Thoughts and Tots Thursday: Whimsy

After an eventful day of busing downtown to pick up boning for this nursing cover, I am done. Both the project and physically. Who would have thought public transit could be so exhausting and smelly? 

This nursing cover is for my sister and my new niece Sofia. I love choosing fabrics. Aren't these ones purdy? 

I only went to the fabric store for boning but of course I walked away with new fabric. I fell in love with these cutesy prints of little kidlets engaging in innocent activity. I'm going to make a curtain for my kitchen door. We've been very slowly working on our kitchen, painting walls and creating a nook. I've started painting the cupboards but I'm already thinking ahead to the little details of how to incorporate color and whimsy into the kitchen. This print is a great start.

Wishful Wednesday: TOMS

Tasty Tuesday: Mexican Bean Salad

Apparently I like to hoard cans of beans because recently when Ben organized our pantry he gave me stern instructions not to buy beans for a looooong time. Today I decided to use them up in this super yummy, flavorful bean salad. I found this recipe online and slightly modified it to suit the ingredients I had in the house. I find you can use pretty much any type of bean and whatever color pepper you have available. The best part of this salad is the dressing. Ben and Levi love this meal! It's healthy and it's pretty. Health experts say to eat the colors of the rainbow in vegetables and this salad has them all. 

Doesn't he look satisfied?

Mommy Monday: Mixing Up Maternity Wear

 I don't like to spend money on maternity clothes and so I've been trying to find alternatives. Thank God for my husband's closet. I'm constantly borrowing and belting his shirts and pants. Ben thinks it is cute until his clothes end up in the laundry before he gets a chance to wear them. His shirts are always so soft and worn in, how can I resist?

I'm around 15 weeks here. I'm terrible at keeping track of how far a long I am.

Mommy Monday

I view Mommy Mondays as an opportunity to take care of some aspect of my well-being because to be honest, in my day-to-day life I let things slip a lot. I hope this doesn't totally repel you but some days I even forget to brush my teeth. As you can imagine on those sad days I'm usually in pajama pants most of the day (not even nice ones. I wear them up high like Steve Urkel and they usually have holes).

In my quest for a healthy, balanced lifestyle I'm trying to slow down and pay attention to my body more (Okay, they told me to in therapy but I know they're right). It has been hard to exercise through my first trimester and I was nervous to start up again as I've begun to feel a bit better. When you're pregnant the emphasis is always on health and not fitness and so I was worried about pushing my body more than I should to stay in shape. However, I was encouraged by my doctor that it was fine to continue with my old exercise routine with some modifications while keeping a careful eye on my heart rate.

Tonight, for the first time in a long time, I did my at-home yoga routine using the I-Phone App, Pocket Yoga. I love this app. There are three different classes I can take in two different sequences allowing me to change up my work out as I please. Other reasons I use this app is the smooth transitions between poses and the ability to control the duration and difficulty of the program. But most importantly this app doesn't bombard me with the weird, spiritual guru stuff that unpredictable yoga teachers will throw my way. My body feels stretched and relaxed after a Pocket Yoga session and my mind at ease.

Pocket Yoga is a great way to end the day, especially a day spent mostly in PJ's.

Belated Fashion Friday

What happened to Fashion Friday?! I was sooo tired. Blogging was the furthest thing from my mind. And then over the weekend my sister had a baby! Welcome to the world Sofia!

 I thought I'd post this editorial as a belated Fashion Friday. Here is a question that I've never asked but always wondered. How in the name of all that's decent do women wear white? I think the white outfits in this editorial are gorgeous but do they photoshop out the panty lines? I have never owned a pair of white pants because from what I've seen of other women sporting them, you can still see the thong! In real life I've yet to see a woman sporting white pants who isn't revealing a little too much. Even in my white wedding dress on the big day I realized my seamless underwear was still visible. If you know a trick to wearing this trend, tell me!

