So, I want to buy myself an island for Mother's Day.
No really, I do.
There's one for sale in Scotland. It's a bargain, really—they are practically begging me to buy it. It's called Tanera Mòr and the name itself is almost enough to sell me on this picturesque place. So, while I spend the next little while coming up with the cash, here are some other things I'd like to have that cost a wee bit less than £1.95m.
I'm kind of a unique cat in that I don't like chocolate, flowers, or jewels, typically. Because of this, you'd think I'm not the easiest person to buy things for. Truthfully, all it takes to get to this girl's heart are some freshly baked nut-free cookies. But, if you don't have an oven handy, I'll take any of these things.
1. Personalized Rolling Pin, $62.20, Etsy
2. Top Shelf Old Fashioned Glasses, $17.99, Stokes
3. The weirdest thing about this raincoat is that I have been eyeing it lately (due to all of the lovely rain we have been having) and then I saw my sister's photos from her recent trip to France and she has it...in yellow! What a crazy sister thing. Rainy Day Mac Coat, $219, Boden
4. Nine-Stone Crystal Necklace, $108.00 (plus 30% off with code GOSHOP), J.Crew
5. I need this for my office. Ireland City Map, on canvas, $50.71, Amazon
6. I was born and bred in Wisconsin. No, I promise, I was. That's why I'm a huge Green Bay Packers fan—and I really, really like beer and cheese. I call Canada home now, since that's where I hang my hat, but I'll proudly wear this Wisconsin t-shirt and let anyone know, if you can't already tell from my accent. The Home. T, $28. (Don't worry, they have other locations too!)
7. I have a thing about planes and pilots. And anything vintage. Have you seen the movie Memphis Belle? You should. You won't be sorry. Vintage Aviator Hat, 1938, $208.90, Etsy.
8. I have used a 50mm 1.8 lens for years and looooooooved it, but since upgrading my camera, it feels like it's time to upgrade this lens too. And since I can't afford the upgrade to the 1.2, this seems like a good compromise... Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, $459.99, Amazon.
9. Lomography Diana F+ Cuvee Prestige Camera, $99, Anthropologie
10. Burlap Message Board, $89, Ballard Designs
What about you? What do you want for Mother's Day?
We asked a husband and wife team to discuss mother's day gifts. Their answers might surprise you!
Let's talk about selfies.
The mere mention of the word usually brings up a lot of feelings in people. You love them! You hate them!
Up until recently, my strongest feeling about selfies was that I find the word 'selfie' kind of annoying and awkward (and, well, I do have thoughts about the use of DUCK FACE in them). You take selfies? Great. You don't take selfies? Fabulous. Much like many, many things in life, I'm good with the you do what you do and I'll do what I do philosophy. Except leggings as pants—those are never okay.
But I started realizing that as the photographer in my family, I have a plethora of photos of my children, of my husband, of my friends—but almost none of me. The only photos that include me are the ones that I take myself. I have asked my husband to take photos of me in the past, and he loses patience after about, oh, the first shot. I kind of have this, uh, blinking problem in photos.
But here's the thing. I absolutely love seeing pictures of my mom when she was younger. I love seeing how her clothing style and hairstyles changed from when she was a teenager to when she first became a mom to when she had me. I love seeing her choice in sunglasses and bikinis (Yes, bikinis!) and even her maternity clothing.
My mom was kind of a fox.
So I have been making a conscious effort to take more selfies lately. I want these moments, even the mundane ones, to be documented. I want my kids to one day look back on my striped shirt phase and my fringe bangs.
The photos aren't perfect—why does my forehead look like a fivehead? Am I really that pale? Was my nose always that shape—They are silly, and funny, and awkward at times—but they are snippets of me.
They are snippets I want to remember, and snippets I want my kids to be able to see.
The same way my blog will be a record for my kids to see who I was when they were growing up—the woman behind the mom—these selfies will give them a little insight into who their goofy mama was.
And maybe they'll even say I was once kind of a fox too.
But can we maybe just call them something else?
I am a Jeep girl.
I'm what you'd call a brand ambassador before such a thing even existed, in the most organic sense possible. I was just a wee lass in high school, barely able to reach the pedals (ahem), when I started driving my Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was the car I first, uh, made out in, the car I had my first accident in, the car I moved my entire life to Toronto in, the car I discovered great music in, the car I brought my babies home from the hospital in.
She was amazing—chock full of some of my most favorite memories.
And then I found myself the mother of three children who all needed giant car seats and I had to say goodbye to my beloved Jeep.
I became a mini-van mom and for eight years I whined about being a Jeep girl in a minivan.
But now there are no more car seats, no more carpool. And the time came to get a new car.
A JEEP.
So we test drove and chose options. We called around and went to different dealerships.
We found the one. We shook some hands. We signed some papers. We ordered a Jeep.
In November.
We were willing to wait the few months for the custom build, because I didn't want the navigation system, but I sure as heck wanted the heated steering wheel and the charging pad.
A few months came and went, as did the heating on our minivan.
We called and were told March 3rd.
When March 3rd came and went, we called and were told March 16th.
When March 16th came and went, we called and were told March 27th.
And then we called a manager.
Who told us that THEY NEVER ORDERED THE JEEP.
Nope. They just didn't order it. And then they gave us false dates for a month. Lied to us. Just didn't order our car.
So when we had questions about how this could happen and how the dealership was going to make this right by us, they blamed us. They told us that it was our own fault for not filling out the right paperwork—oh really? Because we are experts on ordering cars? They told us that because these Jeeps are so popular we wouldn't be any better off now than we would have had they actually ordered it—oh really? I mean, I'm not that great at math, but I'm pretty sure we'd be four months further along in the process.
And the funny this is...all we were looking for was an apology. We weren't looking for deals or special treatment or anything.
Just someone to say HEY, WE ARE SORRY, WE SCREWED UP.
But no. No apology. None. It was our own fault, after all.
So, we tweeted about our experience. We discussed it on Facebook. We sent an email to someone at Chrysler Canada. Because we were confused, because we were angry, because we were treated so poorly, because we had no car, because we have been lifelong fans of Jeep and this just left such a bad taste in our mouths. We figured it couldn't hurt to use the power of social media; to let our voices be heard. To say that bad service is bad news.
And some wonderful person caught wind of our story. And he took care of us. He helped us find an amazing dealership — which we did. Yay Seven View Chrysler! He found us a great salesman. Yay Angelo! He helped us have a seamless Jeep buying experience. And he helped see to it that I got my custom order in less than two weeks. He helped show that the power of social media and the power of good service are two extremely important things.
And most importantly, HE APOLOGIZED.
And now it's here.
And I'm a Jeep girl once more—I can't wait to make years of new memories.
And an organic brand ambassador once again.
Want to keep your new car running smoothly? Here's the single best thing you can do to maintain your car, and how to break in new brakes.
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