One positive aspect of moving

What is your favorite part of moving?

To be honest, I hate moving. It is a hassle. Things never go as planned. Even when you are moving into your dream home or to a great new location. No exceptions.

Yet yesterday I changed my mind a little bit. It was my last day at the office in Montreal, and I was desperately looking for certain documents, which I obviously could not find. I stumbled upon, however, a brown box filled with some of our summer stuff, which we had left behind in the hurried last minute replacing on our moving day. Joy oh joy, in there were my Balenciaga sandals! Now I am dreaming of what I'll find in the other boxes once we get back...

The housekeeper always comes first

Do you have any household help?

I have been blessed to meet our housekeeper 4 years ago. I had to go back to work after my maternity leave when my son was 9 months old. In Quebec, daycare is heavily subsidized, so that we did not need a nanny. Yet I realized we needed more than a cleaning lady coming once a week, as we had previously had. We needed a housekeeper, who would help me share the burden of all house-related responsibilities and could occasionally take care of my son. Anna was a gift from heaven. She has also a daughter the same age as my son, so that sometimes we would arrange for the two of them to come on Saturday mornings. The kids would play, Anna would take care of the house, and I cold squeeze in a bit of extra work.

After we left Montreal last summer, she had to look for a replacement job. Anna ended up being employed full time by one of the local hospitals. When I found out, I have to confess that I panicked. When we go back to Canada this summer, we will have to move back into our house and my son will not be in daycare anymore. How can I make it without Anna?

Meeting with her was thus high priority on my to-do list for this week. It took a lot of effort, because she does not have a cell phone and she does not check her emails regularly (or at all). Yet I made it. I skipped the lunch seminar with an important speaker and I rushed to meet her at the hospital, even risking to be late for my student's defense. Yes, the housekeeper always comes first, especially when she is the best.


Photo: The punching bag fights back.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, sometimes

Are you familiar with the concept of emergency shopping?

I am sure you are acquainted with the concept in relation to your kids. Think: little one poops all over himself while you are visiting a museum, and you are forced to toss his clothes and dress him in a t-shirt bought from the gift shop. True story.

Due to the interaction with their kids, I think moms are quite prone to embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions. Think: you are at the office getting ready for an important meeting and you realize that your white shirt has chocolate stains you had not noticed in the morning at home when you pulled it out from your closet half-asleep and in a rush.

My emergency today was moths. I was wearing an Etro floral ensemble I love, with matching turtleneck and skirt, to a whole day of meetings at the office. These included the visit of a job candidate we are interviewing, a mother-of-two in her early forties I happen to know from my doctoral training. Halfway through her presentation, I was looking at my sleeve and realized there were holes. One, then two, then several. My first thought was: moths in my closet. I immediately called my mom back in Italy and asked her to put moth balls everywhere.

This did not solve my immediate problem, however. I still had to go out for dinner with some close friends. Home was too far to get changed and make it on time. I rather stopped at Holt Renfrew on my way to dinner and, with fifteen minutes to spare, I seriously considered buying a navy silk blouse and dark wash jeans. The problem is that I am not an impulse shopper and I have too many jeans in my closet. I thus put back my distressed Etro sweater and went to dinner. I do not think anybody noticed, actually, but I have never been so embarrassed in my life.



Photo: The most famous of them all, via Life with Becky.

Random thoughts while shopping

Do you ever use your lunch break to go shopping?

Today I had a meeting downtown and decided to exploit this opportunity to go and check out my favorite stores in Montreal. Shopping in Milan is, without a doubt, more glamourous, but I have been missing a good, exhaustive display of American designers.

