a dress that makes her swing...

and more.  i have girls on the brain.  one little girlie in particular... adorable kara! she very recently turned two and we are attending her birthday 'farm' party on the weekend so my radar for cute girlie things is in full force.  my wish list if i were a little girl...





              made in vancouver dresses, redfish



                  cat print from here



adorable owl from here



princess braid tutorial

diy dollhouse, so clever



gorgeous mobile



animal sorter from dwell studio



such a pretty room



my mom is on youtube!

cannoli are popular italian desserts, originating from sicily... my parents birth place. needless to say, i have eaten my share. they are a tube shaped shell of fried pastry dough filled with ricotta (sweet and creamy). ricotta. always ask what the cream is made of, you don't want custard. trust me, ricotta is the way to go.

photo from our 2011 trip to toronto



kai has been introduced to cannoli during our visits to toronto and loves them as much as i do. in toronto, north pole bakery is the place to buy them (as well as sicilian bread). my mom is friends with the owner, lucy, and she can often be found in the back of the shop helping to prepare cannoli plus other baked goods. enjoy this video, my mom is introduced as the 83 year old that volunteers in the shop. too cute... my mom is on youtube!

gobble pasta

i recently purchased a cookbook.  yes, me.  it's like a memoir/cookbook... i love a cookbook that reads like a novel.  dinner: a love story by jenny rosenstrach has been enjoyable thus far.  she and her husband are passionate about nightly family dinners with their two daughters - and swear it's possible if things are kept simple and fun.  she actually has a diary of every single dinner she's made since 1998!

the back to school routine is underway yet i don't think stefan and i have gotten back into the dinner making rhythm yet... so i am trying to help us out with doing some research via dinner: a love story.  who knows, maybe i will learn something and start cooking up a storm.  i have already dog-eared a recipe, a simple curry that i plan to make this week. there is hope.

when jenny writes about meaningful meals i immediately thought about the gobble pasta that stefan has prepared since kai was a little one. it's a meal on heavy rotation in my house.  tagliatelle with ragu became gobble pasta after watching kai devour his huge plate of pasta each and every time it was placed in front him (not surprising since he does have italian blood in him after all!).  do share any meaningful meals you love to cook for your loved ones, i'd love to hear about it!

stefan adapted the recipe slightly from the original found in the food of italy cookbook 

 



weekend pics

we didn't go on any adventures this weekend (well, i didn't, my boys went to see the whitecaps play and kai played his first soccer match too).  there was no 'what should we do today?, we should do something, it's actually nice out.'  instead, we mostly hunkered down at home but i did start each day with a hatha yoga class... bliss. 

we lounged around, cleaned house (kai got into the action too, vacuuming, pairing up laundered socks, washing up bathroom sinks), played a new board game while eating chips and salsa, ordered pizza one night and ate sushi the other, watched a science fiction animated movie, put away any evidence of summer (toys and clothing) and hauled out the cool weather clothing (did you realize fall arrived on the weekend?).

perhaps it was this change of season that allowed us to just be at home, nesting and getting ready for crisp breezes, chunky sweaters, and boots.  we're ready!

kai and stefan picked up cartem's donuts after kai's soccer game... this one is parmesan and honey... so very good!

kai won our first game of settlers... a game that we often played with friends when he was just a wee one...





kai spent some time playing with our neighbour friend finn





loki hunkered down at home too :-)



sempreviva yoga on granville island... a lovely spot! 





modern findings

i am so jealous of this home.  i love everything, the brightness, the splashes of colour, the mid-century loveliness, and the two cats.  i could move in today!

you can see more of this beautiful space here.



 

 



have a lovely weekend!

 



home reading

kai and i are currently obsessed with reading the chronicles of narnia.  there are 7 books in total... we are on book 3. 

we read a chapter or two every other day but before we close the book we read just a few sentences of the next... i love how wrapped up kai gets in the stories. he asks about the meaning of words he is unfamiliar with, he sometimes wants to go back a few pages to reread a certain passage for clarification, and it inspires a conversation.

 

the land of narnia is rich in details and creativity.  we'll be sad to leave this fictional world... it's been a delightful trip so far... but thankfully we have four  more books to get through!

 

     

i covet...

why do these cost so much?  sigh.  i have been actively looking for a rug, a new bag (can't have too many!), a cuff, and a slipper chair... sadly, these won't be coming home with me.



image from here



image from here







from here



image from here

 

weekend pics

our weekend was a pretty relaxing one. except for a couple of kai's commitments we played it by ear.  it turned out to be a decidedly outdoor weekend. it's still summer here in vancouver and apparently it's sticking around for awhile... this makes us vancouverites very happy!

kai received his very first drum lesson.  i tried to convince him to play the guitar (i secretly wanted to get rid of the electronic drum set taking up space in my bedroom!) but he would not listen to reason so after a long search we found him a drum instructor at one thousand rivers.  stefan is attending too :-)   while my boys were drumming i found a sunny spot and did a bit of reading.

when my boys joined me, we wandered through a festival happening in the area - mount pleasant is an up and coming neighbourhood home to young professionals, families, great bistros and cafes, and cool shops.  it's an area that i love to visit but haven't been for awhile so it was fun to discover new shops that popped up in the area - much and little and a bird on a wire both require a re-visit when i don't have my boys in tow... i spotted a few lovely things that may want to come home with me.



felted bowls... sadly not for sale!  i guess i must consider taking a class offered at bird on a wire...



tap dancing performance

 

 







ballet girls... we were given a pamphlet for the school of ballet i think because they thought kai was a girl :-)  he was mistaken for a girl last weekend when we were here... the only thing kai could do was laugh about it!!!



this was our destination...

  



kai was invited to a party taking place at trout lake park which he and i enjoyed afterwards.  it has a tiny beach, walking trails circling the lake, trees to climb and 'hidden' paths to explore.  it was loaded with families and dogs yet tranquil.  i never spent significant time here but we decided it was worthwhile to add to our repertoire of places to visit on a sunny day.  we loved it!

 







we woke up sunday morning and decided to take advantage of the weather and head up grouse mountain (we've only ever been during the winter season)... there we enjoyed a morning of  gorgeous views, especially from the eye of the wind turbine, a lumberjack show (not as corny as it sounds, it was quite fun and funny actually), and seeing rescued bears up close (they are massive creatures and confirms by fear of them!). 

 



















 















other (pet) scenes from the weekend...



the new 'pet' addition... sea monkeys. they are there but very, very, very small! kai is excited.

lastly, a big thank you to sam and jacob for taking kai to visit with the penguins at the aquarium... he loved it... i want to see the penguins too!  wondering what stefan and i were up too? a quickie lunch date and getting groceries... i know, not too exciting but sometimes that's how life rolls.