Life lessons from FRIENDS (yes, the tv show....just to clarify)

Many people have warned me that although at first maternity leave seems fabulous (no work, few responsibilities and of course some much needed relaxation before the big life changing event that is forthcoming)....inevitably boredom ensues, especially when the due date comes and goes without the arrival of baby! Given I am only a week and a bit into my maternity leave and my due date is still a week away, I must say I am quite enjoying my time off so far. I think I have found the perfect balance of relaxation and productivity thanks to a little life lesson I learned from FRIENDS. Remember the one where Ross goes on sabbatical and he is bored by the second day because he finished his entire to-do list on the first day? Then comes advice from the out of work actor....you can't jam a week's worth of activities into one day....you gotta spread it out a little! So I have a big list of crafts, errands and other activities to choose from and I take 3 things from that list per day. Throw in a morning coffee with the 'Gilmore Girls', perhaps a 'How I met your Mother' episode with lunch, an afternoon nap and..... voila; the perfect day. So far, so good.....but ask me how I feel on day 21 if I am still waiting for baby in order to get a true test of my formula! 


♥ Lindsay

What I've been up to lately....

You may have noticed I have been MIA lately....but I have been busy enjoying my last few weeks of pregnancy and making the most of my time before baby arrives. What have I been up to?

Pregnant in heels....dinner in gastown! 

Lunching with girlfriends. I treated Jill to a birthday lunch at the Mac Shack...YUM!!! 

Jill has a serious mac 'n cheese game face on here and I respect that :)

Waffle breakfast at Patisserie Lebeau with my hubby to celebrate my last day of work! The owner is actually Belgian so you know the waffles are authentic and you get so much delicious fruit on the side....we will be back here for sure!!

BC Place...how did you know? 

Soccer game with my hubby + my two biggest pregnancy cravings....

mini donuts and lemonade= perfect date night

Evening walk on the beach and impromptu belly photo shoot by my hubby at 36 weeks (our professional belly shoot was the next day so ...... #5 ✓)

On the long weekend Ty painted the baby's dresser and switched out the hardware...while I made the drawer liners to make it pretty. Then I spent the rest of the weekend doing baby laundry, organizing the 'baby corners' and getting everything ready  to bring the baby home and I think we are ready to go!! (#8- ✓)

Then we rewarded ourselves with a full day on the couch watching movies and doing absolutely nothing!! (#3-✓)

Now that I am 38 weeks and officially done work....our little bundle of joy could come any day, but for now I am looking forward to the next few weeks of keeping busy while trying not to get too impatient with wanting to meet our baby girl! She will come when she's ready and there's not much I can do about it....and so I will relax, read (hopefully cross off #4), do yoga, craft(hopefully cross off #9), visit with friends, perhaps fit in another visit (or two) to Patisserie Lebeau :) and wait for her arrival.

♥ Lindsay

Check, check and check....3 more list items down!

My life lately has been filled with work, crafting, yoga and sleep (when baby lets me). Over the past few weeks I have been feeling less tired and I have really taken advantage of this burst of energy by getting a few more items crossed off my list!


#1- Host a Dinner Party 
Last week we had a few friends over for a lovely dinner party. The menu consisted of a cheese plate appy, almond crusted chicken stuffed with goat cheese served with couscous and spring salad with blueberries, pears and sunflower seeds for our main course....and finally berry crisp with ice cream for dessert. Great food, great company....and overall a successful dinner party! Unfortunately I dropped the ball in the photo department and with no documented proof that this fabulous evening happened....you will just have to take my word for it. 

#12- Decorate the Baby Corner

Since we don't have an extra bedroom in our apartment the baby will be sharing our room for awhile...but I wanted to make the space feel special and baby-like so I had an idea to create a few wall canvasses to put above the bassinet. Then.....when we move and the baby has a room of her own, we can use the canvasses to decorate her space! 

So the obvious first step was a trip to Dressew; a fabric store with the best selection in Vancouver! They have every fabric imaginable and the prices are pretty reasonable so although it took hours....in the end we had some great finds. 

