Fill in the blank Friday {travel edition}

Here's something I haven't done in a while... a Fill in the Blank Friday! The theme this week is travel, so of course I couldn't resist.

* * *

1. My favourite place I've ever travelled to is London. I adore it. The art, the culture, the architecture, the shopping, the tea...

2. Annecy, in the French Alps, is somewhere I'd like to go someday soon. I miss Em.

3. I pass the time on a plane by reading books and writing in my journal. On a train or bus though, I absolutely cannot read or else I'll get violently motion sick. So instead I listen to music and watch the scenery going by.

4. My three must-haves when I travel are a good book, a pen and paper, and a drink.

5. My favourite travel companion is ... sort of dependent on the trip. Alan is an excellent travel companion in the UK. He always knows where he's going and can navigate pretty much any train station with ease. My mom and my sister are great to travel with, too. We always have fun together and laugh a lot {NYC, here we come!}

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while travelling is meeting my future-husband during the total solar eclipse. The sky went as dark as midnight at 11 o'clock in the morning. Très romantic, non?

7. The most exotic food I've ever tried while travelling is barbequed bison {in Northern Manitoba}.

8. If I could live anywhere else I'd live in London. There is still so much there that I have yet to see and do. And it would be fabulous to be able to take the kids to every single park and museum, too.

9. I have been to 5 US states {Washington, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida} and 8 Canadian provinces {all of them except for New Brunswick and Saskatchewan}.

How about you? Want to play along? Link up over on the little things we do, and leave me a message in the comments so I can read your travel stories, too.

Happy Weekend, friends! Come back tomorrow and join me in my Saturday morning daydreaming, won't you?

image via here

Fill in the blank Friday {autumn edition}

It's been a long time since I've done one of these. I'd forgotten how much fun they are.

Nothing says fall like a trip to the pumpkin patch.

My favourite autumn tradition is our outdoor Thanksgiving celebration with all the extended family. My parents make turkey soup and sandwiches, fill a carafe with hot chocolate, set up bales of hay around the firepit in their backyard... and we all spend an afternoon outside together. It's awesome, and I look forward to it every year.

My favourite fall treat is a pumpkin spice latté {non-fat but with the whip!}

Fall makes me think of  bouquets of newly-sharpened pencils because I'm a school teacher {and a really, really big fan of You've Got Mail...}

Autumn free form word assocation, go! Crunchy leaves, bonfires, rosy cheeks, apple picking, pumpkin pie.

My go-to outfit in the fall is a skirt, tights, & sweater, topped with a down vest and scarf. I almost never wear a jacket in the fall if I can help it.

My favourite fall holiday is {Thanksgiving or Halloween}... Halloween. We start getting ready for Halloween as soon as October rolls around. It's so much fun to decorate the house with bats and spiders and a thousand paper pumpkins. I love the excitement of carving jack o'lanterns, getting decked out in costumes, and going trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood with my two giddy little boys.


And since this is a fall themed edition of Fill in the Blank Friday, how about some photos I took this week of all the lovely autumn leaves around the Westshore?

Be sure to link up with Lauren over on the little things we do if you decide to play along, and leave a link here, too, so I can read about your fall favourites, won't you please?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Any fun plans? We're off to the pumpkin patch on Sunday for a hayride, apple cider, pumpkin bowling {yep, you read that right} and all sorts of festive fun. Stay tuned for photos on Monday.

E xo


PS: Ooh! It's October 21st. That means I leave for New York City exactly 5 months from today. Hooray!!!

Fill in the Blank Friday {school days}

Today's Fill in the Blank Friday is all about school! With less than two weeks till summer vacation, it's fun to reminisce about the good old days... Didn't you loooove the last day of school?

1. The best thing about being in school was being with my friends every day.

2. The worst thing about being in school was gym class. And wishing I were as pretty/stylish/popular as some of the other girls. School wasn't really a time in my life when my self-esteem was particularly high.

3. My favourite subject was English lit. I particularly loved Oscar Wilde and Jane Austen.

4. One subject I wish I could have mastered was French. I studied a lot of French. I was in the honours class. I went to Quebec for two months to be immersed in it. And I'm still not fluent.

