A Quick Solo Trip To Toronto

This weekend, I took my second solo trip since Henry was born! I flew to Toronto Saturday morning and enjoyed reading, eating, and listening to music – basically a trip to the spa compared to flying with a small child ;)

I arrived downtown Toronto around 1:30 and met Sarah and Julia for a late lunch at Fresh, of course. Then they took me to a few cute new shops around Queen & Roncesvalles, including North Standard Trading Post. I’d been meaning to get Henry one of their cute hoodies and treated myself to a few things as well including one of Tami Noa Levy‘s provincial animal series prints.

Sarah hosted a few lady friends at her new house for cheese and snacks before we all headed out to dinner at Burdock. Her and Phil’s new place is very cute and the cheese was delicious! It was great to see more examples of the homes my friends are starting to own in Toronto because Nick & I are getting very used to the idea (and starting to plan) how to do the same thing in a year or two!

After dinner, we headed down the street to Bar Neon where Mike, Rob, and Tristan came to meet up with us.

Although it was only one afternoon and evening of spending time together, I appreciate any time I get to hang out with some of my favourite people in the world. Especially one pregnant Sarah Curtis! That night, my sister Jenn came to meet me for a sleepover at my hotel and although I didn’t get back there til 11:30, we still stayed up for a few hours chatting. I’ll take whatever I can get!

The next morning, I met my brother Ryan for breakfast at The Beast. After eating the giant plates of food and maple bacon donuts, I agree that it is aptly named!

After I left Ryan, I made one last attempt to enjoy the weak Canadian dollar before I went to the airport to fly home. Let’s just say, I am set for both yoga shorts and Canadian Dairy Milk for a while!

It was really nice to get away, even for just one night, but also wonderful to return home to these two guys. I got the best Henry hugs ever when I walked in the door!

See you again soon, Toronto!

The First Five Years

Nick and I said “I do!” at NYC’s City Hall 5 years ago today. That’s half a decade of marriage, people!

I feel very fortunate to have found the person I’m meant to spend the rest of my life with. In the past five years, I have experienced Nick’s generosity and love and his remarkable problem solving skills whenever we encounter a challenge, which happens often now that we are parents! Although we rarely argue, we have perfected the Art of the Argue in a way that always comes to some kind of solution or understanding. While we love being able to travel and do things together, we also both enjoy a good chunk of time spent on the couch, him watching baseball while I read, or just talking. We both have our own interests, as well as shared ones, but respect each other’s hobbies and passions. We can lean on each other when the other needs support, and I think that so far, we are kicking ass at parenthood! ;)

Here’s a look back at our first five years of marriage, if you’d like to see.

Visiting the redwood forests in Muir Woods, San Francisco during our honeymoon, 2010.

Chicago’s big bean, 2010.

Reading Festival, Reading, UK 2011

Paris, France 2011

Jamaica 2012

Stockholm, Sweden 2012

Christmas 2014, Oshawa, Ontario

Abbey Road Studios, London 2012

Babymoon in Newport, Rhode Island 2013

Christmas 2013, Oshawa, Ontario

Christina & Nick’s birthday 2012 Supper Restaurant, NYC

Julia & Jay’s wedding, Toronto 2012

Ben & Hayley’s wedding, Brooklyn 2014

November 2013 with a two week-old Henry

Christmas 2013 with the Gordons

May 2014, Brooklyn

July 2014, Brooklyn

May 2014, Brooklyn

Christmas 2014, Oshawa, Ontario

June 2015, at home in Brooklyn

June 2015, Brooklyn

I love you more than you’ll ever know, Nick. Here’s to the next five years!

Mom’s Weekend Off

This weekend was one worth mentioning: it was my first trip alone since Henry was born and so it was also my first night away from him. I know some mothers don’t go this long – and others go much longer – before they are able to spend a night away, but this seemed just right for us. Henry is 15 months old now, and although he still nurses, he doesn’t actually need to. I compiled a very detailed meal plan for Nick to follow in my absence, and from what I heard, it went quite well – or as well as planned meals with a toddler ever go…

What made me take the plunge and plan my first solo weekend away was an invitation to the Toronto wedding of two of my favourite friends, Karen and Matias! How could I miss it?

Their wedding was freakin’ wonderful and actually had a strict no social media rule so although I took photos of the party, this one of our cropped heads is all you get. (And no, Sarah wasn’t a naked bridesmaid.)

Deciding to fly to Canada on my own for 30 hours was the best decision I’ve made in a long time. I stayed in a hotel alone for the first time and took full advantage of my free time – when I arrived 3 hours before I had to leave for the ceremony, I promptly practiced yoga, ordered pizza, and watched The Simpsons in bed. At the wedding, I had many moments of pure joy and felt so grateful for the friends I have in Toronto. They really are the best! I kept remembering “oh yeah – I DON’T live here anymore AND I have a husband and child waiting at home for me in another country!”

