A Little Trip to the Beach

Last week we took a little trip to the beach as we often love to do in the summertime. It was so hot, the sand burned the bottom of our feet, but the water in Lake Ontario was incredibly cold. We really do love to go to the beach and let all of our concerns of this world roll away with the tide. I'm sure we'll continue to visit the beach once we move to the other side of the lake.

This was the first time I've worn this beautiful dress from Rock This Vintage. I just added this one to my little collection of vintage Hawaiian dresses. I'll be wearing this dress a whole lot this summer.

Today's the first day of summer holidays and it's rainy and overcast so it looks like it will be a good day for crafting and packing to move. Have a good one!

♥ Andrea ♥

A Package From a Far Away Friend

I have a friend, Sara, in the UK, who I have never met in real life. We met through blogging and I'm so glad that we did.  A while back, we decided that it would be fun to send each other surprise packages across the sea!

This is the fun stuff Sara sent me; a handmade collar with an adorable vintage Raggedy Ann button, The Complete Aranzi Hour(which I've been really enjoying reading to the kids), a wooden necklace, a monster pencil case and pencil set, vampire fangs candy for the kids, an h&m dress and a cute mug I forgot to put in the picture. Thank you so much, Sara. What a wonderful surprise!

It was a really great experience to exchange surprises, and on the day we opened our packages, we Skyped for the first time. We shared a bunch of laughs during our Skype call and I'm sure it won't be our last. I feel very blessed to have Sara for a friend. Pop over to Sara's blog and see the package I sent her.

The day after I received my box, I wore the dress and necklace Sara sent...

♥ Andrea ♥

Feisty Little Snake

I guess I'm a pretty big reptile fan because this is the second Monday in a row for a reptile post. John caught this little snake in the garden on the weekend and we put him in a box for a little while so we could observe him. I feel badly though, we scared him so much he threw up his dinner; a couple of worms. Don't you appreciate the fact that I didn't share those photos with you?

Both the kids got their cameras out to take photos. So there we were, the three of us, watching him, photographing him, and asking each other questions about him.

They asked, "Can we keep him?" And promised, "we'll feed him flies!"

Snakes should live a wild life. So, back to the garden he went. He was such a cute little guy!

♥ Andrea ♥

Appetite for Reduction: Book Review

 Appetite for ReductionIsa Chandra Moskowitz 2011, Da Capo Press

A little while ago, I asked around to see what vegan cookbooks people could recommend. I was hoping to incorporate even more vegan meals into the mix and I asked around because I wanted to get a really good one. Elyica recommended Appetite for Reductionby Isa Chandra Moskowitz and I'm so glad that she did. This book is fantastic. It is full of flavourful recipes that are easy to make, which is just what I was hoping for in a new vegan cookbook. I took a few photos of some of the recipes we've tried so far.


Black Bean, Zucchini, & Olive Tacos

These tacos are so meaty and flavourful. Everyone really liked them. The filling is great in tortillas and also just on it's own with brown rice. I had to add a bit of regular salsa to these because the salsa verde was too spicy for the kidlets but for anyone who loves heat, the recipe is perfect the way it is. Johnny and I had never tried salsa verde before. It is so good! It's become a staple in our fridge.


Veggie Pot Pie Stew

This stew is the bomb. It's like a stick to your ribs, thick and delicious Irish stew. It's a soup that eats like a meal. Oh, wait a minute, that's another soup's tagline. It totally fits here.


I also made the Everyday Chickpea-Quinoa Salad. Isa says she eats this everyday and I know why. This salad is fresh, light yet filling and really yummy.


Portobello Pepper Steak Stew

This was the latest recipe we tried. Oh man, is it good! I took a taste and then found myself eating a bunch before finally stopping myself to take a photo to share. I wasn't the only one to have more than one bowl for dinner and then I ate two more for lunch the next day.

We've tried a bunch of other recipes from the book also; Hottie Black Eyed Peas & Greens, Cool Slaw, Spicy Blue Potato & Corn Salad and Buffalo Tempeh. I'm sure there are a couple more that I can't remember right now. Every recipe I've made with this cookbook has been stellar.

If you're looking for a new vegan cookbook, this is so the one to buy.

Buying this book also turned me on to Isa's vegan recipe site, The Post Punk Kitchen. That site is giving me a whole lot of vegan inspiration these days.

♥ Andrea ♥

Lumpy Space Princess Pillow

I made a Lumpy Space Princess pillow for Johnny for Father's day. We are pretty big Adventure Time fans and John has a special place in his heart for LSP. Just as we suspected, she's obnoxiously taken up residence in John's spot on the couch. And when she's asked to move, she says,
"Oh my Glob, can't you see someone is already sitting here?"

