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Roxymandy May 21, 2014

Springtime Farmers’ Markets

I am not the best when it comes to eating my fruits and vegetables, so I need to find creative ways to get them into my diet. That usually means hiding all of the healthy stuff inside a smoothie favourite with chocolate so I don’t really know what I am drinking. One of the other ways I actually look forward to eating things that grow on trees and in the dirt is shopping for them at a farmers’ market. Let’s face it – I love any kind of shopping. Grocery shopping doesn’t exactly give me any sort of satisfaction (unless it’s delivered to my door, otherwise I find it a pain), but when shopping for all that healthy crap is snowballed into an outdoor event, well it suddenly seems a bit more appealing.

I really like farmers’ markets! It’s like going to a street party, but instead of alcohol there are carrots. Since daytime drinking has been pretty much eradicated from my lifestyle since becoming a fab mom, I take whatever I can get.

Here are a few you might want to give a try this spring!

Evergreen Brick Works Farmers’ Market – 550 Bayview Ave, Toronto

This is one of my favourites! Evergreen Brick Works has a year-round farmers’ market, and their summer hours run from now until November 1st. The market is on from 8am – 1pm, and the food court is open a little longer (until 2pm).

What I like about this farmers’ market is how many things there are to do all in one place. There are vendors serving up all kinds of food in the food court, then there are all kinds of events and workshops taking place every weekend from classes on making pottery as a family, to children’s cooking classes.

For a $5 donation your child can take part in what they call Nature Play at the Brick Works. Children remain supervised by their parents, and this drop in program from 10-4pm on weekends and holidays offers play time, story telling and crafts.

Parking can be tough because there are not a lot of spaces so many people park the street, so you do end up spending a lot of time driving behind people hoping to be the first to take their parking space! You must pay for parking as well.

In the winter there is ice skating and hot chocolate outside, and in the summer it’s nice to talk a walk since the area is surrounded by walking paths.

http://www.evergreen.ca/

The Stop Farmers’ Market at Wychwood Barns – 601 Christie Street, Toronto

Courtesy of National Post

Open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 pm, this market houses most of it’s vendors inside of it’s giant space. The Barns also has an art market with over 30 vendors, and they host all kinds of events like CraveTO with music, food and drinks.

All of the non-farmer vendors shop their ingredients from the market which is nice too.

http://www.atthebarns.org/about-the-wbca/the-stops-farmers-market/

St. Lawrence Farmers’ Market – 92 Front Street East, Toronto

Courtesy of St.LawrenceMarket.com

This market has been running for over 200 years! It’s pretty amazing. There are over 120 merchants which makes it one of the largest in the area as well. It runs year round from 5:00am until 10:00pm on Saturday’s, and they pretty much have everything you could imagine. It’s so busy that parking isn’t the easiest, but you can try the Green P lot behind the South Market Building, or there is a parking garage on the east side of Lower Jarvis (very short walk).

In the Market there are lots of cooking classes which I have been dying to try (will anyone go with me?) for adults and even classes with children, and there is always some sort of festival in the area to enjoy as well. This one is a must try!

www.stlawrencemarket.com

The Leslieville Farmers’ Market – Jonathan Ashbridge Park (Queen Street East between Greenwood & Coxwell)

This newbie on the farmer’s market scene is every Sunday from 9am to 2pm until the end of October. I haven’t visited this one yet, but it’s on my list of stops for this summer.

They say they have music, and that they will have wine starting next weekend! That might be why I’ve decided this one is one on my list. Coming up this year they will have a Bacon Fest, and a Movie Night in the Park as well.

http://leslievillemarket.com/

Roxymandy May 20, 2014

My Favourite Etsy Shops for Kids

Etsy is one of the best/worst things that has entered my life. I get addicted to looking at different stores from around the world and picking out gifts for birthdays or other events, and I spend time a crazy amount of time justifying gifts for myself. I love that so many things can be personalized, and that so many one of a kind items can be found and shipped to my door with a few clicks.

The selection of items for kids is amazing on Etsy. I have a few favourite shops where I love to pick up something for my son, or for one of his friends as a gift. Here are a few of my top Etsy store picks!

Kuku Design has, among other items, has adorable wall hooks for you child’s room in bright colours and cute shapes. You can find their store here

BoyGirlBoyGirlDesign has t-shirts, rompers and onezies, but my favourite thing is their painted shoes. They have themed children’s shoes for different holidays, or princess and pirate themed shoes. Check out their store here

ClaireonCloud9 has the most adorable pillows! Wacky clouds, trees, moons, raindrops, and even a mountain! You can find her store here

The Australian shop MeAndMacCharlie has great patterns for their leggings, bibs, burb cloths, and bodysuits. They ship worldwide too, which can be hard to find from an Australian shop! You can find them here

Boy’s leggings are impossible to find! It’s so unfair girls can wear comfortable leggings, while boys are usually stuck with jeans. I’m always looking for cute boy leggings that don’t look like girly ones. Basically I’m looking for manly toddler boy leggings. Sounds hard to find, right? It is! This shop has some great ones (I have a few on the way now!). Check out Thread and Love here

This is one of the first shirts I bought for my son. I don’t know why, but it makes me laugh every time I put it on him. Coup has a ton of these trademarked shirts for babies, kids and adults too! Check them out here

My son is turning into quite the little baker, and these rolling pins are the perfect way to keep him excited about creating something. They can be personalized, but my favourite is this dinosaur one. You can find the Valek Rolling Pins shop here

bky kid has amazing kids and adult t-shirts with patterns of roads and numbers. The are freaking adorable! Check them out here

Roxymandy May 16, 2014

Summer Sandals

I would live in sandals if I could. I am one of those gross people who could be seen running into the grocery store in my flip flops in the dead of winter. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I find ways to justify sandals in completely inappropriate whether conditions.