The boys had a great time together. Henry, as usual, surprised us in how well he can adapt to new situations. Nick had little problems putting him down for naps and bedtime. He even got this priceless shoulder nap on Sunday!

Here’s hoping my next solo Toronto trip is only a few months away…

Christmas 2014

We flew to Toronto for Christmas with my family on Tuesday. It was quite an adventure!

Although Henry doesn’t fall asleep on planes anymore, he’s still a great flyer. Just watching the airplanes and trucks out the window is enough entertainment for him. (That, and having Dad blow his hair into funny shapes.)

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, as we have done for the past few years. My parents, grandparents, brother, and sister-in-law all came over to my sister’s family’s place in Oshawa.

Ben answered the door for each arriving guest in his policeman’s uniform, to make sure we didn’t have any Christmas freeloaders.

Henry enjoyed playing with his four cousins, but knew when he needed some alone time and would head over to the corner to look out the window at cars or read Goodnight Moon.

My Dad wore a pretty amazing Christmas sweater, jingly bells and all.

Jenn is still ruling at being a mom and her twins are so cute!

It was so nice to be able to hug my grandparents after my uncle passing away suddenly a few days before.

We packed everyone in for dinner at a big L-shaped table. 7 year-old Ben decided we should all give speeches afterwards. It turned into a teary, love-filled mess.

And then Jillian brightened the mood by smearing chocolate icing all over her face. I love my family.

Christmas Eve was full of video games with Uncle Ryan.

Then the kids went to bed and we got goofy while the adults exchanged gifts.

Christmas morning came far too early, but the kids were happy!

All of Henry’s presents were a hit! Especially the stacking cups (and Grandpa’s nose).

Boxing Day started with breakfast…

…And grocery shopping. Henry rode in a shopping cart for the first time and loved it! It’s always the little ordinary things when you visit the suburbs, right?

Later that day, we were so happy to have a visit from the Gordons. Blake and Henry “played together” aka stole toys from each other for a while. We also tried to take photos, but it’s not easy with toddlers!

This is the best we got:

On Saturday, we flew home – eventually. Let’s just say we have another challenging situation successfully completed in the form of entertaining a 1 year-old in an airport for 7 hours.

Until he could finally fall asleep on the plane at 9pm.

Although the trip was full of travel delays, toddler accidents, and majorly lacking in sleep, it was worth it to see my wonderful family. I hope you all had a great holiday too!

Christmas 2013

This Christmas was a very special one – it was Henry’s first.

Nick, Henry, and I flew to Toronto on Sunday with no drama. Henry fell asleep as soon as we checked his car seat and put him in the Baby Bjorn. He stayed asleep pretty much until we were just half an hour away from my parents’ cottage, and in true Canadian style, chose a Tim Horton’s parking lot to decide he was hungry and take a dump.

We were welcomed to my parents’ with a dinner of chili and lots of hugs. My Mom and Henry are so sweet together – they had lots of cuddling to catch up on since she was last here.

It was really nice to spend the first few days of our trip just relaxing in Fenelon Falls, where my parents live in a wooded area on a river. It snowed every day and is always the best place to spend Christmas. My Mom spoils us with her cooking and baking, and it was great to have an extra couple sets of hands to hold Henry. (Long showers and Nick & I actually going to bed at the same time!)

On Christmas Eve, as is tradition, we all met at my sister’s house in Oshawa. It’s the only place big enough to comfortably hold us all.

Henry met his Great-Grandparents and cousins for the first time.

We watched lots of CP24. The Santa Tracker reports were very exciting!

On Christmas Day, we were thrilled to have a visit from the Gordons. The last time Julia and I were at my sister’s place, it was for my baby shower and we were both pregnant.

Blake is just 10 weeks older than Henry, but look at them together! It was so great for these two little hams to meet, even if they didn’t understand quite what was happening.

We spend our last few days back up at my parents’ cottage, apparently dressing in coordinating colours for each family.

(Totally unintentional.)

We flew home yesterday and besides long lines at Pearson Airport, it was a breeze. Henry is a great traveler!

We had a great holiday and hope you did too!

Babymoon

Have you guys ever heard of a “babymoon”? It’s when parents-to-be take one last relaxing trip together before a baby is born. Nick and I decided to take ours a little early for maximum relaxation and headed to Newport, Rhode Island for four days last week.

