Little Luna is now 10 months old. Luna loves swimming in the pool (we go once a week), sitting on a swing and bouncing on a seasaw at the park. She loves our long walks as she sits in her stroller and watches the world go by. Luna LOVES playing with her nephews Bailey and Nico and gets excited every time they come over to play with her. They always watch her so closely (like her big brothers) and endlessly entertain her.

Luna has also learned her first word – MAMA! Though, she refers to everything and everyone as Mama. Luna has also learned to clap her hands and wave.

Luna has been eating finger foods and enjoys feeding herself. She happily eats a banana all by herself, strawberries, melons and practically anything she can get her hands on. Luna has also enjoyed everything I cooked for her so far. She loves her baby bolognese with ricotta cheese, homemade broccoli cheese sticks, peas steak risotto & macaroni and cheese.

Luna is still sleeping very well and sleeps all night by herself in her room. Oh, the freedom we have! As soon as we turn on Lullatone (given to us by Jonathan & Anita), she knows it’s time to sleep. She’s also made a friend which stays with her everytime she sleeps. It’s a little white lamb which our friend Sophia had given her. She loves her little lamb which she always has tightly wrapped in her arms to keep her cozy at night.

At this stage, we also feel like she should have a few organized activities that she can start participating in. We’ve got a puppet show to go to in our local library next week, a creative movement class which starts in 2 weeks at a community centre and Mother Goose at our local library once a week as well where we all sit in a circle and sing nursery rhymes. She’s also signed up for a baby art class which starts in November. I’m excited for that one!

We still have the last bit of Summer to enjoy and then we welcome what Fall brings to our everyday life.

For my birthday, Nerissa made me a Terrarium Kit with all the parts needed to make a terrarium: rocks, charcoal, soil, decorations and a glass vessel. It’s an awesome gift because I’ve been wanting to make one of these for a while now. You can find lots of instructions on Google and many how-to videos on YouTube. The only tip that I’d add is that an oversized pair of chopsticks works really well for placing objects neatly where hands can’t reach. I put the arrangement below together in half an hour, racing against time as the sun set. For a first attempt, I like it. It’s pretty rewarding to design your own miniature eco-system. I can see why it turns into an obsession for some people.

Today, we spent the afternoon picnicking at a semi-secret park, Crab Park at Portside with our friends Jonathan, Anita, Jamie and Heather. On the hottest day of the summer, the other city beach parks would have surely been jam packed. Jonathan and Anita live in the area and, to beat the weekend rush, suggested Crab Park instead. Sure enough, we had the whole park practically to ourselves. On the menu was a spectrum of finger foods: deli meats, baguette slices, cheese, mixed nuts, fresh berries, chips & salsa and, for dessert, a variety of chocolates. The meal was paired with Villa Teresa Rose’ Veneto and Old Style Pilsner for a high/low, old-world/new-world fusion. Conceptual? Yes. Purely coincidental? Um, maybe.

Crab Park isn’t well known to people who don’t live in the area. That’s, partly, because it’s surrounded by industry and, partly, because it borders the northern most tip of the Downtown Eastside. If you do make it to the park, you’ll see a 360° microcosm of Vancouver – old, new, rich, poor, scenesters, immigrants, families, singles, industry and nature. To the north are unobstructed views of the North Shore Mountains. To the south, loom the heritage buildings of Gastown and Railtown. To the west, you’ll see the downtown financial district and luxury cruise ships docked at Canada Place. While to the east, is the port with brightly coloured shipping containers that look like giant lego building blocks. Adding to the industrial romance, occasionally, a helicopter will fly by to land at the nearby heliport or a train will chug along the still active railroad. This is not Celebration, Florida, though. You’ll see homeless people and colourful locals dotted throughout the Park. For the most part, they’re just getting some rest in the sun like everyone else. If you’re comfortable with that part of the urban tapestry, give Crab Park a visit. It’s a diamond in the rough.

