Bird

 
Today's word, for the photo of the day, is bird.  I thought about this word all morning, wondering how I was going to get a picture of a bird today.  Maybe I'd take Sydney to the park and hope that I'd see a bird who would stay still enough for me to get a cool picture.  Maybe I could drive out to UBC and hope to spot a bald eagle.  Well, the day got away on me and neither of these things happened.

So I started wandering around the house with my camera trying to think if I had anything significant with a bird on it for today's picture.  Then it came to me.....and I snapped this picture of the two yellow canaries in the antique bird cage in Sydney's bedroom.

Before Syd was born, I spent a great deal of time shopping for things for her and her nursery.  I have no natural talent when it comes to interior design, so I literally just bought things that I liked and didn't worry so much about them working together in the space.  In the end, I had everything I needed, but her room looked a bit like a kid's swap meet, filled with mix-matched things that were ill-placed and didn't go together so well.  When she turned a year old, after spending literally hours and hours in her room nursing her and was sick of the cacophony that was her room, I decided that enough was enough and I was going to have to hire some professional help to give her a proper little girl's room.

So I had a consult with Daniel from Lord Twig Design.  I instantly loved Daniel, he had such an easy going and likeable way about him.  I knew that I would enjoy working with him on this project.  And I truly did!  It was such fun having him come by with samples and pictures and fabrics and being able to choose what I loved, knowing that he was going to pull it all together in a cohesive fashion to create the room of my dreams.

He spent three days in Sydney's room transforming it into a lovely space that she will grow into and loves so much!  He really went out of his way to delight and surprise me, even went so far as to put police tape over the door so that I wouldn't peek at night once he'd gone home and at the end of day three, he did the big reveal!  I had chosen most of the items in the room, so had seen them all independently, but was amazed at the final result when they were all put together!

Daniel likes to add something to every project to surprise his client, and his surprise for me was this beautiful antique birdcage which he strung two yellow canaries in, and hung beautifully on Sydney's wall.  It is one of my favourite things in her room and Syd loves when I blow lightly on the birds and they "fly" around their cage. 

I love these little birds and am so glad to have thought to taken their picture today!

Fun!

 
Today's photo of the day is meant to be all about fun.  It was as though the word was prophetic, as Sydney and I really did end up having a super fun day today!

This morning we headed to our Music Together class.  We have been doing this class together for quite some time now, and Sydney has mostly just been observational during class.  She often comes home and does what we were doing in class, but rarely does she fully participate.  Today a light really seemed to go off for Syd, she was dancing and clapping and participating more than I've ever seen her participate!  It was great, and so much fun to watch!

Today started out cold and super rainy, but by mid-afternoon the clouds had parted and the sun came out and it felt like a beautiful spring day!  We took full advantage of the break in the wet weather and went for a walk with Daddy up to Dunbar.  We, of course, had to stop at Syd's favourite grocery store, Stongs for some treats and a giant balloon for Syd.

We came home and chased that balloon around the backyard for the longest time before breaking out the bubbles and filling the entire backyard with them.  Sydney was indeed having so much fun, it is such a pleasure to watch her enjoy herself so much at this tender age!  I just love today's photo of her crazily blowing her bubble maker into the air!

We finished our day off with a visit to Zach's new apartment and then headed to Thai House for dinner together.  All in all a great, fun Friday!

Not My Day...

 
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.  From the moment the day started, I felt tired and irritable.  I was chirping at Sydney, impatiently running around the house trying to get ready for our day, and in no mood to deal with anything that didn't go as it was meant to.  Sydney decided that today wasn't the day that she was going to practice her skills in co-operation, and fought me at every step along the way on the way out the door.  We headed to preschool, where I had a rather awkward, unexpected confrontation with one of the parents and then off to Oakridge where a lady almost took my head off for accidentally cutting in front of her in the line at the till.  Sigh....it was not my day!

Throughout the day I searched for little bits of inspiration.  The Photo a Day for the Month of May for today was meant to be 'something you wore today', so I took a picture of my bright red Campers which I wear almost everyday but make me smile most every time I put them on.  Not only does the cheery colour and whimsical mismatched pattern on the shoes make me grin, but thinking about my dear friend Sally, who gave them to me, always makes me happy too.

Sally is a friend of mine that I met while working at Mackenzie Financial years ago.  She and her husband had moved to Vancouver from Sydney, Australia for a few years and she came to cover a mat leave for one of my colleagues.  She and I instantly hit it off, she is such a sweet and kind soul!  During her seven years in Canada she and I stayed in touch and had the great fortune of having babies within three weeks of each other!  She has since moved back to Sydney but I think of, and miss her, often. 

