Battlefield Park

When Billy has a day off and we don't have errands to run, we try to really make the most of it. I hate it when they are filled with boring things like groceries and cutting the grass. The other day we had a day to ourselves and Cass was over, so we wanted to do something awesome. We packed the kids up and headed to Niagara Falls, and then it started POURING. Like, buckets of water non stop forever. So, we packed the kids back up in the car after hiding out under the pizza pizza tent for an hour and drove back to the city. Billy, however, refused to give up, and took us out for ice cream and to this beautiful place. It was still a bit rainy, but it was perfect. 





This tree. LOVE.







Do we look like nerdy tourists, or what?

It's easily one of my new favourite places, I can't wait to go back for a picnic. Perhaps with a discreet wine bottle.

A day out with Thomas!

A little while ago we took the boys down to St. Thomas to see the REAL Thomas! Or a big Thomas slapped on the front of an old train, but still! Ben went nuts, as you can imagine.











It felt like a very parent-y thing to do, taking our kids to something like this. I can't wait to go again next year! Note to anyone who wants to do this, be prepared to spend $678759 on a balloon. Start saving now.

A grey day at the beach

It must be the Irish in me, but I love grey days, especially summer ones. I would be happy if there was no sun all season long, and it just came back here and there in the fall. Sadly we will soon be pummelled with sun and humidity for a good few months, but yesterday we got lucky. It was cloudy and cool and so perfect for a morning at the beach. As we were leaving it even started to rain, I LOVED IT.



This boy loves to throw rocks in the water, let me tell you.









What, you don't take pictures of rocks at the beach?







Selfie!





Those #normalizeit ladies would be so proud of me! Though I always cover up, call me a prude ;)

Anyway, it was a perfect day. Looking forward to many more this summer.

An evening at the brow

It's been an eternity since I posted family pics on this here family blog of mine. So I made sure I took a few on this beautiful night. Benjamin ran nonstop the whole time we were there (as usual) and it was pretty perfect. Love that kid.

















Sunsets are my fav. This is what I will miss most about summer.

A fresh start

A little while ago I had a moment (or rather, a few days worth of moments) of awakening. It happens to us all from time to time, but I realized that I had gotten myself stuck in a rut. A bad one. I was not taking care of myself, I was a big ball of stress, and I was not enjoying my (pretty blessed) life in the way I should be. I started talking to Billy about it, and he had noticed (of course) and wanted to do whatever he could to help. And since then, I've gone through a couple of weeks of reflection. I've thought about what I need to change, what steps I must take to make the changes, and how I can get myself back on track.

So, in the spirit of my list-obsession, and my adoration for New year's Resolutions, I'm making a mid-year resolution list. I know people hate resolutions, but I LOVE THEM. Like more than a friend. Granted, all of my resolution lists look pretty much the same, I still think it's really important to be aware of your own issues and try to change them....even if you only change them until you make your next list.

So, here is my newest version. It's going to take time to get everything going, but I'm already well on my way, and I feel SO MUCH BETTER.

1. Take better care of myself. Take long baths, spend a little time each night before reading, do the things that I love to do (that I haven't made any time for since becoming a Mom).
2. Take care of my health. Stress is an ongoing issue for me, I have pretty bad anxiety, and it's essential that I take care of myself to keep this in check. I've actually started running again (which I haven't done since before I was pregnant) and I'm already feeling better. I forgot how therapeutic running is for me.
3. Work on my time management. Every Mom complains about balance and I know I'll never sit and say to myself "there we go, it's all perfectly balanced" but I do need to work on breaking up my time so that I'm devoting time to being a Mom, a business owner, etc. 
4. Simplify. This is vague, and that's because I mean simplify EVERYTHING. Things in my closet, things in my life...everything. For example, we're going to get rid of the house phone, because it's stupid to have. We're going to get rid of extra 'stuff' (read - declutter) but also extra time wasters, extra pressures, processes that are redundant in terms of my shop...you get the idea.
5. Spend less time 'connected'. My biggest social media love is now Instagram, but I've backed off Twitter and Facebook and will stay that way. I've even taken off notifications, so I have to go out of my way to log in to FB to see what's going on. I feel like I can't keep up with it, and if I try, then I'm missing out on too many other things that are way more important. I do love Twitter, but I just can't check it all the time...I do now and then and I'm ok with that. As for FB, it has become so overcomplicated, it kind of takes the fun out of it. And it's the last thing I check in on nowdays. I'll make a point of staying connected with blogging pals through comments/twitter, etc. here and there. And, for the most part, my friends and I keep in touch through texts/emails anyway. Oh, and you know, the whole 'in person' method. 
6. Learn to be a better Mom. I feel like I am the last one to know everything when it comes to motherhood, and the truth is that I have not gone out of my way to stay on top of things. I'm going to look for good sources (because the information out there is so overwhelming, I need to narrow it down) and make it a point of staying in the loop on different stages, development things, etc. While I think my method of 'just see what happens' has it's perks, I need to find a happy medium. Side note, any Mom's out there have any good recommendations on websites/books they depend on? I feel like BabyCenter is pretty good, mixed with Dr. Sears. Any others?
7. Stop pre-planning every second of my life. Here's how bad it's gotten. If I know Ben is going to have a nap soon (well, fingers crossed anyway) I will start to think about what needs to get done, and I get panicky thinking about how much I want to squeeze into this tiny portion of time. Like, I'm crazy. It needs to stop.
8. Have fun. Plan fun things with Billy, go for walks, get outside, that sort of thing. I feel like over the past few weeks Billy and I have been doing this more than usual and I have been loving every minute of it. I just want to soak in every last minute of summer!

How about you guys, anyone feeling like they're in a rut these days? Any tips on what I should work in to my list? 

(Billy took that picture if us the other night while we were on a dinner picnic. LOVE it.)

ADOP at the Art Crawl

Well, it happened! My first art show can officially be added to my 99% blank artist CV. I definitely think I'll do it again if I have the chance! I LOVED Grey Room Design Studio, and it's owner, Melissa. Her studio is in this super cool building that used to be Hamilton Hotel and is now all studio space. I want to live there. Like for real.


Anyway, here are a few pics of the night, the gallery and the Art Crawl. (Please excuse the blur, I'm still trying to use manual mode and clearly failing at it).





(Nerd alert).





My father. The original artist.





Thanks Rach for coming all the way from TO!





More of Hamilton Hotel. LOVE.





Mixed Media. Coolest art shop!





Finally got to the Design Annex. Gorg.





Mulberry Cafe.





James Street.





Blurriest photo ever.


This was the first Art Crawl that I've been too and it was really fun! It was so cool to go to an event that brought people of all ages and all walks of life together. My parents came down with me and at first we had Ben there, and there were tons of people with babies all night! So cute.


Again I just want to thank my family and friends for stopping in to see my paintings, I have the best fam/friends ever. This was a pretty nerve-racking experience for me but overall I'm really happy I did it. And, I'm more inspired than ever to paint. More to come!!!

Today's the day! ADOP at the Art Crawl

Today is my very first art show. YAY! Melissa, the studio owner, sent me a flyer she created, so cute.



I'm so excited to head down to the show tonight. Hoping to see some familiar faces down there! Yesterday I brought my paintings down to the studio, and I have to say I kind of want to move in to the Grey Room. Exposed brick, tons of windows, industrial overhead vents...yesss. I think my work will look really cool in there. These are the pieces that I'm showing.

















No particular reason other than the fact that they are my favs that have not already sold. Kind of wish I could borrow back some of my commission work to show, ha ha, but oh well. Anyway, wish me luck! Here's hoping I don't hear anyone say it's all terrible!