The Illustrated Spring Fashion Edit

Hello everyone! Do you know the blog Sh*t bloggers wear?

Everything is different. This is how the March issue of Fashion magazine begins to introduce the trends for SS14. Wait, I though to myself. I have just gone through a few magazine, and all that I have seen are the usual pastels, sport style, summer metallics, and florals. ("Groundbreaking" to quote devil-wears-Prada Maryl Streep). And don't forget the slippers. 

When this morning I caught up with The Coveteur's latest posts (during another one of my car-with-sleeping-baby sessions), I was reminded that there is more to SS14 thank just that. At the beginning, I thought Cecilia Doan was behind this illustrated ABC of SS14 fashion. Rather I discovered another incredibly talented illustrator, Meghann Stephenson, who helped put together this awfully comprehensive and awfully hilarious recap. We busy fashionable moms love recaps, so make sure to check out the full Part I and Part II. Plus, stay tuned for our series on Spring fashion...

Dear reader, who are thee?

Hello dear readers!

This post I read yesterday got me thinking. Paula nailed it (in a hilarious way as usual) by contrasting 20-something girls and 40-something women.  

Who is the 30-something mom? I would answer that she is the one who still remembers how life BK looked like. For me, this means that my most productive work hours between midnight and 3 in the morning, was hyper-focused on her career and traveled constantly. There. After I will turn 40, and my reality will have completed its metamorphosis into AK life, at least I will have this post to remember.


Photo: Getty Images via A cup of Jo.

On my mind

Good morning everyone!

I am sitting in my car while the baby sleeps in the backseat. Everyday we wake up early to bring my older son to school, and the baby catches up towards the end of the car ride. I thus always find myself parked in from of the daycare waiting that he wakes up. (You know what they say, don't wake up a sleeping baby).

Which gives me the chance to catch up with my emails and favorite blogs. Today I am resuscitating this series (which I had a retired a while back, as you may remember) because I cannot get enough of:

This is my favorite. home decor. ever. There are so many houses around where I live that 

could be renovated to look like this, including one I visited three days ago. (sob.)

The inspiration board above. And yes, also that camera strap (via sfgirlbythebay).

IKEA PS 2014 collection (via Nordic Days). I want this desk and 

the modules. Possibly in the same room.

I would style them with this rug, that I hope it's for sale.

Lisa Daria's flower paintings, because they are not only beautiful, but they remind me

that it is spring somewhere. (Discovered, you guessed, via sfgirlbythebay).

What's up Coach?

Hello everyone! Have you fallen in love with the whole new Coach?

The Borough Bag (which since its appearance last season has been sported by many celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker) seems to have been the stepping stone for a big brand overhaul. Call it the French Effect if you want, I am smitten in love with pretty much everything, and I do not mean just the handbags.

But, if we want to talk handbags, this one has just hit the stores. Just saying.


Photo: Purseblog.

Don't worry, be happy!

Hello everyone and happy Happiness Day!

Isn't it a wonderful day to celebrate? We moms worry constantly, don't we? I am definitely not the laid back type, so this is certainly true for me. Today I am letting go though. I just ordered the upcoming issue of Darling magazine, which celebrates "the heartbeat of life" (thanks Rachelle for the inspiring sneak peek!). I also joined to share the love.

I will worry next week about the promotion I will likely not get because, you know, smiling actually improves your mood. (63 more facts that will make you smile here -- Thanks MG!).


P.S. I just realized that I had already written a post with this title, exactly 365 days ago. I better ask my shrink what it means.

The office makeover

Hello everyone! Do you like your office?

I got my doctorate at a beautiful Ivy League university in the United States, and now I teach at an excellent but, let's face it, quite rundown public university. My PhD advisor is coming to visit me for the first time since I graduated, and a couple of days ago I realized my office was in desperate need of a makeover.  

As I am looking at my newly acquired LACK console, rather than at the empty wall it was before, I realized. I may even like to work here now.

The next best diaper bag

Hello everyone! Are you looking for a diaper bag?

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that last Saturday we were invited to a birthday party in what turned out to be my ideal house of all times. Guests were stylish, too. In fact, since then I find myself obsessing over, not only the kitchen and its amazing corner display that I did not get get chance to photograph, but also the diaper bag carried by one of the guests. 

The bag could be mistaken for a very nice everyday bag (proof in the picture above, via Ladnebebe), and I was not actually sure it was a diaper bag until I got home and I googled the brand (God bless the internet). Storksac turns out to be the choice of a number of actresses and other famous women including Angelina Jolie. I am holding myself from hitting the purchase now button. 