Alongside the end-of-season sales, almost everywhere is neon-galore. GAP even sells neon-yellow and fuchsia underwear and activewear. More conservative stores such as Louis Vuitton and Chanel have opted for banana-yellow wallets or, in the former case, even a few bags. What sense does this display make at this point in the season though? There is no spring in Montreal and now the temperature is still quite cold. The gauze fuchsia tops will come in handy possibly in four months. Club Monaco is the only store in winter mode, with tree logs in its window display and a mossy green palette. If I were living in Montreal, I would shop only there. Yet I am not this year, so I felt allowed to become obsessed by neon yellow and purchase a t-shirt in this color from GAP. I am sure my mother will hate it :-)

Stopping by Ogilvy, I noticed that Teenflo has completed its transition to Judith and Charles, but still sells the awesome-fitting blazers I love (move over, Stella McCartney!) A grey one I have seen today is on top of my list as soon as we get back.

Ending my daily outing at Holt Renfrew, I got outraged, as usual, at the prices of Max Mara's clothing. Canadian women, hear my cry: if you want to buy Max Mara, get on the plane to Italy. It will be cheaper and you'll get a nice holiday out of it. I was happy, however, to notice that the Theory boutique still sells pre-Oliver Thiskens' styles. Am I the only one who misses them?


Photo: Couture Couturier.

I don't know how she does it

Do you have a special ritual when you travel by yourself?

I generally try to catch up on everything, beginning with movies, passing through books and magazines and a beauty routine, and ending with... sleep. On the plane to Montreal I thus watched four movies (yes, four, the last one ended as we were landing). The first one was  "I don't know how she does it" with Sarah Jessica Parker, which I had wanted to see for a long time. The picture on the movie commercial had gotten stuck in my head: super-stylish working mom with two kids in tow. I had to see it.

The movie could have been about my life, if it wasn't for the fact that my job is more flexible and I do not have a boss who can force me to be away from my family. The slightly unrealistic part of it was the exaggeration of SJP's lack of style or care of herself. Heck, for the whole movie she toted around a Mulberry Alexa bag, one of the trendiest in her class, and she was impeccably dressed. One has to wonder how she found the time  :-)

The only part of the movie I did not like was the portrait of stay-at-home moms. From my experience most of them are not wealthy women who drop off their kids at school early so that they can spend hours at the gym or lunching with their friends. Even those who are wealthy enough, such as my mother-of-two best friend, do not necessarily do it, and decided to stay at home in order to be more involved in their kids' lives rather than to have more time for themselves.

If you did not watch the movie, go out and rent it! A must see.

I see snow...

I have a confession to make: during the past week I have neglected to share with you my impending trip to Canada. One of my students is defending his doctoral dissertation on Friday, and I really wanted to be there. Plus, you cannot imagine the amount of things that accumulate back at home when you are on a long-term transfer somewhere else (99% of these things are obviously the usual-yet-always-boring visits to the bank, to the tax consultant, etc.)

The reason why I have not informed you of my travel plans was not to jinx the trip. My son went back to school last Monday after his long sick spell and I was terribly afraid he would have come down with something else by the end of the week. But he did not. So last Friday night, after he went to sleep, I hurriedly packed and I was able to leave, in spite of the taxi strike, at 6 am the following morning. 

Montreal is covered in snow, although not as much as last year. On my first day here, I went to our local library with the friend I am staying with and her two kids. The thermometer read -22 degrees Celsius. Yet it did not feel as half as cold as Milan! The air was also pleasantly clean, and felt really good in my nostrils.

I have not been away without my husband and son since... Well, I do not even remember. I have a lot of plans for this week, which include blogging a lot, so stay tuned!

Did I say fur?

Would you consider wearing a fur coat? Have you ever done it?

Fur coats were a founding element in Italian women's closet of my grandmother and my mother's generation. Sure enough, for my eighteenth birthday, the two of them arranged for me to have one as well. Although at the time it felt like a rite of passage to become a "lady", I never wore the coat. Not even after we moved to Canada and its cold winter weather. I took it back to Italy this year, for lack of better storage options.