Recently, we went to my friend Janice’s birthday party for her little boy Kai who turned 1. The party was filled with little packages of popcorn for everyone to help themselves with, party favours in blue packages filled with their favourite teas, water bottles with custom labels, cupcakes and other yummy treats. I like how everything was cute and on-theme. It was lovely how it all came together. With a little imagination, it’s not really that hard to do. It’s mostly finding readymade packaging and re-imagining it by dressing it up with some ink jet stickers and nice simple designs. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Janice is a professional graphic designer (we both worked together at Kevin Louis Design before we went on mat leave). Kids birthday parties are a fun way to make and experiment with DIY projects. And, it’s also an excuse to treat yourself with all the sweets you wished you could eat everyday. Happy Birthday Kai! Thank your mom for a lovely party.

Photographs taken by Jason & Lena from Jaylena Photography.

I decided to try Martha Stewarts Fish Tacos recipe but when I looked in the fridge, I realized I didn’t have any fish so I substitute it with steak instead. I marinated the steak with garlic, Maggi, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil & pepper. I also decided to add some avocado and cherry tomatoes which the recipe didn’t call for. It was pretty quick and easy to prepare everything and making the tacos made dinner a lot more fun too. I also grilled the tortillas directly on an electric burner which I had a lot of fun doing. Not bad for a Thursday night dinner.

Recipe taken from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

Wow, our little girl is now 9 months old! A few updates this month. Luna can now sit up all by herself! She’s also eating very well. I’ve recently introduced lentils with coriander and fresh mint, peas risotto and tofu. Soon, I’ll be making her homemade hummus for her to dip her baby cookies in. As much as I can, I try to introduce a variety of flavours to constantly expand her palette.

Luna loves sitting and standing on grass. She loves the feeling of it in her little feet. She also loves to grab flowers and leaves and tries to stuff them all in her mouth. Luna doesn’t like the feel of sand in her feet and is afraid of the ocean. But I’ll try to take her to the beach more often so she can get used to it. Luna also loves being taken to the playground to sit in the swing. This has been her new favourite activity.

We’ve also successfully sleep trained her (at 6 months, she decided she didn’t want to sleep in her crib so we’ve been co-sleeping since then). She now is able to sleep all by herself in her crib and sleeps all night. Amazing! And when she wakes up, she quietly plays with her little lamb in her crib and waits for us to come in. We always look forward to going into her room in the morning as she screams with delight as soon as she sees us and is eager to be taken in our arms. These are moments we will always cherish.

We continue to watch our little girl explore her world and are excited to experience what month 10 brings!

Aside from jumping at home in her jolly jumper, Luna has found a new favourite activity – swinging! I take her to the park on our daily walks to give her a little play time. She loves being pushed quickly and giggles every time the swing comes close to me. Then, she’ll put her feet up and just hang out. This is what summer is all about in Luna’s world.

For Mother’s Day, I bought Nerissa a Boskke Sky Planter. The day after I bought it, I picked up a nice orchid for it but the root ball was too big to fit inside the small Boskke. Two months later, I got around to finding a replacement plant and hanging the planter up. I chose an Areca Palm which should stay fairly petite with long lyrical leaves once it blossoms out a bit. It’s a clever piece of the design. The act of hanging the plant upside down abstracts the form. It’s no longer just a plant in a white pot. It becomes a whimsical, living piece of sculptural art. It’s a nice addition to our home.

I made my first homemade pasta today! YUM. And, I had so much fun making them too. It wasn’t as hard as I thought. Though, it does take some time but hopefully with practice, I’ll be faster at it. There’s really nothing like eating homemade pasta. The freshness of the flavour exceeds any pasta you buy from a grocery store. I’m now inspired to make different types of pasta and ravioli might be the next one to make!

For the sauce, I wanted to keep it simple so it doesn’t over power the taste of the fresh pasta. I sauteed garlic and onions in olive oil, then mixed three medium sized chopped tomatoes, basil, oregano, dried chilli flakes, Parmigiano-Reggiano and fleur de sel. Mmm…. it was so good!

We spent part of the day walking in the woods at the beach today admiring all the greenery around us. Then a little picnic and a siesta for the rest of the afternoon. Hope you had a great and relaxing Saturday too.

