Fashion Friday

It's Friday again!

Where did the week go?

This is another little number Dahlia got for her birthday and just put on for the first time. I don't normally like monograms or someones picture on clothes but I think this little Kai Lan outfit is too adorable. We were on our way for some ice-cream - so had to have a cute outfit to wear.

We recently went to the fair (and I'm including this pic to prove it) but what I really want to show is just how much Dahlia likes ice-cream (really a girl after my own heart).

So, she's checking it out.....yeah.......it looks good.......

...now, let's see.........mmmmmmmmmm

Suppose she's likin' it? That's my girl!

Check out all the other fun kiddos and their cool fashions at the

Salsa in China site.

Have a great week-end!

My Garden - May 2009

Bloggy troubles update: After aborted visits and numerous inquiries as to what in hecks name is going on with my blog - the google help line updated their announcement to say they were aware of the problem and were working on it and meantime, a possible solution would be to lower my followers gadget down on my sidebar. So I did that and it hasn't crashed since yesterday so...I'm sort of holding my breath and hoping for the best. Pass this tip on to anyone you may know who is having similar problems.

Guess who painted this?

Yup - this is my Dahlia's first painting. (Acrylic on canvas.) Ask me if I'm proud? Her interest in art has really blossomed (hhmm....no pun there) just in the last 6 months so I enrolled her in a class at her kindergarten and she loves it. Of course, being an artist, I should be the one teaching her but.....I'll guide her. It's best if she learns from someone neutral. (I'm finding the same thing with piano - she's keen to learn but doesn't listen to Mommy like she would to an outsider. (No big news flash there.)

Anyway, I think her first "chef d'oeuvre" is beautiful. And the best thing is, she is so proud of herself. First thing she said when she brought it home and showed me was "can you put it on your blog?" (with a big, proud grin.) Ha, she didn't really have to ask!

Now, on to our garden.

I planted about 150 tulips last fall thinking we'd be in China in the early spring and wouldn't it be nice to get back to a garden full of colour. Well, best laid plans..........they are lovely AND we'll be going by July it looks like so....better than when the snow flies!

Isn't this just one perfect Dahlia.


I've been messing around with my camera and trying to get that trendy blurred background and have come across some great tutorials. (It's all in the aperture.) This is one thing I just love about the Blog world - it's a plethora of anything you want to know (and didn't even know you wanted to know). I took 2 photography courses lately but I learnt more in one night reading these tutorials on apertures and lenses. Just last night I read Mckmama's post (from My Charming Kids) on just this as well as I should be folding laundry and Pioneer Woman. These sites are just full of help and ideas.




And while I'm lovin' on my fav sites, let me share a few more that I love. The Salsa site for great camera recommendations and lots of inspiration - the Double Happiness site for super collage tips and more inspiration - and these sites - Pixel Fairy Princess, The Long Road to China, Mamarazzi, Iheartfaces for tips, contests, insights and stimulation. I just love them!

My white lilac that I planted many years ago - fills the house with that gorgeous aroma - so short-lived though, I try and drink it in everyday.

Little white bleeding heart I transplanted after dividing the many that I have all over. Another favourite of mine.

Bishop's hood (can't remember the Latin name.)

Beautiful deep, deep purple (almost black) Queen of the Night tulip.

My spring garden is so soft not only in the colour of the flowers but also in texture and the shade of green in the foliage. As the summer progresses the colors become more vibrant and everything literally explodes. I'll post each month to show the differences. (And someday I'll organize my old pics and try and do a then and now.) Gee, I'm feeling gushy - I just love my garden. They're like my little children!

A fushia standard inside the gazebo.

Don't you just love a simple pansy? They're like little faces. And that color - it's heavenly to me.

When I began gardening years ago I started with one (annual) flower. And it's still one of my all time favourite flowers - the simple Petunia ( in my fav colour - ice pink - well after black and white and, oh yeah - silver...but after that - it's ice pink. Yup, just love it!

If you're a gardener or just love beautiful flowers, I wish you many hours of pleasure this summer.

Cheers!

Fashion Friday

(Help....I'm having trouble with my site. It only opens sporatically and apparently it's a Windows problem. If anyone knows how to fix it can you e-mail me or, if you can, leave a comment. Thank you so much! wandamalfara@ca.inter.net)

We went shopping the other day for white summer sandals and we didn't find any (other than huge clunkers) but we did find these little cuties. And had to have this little pursey too. (When I saw it I immediately flashed-back to my childhood - I had a similar purse, only I think it was turqoise, and I just loved it!!!) So of course, we had to get it, no?

Ta Da.....Dahlia is sure lovin' the frilly layers. We weren't going anywhere special so she asked if she could wear it around the house. She's learning that when she looks this cute, mama has a hard time saying no.
It's PJ day at school this Friday so Dahlia got to pick out which PJ's she would be wearing - and of course, did a little modeling for the camera - totally unsolicited, I swear.

And for some extra silliness -this was Dahlia's choice for dress-up. The layered look for sure. She has on her ratty old nighty (is that how you spell nighty?), a PJ top on top of that, a piece of fabric for a stole, a pink velour cape in the front (I think she thinks it's a dress....ok!), grey fairy wings, a pink crown and shiny shoes. Whew. (There may actually be even more but that's all I can see.)

A proud moment.

Well, that's it for this weeks fashion picks. Don't forget to pop over to see the Salsa twin's fashion picks for this week.

And now for some news, if you haven't heard. We are one day away from referrals. (Meaning - families have received the pictures of their babies up to the 14th of March 2006 and our LID is the 15th so..........we're next!!!