And then there is keeping a white outfit clean. Maybe if you touch nothing, especially your child, don't sit down the whole day or eat anything you might have a chance. I don't know...

P.S. Someone should help this model. She keeps getting stuck.

Photo Credit: Vanessa Hegelmaier by Matthias Vriens-McGrath for Elle UK April 2011 via fashiongonerogue

Tots and Thoughts Thursday

Little man loved sitting outside on the front porch with a pillow, blankie and book when he was feeling sick. He's finally on the mend and it seems that in the week he was sick he grew from a baby into a full blown toddler, tantrums included. Even when Levi is under the table, inconsolably crying because I wont let him use the walls as a sketch pad, he is sooo cute (in a break your heart sort of way). 

I went shopping to look for a top for myself and ended up with clothes for Levi. It's way more fun to shop for him. He looks so cute in stripes and the blue shirt is the colour of his eyes. 

Boy clothes are fun but I can't wait until my little sister has her baby Sofia (Due two days ago) and we can dress her up in pretty things. Awwwww! So excited to meet her! Come on little girl, make an appearance!

Wishful Wednesday

Wish to Feel Light and Care-Free Like These Flags.

While Wearing This.

And Visiting Here.

 Or Resting Here.

With these to light my way.

*Happy Flags by girlhula on Etsy
Ardisia Maxi Dress-Anthropologie
Manarola, Cinque Terre by Robert Crum via poppytalk.blogspot.com
http://www.countryhome.com/recipes/entertaining/treehouse_1.html via poppytalk
Porcelain Tea light Delight by N1 Design by Wapa Studio on Etsy

Tasty Tuesday

There are a few times I've posted recipes on Elasticpantcity that were not perfected and I immediately regretted publishing something that wasn't guaranteed to turn out amazing. 

This smoothie recipe is fool proof because you can add whatever quantity of ingredients to meet your personal taste preferences. This recipe is a super start to your day because it is a quick, healthy energy booster. 

For two people I add two bananas and then a handful of everything else (So vague, I know but trust me it works). The recipe includes raw coconut, ground flaxseed, dried dates (for sweetness), hemp seeds (for protein), plain yogurt, and raw almonds. I sometimes add raw cocoa for extra chocolaty flavour. Once everything is in the blender I add water according to how thick I want the smoothie to be. 

I always like to mention blogs that inspire me and I really enjoy how Cupcakes and Cashmere features home-cooked recipes along with style, travel, home decor, etc.  Checkout this blog for some delicious ideas.

A few yummy treats from Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Mommy Mondays

In a quest to take some time for self-care I decided to learn about making at-home facial masks. I looked up an oatmeal mask on-line and had all the ingredients so I went to work. This mask combined oatmeal, honey and egg white. After wearing the mask for 15 minutes my skin felt silky smooth but I wasn't happy with the texture. I felt like I had barnacles growing on my face. Attempt one = fail but I'm going to keep experimenting. Apparently grinding up the oatmeal is the key to the perfect texture.

 For some reason I couldn't convince Ben to wear a mask with me. He said it's for girls. Ironically Ben uses no facial products and has amazing skin. 

Making a face mask was a  relaxing venture. Unfortunately it was the last peaceful moment of my night.

The rest of the night was spent hopping in and out of bed, comforting my sick baby and trying to get the toilet to stop making a tinkling sound. I'm also sick and can't breath through my nose so I kept snorting myself awake. Lovely, right? 

Thank God for wonderful friends! In the midst of all the runny noses and exhaustion a friend of ours surprised us with yummy soup, bread and these beautiful daffodils. When she brought them yesterday they were not in bloom. This morning when I dragged my body out of bed I was feeling pretty grey and miserable. I wandered into the kitchen and there were these bright, happy flowers to greet me! Proof that life goes on.

