Category: inspiration

Ringing in 2025 with a bit of dreamy magic

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Right at the tail end of 2024, something magical happened — yup, right in the wake of my Dad’s passing 💗

Life has really weird timing sometimes, but, I have learned not to question timing. Instead I try to lean in, say YES, and ask questions later 😜

At 41, I found myself back on stage with @cake.cabaret, a brand new performance venue on the Danforth in Toronto, Canada. We are talking full on me-and-a-mic on-stage solo performances for the first time in over a decade (7 down, 3 to go….and I’m only getting started 💃). Not only have I had the chance to live out my 💫vampy lounge singer dreams💫, but I have had the opportunity to once again feel the absolute rush of ENERGY and JOY that comes from being on stage.

That first show put me right out of my comfort zone — who am I to show up and do this after so long!? And surrounded by these outstanding professionals!? But here’s the thing about the creative community — it is a beautiful space of support and encouragement. This group has been incredible

Friends, listen up — if you feel like there is a little something missing…or if you feel as though you have lost your sparkle — it is not too late to find it again ✨ Because I can tell you after 7 performances of this show, the SPARKLE IS REAL (and it’s not just the sequins on my dress)

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they are too small”

Let’s go 2025 🥂

Dear Future You: A Letter for Your 5th Birthday

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Dear Harrison,

Do you remember when you turned 5?

I do.  I remember it well.

It was the year that the entire world stood still.

The year that time, seemingly, stood still.  The streets were eerily quiet, the stores were closed, the school was closed.  We could not go to the park to run around.  We could not visit your friends.  We could not have playdates or parties.  We could not go anywhere.   No plane rides, no car rides, no trips, no plans.  For weeks on end, our world was held within the four walls of our home.

As I write this, we are on week #6 of isolation here in Toronto due to COVID-19.  This virus took over the world, and you are turning 5.

I will remember the highs and lows.

I will remember getting “suited up” to go grocery shopping, feeling as though I were heading into battle, constantly fretting about what germs I might be bringing home with me.

I will remember you bursting into my Zoom virtual meeting for work (while I was leading a group of about 15 people in a discussion) when you yelled “SURPRISE!!” just to show me your latest craft project.

I will remember hearing your laughter and squeals of delight from the back lane as you played for hours with your dad.  Learning to ride your two-wheeled bike was the ultimate highlight for you.

I will remember the seemingly endless “groundhog days” of wash, rinse, repeat.  The same things day after day after day after day.  Nothing much different, nothing much new.

I will remember struggling to keep up with work, to lead our team, to develop new offers in this virtual world, to feel the weight of bringing in revenue on my shoulders as we all fight for our new “normal” in the business world.

I will remember your daddy working until midnight most nights, trying so desperately to juggle full time parenting and full time work.

I will remember you asking us why we hadn’t moved yet.  “Why isn’t daddy building our new house?”, you asked.  “But I thought we were supposed to start in May?”, you wondered.  You didn’t miss a beat.

I will remember you crying for seemingly hours during the first week of isolation, ultimately crawling into our bed and clutching ‘brown bear’ for comfort.  We were all confused, scared, sad, frustrated.  The spectrum of emotions covered in the span of short hours.

I will remember taking you for morning walks, badgering you about keeping away from people, crossing the street to adhere to the 6 foot social distancing rules, fretting about what you might be touching, unsure of what was no longer safe.

I will remember you asking about the police patrolling Withrow park, and if you were breaking the law by eating your snack outside.

I will remember feeling completely in control, and completely lost, all within one day.

I will remember FaceTiming with your brave Auntie Sarah, always in her face mask, protecting those she loved at home as she returned to the front lines of the emergency room day and after day.

I will remember your Uncle Brennan, deployed with the army to go and help those most critically in need.  Those at the long term care facilitates who have been hit so, so hard with the terror that is COVID-19.

I will remember wondering what kind of emotional or psychological damage this might causing you.

I will remember losing loved ones, knowing that we cannot be there to celebrate their amazing lives, and knowing that we cannot be there to hold those who mourn.

I will remember feeling helpless and heartbroken about the excessive loss and sadness that has spread throughout the world.

I will remember the sun streaming through our windows in the morning, and wondering when the last time I went outside might have been.

I will remember doing nothing, but doing everything, all at once.

While the world stood still.

But the memories I will guard closely? Those that I will hold most near and dear to my heart?

Those, my love, are the special moments I spent with you.

