Packages pour moi et bebe

Lest you think I've run off to film Sultana Bran commercials, I'm here to show you some lovely gifties that have been posted to me since I made my baby announcement. A talented blogger who preferred to stay anonymous sent me a package with this pretty blue wool jumper inside (yup, all you UK folk, in Canada a jumper is something like this or a one-piece pantsuit. What you call a jumper, we call a sweater).

There's lots of room to grow here thanks to a handy adjustable strap at the back. I thought it would look funky if I stuck to the blue theme, so I wore it with blue tights and turtleneck (polo neck in the UK? I love these differences), and my thrifted Kenneth Cole Reaction booties. A handmade statement piece necklace finished off the look. Love!

The same blogger sent me a pretty sleeveless black dress that will do wonderfully for the summer and post-baby, which isn't pictured here as it was difficult to photograph, and this beautiful hardcover book, Flea Market Baby, which features inspiring photos of all the creative baby things you can do with second-hand flea market finds. I used to have coffee table books galore featuring thrifty decor ideas, and boy, do I regret getting rid of them. I was so touched by this package, from a blogger I hardly know - I am so hanging on to my maternity stuff so I can pass the goodies and the good Karma forward!

Speaking of terrific ladies, the indomitable Curtise also sent me a package, containing, among other things, this beaut of a floral knit tunic/dress that I've been all but living in lately. That style dame nailed it with this baby - it's just so very ME. I'm wearing it with leggings and a necklace found at a Vide Grenier for a couple bucks, but I also wore it as a dress with sassy crochet tights.

She also sent this summery top that, again, will be perfect for spring and post-baby. Isn't it swish? It'll rock with everything from leggings to a black skirt. And on that subject, Curtise also sent me a black knit skirt, which is perfectly fitting into my pregnancy wardrobe philosophy, but, like the black dress, it didn't photograph well, so you'll have to trust in its marvelousness.

I just love the card Curtise sent - and she was so right, there were plenty of butterfly-like movements going on in my belly at that time, which have now turned to perceptible kicks!

Last but not least, my wonderful twin sis, Kendra, sent me this Kimono-style maternity top that I'll be sporting once the warmer weather comes. Like Curtise's top, I think it could also do as a nursing top. I can't find a lot of nursing clothing here, so I'm making the (perhaps mistaken) assumption that French women just pull their boob out of their top to nurse. I would have no problem doing that if I had to.

Kendra is an art and graphics design prof in Toronto, and has been a practising and showing artist since she was in her early 20s, if not before - you can check out her amazing drawings, paintings and other renderings on the blog portion of her website, gadzala.com. Needless to say, I was thrilled to receive this book. I thought it was such a creative idea to turn a sketchbook into a book, and, since the tome chronicles her family's life in addition to showcasing her talents, I wanted one.

Guess whose wedding flowers she featured in the book?

Sis also sent me, upon request, a Dollar Store liquid eyeliner, the same kind I used to buy at the end of my street in Toronto. Makeup here is VERY expensive - try 18 Euros for a lipstick or a mascara ... that's 24 Canuck bucks, epps!

Thanks to all you lovelies for sending me such gorgeous, thoughtful gifties that will be so used and enjoyed. I'm linking up to Lakota's Ta-dah! Tuesday because I think these items are definitely Ta-dah! worthy! And special thanks to Jill, who has kindly featured the dress that you all loved so much, from a few posts ago, in her How I Wear My Date Night Look post today!

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Show and tell: 1990s beaded bling

Did you ever have Show and Tell when you were a kid in school? That's when you could stand up and show something of yours to the class and talk about it. We did this in Kindergarten and it was the highlight of the week, let me tell you!

I'm in a 1990s frame of mind these days (case in point; two floral 'ditzy' dresses purchased on Etsy recently, one of which is velvet! Will show you when they arrive). So I thought I'd show you some bling from the '90s I've kept over the years but haven't worn since then - like these metal and wooden earrings my twin sis made me back in the day.

She made me these ones too. Remember how big beading was back in the 1990s?

Ditto for these ones. I used to wear these hoops ALL the time. Alas, now I have only one. Perhaps I can make it into a pendant.

