Dear January: Bite me! This is us looking all cute last year at this time with my sweet little nephew Taiga. Those were fun times for sure. Nostalgia of course somehow paints everything a bit prettier than it really was, but nonetheless aren’t we cute? January is such a lovely idea of a month. Fresh starts. Kids back to school etc. Won’t I be so productive. Won’t I get so much cleaning done, so much writing. Life will be grand. No more pine needles in my socks. Now, I am no fool for January’s crazy fickle ways. I knew darn well…

Deck your halls with two brand new beautiful Christmas ornaments! This marks one of my coolest giveaways yet. I am so excited to launch this one with my new friend over at Deirdre and Company. Deirdre and Company makes truly lovely unique ornaments and jewelry for everyone on your list. I blogged about their Christmas ornaments and beautiful jewelry before and have even purchased a couple of these ornaments for my children this year. It’s a tradition here for us to set aside one special ornament each year for each of my daughters. The two girls love this and enjoy…

Now this is the kind of story I love to read. An aboriginal couple has won Canada’s second largest jackpot ever $50 million. Not only is the couple incredibly deserving of good fortune, but reports indicate they spent essentially their last $10 to get the winning ticket. Kirby Fontaine, 40, of the Sagkeeng First Nation told Canadian Press he suffered a stroke one year ago and felt very fortunate to have won. His wife Marie, 36 works as a personal care attendant and they are reported to have two children as well. The area where they live north of Winnipeg, Manitoba…

One of our favourite annual fall pastimes is a visit to the apple orchard to handpick a fresh batch of apples. Luckily just outside London, near Thorndale, we are blessed with the amazing Apple Land, a pick your own orchard with train ride, pumpkin hollow, a store and small petting barn. This year’s weather has been dicey, but Saturday we risked the cold temperatures and were rewarded with a wonderful sunny day. For anywhere between $20 and $30 a family can spend an afternoon on site enjoying the sunny brisk fall day, have a train ride, enjoy the animals and play on…

I am nothing if not an avid reader. In fact, I have never needed a whole lot of encouragement that way. As a child reading was an escape and as an adult it is the way I unwind, learn and build better writing skills. My children luckily are both turning out to be book lovers, not entirely by accident though. In order to encourage budding readers I followed famed New York Times columnist and author Anna Quindlen’s advice of books in every room of the house. So in my bathroom is a drawer full of children’s books and in my living room are…

I am the world’s biggest fan of summer for several reasons, not the least of which is the BBQ. From Friday night to Sunday in mid-May until the end of October I can typically count on my darling husband to BBQ. Sometimes it’s delicious – (steak marinated and cooked just so) –  and sometimes, not so much –  (experimental kabobs last night that flopped),  but it’s always most importantly not me doing the cooking. Yeah! Let’s hear it for barbecues. Which brings me to my sad story of the evening and the explanation of this picture. Having returned from long…