5. I could never get tired of studying literature. There will never be too many good books to read and discuss. More than anything, I love children's literature.

6. My most memorable teacher was Mr Bowen, my 9th-grade English teacher. He always wore a three piece suit. He carried a pocket watch. He walked the halls in a jaunty way, with his hands linked behind his back. He smelled of whiskey and cigars. He had a raging temper. He thought I was some sort of English genius (lucky for me, because it meant I was never the kid who caused him to fly into a rage!) And he was absolutely passionate about literature. He was awesome.

7. If I could choose between going to school for the rest of my life or going to work I would choose... Well, as it turns out, I'm doing both, because I'm a teacher! I would love to take some more classes, and maybe get my Masters' degree one day, but for now just going to elementary school three days a week (and looking after my two little guys the rest of the time) is about all I can handle.

Play along at Lauren's blog, The Little Things We Do. It's loads of fun!

Fill in the Blank Friday

This week's theme for Fill in the Blanks Friday is books! Hurrah! A good book makes me happier than almost anything. You? Play along at The Little Things We Do and answer these questions, too.

1. My favourite book growing up was probably A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read it a dozen times. I loved Sara's story of riches to rags (and back to riches again), all set in Victorian London. I liked The Secret Garden too, but not quite as much. * This was a really difficult question for me to answer. Books were such a huge part of my life from a really young age. I devoured them, and was always the class bookworm. I spent all my free time with my nose in a good book. I loved the Little House books, and books by Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, Maud Hart Lovelace and L.M. Montgomery. (I am a proud Canadian and love Anne of Green Gables with all my heart! Some time I should show you all my photos of my trip to PEI...) I adored E.B. White and C.S. Lewis. My favourite place to be when I was a kid? The library. Because at the library, I could travel to any place in the world (I especially loved the moors of England, the cobbled streets of London and the big hill in Deep Valley, Minnesota) and spend time with the most amazing people...

2. The funniest book I've ever read was Miss Smithers. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. Alan came running, thinking I was having some sort of a mental breakdown! I was practically convulsing, and the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I gasped for air! (I also find Bridget Jones' Diary and And God Created the Au Pair hugely hilarious)

3. The one book that truly changed my life was Little House in the Big Woods. It got me reading novels, made me think about the past, and opened up entirely new worlds to me. When I was in my late teens, I read A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet, Beverly Cleary's two memoirs, and they had a profound effect on me as well. She was a children's author and a librarian and quite a strong woman. I admired all those things about her, and in some ways, tried to emulate them.

4. If you're looking for a real tear-jerker you should read The Friday Night Knitting Club. BRUTAL.

5. If I could meet any author living or dead, I think I'd choose Jane Austen. Because seriously, how fabulous would it be to have tea and cakes with Jane Austen, out on the lawn? Ooh, and maybe we could invite Oscar Wilde along, too!

6. The next book on my "to read list" is either The Cradle Snatcher by Tess Stimson (it was a birthday present from my sister-in-law in Ireland and looks like a fun, light-hearted, girly kind of read) or the depression-era Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (far more serious, a "darkly compelling fairy story")... When I finish Eat, Pray, Love, we'll see what I'm in the mood for. As summer gets closer, I find myself wanting to re-read The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books, too!

7. If I was snowed into a remote cabin in the woods and could only choose three books to bring with me, I'd choose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (because I luuuuuurve Harry Potter books and can never, ever get enough of them), And God Created the Au Pair (because it's such a funny book about family life and I just love the emails between the sisters, sharing their stories) and Anne of Green Gables (because she is one of the most marvellous heroines ever, and most certainly the greatest in Canadian literature)... But you know I'd try to sneak in a few more, right? Just try to stop me! Three books to keep me occupied during a blizzard is simply not enough.

So there you have it. Books. Near and dear to my heart. I could go on and on for hours! But I'm not. I'm going to take my boys to the beach instead. While I'm gone, won't you play along and let me know your favourites?

