Hi loves,

Are we all enjoying this beautiful week?

Here is the Monday Merriment List:

(really I should start calling it the weekly Merriment list)

This one is going to make you laugh!

 One of my GFs is visiting this week (woo hoo) and we met up downtown for lunch on Monday.(double woo hop)

Now I must state this GF of mine is a true fashionista. I mean she is a fashion designer, so she always looks fabulous and  I mean I was going to be downtown. 

SO Super Fashionista and downtown lunch =   reason to get out of my suburban sweatpants. 

okay so I'm on my way to meet her downtown and we are meeting in from the convention center. I chatting on my  phone with her trying to see where she is at and I turn around and burst out laughing guess what loves? 

TWINSIES!!!! 

So freaking funny ... at least I know I can still dress myself in other things besides sweats LOL

I wish we took the twinsie picture in front of the water it would've been so much prettier than all this cement. 

You can find this super cute summer frock at the GAP and become our triplet!!

Now I really need to give props to Instagram!!  Because without Instagram  I would have no clue  about all the fantabulous entrepreneurs, products, magazines and just plain amazing people (not than you can be both plain and amazing at the same time) out there around the world.

Today I wanted to share with you my discovery of Mollie Makes Magazine from the UK

RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS right?

Mollie Makes magazine is perfect for crafty DIYers, people who heart pretty things and the fabulous. 

It seems every issue comes with a little DIY project and a little something pretty making it well worth its higher price. 

I mean seriously look at those shoe gems ADORBS. If you are a creative being or love learning new things you will LOVE Mollie Makes

And if the first merriment did not make you laugh I think the last one will. 

Hubby and I have become huge fans of Brooklyn 99. That show is funny yo. 

It just showed up on Netflix in the last month and we have been trying really hard not to marathon it.

And there you have it LOVES! Hope you enjoyed the Monday Merriment List!

XOXO
A

Let's Be Awesome

Hi Love's

Are we all ready for the Monday Merriment List on a Tuesday! I am thinking Tuesday might be the new Monday for me.

First up- FLOWERS  from The Casa M gardens!!!  I'm really really excited because it's my first year planting Gladiola bulbs and they are coming up fabulously!!
Don't they look pretty all in a row?

Next is St. Ives  Pink Lemon & Mandarin Orange Scrub.
Do you remember St. Ives Apricot scrub?  That stuff always left your face squeaky clean. You probably had it front and centre on your bathroom counter as a teenager. I mean seriously everyone used that stuff!

Well St Ives has done it again.
I believe I have found one of the best face scrubs! It is definitely  the best smelling but it could be a little  more scrubbier. The scent of it is truly uplifting. It is citrusy and florally with a side of  FRESH.  Can you tell I love the scent of this stuff.  Now go out and get it!

3.  The Sweet Bake Shop

I have been following The Sweet Bake Shop on Instagram for awhile now.  Their photos are too cute and their dainty desserts look divine!! 

The Sweet Bake Shop was started by Tessa.. 

Here is a little Blurb about the Sweet Bake Shop and how it all started:

My love affair with dessert started early. Ever since helping my mom make a batch of gingerbread men when I was 3, I knew I had fallen in love with baking. I’m incredibly passionate about it, as well as cake design and just about anything that looks like it should be eaten while wearing little lace gloves. I find myself drawn to pretty, feminine things like bows, frills and polka-dots as well as almost anything floral or vintage and that girly style usually comes out in what I bake.

I left my job in broadcasting in 2008 not knowing what I would end up doing career-wise, only to find myself working in a bakery and doing what I loved most – baking. Years of practice and some training at the Peggy Porschen Academy in London, U.K. eventually led me to start my own boutique dessert company, and I’ve never been happier! 

And now she has her own brick-and-mortar shop!!! The Sweet Bake Shop is opening this Thursday in Vancouver.  The news of this makes me so very MERRY!! It is truly inspiring  to see someone's hard work payoff! I can not wait to visit and have one of their pretty treats!! 

