Still a whiter shade of pale...

...but I'm having a good hair day!



Matt bought this head band from The Candy Thief for me for Christmas. I love it! I have worn it almost every day since Christmas day!

Another one of my gifts that has come in handy already is this great mug from my mom. Appropriate, no?



I am going to keep things brief today. I *do* want to say that I am so, so, SO thankful that my brother-in-law is out of the hospital. My sister put his x-rays up on her blog. Scary stuff! Secondly, I am also thrilled to be feeling much, much better. Aside from a bitty residual cough, and feeling a bit tired, I think that I am about 95% back to my normal self. HURRAH.

Lastly, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my dad. He is awesome, and I love him SO much. Times infinity.

You say it's your birthday...

BA-NA-NA-NA-DA-DA
It's my birthday too, yeah!
BA-NA-NA-NA-DA-DA
You say it's your birthday!
BA-NA-NA-NA-DA-DA
Happy birthday to you!
Yes we're gonna have a party-party
Well we had one three weeks ago...and I got a little busy, and moved and got a fancy job...
Yes we're gonna have a party-party
and I couldn't tell you about my party, so now I'm telling you about it even though it's three weeks later...

My birthday celebrations this year were all about three things: Thrifting, which I reported on a post or two ago, food, and my awesome friends and family.

Let's start with food shall we? My morning started like this:



Doesn't that look like a healthy, nutritious way to start your day? Mmm-mmm. Stonehouse Baking Company doughnuts are the freaking best.

After those tasties were scarfed down, my mum and I worked on a veritable birthday feast for my guests! Mom made guacomole and CRAB CAKE SLIDERS (I know - breathe fellow foodies - it's gonna be okay) on homemade slider biscuit buns. For the main event, I made steamers with clam chowder sauce from a recipe I found in a 2001/2 Martha Stewart Living.

Here are my steamers taking a bath:



There were vanilla cupcakes and honeydew melon mint pistachio popsicles for dessert, but strangely I have no pictures of those...

There were games,



and music,



and babies galore!









Friends,





and family.



the original geek+nerd





All in all, the party was awesome.

HURRAY!



Now I'm busy making year 27 great. Please bear with me as I dust the cobwebs of of my blog :)

Mike and Sylvie

"L" is for the way you look at me,



"O" is for the only one I see,



"V" is very, very, extraordinary,



"E" is even more than anyone that you adore can



Love is all that I can give to you.



Love is more than just a game for two.



Two in love can make it!



Take my heart and please dont break it.



LOVE was made for me and you!



Congratulations to my brother Mike and my new sister-in-law Sylvie. I love you both SO SO MUCH and I hope that you have a long and happy life together!!!

Mother's Day Sunday

Today started off with a lovely family breakfast. This year, we revisited a familiar Mother's day haunt, the Wentworth by the Sea. If you have a minute, visit their website, just to see a few pictures of the place. It's a gorgeous resort!

Mom's pick for her special day was eggs benedict served over lobster hash. I snuck a bite and it was incredibly tasty!



I opted for a more traditional favorite. Pancakes and bacon, NOM-NOM!



My nephew Aaron was there, entertaining all, as babies do!

my mum and dad with aaron



Mom has a magic way with the baby-folk. I guess that's what happens when you have four children!

mum loving on her grandbaby



After leaving mum with an appropriately sappy card and half a pound of penuche, (one of her favorites), I headed off to rehearse for the day in Marblehead. Rehearsals for our upcoming shows are going very well! BB is kindly lending me gorgeous studio space for rehearsal, and the crop of dancers that I'm working with are incredibly talented. I feel so lucky!

Matt and I both found ourselves free tonight, which is SO rare, therefore we headed out for a movie. We saw The Soloist which was a little slow going at times, but it is a wonderful story, and I enjoyed the movie immensely overall. I would be interested to read the book upon which the film is based.

Tomorrow...I will share with you more Pyrex lurve. And no, I did not thrift it. (FIVE MORE DAYS UNTIL MY ONE MONTH THRIFTING DIET IS OVER, WAHOO!)