Yay, I received my bakers twine in the mail today and i’m so excited (my simple pleasures in life)! I found a fantastic site where you can get them super cheap ($8.95 each + shipping). Each twine is a 2-pound cone – that’s approx. 3,400 yards! I got a red and white one and a lime green and white. I’m so loving them!! These should last me for many years.

You can order them here. Happy twine shopping!

We spent a full day at the beach yesterday as it’s been scorching hot! I really love summer. The days are longer, the smell of bbq surrounds the air, birds chirping away, ice cream everyday and long days at the beach. It always feels like I’m a kid again. Hope everyone is having a great summer too and not melting from the heat.

Our Weekend Art Project has been making the blog rounds including mentions at Apartment Therapy, How About Orange and Craftzine. Welcome, everybody! Even more exciting is the fact that others have been inspired enough to create their own versions of the painting. Neat to see DIY examples from: A Late Afternoon, Hanna Kim, Holley Simmons and Tabitha Pacheco. Nice work, folks! More to come…Have fun and send us a pic of your creations.

I share a birth date with our friend, Anita Modha. We’re birthday twins, as we like to say. I made this card a couple years back to honor the co-celebrant. The stenciled letter “M” was painted onto a window envelope with neon acrylic paint. The envelope acted as the gift wrap. Using pencil crayon, on a sheet of Eames paper, I filled in a few of the cirles to form an “A” onto the dot pattern. An oversized paper-clip held a couple of Vancouver Art Gallery passes to the sheet. A note was hand scribed onto the back. This formed the card.

When the card was slipped into the envelope, part of the letter “A” is framed in the envelope’s window while the “M” appears to the right forming an abstraction of Anita’s initials. The package was finished off with a thin black ribbon. I still really like this one. It’s simple, graphic, and personalized with just a touch of clever craftiness.

I seem to have an obsession with cups. I don’t know what it is but I think that my coffee tastes better in a cup that has a nice shape or pattern to it. Part of my enjoyment of drinking coffee is the cup itself – it’s part of the experience. As soon as I step into a vintage or a home store, I go straight for the cups. I always stop myself from buying them as we have way more then what we need but just admiring them makes me happy. A few that I absolutely love, but don’t have yet, are: Sentou-ti cups, cinq cups, zipper cups, Fellina Sok-Cham espresso cups, ABC Paper Cups, & Marimekko Oiva cups.

Back at Little Nest today for a nice summery lunch with Stacy and her little guy Cohen. Luna and Cohen are only 2 days apart. Though, they still don’t know how to play together yet but hopefully soon they will. Summer is finally here and it is hot outside! A nice lunch at Little Nest and wandering around Commercial Drive made for a perfect day. Hello sunshine – we’ve missed you!

Mia, an old friend from art school, and her husband, Brent, graced us with a visit this afternoon. A month ago they were vacationing in France and brought back a lovely souvenir for us – Eucalyptus Soap. Coincidentally, we have a big Eucalyptus tree on our backyard. Three years ago we, actually, had four Eucalyptus trees but three of the more spiry ones couldn’t survive the wind and the winters. Also, as an ode to art school, I snapped an image with Sonic Youth’s “A Thousand Leaves” inner sleeve in the background with Kim Gordon peeking through some Eucalyptus branches.

I found a great Roasted Corn and Black Bean vegan salad recipe which I decided to try yesterday and I was impressed. I found a new summer salad favourite. But it’s quite ironic as we paired our vegan salad with spicy Italian sausages which Peter barbequed. It’s very easy to make and would be great paired with a nice cold mojito!

I’m starting to feel the urge to start baking again and totally want to try this Rustic Sourdough Bread recipe. It doesn’t only look delicious, it also looks so pretty all packaged nicely with parchment paper and tied with Divine Twine. I’m also drooling just looking at this Peanut-Rice Crispy Treats recipe. I think i’m going to have a busy baking week if I can get myself to stay home!

I’m loving my new summer scarf. I’m also dying to have these black and white stripe espadrilles.

Life is so interesting from my little red chair.