The thing is that, after uncharacteristically mild fall and early winter temperature (remember what I wrote in this post just last week?), the weather has turned for the worst a few days ago. I live in Canada and I am not afraid of -20 degrees Celsius. I have watched without fear or hibernation my son's skiing class standing on a snowy hilly for an hour in -22 with a windchill. Yet the weather in Milan is really humid, so the cold gets into your bones. Add the fact that apartment buildings have centralized heating and are not only not allowed to raise the temperature above a certain level, but are also forced to shut it down for many hours of the day -- think from 10:30 pm to 6:30 am. We have started having breakfast in bed under a pile of blankets because the house feels like an igloo when we wake up.

Two days ago, feeling half frozen after having worked at home for a few hours, I had to get groceries and I reached for the fur coat. I do not see myself with it at all, and it will certainly go back in the closet once the temperature goes back above 5 degrees, but it was the first time in a few days that I did not feel uncomfortable walking outside. Judging from the pictures taken at Milan's Men Fashion Week, other women in town must have felt the same way!


Photo: Anna dello Russo at Milan's Men Fashion Week, via Fashionologie.

Alt Summit

Do you know what Alt Summit is? Up until a couple of months ago, I had no idea. Now, I am really bummed I could not attend.

Alt Summit is a yearly conference of design and lifestyle bloggers, which this is year is taking place in Salt Lake City from January 19 to 21. I have read about it since last September, but I did not consider the idea of attending mainly because blogging for me is a passion, not a job, and I do not foresee turning it into a business any time soon. 

Yet a few days ago I looked at the program, and I realized how inspiring it was. There are several sessions that would have helped me to grow my passion for blogging, whether marketable or not. I would have also loved being around so many creative people, and to meet in person some of the other blogger moms I follow every day. Somehow, I have had an easier time to let go of the possibility of attending another key blogger conference, Mom 2.0., because it is during Mother's Day weekend and I would never be away from my son then...

This is then what I am adding to my New Year's resolutions: make sure I will be able to attend next year!


Photo: Lights and Letters.

A normal, exceptional weekend

What did you do this weekend? For us, this weekend felt normal, and yet has been exceptional, in a number of  ways. 

We had a great time doing things as a family. We started developing a new friendship with a colleague of my husband, who moved to Milan from the US with his wife and three children around the same time as we did. We went to the park with them on Saturday afternoon and then sipped on a hot chocolate together when we got tired. Yesterday evening my husband and I went out with a couple of friends while my son stayed at home with my parents. This morning we slept in and, after my husband went running, we went out for a late Sunday lunch at our local favorite Japanese restaurant. Afterwards we watched a movie and hung around the house until dinner with my parents. My son was in bed by 8 pm, because he goes back to school tomorrow morning, so I layed out his clothes and prepared his backpack before he went to sleep. 

This is roughly how we always spend winter weekends in Canada, and it is why the weekend felt normal. Yet, we have not had the chance to have such a normal weekend in a long time, which has made the past couple of days feel wonderfully exceptional. First and foremost, we were able to take my son outside to play. This has been a relatively rare occurrence lately, and it is part of the reason why, aside for a few of my closest friends, we have not made many new friends since we arrived. We have not had the chance to get to know the parents of his classmates because he has not been in school in almost two months. In addition, the "milanesi" are a quite a closed group, and lots of formalities are involved to organize any get-together with or without kids. Even though I am Italian and I was born and raised here, I realized I have much more in common with our new American friends than with my two Italian childhood friends.

There have been two actual exceptional happenings though. During our Saturday outing to the park, we stumbled upon the World Championship -- no less -- of Cross-country Skiing. We could not believe it: running through the park were a few kilometers of skiing tracks paved with real snow brought from the Alps in Valle d'Aosta. The surreal aspect of it all was that, because of the mild weather we have been enjoying (remember my last post?), the skiing tracks were surrounded  by green grass and leafy trees! One might say that snow calls for snow, and there has been the second exceptional happening of the weekend: today, for the first time, the temperature dipped below zero degrees Celsius. There go my plans of storing my winter gear and concentrating on Spring shopping...

Winter? What winter?

Montreal: -11 degrees. Milan: + 14 degrees. I do not know whether it is because of global warning, but one thing it is for sure: this year we will probably skip winter.