Advent :: Day Six / Christmas Flickr Favorites

A little collection of beauty for you today:



1. Etch A Sketch Ornament, 2. Walnuts for your Stocking, 3. Baby sock advent calendar..., 4. Untitled, 5. minihats, 6. Happy Birthday mom!, 7. favorite sleeping spot, 8. for the nature table, 9. Vintage bird collection, 10. House and border, 11. The Concertina, 12. entrelac scarf, 13. wreath, 14. wee gifts, 15. inspiring shadows, 16. home sweet home, 17. popham beach, 18. wishing you, 19. gocco good times, 20. The Sugar Fairy, 21. cheerful, 22. nutcracker dolls from Stitched in Time, 23. vintage hat, 24. Gnome's Garden, 25. grateful, 26. IMG_0207.jpg, 27. Stayin' Toasty!, 28. NOM gnomes, 29. 11_25, 30. anthropologie owl knock-off, 31. Untitled, 32. Já só falta um mês, 33. Gocco Koala Bear, 34. Ivy ... Freeform Crochet Necklace, 35. Red Riding Hood Papercut :), 36. join me!



1. gathered natural materials, 2. red collar , red bird, 3. 2008 Christmas Ornament Swap #1, 4. Untitled, 5. toasty face on, 6. Stitches East 2008, 7. Gingerbread.Felt.Biscuits.Trio.4, 8. holiday christmas owl ornaments, 9. christmas lights holiday hoo, 10. candy canes holiday hoo, 11. christmas lights holiday hoo no. 2, 12. Christmas decor, wooden, 13. Garland, 14. white Heart Felt holiday ornament, 15. holiday "Heart Felt" ornaments, 16. silje, 17. wreath, 18. Untitled, 19. un mobile pour virginie, 20. morning like a night, 21. Amid the Snow, 22. Spread Joy, 23. s t i l l body 2 take 2, 24. s t i l l body 1, 25. Hop Skip Jump Quilt, 26. colors of the sea, 27. mhmmm!, 28. New pillow prototype - The Button Collector, 29. Christmas houses 2008, 30. hope gocco, 31. seven tally marks, 32. daughter and mother, 33. kitchen poetry 7, 34. run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch us, we're the gingerbread clan, 35. ornament inspired by matte stephens owl prints, 36. legwarmer set

:::

I'm going to keep this Advent post a low-key one. Today was my Memere's funeral and it was, to put it mildly, a very difficult day. I cried so many, many tears today. I loved her so much. It is apparent to me, now more than ever, that Pepere and Memere were the glue of my family. The old wound of my Pepere's passing and this fresh cut of my Memere's have mixed to create a kind of hurt that is just indescribable. Now that they are both gone, it is the end of an era. Today, our collective grief was just immense.

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a brighter day. Matt and I have fun things planned that I'm sure will make for more cheerful blog fodder!

Remembering Memere Duclos

My last remaining grandparent, my Memere Duclos, passed away last night. She lived out many of her last years in a nursing home struggling with Alzheimer's disease.

I only visited her a few times in the past couple of years. This may be selfish to admit, but those visits were often more painful for me than I could bear. Matt and I visited her the Christmas after we got married, because I wanted her to meet him. We sat down with my wedding album and I pointed to her children, to my cousins, to myself. I said, "Memere, these are your sons and your grandchildren," and she would just reply, "Really? Is that so!"

I cried when we left. Memere remembered so little of everything. The home she at was filled with sadness and full of seemingly forgotten people. I went back there with my father for Mother's Day where I thought I saw a glimmer of recognition behind Mem's mischievous little smile. I'm glad that that was my last memory of her. It is enough.

Memere looking on as I blow out the candles on my third birthday



In better days you could always count on two things during a visit to Memere and Pepere Duclos' apartment. A can of Coke or Gingerale while you stayed, and a bag of M&M's when you left. They kept the M&M's on the such a high shelf that my tiny Memere had to stand on a step stool to reach them. Predictable. Always the same. Soda and M&M's. What child wouldn't love that?