P.S. My diaper bag.

Shopping Club Monaco from Montreal

Hello everyone! Do you like Club Monaco?

As you may remember, Club Monaco is my one and only destination for merino wool sweaters. I am so addicted to them, that I pay regular trips to the brand's flagship store in downtown Montreal as often as I can in the winter in the hope they received a new colour. Me, a devoted internet shopper.

Why? Because in Quebec online shopping is not available. In fact, the brand has no online presence whatsoever in Quebec. If you try to point your browser to clubmonaco.ca (come on, try), the only thing you'll get is a (rigorously bilingual) apology.

By perusing Club Monaco's tumblr account, we Montrealers get to salivate over what we do not have access to, such as the Mackage and Rachel Comey for Club Monaco collections, which are both part of the brand's makeover at the hands of Caroline Belhumeur.

A couple of weeks ago, the Ela for Club Monaco collection launched. Once again, not for us. In a moment of exasperation for this (sad, sad) state of affairs, I decided to call the store in Ottawa. (Maybe I could convince my husband to pay it a visit during his next day trip there?) I discovered there is hope! In fact, you can shop the full Club Monaco collection by placing a phone order with any store nationwide either directly (goods would then be shipped to you) or through the Montreal downtown store (where your order would then be shipped at a transfer fee of 7 CAD).

As for the Ela collection, it is carried only by Club Monaco's two flagship stores in Toronto, the one at Eaton Center (416-977-2064) and the one at Yorkdale (416-782-6139). You can expect to find the tote, the black messenger bag, and the black pouch, but I was told that other models are supposed to come at the beginning of April.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Hello everyone! Did you celebrate St Patrick's Day?

I wish I could have worn this embellished cashmere sweater by Burberry Prorsum, which kills two trends for SS14: pastels and embellishment. (You can buy it at mytheresa).

Peter Pilotto for Target

Hello everyone! Did you shop the collection of Peter Pilotto for Target?

One month after the launch, in Montreal there are only few items remaining in stores. (Online shopping is not yet available in Canada). In fact, I shopped the collection when it launched, and racks had been pretty much cleaned out by 4PM the same day. I was not too disappointed because, in spite of having eagerly waited for it, I was not impressed. The sweatshirt had an awkward cut (I know, it is the season of skimpy proportions, but...), and the garments' material generally felt cheap. I took home only these sunglasses, barely scratching the surface of the long wish list I had culled for weeks.

If you are still interested though, the remaining pieces are now on clearance. And, if you can pull in favours with your American friends or family, you can shop pretty much the entire collection online on the US website.

All over the March papers

Hello everyone! Did you have a good spring break?

I had a fantastic time. I got to hang out with my older son (the baby was at the daycare, which was open), and we spent the weekend with our best friends skiing in nearby Ste-Agathe. It was really what we all needed.

I even managed to squeeze in some reading, and caught up with my favorite magazine's March issue. Two things were all over them. First, Lupita Nyong'o. I know, we had it coming, as Vogue had already featured her in January. Now she was looking at me from the Miu Miu ad campaign to the New Yorker's cover. Second, the trends for SS14, a.k.a. pleated skirts, crop tops and ugly shoes. Stay tuned for more...

Me, myself, and the portal

After yesterday's post, a few readers asked me why I made the portal, and how has the blog evolved since I started.

If I would say that this blog is about "fashion", I would not make it justice. To say it with one of my favourite bloggers, Joslyn Taylor of Simple Lovely, this blog is about fashion, life, style, kids, parenting, and much more. 

I am a working mom who lives in Montreal with her husband, second-grader son and baby boy.  Starting a blog about fashion for thirty-something moms like me has been one of my shelf projects for a little while -- that is, since I shed away the baby weight I had accumulated during my first pregnancy and I got interested in fashion again. I realized there was a vacuum in the resources for moms who, even though they are not Kate Hudson or Katie Holmes, want to be a bit fashionable. Indeed my time management skills have been confronted with a number of challenges since my son's arrival. Sitting and relaxing after work to flip through Vogue and catch up with the latest fashion trends? No more. After work now equals to a frenzy of bath-prepare supper-eat supper-have quality time together before you pass out or you force yourself to do some more work to catch up with what you have not done during the day while you were busy getting an appointment with a pediatrician or picking up the soccer's outfit for next week's game. Window shopping downtown on a Saturday afternoon with your girlfriends? Forget it. Weekends equal to the after work frenzy on steroids -- since they generally involve playdates as well.