We took the train there on Wednesday morning and arrived at our hotel that afternoon. After unwinding a bit in our room, we set off to explore the waterfront area we were staying on. Most things were in walking distance and there were a ton of restaurants, shops, and boat tours to be found. Thanks to Yelp, I found us our first delicious dinner spot, The Midtown Oyster Bar.

I had the scallops which were amazing and had the lowest mercury on the menu, and Nick got to go a little crazier with oysters. (Yes, we went here twice – it was delicious!)

After dinner, we walked further into Newport and treated ourselves to some ice cream for dessert.

Nick knows how to vacation, am I right? I finally tried the Liz Lemon frozen yogurt – SO GOOD. So worthy of the Liz Lemon name.

It was so nice to be somewhere that actually cooled off a bit at night!

The harbour had hundreds of boats in it. Very pretty.

The next few days consisted of more of the same: sleeping, swimming, eating, and walking. I also had my first prenatal massage and we finally watched Mud on our hotel movie channel.

Our hotel was right across the street from Cardines Field, so we decided to watch a college league baseball game with the Newport Gulls. Half of the crowd was just little kids, which was adorable. I was able to buy home made chocolate chip cookies at the refreshment stand, which was even cuter.

During our last full day, Nick and I walked from one side of the island to the other to see some of the famous mansions.

Since we didn’t do a group tour, we could only see the outsides, but that’s okay. The best part was actually walking to the end of the road and getting to the cliffs.

My Moves App let me know that we walked almost 14,000 steps that day! Naturally, we ate more to celebrate.

Newport, you’re such a cute town! Maybe we’ll be back one day with Henry, so he can watch baseball for $4 too.

Moxy

After spending time in two different Swedish hotels in December, this new partnership with Marriott and Ikea caught my eye. The minimalist design with all the small perks you need – like wifi, cocktails, and light breakfasts – looks perfect. Although the new reasonably priced hotels are only going to be built in Western Europe as of yet, here’s hoping for another trip overseas to possibly check one out in person someday!

See more at PSFK

My New NYC & Brooklyn City Guide

Being from Toronto means that I have a lot of friends and family who want to spend their vacations in New York. It’s just far enough to make you feel like you’re in a completely different place, but the plane ride is only one hour. This also means that I give out recommendations for restaurants, shopping, and things to do and see year-round. Summer is an even busier time for visitors (which I love!), so I thought this would be a perfect time to update my New York & Brooklyn City Guide.

This time, I’ll break it up into categories, posting one a day. Stay tuned for what could be your new favourite place to visit in New York!

{photo: Joisey Showaa}

Baltimore

Nick and I met our road trip soul mates this weekend – Kate and Bryan! Of course, we’ve actually known them for years, but this was our first time taking a trip together. Aside from a storm coming out of nowhere and trying to kill us on the way there Friday night, our weekend in Baltimore went perfectly!

Saturday morning we woke up early and walked over to the Baltimore Aquarium. Kate’s good friend Rachel and her family met us there. I swear Nick was as excited about seeing “the creatures” as Rachel’s six year-old son.

There was a big pool on the ground floor that had sharks, rays, and a giant one-armed sea turtle in it.

This guy was the scariest:

Megalodon jaw!

So pretty.

This fish wanted all the attention. Photobomb!

My favourite part was the sloth who was “in overdrive” in the rainforest on the top floor.

Everyone was very impressed at the amount the sloth was moving.

Just when you thought you were done, you enter the jellyfish exhibit.

That afternoon, we went to Camden Yards to see the Orioles play the Indians. Our seats were so hot, you had to ease into them like a hot tub.

We were seated in the second row of left field. Thankfully, we didn’t get hit with any foul balls. I think I paid attention to the entire game for the first time ever.

We were also incredibly thankful that the sun moved and our section turned into the shady part of the stadium!

Saturday night, we went out for dinner to Fogo De Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse, recommended to me by some guys are our hotel. Have you ever been to one? It’s a pretty amazing concept. There was a huge salad bar you could help yourself to, then each person had their own card beside their plate that you could change from “no thanks” to “yes please”. Depending on how yours was turned, men with large sticks of meat would come by and shave servings off for you! Everything from steak to lamb to bacon-wrapped-chicken! The boys were in heaven.

Sunday morning, we headed home. Ponch kept Nick and I company in the backseat.

Of course, no trip through the suburbs would be complete without a trip to Target!

What a great weekend trip – hopefully the four of us will collaborate on some more in the future!

Where the Hell is Matt?

What’s better than traveling the world and documenting your trips with photos? Traveling the world and filming yourself dancing with the locals, of course! Seattle’s Matt Harding became an internet celebrity in 2005 when his first video went viral. Since then, he’s made three more videos while visiting more countries than the average person will ever see and dancing with thousands of strangers.

If this doesn’t give you wanderlust, nothing will!