You can visit the Sweet Bake Shop at 1141 Mainland Street, Vancouver 
or online at www.sweetbakeshop.com

Do you know how to be AWESOME?

I am a super fan of the Blog The Alison Show.  If you don't know the blog you should add it to your blogroll today. Alison is truly an Awesome Chick; her posts are crafty and she seems like she would be a super Fun and supportive BFF.

A few months ago she started a series called "How to be AWESOME" Here is the first instalment

BE sure to check out the rest of the series.. it really is AWESOME!!!

And there you have it loves The Monday Merriment List!!!

XOXO
A

Do you know how to take a compliment?

Hi Loves

How was everyone's weekend? Anyone go camping? Take part in an event? Or maybe you were able to just kick back and relax at home!

Today's Monday Merriment makes me really merry

First up Big Love Ball

Now for the past few months I have been admiring these awesome Instagram photos with people posing with HUGE white balls with the word LOVE printed on them, #bigloveball

The photos would be of couples, Families, friends and oneself. Every photo shared a different story and every story made you want to be of part of this "Big Love Ball" movement!

So I finally went and googled this awesomeness called  Big Love Ball and here is what I found on their website: Big Love Ball dot com

Big Love Ball is the creation of Canadian designer, Wendy Williams Watt. An inflatable sculpture with the bold word LOVE across its breadth, Big Love Ball is an invitation to make a moment. Originally displayed in the window of Vancouver’s iconic Grace Studio, the ball was meant to spark dialogue with the community. In a culture ready for lightness and love, Big Love Ball was overwhelmingly embraced.

Playful hearts far and wide can now create moments with their very own Big Love Ball. It brings people together to say ‘I am. I’m in. I do.’

Our intention is to send Big Love Balls to places we’ve never been, events we cannot attend and to friends we’ve never met. We want to charm, disarm, honor and i n c l u d e the many people in the world who celebrate LOVE.

Pretty spectacular right? Not only is it a moment in Love, it is one about giving. You see you can purchase your very own LOVE ball and 5% of the sale will go to a charity.

These are the charities that Big Love Ball supports

Paws For Hope

Right To Play

The Trevor Project

2.) Loft - I finally made it to Loft in Park Royal. I know you are asking  "What took you so long?". I have to say Loves the second I entered that store it was love at first sight!! I mean the polka dots, beautifully coloured linen shirts, stripes galore and  embellishments (don't even get me started)

 It seems every piece of clothing  is tailored to perfection to fit every form of the female frame. Walking into Loft made me want to become the next Suburban fashionista.

 Summer Styles I am coveting 

Colourblock Square Sunnies

Corded Stripe Pleat Skirt

Petite Eyelet Cotton Dress

I seriously could go on! Le Sigh
Make sure to check out Loft.com, This very minute, like right now! I was on their site and they are having an additional 60% off sale on selected items.


3) Do you know how to take a compliment?

I am so guilty of this.
Mr. M: You look so cute in that
Me: more like an elephant
Me: you are just being nice
Me: I don't think so but thanks for being nice


and that is usually how I answer every compliment.

Do you subscribe to Soul Pancake? You should!! It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Soul Pancake is designed to open your mind, challenge your friends and feel damn good!!

And there you have it Loves The Monday Merriment List ..on a Tuesday!!

You are Beautiful!!!

XOXO
A

all Big Love Ball Photos found at bigloveball.com
all Loft photos found at loft.com

In the Beginning

Hello loves

 Once upon a time this blog was intended to document the renovation of our townhouse before we put it on the market .... my first POST

I really fell short on documenting the journey at the time but I was a busy new mom trying to get my home ready for market.


SO I thought now 4 months almost to the day later I would show you darlings what we did to  Mini Casa M to get it ready to put on the market.

Here we go

Our little townhouse was located in Kitsilano which is a neighbourhood pretty much located in downtown Vancouver. 

Kits Beach a 10 min walk from the Town House

It was the perfect location for us at the time. We were newly-ish married (2 years),
with our first child (7 months).


