:: things i love friday ::

- watching the royal wedding with a cup of tea (and wishing for another trip to the Empress for high tea!)

- if I was lucky enough to have been in London for the wedding, I would have worn something sunshiney yellow like this. With an awesome fascinator headband.

- phd in parenting's summaries of canadian political party platforms. will you momthevote on Monday?

- erin's brilliant diy picture book for babies 

- gathering great ideas from Ohdeedoh on backyard/garden design with kids in mind. 

- this beauty blog, especially the wavy hair tutorial....thanks LC!

- finding amazing local etsy sellers for last minute gifts. I love the shop local feature! will post more next week once I have given the gifts :)

Today, I am just really thankful for Fridays. It has been a long couple of weeks with Hunter being sick and getting even less sleep than we regularly do.

I am looking forward to a busy weekend putting the finishing touches niece's baby shower (can't wait to show off pictures next week!), trying something delicious from hot new Calgary spot Jelly Modern Doughnuts, and shopping the first few garage sales of the season with the family!

Hope you have a lovely weekend in the sunshine.

xoxo

Morgan

:: seaside nursery goes girly ::

Who says a blue nursery can't be the perfect place for a baby girl? 

You might remember this nursery from Real Canadian Nursery Week. It is the lovely design of Stacey of Mon Petit Amour sponsor, Tippy Toes Knits. Not only does she knit the most gorgeous hats and mittens (best baby shower gifts ever!) she has a great eye for design and has incorporated some awesome Etsy finds into the decor for her soon to be arriving baby girl.

Here are the sources for this beautiful space. Thank you so much Stacey for letting me feature your nursery again! Can't wait for your little girl to arrive!

 Paint: Debbie Travis Venetian Sky (but we mixed it with Antique White when we got it home as it was a bit darker than we anticipated)

Furniture: The crib is Storkcraft Mara, the rocker/recliner is a Lazyboy (with a SureFit cover), the bookshelf is homemade, the sidetable was found on the side of the road and painted and the dresser is Ikea Leksvik (with the bookshelf piece taken off the top).

Sunshine Print: From 

The Wheatfield on Etsy

Flower Poms: From Pom Love on Etsy

Mobile: From The Butter Flying on Etsy

:: happy easter weekend ::

I recently discovered instagram and I am in love! I love all the different filters you can apply to the photos and the quick sharing via facebook/twitter. Here are a few I snapped this Easter weekend.

morning coffee while Daddy gets a haircut and baby sleeps in the backseat. 

H loving the balloon from a baby shower we attended. Martha Stewart tutorial here. They are so cute!

Made my very first apple pie (pastry and all!) for Easter dinner. Recipe in this cookbook that Hubs bought me for Christmas (along with my red Kitchenaid - still basking in it's loveliness in my kitchen!)

H loved opening up his eggs filled with Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal & raisins. It was a fun way to eat breakfast this morning!

Hope you had a lovely weekend with friends and family. I found myself so thankful for the sunshine, the promise of spring, and delicious food and conversation shared with people I love. And it's not over yet! I look forward to dropping in on my parents this afternoon once H wakes up from his nap.

xoxo

Morgan

:: unexpected blog break ::

Flying over the Rockies - so cool

trees, and flowers and green - oh my!

treehouse on the plane = happy baby

H's new best friend - the friendliest porpoise ever!

one little monkey jumping on the bed

kissing on the seabus

                   

most exciting thing to do on Granville Island? play in the dirt of course!

                     

enjoying the view - and making mommy nervous!

                     

wanting to run into the ocean - it's just like the wavepool, right?

What a whirlwhind week last week! It was back to work after Spring Break and then off to Vancouver for a teaching conference, and blog writing was the first thing to fall off the agenda (along with housecleaning, laundry and sleep of course)

We are back home in the land of snow covered houses and backyards, and remembering fondly the leaves, flowers and green....hoping we brought some warmth back with us. We also brought a nasty cold home with us, poor little H is feverish and sick today. Here's hoping we are back to the usual routine soon, I feel behind in everything right now, although it's so worth it to get away for a bit.

Do you have any trips planned soon?

:: happy birthday to moi ::

print by keepcalmshop on etsy

It's official. I'm 29 for the very first time.

I know this post is super late, but it is not yet midnight here in Calgary and I have been busy soaking up every last minute of my birthday. I was treated to a sleep in with Hunter, a lovely morning with my little man, and then afternoon tea with two of my best friends. The Hubs and I went out for a fancy dinner, and then I spent the evening putting together floral arrangements for a friend's wedding tomorrow (they turned out just gorgeous too - peonies, ranunculus and hydrangea....my favourites!)

I hope you had a sunny happy Friday too :)

Here are the winners of this week's giveaways - thanks so much to everyone for entering! It was lots of fun giving a few gifts away this week for my birthday!

Bunny Hat from Little Threads by Rebecca - #4, Allison S.
Technicolour Jotter - #8, Sarah
Lip Balm - Commenter #4, Alison

Off to dream of a few more things for my 30 before 30 list. I hope to share it on the blog here soon, like the lovely ladies at Making it Lovely, Hudson and Co, and Daffodil Design.

Happy Weekend! xoxo

:: diy natural all-purpose cleaner ::

I've been wanting to make my own all-purpose cleaner for a while, and since we are doing a tv-free week.....I have found that all of a sudden I have loads of time for all these kinds of projects!

This cleaner smells ah-mazing, and works great. It makes cleaning the highchair, countertops and floor for the 4th time in a day almost fun :p

I am so in love with it, I am making a few more bottles to giveaway (it is my birthday week after all!) to family and friends this weekend.

