The desk

Hello everyone! At what age did you buy your kids their first desk?

In occasion of our first stay at the countryside with the baby, my mom took great pleasure in reorganizing our rooms. She outfitted my older son's new room with a grown-up desk filled with crayons, drawing paper, and the likes. He loved it, and felt really grown up "working" there.

At home in Montreal, my son still has in his room a relatively large, albeit low, play table. There would be space for a desk, but I have been holding on to buy one. During the school year, when we are at home in the evening we like to hang out together in the kitchen. Weekends are for playdates, and a desk does not seem like the best place to play with friends.

The extent to which my son liked his desk at the countryside is making me reconsider. Any thoughts?

On my mind, a farewell (for now)

Hello everyone!

You may have noticed that I did not post (not even late) our On my mind series for a while. It had become difficult to keep up, and by the time I did manage to post it, it felt, well, old. This is why I am retiring it (at least for now), in order to invest more in our Tumblr feed. You should check it out! I am looking forward to hear your feedback.

The fashion souvenir

                           

Hello everyone! What is your favorite fashion souvenir?

There are those who take home a t-shirt. (Been there, done that, never worn them). Those who fall in love with handcrafted jewelry. (Been there, done that, who knows what happened to it). Those who need to buy new shoes because the ones they packed turn out to be inappropriate for their destination. (Surprisingly, this happened to me only once, because of a foot injury.)

I am the handbag type, at least in wishful thinking. This is why I am staring at the picture of Louis Vuitton new Neverfull Resort line in Elle Italia and I wonder: do I have enough time before we leave to squeeze in a visit to Portofino? Because, you know, you can buy these bags only in the place they refer to. 

Memories from the countryside

Hello everyone!

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Our Italian stay is closing to an end (sob), and I have been finally downloading some of the pictures I took. After a couple of overwhelming days in Milan, this was our stay at the countryside  -- lots of nature, food, hanging out, and little fashion. Liberating, in a way.

Editing habits

Hello everyone! Have you checked out the Fall trends yet?

I know, I know. It is not even the end of July. Yet here in Italy every fashion magazine, from the glossy ones like Vogue to the everyday ones like Gioia!, has included in its August issue "the" insert. This is a booklet with at least a few of the key looks from  the FW13 fashion shows.

I have never found such inserts in the magazines that one can buy in North America. What is most interesting is the minimal editing. The looks are presented with little explanation, and grouped in a few general trends. They are far from steering consumers in one or another direction, and as such they are meant to inspire.

I have to confess that the editing is even too minimal for my taste. There is a part of me that thinks: tell me what to buy, I do not have time to figure it out myself from 500 runway looks. But maybe this year I'll try.

Italian babies consume meals and other thoughts on food

Hello everyone! What was the first question you were asked when your kids were babies?

The first question I have been asked since I arrived in Italy is how many meals does my baby consume. When I answer that I am still breastfeeding him, the question morphs into how many meals of milk does he consume, not how many times he nurses. I am not sure how do Italian moms do it, but it seems that babies around here begin consuming meals since they are born.

Flashback to last week. During our stay at the countryside, we invited for dinner one of my son's friends. She is a bit older than him (she is 8, he is 6), and we have known her for a long time, since she is the daughter of the owner of one of our favorite local restaurants. My mom took our her nice dinnerware, and got small pastries for dessert. I was thinking it was an overkill until I saw our guest eating. When I invite kids over for dinner in Canada, I make one main dish. Here kids expect two courses, and the first course cannot be a soup or salad. Fruit and a proper dessert (sorry, no cookies) need also to be offered. Finishing her pasta, our little guest did indeed ask what we were having as second course.

Memories of our stay in Italy last year resurfaced. I realized that in Canada you invite kids over for a play date, here for a merenda -- which it would be inappropriate to translate with "afternoon snack" because it is a meal of its own, held at the same level as breakfast. Wouldn't you know, merenda is one of the five meals even babies consume.


Photo: Kidspot.

Italians drink ice coffee and other myths

Hello everyone! What is your favorite summer drink?

Writing in the magazine's latest issue, Vogue's Style Editor at Large Elizabeth von Thurn und Taxis indicates that the first thing she did on her impromptu trip to Venice was sipping an ice coffee on a terrace of the Bauer hotel overlooking the Grand Canal.

I do not mean to let anybody down, but I cannot refrain from dispelling this stereotype. In summer, Italians still drink their espresso warm. Even the South. (Occasionally, and just for fun, we may ask for a "caffè shakerato", which is made by combining espresso, a bit of sugar, and lots of ice, and shaking the whole deal vigorously until a froth forms when poured.) Summer is rather the season for ice tea and various combinations of ice water and syrups (most popular are mint and orzata).

Do not expect to be given any olive oil dip in Italian restaurants either. Sorry....

Hello old friends

Hello everyone! Did you ever forget something you own?

During the few hectic days we spent in Milan, I was stunned by the amount of clothes that I have left here last summer. I had completely forgotten about these beautiful Tibi sandals, which have already become my summer staple. As for the Miu Miu bag... I had not forgotten about it, but I had left if to my mom because it was not anymore functional for me. As now I am only wearing crossbody styles, I took it back -- and gave a delicate Burberry white tote in exchange. Talk about investment pieces :)

My beach essentials

Hello everyone! Are you going to the beach this summer?

In my book, nothing says summer like spending time at the beach. I am thrilled that we get to spend the last ten days of our Italian stay on the Italian Riviera (where we celebrated my birthday two years ago while we were living in Italy). I have to confess that I have not bought any beach item in a long time -- now that I think of it, the last major update to my beach wardrobe was ten years ago (OMG, time does fly) in occasion of my honeymoon in a posh resort in Sardegna. Since then, the time I have spent at the beach in the summer has been so limited (sob) that I never thought it was worth additional investments.