Reading for hours.  Building LEGO creations over and over again.  Ploughing through your “learn to read” app and feeling SO proud of you.  Building a heck of a lot of couch-cushion forts in the living room.  Stuffie parties.  Zoom calls with Mr. Recke and all your friends from your Kindergarten class.  Snacks….oh, the endless snacks.  PJ’s until noon.  Baking.  Pancakes.  Painting.  Our morning walks. Creating “Nespresso Castle” and a paper bag puppet show.  Chalk art.  Drawing lessons on You Tube.  Listening to the Frozen II soundtrack ON REPEAT.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Soccer drills, baseball, football, kickball, tennis, hockey, timed sprint runs…any and all sports.

Following our schedule, and throwing the schedule out the window.

Laughing and crying. Yelling, hitting, pushing, kicking.  Anger, frustration, joy, despair, sadness, love.  It’s all been here.  Within these four old walls that we currently call home.

You are turning 5.  The world stands still.  We are in the middle of a global pandemic, and you, my love are 5.

One day, you’ll ask me about this time.  I’ll try really hard to explain it to you.  You’ll read this, and try to remember.

But I’ll remember.  I’ll remember that this was the time that I truly realized what a precious gift you are.

Because you, my love, you are the future.

Lots of love,

Mom.

My Post-Partum Fitness Journey.

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Yesterday marked day 21 of the 21 Day Fix challenge that I began on Feb 8th.  21 Day Fix is a workout and nutrition plan that was created by my latest girl crush, Autumn Calabrese.  It’s part of the Beach Body Fitness programs (you might have heard of P90x or Insanity?  Same company!).

Reflecting upon the past three weeks allowed me to realize that I have done something solely for ME every single day for the past 21 days.  Forget the program. Forget the results.  As a relatively new mom, now THAT’S something to celebrate!

But let’s back up for a few minutes, because I wasn’t ready for this a few months ago.  It took me some time to get here.

Fitness has pretty much always been a part of my life.  I started working out at the gym in high school, when a handsome neighbor from my graduating class suggested we lift weights together at the gym.  He seemed to have it all figured out, somehow managing to simultaneously rock both football and musical theatre like a character straight out of Glee.  I immediately enjoyed feeling strong and started learning my way around a gym.  Fast-forward to my university days when I became a varsity cheerleader.  Being part of a competitive team allowed me to see fitness in a different light.  I further developed my weight-lifting knowledge, competed in national competitions, rode in the back of an ambulance with an injured teammate, and threw-up after the dreaded “hill runs” during practice.  I loved every minute of it.

After university my fitness journey continued:  Body Pump classes at Goodlife, completing my first 10K running race and two half-marathons, and beginning personalized work-out plans created by my now husband, Christian.  Boot camps, ballet based dance classes, spinning, cross-fit, hot yoga…you name it, I was up for trying it all.  On my wedding day, my shoulders and triceps looked pretty darned awesome, if I do say so myself.

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Once married life settled down and the home renovations took over our lives, fitness started to drop down the priority list.  My husband and I slowly started adding on a pound here and there….we just couldn’t seem to bump fitness and health back up to the top of the priority list.

The year before I got pregnant, I knew I wasn’t feeling (or looking) my best, but just wasn’t motivated enough to make serious changes.  I mean, what was the point if I was just going to “undo” all my hard work during pregnancy anyway?

By the time my due-date approached, I had gained nearly 50 pounds.  I didn’t beat myself up about it — let’s be honest: I grew a human!  In fact, it was kind of liberating!

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Fortunately, Baby H took to breast feeding (which happens to be an excellent calorie burn). Between that and walking walking walking and walking some more the pounds started to fall off.  Slow and steady.

In the late summer, Christian decided that he was going to break the “dad-bod” stereotype and do the aforementioned P90x.  I resented him for it.  Fall was by far my hardest stretch post-partum and I resented the fact that he had the drive, energy, will-power, physical ability and desire to commit to this program.  I just wasn’t there, and I took it out on him.  Big time.

By late fall, I was starting to crave fitness for myself again.  I joined a mommy-baby Ironcore class and a spin studio.  I enjoyed feeling the sweat and burn, but my post-partum body was completely different than the one I had been working out with for 30 years prior.  Balancing baby and home and a part-time return to work, it was hard to make it to class more than once or twice a week.  The number on the scale told a “great” story but the mirror told me otherwise; I seriously missed my muscles and my abs were a distant memory.  I told myself that I “looked great for a new mom” but I knew that I wanted more.  If I truly prioritized it, I could look AND feel great. Period. No “for a new mom” qualifiers needed.

And then fate stepped in.  At a January get-together among friends, I caught up with Heidi.  She had been running some clean eating and fitness challenge groups on Facebook and I had read about her own fitness journey a few months prior.  The program is simple: regular 30 minute workouts that you do at home, alongside a balanced nutrition plan.

With a young baby and a nap schedule to work with, I knew that in-home workouts would be the best way for me to prioritize fitness for real this time.  I signed up for the 21 Day Fix program as a part of Heidi’s challenge group the very next day.