My vision for the wall decor was to make 2 similar fabric covered canvasses with an applique of an owl on a branch and then above those would be a covered canvas with a painted wood letter (the baby's initial). I wanted to use various patterns and colours to create kind of a patchwork look, but it turns out that pattern mixing is more difficult than I thought! Luckily I had recruited my friend Jill to help me find the perfect combination to achieve my vision. So this is what we found...... 

and this is what I made!  

Well actually it's only half of what I made....it turns out when I measured the wall, I didn't take into consideration the thermostat and so only one owl canvas fit. So, I guess I will have to save the other one for when the baby has her own room and more available wall space! For now I think it looks pretty good and it defines the baby's corner to make it feel more like her own.....not that she will even notice so let's be honest it's really more for me...but cute nonetheless right?!?

I also had another project I needed to buy materials for on this trip to Dressew. We recently got a new couch and of course..... a new couch just screams for new throw pillows! Am I right? Since I find it a bit ridiculous how much they charge for pillow covers and they are so easy to make, I decided to make a few new pillow covers to freshen up the space and  tie in some colour to our neutral grey couch. Again I wanted to try my hand at pattern mixing and I knew that I wanted a mix of white, black, grey and turquoise blue. 


The black and white patterned pillows are actually from Ikea because they were on sale and I really liked the bold pattern, so I used those as a jumping off point to find other complementary fabrics that tied in the grey of the couch but also incorporated a pop of turquoise to match our side tables. I chose these 3 fabrics that I thought might work together nicely. Then I had to figure out how many of each pillow  to make and what size for each etc.....so much to think about! I also had my husband's voice in the back of my head saying "really? 8 pillows? Where am I going to sit?"...soooo I had to limit my selection to a reasonable 6. 


In the end I decided to use the 2 large black and white IKEA pillows, then I made two smaller grey and white cases and 1 white and turquoise patterned case. I eliminated the green and blue fabric because it didn't look right....but just five pillows didn't seem like enough and I felt that I needed 1 pillow that was a solid to tie in the turquoise. Tyler disagreed....but then I was in Pier 1 and there was a sale on napkins that happened to be the perfect size of my pillow form and they had 2 turquoise napkins left that matched perfectly. It was obviously meant to be, so for under $10 I was able to create a solid pillow to tie the whole colour scheme together! I think Tyler agrees now that he sees how good it looks....and after he realized that he and the 6 pillows do actually fit on the couch! 


Side note.....check out the photo project from list item #9. After 3 years of the frames sitting behind out couch, I finally committed to a photo to blow up and divide into 6 to create an art piece to put above the couch. Since I took the photo and my perfectionist hubby took on the task of painstakingly measuring and cutting the photo to fit in the 6 frames....creating this photo art project was a team effort that we are really proud of!

#13- Prenatal Yoga

For the past few months I have been attending prenatal yoga classes and they have become the best part of my week! Yoga has been a wonderful stress reliever for me and this class is no different in that sense.....the only difference is that the class is all women and the bathroom is a whole lot busier! It's so fabulous to get together in a room full of women that are there to empower and support each other in our common experience. The teacher is so encouraging and she reminds us all that we are strong, powerful and we have everything we need to create a positive birthing experience for ourselves. There are women in their 1st trimester alongside women who are long past their due dates....but we are all there to take time for ourselves as mommas-to-be, to practice breathing through challenges and to prepare ourselves for this life-changing journey we are about to embark on. Love, love, love this class and can't say enough good things about it! 

My only gripe is that it's only offered twice a week :(

So for those keeping count I have 7 weeks(ish) left until the baby comes and 5 1/3 list items left.... I hope I can fit it all in!!

♥ Lindsay

The search for Vancouver's Best Doughnut.....

