Cinco days in Mayo

A blanket of blog-laziness came over me these past few days...actually, to be completely honest -- because I know that nobody is following my blog, I kinda' felt a little discouraged to update.  I really didn't want this to get me down though, because the reason why I'm here isn't to build a following.  I have to remind myself of that.  I started blogging because I needed an outlet -- so here I am, with an overdue post:

CINCO DE MAYO

Brian and I have made it a tradition to go to Don Pedro's every year to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (even though NOBODY celebrates it here in Canada).  Thursday night was the Bulls game, and we  weren't going to miss it for dinner out.  Instead, I got dressed up and met him for lunch -- just the two of us...and it was nice :)

A warm summer-y day called for a light-coloured outfit.

Offwhite cardigan and flowered tunic from Forever 21, white (pre-prego size FOUR) capris from Zara and my silver sequin flats from Target: 

Mmmmm...those are some goooood cheeeeeeeps.

With time to kill after lunch, I popped into Mike's General Store on St. Anne's.  The place is pretty tiny, but I've always wanted to check out what kind of antiques they had -- perfect day to do it.

FRIDAY: 6am yoga class...The rest of the day was lazy, at home with Commander Xander. I did some client work during the day when X napped, and I crafted at night (more to come about this project).  It was a fairly nice day, so I took Xander for a walk to the store to pick up a few things, and timed it with daddy coming off the bus.  We walked home together - Xander kept us amused, the entire way...

old-man-sucky-face

DAAAAATE NIIIIIGHT.
Saturday was chill during the day -- it consisted of cutting Bri's hair and cleaning the house.  This was the night that we were having a sitter come over to watch Xander, while we went out ON A DATE :D
Since both of us completely dropped the ball on making dinner reservations (we're amateurs - who knew EVERY good restaurant would be completely booked on a Saturday night?!) we wound up at Earl's St. Vital -- which was completely fine, no complaints here.
After dinner, we caught a show at the Theatre (we both say that with our poor English accents, so as not to be confused with a 'movie theatre'...we're FANCY!)
We watched The 39 Steps @ MTC, which was hysterical at some points, and enjoyable all around.  

MAMA'S DAY

The day started off great, with this fantastic breakfast:

Look at my husband's culinary skillz: EGGS IN A BASKET!

After breakfast, Xander took his first REAL steps!! What a fantastic Mother's Day gift :D xoxo...
Unfortunately, Mr. Brave bonked his face on the coffee table and gave himself a shiner :(  He's a tough cookie though, and didn't cry for very long.  I think I was more devastated than he was.  But to make light of the situation, the black eye made him look pretty bad ass...


Later in the afternoon, we were off to my cousin's house for Mother's Day with the family...

Papa Bear and Baby Bear

Mama Bear and Baby Bear

Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Sister Bear

We all did our part and helped prepare a few dishes -- great food, good company...made for a pretty enjoyable day.


Here's Xander with Great-Lola (grandma):

MONDAY: 6am yoga class that completely wiped me and induced a 3-hour-long nap with Xander in the afternoon.  It's alright though, cuz it was gloomy outside anyway.  The weather made staying in, a little more bearable.  

Spent the rest of the day doing chores and hangin' with the kids.  Cooked dinner, ran out to Michael's to pick up some supplies, crafted the rest of the night and went to bed....and now it's Tuesday.

Am I boring or what?!

• A bit of client work this afternoon
• Pick daddy up from work
• Soccer game at 6:10pm, which means dinner at The Thirsty Penguin

A dropped ball?

A little late to be commenting on the Royal Wedding, I know (yes, I watched it live; yes, I loved it; yes, I might've shed a tear or two).  But as I was sorting through my iPhoto, I came across this photo I took at The Old House Antique Mall a few weeks ago:

Did I totally drop the ball on this?  Could this possibly be worth something?  Given the fact that it's a commemorative mug for, none other than, "Their First Child" Prince William - I figure there's someone out there going completely ga-ga for stuff like this, no?


Aw well.


I've spent the majority of my morning making phone calls and filling out applications.  A really bad thing happened last week, which has left me scrambling to protect my identity -- *GASP*  I reassure you, I'm not an undercover agent, I am not a fugitive, nor am I in the witness protection program (or AM I? *dun dun dun*).  I won't go into detail, for now..at least until I get everything in order.


Yesterday was a mediocre day - didn't have too much going on.  Xander and I met my long-time friend Franco for lunch at Earls St. Vital.  Always nice to catch up with him, as it seems his life is moving at such a fast pace.  A week without talking to him, is comparable to missing 2 months worth of the Young and the Restless.  So much happens in so little time - it's hard to keep up.


Here he is with Mr. Xanderman:

Xander with Uncle Franco

Xander and Mama

After lunch, I just headed home with the little munchkin (Xander, not Franco) and waited for Xierra to come home from school.  The rest of the night was super laid back.  Soccer Schmid had a game, so it was just me and the kiddies.  There are only so many days left before I have to go back to work, so I try to embrace these slow moments and take 'em in for what they're worth. 

*sigh* 

• Xander's a daycare so I get the day to catch up on me-things: i.e. running around
• Grocery shop, for real this time
• Yoga with Xierra (and family) @ 430pm

ILovePretty: White Vintage

There’s just something about the combination of WHITE + VINTAGE that pulls at my heart strings...

During my recent visit to "The Old House Antique Mall", I fell in love with every single white antique kitchen hutch in the entire building.  Is there something wrong with me?! What is it about these things that has me so obsessed?!

WANT, WANT, WANT! love, love, love...