LSP was a very simple project. I started her last week when I went for a sewing date with Elycia and I finished her in a couple of hours later at home. I'm going to share the pattern for anyone who might be interested in making their own lump to love and I'm also planning to give one away to one of you lovely readers in August.

♥ Andrea ♥

A Visit to the Reptile Store

I had the great pleasure to visit the Reptile Store with the children's class last week. We had such a fun time. The presentation was fantastic.

I'm so happy I got to go on this trip! I learned so much about these animals and I even got to hold a python. We saw many more animals but my camera ran out of batteries half way through the show. The children got to touch many of them. I've never before seen a room full of kindergarten children sit quietly for so long. They were truly enthralled with the show.

♥ Andrea ♥

Eric Fan

A Quiet Place, Eric Fan

Many weeks ago, I was on the Threadless website and I watched a couple of videos. One was about Eric Fan. I watched it because I noticed that he was from Toronto. I really enjoyed his story particularly because Eric, like myself, has always enjoyed making art but hasn't taken the usual path to an artistic life. I found his video to be very inspiring and I know that you will too. A lovely lady sent me a sweet message recently and our discussion reminded me that I really wanted to share Eric's video with you. Also, Eric's illustration is very lovely.




Flight of the Bumblebee, Eric Fan


The Night Gardener, Eric Fan

Around the World in a Fish Flyer, Eric Fan

Eric Fan on Threadless  // Eric Fan's Facebook page // Eric Fan on Society 6

Watching Eric's video and looking at all the great illustrations he's made inspired me to follow through and enter my design into the Threadless Fraggle Rock contest. While my Fraggle Rock design didn't turn out as great as I hoped it would be, I'm so happy that I did it. The process was a fantastic experience for me and I learned a whole lot from doing it.

I'm off to Elycia's today to do some more sewing. I'm working on a new project for a special someone. I'm really hoping Elycia will be able to finish her diaper bag today because her baby is due very soon.

Have a wonderful weekend.

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

Just a few peeks at life over the past couple of weeks.

Sending off packages made with love to wonderful people on earth.

This sort of thing is pretty usual around here.

Finding and organizing bones.

I've looked at lots and lots of houses over the past few weeks. This is me being silly in one of them. We finally found a home we like! So, we've got a ton of work to do to get ready for our move back to Toronto.

Enjoying many flowers from the garden and forest these days.

We harvested some horsetail last week. You can read about our horsetail harvesting adventures on my homeopathy and natural remedies blog.

And of course, bug watching.

What have you been up to these days?

♥ Andrea ♥

Homeopathy Business Design Process

I promised you a little while ago that I would share some of the design inspiration for my homeopathy business with you. I just got my cards a week or so ago and I'm so happy with how they turned out.The brown turned out a lot darker than I expected but I quite like it.

When I graduated from homeopathy school in 2001, I really had zero concept of my 'brand'. I just knew that I wanted to use homeopathy to help people and I had an idea of the kind of clinic I hoped to be in.

Now, after many years of practice, I am in a new clinic and I really wanted to take this opportunity to re-think my relationship to homeopathy and take a closer look at myself as a practitioner and think more deeply about what I offer to people now that I am more experienced. I asked my friend, Shell, to assist me with designing a logo and feel for my homeopathic business that is a true reflection of me. I really had a block design-wise when it came to my homeopathic practice. She suggested that I create a Pinterest board and I'm so glad that she did. The process of doing this has helped me to see visually what I like, what I feel my practice is and has even helped me to gain a greater understanding of who I am as a practitioner. The board I created is a secret board that I just shared with Shell so that I could feel completely free to put whatever I wanted there. Have you ever created secret boards on Pinterest before? This was my first one.

I thought I would share with you some of the pins on my board that helped me to visualize my business better....

This image was from my Lavender Oil Recipe post from last year that I've moved over to my natural remedies blog.

*image courtesy of vtwonen*

*image coutesy of wholeliving.com*

*image courtesy of Design Seeds*
*image courtesy of DesignSponge*
*image courtesy of Bonnie and Bell*

Before creating my board, I had no idea what my cards would look like. After pinning all of these images and some others to my board, I was really excited and ready to design my new business cards and logo on my own. I drew inspiration for them primarily from this vintage botanical pull down German school chart of primrose. It's so beautiful. 

Also, I was really inspired by the new clinic I am practicing in as well....

I also got some stickers and mailing labels made to match. I'm putting the creation of the website on hold for a little while because I just can't do everything at once, although I'd love to. I'm really excited to work with Shell on creating my homeopathy website. And now I have a clear idea of how I would like it to look and feel. In the mean time, I've just pointed my domain name at my homeopathy and natural remedies blog and that will do for a while. I finally got a Homeopathy Facebook page set up too!

So, what do you think? Maybe if you've been struggling with branding a business, this helps to provide you with a bit of inspiration.

Okay, I'm off to the gym. Have a good Monday!

♥ Andrea ♥