A few of my favourite things (September edition).

I'm not the biggest fan of fall.

I hate pumpkin spice lattes. I can't bear the thought of packing up sandals and flip flops. I dread the idea of the days getting shorter. It's always hard for me to let go of summer.

However, the colours are spectacular, I am looking forward to getting my boots out and I have my eye on a poncho for fall (adorbs). Plus, there is something about the back-to-school-routine that is quite heavenly.

As September comes to a close, a few things have stood put to me as favourites.

So just for fun and because I'm on the lookout for beauty and goodness, here we go.
September favourites:

• my girls playing basketball and riding bikes on our dead end street.

• Getting settled into our new home. After the craziness of the build, I am loving being in our house and now I have become a total homebody and never want to leave! It's aura is bright and simple. It whispers to me of a fresh beginning. There's very little clutter (I'm hoping to keep it that way!). It's an invitation to simplify and surround myself with that which gives me joy. 

• My stove top coffee pot. It cost me $14.99 at Home Sense and now I make myself lattes every morning. So spoiled. I feel so European :)

• Birkenstocks. I know, I'm quite late to the game. I just got my first ever pair in May. Now there's no going back. LOVE. Here's a photo of Grace and I in NYC earlier this month. They were the only shoes we brought and we wore them non-stop. They were life savers. We walked everywhere!

• 

• Chat Books. If you're on Instagram, this is a free app that you download and it turns your Instagram photos into books. Each book contains 60 photos. Get this - each book is only $8 (which includes shipping). I love it because it's an instant photo album (and truthfully, I'm terrible at making photo albums and scrapbooking and all that). If you decide to subscribe, use this code and you get your first book for free: 69GLLPNK

• I've started using Norwex  enviro cloths to clean my bath tubs and shower and I'm in love. My sister-in-law Kristal is a distributor. Feel free to email her if you need anything: daveandkristal@gmail.com :)

• These pumpkin-nutella-cookie-bars are pretty much to die for. 

• These days, I'm loving my new kitchen. It's easy to find my way around, it's way less cluttered and I'm baking more than ever. My family is in shock and hoping it lasts. On Monday, my friend Sandra brought these pumpkin muffins to the library while our kids were in their after school program and they were amazing. I'm pretty sure that the sprinkled brown sugar on top is the secret touch. They're so easy to make too!    

 Pumpkin Muffins:

4 eggs
2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 c. oil
1 3/4 c. pumpkin
3 c. flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups raisins or chocolate chips (I use chocolate chips - obviously!)

Beat eggs and sugar.  Add oil and pumpkin.  Beat thoroughly.  Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth.  Add in raisins or chocolate chips. Pour into muffin cups (2/3 full)
Sprinkle tops with brown sugar.  Bake at 375 for 15 min or until toothpick interested comes out clean.

• Lastly, this will come as no surprise - I am loving and savouring and my world is being rocked my Brene Brown's latest book Rising Strong. I'm only a third of the way into the book and already learning so much. 

How about you? What are your September favourites?

Welcome to New York (it's been waiting for you).

Seven years ago, my sisters and I (and Beth who was eleven months old at the time) surprised my Mom and flew her to NYC for a long weekend to celebrate her 60th birthday. I'm not kidding when I say that it was an epic trip. It was packed full of memory making material. My mom was flying high - ten feet off the ground - and she didn't stop smiling (or talking) the ENTIRE TRIP.

At that time, Grace was almost 9 and desperate to join us. Shamelessly begging us. In an off-the-cuff comment, back then in 2008, I casually said, "tell you what, when you're 16, I'll take you to NYC".

At the time, the thought of having a 16 year old daughter seemed like a million years away. Little did I know that those seven years would be here in a flash. 

Grace never forgot those words and as her 16th birthday approached this year, there was zero question that we were going. Of course we were.

To be frank, I wasn't overly anticipating this trip. We had just built a house and were just settling in after an exhausting season of life and in some ways financially it didn't really make sense to do this trip.

Regardless, it was a deliberate discipline of celebration. It was simply the following through of a promise.

I had no idea what I was in for.

I tried to build the weekend as much as possible around things that Grace would enjoy (hours and hours in Times Square) and things that were on her bucket list (Carlos bakery and the Brooklyn Bridge for starters). I tried to see New York through the eyes of a 16 year old and worked hard to remember what life felt like for me when I was her age. I saw myself in her so much and it wasn't long until Grace and I felt like peers and I began to remember just what 16 felt like.

I dropped any of my own personal agenda pretty quickly into our trip and decided instead to take on the posture of curiosity, which as an aside is a bit of a theme these days for me.

Curiosity. Inquiry. Less telling and more questions. More dialogue.

I realized that I hadn't spent intentional time alone with Grace for years.

I also realized that I can be hard on her and my expectations can be high.

I recalled how it was in fact Grace that made me a mom all of those years ago and how she changed my life and my story forever.

For those of you who have teens, there are times as a mom when your teen pushes you away and it stings so hard. Looking back, I think I have been fairly decent at giving Grace her space when she gives me the subtle and not so subtle hints and yet on this trip, I came to grips with the truth that while I gave her space, it was also necessary to fight for and pursue a relationship with her. In some ways, I had let her pull away without a fight. It was time for that to change.

I know my role has changed significantly in her life. These days I  can coach her but not control her. She is her own person. And that's a really beautiful and healthy thing.

As we walked through the streets of Manhattan - streets that smelled like a combination of street meat, exhaust fumes and Chanel Number 5 - I was savvy and insightful enough to know that I was going to love this memory. We both were. And we do already.

The trip changed me. It changed us.

I wouldn't have wanted to miss it for the world.

Here are a few fun photos.

Grace checked this one off her bucket list.

View from our hotel. I honestly can't say enough about the hotel we stayed at. Great location. Super clean. Reasonable and FUN and trendy (we felt like hipsters).

Grand Central Station.

I tried to play it cool (instead I acted like a geek) when I bumped into Kevin Bacon on 8th Avenue. I accidentally cut Grace and Kyra out of the photo. True story. Also, Grace had no idea who he was - clearly I have failed her as Mom. Time to introduce my girls to Footloose!

Biking through Central Park. LOVE.

Getting rained on as we biked in Central Park.

East River Ferry took us to the Brooklyn Bridge. Spectacular.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Wow.

More B.B. What a view!

We couldn't get enough of the street meat and the pastry shops around Manhattan.

We made sure to see Henri Matisse's work for Beth (who is a big fan).