So here we are, 21 days later.  I feel like my fitness journey has just re-ignited again and I am so thrilled.  In three weeks I have lost 5 lbs and 5 inches….but most importantly, I feel amazing.  I have so. much. energy.

The best part is that I’m just getting going.  Through this experience, I have learned two key things:

  1. Becoming a mom does not have to push you to the bottom of the priority list.  Prioritize yourself.  I am a better mother and wife because of this.
  2. I am extremely motivated when I am motivating and encouraging others.  For this reason, I have become a Beach Body Coach, which means I want to help YOU reach YOUR fitness goals.  Yep, I surprised myself when I signed up, but here we are.

My next 21 day fitness challenge begins on March 14th, 2016.

Will you join me!?  Drop me your info and let’s do this together.

 

 

It takes a village to raise a mother.

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I remember first hearing the term “the village” back in my mid 20s when I was working in corporate sales for the first time.  A colleague of mine, who had twin girls around 6 years old, used to joke about how she would be lost without her “village”: mothers, fathers, caregivers, friends who lived in her community that all contributed in some way to the upbringing of her children.  I didn’t fully understand what that meant at the time, but it always stuck with me.

Fast forward nearly 10 years later and here I am, planning for my return to work after spending 10 months off with baby H.  I have just started part-time work, easing into full time by early May.  I’m so excited to get back into it, however, this past month has been overwhelming and stressful as I research, interview and learn as much as I can about childcare options in Toronto (more on this in a future post!).

It slowly dawned on me yesterday:  Christian and I are only starting to build Harrison’s village now.  This year has been about building MY village as a new mother.  And let me tell you, it takes a VILLAGE to raise a mother.

Last week, I enjoyed a night out with 7 amazing women.  As I sipped my wine and looked around the table, I realized that I did not know anyone sitting with me just one short year ago.  They were strangers on my street, nameless neighbors that I might pass by en route home after a long day at work or nod to while driving by on an errand.  Now, they are part of my village, and I call them my friends.

It would take me thousands of words to honor each member of my village…but I would like to at least try to illustrate the diversity of people who have touched my life throughout my motherhood journey so far.  The most incredible part, to me, is that support and encouragement can come from everywhere: you just need to accept it.

It’s the new mom across the street who, although I barely knew her, gave me confidence right before I was reluctantly induced into labor as she shared her birth story with me.  We were basically strangers.  Now we get together at least once a week for coffee chats and walks.  She constantly brings us food and goodies.  I recently attended her daughters first birthday and felt like an extension of her family.

It’s my uber-prepared friend who researched EVERYTHING to do with pregnancy, baby, child-rearing, car seat safety, weaning, airplane travel and RESPs.  She had her baby first, and then passed down each and every tid-bit of information (and baby stuff!) she could possibly think of.  She has been and continues to be an amazing resource, and is the reason that we made the decision to put H in cloth diapers (when I vowed I would NEVER use cloth diapers.  Never say never).

It’s my own mum, who flew from Vancouver one week after Harrison was born and moved in with us for an entire MONTH.  My husband was a bit skeptical about having his mother-in-law move in for that long, but we were all sad to see her leave by the end.  She was amazing at keeping me on track and helping me figure out a routine.  Every morning by 10am she would say to me (in her precious Irish accent): “Right…what’s for dinner tonight?”.  Dinner!?  I haven’t even showered yet!  But she helped start a habit that has since evolved into regular weekly meal planning for our family.

It’s the free-spirited woman down the street who was out walking with her daughter, saw me walking Harrison at barely a month old, and literally doubled back out of her way to introduce herself.  Although she claims to be an introvert, she made the first move to say “hi” and we’ve had many a play date ever since.  Her daughter has a grin that makes my heart melt.

Through her I met another amazing woman, who makes the best darned macchiato anyone could ask for.  And let’s be serious: coffee IS the way to a mothers heart.  The first time we got together we talked and talked like old friends. She is kind and generous and makes me LAUGH.

It’s my mother-in-law, who will drive 1.5 hours just to spend an afternoon with her grandson.  We have had many a lunch date, cups of tea, chats and great visits – I will miss this quality time with “nana” once I’m back to work full-time!  Her texts, emails and words of encouragement have helped to build up my confidence as a mom.

It’s my husbands’ cousin, who I now know at such a more meaningful level than I ever did before.  She is a mother of two and is in the process of building a coaching business targeted towards new mothers.  Her wisdom, encouragement, and ability to challenge has forced me to continue to carve out time to be MELISSA.  Not mother. Not wife.  Not employee. ME.

There’s the woman with school-aged kids who runs a part-time home daycare down the street.  Her 6-year old daughter loves children so much you just know she got it from her mom!  There is something so comforting about knowing that just down the street you have someone who will take care of your child as though they were her own.  She currently looks after Harrison one day a week while I begin my transition back to work.

