For the Love of Mom

In just over one week, daughters and sons across North America will be paying special homage to their Mom's. Why wouldn't we? We all love our Moms, and all too rarely tell her how special she is to us.

Scratching your head over ways to let her know how special she is to you? Let me help. Of course, once again, I have found that etsy is the perfect spot for one-stop shopping for this special occasion.

This pendant by christinaguenther is an absolute favorite of mine. It is hand-stamped with your choice of words and is a wonderfully thoughtful gift for Mom. In this photo, the pendant is stamped with children's names, but could also be stamped with a favorite of Mom's expressions, a date, or a very special message from you to Mom.



Being a wanderer myself, never really attaching myself to any one place, the phrase "Home is where my Mom is" has always been an saying of mine. This seller must agree. This handmade dish by MudHutt is just the tweet-sweetest.



Representative of the most loving and tender side of Mom is this beautiful photo by ModernClassicsPaper. Is there any visual more perfect than a mother's gentle hand being clasped by the tiny hand of her child?



Wish to tell your Mom in your own words just how special she is to you? This lovely card from MichelleBrusegaard is a wonderful spot to pen those thoughts.



On Sunday, May 10th, remember to let Mom know that she is the most special person in your life. The other 365 days of the year, also remember to let Mom know that she is the most special person in your life.

Favorite Things - April 27

Last week, I treated myself to a new cookbook. I wished so hard that it would arrive in the mail in time for the weekend and 'lo and behold, I was able to pick it up at the post office on Saturday morning on my trip home from the market.

I consume books, engrossing myself so deeply into them that I sometimes forget to come up for air. Never though, has this happened with a cookbook. Typically, I merely salivate over the glossy photos and read quickly through the recipes, dreaming of being the perfect host, presenting these glossy dishes as though they were my own, before depositing the book on the shelf to be pulled out at random intervals. This was different.

I eagerly sliced open my package and pulled out my copy of Laura Calder's French Taste.

Let me tell you, I am one of those who actually do judge a book by its cover, so I was very pleased to see that this book was truly aesthetically pleasing - all cream and pale blue - just like an egg waiting for me to crack it open. Careful not to break the spine of course, the book remained open on the table all day as I was pulled back to it over and over again, until I had scanned it thoroughly cover to cover.

Inside, the book is a wonderland of simple and inspiring dishes that are seemingly simple, yet elegant. Best of all, they are oh so French. Not however, in a pretentious way. Instead, they remind me of a roadside auberge that we stopped in while on our honeymoon in Normandy. The main restaurant was full so we were re-directed to a smaller building to the side of the restaurant. We were shown to our seats, a simple wooden table with rickety spindled chairs. Immediately, an opened bottle of wine was placed before us. "Damn", we thought, "we don't even know what is on the menu, and we don't know how much this meal is going to cost us, and it is too late to back out now." We gave ourselves over to the experience, having no other choice. There was in fact no menu. We looked around and we were surrounded by the sun creased faces of farmers fresh from the surrounding farms. A golden lab loped over to say hello. Soon, food began to flow from the kitchen. Simple dishes, prepared with fresh, seasonal ingredients, plated in a visually appealing yet not fussy manner. Four courses and a bottle and a half of wine later, we were satisfied in a way that a meal in Canada has never managed. (For the record, the meal was just a little over the cost of McDonald's.)

This is what the book to me evokes: a passion for food that draws its inspiration from local and seasonal ingredients, and the knowledge that food need not be a masterpiece to be appreciated. The book is peppered with personal vignettes and essays where Laura Calder shares with her readers the joie de vivre that is evident in her life, much of which is spent, enviably in France. Her book pours forth her natural charm, which if you have seen her show French Food at Home on FoodTV, you will know seems endless. It only makes sense that the food that she prepares lacks pretention and smacks of easy grace. It is a true representative of the cook herself.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend, and getting the chance to spend some quality time with family, friends, and other loved ones.

I must admit that this has been a wonderful Easter day for me already, and it is only a little after noon. Despite waking up to a once-again white world, and a continuing heavy snowfall, we are lucky enough to be snuggled up at home. We decided last week to decline family invitations to Cape Breton and PEI and stayed home for a change. Seemingly this was a wise move, though we did not know at the time. We would have been faced with 15-25 cm of snow along our entire route home.

This morning, as soon as I awoke, I got to open a fantastically generous gift from a Secret Bunny. As part of the on-going fun in the Canadian buy-n-sell thread, we did a present exchange. I have had two packages taunting me for weeks now, and finally this morning I was able to open them. I was truly spoiled, with a wonderful variety of gifties from BovineBubbles, which included her wonderfully decadent bath treats. I am already addicted to her shower cubes, but I now have a new favorite scent. Lemon Lush..... ummmmmmm.


