“Can I eat at Baskin Robbins?” I ask my trusted group of allergy experts. They are moms, dads, teens, siblings, friends, and relatives. They all know; they are all connected to someone who has a severe life-threatening nut allergy. They have been where I am, and they answer my questions when I need help. They know that it can be confusing. What does "may contain traces" mean? What does "produced in a facility that processes peanuts and tree nuts" mean? What do I do at restaurants? How do I travel to foreign countries?
I am a listmaker by nature. I make lists of all of the lists I need to make.
No really, I do.
Throughout the year I have a running list of all of the things I'd like to have. Sometimes the list includes really practical gifts, like a coffee maker and Hanky Panky thongs. And sometimes the list includes big things that I need to save up for, like a new camera and lighting equipment.
But most of the time it includes hints for my husband.
I like to think outside the box when it comes to giving gifts to my own children, and when it comes to my nieces and nephews too. And these are a few of the gifts we are buying this year!
My obsession with the Frye Deborah Studded Boot has been a family joke for years.
YEARS.
I once saw a photo of Miley Cyrus wearing them—trashily, a little bit—and I have vowed to make them mine ever since. The only problem, of course, is that they are 706 dollars and 40 cents. Oh yes. These babies never go on sale. $740.40.
Right now, my 12-year-old daughter Emily is an unstoppable force. She dances twice a week. She is an excellent swimmer and is well on her way to earning her lifeguarding badge. She is an actress who recently filmed a big part in her very first television show. Unstoppable. Right now. She is comfortable with her body, in her own skin. But I know the teenage years are coming.
I love seeing the one dress that makes a celebrity scream "This is the one! This makes me feel pretty/sexy/sultry/good/comfortable/perfect! It's THE dress."
I am a summer girl really. I have the constitution of a 97-year-old woman—my extremities are always cold, and I can't go into the dairy section of a grocery store without a sweater. So, the summer and I are likethis and I go into fall kicking and screaming. But then I remember how much I love dressing for fall. The leaves change and so do our wardrobes—sweaters, boots, pants, trenches, hoodies, scarves. When you pair these with a warm and toasty pumpin-spiced tea and some gingerbread cookies, I can almost forget how much I really don't like the cold weather.
It's no secret that I really, really enjoy Jennifer Garner. She seems super genuine and down-to-earth, and watching her break down while talking about how the paparazzi scares her children was almost too much to bear. She's a mama bear, through and through, regardless of her job.
A mama bear who happens to have awesome mama style.
Sure, moms do a lot too, there’s absolutely no denying it. In fact, at this very moment I am currently running the washing machine, the dishwasher, making lunch for my son, picking up my youngest from a playdate, running lines with my other daughter, figuring out when I’m going to pick up my birthday girl’s aquarium cake. Oh, and I’m trying to fit a full day of work in.
Last week I was invited by Cascade Platinum to join in on a whirlwind trip to Charlottetown and Fortune, PEI to cook and eat lunch with the amazing Chef Michael Smith.
I am a huge fan of Etsy. I spend a lot of time online, scouring all of the interesting and eclectic finds—baby gifts, purses, laptop covers, t-shirts, personalized stationery, home furnishings, vintage '60s martini glasses. The possibilities are endless, really.
I used to work in an adorable downtown office building and because of this, I worked very hard to perfect my adorable downtown office girl wardrobe. I had lots of dresses and sweaters and tops and heels.
Now, though, I work from home. My wardrobe now looks a lot more like t-shirts and cardigans and jeans while I stare longingly at my lovely office clothing.
In the summer, though, it's a little too stifling and hot to wear jeans and cardigans, even if I spend most of the day inside in my air-conditioned home office.
I'm not going to lie to you. When my daughter came home from school and said that she absolutely needed to have a pair of lazypants I looked up from my game of Candy Crush, chuckled, and kind of ignored her. If I don't draw attention to it, it'll go away.
But then it didn't go away. She asked me in the morning over breakfast, in the afternoon after school, and at night before bed.
"Emily, just what is so special about these pants? Aren't they just sweatpants?"
"What are the rules for bathing suit and bikini shopping? What looks good on pear shapes or apple shapes or small busts or big busts or short girls or tall girls?" I ask, wanting to know from a professional at Change Lingerie just exactly what kind of suit would look good on my apple-shaped, short bodied, small-busted body.
But even more, I wanted to know what I could recommend to readers of all shapes and sizes.
Sometimes, bad facial hair happens to good people. I mean, come on, does anyone not remember that time Brad Pitt seemed to be growing things inside that frightening mess that was living on top of that lovely face of is. Remember how we all prayed that it was for some role where he was playing a hobo of sorts and that he would just hurry up and get done with filming so we could take a gander at his prettypunim again?
