Hello again.

image via ankepanke

I've been focused on finishing up roughs for a children's book, while stocking shops and filling wholesale orders...
and weaning Whitney.
Finally.
But I'll save that story for another post...

I wanted to share a little collaboration piece - well, it really only involved me sending my art to the woman behind the real work - that is now available for purchase right here. It's a planner themed around girls. So if you are a girl who's into planners, like I am, then this would be a great one for 2012. Or anytime. You can fill in the dates yourself. There are 3 different covers to choose from. My favourite is this one. What girl does not love shoes?

This would make a great gift for someone. Or pick up a copy for yourself. I know I'm going to.

Behind the Scenes

You know how you can't really know how a space is going to work for you until you live in it for a while? Well, that's how it's been for me (or us) and as life changes, sometimes you have to adapt to it. Or in our case, adapt the surroundings.

In the course of a week, we've moved things around on every floor of the house.
And now - after almost a year in our home - I think I am finally happy with the way we've arranged our living spaces. But check back in another month or so...

Here are some behind the scenes snapshots:

My computer desk had a brief interlude in the basement...

...or dungeon as I call it.

The dining table moved to where my computer desk was.

The living room before.

The living room in process...

... and being enjoyed.

Still organizing and arranging some things, and have purchases planned (ie. another Ikea trip), but I am digging our new set-up. It feels cozier upstairs and downstairs. I'll share more photos of the other spaces (our bedroom and my new office space) soon.

A Zoo (Birth)Day!

This year we spent my birthday (last Saturday) taking Whitney to the Toronto Zoo for the first time. As we don't own a car and neither Matt nor I like to drive in the city, we ttc'ed it there and back. One way was about 75 minutes by bus, subway and bus again, so it was quite a long haul. Thankfully we have been blessed with a pretty easygoing and chill little girl - she must take after her daddy :) - who despite skipping her nap, was in good spirits right up until her bedtime.

She got to see so many of her favourite animals…






And enjoy some cake too.



If you're able to count all the candles on the cake, you'll see I'm now 36.

If I've learned anything this past year, it's to not be so hard on myself and on the ones I love. Of course that's something I'm continually working on.

I'm also striving to appreciate living in the moment, to cherish these first few years of our daughter's life, when everything is new to her, and she is learning so much and becoming her own little person.

Whitney has recently started talking in short little sentences and surprised me the other day by saying "Thank you, Mommy" after I gave her some crayons. It was so sweet and unexpected.

In the evening we watched this documentary which had me shedding many a tear and got me thinking about some things that I haven't really thought about yet. When you're in the moments of overwhelm, it's sometime hard to appreciate time with your little one. Especially as a self-employed work-at-home mom. But this movie certainly reminded me that our kids are only young for a little while. So if it means shifting my focus for a few years, then so be it. Not always an easy thing to remember when my ego (and work) gets in the way.

Anyways, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. Bye for now!

A Mini Shop Update

Just added some new(ish) items to the shop. Summer is sailing by, but I will have new things to unveil for Fall and Winter, even if it means late nights and losing a little sleep.

Life with a Toddler

Well, I've been slacking again with blog posts. But I'm blaming the hot hot heat... which makes me want to do next to nothing. Living with a toddler keeps me on my toes though and it seems we are constantly having to rethink our furniture arrangements to keep her safe.

So I've not just been vegging in front of the tv the past few weeks. On the contrary, we moved our tv down to the basement for about a month to keep Whitney from pulling at the cables. Since there is no cable connection down there, every time we wanted to watch something, Matt would have to bring up the monitor and pvr after Whitney was in bed. Needless to say that got to be a bit of a drag and not wanting to get rid of our cable - we are suckers, no pun intended, for True Blood - we rearranged our living room once again to better suit our tv watching needs. Now we just need to find a toddler-proof tv cabinet and mount/secure our flat screen tv to the wall.

Here's a before shot of the living room:

Right now we are using an Ikea ps cabinet to house our media. While it works well enough - the locking door is convenient - and matches the rest of our living room decor, I'd really like something larger, a bit more elegant and not on wheels. When we find the new cabinet, I'll be share some after shots.

Luckily, Whitney has not paid much attention to the tv since it's been back upstairs. Although she knows how to turn the tv on, she still is not allowed to watch any programs. I'm hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Besides, she's much too busy with her modeling gigs... kidding.
She did get to experience her first professional photo shoot earlier this month when a friend was looking for a toddler to model some of her new Fall clothing line. Here are my favourite shots:

Photos taken by Emma-Lee Photography

Really though, our little girl is happiest being outside, playing with water these days.


Personally, I prefer to stay indoors. I'm keeping busy with book illustrations, stocking some new shops and filling etsy orders.

And speaking of etsy, I'll be back soon with a little shop update.

Wedding Recap

Although I brought my camera on our trip out west, I didn't take a whole lot of photos at my sister's wedding.

I was too busy holding Whitney...

most of the time.

But I liked the photos I did take, most of them being candid shots. I think they always look so much nicer than the posed ones.

My sister (in one of her 5 outfits)

A proud papa looking on

Paparrazi :)

Paparazzi shot

The officially married happy couple (2 ceremonies later)

The whole wedding was beautiful and entertaining. My sister looked amazing in all her outfits and her husband must have felt like a king, getting to ride in on a horse as part of the traditional Indian Barat.

As with any wedding, there were a few hiccups, but my sister and her husband did a stellar job as they were their own wedding planners. They had a big wedding - about 200 people - compared to Matt's and mine. I only wished that I could have helped them out more beforehand. But at least I carried out the one responsibility my sister gave me - a sister of the bride speech - which was a daunting task for a very introverted individual like myself.

Thankfully all the hours I spent thinking of what to write paid off and the speech went over quite well, even though I was shaking like a leaf and fighting back tears through a lot of it. My sister said she was tearing up after the first line, so as long as she was touched, that's what mattered. A big thank you to my own husband for helping me tweak it and prompting me to put in directives, like "smile", lest I forget.

And another happy couple (& wee one)

And speaking of weddings, it's our 4th anniversary today. I think I'm going to wear my tutu skirt again tonight when we go out for dinner. Wishing everyone a happy weekend!

Lazy Summer Days

We're back from vacation...
okay, it's been almost a week since Whitney and I have been back, but my newly wedded sister was visiting so we took advantage of some more down time.

Here we are on Canada Day.

It's been a pretty lazy summer for me so far. Lots of work to catch up on and my shop and blog could definitely use some up-keep. I will share more photos from our trip out west later this week.

Hope you're enjoying some lazy summer days too. Happy Independence Day to my southern neighbours!