This morning I was also treated to a wonderfully creative breakfast cooked by Darcy. He made use of left over mashed potatoes and layered them with ham and eggs, lasagna-style, and then grated some extra old, sharp cheddar on the top. It baked in the oven until the eggs were cooked. It was delicious.


One of the biggest surprises, was that I also received an Easter card from my sweet. Darcy is not really a big fan of card-giving. To have a pale lilac envelope presented to me this morning was an extra-special treat. I am a card addict, but even I have never really given anyone an Easter card

Finally, I got to crack open my all-time favorite Easter treat, a Mr Munchy. I am sadden to see that Allan Candy, the maker of said chocolate bunny has removed the icing eye, but I will in time make my peace with that decision. As a kid, I always saved the crunchy, sugary eye for the very end, for that final burst of sugary deliciousness.


I hope you have a great day too. If you have a little sunshine, feel free to send it this way.

Favorite Things - April 6

This week's favorite thing is probably one of my favorite of all favorite things: Long Weekends.

This coming weekend is Easter which means a three-day weekend. The idea of it looming in the very near future is glorious and liberating.

For two of the three days there will be no stores or businesses open, which means that even if I HAD to run an errand, I couldn't. If I want to sleep in or have a mid-day nap, no problem. If I want to have an evening coffee I can do so without the nagging thought, "I'll never sleep tonight, and I need to get up early tomorrow".

I can watch movies at 2:00 in the afternoon. Or not. I can go for a drive to the beach. Or not.

I can linger over meals. I will make meals from scratch. I can have a glass, or bottle, of wine with my meal.

Anything that I want to do, I can do at my pace. I can put things off until tomorrow, or the following Wednesday once life has returned to normal.

Aaaah... Long Weekend. The two most glorious words in the English language.

Hunting for Eggs in Canada

Spring has Sprung and the Easter Bunny hopped over to the TransCanada Etsy Team and left some eggs behind!

So we decided to host the first ever TransCanada Etsy Team Easter Egg Hunt. 30 shops are hiding 20 eggs and one person will win a $15.00 coupon to redeem at any of the participating Etsy shops!!!

Join the fun, check out all the details at our team shop! TransCanadaTeam.etsy.com

Here is a preview of some of the fabulous shops of the Trans-Canada Etsy Team:

Neglected

What a poor neglected blog this has become. March is such a sleepy month and it always seems like such a slog to get even basic tasks out of the way, let along try to be cheerful and creative. To top it off, March, left like a lion, leaving in its windy wake 32 cm of snow at the start of this week.

Well, now its April. The grey, foggy skies of this morning have cleared making way for a wonderfully sunny and warm day. I saw my first spring robin, standing in one of many of this spring's puddles. Easter is just around the corner, and with that comes a long weekend... and chocolate. Mmmmm... things are definitely looking up!!!

What the Heck Happened to Spring?

Spring is nearly a week old at this point, and the other night we had a snow storm. Not liking this Maritime weather at the moment.

Anyway.... to bring a little spring cheer I am having a sale in String Me Along.

Announcing the... "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO SPRING SALE". From now until it starts to feel like spring, take 20% off any item tagged or titled with "FLOWER".

Once in my shop, you can enter the word "flower" into the search field to make your search easier. I will refund the 20% through paypal.

Lovlies like this necklace would qualify for the sale:

As would these sweet fabric flower hairpins:

Be quick, I'm sure that spring can't be too far away. At least, I hope not.

Happy St Patrick's Day

I spent 18 months in Northern Ireland during a two year break from university. I grew to love Belfast like it was my own home. Despite the "troubles" I found the people to be gentle and kind-hearted, welcoming and gracious.

I had the opportunity to make many regular trips to Dublin while I was working and I took full advantage of Ireland's relatively small size to explore much of the rest of the country.

With great sincerity, I say: I love Ireland and I love the Irish.

I love the emerald green hills. I love the sing-song lilt of the accent. I love the fiddle music. I love the startlingly blue eyes of a certain gardai who I would occassionally chance to see on Grafton Street, in Dublin. I love the craic. I love all those things that the tourist ads and brochures tell you that you will love. But more than that, I love the spontaneity of the place. One never knows what awaits you when you step into that magical land.

This drawing was given to me to on my very first solo trip to Ireland in, according to the sketch, May of 1999.



I was staying in a hostel at the edge of Donegal town and I was invited to join a group of Australian travelers that evening for a night at one of the local pubs. They chose not one of the touristy pubs with the oak trim and shiny brass, filled to brimming with Americans claiming dubious Irish descent. Instead, they chose a place at the fringe of the town with poster board covering the windows,with only a small sign in the corner giving any hint that at night this was a meeting place. We opened the doors and went into this tiny room, walked up to the small bar and ordered our Guinness. Shortly after, others started to arrive. Some were carrying instruments. There was no band, per se, just people arriving who would get together and play. No rehearsals, no planned sets, just spontaneous music.

