For Mother’s Day this year I gave my mum the gift of her grandkids. They are growing up real fast so I think it’s important she has something that captures them at every stage.
My favourite is the bottom picture of Sadie and Sybil. My brother once said that “Sadie creates the diversion while Sybil steals the wallets” – the perfect summation of their relationship.
On gloomy days like today I watch this video of Sadie dancing in her new dance leotard to brighten my day. Note how her smooth recovery after she bails. I love this girl.
In an effort to gain more kitchen storage, I recently had some wall shelves installed on rarely used chalkboard wall. First I covered the wall with Orla Kiely’s Flower Tile wallpaper. I hummed and hawed over this wallpaper for months – is it too 70′s? too green? too bold? After seeing the wallpaper in context at the Orla Kiely New York store, I knew it would be perfect for our kitchen and it inspired me to put dark wood shelves on it.
A very talented friend, Susannah, made the beautiful floating walnut shelves. The photos don’t do them justice, they are stunning. I purchased a few 64 0z. jars for our dry goods which coincidentally colour coordinate with out kitchen – satisfying my need to have everything match. Almost more important than the dry good storage was making sure the shelves were positioned in a way that would still allow me to plug in my vintage radio. This girl can’t live with out her CBC.
It’s been a month since we went to Disneyland. The withdraw has been hard on Sadie – reliving rides on You Tube, excited reenactments with a free park map, reminiscing over photos, wearing Mickey ears everywhere and daily talks of when we can go see the castle again. You can take a girl out of Disneyland but you can’t take Disneyland out of a girl.
No trip to Palm Springs is complete with a visit to the Ace Hotel & Swim Club. I’ve stayed there on a prior trip so I needed to say hi to my old friend, the poolside mojito, and do a quick walk around the grounds. I love how everything looks like it’s been out in the desert for decades.
My pal Saskia and I borrowed bikes from our hotel to get to the Ace. I’m a firm believer that the best way to see any city is on two wheels. If it wasn’t 35 degrees, I could have explored Palm Springs’ neighbourhoods for hours.
While in Palm Springs we managed to peel ourselves away from our hotel pool and check out The Parker. Upon entry into the Jonathan Adler designed oasis, I felt like I was walking through Auntie Mame’s apartment – it was bright and eclectic with a cheeky sense of humour.
We spent most our time there exploring the manicured grounds. Everywhere we turned along the fragrant plant lined walkways, we would come across something new – sprawling lawns with a fire pit, hammocks and lovely water features.
We had a lovely time playing with the vintage croquet set, bocce and with the giant chess board. All I could think when we were there was how it would make the most perfect place for a wedding or a weekend away…sans toddler.
We recently escaped to Palm Springs for some much needed Vitamin D and an excuse to wear our wicker hats. We stayed at the new Saguaro hotel. It was relaxing, colourful & perfect.
