Winter - where art thou?

Not that I'm complaining. It's almost the first of December (ok panic mode) and it feels like early October, but this just isn't normal.

We are ready for winter. The snowtires are on the car, shovel is waiting in the garage, bought new snow boots for everybody, but today it's bright, sunny and warm.

Usually by mid-November we are rushing to put the Christmas lights up so our fingers won't be frozen by waiting until December. This year, not so much. It doesn't even feel like Christmas is only 5 weeks away. Put the Christmas lights up, are you kidding, tonight the only thing that we are lighting up is the bbq.

Walked to Starbucks today and saw that my neighbor's rosemary plant is doing very well in her garden. Another neighbour has some hanging flowers that are blooming. We were chopping down the plants in our garden this weekend and I found that my rosebush actually has buds on it and it's too warm to wrap it up yet.

So weird. Not that I'm complaining.

I heart new furniture

Image from apartment therapy.

I've decided to change my downstairs office (or also affectionately known as the junk room) and make it more hospitable and a room to actually spend time in.

I would love to find this little sofa in grey.

I'd put it in the corner next to the glass doors with this big reading lamp.

I wanted to buy this house (it's the house at 4149 Beaconsfield with the BIG SOLD SIGN on it), fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, but it sold the next day before we could even go and look at it.

Instead of furniture the husband wants to buy a snowblower. Somehow I think that he'll win this battle and then we'll not have any snow this winter at all.

I heart fall

Boubou looking at snowflakes last year.

If it wasn't for the fact that winter follows fall, it would be my favorite time of year. I don't really like the cold, and the it seems that it takes spring forever to get here. But there are things about fall that I love:

I love the cooler temperatures, closing up the garden for the winter, getting ready for the first snowfall, buying new shovels, the softness of cashmere hats and scarves, planning Christmas and Hannukah parties, stacking firewood to be enjoyed when the weather turns crisp, the sense of expectation and appreciation, the sense of closure.

I also really enjoy fall cleaning. Some people are spring cleaners, but I'm a fall cleaner. If I'm going to be closed up in my house for the next 6 months, I want to get rid of all the junk that I've accumulated over the last year and I want to be able to see through my windows.

This year I'm a little behind in everything. I've been fighting colds and the flu all fall it seems. I usually always have my holiday shopping almost done by now and I have barely started. I told the husband to book time next weekend and to get a babysitter because we are going out to get as much done as possible.

I've made my lists and I'm checking them twice. Time to get organized before the first round of parties hits which is in a few short weeks. Need to make hostess gifts and gifts for teachers and crossing guards.

I guess what I also like is that this is the time of year to say thank you. To show those who make our lives easier that we don't know what we would do without them. So as busy as this season gets, I do enjoy every minute of it.

A late Thanksgiving post

I had meant to post on Thanksgiving Day, but I've had a terrible cold that put me down for a while. I'm just starting to feel like myself again.

So due to the terrible cold most of my long weekend was spent moaning and groaning and feeling sorry for myself. That is when I wasn't wiping my nose, or taking Tylenol, or pontificating on the evils of prolonged usage of Advil on the liver.



Then on Monday morning (Thanksgiving) I'd had enough of myself and said, we're going hiking. So off we went to the wilds of Oka and hiked the Calvaire trail. It was lovely. It is a connection of trails about 5 km long with little chapels or prayer stations dotted along the way. All connected at the top by a group of 3 small chapels. And what a view from the top. Magnificant. I had expected to see more red and yellow foliage, but there was still a lot of green.





Feeling a little hungry after our hike we stopped by the Oka Monastery to buy some cheese and maple chocolate. Originally made by the monks, they still oversee the production.



I was even feeling well enough to cook the fowl and make fresh cranberry sauce and giblet gravy. So all in all not a bad day.

Today's gonna be a good day

This summer I discovered Fitflops. For the uninitiated these sandals are supposed to do everything from giving your bum a great shape, to strengthening your legs, to giving you a workout while you walk. I just think that they are the most incredibly comfortable sandal. I wore mine all summer and was sad to think that I had to put them away when fall arrived.

Then today low and behold while we're all out shopping at Rockland I found these beauties. Fitflop slippers.



I couldn't believe it. They also had little boots but they looked too much like Uggs for my liking (ugh). Didn't have time to try them on as it was 5 minutes to closing and I hate to be rushed. But I'm heading back tomorrow. Yeah.

