Catching up with life...

Time is such a bizarre concept. Days, weeks, months, years... they all seem to go by so quickly. Whenever I think about time, John Lennon's lyrics always echo in my head: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Despite having a reputation as a Type-A Listmaker and getting a bit OCD with making plans in my day-to-day life, I never put too much thought past the next year or two because who knows what's going to happen. Lately so much seems so trivial and I've kind of let go of all the little things because I just couldn't be bothered. But the carrying over of lists from week to week is getting to me and now I feel the need to catch up just so I feel more OK about things. So here we go.

End of May Europe Trip
It was such a treat to travel again, and especially going back to all these great cities we've been to before brings back so much nostalgia. I'd nearly forgotten what it's like to be somewhere else in the world and how good it is to associate certain memories with certain places. On our 10-day trip, we caught up with many good friends, cuddled a super cute baby named Ollie, stumbled onto the set of Ryan Reynolds's new movie, and spent some time in the beautiful countryside in Alsace for the lovely wedding of my dear friends Celine & Matthieu. Here's a slideshow of photos from our trip to London, Oxford, Paris, Colmar, and Strasbourg (some of which I snuck in from my archives because we didn't take as many pictures of the sights this time around):



Feel-Good Movies
Nothing quite like submersing one's self in brainless movies when you're feeling down. Especially the kind of feel-good rom-coms that your husband can't stand and that you've already seen before several times (e.g., "Stranger than Fiction", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", etc... yes I know, don't judge me), it's just nice to just switch off for a couple of hours and be in movieland where everything's just peachy and predictable.

Pretty Flowers
This is such a great time of year for flowers. Everything's coming from the local farms and it all looks so fresh, cheery and gorgeous. I loved the softness of the peonies that came earlier in the summer but I also can't get over the vibrant dahlias that are in season now. I must say it is kind of awesome to get to be around pretty flowers all day.

New Music
When it comes to music I normally stick to what I know and love but lately I find myself to be a lot more open to listening to new music. In fact, some of the stuff the girls have playing at the store from their iPods has really grown on me. Right now I'm listening to a mixture of Tallest Man on Earth, Mumford & Sons, First Aid Kit, Paolo Nutini, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Iron & Wine, Xavier Rudd, and Nick Drake. Of course I still have my staples but I'd forgotten how cool it is to hear a piece of music for the first time and love it.

Cutest Picture Ever
Maybe I'm biased here, but is this not the cutest picture you've ever seen? This is Baby Alex having a bath in the kitchen sink and the kind of thing that makes me forget how gross changing poopy diapers is and makes me wish he will stay little forever:

Weddings Galore
I don't know why I always think summer stays around for a while... this is Canada and I ought to know better by now, but is it really the second week of August already? We're going to three weddings over the next three weeks which is pretty great as I do love weddings. For the grand finale of the summer, we get to travel to somewhere neither of us have ever been before! Slovenia -- the land of mountains, lakes, caves, cobbled streets and castles. The pictures look ridiculous and we are super psyched for our trip which is just a short three weeks away! :o)

Espresso Cups
Is it weird that I don't drink coffee but collect espresso sets? I don't go out of my way to find them but when I see one I like, I buy it. Then I make Mike rotate through the collection so they all get used equally (I decided a while back that I wasn't going to be one of those people who collect things just to gather dust) when he's quite happy to use the same cup over and over again. This one is one of my favourites. I picked it up from a sale rack for $3 because it had hippos on it and looked cute. I wouldn't have realized if Mike hadn't pointed out to me that there's a hippo on the inside of the cup that looks like he's bathing in mud when the cup is full. I very much HEART it. I'm pretty simple, huh?