Our friends Jack and Christina came over for a playdate this afternoon which literally saved my day!  We had such a fun visit with them, it was so nice to spend some time with friends on a day when the world really seemed to be getting on my nerves!

Christina brought me one of her favourite bottles of wine from Washington state,14 Hands Hot to Trot.  It's from a winery that is not far from their vacation home in Suncadia.  I can't wait to try it!

I am happy to see today behind me.  Hoping for a wonderfully uneventful Friday tomorrow!

Skyline

Today's photo of the day is meant to be inspired by the word skyline.  I smiled when I saw the word this morning, as Vancouver's skyline is one of my favourite things in the city!  I started thinking about all of my most favourite spots where one can get a fabulous view of the downtown skyline and where I would visit today to get some great pictures.

So this morning after Syd's art class, I took a drive down to Spanish Banks and jumped quickly out of the car in between rain showers to get a few shots of downtown over the beautiful beach and ocean.  It is one of the best spots in Vancouver for a backdrop for photos, if it was a nicer day I would have taken Syd out of the car and done a mini photo shoot with her!

Sydney got to bring home another completed canvas from art class today.  It was supposed to be a bunny for spring time, but ended up looking like a fluffy fat cat, I love it!  I think I may get it framed to match the bumblebee masterpiece already hanging in her playroom!

This past weekend we had our friends Mike and Sarah over for dinner with their little girl Emma, Sydney's best friend.  We love spending time with Mike and Sarah, they are a fun couple to hang out with!  Sarah brought me some lovely gourmet salts from the Sea to Sky Salt Company along with a beautiful bottle of Cotes du Rhone!

Syd got a special present from Emma too, a Dora the Explorer ring.  Syd is a big Dora fan.  In fact, while we were in the states on the weekend, we had to buy two boxes of Dora bandaids at Target just for Syd!  She decided that she couldn't leave without a box of Hello Kitty ones too.  We are so stocked up for any boo-boos that happen over the next while.  Sydney still has yet to figure out the difference between a bandaid and a sticker, so we may be through all three boxes before she ever gets the chance to legitimately need one!

I unpacked all of Sydney's new summer clothes from our shopping trip to Seattle this morning and she helped me put them away in her dresser and closet.  Here are a few of our favourite things.  I can't help but buy cupcake themed things these days as I am planning a cupcake theme party for her 3rd birthday in November and have been brainstorming about it for months already!

My little girl is exactly two and a half years old today.  It's amazing how quickly the time has gone and yet I can hardly remember what life was like before I had her.  Happy 30 month birthday Syd!  Love you!

That's it for this Wednesday, hope you had a great one!

Photo a Day for the Month of May

I have been remiss about updating my blog lately.  I have chosen an extra hour of sleep over uploading photos and stringing my thoughts together here too many days in a row!  I promise this will stop and have committed to doing my best to update my blog every single day for the month of May.....we'll see how it goes!

This month marks a full year since I started this blog.  I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed sharing my days with you here and reading back and remembering all of the amazing days that Sydney and I have shared together.  I feel truly blessed to be her Mom and to have such a wonderful life!

As motivation to update this space every day in May, I am participating, along with a few other Moms who blog, in the Photo a Day for the Month of May.  Each day in May has an appointed word that is meant to be the theme for the photo captured that day.

Today's word was peace.  My day actually started off very peacefully.  Early this morning, after we had finished breakfast, Sydney and I wandered out into the backyard into the cool morning air and discovered a patch of bluebells growing just outside our back gate.  We each picked a bouquet and brought them inside and put them in vases on the kitchen counter.  I love how Sydney's included some dandelions, she just couldn't resist the bright yellow colour!  It was a serene and peaceful moment with my girl and a wonderful way to start the day!

I continued on with the shopping momentum from the weekend in Seattle and hit up the Banana Republic at Oakridge Centre today while Syd was in preschool.  They had just marked down scads of clothes at final sale prices and I pounced on those racks like a cheetah.  I came away with another bulging bag of mostly shirts and sweaters, felt so great to continue building out my wardrobe after having it be so lean for so long!!

Welcome May!  I look forward to putting away all my sweaters and jackets and boots and ushering in summer sometime in the next few weeks.  Bring it on!!

A Weekend Away

Sydney and I just got home from a fabulous weekend away in Seattle with cousin Mel.  I love shopping in the states.  Before Syd was born, I would drive across the border at least once a month to hit up all of my favourite stores that never found their way to Canada.  I became the resident expert on where to find deals on amazing things in the state of Washington! 