Today the day was so nice that my husband and I took a sunny stroll from our apartment to center city, passing through Parco Sempione, to go and see the Cezanne exhibition at Palazzo Reale. The exhibition was somewhat disappointing because it was a bit small, but the weather was incredible! 

The nice weather has made me completely forget about the sales, which have officially started this weekend. Who cares about winter clothing? Give me a neon handbag and a pair of pastel pants. Immediately.

Chasing the falling star

No Befana weekend would be complete without chasing the falling star that led the Three Kings to find baby Jesus. It so happens that this year we were not far from it, and we could go see it in the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio, where supposedly the Three Kings are buried next to it. I had not been there in many years, and I deeply enjoyed visiting the Basilica again with my son.

In addition, the weather was wonderful and we took a nice stroll down the street to another iconic spot of Milan: the Church of San Lorenzo with its famous columns. Oh, and I almost forgot, we said hello to Elvis on the way.

Buona Befana!

If you'd ask to any Italian child what festivity falls on January 6, surely the answer you'll get would be: the Befana! If you'd probe further to try to get him to talk about the three Kings visiting baby Jesus on this day and all -- Italy is a Catholic country, right? -- maybe some would remember seeing something of the sort in a nativity scene.

To what does the Befana own this popularity? Gift-giving. According to Italian folklore, on the night of the 5th of January an ugly witch called Befana rides on her broom to go and bring good children candies and gifts. The celebration of Befana is what you obtain when combining halloween-esque witches and candies with christmasy stockings filled with gifts.

I have celebrated the Befana since I was a child, and I have upheld this tradition with my son. Yet, since he was born in Montreal, where the sixth of January one rather celebrates the Three Kings in a typical French fashion, we have adopted a mix tradition. We wake up in the morning to check our stockings for candies and gifts brought by the Befana, and then after lunch we eat a "galette des Rois" and crown king the person who finds the small treasure hidden inside. The latter part of this tradition proved difficult this year, because we could not buy our galette from the local bakery as we would have done in Montreal. We thus decided to be inventive, and we baked our own galette following another kid-friendy recipe from Toboggan (you may remember our first cooking craft from this post). The result was delicious and we had tons of fun making it!


RECIPE: Galette des Rois
Ingredients: 2 apples sliced lengthwise, 2 rolls of puff pastry, 1 jar of apple sauce, 1 egg, 1 "treasure" (made of a material resistant at high temperatures, such as ceramic).
Instructions:

1. Spread the first roll of puff pastry, and layer on top of it the apple sauce and the apple slices. Hide the treasure!

2. Cover with the second roll of puff pastry. Gently beat the egg and, using a cooking brush, spread evenly the beaten egg on the pastry.

3. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Voilà!

Photo: Oubliette Magazine.

Resolutions

Do you normally make New Year's resolutions? Did you make any this year?

It is not my habit to make New Year's resolutions, but I have been working on mine for a while now. It is probably because 2011 was not one of my best years (as you may remember from this post), so I have been looking for something revolutionary, to really turn things around.

I guess my mistake was that I started doing research on it -- call it a professional bias -- and I became overwhelmed. Nowadays each individual is aware of having so many different roles -- a person, a parent, a businesswoman -- with so many multifaceted needs --getting a break, a promotion, or simply more stuff -- that out there there are zillions of recommendations about what your resolutions should be and too many posts about what other people's resolutions actually are.

As an individual, you generally wish to take better care of yourself through a healthier lifestyle (Gwyneth Paltrow has even come up with a cleansing program, if you are interested). As a mom, you wish to be a better parent by yelling less and spending more time with your kids. Most moms indicate they are willing to let their chores go to accomplish this resolution, although Martha Stewart will obviously try to convince you that getting organized in the new year is key. Where do fashion and style come in here? The fashion industry certainly takes advantage of this moment to try to push on you new purchases (better if from the new collections rather than the ongoing winter sales) through New Year's "fashion" or "style" resolutions.

At some point I started to wonder whether I need recommendations after all. Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus' fashion editor wrote: why bother with resolutions at all? They set you up for disappointment. Just be fabulous all the time! This seems such a simple, darn good idea.

