It's a Blue Moon and it's Labour Day Weekend!

There are a lot of reasons to celebrate this weekend...

The blue moon, the fact that it's labour day weekend, that September (my favourite month) is here, and that soon we will see the colourful changes of autumn.

On a personal note, I will be reaching 30 weeks of my pregnancy tomorrow, and I feel this huge sense of relief to be out of the twenties. I have been secretly terrified of going into extreme preterm labour (I've seen too much of that in my medical training), and somehow reaching 30 weeks is a big milestone for me. Hooray!

I wish you all a wonderful long weekend!

oxo

Vanessa

ps: have you seen this inspiring video about the invisible helmet? These girls are true geniuses, and it's too revolutionary not to share! (Thanks, Diana)

And... here's the sweetest version of Blue Moon ever (from the lovely Lisa Hannigan)...

Lately up north... we've been foraging again!

Fall has definitely arrived in the north. It's a bit cooler, the days are shorter, and the weather feels just a little bit more wild and unpredictable. 

Fall up north also means berry season, and that it's time to start foraging for the winter.

This weekend we picked a big bucket of wild blueberries to freeze for the winter. Let me tell you, it was hard work! 

Much harder than picking blueberries down south, since northern blueberries grow sparsely and very low to the ground....making it especially challenging when you're 7 months pregnant!

But I practised my squats and eventually just plopped my oversized self on the ground, and still managed to pick my fair share ; )

(what kept me going was the thought of having delicious blueberry pancakes on those cold weekend mornings all winter long)

We even found a few wild strawberries (which are a million times more flavourful than those overgrown ginormous ones you find in grocery stores).

In the next few weeks the cranberries will ripen by the bay and it will be time to harvest again.

Then comes the time to forage for wild chanterelle mushrooms...

This is what I love most about living up north.

Cute nursery idea from IKEA...

I saw this adorable bed canopy hanging above one of the cribs on display at IKEA the other day. 

It's so cute! And it's only 12$.

Sadly they were out of stock : (

(MYSIG Bed Canopy from IKEA)

Maybe I am ready for fall, after all...

(Rag & Bone)

....Not that I could actually fit into any of this stuff at 7 months pregnant... but a girl can still admire from afar ; )

Showered with love...

This weekend my dear friend Brianna held a surprise baby shower for me. 

And surprised I was!

She did such an amazing job with the decor, the incredible food, and somehow managing to invite all the women who mean the most to me in my life... and she even had adorable little favor boxes for the women to take home. What a hostess! 

(I wish I took more pictures of all the gorgeous little details but I was simply too busy enjoying myself)

And of course, I was completely showered with gifts.

I feel a lot more ready to tackle setting up a nursery now. Getting a jump start like this certainly helps.

(My cousin made and decorated this incredible cake for the shower. Isn't she talented?!)

I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing female friends & family.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Have a soulful weekend...

It's hot and humid out today, and the rain is very welcomed. 

It's our last weekend in Montreal before heading back up north on Monday, and we plan on making the most of it.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

And here's a beautiful song by Michael Kiwanuka to start things off...

oxo

Montreal's La Mangeoire Truck on Eat Street

Montreal is such a foodie city, but thanks to some silly city bylaws we don't have any street food... that is, until now!

 This summer, as a pilot project, the city permitted a select few food trucks to serve up their delicious, gourmet street grub to us eager Montrealers. 

One of those food trucks is La Mangeoire, and I highly recommend it.

They make the most amazing gourmet sandwiches, made with incredibly fresh ingredients, and served with the best chili-lime sweet potato chips you'll ever have.

Today one of my favourite food network shows, Eat Street, was filming on location at La Mangeoire, so a few girlfriends and I went to go check it out (and maybe see if we could get on tv).

We felt shy about being filmed at first (they want to interview you as you're biting into the food, with sauce dripping down your face), but the Eat St. crew were so much fun and made it easy.

 We had a great time, and ate a lot of fabulous street food too!

If you live in the Montreal area, you should definitely check out La Mangeoire food truck.

The Eat St. show will air sometime this spring (I'll let you know if our interviews make the final cut!).

All the right stripes...

I love love love all these stripy outfits.

From Madewell

Ecological Footprint: If we all lived like...

How much land would we need if the entire world's population (estimated at 7 billion) lived like us?

Well apparently we would need 4 other planets!

Compare that to the people in Bangladesh... if we all lived like them, we would only need a fraction of our land. 

Pretty disturbing and rather sobering stuff, don't you think?

Illustration by Tim De Chant

On travelling while pregnant... (and lots of pictures from Italy!)

We're back from a fabulous one week vacation in Italy. 

As fabulous as it was though, it is always good to be home again. I must admit, travelling while 6 months pregnant was more challenging than I had imagined, especially in 40 degree weather. 

But I think we made the most of it.

(I certainly ate a lot!)

We travelled around Tuscany, visited Florence, San Gimignano, and Sienna. They were all so incredibly beautiful!

We were supposed to drive to Cinque Terre (the one place everyone says not to miss, but also a 3 hour drive form our villa), but unfortunately I had to pass. 

Every time I would get in the car I would start having little contractions... every few minutes. It really freaked me out.  I'm not sure if it was the bumps, the heat, or maybe the dehydration, but the possibility of going into preterm labor in a foreign country was enough to keep me homebound. I'm sure those perilously narrow, steep & winding Italian roads didn't help either!

So instead, the hubby and I lazed around the villa in the quiet Tuscan countryside....

Honestly, it wasn't too bad of a compromise!

I've realized that travelling while 6 months pregnant is very do-able, but it just means that you have to go a lot slower, and do a lot less. 

Once I accepted that I wouldn't get to see as much as I normally would, 

and just indulged in the simpler things a vacation brings... like sleeping in, good food, leisurely strolls through foreign landscapes... that's when I truly started to enjoy myself.

We ended our vacation with one night in Rome... 

(definitely not enough time, but it was magical just the same)

We stayed in a gorgeous little boutique hotel near the Spanish steps, went out for a fantastic dinner, and slowly walked around that incredible city for the rest of our final evening in Italy.

Do you know what I LOOOVE about Italy?

Gelato.

I could eat three times a day!

(and it's not just 'cause I'm pregnant... although I'm sure that helps)

yum!

: )

Hello from Beautiful Tuscany...

I just wanted to say a quick hello from the Italian countryside...

We are staying in a gorgeous 17th century villa, 

with a pool that overlooks the rolling landscape of olive groves and cypress trees. 

Honestly, what more could you ask for?!

 And of course, the food is beyond delicious!

We are visiting vineyards, and I am allowing my-(pregnant)-self small tastes of chianti classico... and taking home bottles to bring back for when I'm post-partum  ; )

(which I'm sure will come in handy every now and then)

ok, I must get back to living it up now...

I hope you have a wonderful week.

oxo

Vanessa