I especially love factory outlets and had been dreaming about visiting the Seattle Premium Outlets for months, so my cousin Mel and I decided that we would plan a girls weekend away to shop in Seattle and did we ever have a great time!

We left early on Sunday morning, headed straight to Target at Bellis Fair and loaded up on all the staples there before driving on to Burlington.  Sydney fell asleep just as we arrived at the outlets there, so Melanie and I took turns shopping and sitting in the car with her, hitting up the Carter's kids and Osh Kosh outlets for some very cute clothes for Sydney and Melanie's niece Kaylee. 

By the time Syd woke up we were all getting a bit hungry, so we headed to the Olive Garden for a delicious lunch.  Sydney loved it there, happily munching away on their amazing bottomless bread sticks and a yummy bowl of macaroni and cheese that tasted like homemade! 

We rolled out of Olive Garden, stuffed to the gills and drove to our hotel, the Tulalip Resort and Spa.  What a lovely hotel this is! I had stayed here several times before but had forgotten how fantastic the rooms and amenities are here!  Sydney was so excited to go swimming, so as soon as we checked in we threw on our bathing suits and headed to the pool for a quick dip before heading to the factory outlets for a quick shop before they closed for the evening.

On the way home we stopped off at the Walmart and Mel picked up an amazing bottle of wine for us to share that evening.  We got back to the hotel and hunkered down for the night, snacking and enjoying our wine, playing with Syd and watching TV. 

At about 9:00 it was becoming evident that Sydney didn't want to miss a minute of the girls weekend and was staying up late, so we ordered room service and ate a late dinner together!
The food arrived on a rolling table, complete with a vase of flowers and teeny tiny bottles of condiments, it was all very fancy.  We rolled the table in between our beds and sat in our jammies, feet dangling off the bed, eating our dinner.  It was awesome!  Syd thought that it was quite cool that she could eat french fries in bed!  Mel and I kept giggling to each other that this was so much better than eating out, being able to dine in our pajamas was awesome!

We all eventually dozed off and woke up to a leisurely morning together.  After getting ready and checking out of the hotel we headed off to IHOP for breakfast and then back to the factory outlets to do some serious shopping!  I have been on a mission to get my wardrobe back into somewhat decent shape, so I hit up the Banana Republic outlet while Mel took Syd for a ride around the outlets in a little red car cart that we rented from Customer Service.  I ended up coming out of the store with a heap of clothes and jewellery and picked up a couple of pairs of shoes for myself too, it felt great!

We headed home after a quick stop at the Panda Express for take-out to bring home for dinner tonight and enjoyed a fun evening with Paul.  Sydney was very happy to see her Daddy, I think she really missed him!

It was such a nice treat to get away for a couple of days and to do some shopping.  I am so happy to have come home with some great clothes for myself and really enjoyed the girls time too!  Sydney was such a good girl the whole time away too, I hope that this is the first of many shopping trips to the states that my girl and I will have together!

Curry Night

Last night, one of my Mom friends, Harv, invited the Dunbar group of Moms over for a late night curry fest at her beautiful new home in Kerrisdale.  Harv and her husband bought a 108 year old home in the heart of Kerrisdale and renovated the inside to completely meet their needs.  It is such a beautiful mix of old and new and has such amazing character, we so enjoyed the tour through every nook and cranny of this amazing house!

All of us arrived at Harv's place after putting our kids to bed for the night, so by the time we all arrived it was well after 9:00.  We drank wine and enjoyed the most amazing Indian street food that Harv had prepared for us.  She also drove all the way to Surrey that morning to a relative's restaurant to bring us some world famous spinach stuffed naan bread.  It was to die for!

We chatted and drank until we were so hungry we could hardly stand it, as the amazing aroma of homemade curry cooking away on the stove filled the house.  We filled our faces with incredible chicken curry, rice, naan bread and eggplant bharta.  I was so full that I literally could hardly stand up when dinner was done!

It was so so fun to have dinner with the Moms, we had such a wonderful visit together.  I love how I get to know more and more about everyone's history and lives every time we get together.  Our friendships that started on the mutual ground of having babies roughly the same age, are being woven together through all of these wonderful experiences that we are having together.  It is awesome.  I love having a group of Moms in my neighborhood that I can call my friends!

Special thanks to my very pregnant friend Lori, who has selflessly been our designated driver to these events for the past eight months....we owe her more than a few rides and bottles of wine once that baby's born!