I know this wasn't on my list but I subscribe to an online magazine called BC Living and the last issue in my email inbox had a headline that caught my eye....Vancouver's 5 best Doughnut Shops you say? Although I am sure the author did extensive research on this topic....I thought it would be best if I conducted my own little taste test....you know....just to be sure! And just to get a few more opinions, I waited until my Mom and sister came for a visit this past weekend, so that they could join me in my doughnut tasting adventure. The original intent was to go to all five shops and try one flavor from each..... but since one of the shops was only open weekdays and another I had already tried before, we narrowed the field to our top three, came up with a four part criteria and set out on our quest to find Vancouver's best doughnut!

Our four testers:

Our criteria: 

We decided to give each shop a ranking of 1st, 2nd and 3rd in these four categories.....

1. Presentation (how pretty is it?)

2. Creativity (innovative flavours? variety?)

3. Taste 

4. Best bang for your buck (considering size, price, taste and overall value)
but we also chose our top 3 favorite doughnuts 
5. Best all around doughnut

The 3 contenders (in no particular order):

Lee's Donuts 

Cost- $1.52

One of the oldest vendors on Granville Island this classic shop is reasonably priced and serves handmade, fresh dougnuts that taste just like the ones you get at the fair. They carry the old standby flavours like honey, old-fashioned glazed and maple or chocolate dipped. 

Edible Flours 

Cost- $2.00

This relative newcomer specializes in tasty gluten-free treats and they offered flavours like chocolate raspberry, maple vanilla and chocolate peanut butter. 

Cartems Donuterie 

Cost- $3.oo

Given the location and limited hours, this is a destination doughnut shop for sure! From 10-3 Weekdays and 11-3 on weekends, Cartems serves up handmade doughnuts that are all made from local ingredients! They offer various flavours that are both delicious and innovative such as Earl Grey, chocolate mole and even bourbon with bacon. Oh....and with a little notice they will bake you a dozen doughnuts of your choice and deliver them by bike for free....now that's what I call a green delivery system!

Rankings in each category:

In Mom's opinion.....

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Cartems

3rd Lee's

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Taste

1st Cartem's

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Lee's Maple Dip

3rd Cartems Chocolate Mole

In Ty's opinion....

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Lee's

3rd Cartems

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Edible Flours

3rd Lee's

Taste

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Cartems Carrot Cake

3rd Lee's Maple Dip


In Shauna's opinion...

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Cartems

3rd Lee's

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Taste

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Lee's Old-Fashioned Glazed

3rd Lee's Maple Dip

In my opinion.....

Presentation

1st Edible Flours

2nd Cartems

3rd Lee's

Creativity

1st Cartems

2nd Edible Flours

3rd Lee's

Taste

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Bang for your buck

1st Cartems

2nd Lee's

3rd Edible Flours

Best Overall Doughnut

1st Cartems Classic Vanilla Glazed

2nd Cartems Earl Grey

3rd Lee's Maple Dip

As you can see the clear winner is......Cartems!!!

They ranked highest in 3 of the 4 categories AND had our favourite overall doughnut. 
Who cares if they don't look as pretty as the Edible Flours doughnuts? 
I mean, let's be honest ....you don't sit around looking at doughnuts, you eat them right!?! We all agreed that the flavours they offer like Earl Grey (which tastes like a London Fog in doughnut form...YUM!), carrot cake (which has some sort of oat topping that I could eat by the bowl full) and chocolate mole (think Mexican hot chocolate with a kick) are both delicious and innovative.  Since these handmade gems are made from quality local ingredients, they do carry a higher price tag, however the taste definitely makes up for the cost difference in our opinion.
 Great people, creative flavours and taste that can't be beat....they are doing doughnuts right for sure!! 

♥Lindsay

Just in the nick of time...

Movie Night!