We can’t believe our little Luna is now 8 months old. It feels like it was only yesterday when we took her 7th month photos. How time flies… People weren’t kidding when they said they grow fast – they really do. When we look back at her newborn photos, it’s hard to believe she was that tiny!

Luna is now eating 3 times a day and really enjoys her food. I’m not quite sure if she has a favourite as she seems to eat anything I give her. As long as it’s sweet, she’s happy. I’ve started giving her quinoa and will soon introduce pasta and tofu. She also likes munching on her baby mum mum and it’s so cute how dirty she gets by eating those little cookies. Every morning when we wake up, I feel like I need to run to the kitchen and quickly make us our breakfast as she wants to eat ASAP! I guess she gets it from me as I’m that way too :)

Luna also loves getting her hair brushed. She is a girl afterall… She hasn’t started crawling yet but we see her trying. Maybe soon?  Luna will also be starting her summer session of her swimming classes this Saturday which I am looking forward to. It’s really cute to watch her splash around in the pool. Our little girl is growing and we continue to watch her explore her world.

Peter picked some strawberries from our garden over the weekend and they are so tasty and so sweet. The only problem is that we don’t have very many so we have to savour every bite.

Luna’s new friend – Ralphie! I spent the day with Nicole today and we had a fantastic time chatting away. Luna seemed to have also enjoyed her new friend. She’s not used to seeing dogs as we don’t have one at home and I was surprised how good she was with Ralphie considering how gigantic he is compared to her. I think Ralphie likes her too.

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Another note:
A great little feature of our Weekend Art Project over at How About Orange.

When the tv is on at home, it’s usually either on the design channel or food channel. I recently watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain in Provence and I couldn’t help but remember the time Peter and I spent there. Provence is truly magical. It’s like re-living one of Cezanne or Van Gogh’s paintings. Being there is like a dream. The faint smell of lavender in the air made me realize that it was not a dream, I really was in Provence.

To truly experience Provence, we rented a car and stayed at a lovely Chambre D’Hote in a typical Provençal village called Eyragues. Our Chambre D’Hote was surrounded by olive trees with a beautiful swimming pool that was owned by a lovely lady who decided to move there from Paris to take over her uncle’s Chambre D’Hote. Eyragues was the perfect village to stay at as we were less than an hour drive to some of the most beautiful villages in Provence like Saint Remy, Le Baux, Gordes, La Fontaine de Vaucluse, Rousillon, Bonnieux & Avignon. We visited all these villages, feasted on Provençal food, drank rosé and kept on telling ourselves that we need to retire here.

I sometimes find myself dreaming of living in Provence and running my own Chambre D’Hote. In my dream, I spend my days wandering around town, sipping pastis or Ricard with my Provençal friends while we exchange recipes and watch men play petanque. The warm sun and distinct smell of lavender surrounds us making everyday a perfect day. Then I would make my own bread & jams to serve my guests for breakfast as they tell me stories of where they’ve been and where they come from. Life moves slowly. People come and go. The sun never leaves the sky. Doesn’t this sound so perfect?

Provence  has a special place in my heart. The people are friendly, food is out of this world and the landscape so beautiful.

Yesterday was Peter’s first Father’s day and I decided to surprise him with Jennifer Causey’s ‘Simply Breakfast More Please’ book as a present. I didn’t have the time to make him a special Father’s day breakfast as we had to rush out of the house in morning to meet the rest of the family for an all day Father’s day picnic at Kits beach. But I figured he can just feast his eyes in Jennifer’s breakfast photos instead. We’ve been a big fan of her blog with all her delicious breakfast photos so we are happy to add her book to our library. Happy belated Father’s Day to all the father’s out there!!

I bought a new pair of Bensimon’s last week in red. My old pair ended up having a hole on the bottom from wearing it too much I guess. It took me awhile to figure out part of my foot was already exposed on the ground when walking. I just kept on thinking I had sand in my shoes until I finally looked at the bottom of my shoes and saw a big hole! How the hell did that happen? It’s crazy how expensive these shoes are now. Gravity Pope is selling them for $65! Pretty cheap for sneakers but way too expensive for Bensimon’s I think. I bought my old pair for $20. Anyway, I searched online and ended up buying my new pair at Amazon.com for $35. I think they’re worth that price and nothing more… As much as I love Bensimon, I just can’t justify paying over $65 for them.