[source: my own photos]

Couple day catch-up

With Mr. X being in daycare 3 days this week, I kind of had a chance to catch up on things... particularly, 'me' time and 'Mommy and Yaya time' as well. ('Yaya' has been our nickname for Xierra since she was a wee little thing).


Tuesday was a day of running around - paying bills and shopping for some home essentials.  When Xierra got home from school, we went to St. Vital mall to grab a few things, including lunch.  We went to Moxie's, her second favourite restaurant (Joey's being her first) and enjoyed some quality time together, talking, drawing and well...being goofs.

 This is Xierra's drawing of me...and a bunny rabbit.  Cute right?

After filling our cart at Wal-mart, with kitty litter, diapers, Cadbury Mini Eggs, baby food, formula and sippy cups and THIS:

...we headed over to pick Xander up from daycare and spent the rest of the evening hanging out until daddy got home from work.  Baked a couple of frozen pizza's and watched the Blackhawks get kicked out of the play-offs.


Wednesday was a Mommy day - after yoga, I showered up and headed to the Village for some lunch at Stella's.  Ooooh, french onion soup, how I love thee:

With a couple hours to spare before Xierra getting off of school, I popped into Osborne Antiques Mart (the old "Dutch Maid" building).  

EIGHT ROOMS of treasure.  It seemed never-ending -- one room branched out into 2 more rooms, and those rooms branched out into MORE rooms!  I was in love.

I want this table for my dining room!  It's absolutely gorgeous... I just wish I had $375 kickin' around to buy it.

 I thought this little table would be a perfect piece to refinish -- it's so pretty and has amazing detail!  Still working up the courage to take on a project like that though..

(don't mind the bars in front - i think it was an old headboard base or something)

Another great piece that would be a great 'first' refinishing project -- looks like the upholstering would be fairly straight forward on a chair like this, no?

I just love these kitchen hutches.  I like to believe that my 'studio' would be filled with them.

...that's what she said....?!

Okay, no.

After absorbing all of the goodness in the antique store, I headed home to meet my little girl, and then picked up Mr. X from daycare.  Grilled up some steak and zucchini and enjoyed another night at home with my fam:

Running around, in high heels

Productivity at it’s finest.  Yesterday was so jam packed with running around and I’m so pleased to report that I crossed all of my ‘to-do’s’ off my list, with room to spare.

It was Xander’s first official play date at his daycare!  930am - 530pm.  The little guy did so well, and I’m super proud of him!  

After dropping Xierra off at her bus stop, Xander off at the daycare and Brian off at HIS bus stop, I came home to get myself ready.

My agenda:

• go to the Apple Store to print off a receipt for my computer (tax purposes)
• pick up envelopes for invitation order
• drop Brian’s tax documents off at my uncle’s place in Whyte Ridge
• go to Shaw to get a statement of services for 2010 (tax purposes)
• appointment at Assiniboine Credit Union @ 2pm
• pick up print order
• pick Xander up from daycare @ 530pm
• prepare invitation order

So, rather than go into detail about everything on my agenda, here’s a summary:

iMac receipt printed, chit-chatted with Karla about her wedding plans -> Paper Gallery, over priced -> Hi Tito Craig! Taxes in exchange for getting the Nasonex bottle to properly spray? Sweet. -> Shaw statement, check! -> Oh, the relief of finding out that my credit score is average...*whew*, thanks Mr. Miranda, you made my day life. -> stuck in traffic on the way to pick up my print order, looked over and saw this gem:

Not on my agenda, but this is where the ‘room to spare’ comes in.  

Oh. Geez.  I had no clue that this place even existed.  I almost drove past it, but I’m glad I decided to bust a U-ey to check it out.  I took a ton of photos,  and posted a few of them in iLove Pretty.

Okay, so after spending a chunk of time in the antique store, I drove to the Exchange District to pick up my (not done for another 20 mins.) print order.

Headed through rush hour traffic, back down to St. Vital with time to spare before having to pick up Mr. X.  Came home to respond to, and send, a couple emails and then headed over to the daycare...

My son was a completely different kid -- maybe he was drunk off of sleepiness, but he was blabbing and giggling while I held him and talked with Sharon, the daycare lady.  He was too cute.

She said that he did fantastic for his very first day, and mentioned that he LOVED the other kids.  I guess having a big sister around really pays off!

Back home to finish putting together my invitation order and hang out with the kids until daddy’s arrival.

Dinner was ghetto - Tuna Helper.  After such a long day, I had no energy left to really cook anything.  Dumping all of the ingredients into one pan and standing there stirring it for 12 minutes was the extent of my kitchen presence last night.

My agenda:

• go to the Apple Store to print off a receipt for my computer (tax purposes)
• pick up envelopes for invitation order
• drop Brian’s tax documents off at my uncle’s place in Whyte Ridge
• go to Shaw to get a statement of services for 2010 (tax purposes)
• appointment at Assiniboine Credit Union @ 2pm
• pick up print order
• pick Xander up from daycare @ 530pm
• prepare invitation order
• get dinner on the table

So that was it...my ONE productive day of the week :)

• made it to they gym today...pretty chillax workout of just cardio, obliques and back.  Stopped losing weight, which is a bit concerning :S
• house work, house work, house work: gonna spend the day cleaning up around here
• more taxing tax documenting for my appointment at H&R Block tomorrow
• Xierra’s school spring concert tonight at 630pm :D  She couldn’t stop talking about it this morning during breakfast.  Super excited!  Will post pics.
• a full night of amazing television: Ultimate Fighter, American Idol, Survivor, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs: Chicago vs. Vancouver, Criminal Minds....  thank goodness we have a DVR!