I don't wear earrings these days as they make my ears all red and infected, but I may just try to accessorize this necklace my sis made me with something soon. Did I make her anything? Nope, bad person, I know. But she is the artist and I can hardly draw a stick person. As the writer, I pen funny poems and songs for her on our B-day.

My best friend made me these.

I had long hair for part of the 1990s and loved these barrettes for pulling my hair back. I doubt I'll ever have long hair again, but like the beaded pieces, I just had to hang onto them.

I leave you with another kind of Show and Tell, a snap taken in the summer as I was walking along the lake and saw a duck and her wee chicks swimming in the water. Can you tell what's on mommy's back? She's the duck in the centre.

Can you see? It's a baby duck, riding on its mommy's back!

Maybe it was the weak one in the bunch? Hope it made it, 'cos I still get the warm fuzzies looking at this!

Happy weekend!

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Humour in decorating

My creative decor juices haven't been flowing for a while, so in memory of my former digs in Toronto(which some, not to brag, have compared to Carrie Bradshaw's pad in Sex in the City), I will, in the next few days, be showing you some of my fave decor looks from over the years. I'm a fan of what I call emotional decorating - ie: not being scared to proudly display and utilize items and momentos you love in your living space - and over the years, like anything in life, I guess, I've also cultivated a bit of humour when it comes to trussing up my apartments. Why not? Both philosophies make me smile and love my where I live all the more.

Meaning the man in the painting in the first pic (painted by my twin sis and artist Kendra Gadzala) is sharing a view with the ethnic statue I picked up at Value Village for a few bucks! Spring can be inspiring, after all, so why not let the clear plastic purple teddy bear piggy bank frolic with the tulips of the same hue? So if you're getting too stressed about everything being matchy-matchy and hyper-organized, remember: decorating needn't be dismal - it can be fun!

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My twin sis bought my dress in the local thrift store!

This pic was snapped in January 2010, months before meeting my future hubby and moving to the UK. But when the big move was in progress, I had to get rid of (as I'm sure you can imagine) a pile of stuff. I put aside this Italian-made dress, which I had bought second-hand in a Toronto consignment shop, for my twin sis, but she either didn`t see it or didn`t like it - neither of us can remember as it was such a hectic time. So I donated it to Stretch Thrift, our friendly neighbourhood thrift shop on Pape Ave. in Toronto.
Fast-forward to end of 2011, to after I had I left Toronto and was about to move to the UK. My sis was in said thrift shop, and she saw this dress. She was missing me so much and even though she wasn`t sure if she`d wear it, she had a feeling it was mine ... and so, dear reader: she bought it.
Love it.

You`ve heard me speak of emotional decorating. This is stronger stuff, propelled by emotion. Call it psychic thrift.

Miss ya, love ya, sis. Wear the frock in good health ... and think of me. xo

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Meet my Judy

This is Judy, and she's a 'Judy', a term for a dressmaker's body form. I bought her new, years ago, at The Bombay Company on sale. I used to dress her up in one of my special vintage coats, but I found the coat just got too dusty. Plus it's nice to change things up every once in a while. Now Judy is an accessories junkie.

I just love these belts. I haven't had the chance to wear any of them yet as they're 'new' to me. The retro gold one used to be owned by dear Minnie, the lady I have told you about in recent posts.

The others came from my man's Mum in England, an accessories maven in her own right. I just love all the jeweled dangling bits. So boho chic!

The scarf, Perry Ellis, was thrifted for a couple bucks (you can't quite see but it has a bunch of birdies on it). The heavy duty necklace - vintage Nina Ricci, I'm told, by jewellery designer Rita Tesolin, who added these cute stone hearts to it - is so heavy it cuts little designs in the back of my neck, but I love it anyway. The shorter chunky colourful necklace is circa 1980s (Lucite?).

This wee pink purse is so darling - it was a B-day gift from my sis that she picked up in the market in Aix en Provence. It's from Italy, but hey, now I have the best of France and Italy! I'm not really a little bag person but it did prove useful while holidaying in England and also for weekend jaunt-abouts.

The thrifted version of the above purse: a tiny purse handmade in the Philippines, which I've had for so long I can't quite recall how much I paid for it - but I know it was under $5 as I have a certain 'thrift threshold' rule I enact when I find beautiful things that don't wholly fit into my life, and this was one of them. I don't wear it much, but when I do I pair it with a pink dress and feel incredibly chic.