We had lunch at Nuba with Eileen & Jessica on Saturday and indulged ourselves in Lebanese food. We went to their new location on E 3rd and the space is so beautiful. Nuba is probably one of my favourite places to eat in the city. Their vegetable falafel is to die for. Try it if you’re there! The ingredients and the taste is very close to one of the best falafels I had ever tasted which happens to be located in Paris. It’s called L’as du Falafel in the Jewish neighbourhood. So tasty! Peter loves ordering the Najib’s Special which is crispy cauliflower tossed with lemon & sea salt. It doesn’t sound like much but it transcends cauliflower-ness. Who knew fried cauliflower could be so good? You also can’t go to Nuba without ordering their Turkish coffee. It’s brewed to order and is made with rose water and spiced with cardamom. The first sip will be shockingly exotic in taste but enjoy the experience. It’s like a mini-vacation. With the spicy floral aromatics of the rose water and cardamom you’ll feel transported to another world.

My favourite breakfast these days – homemade whole wheat bread, cream cheese (or avocado), fresh basil, pouched eggs, fleur de sel & a drizzle of olive oil. It’s so simple but so flavourful (the photo doesn’t do justice to how good it is but believe me, it’s so good!). Fresh basil is so good with anything really… I also received my Anthropolgie catalague so I happily ate my breakfast while dreaming of all the beautiful things I was looking at which I wish I could own. They are just way too expensive. But so beautiful! I heard from a friend that Athropologie might be opening a store in Vancouver to take over the Liberty space on Broadway. I’m so excited!!!!

Our little girl is now 7 months old! She’s a lot more vocal now and loves rolling around. She can’t crawl yet but once in awhile I see her trying. She loves the food I make her and recently, she started eating homemade steak stew (it’s actually pretty good, a lot better then the stew I made for Peter and I a few months ago), chicken with fresh basil, mangos and soon, she will be eating blueberries. She’s finished her swimming classes but I have signed her up for the summer class as she really loves it. Summer is almost here and I can’t wait for us to spend our days lounging at the beach, picking berries at the park by our house, lots of picnics and having our meals out in our garden. Luna is a winter baby so we are excited to see her discover her world in the heat! Yay for summer!

I spent part of my day today having lunch with our good friend Gen and her little Aoi as they are moving to California. We are sad that they are leaving but yet excited for their new adventure. We will miss you guys!  xoxo

Lounging outside in the sun yesterday afternoon. It’s been raining and cold here the past few days but the sun finally came out yesterday and it was so nice out. So Sisi and I met up for lunch at Urban Fare in Yaletown and lounged around at the seawall and chatted all afternoon. What a great day! Vancouver is so lovely in the summer.

Allium are my current favorite flowers. Allium are part of the onion family. They bloom in near-perfect spheres, especially the giant ornamental varieties. And what designer doesn’t like geometric perfection? It’s the kind of flower I imagine Buckminster Fuller would decorate his domes with. Pictured above is a 5″ allium bought at the florist ($4/stem) next to a chive flower from our garden. They say you shouldn’t let your herbs flower too early in the season because they’ll cycle to their dormant state but I can’t resist. I just let them be and let them flower when they want to. C’est la vie.

We had our friends Tami, Jim and their super adorable daughter Lily over for brunch a few weeks back and we ate, ate and ate!! I love having friends over for brunch. It’s casual and a good way to spend a Sunday morning. We had homemade coconut Belgian waffles, homemade whipping cream, strawberries, nutella, syrup, dolce de leche spread, bratwurst with carmelized onions & yams, pineapple juice and Milano coffee. Tami made us cupcakes for dessert with lavender tea sprinkled on top. Yum! We were happy and very full after.

I can never seem to have enough tote bags. Peter’s mom came to visit and stayed with us for a week so I was able to find some time on Friday to sew myself a new tote bag while she happily entertained Luna while she was awake (a nice break for me!). It was really nice to get back into sewing again and having that time to myself.