Happy Weekend, friends! Anything fun planned for your Friday night?

Flowers for your Friday (and filled-in blanks)

via tiny white daisies

Well, it's Friday, the end of another week, and the last day of the month, too! I remember when I was a kid, complaining about how slowly the time passed by, and my mom telling me "Just wait until you're a grown-up. It'll fly by so much faster than you'd like it to..." I didn't see how that could possibly be true. But of course, I've since discovered that she was right. We're at May already!

Sawyer and I were in the mall this morning, and I was trying to drag him along from the bank to the grocery store with no stops in between. But he was desperate to see the stuffed animals in the card shop, so finally I relented for a moment. As I stood there, watching him with the bunny, an old man smiled sadly at me. "Just wait," he said. "In a minute, 20 years will have gone by, and he'll be moved out." I felt like he'd punched me in the stomach. I wanted to cry. I wanted to pick my baby up and get out of that mall right that second. "Oh, don't say that," I said to him, but he'd already begun to walk away. I couldn't be angry with him though, that old man. He was just trying to remind me of something important. To make the most of every moment. After that, I tried not to rush. We held hands, Sawyer and I, and wandered more slowly through the mall. We got a honey-bun in the grocery store, and then we came home to watch Fun with Phonics and eat it together. It's the little things we do that make life so great, isn't it? If we try to remember that, maybe we can slow time down just the tiniest bit...

Besides my usual Friday flowers (don't you just love lilacs?), I've decided to play along with Lauren's Fill-in-the-Blanks Friday, too. This week's theme is movies... how could I resist?

1. My absolute favourite movie of all time is It's A Wonderful Life. It always makes me cry such happy tears. It just wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't spend it with George Bailey.

2. My favourite movie as a child was Mary Poppins. My favourite part was when they jumped into the sidewalk chalk drawings. Magical. Oh! And when they sang the song that made all the toys put themselves away. That was awesome.

3. The best movie quote ever is from the end of It's A Wonderful Life. I love it when Harry arrives in the middle of the blizzard, raises a glass and shouts out, "A toast, to my big brother George, the richest man in town!" George is surrounded by all of his family and friends, all the people whose lives he's touched, and he finally realizes what a difference he has made to each of them, including his beloved little brother. I can literally feel my heart fill up with joy.

4. My favourite actress is probably Kate Winslet. She is incredibly talented, can play any role to perfection, and I think she is just so classically beautiful.

5. The movie I could watch over and over is You've Got Mail. I adore everything about it. The emails between the two main characters, the books and movies they quote, the gorgeous children's bookstore that Meg Ryan's character owns, the Betsy-Tacy reference, the Upper West Side of New York City... all. of. it. LOVE.

6. My favourite movie genre is probably romantic comedy. What can I say? I'm a sucker for it (Johnny and Baby, Bridget and Mark Darcy, Harry and Sally... how can you resist them and their happy endings?) Oh, and I like a good Jane Austen adaptation, too.

7. A movie I'd like to watch this weekend is Julie and Julia. I've heard good things. And I'd like to be inspired to make something delicious!

And I'm adding one more... because I just can't stop!

8. My top ten favourite movies of all time are It's A Wonderful Life, You've Got Mail, Sliding Doors, Love Actually, Pride and Prejudice, Good Will Hunting, Sense and Sensibility, Sleepless in Seattle, Dead Poets' Society and Lost in Austen.

What about you? What movies make you laugh, cry, think, get inspired? I want to know!

Happy Friday, my lovelies... I'll see you in May.

E xo

Fill in the blanks Friday

Well, it's Friday. I'm up (after only 5 hours' sleep... urgh) and ready to fill in the blanks. The boys are watching Peppa Pig and I've got a bit of time to drink my tea and lounge in my jammies before the day gets going. Can't guarantee these answers will be the best, but I'll try not to slur my words too much!

1. Today I am wearing pink cotton pajama pants, a grey t-shirt and a hoodie. I'm thinking jeans, boots and black turtleneck for later though. With my wine-red corduroy blazer.