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'70s sistas

Yesterday's post on the 1970s necklace MY SISTER, not me, thinks is fugly, generated a lot of comments!

So in the spirit of the the '70s, fugly, and sisters, here's another old pic of me (left), my twin and older sis in some pretty happening polyester.

See, I'm practising poses for my blog way back then!

I remember that dress. Liked it. So short, though. Think my twin and I were outgrowing them. And how about that burgundy outfit? Love the mini. The top, not so much.

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'Fugly'--sentimental 1970s pendant

When I showed this gold-tone mosaic 1970s style pendant to my sis (which I ended up thrifting for 50 percent off), she told me it reminded her of the ugly necklaces and pendants our Mom used to wear in the 1970s when we were growing up.

Gee, I always loved those necklaces. And this one does remind me of them, too. I can see why my sis called them/it ugly - they're not beautiful, after all. Perhaps it's just the sentimental nut in me that makes me gravitate towards pieces like this. This one reminds me of my childhood and suits my 70s-ish style, so it's a definite keeper.

This is the only pic I have of my Mom wearing one of those 'ugly' 1970s necklaces - with me (right), my twin and older sis in the mid-1970s. Don't you just love my Mom's style? I remember this necklace lovingly! You can't see it that well, but it was a string of multi-coloured polished stones in earthy hues. I loved it then. I should ask Mom if she hung onto it.

Dig the crazy glasses, eh? I think those were more 1960s than '70s, though. My twin sis and I look like mini versions of Mom, with our turtlenecks and pants! And our older sis, so cheeky in her mini skirt and colour-coordinated tights and - you guessed it - another turtleneck!

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More memories from childhood home

As I was telling you in yesterday's post about my childhood home that was just torn down, my sisters and I, and our friends, spent a lot of time playing outside when we were growing up, and the memories abound. Here's my twin (left) and I with our childhood cat, Cleo (who followed us home when we were 13 and lived for 20 years!), on the day we were confirmed in the United church, age 14. Our backyard was so lovely. My sis was married ten years after this photo was taken, near the trees you see behind us.(Please forgive picture quality; I don't have a scanner so I've taken pictures of pictures for this and yesterday's post!).

Another fun memory when we were in our early 20s, after we had moved away to school etc: the annual Easter boat race in the creek across the house. We'd bring the boyfriends home for Easter weekend, and in the afternoon, we'd craft boats out of newspaper and race them in the rushing waters of the creek. There was always beer involved, as you can see. We did this for only a few years but it's still a great memory.

Lots of memories from inside the tiny house too. The white wall-mounted phone by the back door and kitchen table (which used to be black in the really old days). The Captain's chair was at the end of the table and at mealtime, Dad always sat there. But when it wasn't meal time and the phone rang, that chair was where we sat and gabbed.

In fact the kitchen table was the place we'd congregate, after mealtime and at different parts of the day - doing homework when teens; playing Trivia Pursuit with the fam after dinner; or just having tea and talking. Here I am (middle) with my sisters, celebrating our birthdays in the early 1990s.

We'd also hang a lot as a family in the tiny family room, which housed a large and very beautiful Persian rug, a big sectional on which we all lounged, teak bookcases filled with books, and artifacts from my Dad's travels to South Africa, China and Australia. Here are the three sisters in their early 20s, all home for Christmas, wearing our new robes given to us by a close family friend.

A silly yet intimate photo of my Dad (me, looking scary in the middle) and twin, again in the early 1990s after we had left home. Can you see the black wire running up to my lap? I'm pretty sure that was a remote control for our VCR! RETRO!!

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Tribute to my childhood home

This is a black and white photo taken of the back of my childhood home in 1994 (not scanned but rather I took a pic of it), just moments before my twin sis was married in our lovely backyard.

Here's that same home some 14 years later when my Mom and I went to visit it in 2008, a good eight years after they moved out. The home was empty, but it was trashed and delapitated and so sad.

And, as one of my oldest friends told me over Facebook the other day, that house has now been torn down. So I'm going to share some of my fave memories and pics of the home I grew up in and lived in until I was 19!