For those of you who are looking for amazing hand crafted bags and scarves, Breanna Musgrove from Scout & Catalogue who I went to art school with makes the most amazing bags. Each piece is dyed, hand studded and all made with love. Check out her etsy store here.

A nice lunch with my friend Kevin at Little Nest today on Commercial Drive. I had toasted organic baguette with ricotta and honey & chocolate cake. Kevin had a platter of smoked applewood cheddar, mild genovese salami, apple, fig jam, maple roasted hazelnut, crostini and organic baguette. After lunch, we headed off to one of my favourite Italian grocery store called Santa Barbara and bought a 3L extra virgin olive oil for only $17! I love this place. Kevin has been extra busy at school doing his Master’s so it was nice for us to have some much needed quality time together to do some catching up. We then headed to the park for a quick walk until heavy rain started falling from the sky and we quickly ran to my car and headed back home. A perfect simple Thursday.

I woke up this morning with the smell of one of my favourite breakfast – eggs benedict! Thanks Peter, you’re the best!! The eggs benedict was done westcoast-style with smoked salmon and avocado. We also had rosemary potatoes and cherry tomatoes. The rosemary and tarragon are fresh from our yard.

Today is a special day as it is my first Mother’s Day. I sometimes find it hard to describe what being a mom is like and find that there are no words to describe the love that I feel towards my little Luna. But yesterday, I received a beautiful email from my cousin which clearly describes everything I feel about being a mom. I found myself getting all teary eyed when I first read it as it captures what motherhood has felt like for me.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful Moms out there!!

Luna is now 6 months old! A lot to report this month. Luna has started her solids 4 weeks ago and is now eating carrots, organic whole grain rice cereal, sweet potatoes, broccoli and banana. She likes them all except for broccoli. Although, she didn’t give up right away. She tasted a few spoonfuls with a nasty look on her face until she made up her mind that it’s not a taste she fancies. Perhaps it’s not sweet enough? I think she gets her sweet tooth from me.

Luna also started rolling a month ago and is so proud of herself and likes to show it off. She rolls from her tummy to her back and is able to do it on each side. Amazing! We are so proud of her. She has also had a few giggle fests which she seems to only do with me in the room. Peter hasn’t really seen it yet (not the full blown one anyway). Perhaps she’s practicing with me first before she goes public with it.

We also go to the library on Fridays for Mother Goose where we sing nursery rhymes while sitting on the floor in a circle with other moms and babies. Luna loves it! She loves being sung to, loves the dancing movements I teach her and just loves seeing other babies. I think Luna just loves being surrounded with music as we always have music playing throughout the day at home (we listen to some of my favourites like Jeremy Jay, Cut Copy, The Juju Orchestra, Tender Forever, Nouvelle Vague, Carla Bruni, Pheonix…) and when Peter gets home, he sings to her with some James Brown classics. I’m also starting to re-learn some of the nursery rhymes I used to know which we sometimes have it playing at home. I find that I have the song ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ on loop in my head!

Luna has also started her swimming lessons a few weeks ago. As soon as I put her in the water on the first day of class, I was surprised to see her so content in the pool. She wasn’t scared at all and started kicking her feet right way. It’s a half hour class on Saturdays and babies are taught to float on their back (with me holding her at all times of course), float on their tummy, submerge their whole body completely and just feel comfortable splashing in the water. We’ve been to a few classes and she’s never cried once!

Lately, I find that having her sit in one of her chairs or lie on the floor with a few toys isn’t enough entertainment for her. She really likes to play and loves the attention it brings. So we finally bought her a jolly jumper which we hung on the ceiling of our dining room/kitchen area and she loves it! As soon as we put her in, she’s so happy and starts jumping right away, screams with delight and doesn’t stop jumping until I take her out. It’s such a joy watching her so happy. Jumping on her own without anyone holding her up must be such an amazing experience for her.

Luna is such a joy and we now look forward to see and experience what month 7 brings.