And across the street, another mother of two who has boundless stories and tips to share.  She has loaned me books on baby-led weaning, sent me links, recipes, left zucchini chocolate cake on my doorstep when I had a rough day (yes!  on my doorstep!).  And she has this incredible aura that I can’t describe: I feel calm when I’m around her.

It’s my “Innovation Girls” who I met at a conference a few years ago.  6 weeks post-partum, they arrived at our home, took over our kitchen, and made us the most glorious home-made pasta dish.  It was the BEST gift.  (Ok, so maybe coffee AND pasta are the way to a mothers heart).

It’s my father-in-law and “Bonus mom” (as I refer to his partner!) – they have stepped into the grandparent role with so much zeal.  Finding excuses to pop by, bring gifts, food, get together’s, babysitting…anything for more quality time with H!   The joy that they show when they see him is nothing short of heart-warming.  If we haven’t seen them in a few weeks, I can expect a call or email asking for the next “Harrison fix”.

It’s my bonus-mom’s co-worker, whom I have NEVER met, who offered us all the hand-me-downs from her children.  My in-laws literally showed up with bins upon bins of clothes for H.  He’s set until age 2.

It’s my friend who is a mother of two and trained sleep coach, who worked with me in the summer to move baby H towards a regular daytime and nighttime sleep schedule.  She has incredible advice and is extremely passionate about constantly evolving as a mother – she researches, attends workshops, and does all she can to continually improve – it’s very inspiring.  (More on sleep training in a future post as well – I owe this woman my mental sanity).

It’s my sister, who visited in the summer to spend a week with her new nephew.  She sang, and sang and sang and sang some more.  He loved to listen to her sing.  Kokamo has become an instant classic in our home after her visit.

It’s my hometown mom friends: I may not see them often, but our messenger chat group is constant: support, frustrations, questions, bitching, hilarious photos, videos and comics.  I’m so thankful for these virtual touch points.  And there is power in threes!  If one of us is having a rough day, chances are at least 1 out of the other 2 is having a good day and can help offer encouragement.  Or at least a virtual photo of a glass of wine.

It’s my church: the overwhelming support, love, messages, cards, gifts and advice.  So much mom and family wisdom in my church community.  I’m basically covered until H heads to college.

Finally: my husband. Of course he’s part of my village.  Having a child together changed our marriage more than we could ever have imagined.  We had our ups and downs.  And believe me, there were moments when we wanted to kick each other OUT of the village all together.  But we didn’t.  We figured it out together.  Christian has encouraged me and supported me as best as he could while concurrently determining his “new normal” as a husband and father.

And it doesn’t end there.  I could go on and on and on.  The smiles. The encouragement.  The freezer meals. The sharing.  The texts. The advice. The gifts. The support.  How incredibly lucky am I to have been building my own village on top of such a rock-solid foundation.

Whether your village is 2 people or 20, young or old, near or far, it doesn’t matter.  Build it.  Because becoming a mother is crazy journey, and you’re going to need all the help you can get.  It takes a village to raise a mother.

Thank you to my village.

[Photo credit: Sweet Grace Photography]

A Good Mother.

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This is not exactly my typical type of post, but I needed to get something off my chest.  That’s what blogging is about, right?

Today marked a milestone in my life as a mother. Nope, not a tooth or a first food. Not a birthday or a first step. Not a smile or a word.

Today was the first time I experienced extreme judgement from a complete stranger, all because of the actions of a child.

It’s Friday afternoon and a dear friend and I got together for lunch. It’s dreary, it’s January. It’s miserable. We had both had tough weeks with our little ones. We enjoyed coffee and a chat and fed our babies lunch. Words such as “we’re surviving” and “its fine” came up.   It was refreshing to get together and discuss the good, bad and ugly. And besides, we made it to Friday, so it can’t be all that bad, right?

As we started packing up to go, my friends’ little one starting fussing. The fussing turned into crying, and by the time he was strapped into his stroller, the crying had escalated into full-on screaming.

We soldier on and make a hasty dash towards the exit. We are both holding our breath as we take those last few steps to the freedom of open air where the screams don’t seem quite as loud.

And at that very moment, that “I-just-need-to-make-it-to-the-door” final push, a miserable-looking woman stares my friend straight in the eye and says:

“You’re a terrible mother. You should have never had children. My children never cried like that”.

You’re. A. Terrible. Mother.

Read that sentence one more time. Do it.

It took every ounce of self-restraint in me to not march back in there, stand up for my friend, and retaliate. But do you know what? It wouldn’t have made any difference. That woman had made her judgement as soon as that little guy started crying, and no explanation or reasoning would have changed her mind.