Big sale in the shoppe

I've put all my short sleeved tees on sale in the shoppe to clear out my summer stock.

I have been spending more and more time designing for my adult tee shoppe. So is this the beginning of the end for my children's tees?

Not sure yet. Have to make some decisions.Can't do it all.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. And eat lots of turkey.

the carcass of summer has been incinerated

The last night before school started and Shel turned to me as I was putting him in bed and uttered these words, "The carcass of summer has been incinerated."

But where, I asked him, did you pick up this language?

He looked at me incredulously and said, "The Coneheads".

A little overdramatic, but accurate.

Why is it as soon as the page turns from August to September you can feel the difference? One day it's summer and the next day it's September. Almost fall.

Pictures of the night sky taken on the way back from Ottawa to Montreal.

August 2 - back to school (shopping)

This is what August 2 looks like. Can you believe it?

I thought that I would be ahead of the game by picking up some school supplies this morning at Jean Coutu. So this afternoon I'm bragging about it to another school mom who tells me she has finished her back to school shopping.

what the.....?

You've got to be kidding me.

So I rush off this afternoon to pick up a few more things and the place is packed with mothers, arms laden with school supplies. They poor clerk at Jean Coutu can barely get the stuff out of the box before it is snapped up.

It was too crowded for me so I grabbed a few things and plan to go back this evening to try to finish most of what is on Shel's list.

Now if I could only understand what most of it is.... what's a Blue Lepage Fun Tak?

Summer in NYC

We just got back from spending 5 days in New York instead of our usual trek to Nova Scotia.

I was concerned that we would have terrible weather and be stuck in our hotel room, but it was magnificant.

We did all the usual tourist stuff, but we also spent a nice afternoon in a children's park in Hell's Kitchen. I thought it was a non-gentrified neighbourhood, but turns out it still costs a fortune for a 1 bedroom apartment there.

We stayed on the Upper East Side and found lots of little restaurants. On our last trip to NYC our eating experience was not so positive, but this time we were very happy. I recommend Angelo's for Italian and Wild Ginger for Thai.

I bought this at Williams Sonoma and can't wait to try it out with both sweet and savory fillings.



(first celebrity sighting - guy from Bedtime Stories) (second celebrity sighting)

Cape Breton dreaming

First official day of vacation. Great trip planned to NYC, but I still wish we were going back home.

Cape Breton, near the Keltic Lodge

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Just too many life events going on.

• School ended for another year
• Summer camp started
• Visit by these lovely people.
• Computer problems - now sorted out
• Planning a vacation here
• Leaving the life of a consultant to be permanent (that was scary)

I'm going to try to be more faithful to my blog and post more often.

To do list for the summer:

• Buy an ice cream maker and make loads of homemade ice cream
• Actually use my panini maker
• Return here
• Create a business page on Facebook
• Improve my tennis game (I have to now that the wee man is in tennis camp
• Get out of the city more
• Introduce the wee man to "campy movie night".
• Start my latest venture and focus on it for a while.
• Read a classic that I've always meant to get to.
• Schedule more playdates and not just spend the weekends running errands
• Improve my roundhouse kick.
• Finish decorating the wee man's bedroom.

That's a good enough start.

I had computer problems a while back and as a result I lost all of my favorite links. At first I was horrified, but then I managed to find the ones that I frequented the most and found some fantastic new ones. Here are some of my new favorites. Great reads.

• Shutter sisters
• Life in a sippy cup
• Garance Dore
• Lobster and swan
• Shining egg

Newest obsession: Apartamento

Old photos

I recently found these old photos.

First bbq of the season

Well, not really, we bbq all winter long, but this if our first family bbq where we ate outside.

You can tell that Max is really into it. We did have pity and give him a wee bite of bacon.



I am not a beer drinker, but I did enjoy this Cheval Blanc Blanche. Very light and had an aftertaste of ginger.



We're all in various stages of recovery from spring colds and viruses. It really has slowed things down. I had hoped to have a lot more accomplished but it will all be done in it's own time.

Gift certificates available in shop

Making gift giving easier. Gift certificates are now available in the shop.

Jellyfish tees

More jellyfish tees. Some for the shop, some for birthday lootbags.