Stella and Dot Party

This weekend I threw a small gathering of ladies for a very important cause. Ok not an important cause at all, but instead a need to fulfill the inner shopaholic in all of us while in the comfort of my own home! Refreshments, nibbles and jewellery, who could ask for anything more on a drizzly Saturday afternoon. I had gone to one of these jewellery parties before and the salesperson had asked if anyone else would be interested and I thought, why not? It turned out to be a great shopping experience. She brings all of the lovely pieces and puts them on display for anyone to try on while all the guests get to chat, socialize and enjoy the company of friends. I think almost everyone ended up with a little something and of course, I ended up with some great pieces as well. The best part about their jewellery is that most of the stuff converts and can be worn in more ways than one. The necklace pictured is actually held by a clasp by the tassel that moves to various places to change the look entirely. I didn't buy this one, but thought it was interesting nonetheless.

All in all, a great way to spend a weekend!

Down and out

Its the new year and I only have one blog post to show for it, what is going on? Well, first of all, I have given up on my lousy camera which means no photos taken which makes me less inspired to post. Then Marley refused to get any substantial sleep due to major teething and now I have the worst cough ever! I never got sick, no fever, no flu symptoms, just woke up with a scratchy throat one day and the next day had a terrible terrible incapacitating chest cough. I often end up coughing so hard that I make myself throw up or gag on a daily basis. Its been hard to get any sleep which makes it hard to get anything done during the day. I have my fingers crossed I will shake this thing very soon. Especially now that Miss Marley is sleeping just a bit better at night. We went back to cry it out which seems to have been successful enough (went from getting 1.5 hrs at a time of sleep to 4 hrs!) and she actually wakes up less during the night (back to 3 times instead of the 5 or 6 she was doing before). So things are looking up on that front. I just need to shake this cough.

Since my mom has been taking care of Marley for us I've been fortunate to come home to cooked meals ready and in front of me at the drop of a hat and weird remedies that get shoved down my throat (pears and garlic?) but I don't mind because when you're sick, there's nothing like having mommy take care of you! And of course my house is spotless, and my daughter is very well cared for. I am very very lucky and am enjoying every minute of it!

Christmas

 This year we celebrated Christmas at my aunt's house in Scarborough. My cousin Cat and her two kids were up visiting from Maryland so our usual food table got even bigger with all of Cat's deeleecious additions. We ate, we opened gifts, we stole gifts (Bumpits made an appearance this year,) and we all enjoyed some good quality family time.

Merry Christmas to me!

While doing some online shopping for Christmas, I decided to buy a little prezzie for myself. I was on the Gap site and they were having a sale plus an add'l 30% off and free shipping! How could I not! So I bought myself this dress and also a bag which no longer seems to be on the site. With all the discounts, the dress was under $20 and my bag was under $40. Woo hoo!

Baking and Playing

This weekend I was fortunate enough to have my best girlfriends over for a little holiday baking and more importantly, girl time! It had been a long time since we had all gotten together and it gave Sally and Susie a chance to meet the newest addition to our group, little Miss Samara Autumn. Saadia braved the cold and walked her over to meet her new friends. I baked 3 types of cookies, ginger snaps, snickerdoodles and pecan/walnut chocolate/toffee chip. All 3 turned out pretty good and the girls managed to get little goodie bags to take home. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos so I'm borrowing the ones from Sally's blog.

Thanks for your visit ladies, looking forward to keeping up the annual holiday baking tradition (even if I am the only one baking...)!

Family

Its been so long since we've had family photos taken. When we were kids I remember doing the big group shots whenever we would go to the park for family bbqs. As we've gotten older, I guess no one remembers to take family photos anymore. So for my mom's 70th birthday I thought it would be a great occasion to get some "good" family shots. I asked Mark's cousin John to come and take photos with his fancy schmancy camera and voila, updated pics! Of course, there are some important family members missing from these photos and I also forgot to take the big group shot, but at least these are a good start. When my family immigrated to Canada, there were five families in total. My grandma, my dad (her son), his three younger sisters and his younger brother. We all started out living together in cramped apartments until each family could get on their feet before bringing the next family over from Korea. Now when you look at these updated photos, its amazing to see how far we've come. Lots more grey, lots more babies, and a thousand memories...

Happy 1st Birthday Talia!

Today we celebrated Talia's first birthday at the Withrow Park Clubhouse. Carol outdid herself with all the desserts (yes, those are Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and a pavlova in the photo!) and the kids were adorable as usual. The clubhouse was a great venue, lots of room and places for the kids to play while the adults got to eat and chat. Unfortunately they were sticklers on time and the janitor started clearing away tables and chairs while we were still in 'em! We didn't let him spoil our fun though, Talia and Samara looked lovely in their birthday outfits and Marley enjoyed playing with her cousins. I also made out with an entire tray of cupcakes and desserts so this party will continue well into the rest of the weekend for me! Happy Birthday Tally!

Char's bday dinner

Yesterday we met the fam to celebrate Charlotte's 4th birthday at Congee Queen. The restaurant was packed but the food was aplenty! Miss Char enjoyed her little party and especially opening her presents. This is a photo of her opening my gift, an intro to Scissors and a Make-Your-Own advent calender. Hope you enjoy making a mess!!

You turn your back for one second...

I was preparing breakfast this weekend and left the box of Cheerios on the counter to get a plate. Next thing you know...

First steps

Here is Marley on her first day of "walking" at her hamunee's birthday party.