So what is it that makes a mother so terrible that a complete stranger would feel compelled to say such a thing?

I don’t have the answer. But I do know that I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently, especially as I round the bend of my maternity leave. My days are filled with researching full time childcare options for my son.

I’m leaving my son in the care of someone else, 5 days a week, so that I can further my career.

Does that make me a terrible mother?

My husband and I had our first overnight away from our son in December. It was a big milestone for us, for our son, and for nana and papa who looked after him. Many friends suggested that I “try not to miss him too much”.

I didn’t miss him. I enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to booking the next night away.

Does that make me a terrible mother?

We made the decision to sleep train. Early. Like, before 3 months old, early. Our son has slept soundly for 12 hours a night since he was 3 months old. He has slept in his crib in the nursery starting at week 2.

Does that make me a terrible mother?

I let him fall. I let him shove too much food in his mouth. I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver a few weeks ago because of said food. I let anyone and everyone hold him. I don’t pick him up as soon as he cries. I breastfeed him pretty much anywhere. I let him watch TV and play with my iPhone. I started him on solids at four months old. I give him baby formula rather than breast milk when I go out because I am sick of pumping. I throw my hands up in the air in the middle of Starbucks and proclaim: “I have no idea why you are crying!!!”

Does that make me a terrible mother?

NO.

I am a GOOD mother. I am AMAZING mother. I am SUPER-FRICKIN-woman.  And I will remind myself of this every. single. day.

Every day that my son looks at me with his huge smile and love in his eyes and I give him the same love back.  That’s all it takes to be a good mother: love.  Love is all you need.

So I challenge you: remind yourself how awesome you are. Look that screaming child of yours in the eye and tell him how much you love him. Look at your tear-streaked face in the mirror and tell yourself how amazing you are. Look at the other mothers in your community and tell them they are GOOD MOTHERS and that they are doing an AMAZING JOB.

Say those words to someone today. Because we don’t always know how long it takes for the sting of negative words to wear off.

YOU are an amazing mother.  YOU are LOVED.

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Photo Credit: Little SugarPlum Photography, Vancouver

 

Baby H’s Nursery: Getting Started

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Well, this blog has been on a loooong hiatus.  So long in fact, that I’ve gone through an entire pregnancy and now have a 4-month old son since my last post!  Oopsie.   Umm…time flies?

But, there’s no post that has excited me more than this one, so let’s get things rolling again on here!  It’s time to share the story of Baby H’s nursery (in several parts, because there’s far too many details to share in just one post!)

It took zero time to come up with the theme for this room.  Yes, I decided on the nursery theme of our future child long before he came along…err…dare I say, long before he was conceived!?  Seriously, I think I’ve had this theme picked out for about two years.  Those of you who know me know I have a love for major obsession with all things nautical.  Perhaps it is a sub-conscious nod to my west coast upbringing?  For whatever reason, it had to be addressed, and what better room to address it in that a sweet baby nursery.

Nautical can be done in so many ways.  You’ve got your “Nantucket Nautical” with navy blue, red and white and lots of lighthouses and lobsters; you’ve got “Beachy Nautical” which is very soft and neutral, and I came up with “West Coast Nautical” as the type for this room.  Think Nantucket-meets-Beachy-Nautical 🙂

Enter my Pinterest Board, which slowly evolved into the style that we landed on many months ago.   This lovely collage is the one that caught my eye as the overall “look” we were going for:

Baby H nursery inspirationOne of the first things I bought was this amazing stencil from Cutting Edge Stencil, appropriately named “Perfect Catch”.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, stenciling the entire room.  But then my brilliant husband came up with the idea of add some wainscoting into the room as well.  He’s been wanting to try his hand at DIY wainscoting and this provided the perfect opportunity.  Yes, I love that he gets excited about this stuff too.

After we cleared out the stuff from our “home office” (which we quickly realized we never used…no harm done making room for baby!), the first step was to measure out the wainscoting.  Christian used basic, pre-painted MDF trim from Home Depot.  Starting in the centre of each wall, he measured out to determine the distance between each piece of trim.

Taking time with measuring is KEY.  It’s all about the prep work.  Christian also used a level and a chalk-line to ensure that everything was straight as an arrow.

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After filling in all the nail gun holes, it was time to paint the lower half of the room in good ol’ Benjamin Moore CC-40 aka “Cloud White”, which is the colour of all the trim in our house.

What’s clever about this method is that it gives the illusion of actual wainscoting but costs waaaaay less as you’re not actually covering the entire bottom on the wall in wood panels.  (If you’re really interested in some home decor nerdery, here is the wikipedia definition.  FACT: I knew what wainscoting was by the time I was 10 years old…missed my calling?  Perhaps).

