It's a Shower!

Baby Baby Baby...

Little bird, little bird

Fly through my window,

little bird, little bird

Fly through my window

little bird, little bird

Fly through my window,

Fine molasses candy...

Elizabeth Mitchell

      Today we drove over to the North Shore today for my cousin's baby shower. We brought yummy cupcakes, a pie and lots of goodies for her daughter Nikki that I had custom printed for her with images from my new baby shower decoration collection.  

Baby shower goodies... here is a sneak peak at a few decorations from my baby shower collection 

"Le Bebe" and the goodies we brought for Nikki..

Fine molasses candy...

Thrift Shop Thursday!

SECOND HAND ROSE

...I'm wearing second hand hats, second hand clothes, That's why they call me second hand Rose...

Fanny Brice

I thought it would be fun to do a regular post every Thursday on the topic of Thrift Shopping which is one of my greatest joys!  Every Thursday I will share with you my weekly thrift shop finds.  I'd love to hear from you about your finds as well.  There is something so magical to me about finding used treasures. In a sense it is like embarking on a time travel adventure where each historical object that I find holds memories and secrets to a time gone by.  Lately, I have been drawn to vintage dishes with "rose" motifs, aren't they romantic!

    Happy Thrifting!

A Work In Progress

Leap Of Faith...
     I want to share a little bit more about myself with you.  I took a giant leap of faith this past September when I asked my husband if he would quit his well paying, stable job to move to Vancouver, Canada where my I was raised and where my family lives.  We had been in Montclair, New Jersey for 3 years at the time and my homesickness was overwhelming me.  I just couldn't settle in.  Besides the fact that my husband commuted into New York City at 7:00 am and wasn't home before 8:30 pm and was terribly over stressed by the never ending demands of his 24/7 job.  We moved to Montclair from the San Francisco Bay Area when my son was five months old.   It was quite an adjustment for me but I was very optimistic.  Over the years we made great friends but something was still missing so my visit to Vancouver last summer was the turning point for me.  When I said goodbye to my grandmother I just knew that we needed to be in Vancouver.  Well we did!
      We left November 30th to drive across country...  Now we are here and have had quite an interesting     start to the year.  It is not a simple process sponsoring your spouse to become a permanent resident in Canada, but not an impossible one.  We have had a few health scares with family members including my grandmother and our four year old son. It has been a long time without employment as we are going on seven months now with no income.
I remain positive and my faith is strong...

   I know that we are on the right path.  The month of June brought the wonderful culmination of the hard work that I have poured into developing my own business. Jolie En Rose Vintage has been a big dream of mine and I can't tell you how euphoric it is to have finally set sail.  I have opened an Etsy shop to start which has been a longtime vision and plan of mine.  I am so thrilled to be sitting here writing to you on my own blog as I have dreamed of the day this would be a reality.  I entitled this post a "Work In Progress", as I feel that our lives are a work of art in progress; hence I thought that it would be apropo to show you my "artwork" in progress and show you my work process as I busily work to get new products into my Etsy shop...

Petit Gateau de Coquelicot

(little poppy cakes)      

A work in progress...

"When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a righteous battle... As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.  Indeed life is a have to defend and protect ourselves, and with a cheerful and brace spirit we must battle; we plan and calculate in order to make progress."
Vincent van Gogh

Yummy Canada Day and Fourth of July Cupcakes

Picked a strawberry,
Picked a strawberry,
That was growing in the sun,
Then I washed it,
And I ate it,
And I picked another one.

I want to share with you what we did today.  My four year old son Will and I made yummy chocolate cupcakes for Canada Day.  I used a recipe from one of my favorite cook books, "Deceptively Delicious", by Jessica Seinfeld.  Her recipes are wonderfully sneaky as she incorporates a wide variety of fruits and vegetables into her recipes.   A few of my favorites are her Mac and Cheese with squash puree and Chicken Nuggets with broccoli puree.  Today we made her Chocolate Cupcakes with avocado puree and Cream Cheese Frosting with cauliflower puree and to top them off I made Mini Strawberry Cupcake Toppers to decorate them while Will was busy making a strawberry garland.

Wishing you a yummy holiday weekend!

Girl of my Heart...

JE T"ADORE

Whether you are here or yonder,

Whether you are false or true,

Whether you remain or wander,

I'm growing fonder of you...

More than you know,more than you know,

Girl of my heart,

I love you so...

Blossom Dearie

 I title this entry Je t'adore as it is a love letter to all of my girlfriends near or far.

    On Sunday, I had a small brunch with a few of my closest girlfriends who may or may not live nearby.  The sun came out and poured a delicious light onto my dining room table, bathing all of the miniature fuschia roses in summer warmth.  I love entertaining, especially for my girlfriends.  Having moved around a fair bit over the past seven years to San Francisco, then to New Jersey and now back to Vancouver I have small groups of close girlfriends in several places.  Some have moved away but we all try our best to stay in touch amidst all of our busy lives.  So for this Sunday affair I felt it necessary to create a peaceful, romantic space where we could restore ourselves and just have fun.  Thanks girls for the lovely aromatic pink peonies!  
Enter a comment below and include your favorite Party Decoration Set from my Etsy shop and be entered to win the one of your choice. A Winner will be chosen by Random Number Generator and announced here Sunday, July 3, 2011. Comments are closed, thank you to those who left a comment.  Carrie you are the winner!

Thou swell, thou witty,thou sweet, thou grand...  Blossom Dearie

A-Tisket, A-Tasket, Let's pack a picnic basket!

 Happy Father's Day!

Walk a little slower, Daddy,

Said a little child so small.

I'm following in your footsteps

and I don't want to fall...

author unknown

  For my first blog entry I wanted to share with you a special celebration that my family had last night in honor of Father's Day.  Celebrations for my family have always been a time of coming together and truly focusing on one another, distractions aside.  They have also been a time to celebrate beauty.  My mum always created the most wonderful decorative table settings and delicious foods that guided my imagination into a world of beautiful magical adventures. My dad always knew how to complement that with great conversation around the dinner table.

  Today I share with you what I have learned from my mum and dad and hope to pass on to my son, my deep passion for creating beautiful family celebrations.  So in honor of my father, husband, brother, son, grandmother and mum I present to you my picnic style Father's Day dinner setting. What followed in our home was a delicious picnic feast of sweet and spicy coleslaw, blue cheese and bacon potato salad, green bean and arugula pasta salad, BBQ ribs, BBQ duck, fresh berries, strawberry lemonade, buttermilk biscuit strawberry shortcake, a mixed berry pie and many memorable conversations to make this a celebration I will always remember... 

...and I would want to lead just right, 

And know that I was true;

So walk a little slower, Daddy, 

for I must follow you. author unknown

Happy Father's Day to you all!

Voila Printemps!

Coming soon!