If you would like to make up a 16oz bottle, you will need:

2 t Borax natural detergent - I found mine at Sobey's. Don't you love the vintage feel of the box?

3 T Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap - I picked the Orange scent, but there are a few other yummy naturally scented ones too. I'm planning on trying lavender or peppermint next time. Found it locally at Planet Organic, but you can grab it on Well.ca too.

4 T White Vinegar - the natural cleaning superstar! We always have lots of this on hand for it's many uses.

Distilled Water - I just used boiled water, but I am going to buy a bottle of distilled for the next go to see if it makes any difference.

Mix the borax, vinegar and hot water. Must be hot to make sure the borax incorporates. Make sure it is well mixed before adding more water to the bottle. Add castile soap and swirl the bottle to incorporate. It will be slightly white and opaque, but totally awesome. 

I hope you love spraying this citrusy delicious cleaner everywhere as much as I do! I can't wait to experiment with a few more scents, and maybe some essential oils. 

:: wordless wednesday - kiss, kiss ::

Ok, not so wordless wednesday. I cannot get enough of H's little pucker. He kisses anything and everything these days and it is so sweet.

For today's birthday themed giveaway, I would like to send you a lip balm (something I can never have enough of!) from Etsy. All you have to do is share your best mommy beauty tip.

Here's mine: Splurge on good quality skincare and makeup. Even if you only have time to spend 5 minutes getting ready in the morning,  prettily packaged products that work wonderfully will make you feel pampered. I love my Bellaboo skincare, Bare Minerals makeup, Nars Blush, and Voluminous Mascara. Design Mom posted recently about how much she loves her Clarisonic, and I am seriously considering buying one this weekend for my birthday. I can redeem a bunch of Shoppers Optimum points for it....what do you think?

:: wit & whistle ::

technicolor jotter by wit & whistle 

I got a little idea last night. Why not giveaway a few things to celebrate my birthday? I'm turning 29 (for the very first time!) on Friday and I love to give gifts, so here goes!

I found this lovely jotter (perfect for jotting down little notes and to-dos!) via twitter. Etsy was complimenting the seller on her awesome listing titles, and I was excited to find a new shop to love. I would totally paint my basement floor exactly like this if I had the time to tape out millions of lines - chevron + colour = perfection in my books.

If you would like me to buy you one of these in honour of my birthday, just leave me a comment telling me what is on your to-do list today! I'm feeling so much better today, so the plan is to get some coffee, visit a friend, and then head to Murale for some new makeup.

xoxo

p.s Wit & Whistle also has a lovely blog.. Check out her post on multiple ways to tie a scarf. I hope to rock the bow later this week. Just need to find the perfect long skinny scarf!

:: little threads by rebecca ::

photo by Ottawa's Elizabeth Fulton photography

How incredibly cute is a tiny little bunny hat just in time for Easter? Canadian etsy shop, Little Threads by Rebecca, wants to give one lucky Mon Petit Amour reader one of these lovely hats!

To enter, just leave comment below telling me how you plan to spend Easter this year, and what the Easter bunny will be hiding for your little ones. {I am planning on stuffing those little plastic eggs with snacks for Hunter - goldfish, raisins and and cheerios. He's a bit little for copious amounts of chocolate, and I think he'll get a kick out of hunting for them}

I'll announce the winner on Friday, April 8th. Best of luck!

p.s It's my birthday this week and I am working on a few more fun giveaways to celebrate. Stay tuned!

:: things i love friday ::

I had grand plans for my first week of Spring Break. A page full of to-do's, with a few things listed to accomplish on each day. It was going to be the most wonderful, fun and productive week ever. Do you ever start the week like that? With lofty and perhaps a bit unreachable goals? 

Unfortunately, my teacher immune system, which is normally quite amazing, totally failed on Tuesday and I have been sick ever since. Here's hoping I will be able to see friends and do fun things next week. I still managed to get a lot done on Monday, and managed to get outside yesterday for a little walk. All in all, it was kind of nice to be forced to slow down, although I will admit I had a teary breakdown on Tuesday because I was so mad that I was sick and missing out on the fun stuff I had planned.....and my throat huuuuurt so bad!

On Monday, as I cleaned my house, I also reorganized a few pieces of art and change up the decor in our house and make it more springlike. I love our rainbow bookshelf now. We always had the books organized by colour but they were stacked instead of lined up. I like this much better. So does Hunter. His favourite game is pull off the book and throw it down the landing....le sigh! 

I plan on hanging some colourful shots of our family on the wall above the bookshelf, along with a few etsy prints I have my eye on.

I went thrifting with H, and found some more golden books to add to his collection. Saggy Baggy Elephant and I Can Fly (with original 50 cent price tag from Woolco! A real oldie!) from the classic collection. I just love the illustrations!

Hunter enjoyed reading his "new" books for a minute or two.

Then he found the cocoa tin I cleaned out for him, and started yelling into it. Much more fun.

We got out for a walk yesterday and I managed to get some cute pictures of our little explorer. Love this one of him tramping through the muck and leaves. Something about it reminds me of Where the Wild Things Are. I think it will make an appearance above our bookshelf. I am going to order the prints today!

Hope you had a healthy and happy week. Happy weekend!

p.s I am folding paper cranes for a project some students at school initiated. We want to create an installation of 1000 paper cranes in our foyer to show our hope and support for Japan. I am really enjoying folding them and think they would make a really sweet mobile! Tucking this idea away for future little ones.