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For the top half of the room, we chose a neutral blue-grey: CIL Paddlewheel Grey.  We agonized over this colour because of the next, and very tedious step (no, no, wainscoting was not enough for baby H…we also stenciled the upper wall!  And by “we”, I mean Christian).

Now, let me warn you: stenciling is NOT for the weak, procrastinators, or the impatient.  In fact, it’s not for perfectionists either, which is an adjective that could be used to describe Christian.  He.  Spent. Hours.  And I mean HOURS, stenciling this room.  I think it took him two full 8 hour days to just get the stencil done.  He vowed we were NEVER using a stencil again and I would have to agree, but I might try to convince him again (don’t tell him I told you that!)

But oh, the finished product…worth it!?  We think so.  I mean, I endured 10 months of being prego, PLUS labour, so I’d say we’re even now after the stencil incident.

Check out this beauty progress shot:

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And no, we didn’t just opt for a feature wall.  Christian stenciled the ENTIRE room.  Initially we were worried it would be too busy (hence the concern over finding just the right base colour), but we were over the moon with the final result.  I kid you not, everyone comes over and thinks its wallpaper, and Christian can’t help but beam with pride (how to compliment a perfectionist 101).

….looking for the final reveal photo?  Sorry, you’ll have to wait until a few more posts!  So much story to tell about this little room before I share the final result!

Come back and visit soon.

M

Party Planning 101: British Invasion

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Well e-friends, it’s been 1.5 months in our new home and we’ve already survivied the “ice vortex” (including 3+ day power outage), nearly completed a basement renovation, spent a few sick days on the couch, and have thrown two significant parties!  We’re starting to feel good and settled, with the exception of the empty living room (we’ll get there one day).  I also owe you a post about buying awesome furniture on Craigslist.  But today’s post is reserved for a topic that I truly love: party planning!

My former career before joining the dark side of sales was event planning.  I’d like to think that I always had it in me, and that my professional experience just made me fall in love with (some) elements even more.  Over the years, I have helped to plan and execute 4 friends’ weddings, plus my own wedding, and now I’m in the midst of helping my dear sis prep for her upcoming April wedding!   I also threw a heck of a 30th birthday (if I do say so myself).

This past weekend, Christian and I hosted his mum’s 60th birthday.  She’s was born in England and lived there for the early part of her life.  Although she’s been in Canada for decades, she still loves all things Brit – I look forward to pouring over her “Hello!” magazines every time we visit.   You can take the Brit out of Britain….

Christian and I chatted about a way to elevate the fun factor of the shin-dig, and quickly landed on a “British Invasion” theme.  So fun.

First, the menu.  A good theme starts with some menu planning.  And plan we did:

  • Cottage Pie (basically the British version of Shepherd’s Pie)
  • Bangers and Mash
  • Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding (our first time making either)
  • Classic Fish n’ Chips

We cheated and just did store bought Fish n’ Chips, but everything else was made in our new kitchen!  Here’s the Cottage Pie coming out of the oven on Saturday afternoon, all bubbly and delicious

Cottage Pie

Whilst our food was being prepped and cooked, I got to decorating!  I managed to find a few jems on-line, including a red, white and blue pennant banner (aka – bunting) that I strung from the ceiling.

buntingThen it was onto the little touches, some of which you can already see in the photo above (yes, there are cut-outs of a London Bus and Beefeater on my patio doors).  One of my favourite big-bang-for-little-buck decorating ideas it to find simple printables on-line.  Who doesn’t have a bunch of simple photo frames kicking around the house? (yes, I removed family photos from some to make way for my British invasion).  Stack ’em up and replace your framed photos with some clip art or printed pics from Google images.  Here below we pay homage to her Majesty the Queen.  The Union Jack flags were a steal from the Dollar Store at 3 bucks a pop:

Decor1Now that the mantle is looking festive, on to the next location = the couch!  We actually had Euro-sized red cushions on our bed upstairs, so I brought them down to the join the party.  My wonderfully generous colleague brought a toss cushion of the London tube map from his bed at home!  The best part is that the pillow is made out of tea towel (next project anyone!?). Anyways, it came together quite nicely in our living room with the red pillows in the background:

pillowOnto other areas: the bar!  The bar menu included:

  • Gin & Tonic (Bombay Saphire Gin is my fave, but a friend recently introduced me to Dillon’s Small Batch Gin.  It’s quickly become my “lady” gin.  Delicious)
  • Pimm’s (apparently the second most popular beverage in the UK after tea?).  Check out the receipe here, but we made ours with Pimm’s, lemonade, cucumber, blueberries and strawberries.  It’s very refreshing – you can see it in the pitcher below!
  • Boddington’s beer, Strongbow & Guiness

BarYes, even Christian’s City of Oxford bar towel made an appearance – an ode to his time spent there on exchange in university!