If becoming a mom has taught me anything, is that children bring unpredictability into your life. That's one good reason why making New Year's resolutions may be unrealistic, but also why it may be important -- to provide a stepping stone to ground you in the most chaotic moments.

Rather than with resolutions I ended up with a list of wishes, inspirations, and projects, some personal and others less so. This is what made it on my list:

Wishes
1. Spend more time with my husband
2. Spend more quality time with my son
3. Stress less
4. Dare
5. Stick to a beauty routine
6. Make the best of our remaining time here in Italy

Inspirations
1. Cooking new dishes
2. Just doing things rather than planning them ahead

Projects
1. Learn how to take better pictures with the help of the Shutter Sisters
2. Upgrade three rooms of our house in Montreal: my son's room, our office space, and our basement

I will keep you posted on my progress!

2011 in review

It is that time of the year, when one looks back and thinks about the good and bad things that have happened in 2011.

On a personal level, I cannot say that 2011 was one of my best years. I was operated of a life-treating condition in March, and my son has been almost constantly sick since October. Obviously, if one would want to see the glass half full, we may say that I survived the operation and he has been getting better, but I'd like not to have a repeat in 2012. I also had a difficult time at work (thank goodness for sabbatical!). Finally, in 2011 we moved from Canada to Italy. As much as living in Italy has many perks (to cite two: the food and the fashion), I miss Canada in a number of ways and I am looking forward to move back in 2012! (BTW: did I mention that I forgot to bring my favourite Miu Miu black pants??) On the bright side, we took many great trips in 2011: you may remember the weekend we spent in Ottawa, our drive through France, and our summer in Italy and Belgium. I have seen a few great movies (on planes or on DVD, obviously) such as the King's Speech and, don't laugh here, Tangled (this one at the movie theater with my son) as well as many terrible ones (the award for the worst movie I have seen this year goes to Io sono l'amore, regardless of the breathtaking fashion and the excellent insight into the life of an Italian wealthy family). Although I had even less time to read books than to watch movies (my favorite Anne Perry's Christmas novel is still unopened on my Kindle), I discovered the novels by Kate Morton (The Distant Hours, The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden), and fell in love with The Help by Kathryn Stockett (I am hoping to find the time to watch the movie soon!)

There have been few fashion highlights as well. During one of our summer trips, I stayed at the most fashionable hotel I have ever been to: the Chateau de Bagnols in the Beaujolais region of France. Once in Milan, I had a glimpse of Fashion Week for the first time in my life. I have also set out on the quest to rediscover and update my personal style during our sabbatical year. In the process, I have recently let go of my obsession for Celine's handbags...

Yet if I'd have to point to the one thing I will always remember 2011 for, I'll say it is that I discovered blogging. My discovery has coincided with the rise of fashion bloggers such as Hanneli Mustaparta and The Sartorialist (two of my favorites) as one of the main players in the industry (if you want to know how and why, you should read the excellent pieces in the series "The Business of Blogging" by The Business of Fashion). Mom bloggers care about style and fashion, but there are not many moms who blog where fashion and motherhood intersects. My biggest accomplishment of 2011 has been to begin this blog to contribute to this discussion. 

I launched the blog in august and it is now close to 2000 hits. Your favorite posts during this time have been those about FW11 trends (especially for handbags and pants), about our summer trip to Belgium (especially the hidden treasure we discovered in Kessel-lo and my quest for the fashionable Belgian moms at a local fair), about the Celine obsession I recently let go, about my tips for reinventing your clutch, and about what to wear to go trick-or-treating with your kids.

I am grateful for and to all of you who like reading my posts! Stay tuned, 2012 will bring many more as well as two new series. Meanwhile, Happy New Year!

P.S. The image above is that of a card by Bonnie Marcus, who once worked for Diane Von Furstenberg. I discovered her lovely collection thanks to The Chic Spy and I am addicted to her designs (you may remember another one I used in an earlier post).