Pepere and I circa 1984



My Pepere died of stroke-related complications when I was just twelve. He was the first person that I ever knew that died, and it was just devastating for me. My grandmother was not an independent woman, and I don't think that she ever recovered from the loss of my grandfather. She said to me once when I was a teenager, "I'm just waiting to go - I don't understand why God's taking such a long time."

Swan Lake, 1998: My dad, me, my sister Renee and Memere



It took God fourteen years to take her back, but I know that somewhere she's settling in with Pepere to watch the Canadiens play hockey, serving up soda and M&M's.

Today, amidst this current sadness, I've gotten the opportunity to interview as an outreach teacher with a huge dance organization. Probably top five largest in the country kind of huge. Memere's pulling strings from heaven already! I'm very thankful for this. Keep your fingers crossed for me! What are you thankful for today?

Happy (Belated) Thankgiving!

How was yours?

Mine was delicious! My mom outdid herself once again. I took very few pictures, because I was so busy devouring it all, but here are some of the food highlights:

:: My dad carving up the bird ::





This thing was huge! That's half the bird. He was 28 lbs total. My mom cut him in half and saved the rest for a rainy day, mostly because he wouldn't fit in the oven!!!


A repeat from last year, I contributed two Nutmeg Maple Cream Pies.



Almost as exciting as the dinner was getting to meet my 10 day old little grand-niece, Isabelle!

:: I love how excited my dad gets about babies and little kids - look at the grin on his face! ::



:: She was so tiny! She weighs just over six pounds! ::



:: And, of course, I logged in some significant cuddle time. ::



:: My nephew Zach, the papa ::



Like any good Thanksgiving, we all succumbed to food coma induced exhaustion at the end of the day, as demonstrated superbly here by my brother, Mike.



I give thanks for a good day. And leftovers.

P.S. Want to see more Isabelle cuteness? Check out my Thanksgiving 2008 set on Flickr.

Baby Central

I know, I know!

You're all like..."Where's the crafting? The knitting? The yummy cooking? The borderline insane Christmas preparation?" And I keep barraging you with adorable baby pictures. It is indeed baby central in our family right now though!

Check out these cute pictures that my ex-SIL sent me today of my cutie grand-niece, Izzy:

Sleepy and Serious



Cuddled!



And my absolute favorite <3



That sleepy smile melts me! How much more adorable could you possibly get? Gah!

The bakery has been INSANITY the past few days, as you could imagine with Thanksgiving arriving tomorrow. All I can say is that I don't ever think I want to see a dinner roll ever again (HAH - we'll see how long that lasts)! We baked off and bagged thousands of rolls in the past two days. Not to mention pies, pies and MORE PIES. I have the next few days off which is very exciting. I think I'll need the rest!

Today I'm thankful the first batch of baked oatmeal of the year. Mmm, mmm good! What are you thankful for today?

Aaron Sportin' His New Hat

Wow - two posts in one day, but I just had to share!

Look at the sweetness that popped into my inbox this morning:



Ack! Don't you just love it?!

Meet and Greet

Remember this little guy? Well he's three months old now and I still hadn't gotten a chance to meet him. Matt and I were finally able to drive down for a little breakfast meet and greet today.

This is me saying "Hello, little face!"



Aunty snuggles are good. Aaron had no problem settling right in!



Look at that Charlie Brown head! So soft and sweet!



I couldn't believe how tiny he still is. It made me glad, for a bit of a funny reason, because the 0-3 month sized hat that I knit for him way back was actually a little big on him. Phew! I'm glad he'll get to wear it for more than a day!

My brother made a seriously scrumptious breakfast for us and I promptly went home and fell straight asleep by reason of food coma. How much better could a Sunday get, really?

Today I'm thankful for baby snuggles, baby smell and tiny feet. I'm grateful for midday naps. I'm grateful for kitty snuggles. What are you thankful for today?

I'm a "Great-Aunty" - Holy Crap

Isabelle Rae is here:





Look at that punum!

Born on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 2:27 am

Weighs 6lbs. 2.8 oz., and is 19 3/4 inches long

Welcome Izzy, you're a cutie patootie!