face like this staring up at you, you'd be hesitant to spend time on a computer too.

luella mae

Welcome to the world tiny new girl!

On September 20th at 6:48pm, we had our perfect little girl Luella Mae. She was born at home with the help of 3 amazing midwives and a full soundtrack of Neko Case. 7'7 lbs and I think a good chunk of that weight is her hair.

We are exhausted, spaced out and kinda clueless but we're also probably the happiest two people around. I won't say that we are now a complete little family cuz we were absolutely a complete little family before.

I'll just say that now things are changing and that's turning out to be a pretty amazing change.

my pregnancy survival guide

So as "the day" quickly approaches, I decided to write about the things that really got me through this pregnancy. And despite all the moans and groans I've shared throughout this whole thing, I must admit that I really did love being pregnant and think I'll miss it a bit when it's all over. Yes there's a lot about it that was hard to tolerate but most of it was really something else. I loved my round belly, if I was having a crappy day at work she'd somersault around or poke a little foot out, I loved watching my belly move around late at night, I loved lounging on the couch with Marc's hand resting on my huge belly like it was a pillow -- all in all your body does some pretty amazing things and if nothing else, you are never bored.

Anyway, to get me through the less than fun times, the following things really saved my butt:

From the Hips: This book is really the only pregnancy book you should read. Under no circumstances should you go anywhere near "What To Expect When You're Expecting" -- it's the worst book ever! "From the Hips" has lots of real stories from real women and approaches everything frankly and honestly as opposed to WTEWYE which pretty much terrifies you.

Stappj: While my morning sickness was relatively manageable compared to some other pregnant women I know, it still levelled me a few times. Stappj, which is an Italian bitter, did wonders to take the edge off the nausea. You can find it at pretty much any Italian grocery store.

Milk: Now I drink milk by the gallon at the best of times but with this pregnancy, I went through milk like nobody's business. Not only was it often the only thing I wanted to ingest but it also worked wonders on my heartburn. Oh the heartburn...

The Alpha Mom Weekly Pregnancy Calendar: If you're anything like me, you'd likely be desperate to know what's going on in your belly from week to week. These kinds of calendars are super easy to find online but often read like a medical journal and are zero fun. Amalah's calendar is honest, funny and no holds barred which is exactly what I wanted. Marc read them too actually so he could know what this tiny person was up to for the week.

Maxi dresses: Being pregnant during the hottest summer our town has had in 50 years was a challenge. A really, REALLY big friggin challenge. Needless to say, that meant that dresses were a must. For me, my feet and legs swelled up really early on in this pregnancy and showing off my newly puffed up limbs wasn't real high on my list so the maxi dress really was my saving grace. Cool enough for the summer, easy to throw on, it hid all the stuff I wanted to hide and with the right accessories they're easily adaptable for pretty much every occasion.

Pre-Natal Yoga: Of all the things that saved me, my pregnant lady yoga is really high on the list. I learned ways to sit and relax that helped my aching hips, learned ways to get the baby in the right position, learned some tricks for labour etc. But mostly it gave me an hour to just sit and breathe and, cliche as it sounds, really forget all the stress that comes with being a big fat pregnant lady.

Swimming: Whoever invented swimming should be given some kind of really big prize. Best. Thing. Ever.

Walking: I tried to walk as much as I could and surprisingly, walked to and from work right up until I was 39 weeks along. I even managed to hike through most of it -- I think we took our last hike when I was 7.5 months pregnant. Even though some days are harder than others and some walks feel like the worst idea ever, I really think they work wonders on your hips. Just keep an eye on the crazy swelling - after a walk my feet would balloon up like mad.

President's Choice De-Alcoholized Beer: Again, being pregnant during the hottest summer on record made me really miss icy cold summer cocktails and chilled beer. Thankfully one night Marc came home with some fake beer for me and my summer changed. The small pleasure of being able to crack a "beer" alongside Marc on a hot summer night did not go unnoticed.

Birkenstocks: Never in my life did I think I'd be going on about Birkenstocks on this blog. They are ugly, totally uncool, certainly not pretty or cute in any way but sadly, they became the only shoes my ultra-swollen feet could tolerate. They're crazy comfortable and soft and my feet were finally able to tolerate more than 20 minutes of walking. So my feet were happy but still totally ugly and uncool.