This year I simply cannot fit into any of my beach clothes because I have not yet lost the baby weight. Hope never dies, and I am confident (ya, right) that next year I will have. Thus I kept my purchases to the bare minimum: two pairs of shorts and one one-piece bathing suit (thank goodness that is the one thing designers have deemed big this summer). In case you were wondering, no kaftans -- they are simply not fashionable on the Italian Riviera. I rather plan on relying (once again) on my two Marni shifts as day-to-evening coverups. The advantage of keeping everything to a minimum is that I have space left in my suitcase in case, you know, something would catch my attention here...

Does it come in my size?

Hello everyone! What do you think of kids' fashion?

It will come as no surprise to you that kids' fashion is big in Italy. There are three major dedicated magazines (Vogue Bambini, Kids, In Style), and virtually every fashion label has a kids' line. For FW13, Armani has even launched the Mini Me capsule collection for moms and daughters who want to dress exactly the same.

Every time I look at the ads for kids' fashion I cannot help but think: I wish it would come in my size! I still have not figured out what does that say about me...


Photo: Drew Sackheim for Vogue Bambini.

Overwhelmed in Milan

Hello everyone! Are you having some summer fun?

We have spent already almost ten days at the countryside (you may remember it from this post, and this one), and we are now packing (again) to spend the remainder of our Italian stay at the beach. Perhaps because I knew that we would have not been able to go around much once here, I had high expectations from the first couple of days we spent in Milan upon arrival.

In my head, this is how our stay in Milan was going to go. My son reconnecting with his friends in the courtyard. Me, my mom and the baby strolling downtown happily shopping. I was looking forward to check out the Fall collections, which are already in stores this time of the year. I hoped to shop the sales for something new to wear at the beach. I wanted to get presents for my husband. I even hoped to see the Modigliani exhibit at Palazzo Reale.

In reality, the baby was majorly jet-lagged, going through a growth spur, or maybe both, so he wanted to nurse all. the. time. To make the most of our limited time (talk about tick tock) we headed for La Rinascente, and that was our mistake. High-end department stores in Milan are not baby-friendly, especially not on the first Saturday of the summer sales. Elevators -- the only way to navigate the seven floors with a stroller -- were jam-packed and ultimately unaccesible. Nursing rooms are non-existent, as much as changing stations in the only two (!) bathrooms. I ended up breastfeeding my screaming baby on the staircase.

Sweating and exhausted, we gave up a trip to the Chicco store for a visit to Max Mara. There we got the star treatment, with the largest fitting room and fresh glasses of water. I even got suggestions for breastfeeding-friendly clothing!

Nothing could cure such a day better than a new dress and a box of La Duree macarons.

Chronicles of a brave trip

Hello everyone and greetings from Italy!

So ten days ago I traveled to Europe alone with the kids, the six-years old and the five-months old baby and (time flies doesn't it? But I am digressing). Everyone I encountered told me I was brave, but I was not much worried. I was cocky, and I was sure that the baby was going to be asleep by the time we boarded the plane at 10 pm, and that my son was going to follow suit after take-off (because once the captain switches off the light kids have to go to sleep, right? -- wink).

You may guess that reality was quite different that my expectations, and while I was holding my screaming baby for an hour because we were stuck on the tarmac and he could not fall asleep, I kept thinking to myself that it had been an awfully bad idea to travel alone with the kids. The worst part was that British Airways did not manage to sit me and my six-years old son together. He had to sit all by himself behind me for the entire duration of the transatlantic flight, even though I had called two months in advance to reserve our seats. I kept thinking: if something happens, who is going to help him to put on the oxygen mask?

But the plane eventually took off, and the baby did fall asleep, and my son passed out after watching a movie. He was the brave one, and sat all by himself without making a fuss, even though he is afraid of takeoff and I am sure it was hard for him not to be able to hold my hand. He was dead tired, but he helped me to make it to our connecting flight even though we had to rush through Heathrow airport (thank God for the umbrella stroller I insisted on taking against my husband objections). We managed the second flight too, in spite of the business travellers' disapproving looks when I was nursing the baby.

This is why, when my older son woke up in Milan, I had purchased him a present from the plane's duty free, something I never do. This bracelet, by Duchess Kate's favorite brand Azuni London, was too pretty to pass on, so I rewarded myself, too...

Memories from the Jazz Festival

Hello everyone! Have you ever been to the Montreal Jazz Festival?

Even though we have been living in Montreal for almost ten years, in the summer we always travel to Europe so we never went until last year. You wonder why you did not read about it? Our lives were too much in chaos after our move back from Italy and my discovery of being pregnant.

This year's festival is running until the end of the week, so if you have never been head out there! It is a great experience not just for listening to good music (duh), but also to hang out with kids. Although not at all advertised, the "zone d'animation" in Place des Arts (as it is called on the map) is totally terrific.

I should have worn red

Hello everyone! Are you being patriotic this week?

We celebrated Canada Day on Monday mainly by hanging out at home and preparing our upcoming trips (my husband on business to China, and me and the kids on vacation to Italy -- much more on this soon). We also made an outing to the celebrations at our local park, and as it is mandatory we ate hot dogs and splashed in the sprinklers.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, was wearing this hat, red, or both. Even the kids had red sand buckets. I never felt less patriotic. In my defence, none of my red garments currently fits me... I really should gotten the hat.


Photo: Kate Austin.