The good news is, according to my calendar it’s sandal season! Yes, my calendar may state this earlier than yours, but I’m thinking I’ll get less judgemental looks in my sandals at this time of year. And although it’s only May, I’ve already had to have a talk with myself (yes I talk to myself in stern tone when required) and limit myself to maybe one or two more sandal purchases for this summer. I’ve got more than enough already to make it through the summer, but it’s not my fault flip flops literally last forever, so just because it looks like I have a hundred pairs……well like I said, it’s not my fault!

Here are a few of my favourites for the summer!

Steve Madden Safari Sandals $79.95

Roxy Hana Sandal $29.00

Roxy Chickadee Sandals $42.00

Kate Spade Tracie Sandals $178

Kate Spade Fiji Sandal $48

Spring Abayrien Sandals $45.00

ALDO Prililia Sandals $60.00

ALDO Mirivel Sandals $25.00

Tory Burch Miller Sandal $225.00

Michael Kors Kayden Jelly Thong $79.00

Old Navy Women’s Gladiator Flat Sandal $26.00

Billabong Crossing Over Sandals $30.00

Roxymandy May 12, 2014

High Tea at the Shangri-La Toronto

I had never been to a High Tea before, and Mother’s Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to see what it was all about. It’s really the ultimate girly experience! When you were little how many times did you have a tea party? And were boys ever welcome? Probably not, unless you had a little brother and he was the next best thing compared to your Cabbage Patch doll. Ok so maybe there was a boy invited by default, but otherwise a tea party was more of a girls-only event that was all about drinking from fancy tea cups and enjoying some gossip.

There are many different places across the city to enjoy High Tea, but I really wanted to experience it at the Shangri-La. A reservation was required (I made mine one month in advance!), and we were there for a few hours and didn’t see a free table. High Tea Service is normally 2pm-5pm daily at the Shangri-La.

We decided to use the convenice of the hotel’s valet parking. It’s so lovely to just stop your car right out front, have an attendant help you out of your car (this is always helpful when wearing impossibly high heels), and walk straight into the venue without worrying about a thing. Since we were staying for tea, valet parking was only $15.00.

Right inside the front door is the receiption for the Lobby Lounge, where afternoon tea is served. The two-story lobby itself is opulent, complete with beautiful fireplaces, art lining the walls, and a grand piano. Nothing seems more grand than having a piano player next to your table while having tea! He played everything from his own rendition of “Imagine”, to that song from My Best Friend’s Wedding when in the movie Julia Robert’s realizes she isn’t going to win the guy. Trust me, you would know the song if you heard it. I really need to watch that movie again. Sorry, back to tea!

Once we were seating we were given a menu which included all of the tea’s they had to offer. Each of us was given a pot of tea of our choice, which was nice because you could try the tea’s that the other people at your table ordered. I had the Vanilla Roobois tea which I knew I liked because it’s my favourite tea from Starbucks.

We were all very happy with our tea choices (we also ordered their Green Tea and Earl Grey tea), which wasn’t an easy choice since they actually have 68 to choose from! Luckily they narrowed down the selection of those 68 on the menu so you don’t agonize over your choice for too long.

I was worried before we got there that the sandwiches and desserts would not be enough to fill us up. It just seemed like in all of the photos that I saw, what was served at tea was just an afternoon snack and not really a lunch. I was completely wrong! We couldn’t finish all that was there. There were three sandwiches of each kind on our tray so we could all have an equal amount, plus there was a batch of mini house made scones which were still warm from the oven. By the time we got to dessert I am embarrassed to say that we couldn’t even finish what we had! When we were finished with our tea we packed a few items to go, which I would have never guessed would happen.

The cost per person for the High Tea on Mother’s Day was $40 per person, plus tax and gratuity. As I mentioned this really could be done as a lunch, and because of the lovely experience as well I would say this price was very much worth it.

I like to mention whether or not kids are welcome when I attend things like this, and my answer would be yes and no.

While there I saw a baby around the 6 month mark who seemed very happy to be there! He was obviously there with his momma and family, and he loved watching the piano player. I also saw a few little girls around the age of 7 who were dressed up in pretty party dresses enjoying tea as well.

The tables were very low so I wouldn’t say that a high chair would work necessarily. It’s one of those things where older children would probably love to be at a grown up tea party, but my two year old would despise being there since he wouldn’t be able to touch anything! My overall opinion would be this is an adult type of event, unless you have a well-behaved baby or a young child who would love to act like a grown up and have a tea party with the adults.

The Shangri-La Toronto is located at 188 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.

For reservations call 647-788-8888

Roxymandy May 9, 2014

Mother’s Day Gift Guide!

Mother’s Day is this Sunday! Did you forget? I love that I get a new holiday to enjoy now that I’m a mom too! My husband is pretty lucky since all I’ve asked for is to sleep in, and then to watch soccer all morning before I go out for the day on Sunday. Sounds pretty easy to me! Although he was looking over my shoulder as I was writing this post about gift ideas. Smart guy. Here are a few of my picks!