And finally, dessert!  We opted for classic English Trifle and my favourite: Sticky Toffee Pudding.  To make these mess and fuss free, I actually found these neat little disposable baking cups at Home Sense (they come in mini loaf containers as well).  You actually don’t even need to put them on a baking sheet or anything and they are good in the oven up to 400F.  I was able to serve out of these as well.  The best part?  No pre-greasing required!  They are coated and ready to go in all their non-sticky goodness:

StickyToffeeBecause I’m all about the presentation, I took a cardboard cake stand (also purchased from Home Sense for just $3.99! Again: big bang, little buck) and attached a Union Jack decoration that I picked up for a few bucks at a party store on top with scotch tape.  Instant pizzaz!

TowerYou can see my sticky toffee puddings have now been topped with caramel sauce…and that a few have already been eaten – nom nom!

Playing in the background for most of the evening was Songza’s British Invasion Playlist.  Oh, and we of course awarded the birthday girl with a jeweled crown and sash when she arrived – living like the Queen herself for the evening!

So there you have it – how to make a theme flow 101, brought to you by Melissa.  The opportunities are endless…just remember to think beyond the napkins and include all the senses 🙂

Summer Porch Refresh

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I’m one of those nut-cases who likes to swap and update decor as the seasons change.  The air changes, the temperature rises or falls, the colours adjust and I just get inspired.  Ever since we renovated our front porch two years ago, I have been adjusting the decor every so often….but I quickly realized that a) I have a pillow problem, b) it can get pricy, and c) storage of seasonal decor items creates an issue.

And then I realized that it was time to take a sewing class.

My solution is to simply re-cover my toss cushions and make smaller swaps to things like candles and art.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is my idea of a fun Saturday night.  No joke.

Here’s where I started.  Cute, but blah.  I was so ready for some summer lovin.

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Swapping our view towards the interior door and things aren’t much better.  Another print from my gal Angie at Romantica Home on Etsy, and that’s about it.

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PS- see the wine box sitting under the chair in the mirror reflection within the photo above?  Well, guess what’s in the box….!?  Okay I will make it multiple choice for you:

a) all volumes of my Style at Home magazine collection, dating back to 2008

b) wine (what a concept)

c) Justin Timberlake singing this song

d) the shards of every single piece of safety glass that we picked up off of our living room floor following  the fatal glass coffee table incident

Did you guess?  It’s D!  Isn’t that hilarious?  Actually, it’s not funny at all, but what else can you do but laugh at this point?

Anyhoosin…moving right along.  So, I needed to inject some summer life into the porch.  Enter: punch of yellow!  First, it was time to make some art.  IKEA Ribba frame + glue gun + fabric + left over letters from our wedding cake topper = ART

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Then, in true meant to be fashion, I found this adorbs print at Target for $25 to hang above our double doors:

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And, out came the sewing machine to re-cover my dull winter pillows with this precious bird print.  Because, who doesn’t want to put a bird on it!?

2013-04-06 22.45.54And speaking of birds, I didn’t stop there.  Look at these little guys on my standing mirror: “Tweet, Tweet!”

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Add a few other sun-burst touches like this little planter (for $3.99 @ Michael’s)…..

2013-07-30 19.14.45And this beautiful throw from Indigo (a steal on-line for $14.99!)

2013-07-30 19.13.44….and this porch is summer-ready!  Time to mix up some mojitos and start enjoying the sunshine 🙂

Beyond our 4 walls: Tracy’s Guestroom Redesign

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I love my job, and my company.  I enjoy going to work every day and work with amazing colleagues.  Honestly.  But, if I had to give it up and pick something completely different to fill my days, I’m pretty certain it would be some combination of decorating/ staging/ making-over people’s spaces.  It just brings me such joy.

A few months back, my dear friend Tracy asked for my help with her guest room.  She had this sort of pained expression on her face when she said “I have this guest room, that you can hardly call a guestroom…it’s so un-inviting!  Would you be willing to help me fix it up?”.

I first laughed, because she was acting like this would feel like work for me.  Hardly.  I had a field day.  As Tracy’s wedding was approaching, I set up a gift registry that ended up bringing together most of the items needed for a welcoming guest room.  A few weekends ago, Christian and I headed to Peterborough (or P-town as the cool kids are saying these days) and completed the transformation.  It’s almost like we could hear angels singing from the rafters of Tracy’s 10-foot ceilings.

First, a before picture…because who doesn’t love a good before and after!?  Here we have the view from when you walk into the room.  Gorgeous old wood floors, lovely blue-grey walls and a big, bright window.  It’s a dream….except for the fact that it’s just…err…a bed.  And a mis-matched antique floor lamp with an IKEA Lack side table:

2013-02-02 16.26.27Well, this bride-to-be had plenty of other things to do, such as plan her May wedding…enter Melissa!

