Rainy day

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone! Do you like rainy days?

I hate the rain (ask my husband). In summer, I find it particularly dreadful if we are at the beach. This year, the weather has gone wacko in Italy (remember our arrival in Milan last week?) and I was not surprised that, in the context of cool temperatures, today we had torrential rains at the Riviera.

The fact that this happened while we are staying at this museum of a hotel redefined a rainy day for me. Between meals, we took advantage of the forced stay indoors to explore the property. This included visiting the much hyped second floor, which hosts the room with adjoining throne room (yes, you can rent it, and it now occupied so we could not peek inside). I cannot believe how beautiful this villa is, and how lucky we are to be here. Rain or no rain.

Grand

Hello everyone!

After a brief passage to Milan, we have arrived at the beach. Breaking with a long tradition, we are taking advantage of a special and we are staying at the Grand Hotel Villa Balbi. It is a seventeen-century villa built by the doges, and inhabited by king and queens over the years. (There is still one room with adjoining throne room!)

I always dreamed of staying there, but reality trumped all my expectations. The hotel is, for lack of a better word, grand. I feel like Coco Chanel staying at Etienne Balsan's estate. Or like the model in the latest Dior ad campaign.

Passage to Milan

 

     

Hello everyone!

We are leaving for our usual beach retreat, and even if it sounds a bit spoiled, I regret we spent only two (majorly) jet-lagged days in Milan. Aside from eating my weight in La Durée macarons, this is what I wish I had had the time to do...

// Manicure, healthy smoothies, and vintage shopping at Bahama Mama // Checking out Max Mara's FW14 collection // Visiting (finally) the Museo del Novecento // Buying this Swatch, which I have been obsessing about since reading (you could have guessed) Garance's post.

Top or bottom?

Hello everyone!

Now that I am in Italy, I am pondering the purchase of a new bikini. One of the main things that sets me off when I have tried to buy swimwear in North America is the fact that bikini tops and bottoms are sold separately. In Italy, this is unheard of. The two are sold together to match nicely, period.

Do you normally buy bikini pieces separately? Or together? I'd love to hear.

P.S. Echoing a key trend for SS14, in Hawaii I've seen a lot of fringed bikini tops like the one pictured above (available here in case you were interested). I am curious to see whether there is the same fashion at the Italian Riviera.

I woke up at 5 am and reorganized a closet

Good morning everyone!

Due am unexpected phone call, I woke up at 5 am. The kids were still sleeping but I could not fall back asleep, what did I do? I sifted through the stuff I have left year since our sabbatical stay in Milan.

Which made me think, I am not sure why I even bother to pack for our summer holidays. I am glad I brought an extra suitcase...

There we went again

Hello everyone and ciao da Milano!

We arrived tonight in Milan in what feels like a parallel universe of my dreams: the weather is cool and there are no mosquitoes. (Even my parents do not remember a similar summer)

The trip was quite easy. I am not sure whether I am going to pay for it with the return flight from Europe in three weeks, but I could have not hoped for better. The kids slept the entire time from Montreal to London, enjoyed with me a long layover at Heathrow Airport (which included a nice lunch at Wagamama and much window shopping), and fell asleep again on the flight from London to Milan. We were thus able to have dinner with my parents without too much drama, and everyone was in bed by 10 pm.

Thank goodness last year's trip is just a memory...

On Island Fashion

Hello everyone!

As I am re-packing for our trip to Italy (tomorrow! two more intercontinental flights alone with the kids! I am crazy!), I distracted myself by flipping through the pages of a promotional magazine of Ala Moana Shopping Center that made its way home with us from Honolulu. That's where I came across this expression.

Yes, there is such a thing as Island Fashion. It includes bright flowery everything, Billabong swimwear, cool sunglasses and straw hats. And this year also a pair of Aldo flatforms. Except for the sunglasses, and possibly be flatforms (you know I have mixed feelings about them), I am sure we all agree that it is stuff you can only wear in Hawaii. (If you can think of another place, I'd love to hear). 