Restructure

One of the blogs I follow recently restructured their site in order that they have a post for each day of the week. That's Chic now features Music Mondays, Tasty Tuesdays, Wishful Wednesdays, Thoughtful Thursdays and Fashion Fridays. What a brilliant idea! As a blogger it gives you consistency and foresight into what you will be blogging about and it gives the reader an idea of what to expect each day. I thought I'd give myself a little challenge for the month and try following suit by having set topics from Monday to Friday. I'm using most of the headers created by That's Chic because they're catchy and already topics I feature on Elasticpantcity, with a few adaptations.

So starting on March 14th Elasticpantcity is going to have Mommy Mondays, Tasty Tuesdays, Wishful Wednesdays, Tots and Thoughts Thursdays and Fashion Fridays. Wish me luck! If I find I can keep up with a daily post I'll continue with this outline.

P.S. I have another article on vancouvermom.ca about Family Fuse Weekend at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Rings

Oh what a day! My little man has a nasty cough that had me hovering over him all day. Literally. I sat in his room watching him nap to make sure he was breathing. The beauty of a baby is they're not freaked out to open their eyes and find some one staring at them. Levi was tickled pink to find me right next to his crib....probably wont feel the same way when he is a teenager. Once Levi was in bed for the night I grabbed The New Yorker and a bowl of cookie dough ice cream, hopped into the bath tub and recuperated. 

I wanted to do a quickie blog post tonight because I don't know what tomorrow holds. I have a growing collection of vintage rings which have been passed down to me from my grandma's or picked up at second-hand shops. 

My engagement ring on the far right belonged to my great grandmother. She and my great-grandfather were married for 60 + years and this ring was a 60th anniversary gift to her. To me this ring symbolizes the possibility of a long and happy marriage. Ben and I had the wedding band made to match.

The ring next to my wedding bands also belonged to my great-grandmother. My mom recently passed it down to me because she knows I love vintage anything. 

The rose ring was my paternal grandma's, given to me after she had passed away and just before my grandpa passed away. He bought it for her in Hawaii and the roses are carved from coral. The ring is special to me because my grandparents always wanted to have a big family trip to Hawaii. It didn't happen before they died but the ring is a reminder of family unity and happy times my grandparents shared together.

The ring on the far left is a $2.00 thrift store find. Unlike the other rings that are real gold, this ring is probably worth the price I paid. However, it is great costume jewelry and wraps nicely around my finger. 

I love to collect beautiful pieces and they're even more special when they come from loved ones with a history that is my own. If you've inherited any jewelry with a story behind it I'd love to hear it. E-mail me at elasticpantcity@gmail.com. Send me a picture and I'll post it on elasticpantcity.

Contentment

I'm going to use these pictures of open-shelving in kitchens as a platform for many random thoughts about life. I love visiting design sites for inspiration. All these pictures are from Poppytalk, a Vancouver based design site which is well worth-checking out for beautiful things. Using open-shelving seems like a great way to save money when renovating a kitchen. Of course all your dishware has to be beautiful and organized. When I mentioned the idea to Ben he said we'd have to get rid of a lot of ugly stuff. Then there's also the fact that we rent and are not renovating our kitchen. That doesn't stop me from dreaming. 

There are many things I want in life. I want to own a house, get my hair cut and dyed on a regular basis, go on exotic vacations, and be comfortable all the time. 

What I'm realizing is that want is so trivial because it is often equated with this notion that I deserve these luxuries. How can I assume that I deserve something when so much of the world lives in abject misery? How can I not be thankful for what I have?

All my basic needs are met times 10. I have food, shelter and clothing. I sometimes complain about living in an old, Vancouver character home that is seriously showing its age. Then my lovely friends remind me that our place is a welcoming, warm haven for them to come to. They feel safe, loved and cared for in our home. Money can't buy that. 

When I make a list of all the things I want I feel great freedom when I mentally take that list and burn it up. It's okay to want things, but not if I become a slave to them. This happens so easily and want soon becomes confused with need. 

So whenever I post beautiful, lovely things on elasticpantcity, I have to remind myself to appreciate ingenuity in design, art and culture, but not to covet. 

I am content.

Are you?