My oh my this has been a long week. I know it's not technically finished yet, but I have today off so it's as good as done in my books!

Let's move on. Look at this little lady. Is she not the most beautiful girl you've ever seen? This little niece of mine is so so dear to me. Her brothers are pretty swell too.

Her family is in town this weekend for Easter. Looking forward to lots of family time & decompressing (because let's face it - breaking down crying at supper on a Thursday night is not endearing).

i adore these children. they are beautiful, clever and hilarious. however, they are also sometimes little monsters. these photos from a quick trip to the park don't reveal anything about xavier's absolute defiance against wearing his coat or shaela's general grumpiness and dramatic sobs (think: shaela sitting on a teeter totter, wailing about...nothing?). well, maybe that's for the best.

boo at the zoo.

last week, mike & i took my nephew and niece to a halloween event called "boo at the zoo". it's held at winnipeg's zoo but very little emphasis is actually put on the animals. instead, they decorate the place like crazy, have tons of dressed up characters walking around, and offer several kiddie rides. xavier got to talk to a guy in a fully decked out batman costume - a dream come true for a four year old who wants to dress up as batman for halloween.

as a side note, let me just say that i'm going to be very disappointed if my children aren't as cute as my nephews & niece. it would seem most unfair...

ps. you have until friday, 8pm central time to enter the dani press card giveaway! i will be announcing the randomly chosen winner (although some of my friends have pressured me to do otherwise) on monday. dani happened to write a very sweet blog post about our friendship - check it out here.

*photos taken by mike, edited by me. i really need to give him credit more often...

the kiddos.

in my absence, my boyfriend mike has been going to a lot of my family's functions without me. a little while ago, he went to my nephew's birthday party. i just about died when i received these photos from him - aren't they incredible?!

le parc en printemps...

just about every time my niece & nephew come over they ask to go to the park. today was the first day in a long time that it wasn't glacially cold or too dark (thank you daylight savings!) - so off we went! my brother brendan had to occasionally carry the little tykes through massive puddles lakes, but we came back relatively dry. oh spring! i am so happy to see you!*

*although spring, you're making it rather difficult to focus on homework...

oh shaela.

i love this niece of mine more than i can possibly say.

la chaleur des lumières

{the warmth of lights}instead of studying for exams,
i decided to string some lanterns and hang some lights.
the lanterns + twinkle lights have instantly
made my bedroom feel more cozy + festive.
i'm telling myself that such a cozy atmosphere will surely
encourage diligent studying.
it's working already, look:
{my last required read of the semester. fini!}

speaking of exams,
i'm afraid that it is really crunch time!
consequently,
i will not be spending much time around here these next few days.

as of thursday, december tenth, at nine o'clock pm,
{yes, an exam at night time. what a horrible idea}
i will be free to:
blog + pleasure read + have a sleepover with the niece and nephew
+ decorate christmas cookies + go to vancouver + send off christmas cards
+ go for a massage + christmas shop + cook + organize my photo albums
at my leisure for {almost} a whole glorious month.

see you then!!

xo

cookie monster.

ever since my friend kd introduced me to the wonderful world of smitten kitchen,
it has become my go-to place for all things culinary.

since i had the day off on wednesday, i decided to whip up some cookies.
ms. smitten kitchen proclaimed this recipe her favourite
{for the moment}
"kind of like the old school tollhouse recipe but better, even"
- clearly i couldn't resist.

{the niece enjoying her apple juice + fresh chocolate chip cookie outside}

and the verdict?

they are indeed very tasty cookies.
crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside - just like ms. s-k promised!

so tasty in fact, that the two dozen cookies were eaten in less than 12 hours!
{my brother and sister-in-law did come over with the kids. but still!}

i just might have to make another batch tomorrow afternoon!

xo

ps. christa, {of je m'appelle christa} asked me to a fun little q&a.
let me know what you think!

the weekend that was.

{oh pickles + burgers + french fries + ketchup. i love you.}

{xavier kept on saying,
"we're swimming at the beach! we're swimming at the beach!"
apparently 'pool' is not in his vocabulary!}

{pretty little desserts at work}

this weekend:

...burgers at the nook diner

...swimming + ice cream date with the nephew + niece

...crazy long day at the bistro

...the symphony with my mom

...an unsuccessful attempt to watch fame
{the 1980 version,
which i've been dying to see since i saw this year's horrible remake.
but, i fell asleep during it! darn it.}

...a nice loooong phone chat with this girl

oh weekend 6-8/11/09
it was nice knowing you.

xo

one of those days...

this is how i felt at approximately
four a.m. last night,
slaving away on this project.

after 1½ hours of sleep,
i eagerly stepped into the shower...
only to find out that
the shower head was broken,
and my usual blast of warm water was reduced to nothing but a trickle.

went to work with the kiddies at the elementary school.
came home to make myself some lunch,
and almost fell asleep while eating it.

seriously considered skipping my 2.30 pm french lit class...
but my motivated student self wouldn't let me.
so i dragged my tired little hiney to class,
only to find out that it was
cancelled.
you have got to be kidding me.

at that point i felt like dropping to the ground
and sleeping on the university's cold unsanitary linoleum.
and never waking up.

but....
if i had opted for for the linoleum floor,

i would have never popped over to my brother & sister-in-law's for a
quick snooze
on the couch before my next class.

and i would have never thought about
how much i appreciate those places where you can drop by
unexpected, unannounced, and just pull up on their couch,
no questions asked.

and i would have never experienced the pleasure ofmy dear little niece coming over and giving me a
warm gooey banana chocolate chip muffin
{straight out of the oven}
and a
lovely little kiss.

and i would have never had the chance
to enjoy the stunning combination of
louis armstrong belting out cool yule
and the shining sun streaming in
on my drive back to school.

i guess all's well that ends well right? {photo taken by me this summer during my blissful road trip in washington state}

xo

le parc

okay so remember the adorable nephew & niece i mentioned here and here?
well here they are in living colour:

autumn has not been so lovely here in winnipeg,
but sunday was absolute october perfection.

so we threw some coats on the kiddies, grabbed the camera,
and played outside for over two hours.

and here {in my humble opinion} is the
pièce de résistance...

my dear sweet shaela:
swinging full force, head back, mouth open...
yes yes yes. love that life of yours baby.
xo

ps. inspired by this post,
i'm off to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies à la
joy of cooking.