This is what I have rather brought home -- and is going along to our trip to Italy as well: twin pearls we found in our own oyster (my son was the lucky one who opened it), which were less than 10 USD; an Hawaiian-print triangle bikini (from Old Navy of all places!), which costed me less than 15 USD; and this Tory Richard's dress, which I could not resist. It has just enough island and a lot of fashion, don't you think?

Nursing gear to the rescue

Hello everyone!

I am packing for our upcoming trip to Italy, and I have confession. I did it. My baby is almost out of diapers, but for our summer travel I bought the Storksac Elizabeth diaper bag I had my eyes on since last winter. 

I do not regret it a single bit. As I have not been able to find a stylish backpack (as you may remember from this post), my excuse for the purchase has been that it fits EVERYTHING, including my laptop. (For once the promotional video corresponds to reality, this is really a Mary Poppins bag). Perhaps the real reason though is that I did not see myself going to posh Hawaiian resorts and, especially, Italy with my otherwise beloved Skip Hop bag. (You remember my Italian best friend who wore Brunello Cucinelli through her past pregnancy? I am sure she now carries a Chanel diaper bag). 

Don't you think the crossbody strap is a bit Chloè? I am thinking about swapping it for a couple of my designer bags straps.

P.S. You know what I also took on the trip? My Seraphine nursing cover. Not because the baby is still nursing (he weaned, another sob), but because it is better than a pashmina. It is big enough to cover me and the baby if he is snoozing on my lap during the flight, and to hide stains that are inevitable is you are stuck on a six-hours flight with an infant :)

The great packing forward

Hello everyone!

If all goes as planned, in less than 48 hours we will be on the plane to Italy to visit my parents. I am glad I had planned to spend this week at home in between our trip to Hawaii and the next one. Today we all seem to have overcome the 6 hours time difference between Honolulu and Montreal, and I have had the time to tie a lot of loose ends. (Although I am sure I will leave a few behind this time as well...) And I have finally gotten some sleep!

The kids' clothes have been washed and re-packed, hair has been cut, bills have been paid, and I even got a new pair of glasses, which I am totally in love with. (Do you like them? It is the pair I got in Italy three years ago) 

Now, if only I could figure out what to pack for me...

Chasing a trend

Hello everyone! Did you pick up a pair of Birkenstock for this summer?

The trend started with last year's Celine's furry slippers and, you might say, this year the hype has not yet quieted down. The Birkenstock/Celine look-a-like slippers are everywhere for SS14.

I lived in this pair last year. I thus wanted something different, and I was charmed by Zara's lookbook back in April. Zara does know a thing or two about editing, so I must have not been the only one. The two most popular styles (this one and this one) had already sold out online two times already, and bounced off the shelves of the brand's flagship store in downtown Montreal.

I diligently, albeit impatiently, waited until Zara notified me that my favorite ones were back in stock to score a pair of my own. At around 100 CAD, these sandals are expensive for Zara, and what worried me was the fit, since my left foot is giving me some troubles again. One pair definitely hurt, but the other one (pictured above) was borderline. I did not return it just because my mom (who is difficult to please, especially when it comes to low-cost fashion chains) deemed them "bellissime".

I took them on our trip to Hawaii, and I had to store them after a couple of times because it was clear that they are not the best for my feet. While they stayed in the suitcase until we got back a few days ago, I replaced with a similar style of Crocs, but after initial rejoicing I am back to square one.

Maybe the original Birkenstock were the real solution. Why oh why is this pair by J Crew sold out? Well, I may just have to go shopping in Italy for a new pair. A girl gotta do what a girl gotta do...

Phase 2

Hello everyone! Do you know the card game Phase 10?

That's how the summer travel makes me feel. Phase 1 was the trip to Vancouver: 1 set of intercontinental flights. Phase 2 was the return to Montreal from Hawaii: 1 set of transatlantic flights + 1 set of intercontinental flights. 

Fortunately, the above-mentioned Phase 2 could have not gone better, thanks to a complimentary upgrade to Economy Plus on the flight Honolulu to San Francisco (thank you United Airlines!) and to an extra seat on the flight from San Francisco to Montreal (thanks to my over-dramatizing skills with the flight attendant -- I have developed them into an art when I am traveling along with the kids).

