When I Grow Up I will wear Chocolate on my Smile

One day you are playing Hot Wheels with your 2 year old nephew and the next day you're wandering down the street with his 15 year old self, admiring an Audi R8 at a Huntsville Car Show.

Seriously dude.  When did this all happen?  When did my niece give up chocolate on her face for boys and basketball?  Okay, she didn't give up on the chocolate on her face and I'll love every minute of it until the millisecond that I take my last breath. 

These are things that make life so important and make all the groans and complaints so unimportant.  It will continue to be the chocolate on a girl's smile, a car that makes your heart beat faster when you see it in real as compared to that Hot Wheel - the feelings that make you feel alive.  The fact that we were together for those moments and now we're about to be together a heck of a lot more and I can't wait to have chocolate on my grown up face too!

signed, the willow

The Bespoke Ent

My little *Mila* (who is still 5) took this using my camera.  I let her experiment with black and white, sepia, zooming, etc.  But it was really important for her to take this picture of the "tree with a face".  See, that matters way more to a 5 year old than it does to you or me.

I have to say that one of my most favourite places in Ontario is Hidden Valley Park in the Aldershot neighbourhood of Burlington.  This photo doesn't even capture all that it has to offer.  The trail, the trees.  There are Shagbark Hickory trees here that just stun me.

And of course, we love love love La Salle Park in Burlington as well.  The swans, the geese, the ducks, the sailboats and our walks on the trail that just could go on forever with laughs and gigles along the way.

So, my list today is my 5 favourite places in Ontario:

5.  Grindstone Creek, Hidden Valley Park, Burlington, Ontario

4.  Dorset tower in the Fall in Dorset, Ontario

3.  Stratford, Ontario by the Avon River

2.  Dundas Valley Conservation Area

1.  My parent's lakeshore property on Pelican Lake in Sioux Lookout that looks across to Sioux Mountain

signed, the willow

The American Gene Pool is Filled with "Marcia Brady" Look-Alikes

In case you haven't noticed, the gene pool in America is suffocated with "Marcia Brady" look-alikes.  Here is Marcia Brady (played by Maureen McCormick):

Next came Christine Taylor.  She played Marcia Brady in the movie "A Very Brady Sequel" and she's married to Ben Stiller:

Then the tv show 'The Hills' came out and all of a sudden, another "Marcia Brady" look-alike.  Meet Lauren Conrad.  Okay, maybe it's just my spouse and parents meeting Lauren Conrad for the first time.  The rest of the Universe has probably met her:

I have a theory and you can decide whether you want to believe this or not.  But, I'm pretty sure that all "Marcia Brady" look-alikes are actually sent here from another planet and are in fact ALIENS.  If she was that good the first time, would she be that easy to replicate on planet earth again, and again, and again?

signed, the willow (co-founder of I'm Sure Lauren Conrad and People Who Look Exactly Like Her are Born in Pods and are in fact ALIENS)

For breakfast today

On mornings that I do decide to gulp down something I've been choosing eggs lately.  This morning we were rushing around to get out of the house and get going.  And so, I reached into the fridge and chose....


smoked salmon....


rolled in a slice of ....


jalapeno.....


havarti cheese.


What is wrong with me?  Anyhow.

source:  Gypsy Faire Tents

I did choose to reach into the refrigerators of the internet and share this with you tent loving fairies out there.  Is this not just the most divine thing in the world?

signed, the willow fairy

...is an IKEA freak

Once and a while when I'm not updating my status on Facebook and talking about myself in the third person, I get the opportunity to frame things.  First, I have to go to IKEA.  Then I unpack the goods at home.  Followed by asking the dog to cease napping under the articles of goods.

Once I get the fabric away from the dog, I work my magic.  Take some frames I had lying around awaiting an art project that was taking years to produce and stick some of that luscious fabric in the frame:

plates, placemats, frame, fabric, table, chairs:  IKEA

vase:  Dollarama

teapot:  Second Cup

key lime cupcakes & flowers:  Sobeys

One more thing, Artecnica Inc.  It's so lovely.

signed, the willow

Brothers from other mothers

source:  The Brothers Dressler

One fine morning I went on the internet thingy and I decided to see what the Interior Design Show of Toronto was all about.  I have longed to go, but with no real purpose and a 5-year-old that would be demanding bubble gum ice cream and other sticky things whilst screaming and clinging onto my leg, my mom and I have chickened out each and every year since we lived in the land of the GTA.  (That would be Greater Toronto Area, or as close to the centre of the Universe as anyone can stand)  The very first item that caught my eye were the Brothers Dressler.  Okay, they are pretty cute.  But it was their upcycled work that caught my eye.  Brilliant.  Now exactly what can I do with my old shoe forms?

signed, the willow

Hello again Kindergarten

How many times must my child endure Kindergarten?  It would seem that we now have Junior Kindergarten AND Senior Kindergarten.  Do not refer to the later as "SK".  You will be severely beaten by a gang of 5 year olds.

signed, the willow

When did she turn into a teenager?