2. My favourite childhood food was chicken pot pie (those little ones from the freezer section- my mom always got them for us as a treat when we were staying home with a babysitter) and my favourite food now is souvlaki (mmm, pita and tzatziki!)

3. A day that I am too busy to re-apply my lipstick is a day that I really am too busy.

4.The last movie I saw was New Moon (with about a million screaming teenage girls) and the next movie I want to see is Bright Star (I've heard so many good things about it... and who doesn't love Keats, right?)

5. My favourite smell is freshly cut grass because it makes me think of spring and warm, light evenings. (there are so many other smells I love too... lilacs, vanilla, the ocean, Christmas trees, the way my kids smell just out of the bath... but that's another post, I guess!)

6. A weird little quirk I have is typing in my head. While I'm talking, I'm sometimes imagining my fingers on the keyboard, typing away! Yep. Weird.

7. When I take personality quizzes they always say that I am a good friend. I hope that's true. I try to be.

There you have it for another week. I hope you'll head over to The Little Things We Do and play along!

And after that, be sure to check out my first ever giveaway. You've got until Sunday evening to enter...

PS: Sorry for the weirdly inconsistent font colours. Blogger is doing my head in this morning! And I'm too tired to try to fix it.

Fill in the blanks

It's Friday, and time for some more "fill in the blanks!" Join in, and don't forget to link back to Lauren !

One thing I must do before I die is go to Paris for a long holiday and speak French every day while nibbling on pain au chocolat.

I would rather read the book than watch the film any day.

If I could give my younger self one piece of advice it would be to stop stressing so much. Enjoy being young. Stop waiting for tomorrow and live for today. And don't waste your time worrying about how you look. You look great!

If I won the lottery tomorrow I would design my dream house on a lovely big piece of land with a beautiful garden, close to the city but far enough away to be peaceful and quiet. And I'd book those flights to England I keep talking about...

The best surprise ever was when Alan arrived a week early from England. I was laying in bed, just drifting off to sleep, when he poked his head into my room and said, "Hi Gorgeous..." I practically fell out of my bed in shock!

My biggest fault is that I often worry myself sick about all sorts of stuff. I need to learn to relax, to "keep calm and carry on." It doesn't come naturally to me.

My greatest strength is my desire to be really good at the things that are important to me. To be a great mum and a good friend are at the top of my list. Also, I think I'm pretty funny. I like to make people laugh.

Fill in the Blanks and Flowers for your Friday

Happy Friday! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, there are crocuses all over my lawn and I feel fabulous. Hooray for the weekend, and for spring which is definitely on its way! I've been reading everybody's "Fill in the blanks" the past few Fridays, and today I'm going to play along.

If I could medal in an Olympic event it would be figure skating. I love the twirling. It's just so pretty. (of course I am a complete klutz on ice and would probably break my ankle two minutes in, but whatever! this is my Olympic fantasy, right?)

If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd take lip balm, books, my journal and a pen, sunglasses, and my Dharma jumpsuit (you know... so I could blend right in!)

Elevators are my most irrational fear. Being trapped in one, and then having it plummet to the ground. Pure terror.

I'd rather eat healthy and exercise every day than have to squeeze into too-tight jeans every day and get all glum.

I am excited about going out for breakfast this weekend with all three of my boys.

I should really go pour some milk in my tea before it gets cold.

One of my favourite things in all the world is going out for afternoon tea with my sister, drinking tea, eating lots of little sandwiches and treats, and laughing our heads off.

If you want to join in the fun, check out The Little Things We Do, fill in your own blanks, and then link up. Let me know if you do, so I can check out all your answers, okay? I really love this sort of thing.

Have a wonderful weekend, all of you! Have you got anything exciting planned? I'm looking forward to our breakfast out, going to a birthday party with Dylan, spending some time in the garden, and cozying up on the couch with Alan to watch the latest episode of Being Human on Sunday night. Eggs benny and hashbrowns, birthday cake, digging in the dirt and hanging out with vampires, werewolves and ghosts... It's shaping up to be quite a weekend!

E xo

flowers from Country Living via Decorology