Happy St Patrick's Day!

On this lovely Irish holiday, I raise my glass of Bailey's to you, dear friends. 

Cheers!

E xo

image via here

Just a minute in... March

via here

Watching You've Got Mail {checking out all the locations I'm going to visit in New York next week, like Kathleen's brownstone on West 89th, above!} and, when I get home... The Hunger Games {in IMAX!}


Writing letters to friends, and in both of my journals. And lists! So many lists of the things I want to see and do, and of everything I need to pack...

Reading The Feeling Good Handbook {working through some stuff...} and an interesting novel, Come, Thou Tortoise.

Excited about my trip to New York City with my mom and sister. It's almost here after five months of waiting, and I can't even believe it!

Listening to Adele. I just can't get enough of that girl's voice.

Wondering if our cherry trees will be in bloom by the time I get home on the 26th? I hope so. And also... what should I do for my birthday?

Planning our NYC itinerary! So much to see and do in our 5 days there...

Wearing my orange raincoat. It's so bright and cheerful. I love it.

Looking forward to... Besides my trip to NYC? Spring. It's my favourite season.

How are you at this minute in March?

E & me {light switch}

So, here in Canada, we've sprung ahead an hour and it's officially Daylight Savings time. Woot! I love Daylight Savings time! Oh sure, the mornings have been horrible around here the past few days {especially on Monday morning when the high winds knocked out the power, and we all woke up at 8:20 a.m., two hours later than usual!}, but the evenings have been lovely and light until half past seven, so it's all worth it. 

In France, they're waiting until the end of the month to change their clocks, which means Em and I are currently only 8 hours apart, instead of our usual 9. Makes it slightly easier to schedule our weekly phone/skype dates, and that's always a good thing, oui, Em?

Anyway, all that to say that the theme of this week's E & me is Light Switches. We need to turn ours on earlier in the morning on this side of the Atlantic, but can leave them off until later in the evening. A few weeks from now we'll be back in sync with France, but for the time being, that's just one more difference between chez nous and chez Em & François.

Can you guess whose light switch is whose?

Portrait, practice, post

My Tuesday night 3BT {I really need to do these more often}:

1. Family portraits, courtesy of Dylan. Especially this one.

2. Running longer and farther every week {my new shoes rock, and so do I!}

3. I got a letter in the mail today from Fergal. He sent me some US money to spend in New York! Best. Godson. Ever.

Hope you had a happy Tuesday. Can you think of three beautiful things about your day?

Scenes from a birthday weekend

Oh, hey there. Remember me? Did you think I'd completely abandoned my little blog? I was gone for way longer than normal, I know, but I had a really good reason. It was Dylan's birthday! My baby boy is seven now, and we celebrated big time.

Birthday banner + birthday boy

Dino cake from the bakery for birthday dinner

He insisted on carrying his own cake in. "Because, I am seven..."

My feet in the front yard 

Lego dinosaurs assembled... now it's time to try them out outside!

 T-Rex Trapper in action

 Yet another daffodil

Sittin' on the front step

 Morning cuppa

 Amazing sky

Royal Roads, my Sunday morning run destination

 Birthday party pirate island cake

Making a wish {check out those rosy cheeks, post-Playzone party!}

One more visit with our darling Kelly before she heads back up north

Just one weekend left before I'm off to New York City for spring break! I've got a lot to do between now and then. How about you? Have you got any plans for the week ahead? And before I forget, how was your weekend? 

E & me {daffodils}

Don't you just love daffodils? 

Em & I certainly do. In the garden or in a vase... or both! 

Either way, they're lovely. 

And a sure sign that spring is on its way. Hooray!

PS: It's pretty obvious whose are whose, non?

J'adore X 3

Over the past few days, I've found a few little tidbits online that are simply too fab not to share. Ready?

Paris in a box, via You Are My Fave. 

Em and I definitely need to meet up in Paris one day soon-ish, so I should probably get this box of goodies to prepare, oui? Oui. Bien sûr. And in my entire life, I have yet to taste a  macaron, so I should really get on that right now.

Paper cities by Joel are too sweet to resist 


I'm picturing Paper Paris all laid out on the desk in my office. How cute would that be? Très mignon, that's how cute.

How pretty is this poster?

I love pretty much everything Oscar Wilde ever said. And this particular quote really sums up how I'm feeling these days.

What are you loving online these days? Share the link in the comments, won't you please? Perhaps I'll adore it too...

Teachers' strike, day one

It was cold out there today in the wind, but we walked and talked and waved at the cars going by {and felt heartened by all the beeps and thumbs-up of support}. I don't know if any of it will do any good, but we have to say that we tried.

It's good to have such fantastic supporters. With awesome signs.

We're at the Legislature tomorrow, rallying with thousands of others {union members, parents, students, community groups} to protest the sham that is Bill 22. The future of public education in this province is at stake, and we're not going to let it happen without a fight. If you're in Victoria, won't you join us?

Scenes from the weekend

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I'd hoped, but I did do the things I really needed to. I spent time with my dear friend Kelly, met up with my mom and sister at the park so our boys could play {and we could talk about our trip to New York!}, and we managed to get all the groceries bought {plus a new microwave... ours suddenly packed it in a few days ago}. I even made a meal plan for the week, and a tasty batch of waffles. I think that could probably be considered a successful weekend, non? I did my best to relax whenever I could, which was a very good thing indeed, as the week ahead is going to be anything but relaxing...

 Rainy Friday night latté

 Sunny Saturday afternoon at the park

 Top of the climbing wall

 Our shadows, keeping watch over the kids

Comfort food on a chilly evening

 Mr Bean is hilarious

 Sunday morning brunch {homemade by me}

 Mmmm. Hyacinths on my kitchen table

I'm a "card for every holiday" kind of girl

How was your weekend? Did you get up to anything good?

Happy things to end the week with

As you may have gathered from recent posts, this hasn't been the greatest week. I've had a horrible head cold, BC's teachers are going on strike {this is not going to be fun}, and, worst of all, a very dear friend of mine suddenly and tragically lost her mom on Tuesday night. I feel tired and discouraged and heartbroken. But am trying to find the good wherever I can. And so, some "happy things to end the week with":

Cass and I got tickets to see The Hunger Games in IMAX on March 29th! It's going to be ah-mazing.

via here

Tonight, after a good, long run on the treadmill, I came home and ran a bubble bath. Then I soaked in the tub for ages, with this book that Em sent me. It's light and fluffy and exactly what I need right now. And, it takes place in NYC {18 days till take-off!}

via here

I splurged on myself and bought this super cute, bright orange jacket from Joe Fresh the other night. Isn't it fun?  I love it. I've decided I wear altogether too much black and grey. Time for some bright, cheerful colours in my wardrobe.

via here

So, I should probably go back and get this to go with it, right? Yeah, I thought so.

via here

Singing along to Adele's "Someone Like You" in the van today. Twice.

I need this album.

And finally, it's Saturday tomorrow. I am definitely sleeping in.

Have a good weekend, friends. Hold your loved ones tight.
E xo