Saturday morning daydream {it must be a sign...}

I was talking to Em the other day and, among other things, we were discussing whether or not she should spend her birthday in Paris this year {truly, the question should have been "Should Erin fly to Paris to spend Em's birthday with her this year?"} Paris is everywhere lately. The blogosphere is jam-packed with posts about Paris. Here are just a few that I've enjoyed lately:

A Paris picnic guide on Oh Happy Day!
A love letter to Paris on Project Simple Life
All Paris, almost all the time on Little Brown Pen
Bethany got engaged in Paris on Rinse.Repeat!
How to spend an afternoon in Paris by Kayla {also just engaged!} on Exquisite Banana
The prettiest macarons on Design Mom {would you believe I've never had one?}

Paris. It's all over the place. All over my Google reader anyway. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something?


* The spectacular Eiffel Tower photo was taken by the lovely Ms Kayla Poole. Go check out the past few weeks of posts on her blog and swoon over all the photos of her recent trip to Europe. They are seriously dreamy...

Friday flowers, and feeling grateful

la belle vie

Is it Friday already? Thank goodness for that. It's been a busy, stressful week and I feel as though I've been running on a treadmill from the moment we got home from our dreamy holiday {always going, going, but never really getting anywhere}. Anyway, I made it through the madness and am ready for a few days off to enjoy some sunshine and fun. It's a long weekend here in Canada {yay for BC Day!}, and I have plenty of fun plans to keep me happy and help shake off the stresses of the week. I can't wait to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with my mom and sister, having a picnic supper and watching the fireworks at Butchart Gardens, and I'm also looking forward to a Sunday morning hike up Mill Hill with my three boys {I hear the view of the city from up there is amazing}. Other things that are making me feel happy/grateful this Friday:

* Dylan's lip stitched up nicely- after a bloody fall involving his face and the footboard of Sawyer's bed last night- and he's quite pleased with his battle scars. He was so brave in the clinic, and I was so proud of him. The doctor said he was the very best patient he'd had all day! It called for extra ice cream, let me tell you.

* weather nice enough for playing in the sprinkler

* my museum membership card- worth every single penny

* re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and loving it even more this time around

* stacks of mail this week! thank you, lovely friends!

* sunflowers in our garden, great big ones

* freshly sliced pineapple... yum!

* my comfy bed {much as I miss Sorrento, I do not miss that lumpy bed in our cabana!}

Alas, this is not my bed.

What are you grateful for this week? And have you got a lovely long weekend ahead of you, too? I hope so!

E xo

Take me back to the beach

Remember that feeling of relaxation and calm I was so keen to hang onto when I got home from vacation on Sunday night? Well it lingered until early Monday afternoon... and then all sorts of preschool drama ensued and the president {that's me} was left to deal with all of it. There was an important paper to find, photocopy and send off in the mail {or risk losing our government funding}, and a vacant ECE assistant position to try to fill yet again. Calm and relaxed I was not! Add to that a super windy, grey day, two cooped-up kids, and stacks of unpacking and laundry to cope with, and I was just about ready to tear my hair out. It's all been taken care of now {except for a few loads of laundry} but I must confess it had me longing to be back at Sorrento. Back on the beach...

 Dylan, it turns out, is a total waterbaby. He was in the lake pretty much all the time, and loved it.

 Sawyer was pretty keen, too, though he was equally as taken with spending time on the sand.

The boys loved playing with their cousins, on the sand and in the water.

 Touching the waves.

 Cheap beach toys are a wise investment.

 All this beach time is wearing me out. I think I'll take a nap...

 Got you!

 Dylan was so thrilled that he got to spend a morning at the beach with his daycamp class. He quickly learned to make his way out to the floating dock. 

 Evelyn leaps off the dock as the boys look on in admiration.

 Sunscreen shirts = best invention ever!

My sis and I, soaking up the sun.

 Our feet enjoyed themselves too!

 We bought super soakers for the trip. They were put to good use, regularly!

Amanda and her niece, Fiona, happy to be at the beach.

Building sand castles.

I know this post was seriously photo-heavy, but I couldn't help myself! I can hardly believe that most of these were taken less than a week ago. How quickly reality seeps back in!

