little darlings

kai is home from school today; a professional development day.  i took a day off work and we are heading to victoria to visit the lovely melanie and family.  but before we head off i want to leave you with this website; they have photographic prints of the cutest animals.  check out their site (a holiday sale is happening!) and watch this behind the scenes video.



"pickles lives with a pack of dogs and is fully convinced she is a dog herself."

have a lovely weekend.  can you believe it will be december tomorrow?

shawl + pendant

thanks to goop, i came across the designer jennifer creel.  she makes sunglasses, custom jewellery and she recently started a fashion line. loving this purple shawl. so. very. gorgeous. enough said.

from here

also loving the name pendants.  i am thinking of a long necklace with kai's name dangling from it. a perfect christmas gift.  i just emailed her to get more information/quote... fingers crossed.





update: i wrote the above post a couple of days ago.  jennifer has since replied to my inquiry and these very lovely things are not cheap.  the shawl? $650.  the pendants? $850-$1200 plus another $300-$600 for the necklace.  i should have known that a recommendation from goop would be expensive. oh well, my search goes on...




my happy place

i came across a lovely blog the other day, bliss, and i have spent way too many hours looking through it.  the blogger, mrs. french, has a weekly my happy place column where she posts photos of lovely homes. 

i kept going back to this one space; it was one of my favourites.  what do you think?  the layers of kilim rugs and pillows add the perfect pops of colour in an otherwise very white space.  i think i am also drawn to it because of the travel curios on display.  our things on display tell us a story of who we are... and these folks love to travel.  so lovely.









 

i have kilims on the mind because i finally found the perfect rug for the kitchen from ikea (similar to the photo below but with one big diamond in the centre instead of many smaller ones).  yes, you read that right... a kilim from ikea and yes, i placed it in the kitchen.  i love it!  and i am thinking about this one too.

weekend pics

it was a productive and mellow weekend...

le marche st. george is such a lovely little spot; i spent a couple of hours in their pop-up shop and cafe. they have a great space above the cafe that they use for hosting dinners, which i have posted about here, and on saturday they set up shop to sell their beautifully crafted items alongside gorgeous textiles from mexico. the cafe is owned by three members of the larsen family. vancouverites may recognize the name. patricia is the painter, janaki is the ceramicist and klee is the photographer. the latter two along with their aunt, own the cafe.

after enjoying some time drinking a london fog (sadly, no chai on the menu) and eating a delicious sandwich i went home with a few things from the pop-up shop - a cat, a pillow, and a beta 5 holiday chocolate bar with bits of candy cane mixed in; i do love my candy cane!
 









this photo and the two images above are from klee larsen



i also spent time organizing. i bought a few new storage items from ikea and spent most of my sunday re-organizing the closet and cleaning up the outside; it was such a lovely sunny weekend. unlike laundry, i am happy to while away my time organizing the house. i derive such satisfaction from this simple task. there is still more to organize for another day (kai's new bed with storage plus a new cabinet for the entrance way)... i can't wait to delve into these projects!

the boys spent most of the weekend without me but always nearby. kai was building forts, fighting imaginary bad guys, and working on art projects. he did get out of the house for a soccer game and a playdate decorating gingerbread cookies (sam's house smelled delicious and the cookies were so good). although, maybe his favourite thing this weekend was staying in his pjs all day on sunday!

we did get together for a movie and dinner. we were supposed to attend wild rice's first year anniversary party but we ended up at a malaysian restaurant. why? someone who shall remain nameless (not me) read the anniversary invitation wrong. oh well, i did indulge in a nice curried mussel dish with roti that i would not have enjoyed otherwise :-)



jude liked the fort too!





and, we watched first position; a documentary about six young ballet dancers, from very different backgrounds, training for the world's most prestigious youth competition. the ballet world is beautiful on stage but wow, so brutal behind the scenes. it was amazing how hard these young people work to achieve their dreams to dance.  do rent it.



        

happy goodnight

bedtime is one of my favourite things to do with kai - reading, chatting, cuddling, giggling, and finally sleeping.  so awhile back when kai decided he much preferred to have his dad put him to sleep it really hurt my feelings.  thankfully it was just a phase (a really loooong one) that has since passed...  

these days, right before he is about to fall asleep, he takes my hand and nestles it against his chest.  it's the best moment.  he did this alot as a toddler; his way of preventing me from sneaking away once he'd fallen asleep.  here's hoping this phase lasts a loooong time.

nothing gives me more satisfaction then knowing he is connected to me.





art block from here; i posted about it here too



have a lovely weekend.

coveting thy friend's house

coveting thy friend's house is a clever feature from the new york times.  it starts with the gorgeous garden apartment of adam rapoport, the bon appetit magazine's editor, and goes on from there to other incredible homes.  here is a peek at some of the spaces i covet from the feature...









cuff love

i have been longing for a cuff for a loooong time.  these are some beautiful choices but my favourite is the bronze round cuff from winifred grace.  and it would be a really lovely thing to pair it with the slim hera cuff from odette, don't you think? 

i will add them to my christmas wish list.  or, i could just give myself an early christmas present.  why wait?  no, i should wait.  sleep on it.  i will definitely not buy two bracelets. that would be a bit ridiculous, right?


snake eyes cuff

 

bonnie bracelet brass cuff





 

bronze round gauge cuff

 

slim hera cuff (i posted about odette here)

torc bracelet

 

snake bangle