We could walk to everything the clothing and home decor shops, a brand new pretty IGA grocery store was a block away from us and oh the  coffee shops!1 (I miss those the most so many options)

My Favourite coffee shop in Kits- Arbutus Coffee Photo found on Jay Banks

 It was perfect but we had a beautiful beagle named SNOOPY You can read about our super pup HERE

Now Mr Snoops was a rescue pup who could not be left alone. If we did leave him alone he would bark and bay for the entire time we were gone ....OHH  the letters the strata sent to us. They were awful.

So we found ourselves being  held a little bit hostage in the townhouse. If we wanted to go out together as a family snoopy had to be with us, which meant we could only go places where he could come. Before we had lil J people would be inviting me out for diner or girls night out or even just to hangout when Mr M was working but I couldn't go because someone had to be with Snoops. It was frustrating for us and sometimes I feel like I missed out on the KITS life a little bit- that being said I would never trade in our time with Snoopa he really was one of the best pups around.

So after a year of townhouse living with Snoopa  we decided that the best thing for all of us would be to move out to the Suburbs and buy a house with a yard. We would be happy because we could leave Snoops without him disturbing anyone and he would have a yard to enjoy. Win win

Alright back to the "To Market" Prep on the Townhouse...

Here is a list of everything we tackled:

• we put granite countertops in the kitchen and changed out the faucet. 
• repainted the entire townhouse (well professionals did). 
• decluttered I mean really (capital D) Decluttered. 
• replaced the laminate with a darker one and for the love of me I still don't now why we did this. 
• carpeted the stairs from the entrance to the 2nd floor... Mr. M and I still shake our heads at that ridiculous decision.. I mean seriously the ENTRANCE stairs ?!

I think at that time I was watching too many home staging shows. We even took out our tube TV for showings! I mean seriously who does That?  -

All in the reno/redo cost about $10,000!

Would we do that again? NO WAY !!  If I am going to put $10,000 into my home it is going to be for me to enjoy not someone else.
Did it help with the sale of the place NOPE ? The location was really the selling point.


So the before pictures are brutal.. they are from MOVE in day to Mini Casa M apparently I didn't take any picture between move in day and "To Market" day.

UGLY counter top and hideous faucet

just pretty much all bad.

and here is the redo.. everything is light and bright!! At least I was able to enjoy those beautiful floor to ceiling curtains... I am soo sad that those didn't get to come with us,

Living room SANS TV- honestly who does that?

Dinning room with new light fixture- I can't believe how sparse this room looks I wish there was a picture of the room with the area rug we had. The rug added texture and warmth to the space. This picture is definitely not giving the feeling of warmth but the window treatments are DIVINE!!

Master Bedroom

Our Rooftop deck 

Lil J's first room

Once Mini Casa M was listed we knew we had to knock lil J's nursery down to bare bones but stylish bare bones.. we moved that book shelf upstairs and placed the queen ann chair into our room and we also removed the change table.. so all he was left with was his crib, a dresser and the super adorable canvas monkey bin by 3 Sprouts .... and then after 4 months of non stop showings and hearing the same thing about the small size of the 2nd bedroom, we decided to paint over the vibrant super fun green with a tranquil greywhite-

 to this day I wish I could remember what Benjamin Moore colour it was. I LOVED the calmness that paint gave the room. And just so you know the paint did not change the size of the room.

Kitchen with new counter tops and faucet - so pretty

Family M

and there you go my darlings.. The whole reason why Bella Lime came about. 

And you loves would you renovate just for the sale?

XOXO

A

Classic Literature for babies..Say what?

Hi Loves

Its Monday, which means Its time to share what is making  me Merry!


Alright Dolls first up on the Making Me Merry List:

These Bright Beverages from The Carnival line at David's Tea.. I mean we are talking Cotton Candy, Rootbeer Floats and Cherry Snowcone just to name a few. The packaging screams Summer Fun.. Funny enough it looks like my wardrobe from the Summer of 89' Best Summer...