The locals who came to drink were quick to welcome our rag-tag group into their fold, even loaning a guitar to one so he could play along for a song. We were invited to dance and taught a few steps. The drawing came to me courtesy of an elderly gentleman, who to be honest, had seen better days. He pulled his pockets inside out to show me the spots where the mice had chewed through. In those snacked on pocket liners though, he withdrew a pencil stub and a piece of an old sign and he drew this picture, so that I would always remember that night in Donegal town.

There is no reason to worry that I will ever forget. It was that night that I truly understand the phrase "the craic".

Favorite Things - March 16

Books.

I have never been able to get enough of them.

For as long as I can remember I have been enamoured with the excitement of page-turning; the what's going to happen next moment. From '"The Signora had no business to do it", said Miss Bartleman..."' to discovering that Grover was the "Monster at the End of this Book" (sorry for the spoiler). From my earliest memories of my mother reading to me from a collection of Little Golden Books, to learning that sounding out letters would form a word, and those words sentences, the love of reading has never faltered.

I still devour books: new books, old books; fiction, literature, non-fiction; cookbooks, travel books, craft books.

Every answer in the world can be found in pages, and holding knowledge in the palm of your hand is still infinitely more satisfying than the immediate satisfaction of google or wiki.

Any need to escape from reality lies waiting with the soft crease of a spine and the crisp turn of a page.

Books foster imagination, educate, entertain, comfort and instruct. They are perfect companions in bed, bath, beach, airplane, or anywhere else life takes you. There is no other companion so versatile.

Wonder Twin Powers - Activate!

I stayed up way too late last night and while flicking through channel after channel of nothing, I came across teletoon retro. Super-Friends was on so I quickly and eagerly tuned in. What kind of fix were the Friends in this week?

I missed the first couple minutes, so I am may be missing some important nuance here, but as the story goes, the Wonder Twins were attending the circus. The ringmaster and his lovely assistant had their evil plot quickly foiled by the Twins.


*Wonder Twin Powers - Activate*

Jayna (who certainly has the cooler of the wonder-powers) turned herself into an elephant, and Zan turned himself into a giant puddle of water, which Jayna then sucked into her trunk and fired at the villains, knocking them off balance enough that she was able to secure them quickly within the confines of her trunk. A daring and bold plan filled with Freudian connotation!

Oh, my. As it turns out the ringmaster and his scantily clad assistant were merely a red herring. The evil-doers in all of this, were in fact the captive circus animals. The real ring-leader, a hind-leg walking, glowing-eyed tiger, announced to the twins that indeed, the animals were the true masterminds, and pulling out a laser shooting device he hypnotised Jayna and Zan. My goodness what will happen to them after the cereal advertisement?

The weird monkey helper of the twins, who unlike the circus animals was not capable of human speech was able to contact the League of Justice headquarters. Superman and Wonder-Woman to the rescue!! They arrived at the circus and battled the animals to victory, smashing the radioactive, laser, hypnotiser.

Why am I so badly craving cocoa coated cereal?

I wish I had never tuned in. Sadly, I realised that the Wonder Twins, despite their snazzy matching outfits and cool catch-phrase, are actually quite lame. Admittedly, having the ability to turn yourself into an animal is a little bit cool, but Jayna turned herself into a beaver for crying out loud. Why? Well, I thought it would be so she could gnaw through the circus tent poles, trapping the villainous animals within the voluminous tent. Sadly, no. She used her tail to slap Zan-style snowballs at her enemies. Seriously? How lame is that? Zan really got screwed in that genetic lottery too. Turning yourself only into water-based products is pretty crappy. Water, snow, ice.... not much else is there? Add in some coloured mix and sugar and he could be Kool-Aid, I guess. Although, even the Kool-Aid jug is better prepared to foil evil than Zan. He at least can crash through brick exterior walls and vanquish thirst, in a variety of fruity flavours. Sorry, Zan, plain and simple you suck!

Its a sad day for me to realise that these heroes of my childhood, really aren't so heroic after all. Without the other Super-friends, they would be nothing. Heck, come to think of it, without the Wonder Twins habitually screwing things up, the Super-Friends would probably get bored hanging out at the League of Justice doing nothing. Thank God, Wonder Woman is still cool.



That's all. A giant tiger just walked into the room and offered me a bowl of cereal.

Favorite Things - March 9

Looking back over the last few weeks, one might leap to the assumption that I am consumed by "stuff". That's not true. I'm not a mad shopper or hoarder, and I don't really think of myself as materialistic to any great extent. The intent of Favorite Things was not to extol the virtue solely of the material. In fact there are many, many intangibles that make me as happy as, or happier even, than any physical item. So today, for a change, my favorite thing is one of those intangibles.