Another note: I’m a big fan of Readymade magazine so thank you for featuring our Glass Pill Bottle Mini-Centrepiece in your blog!

Glass beer or soda bottles can be used as vases for tall slender cuttings. The weightiness of the bottle keeps it upright and steady. The tapered neck and small mouth gathers the stems snuggly together while keeping the arrangement neatly in place. Look for bottles with a nice shape and labels that are easily scrubbed off. To dress it up, drape some pins over the neck. To get extra sparkle, you can loosely fill the bottle with clear glass marbles. This tends to make water changes and rearrangements a bit fussy, though. So, in this case, we didn’t bother. All that was needed for a finishing touch was Pee Wee Herman.

Luna likes to play with her stuffed animal friends. She likes to be surrounded by them. She’ll pet their faces, give them baby hugs, jostle them around and…bite their ears. Come to think of it, Luna might only be friendly to them because she gets to chomp on them and they don’t fight back.

Finding imaginative vessels to display our garden clippings is always a joy. We found these vintage-looking glass bottles at Ruby Dog’s Art House, near Kingsway and Fraser. They were in a section with test tubes and petri-dishes, so I assume the little bottles are for pills or medicine. In any case, they were a steal at 35¢ a piece. The only catch is that vessels this small, even when filled with water, are really light. They’ll topple over if the clippings they hold aren’t as light as a feather. Pictured from left to right are: (1) a sprig of mint, (2) buds from an unknown shrub, (3) bamboo leaves, (4) chive flower, (5) berries from an unknown shrub. Thanks in advance, if you can ID numbers 2 and 5 for us.

Aoi, daughter of our friends Doni and Genevieve, celebrated her 4th birthday today. We wanted to get Aoi something creative for birthday gift. We found a wood box at Rudy Dog’s Art House and filled it with various activity items from the store such as letter puzzle pieces and sticker sets. One door down from Rudy Dog is Collage Collage where we filled the rest of the box with crayons, necklace beads and little toys. We glued some of the letter puzzle pieces to the front of the box spelling out A-O-I in a crossword pattern. The box was tied up with a red ribbon and we attached a wooden gift tag to the ribbon with a mini-clothespin. We love the wood box. It’s only $3 which is cheaper than a sheet of wrapping paper and it’s reusable!

It’s never too late for an Easter greeting. Hope everyone had an awesome Easter celebration filled with lots of chocolates & yummy food!

We’ve been on a lookout for a high chair for Luna the past weeks. Instead of buying a brand new high chair, we decided to go for a used one and customize it. I found this wooden high chair on craigslist for $25.00. It had a nice shape to it so I bought it, sanded it, primed it then painted it red. A small can of paint was $20.00 so all in all, her high chair only cost us $45.00! It’s a great looking high chair for a small price tag. And, it was customized especially for her.

I bought a bag of lemons from a market the other day and stacked them up neatly on our table as a centre piece. I’m quite happy how it looks as a centre piece. So much so, that it doesn’t make me want to use them. But I have been wanting to make lemon meringue pie for quite sometime now and I found a recipe online that I might want to try. Does anyone have a good lemon meringue recipe they would want to share? I was also watching an old episode of David Rocco’s Dolce Vita and he made limoncello from scratch at Villa Maria in Ravello. It looked pretty easy actually. Easy enough that I might try making that too. That episode made me miss the Amalfi Coast. Sigh…

We like to leave Luna on the floor so she can feel free to do whatever she wants. She can roll, babble, chew on her toys or just put her arms behind her head and relax. Life is so good in her world.

Another note: Hello to GrassrootsModern. Thank you for including our Weekend DIY Project in your blog.

We made a painting this weekend! We’ve been wanting a large scale art-piece to go up on our dining room wall. We had a large framed photograph up but, at 26″ x 32″, it didn’t have the right scale for the room. We wanted to go big. Like, 60″ x 36″ big. Now the last time either of us did any painting was in art school. Back then we didn’t enjoy it much, mostly because neither of us were particularly good at it. Undeterred, we gave it a try. Things tend to be more enjoyable when you do them for yourself and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Inspired by color field paintings, I made a sketch in Illustrator and we tried different color combinations til we were happy. Then it was off to the local art store to buy the acrylic paint, the canvas and some 1/4″ painters tape. A few hours later, we were done and it was up on the wall. We’re enjoying it. It’s the bold, large-scale signature piece the room has been waiting for. We call the piece………“Untitled.”