Do you have a favourite beach to hang out at in the summertime?

J'adore

... this pretty summer dress from Lands' End Canvas. I love the colour. It reminds me of watermelon, the quintessential summer fruit.

Lands End canvas via you are my fave

With 6 weeks left of summer vacation, there's bound to be a picnic, garden party, beach to wear it to, right? Right. I should probably order it now then...

E & me {fire hydrants}

So far, E & me has featured lots of pretty things that Em and I love. Things like tea and cookies, beaches, sidewalk cafés and farmer's markets. 

This week, we're trying something different, and we're showing off our local fire hydrants. Something we walk right past on a regular basis, but rarely take any notice of, despite the fact that they're bright red!

Isn't it funny how different they look? I remember when Alan first came to Canada, he was constantly taking photos of our fire hydrants. Apparently they're underground in England, and marked with a small plate on the ground or a nearby wall, so he couldn't get enough of our pillar-style North American ones! 

Looks like the French ones are above ground, just like ours. Can you guess which is the one on my street and which one puts out fires in France {with some help from a hunky fireman, of course...}

Sorrento: The scenery

There are a lot of reasons why I loved our summer vacation to Sorrento Centre. Too many to include all in one post. So I'll start with the obvious: the scenery. This place is gorgeous.

I'm talking idyllic. Look at it! How's that for beautiful? Lovely old brick house, sprawling lawns, and garden full of wildflowers on the forest's edge. That's perfect in my book.

 Shuswap Lake, just down through the trees. So, so pretty.

 A picnic in the woods? Yes, please! {this is one of many campsites... we, as you know, opted for a cabana instead}

Mountains + lake + evergreen trees = classic British Columbia scenery. Sigh. I love my province.

Sunset makes the lake even prettier.

 Amanda and I sat in this spot every morning, chit-chatting, sipping vanilla lattes and enjoying that view. Aaah...

Did I mention the garden?

Our swimming spot.

The infamous adirondack chairs, that I was so looking forward to. This one was just outside our cabana.

See the boy on the bike? That's Dylan. He's in his glory.

We've been home for 24 hours and I miss it already! There were so many wonderful things about Sorrento.  I don't think I've been so relaxed in years. Now, if I can just carry that feeling with me through the rest of the summer and into the fall... That would be fantastic.

Stay tuned throughout the week for more photos and reasons why our holiday was magical. And in the meantime, won't you tell me what you got up to while I was away? I feel like it's been way more than 9 days!

We're home!

Arrived here in Victoria last night after a very loooong day of driving, and nine fabulous days away. It's good to be home, but it's a shame that reality has to be thrust upon us so quickly. Alan left for work before 8, and I have been {half-heartedly} tackling the unpacking, laundry and usual housework all day. Look at what we left behind! Sand and sun and the most beautiful lake {not to mention three delicious meals, numerous tasty snacks, and 4 1/2 hours of "me time" every single day...}! Can you blame me for being less than keen for things to get back to normal? I might even be a bit depressed about the whole thing, come to think of it ;~)

I'll be back tomorrow with loads of photos from our lovely holiday. In the meantime, a huge thank you to all the fantastic ladies who kept you company while I was away. Weren't their guest posts divine? Kim, Gracie, Micaela, Bethany, Em, Alli and Megan~ they had so much summer loveliness to share... Thanks, girls!

See you all soon. Looking forward to catching up with each and every one of you,
E xo

Guest post: Summer dresses down under

Hi, I am Megan from Time after Tea and I am honoured to be here guest posting for Erin while she is away on holidays. I am very jealous of all the sunshine Erin will be enjoying as it is the middle of winter here and I am already counting down to Spring. One of my favourite things about Summer is getting to wear pretty light dresses  - the thought of just throwing something on and not having to put on layer upon layer is so appealing. I especially love wearing floral so here are some of my favourite summer floral dresses....

Modcloth

Shopruche

Vintage floral dress: betaboutique

Modcloth

Have a wonderful holiday Erin and family and I hope everyone in the northern hemisphere is having a wonderful summer, I wish I was there too.

* * * * *

Thanks, Megan! Nothing says summer like a sundress! I think I might need to go shopping for a few more now...