For as long as I can remember, it’s been common for people to observe that Stella is “Daddy’s little girl.” They don’t mean that he spoils her, but rather that she just loves to do whatever he is doing. And as a result, they have now cultivated a mutual passion for the outdoors that is really beautiful.
But something else that [...]
Archive for the ‘Living’ Category
May 24th, 2010
The Joy of Reading: The Lion, the Witch and the Bathrobe
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May 17th, 2010
On feeling itchy
On Friday night, I went to a neighbour’s vernissage. (I like using this word “vernissage” because it makes me seem all cultured-up, doesn’t it? Okay maybe not. But I still like it! I used it with my brother on the weekend, but he didn’t seem half as impressed as I was. “Verni-what? What word are you using?”)
Um. Where was I? [...]
May 14th, 2010
The Spring Haircut
My children were both long over-due for haircuts. And Spring felt like the time for it.
It’s an errand that I had kept moving down on the list until this week. I had an hour’s space between after school and when we would have dinner that I thought I’d use this time to strike this task off the list once and [...]
May 10th, 2010
8 Tips for Camping with Kids
Good Monday morning! My daughter Stella has shared her top tips for successfully camping with kids in a post that is now live on the Kids in the Capital blog.
If you are ever in the care of children in Ottawa, this is the blog to hit for ideas! It covers activities, playgroups, books, crafts, cooking — you name it! — [...]
May 9th, 2010
I’ve got a good mother
The lyrics from Jann Arden’s song “Good Mother” have been ringing in my heart and mind all weekend. I like to use these kinds of pre-fab holidays as an opportunity to count blessings (“blessings” is a word I use simply for lack of a non-religious alternative).
I’m feeling very grateful.
Thanks Mom! I love you. xoxxox
***************
Good Mother, by Jann Arden
I’ve got money [...]
May 7th, 2010
Business Casual
I watched the movie Wall Street this week. Do you remember it?
It was an Oscar-winner from 1987, directed by Oliver Stone and starred Michael Douglas as an incredibly wealthy but unscrupulous trader and Charlie Sheen as a young, desperately-eager-to-make-it-big stockbroker. I wanted to remind myself of the movie and its plot because a sequel is on its way. To be [...]
May 4th, 2010
Skin cancer doesn’t happen in Canada, does it?
When you live in Australia, as we did just recently, you very quickly realize how seriously they take their sun protection. The combination of a light-skinned population with prolonged sun exposure leaves Australians at real risk.
The risk is so high, in fact, that according to its Cancer Council two in every three Australians will develop skin cancer before the age [...]
May 1st, 2010
This makes me happy …
… so I thought I’d share it with you!
What can I say, a group of university, baseball-wearing guys singing Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance really makes my day!
Check it out. On the Rocks is the University of Oregon’s all male a cappella ensemble.
April 28th, 2010
I giggled and stomped, but the cup just kept laughing!
There’s so much happening around Ottawa that I think one can be forgiven for missing out on even something as fantastic as the NAC’s Kinderconcert series.
It seems this series is one well-kept secret; one that – happily – I have now stumbled upon! Here’s what I found when I attended my first Kinderconcert, titled Giggle & Stomp …
Before the show: there were fun [...]
April 21st, 2010
Thinking aloud about envy (with Andrea)
Just as I happened to be reading an article titled “Envy at Work,” my friend and fellow blogger Andrea at A Peek Inside the Fishbowl published a new post titled “Thinking aloud about envy.”
The article I was reading had initially intrigued me because envy isn’t a common topic for Harvard Business Review, or business research in general for that matter. Also, [...]
April 20th, 2010
Confessions of a Former Gleek (part 2)
In the first season of Glee, I found that Will (aka Mr. Shuester) shared many of my feelings of lingering doubt … Why did I never chase my dreams? What might have happened had I actually auditioned all those years ago?
Now, let me tell you, I did not relish the thought of being like Mr. Shuester. Quite the contrary. He [...]
April 16th, 2010
Recipe for a Wonderful Evening
1. Call up a good, true friend that you haven’t seen lately because the mundate elements in life keep stealing all your time.
2. With only one day’s notice, ask that she join you for an evening out.
3. As you step into the car pulled up at your driveway, you can already feel that the mad rush to get dinner and homework [...]
April 14th, 2010
Confessions of a Former Gleek (part 1)
I get an uncomfortable mix of emotions when I watch certain things. A ballet performance. A theatrical play. And the hit television series Glee.
I imagine other former gleeks take pleasure in watching these things. But me? It teases out raw, bittersweet feelings…
[please click to read more]
April 3rd, 2010
Personal style: Sacrificed at the altar of family
Most of the folks in our circle started out strong.
We wouldn’t sacrifice our personal style just because we were starting a family. Hell no! Just because we’d be parents didn’t mean we’d have to give up our sense of “cool.”
But, one by one, we’ve all slipped into family-dom. Some jumped in whole-heartedly, while others — like my husband and I [...]
March 29th, 2010
Sharing stories
There’s been a great deal of interesting and intelligent debate — as well as some yelling, screaming and posturing of course — about woman and blogs as of late. In one situation, some “mommy” bloggers were put under the academic microscope, while in others, the mainstream media snickered at mothers and their interest in blogging and, strangely, pronounced that women didn’t blog, only men.
People I know [...]