The First Day of School shot under the kitchen window at the back of the house (I'm on the left and my twin is on the right) was an annual ritual. This is us our first day of grade 9.

Here we are again (me on the right this time) in the front yard in April in the early-mid 1970s with our blue ponchos. Aren't we bloody cute? We grew up in the country so we played outside all the time. Every tree and field carries a lovely memory.

Our beautiful lilac bush in the front yard, close to where the poncho pic was snapped, was always a glory. We would snip the fragrant branches off and pile them in huge rose bowls placed in front of windows, so the sweet lilacy scent would blow throughout the house.

Here I am wearing an emerald green dress with mega shoulder pads (next to my Mom on the left) in the Spring of 1988, when I was a mere 18. Sigh. Collagen is another thing that's disappeared over the years.

In 2008, that same lilac bush, which had been transplanted years earlier to accommodate a new well (yes I kid you not: we grew up with a well). You can see the overgrowth and general crap littered throughout the yard.

Behind the lilac bush up a gently sloping hill was what we called The Sandpile, essentially a sandy field that farmers attempted to plant in for years. But when my sis and I were really young, it was just a sandpile, and we would play in it even though it was a good five minute walk from home. We could see the house from our vantage point up the hill, and I'll never forget Mom and her friend, who were having coffee in the house on day when we were playing in the pile, telling us  to wave our arms if we wanted help and they would see us.

By the time I was 14 when this silly pic was taken (in May of 1984 - can you see the 'rat's tail' at the back of my short hair cut? I imported the look from England a few months earlier after a school trip there and was the first in my school to have one, ahem. Then every one got one and I chopped mine off), the farmers had abandoned The Sandpile again. I used to love coming up here in my angsty teen years. I'd watch the beautiful sunsets to the west. It was calming, and a very special memory.

That sandpile in 2008: grown over. Barely recognizable; kind of like you'd image the decay described in The Day of the Triffids to unfold.

I'll end on a happier note: Christmas in the early-mid 1970s, with my twin (standing) and me (with almost blond hair? Maybe it was the light) in front of the gift that henceforth and throughout our childhood was called The Little Table. The green metal table with vinyl floral top and chair covers was set up permanently in the kitchen, and when company came over, my sisters and I would dine at it.Otherwise we'd use it for Tea Parties.

That Little Table is still in my parents' basement! My sister used it when her kids were growing up!!

More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

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That's MY kind of centrepiece!

Sorry I've been MIA this past week - I've never gone this long without a post, except, perhaps, when I was in England recently. I've had a house guest - from England, gee coincidence? - for two glorious weeks so have been pretty bust between working, visiting, seeing family, going out, etc.

 

Anyway, back to regular Grunge Queen programming.

When we were home visiting my fam last weekend, I snapped a pic of this centrepiece that has slowly been growing over the years at my sis's place.

The do-it-yourselfer Grunge Queen in me loves the simplicity of this: all ya gotta do is drink lotsa wine and then pop the corks in the glass bowl! Then you can take a dive in, pull out a cork, and reminisce over that particular bottle of wine and what was happening in your life when you were drinking it!

Cheers to inventive decor ideas like this!

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DIY pink at my sis's place

My sis is a chic is cheap Do It Yourself-er!

Like me, she's in the throes of a household clean up and reorg. Her solution for all the pretty art that her kiddies bring home: cork board pieces sticky-taped to the wall, spray-painted pink to boot.

Isn't this adorable? I love it how all the artwork matches or complements the pink!

My sis used that pink spray can on something else. She's been talking about doing something with this ugly metal tray she found in the trash for months now. She finally did it, and I must say the tray looks 50 billion times better! Before, it was just a tarnished old silver tray. Now it's punchy and sassy.

Way to go sis! I love it when my fam inspires me!

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PsychicThrift

It's still hotter than Hades in Toronto but some rain this morning should cool things down quickly.

There's just something about wearing white on a really hot and humid day; you just feel cooler!

I thrifted this dress at Stretch Thrift for $5.99. I thought it looked familiar when I bought it.

Then I realized my twin sis bought the same dress, same size, same price, at the same store a few weeks back!

That's what I call psychic thrift.

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