Vacation Diary: Day 1

It's here. It is absolutely, positively here and what am I doing? Grinning mostly and: doing laundry and packing, tying up loose ends, talking on the phone, lip syncing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and trying to think relaxing, decompressing thoughts while watching the squirrels chase each other in the freshly cut grass out of

this window while I am writing to you about

my son's room and how sweet it might be

and thinking of the packing and the music buying, the planning, the groceries and the squealing children who are at the Museum now but will soon come home and say "Mommy is it here?" and I'm going to tell them that it sure is. And great as that moment will be it will not even begin to compare to the joy in every day ahead for the next many days. in a row.

Maybe I'll see you back here. Maybe you're on vacation. Whatever you're doing, I hope you're happy about it.

Tuesday Look: A Drop By

After confirming today that I don't have any worrisome spots of melanoma, I headed home earlier than usual to await the 6pm arrival of my family. I was aimlessly pulling up weeds in the front garden when they pulled up happy to be home and wondering about dinner. At about the same time Stephen arrived on his bike. It was a drop by. Don't you just love a drop by?

Here Stephen is sporting jeans by William Rast, vintage Prada shirt and the look good, feel good, give back shoes are Toms.

We took the kids to the park while the barbeque was firing up.

Dinner time round up.

The not husband headed off to his new running club and Stephen took the hoolies up the street for ice cream and I tinkered with the crossword which wasn't as hard as I thought and realized that my tummy was actually right as rain and that the 15 year old mattress made the bed wetting problem smaller and thought about how great Wyatt and Graydie's room is starting to look and imagined the weather starting to turn and thinking about how much more watering I'll have to do in the garden after the vacation which starts on Friday and I realized that the clouds were lifting and it was all thanks to a few minutes gifted to me by my lovely friend the Tuesday Look.

Showers and Showers

Warning: Gloomy weather. Gloomy post.

This is Stella McCartney's cloud print dress available from Bergdorf's for a mere $2200.00. Isn't it lovely? I'm going to a shower for my sweet, lovely cousin Stephanie today (yes, she and her sister did choose to get married in the same summer). I wish I was wearing this dress, I've been feeling rather cloudy this weekend. We stayed home from the cottage to make a beautiful room for Wyatt and Graydie but the blues and obstacles unforeseen seem to have severely hampered any progress. Sigh. That and the 25 mm of rain that fell yesterday brought a rainy day feeling to the house.

A blog reader sent me a message recently telling me that she liked reading about my "well planned life of gratitude". Where do I start countering this claim today? First I need to tell you that my life is a well planned as the contents of my purse is organized (enough said) and I'm trying to muster the gratitude but the following is getting in my way:

1. My G9 got sand in it a couple of weeks ago and when i tried to find my Tuesday look I discovered that it was broken. So then I decided that I was a camera repair gal and started taking it apart which embarrassed the not husband when he took it to the repair shop because "any person with respect for a camera would never just start taking it apart". He's right.

2. My tummy is off.

3. I am having technical difficulties with my gmail and lost some critical "10 list" files so another weekend passed without the great list of Melissa.

4. I wrecked a chair. (don't ask)

5. The Globe crossword is super hard and I have maybe 12 boxes filled in.

6. I had a 2 day dispute with the not husband about a 15 year old mattress and its future.

The weather forecast for today is cloudy with a certainty of showers (both bridal and otherwise). I promise to make my next post a little sunnier. The weather and the gratitude has got to turn soon.

Tuesday Look: Stylish Dress Book Creation

Few people have inspired my sewing this last year as much as the delightful Karyn Valino of the workroom. Her blog is all about "making, learning, teaching and sharing a crafty life". So when Karyn posted this entry about a dress she had recently made I was in a frenzy to find the book, order, receive, tear open and begin immediately sewing. I've had a few sewing failures this year so when the books arrived without a stitch of English instruction to be had, I was a little crestfallen and worried about what was ahead. I decided to head to the workroom to buy the fabric that would catapult the project forward and the lovely wares did not disappoint. I left with the exquisite floral that became the stylish dress book "O" frock that you see above. When I came home today Tuesday Look-less I decided it was time to show you this small sewing success. The dress came together quickly and feels nice on. I just love the sleeves. I hope you like it. I sure smile when I wear it.

And if you haven't been to the workroom or the blog, you should go. I think you'll like it there.

At the cottage before I even get there.