Today, my favorite thing is my imagination!

I've been a princess, a Prime Minister, a giraffe, a zoo-keeper, a gypsy, a unicorn jockey and an Olympian. I've travelled the world, from the depths of the Grand Canyon, to the heights of Kilimanjaro; set foot on each continent and waded in every ocean. I've had lovers. I've had friends. I've had villainous enemies. I've been tall, I've been svelte, I've had auburn hair. I've created a masterpiece that has made the Mona Lisa cry; played first violin for the London Symphony Orchestra; and pirouetted onto the stage in Moscow as Clara. I have seen an end to war; a cure for cancer; and fresh water that runs freely into all the world's thirsty mouths. My Nobel prize for both science and peace, rests alongside my Pulitzer and my Grammy.

There is no situation for which my brain can not conjure an image. It may not be able to comprehend simple maths, but it is alive with colours and images and grand adventures. Dialogue banters back and forth, and I am never short a witty retort. When the going gets rough, I know that things will someday soon be right again, and I know this because I can imagine it. If I can imagine it, many times I can make it a reality, save for the unicorns and towering height.

I have never taken my imagination for granted. I was born before the time of electronic games. Toys were inanimate and it was only imagination that could make them come alive. Toys, themselves, were often merely a limiting prop. I could just as easy dream myself into a castle eating off the finest china - the castle a circle of tree stumps, the fine china the large flat fungus snapped free from the stumps.

I have never limited my imagination to the realm of the possible. Where is the fun in that? I have insinuated myself into existing fables and tales, and created my own dramas.

Lest you think that I am mentally unstable, let me assure you that I am very capable of telling the difference between the real and the other realm. The real is far more boring. Truth is, it is my imagination that at the end of the day, keeps me sane.

International Women's Day

I am a woman. I think of myself as strong, intelligent, possessed of inner power and beauty, disciplined, and willful. I am also loving, gentle, gracious and fair. I am a mix of qualities, and I celebrate this unique mix as being what makes me the woman that I am.

I do not intend to bow to societal pressures, to fit a stereotype, and certainly not to become "the norm".

I know that I am as competent as a man, as hard-working, clever and capable. I can still be all these things without donning the power suit, and hardening myself against my feminine side.

There have been women in my life who have shaped me, and informed the person that I have become. I thank the women who have paved the way toward equality for women, for me, and told me that I can be and do anything that I choose. I intend to pass this message on to the young girls and women who cross my path in this life, helping them strive ever forward.

I applaud those women who have faltered, but have found the bravery to pull themself up and move on. I applaud those women who have summoned the vast courage necassary to escape their personal prisons. I applaud those women who have stood up to bullying and battering, at the hands of a loved one, or by the laws of their society or religion and said "No More" and have taken back their rights as a woman, and a human.

I encourage all women, everyday, to stand together as no woman fights alone.

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker. ~Helen Keller

GASP... Another Weakness Revealed.

This morning I was browsing through etsy supplies looking for fun, happy colourful items. What a joyous moment when I came across the fun, happy and colourful shop of BakeItPretty.

There is no secret to the fact that I am a cupcake addict, and let's face it, one of the joys of the cupcake is peeling back that pretty paper to reveal the fluffy sweetness within. A simple stack of pastel coloured, fluted cupcake papers can therefore, instantly have me swooning. And so,when I stumbled upon this shop it was love at first glance.



A simple white cupcake in chocolate brown paper is a visual I can not resist. But BakeItPretty has amped up the elegance factor by offering a chocolate brown wrapper with flourishes of gold. I could weep at the luxury.



Similar styles are also available in white with lines in pretty primary colours. The white with red wrapper would look so perfectly at home caressing a coconut cupcake, served al fresco upon a gingham picnic blanket.

More wonderful goodies such as lively sprinkles and utterly charming cake toppers await you in this shop of wonders.

Thank you, Nancy Wallis!!

I want to send out a heartfelt thank you to fellow etsy seller and blogger, Nancy Wallis Design, for awarding me the Kreativ Blogger award.



Here are the rules:

List 7 things you love and then pass the award on to 7 people..tagging them and letting them know they won!
You can copy the picture of the award and put it on your sideboard letting the whole wide world know you are KReATIV!
So here are 7 things I love:

I love riding in a train.
I love books that are totally devoted to single themes such as ribbon, English roses, or cookies and that are filled with wonderful photographs.
I love pale pink tulips in the springtime.
I love hot chocolate with loads of marshmallows on winter's first snowy day.
I love Saturday evening dinner with my husband.
I love going to the beach, when there is no one else around.
I love my digital camera and easily get lost in taking photo after photo of the most random ite.

I am awarding the KREATIV award to:

larsphotography

fiveforty at home

gillianbeads

Paper Cakes Finds

crazybliss

craftedgems

cream puffs in venice