I had a little tasting while I was at David's Tea of   "Cotton Candy" .. I must say it was really tasty not to sweet as you would think it would be but quite delish

Here is a photo of their Beautifully Packaged Iced Teas

Carnival Ballons ... What a fabulous cup- perfect for steeping some 

"Cotton Candy" tea

Check out the Carnival Collection Here

NUMBER 2

I am a HUGE fan of the Classics  So you can imagine how excited I was to  see this little book  (and order it for Miss E, don't tell Mr M) at Chapters in the baby section... Here is the little write up for the book:

Introduce your little bibliophile to the romantic world of Jane Austen in Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Counting Primer. Stroll through 1 English village to meet 2 rich gentlemen and discover what happens when the 5 Bennet sisters encounter 4 marriage proposals! Alison Oliver’s charming illustrations accompany Jennifer Adams’ clever, simple text to make this take on a beloved classic perfect for little ones. 
What a genius idea right.. There our quite a few classic titles in this "Baby Lit" series such as Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, Sense and Sensibility.. the list goes on

oh and seriously how  sweet are these  illustrations  by Alison Oliver from Sugar Design Studios?

You can find this book HERE

This video makes me very Merry because it makes me  think of  Much Music Dances from High School .. Oh to be 14 again le sigh Good Times

and Last on the Merry List


Learning how to use my DSLR with this chiquita.
Me and one of my Besties hit up the beach with our cameras, a Photography for Dummies book and the option to google "Photography" on our phones. I have to say I did leave our little study session a little  more camera savvy.

So Loves I wanna know What is making you Merry this Monday?

XOXO

A

Summer Fun in The Suburbs

Happy weekend Darlings

I hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday!!

Here at Casa M we've just been hanging out, lil J and I managed to meet up with some friends  at  the Rocky Point water-park with a little ice cream on the side. I mean if you're at Rocky Point you HAVE to go for ice cream

I had the absolutely  yummiest Salted Caramel ice cream in a waffle cone because you really can't have ice cream any other way than in a waffle cone.. It's a no-brainer

There even was a little gardening at Casa M before the rain came today

Crossing my fingers that thees Gladiolas will have some blooms this summer!

Heads up a braggie braggerson moment about to happen

I'm going to brag a little because we  know I had a tough week constantly knocking heads with the four-year-old ..

But last night I managed to have 11 glorious hours of sleep and can we say mommy is a  brand-new lady today.

Today I feel that I  can handle anything who knows what tomorrow will bring but today is fabulous!! It always surprises me what some sleep and water can to for the human body and mind.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and that all of  you American Dolls are having a fabulous Fourth of July weekend!!

I'm off to go barbecue so I will chat at you all Late - ers

xoxo

A

Let Me Unload!

Hi loves

I hope all my Canadian peeps had a wonderful Canada Day yesterday. 

Here at Casa M we had a pretty chill day it was scorching hot so we pretty much just hung out. I think by noon the heat was getting to me and little J. I say this because today was the day that little Jay decided he was going to make all the rules and consequences be dammed... 

I felt like such a hag all day because I was constantly yelling, telling him no, stop, listen and of course he followed my behaviour with tears, whining, screaming. 

It really was just the best version of both of us....man did we have a blast...

Let's just say bedtime couldn't come fast enough... for both of us. 

I know all parents go through this but man it is hard to be patient, to set rules, to actually follow through on said rules, and  to just be a good example every day for your child, it is really tough some days.

I read a great POST on the blog Write Run Mum  and it just reminded me that I'm not alone in this and that there are so many of us out there struggling to raise these little people and that it's not a piece of cake being a parent you have to make sucky decisions but those "sucky decisions" are needed in order to ensure your child that you are the parent and that you are the good example they need to follow.

AnyHoo I know tomorrow is another day and with it comes a fresh new start. I know my beautiful little boy is going to wake up with a smile and tell me that he had a great sleep and dreamed about Lego. My daughter will greet me with the biggest grin and squeal when I enter her room in the morning.

All these ups and downs- that is the joy of being a parent... and on most days I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything 

so I thank you Loves for just letting me vent today.

xoxo

A