Thank goodness we didn't wait much longer to cross this item off the list!! I am starting to get more uncomfortable sitting in one position...and I was shifting around a lot near the end of the movie. I also had to get the smaller drink, so I didn't have to pee every five minutes and miss the movie. With a few minor adjustments though this movie was the perfect opportunity for a date night with the hubby and our 'friends with kids' Kate and Beau! I must admit that the movie poster did scare me a little....do I really have to sacrifice love or happiness when we have this baby? Yikes?!? But luckily the movie ended up being a really cute (albeit a little sappy) movie about the ups and downs of parenthood....really just a fitting movie for where we are at in life!                                            #15 Movie Date Night with the hubby ✓

♥ Lindsay

Mom guilt already?

There are a lot of things running through my head these days....and sometimes my irrational side just takes over! Don't get me wrong,  I love being pregnant....maybe this is because so far I have been blessed with a pretty easy pregnancy! I expected the hormones to make me a crazy, crying, bumbling mess 90% of the time. Even my husband admits that there have been far fewer of 'those' moments than he expected too! That being said though....I must admit that there have been a few times in this pregnancy where the pressure of growing a human being inside me has really gotten to me and I have become a crazy,crying,bumbling mess. In the moment it feels rational.... I mean....I could screw this up before she even makes it to the world! However, looking back at my biggest 'mom-guilt' moments I do realize that they were probably hormone-fueled and definitely irrational....but luckily Ty was there to talk some sense into me and give me some much needed perspective!

Biggest 'mom-guilt' moments so far:

• Dang....forgot my prenatal vitamins again and now clearly my baby will be stupid. Why can't I just remember to take a vitamin? This baby is counting on me and I can't even remember to take my vitamins everyday....I can't do this!!
• I ate a hot dog.....therefore I will get listeriosis and cause great harm to my baby (this actually brought me to hysterical tears one day). Was eating a hot dog really worth the risk? I can't believe that I put eating a hot dog because I felt like one at higher priority than my baby's health! I am a horrible mother already!!
• I drink a cup of coffee a day....sometimes I also have a few cups of decaf which apparently also has some caffeine in it (who knew?). What if my need for caffeine results in my baby being preterm, or low birth weight and it will be all my fault!! I read that caffeine is ok in small amounts during pregnancy and I thought I was doing pretty well....but then I read in US Weekly that Jennifer Garner 'doesn't drink ANY caffeine but allows herself a special treat of a decaf latte or two per pregnancy'! PER pregnancy?? I can't even count how many decaf lattes I have had in this pregnancy and thought I was being so responsible because they weren't caffeinated lattes! Does this make me a horrible mother already too??

Who knew that mom guilt started already? Why am I being so hard on myself? In these moments, the pressure to do everything right isn't coming from the outside...it's coming from me. I am trying to do all the 'right' things and make the best home for my baby as she grows and get all the 'right' things so I am prepared for once she's here....not to mention reading books upon books so I can have the least stressful birth experience possible, making her transition into the world as smooth as I can! 

In my more rational moments I am able to see that I am doing the best I can and I am not going to be perfect. I will make mistakes and that's ok! Everyone has an opinion and I am open to advice from other moms who have been here before, but in the end I need to trust myself and find my own way in this exciting, confusing, frustrating and rewarding journey through motherhood. There is so much to be scared about or feel guilty about if you let those thoughts take over, and I am so lucky I have a husband to remind me in those weak moments that we can do this! 

♥ Lindsay

Baby's first concert

Much to Tyler's dismay I think the baby likes country! I consider myself to be a fan of all kinds of music. Pretty much anything that inspires me, fits my mood of the moment or makes me feel like dancing.....I am into it. I love live music and have been to tons of concerts and music festivals over the years, but I realized that I have never been to a country show.....so when I heard Lady Antebellum was coming to town, I was sold! Gotta take advantage of my freedom while I can right? It's not that I think that life ends after baby comes along and sure plenty of people attend live shows with their babies but the way I see it is.... never again will it be so easy to bring baby to a concert ;) Other than kicking my bladder and making me have to pee every 30 minutes, the baby was no trouble at all and let me tell you....if kicking is any indicator, she is going to be a country fan for sure. Sorry Ty!

Great concert, great girls night out!!

♥ Lindsay