The best thing about working with Tracy was that she is incredibly easy-going.  Actually, she is probably one of the most easy-going people I know.  Her only stipulation was that we weren’t going to paint.  Well, perfect, because I’ve painted enough walls at my own house, thank you very much.

Fast forward a few months, insert a wedding shower, wedding, and the invasion of Christian and Melissa, and this is now the vision that welcomes guests as they walk into the guest room:

2013-07-21 18.39.29For the win!  There are still a few finishing touches remaining, but you get the idea (for example, you will notice we have only one side lamp, and I’m working on a few additions, such as a repurposed old bench for the foot of the bed).  The headboard was something that Christian and I built as our wedding shower gift for Tracy and her hubby to be, and we actually ended up reusing the duvet, which was a total bonus.  Those light, airy curtains were a total at $10 per panel and I just love how they frame those gorgeous, giant windows and blow in the breeze.  Ahhhhh.

My favourite “I love my husband” moment was when he suggested swapping out the light fixture.  You can’t see it in the original photo, but these glorious 10 ft ceilings were adorned with….a basic builders light fixture.  Womp womp.

Tracy and I are both all about finding great deals, so I promised her that the only way we would replace the light, would be with something under $50.  Victory was mine at Home Depot when I scored this adorable antique-looking chandelier for…. $18!  Yes!!  It was already marked down on clearance to $35 and then marked down again to $18.  Amazing.  I was like a kid at Christmas, babbling away to the check-out lady at Home Depot about what an amazing deal it was.  I do that.  A lot.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the lovely blue, grey, white and yellow combo on the bed:
2013-07-21 18.40.29Purrrrrrrrdy.

In my opinion, a great guest room should always include the following:

  • Extra pillows (you never know if your guests like firm, flat, or somewhere in between.  Having extras lets them decide)
  • The feeling of checking into a charming B&B (because, really, who doesn’t want that?)
  • At least one bedside lamp and one nightstand (no one wants to fumble for their phone in the night in a foreign room)
  • Access to a wall outlet (speaking of phones, we all need to charge our phone – make it easy for guests)
  • Water glass/ pitcher beside the bed (see point above re: fumbling through the night in a foreign room)
  • Handy guest towels (I like to put these in a basket on top of the dresser; don’t make your guests ask – always anticipate!)

Here’s a close up of the charming Eclipse bedside lamp from Urban Barn – I love the touch of glam in a somewhat “country chic” bedroom.  The night stands are IKEA Hemnes in white.

2013-07-21 18.40.35I’ll be back in the coming weeks with a few more updates here….I joked with Tracy that I will likely keep going for the next year until I have it just “so”.

So there you have it….another happy customer.  Okay, well she wasn’t a customer, but that’s fun to say 🙂

One day…..

Bathroom reno inspiration!

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It’s official = 2013 is the year of the major bathroom renovation!

Here’s to having a proper sized bathtub, not hitting our elbows on the wall every time we shower, being able to brush our teeth at the sink together (at the same time…what a concept) and not having the top of our toilet tank overlapping with our sink (true story)!  Before, during and after photos will come as the weeks pass – we plan on starting this overhaul in mid-February.  Until then, and as we begin shopping for all of the elements that go into a bathroom reno, I thought I’d share with you our ideas and inspiration for the design and aesthetic of the soon-to-be-finished product.

Our goals:

  • make use of the existing window inside the bathroom and allow natural light in
  • create a ‘spa’ feeling
  • create enough room so that we can both be in the bathroom at the same time

I’ve been adding to our Pinterest board for…about the past 6 months (what can I say? I was excited!) and it’s been neat to watch the progression of our vision.  First, ‘spa’ meant more grey tones: stone tiles, and neutrals.  But as the months progressed, our images started to move towards lighter, clean and crisp tones with pops of ice blue or seafoam green.  I suppose spending a week on the west coast over the holidays, including a trip down to Cannon Beach, helped us to channel “sea shore” inspiration into our plan!

Cannon Beach

So, with beach inspiration fresh in our brains, it was back to the Pinterest drawing board!  Here’s where we are at, and as we finalize our tile choices in the coming weeks, we are feeling great about our percolated vision (yep, it’s like coffee…you just have to let it brew, and it will come):

Bathroom inspiration

The main bathroom images above come from here, here, here and here…let’s highlight the one the really started it all, and really got us thinking about the beauty that is blue and white:

Blue Bathroom

I love the simplicity of this bathroom (from Houzz.com).  Plus, the fact that is the very same layout that we are moving towards, complete with an in-shower window, the look just clicked.  So, our path is set and this shopping has begun!  New bathroom coming very soon…