The time difference is a b**** though. We are soooo jet-lagged! Paradoxically the one who seems the least affected so far is the baby. My older son's state is compounded by how much he misses his dad, who has stayed in Hawaii to finish teaching his summer course. In other words: when the baby is not keeping me awake, it is him. I have not gotten any decent sleep in three days.

This is why today I am taking the day off. It will probably be the only day without the kiddies that I will have in a month so I am staycation-ing to the max. Haircut, many and pedi in the morning. Window-shopping at Holt Renfrew after lunch. (It will take us a long time to pay off our Hawaii vacation, I tell you). Hopefully a nap when I get back if I am really lucky. 

Ahhhh. It feels good to have my hair blow-dried for the first time in three weeks. 

Traveling to Hawaii with kids

Aloha everyone! (Sorry, I never get tired of saying that.)

We have entered the last stretch of our summer holiday in Hawaii. The islands were not new to my husband and I. He did his PhD here and I lived with him right before and after we got married. It was our dream to bring the kids, and our holiday has definitely been a dream come true. Nonetheless we had to make a number of compromises, which I'd like to share with you in case you are planning a similar trip.

My husband is teaching a course at the University of Hawaii until mid-August and our original idea was to spend the whole summer here. As we started working around this plan, we realized that it would have been CRAZY expensive to do so. With two kids, renting even a small apartment for two months would have costed us a small fortune. Honolulu is not set up for this kind of traveling, I think. There are beautiful hotels and resorts (like the ones we stayed at), but if you stay in an apartment and need to buy groceries, finding a supermarket with less expensive prices than the many ABC stores is difficult. Carrying your groceries home without a car (and a baby in a stroller) is even more so. On the Big Island, where we spent half of last week, you need to rent a car. The major compromise we have made is thus to stay here all together for three weeks, and then spend the rest of the summer apart. While my husband teaches the remainder of his course, I will go and visit my parents in Italy. 

As our departure date is approaching, and we have now all slipped into a relaxing routine of pool swimming/lounging in the morning and boogie-boarding at the beach in the afternoon, I know even more how much we will miss to be here all together. I can only cheer myself up thinking about the beautiful memories we are taking with us -- like swimming with the dolphins. Indeed.

Breakfast at the volcano

Aloha everyone! What is the most spectacular place where you ever had breakfast?

Yesterday, we spent our last day on the Big Island by visiting the Kilauea volcano. My husband and I had already been here after we had just met ten years ago. I cannot believe my seven-years old son got to walk on the lava my husband and I had seen flowing then. (Gasp)

But I am digressing. To manage the three-hours long drive with our 18-months years old we decided to leave very early in the morning, so we got to the volcano by 9 am. The only place we could have breakfast was the Volcano House, which has limited choices, darn good sausages, and most importantly windows that overlook the volcano after an extensive renovation completed in 2013.

Yep, this is what we could see while having cereals.

There were no pearls or LBDs involved (in fact, I was wearing a sweatshirt from the gift shop because I could not find mine in the morning). But it was breathtaking.

It takes a village

Aloha everyone! 

We are on our way back to Honolulu from Kona, on Hawaii's Big Island. It is the first time in two weeks I have the time to sit down and flip through the pages of TWO magazines AND write a blog post.

We have been busy, guys. Long forgotten was going hands free in Vancouver. Since we arrived, we have been spending our time chasing our two water-addicted offsprings from one resort pool to the other (first at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and then at the Hilton Waikoloa Village). We have attended a luau, taken many walks in the beach, tried stand-up canoeing, and visited the Big Island (more on this later). My son has swam with dolphins. We had lunch watching the dolphins playing in the pool below us. We have all swam with turtles.

You know what though? The most amazing thing that has happened in the past two weeks is how my seven-year old son has blossomed. He has a completely new energy. Last year he was afraid to wear a snorkel (let alone use it) and this year he has breathed more through his snorkel than without. Then he has ditched the snorkelling gear altogether and stuck his head in the water -- something he has never felt comfortable doing. And if going hands free is a mindset, I am glad I was there to witness the change.