green, blue and black x 2



i didn't realize kai and i were dressed like twins until stefan pointed it out; he asked me if he should buy himself a green jacket too (he already owns a pair of converse).  seriously, i did not plan for us to look like twins on this particular day.

anyway, i adore that i have a son who lets me buy him / dress him in whatever i like.  and apparently i buy him what i would want to wear too.  luckily, i don't dress too girly.

if you have children, do you find yourselves dressing alike?

weekend pics

friends, it was not a very exciting weekend.  i managed to while away my day on saturday with laundry and ironing.  i really have no idea where the day went.  on sunday i whiled away an afternoon (a whole afternoon) at ikea filling my cart with a rug for the kitchen, christmas wrapping paper, salad servers, clean-up cloths, and some cute vintage-y glasses and plates. however, i did not come home with the one thing i went to purchase because i forgot to bring measurements with me. ugh.

but the weekend wasn't a total loss, thank goodness.  we got to hang out with the exact same friends we hung out with last week, lucky us.  we started our weekend with the phillips for hot dogs and the new james bond movie.  such a great film, go see it!  we also met up with the browns at a cafe for some pastries, coffee, and food.  i will never tire spending my time with these lovely people :-)

stefan had to work saturday night so kai and i ate pizza and watched bewitched. i grew up watching bewitched the television show; i wanted to be samantha with her twitching nose.  the movie, unfortunately, was a disappointment.  it did however get kai's imagination going and he invented a game that had us chasing, tickling, and freezing at a snap of a finger... it was fun and exhausting.  but on sunday night, kai had his dad running about the house in a nerf battle! 

sometimes, whiling away time is a good thing (except when ikea and laundry eats up most of my days).



japenese inspired hotdog



image from here



the nerf guns were out this weekend

after a candlelit dinner, stefan and kai had a nerf battle





 

   

circle craft

i personally think november is much too early for all things christmas yet this is the month that kicks off the christmas market season. 

last week, arm in arm with a girlfriend, we made our way to the popular circle craft christmas market.  it is an annual event hosted by the circle craft cooperative who have a physical year round space on granville island.  at the market (a much bigger version of the shop) we found artists and crafters selling their wares; anything from pottery, wood, metal, clothing, jewellery, food, and much more.
 
i came home empty-handed but i did covet these exhibitors:
 


hanging metal stars from wineplanks



t-shirt from whiteout workshop



tea towel from luprints



art block by cedar mountain studio



adorable faux fauna from felt factory...



chocolate bark from chocolatas

necklace from zula jewelry



coral journal from nico paper goods



 

i put together a listing of some other christmas markets taking place in vancouver during the months of november and december, if you are inclined to start your christmas shopping early or, at the very least, get inspired:

• christmas at hycroft (this weekend!) nov 15 - 18;
• vancouver christmas market (german-inspired) nov 24 - dec 24; 
• toque 2012 dec 7 - 8;
• got craft? dec 8 - 9;
• shiny fuzzy muddy dec 8 - 9

  

have a lovely weekend and happy christmas shopping!

h&m&unicef

 

i bought a bunch of new clothing for kai as we gear up to colder weather season.  it’s such fun picking out clothes for little ones.  you are probably thinking, ‘but connie it’s so much more fun to buy for little girls’.  well, maybe.  granted, the inventory for cool boy clothes is  limited and i am very picky with his clothing i.e. tops must have a rectangle shape, no squares allowed; the pant leg cannot narrow in unless it is a skinny jean, they must be straight legged; cute is ok but not cutesy (there is a difference)… i know i have issues!  so, as a result, kai doesn’t have a lot of clothing but what he has is actually worn and, if i can say so, his wardrobe is pretty cool.   i think if i was shopping for a girl it would be equally fun but harder because of the sea of pinks, fussy detailing, and cutesy that is bombarded on them.  just saying.

anyway, let me get to the point of this post - h&m.  i usually have to visit different shops including consignment to get a worthy wardrobe for kai.  however, my recent shopping trip was mostly done at h&m... 6 sweaters and 3 pants.  i wanted to post about h&m because they have collaborated with unicef for their fall collection.  a portion of the sales from their 'all for the children' collection will go directly to unicef to help children in impoverished areas of india by improving access to health and education.  they even have a wonderful little playhouse available!  the prices are higher than usual for h&m but worth it, i think.  i picked up a gorgeous knitted sweater from the collection.  take a peek:

 

i picked up the sweater on the left (see its details just below)



love the flamingos!





love the suit!

 



and do take a look at the sweet video here.  will you shop the 'all for the children' collection?  i hope you will.

pendleton, i covet you

these bags make me want to do a happy dance, especially the last one (i really want). these bags are sturdy yet feminine.  these bags are perfect for a country getaway or roaming the city. which do you love?

 










 

pick your bag: 
1 from amazon; 2/3 from the pendleton; 4 from local vancouver shop plenty (where i first noticed them); 5/6 from an oregon shop; 7 from portland here (my favourite!)

weekend pics

the winter farmer's market is back!  after kai's soccer game, and a quick stop at the coffee shop, we wandered over there and picked up ingredients for a roasted chicken dinner.  so good.  i love the farmer's market, everything about it... the gorgeous produce available, the happy people, the yummy food to munch on (we settled on meatballs and yes, they were yummy).  no impact man would have been proud of this little family of three at the famer's market.  see the documentary, there is always something we could be doing more of to help our little planet and in turn be healthier for it.

we spent time with friends too.  it started with a dinner out, at wild rice again, with the phillips.  it was hard getting myself up from the cozy sofa to make myself presentable for a late dinner out but it was worthwhile; sharing bowls of rice noodles and chinese buns and drunken potatoes with good friends while engaged in a hilarious drawing contest (initiated by kai) is a different kind of cozy that is perfect too.  such goodness.

and then ending our long weekend with alexia, darrin, and kara for an impromptu sharing of more food was lovely.  think chocolates and pomegranate salad.  the only time i indulge in a coffee is at their place, darrin makes the perfect double double coffee for me.  thank you guys!

the absolute highlight of the entire weekend, for me, was sitting with kai in 'my' chair.  i think we sat there for half a day in our pyjamas studying for his school test on wednesday, making pompoms with our new pompom maker, watching curious george and mythbusters, with some chatting mixed in.  i could have stayed put in that chair for as long as he was happy nestled there by my side.  there was just something really lovely about his company.

and then he tried to teach me to play mindcraft... he ended up in frustration with me and i ended up nauseous looking at the screen with all the movements happening on it.  we decided a different video game might be better suited to me :-)

all in all it was a relaxing weekend.

  

 

 

stefan baked a most delicious banana bread loaf with pecans and chocolate chips (kai ensured there was plenty of the latter in the mix)



 

kai was invited to his friend's sister's 7th birthday party at the rink... he and his dad loved it!

such a lovely moment to find kai in kara's crib playing... he is awesome with the little ones

we used our pompoms for present decoration!