I'm heading to the cottage now with inspiration in my heart to try to make it look a little more like the images to the right. I am thrilled to sweep the plywood floors, clean up after the mice, beat the rugs, staple up the fabric walls, sweep the deck, rake the fallen leaves all around the outside of the cottage, dust the cobwebs, discard the unwanted, centralize like items, cover the air mattresses with linens, turn on the coleman burner to boil the kettle for dishes, brush my teeth over a pail, light all of the candles, change the batteries in the flashlights, plug the ipod into the battery operated speakers, dream of a dustpan that could possible capture it all, wonder how the not-husband will get the late mr. bat down from the very high skylight where it is fixed, play boggle and yahtzee, delight in the isolation from the cellular signals and the ringing, beeping phone sounds. Happy Weekend everyone.

photos courtesy of jubellacottagechic

Tuesday Look: Kenia

It's been a busy couple of weeks and I have been short on Lemon Fresh time but I got back in the saddle this morning and slung the 40D over my shoulder and headed off to work. Stephen and I took the usual route home that takes us through a stretch of town that rarely disappoints in the sartorial eye candy category and presto, I was rewarded for my Tuesday Look discipline.

This is Kenia. (Lemon Fresh's Tuesday Looks are blessed with style and fabulous names no? Remember Kasha, Makara, Sora, Shallom, Dar and the like?) Kenia is a Fashion Communications student at Ryerson and works at the exclusive Ossington style mecca known as Jonathan and Olivia. She also has a lovely list of vintage wares in her Etsy shop.

I was already dreaming of getting out of my shoes when I opened the door to O and J and Kenia was the first person I saw and I think I actually gasped at the sight of her. After thanking the blog gods I asked "Can I please take your picture?" After the usual "what's it for?" and such we headed out front for a few snaps. She is even more beautiful on closer examination and I had to strongly resist the urge not to just post a close up of her stunning face. She is sporting vintage top and skirt, handcuff necklace, leather garter belt (okay you, like me are probably saying to yourself that you could never pull this off but don't you just love it?). Her oh-so-amazing locks are courtesy of the talented Karen Vu of Vidal Sassoon and have probably inspired many fringes. In my enthusiasm, I never even asked her about her shoes. This week's look is enhanced with the confidence of someone who already knows how to express herself with no apologies or second guessing. Kenia has made me a little excited about getting dressed tomorrow. You?

Melissa's list teaser

My lovely, smart, wonderful brother has a lovely, smart and wonderful girlfriend who is about fashion, champagne and the beautiful moments in life. The next list is hers but because I'm running to the cottage I thought I would throw a teaser out there because Melissa loves the beach and that's exactly where this 5 + dog and friends are going.

Melissa on beaches:

I am a beach worshiper. I've been a follower since I was a small child. My mom, brother and I use to spend our summer vacations in California, to visit my aunt (her only sister) and my cousins. I'm sure we did a lot more of other fun things, but my fondest memories were playing on the beach. I also worship everything leading up to the beach:

-the packing

-the car ride

-the set up;

you claim your perfect beach spot. It's hilarious when we get so offended when others set up near "your spot" as if they were sitting on your lap or something (everyone gets so offended when that happens, and whoever denies it is obviously lying).

Happy weekend everyone!

Lovely Music for a Thursday

I've been busy recovering from the mini vacation, getting back into the swing of my career and preparing for the first cottage weekend when someone was so kind as to tweet about the lovely Sarah Jaffe. I hope you like her too. 

On our way to the thrift store we found the Enchanted Kingdom.

I've been away from the city and the blog for a few days as we enjoyed a mini family vacation. The weather was less than splendid but moods were good and I do enjoy the challenge of coming up with alternatives to the usual Christian Island beach splendor. It turns out that my mother lives in close proximity to a jewel of a tourist attraction: The Castle Village in Midland, Ontario. I have been past it dozen of times as I head to the Thrift Store parking lot almost right next door. The thrifting was fantastic but the Castle Village was an afternoon delight and for the 3$ admission fee, the ROI was very high. The precious vignettes were frozen in time behind the glass window panes of these sweetly designed and constructed fairy tale cottages. The details contained within these walls were so thoughtfully executed I could only stand in wonder of who the mindful, artisan(s) who brought these stories to life. The house dresses hanging in Grandma's closet, the seven beds for the seven dwarves. It was visually glorious and delightfully unexpected. What better combination is there?

Red Ridinghood.

Grandma.

The roof angles were perfectly whimsical.

The exquisite Snow White and two dwarves by the fire.

Two more dwarves helping in the kitchen.

The toothbrushes and wash cloths of seven little men.

Sleepy.

Engaged children.

A Happy Canada Day indeed!

The weather predictions were wrong and there's a big golden sun in the sky. Add to that that the lovely Brooke of inchmark made a beautiful rocket ship party for her son and turns out loved our ship party and sent it to sara at partyperfect who decided she would post it too! Wyatt's birthday just got happier. Good holiday to you all. We're smiling over here.