The most important thing I realized is that I do not mind the challenges. My sons are all worth it, and more. I just need a little time to figure out what to wear in the morning without feeling I went to work in my pajama or, worse, without imagining my mother's disapproving look for the outfit I picked without looking. This brought me to envision a space to share thoughts about fashion (and likely about kids as well) with other moms like me. The project moved from the shelf to the web in 2011.  I am sure you now wonder how I finally found the time. I became one of those lucky university professors who, after receiving tenure, could take a year of "sabbatical leave" from their home institution. This time has to be dedicated to research -- the one element of a professor's curriculum that is crucially important but that is most easily swallowed by other responsibilities, especially when children come in the picture. But I decided that, since I had never taken break since elementary school, I could dedicate one percent of this time to this project (after all, it can be considered research as well, right?).

The first year of blogging was easy. I spent my sabbatical leave in Italy, with easy access to everything: fashion, design, different parenting styles, you name it. (Full recap here). Two days after we got back, I found out I was pregnant for the second time. Updating my online pregnancy style journal thus kept me busy during the second year of blogging. As documenting the challenges of post-pregnancy style came to an end, at the beginning of 2014 I found myself ready for redesigning and reinventing.

That's how the portal was born! Now I try to be more locally grounded, by sharing resources on reads, shops, sales, events, you name it. So if you live in Montreal, I hope you get on board and follow along!

The Buzz is on!

Hello everyone! Do you live in Montreal?

As part of our major redesign, I cannot wait to share one innovation I am quite proud of.

I live in Montreal, and I have realized that I am not the only one who often struggles to get access to local information and resources. This is where The Buzz comes in. Bookmark it now, and follow us on Twitter, to be in the know of news, events, promotions as well as the best places in town to shop for clothes and accessories.

So, if you did not have time to read that stack of fashion magazines or the never-ending RSS feed of your favourite fashion blogs, fear no more. I got you covered.

Around my closet plotting a major redesign

Hello everyone! Do you like our new look?

All that has been going on around my closet lately has overpowered the little stuff going on inside my closet (as the cold weather has kept us stuck in winter time). This is why I chose the picture above for this post. When I saw it on Joanna Goddard's website a few weeks back, I thought: that's me everyday of the week, and twice on Sunday! The picture applies particularly to the past month because the redesign added a new layer to everyday's juggling.

What's new? Well, there is the banner. (I did it myself, I am so proud) Then there is... the portal! From there, you can not only shop my closet but get news updates for the Montreal area (more on this later). There is more about me, too. (In case you are interested).

All comments welcome!

Essentials for infant feeding

Hello everyone! Did you make your own baby food when your kids started eating solids?

Baby food has not received the same attention that other baby products have, thanks to Jessica Alba's lobbying when she started The Honest Company. If you have browsed the food isle of your local supermarket, I am sure you know that options for tasty and healthy baby purees are awfully limited. Plus I am Italian, right? I am sure you will not be surprised if I say that I have always made all my baby purees. My husband often teases me because I might even complain about the freshness of the ingredients I use :)

I started weaning my baby boy back in October, and by now he eats pretty much everything. Nonetheless, it is going through the phase when he cannot be trusted to eat enough by himself -- as much as often he refuses to be spoon-fed. Last week was one of those weeks: he was a bit sick, fussy because of a new tooth coming out, cranky because daddy was away... thus not quite hungry. I found myself reaching, again, for my Cuisinart Baby, and I realized how dependent I have been on it in the past six months.

There are a lot of cheaper options out there for baby food makers than the Cuisinart Baby. Last October, before we travelled to Chicago for my husband's marathon, I did an extensive search for one I could take along on the trip (Have you ever tried to travel with a baby who has just started eating solids? Then you know it is the worst stage to travel with them unless you are prepared). The Cuisinart Baby was actually the baby food maker that had the least amount of reviews, but the feedback on the other ones was not completely convincing even at the higher end of the price spectrum. Three days before departure I still had not made up my mind, and I was considering buying jars of baby food once at destination (gulp). I stumbled upon the Cuisinart Baby at a local store and I went for it, reassuring myself that I could have used it as a small food processor if it did not work properly as baby food maker.

I have not regretted that decision once. The Cuisinart Baby is all that it promises, and much more.