Update: To complete the dining area, we painted a high chair red to add another splash of color to the room. View the post “Red High Chair” for the full room view. And, check out the DIY/Make section for more project ideas.

Our little Luna is now 5 months old and growing! She is now very curious to see and hear everything that surrounds her. Even when she’s all tucked inside her ergo baby carrier as we go for our walks, I see her head popping in and out wanting to see all the lights, colours, movement and noise around us. There’s so much for her to see and she’s taking it all in. Anyone who talks to Luna is treated with the biggest smiles and baby giggles. Luna also loves sitting in her bumbo chair and feels proud to be sitting up by herself like a big girl. When she’s by herself and wants some company, she has learned to call out to us with her super loud high pitch baby sound that can be heard all the way in the back of the house. Luna has also been treating us with what we call her ‘happy dance’. When she’s really, really happy, we find her lying on her back wiggling her shoulders and legs while bobbing head from side to side with a grin on her face. This always makes Peter and I laugh. As of today, Luna has also started her solids. I fed her with her first organic whole grain rice cereal and she happily ate almost a whole tablespoon with no complaints at all. That’s our girl!

I’ve been thinking about waffles these past few days so instead of just thinking about it, I decided to bring out the waffle maker and make something a little different – coconut waffles! It is so good eaten on it’s own or you can spoil yourself by adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top with some warm chocolate drizzled on it. Coconut and chocolate make an excellent combination. Indulgence!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup toasted sweetened coconut flakes
2 tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
One 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbs unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1. Preheat a waffle iron
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut flakes, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, eggs, and vanilla until completely blended.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the coconut milk/egg mixture, blending gently only until the ingredients are combined. Add the butter in a slow stream, continuing to blend until the butter is incorporated.
4. Pour a generous 1/2 cup batter into the waffle iron.
5. Serve the waffles with the topping of your choice.

Note: To toast sweetened coconut flakes: Arrange an oven rack at centre position and preheat the oven at 350F. Spread the coconut flakes on a baking sheet, and bake until the flakes just start to brown, 4-5 minutes (or less).

Recipe taken from the book ‘Waffles’ by Betty Rosbottom. ISBN 0-8118-4842-6

On a rainy Thursday morning, I had a craving for something sweet to eat for breakfast as I look outside watching the rain fall from the sky. I was secretly happy it was raining which meant stroller fitness (an exercise program I have joined which happens every Thursday morning) would be canceled. As much as I want to keep fit and loose my pregnancy weight, I really just wanted to sit in my cozy kitchen and enjoy my apple strudel and my ultra favourite Milano coffee. As I happily eat away those strudels and lick my fingers to make sure nothing goes to waist, I was thinking to myself this is definitely much better then running outside and doing jumping jacks. Exercise can wait until next Thursday.

Bruce Lee’s “Fighting Methods” series and Charley Harper’s 123′s and ABC’s books are displayed side-by-side in our studio. The colors and design of the books play off each other perfectly despite the disparate subject matter. It’s an example of our all-ages, unisex, ass-kicking decorating modus operandi.

I found the Bruce Lee books, years ago, in the street-side dollar-bin of a used book store on Granville Street. It was quite the score since these are rare and sought after amongst collectors. Although, I have to admit I only bought them because the minimalist covers are cool. The other quirk about this set is that it’s the Yugoslavian printing. Presumably, “Metoda Borbe” translates to “Fighting Methods”.

The Charley Harper kids books were bought a couple years back when Old Navy stocked a small collection of Harper merchandise. At $10 each they’re a steal compared to the Charley Harper retrospective “An Illustrated Life.” We bought them before we were even planning on having Luna. They’re nice to have and beautiful to look at, even if you don’t have kids.

Yep, ABCs, 123s and…martial arts. All good.