Okey dokey Alama-skoki, she's surely not being a fashion queen already? Um, uh-huh, she is. I took her out school clothes shopping a couple weeks ago and I overheard the sales clerk at H&M giggling outside the change room as *Mila* remarked "Oh yeah! These skinny jeans are TOTALLY my style." She has a style? What did I just miss here? Is this the same kid who can't ride her bike up a hill? Is this the same little girl who prefers to cuddle with her teddy bear over playing Scrabble? What about the same little girl who cries when I drop her off at school? Yup, same one. Has no problem spending her parents' money, but has so much growing up to do. Sometimes I wonder if she was hatched out of a Canada's Next Top Model space pod. Tomorrow would be her first day back to school. What will become of the day?

sighed, the mother of a teenage weirdo aka the willow

I just suck

Really. I suck. If I were making money at this I'd probably say "you suck". But I'm not and so it's me that sucks. Let me introduce you to the successful bloggers.


There's Dooce. She makes like thousands of dollars a day.


Then there's Fussy. She's so cool, she's an "org".

Her Bad Mother is sure not "her bad blogger". She's good too. Then again "Bad is the new good". She said it, not me. Did I mention she's Canadian. That's good too.

There's Three Kid Circus, Sweetney, Surrender Dorothy, I am Bossy and then there are the design blogs...


desire to inspire. Again, 1/2 Canadian, 1/2 Australian. That's so good, it's like saying it's 100% Canadian. Even better.


design sponge.


design milk.


poppytalk. Did I hear you say Canadian? Yup!

Let's not forget Dear Ada and the artsy group of globbers. Like a good idea on paper. And of course the eye for all things art deco, art deco. Kiki and Polly rock. Uppercase Gallery dot ca! Yes, again Canadian. We really have a thing going on up here in Canada. Why is not "down here" in Canada? There must be a small nation of Arctic Circle folk reading Canadian blogs. Or are they Canadian too? Gosh, I should brush up on my geography.


signed, the willow

Happy Labour Day!

Visit polyvore.com to make your own outfits. For real, dude.

Hope you have a great Labour Day weekend without the rain!

signed, the willow

Grande Skinny Latte

Sometimes this is all you need to make you smile. No, really. Skinny & latte go together very well. Don't you think?

signed, the willow

Eye for an Eye

When certain crimes hit the newswave, I sometimes turn a blind eye. Mostly because of my disgust of the actual crime. And most often when children and animals are the victims of the crime.

But I can't ignore this one. I lived in Winnipeg for years off and on and in the last few years it began to change. For the worse. In fact, a few years after we moved away there was a police shooting across the street from our old home. Our home. It wasn't the best neighbourhood, but it certainly wasn't the worst. Just honest people making a living. Seniors rocking on their back porches facing the back lane of Winnipeg, swatting mosquitoes that drift in off the Red River.

Nikita Eaglestick, 19, was charged with attempted murder and abduction after she was seen smashing a 14-month old girl's body into a sidewalk. According to the news report on www.globalwinnipeg.com, "Witnesses say the baby's mother was at the home but left for a short time while the baby was sleeping." But first, let me tell you that there was a house party going on. So, the report continues that Nikita must have snuck into the house and abducted the young child. If it weren't for a neighbour, who thought he was witnessing an attack on a cat, the little girl might already be dead.

What the? Seriously, what kind of drugs do you have to inject, ingest, or inhale to commit such a heinous crime? I don't think I want to know. I do know this, I once bought some fish close to where the incident happened, from a fish market. The whole time *Steve* and I were in the store perusing the fish, I wondered if the windows in his car would be smashed in when we came back out. Luckily, we were safe and so was the car, but it was not a neighbourhood I wanted to go near or dare dream of having my child sleep in during a house party that I hosted while intoxicated. Source of the whole problem, not poverty, drugs. Bad drugs.

As much as *Mila* drives me up the wall some days, I could never imagine my life without her and I know she couldn't imagine life without me. So, I look after me for her sake. Keeping booze and drugs out of my body. Heck, even preservatives are toxic to my system. Meat too. Lots of beans. Lots and lots of beans. Red lentil burgers with walnuts are my new fave! LCBO's Food and Drink Summer 09 issue. Check it out.

signed, the willow