• family

    For Grandma – on #MothersDay

    May 11, 2013 - By 

    Yesterday my daughter asked me if we could keep the messages on the phone from Grandma so we can hear her voice. And I cried. Not knowing it would be the last time we might hear her, I erased them all last week. On Sunday my mother, their last living Grandmother, passed away unexpectedly.  I will miss a million things about her this weekend. My first Mother’s Day without my Mom. Today we buried my Mom, listened to tributes from her sister-in-law and brothers. And my brother and I both found strength to say a few words about a great…

  • Giveaways

    Tip Top Shoe #giveaway

    May 8, 2013 - By 

    Are you a shoe gal? Are shoes your babies? Do you baby your shoes? Well, Tip Top shoes has a great solution to help protect your heels. Tip Top Shoes are the invention of experienced wardrobe stylist and shoe collector Kelly Lyles. Lyles was style consultant for many years with various brands, magazines, TV outlets, record labels and celebrities. Her idea was born when she noticed her Chanel boots had a crease in the toe. Not that I ever had a Chanel pair of boots, or ever will, but I empathize with this nasty boot affliction and have had same…

  • family

    But I Am Not Done with You Yet

    May 5, 2013 - By 

    In the end, you think about the many times she danced through the living room holding the cat, with those tiny cat antlers it used to hate. The times she dressed at the vanity in her room draping jewelry on and your eight-year-old eyes thought it was magic. You dreamed she was beautiful and then wished years away so you could grow fast forward. You asked her to twirl. She did and spun you around. She held your hand and said I love you and then she gave you a kiss before heading off to the dance with a friend.…

  • Health - parenting - special needs

    Camp Memories #MuskokaWoods2013

    May 4, 2013 - By 

    Summer Camp is Awesome from Muskoka Woods on Vimeo. When I was a child I was shy to the point of being extremely socially awkward. I loved school, but was your classic tightly wound overachiever. My mom was a teacher and had summers off so there was never really a great need for us to be signed up for activities all summer long. We were beach babies, my brother and I, and we went to cottages every summer of our lives. We still do. But, one year, my Mom, a single parent and grade two teacher on a very limited…

  • family

    Five Social Media Lessons Learned From My Clients

    May 2, 2013 - By 

    Some of you know my job has evolved rapidly over a period of several months, from blogger for hire, to social media consultant and community manager. I love that social media strategy challenges me every day. I love many of my clients and am extremely passionate about what I do here. I started out on this path with a love of social media, pure enjoyment from tweeting, and a keen love of writing. I have moved on to understand marketing and public relations, and government relations too. Many of my clients have taught me a lot about best practices for…

  • Giveaways

    Learning Toys Kettler Tricycle #giveaway and Sick Kids

    May 1, 2013 - By 

    Some of my regular readers know I spent time at the Hospital For Sick Children as a tween and teenager. My Mom ran me back and forth from Guelph many times over the years to see world renowned experts in paediatric gastroenterology. I hated being sick and I hated how it intruded in my life. The procedures were always incredibly invasive and travel was a difficulty. None of it was fun, but everyone at Sick Kids was always kind, caring and compassionate. I could never ever imagine a more caring place than Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. It is a…

  • Food

    Fast and Fun Chili In The Oven #LMDConnector

    April 28, 2013 - By 

    Spring has, at long last, finally sprung. And we are back from holidays just in time to see our gorgeous daffodils smiling their pretty faces off at us. That is the kind of thing that makes me happy after a long and dragging winter. I mean snow drifted along hammering us steadily through much of April, wearing everyone down. Soups and stews and crockpot meals got us through those wintery days. But the crockpot is put away now – for a little while at least.  Today, was a near perfect day here. Temperatures rose. The grass looked greener. I got…