So I thought I'd show you a little number, just waiting for Milana.
(See announcement in the post below.)

Dahlia is going to make such a great big sister!!!

Have a wonderful week-end.

At Last...

A-hem...........I am amazingly calm right now. Or am I numb?

The CCAA just updated the box and referrals are completed til March 14th 2006. That means we offically are...

NEXT!

sigh....

LID March 15th 2006

Ummm.....

And now for a complete digression, I have some BABY ALERT news!!! Some strong rumours (rumors) are afloat that March 14th is coming in, which makes.....wait for it.......March 15th NEXT!!! Ummm.......that's us. (Of course, this being said with some reservation, to protect the sanity....mine.)

I will, of course, keep you all updated the minute this is confirmed. But for the moment, let me rejoice in this bit of good news.

Ahhh.....thank you!!

I ♥ Faces (Week 19, Blurb Book Photo Contest - Amateur)

DAHLIA

When I heard that this week's theme at I Heart Faces was their Blurb Book Photo Contest and their only requirement was to enter the very best face photo I have ever taken - well gee - that's a no brainer. (Actually, since I love this little face so much it was torture to narrow it done to one, but this is the one I chose.)

Be sure to head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

So, thanks for stopping by and if you have something to say - click on comments.

Cheers,

Fashion Challenge Friday

On Mother's Day this week I had said that Dahlia could pick out her outfit for the day. So of course, she picked a silky, frilly little sun dress but it was quite cool (downright cold actually) here so I 'suggested' she pick something else.

This is the little number she chose.

(click on pictures to enlarge)
I didn't really want to post this picture (with me in it) but I wanted to show the jacket and (groovy) hat and thought cutting off my head and leaving my hands on her shoulder might have looked a little weird so I decided to stay. (Know what I mean?)
So that's it for this week. Pop over to the Salsa site for more fashion kiddy fun.
It's Victoria Day week-end here and time to get the garden in (or a part of it).
Have a great week-end!!

Remembering my Mom

Two years ago today (actually it was Mother's Day that year) we lost my Mom, Dahlia's Nan. I can't even begin to say how much my Mother did for me and my four siblings - that post would go on forever. Her only dream was to have a large, happy family and she devoted her life to us.

I am so grateful that Dahlia got to meet her and know her a little. Dahlia would make strange with anyone new but she instantly took to my Mom and would jump in her lap with a book or let Mom teach her little songs and dances. There was such a tenderness between them - they just clicked. I love those memories - thank God for those memories!

Mom gave me many gifts - she believed I could do anything, so I did too. She gave me a soft heart and a soft spirit and a fabulous sense of humour...no really! And she gave me tenacity and ok, maybe some (some, you say?) stubbornness. And a great sense of adventure and courage.

And so much more!

No matter how old you are - your Mom is your Mom and I miss mine very much!

I love you Mommy!

Mother's Day

This was my 5th Mother's Day as a Mom.

I can't really remember the ones before that.......

(blurry, I know, but I love her expression......)

This little girl makes me so happy!

And next year we can multiply that by 2 when Milana is finally home. I'll about burst!

We Picture {This} (Mamarazzi) Hats

Nikon D300, f/10, exposure time 1/400 sec., ISO - 200, focal length 105 mm

This is Dahlia, my little girl who made me a Mommy more than four years ago. I celebrate this everyday. I am endlessly fascinated by her growing personality and character. She is so courageous yet oh so tender. Blissfully joyful and yet an old soul where waters run deep. Each day I see little flickers of who she may become and I'm honored to be the one she calls Mom.

These two photos were taken within minutes of each other and speak volumes about the many sides of my wonderful Dahlia.

Nikon D300, f/5.6, Exposure 1/125 sec, ISO - 200, focal length 60 mm

Don't forget to hop over to the mamarazzi site to see all the other "hat" entries this month.

Fashion Challenge Friday

Bet you're saying "doesn't this kid ever change her clothes?" Why "yes, in fact, she does.....look closer!" This little dress became this week's obsession ( I got the other one in the wash finally).

This was Dahlia's after school selection this week and she ran to change into it everyday after school. Note the addition of the pink hair clip - had to tie in the pink somewhere! (And TM - the panda is for you!)

Dahlia learnt how to skip this week. Last Saturday she couldn't even do one but she worked on it and worked on it and finally was able do one, then two and three and so on. Within 2 days she could double skip, cantor skip (I just made up that term as I don't know how else to describe it - ya know - one leg and then the other) and some other concoction. I know all the various types of 'skips' because each one was announced with "hey Mom - watch this!" and I did.......EVERY ONE OF THEM! (I am quite impressed though as I don't think I could skip til at least 7 yrs old.)

Below is the reason my life is considerably easier. Can you say 'school uniform'? I LOVE IT! It's actually more of a dress code which makes dressing in the morning soooooo easy.

Ummm......she does wear shoes......they're just by the front door. Check out the artwork. that would be Dahlia and her BF (Angel) spinning a skip rope and guess who's jumping in the middle? Ummm....yup....that would be me! (Only in her dreams and her artwork :-)

And finally, what would a week be without the requisite fairy princess dress-up?



Pop on over to the Salsa site for more kiddies fashion fun.
Wishing you all a wonderful Mother's Day (sprinkled with pixie dust, of course!)

You Capture

You Capture - Expressions.

Can't you just hear Zizi saying "I hope there's a treat in this for me".

Check out the other entries for this week's You Capture.

PS. I can't stay in a funk for very long (see below). Besides RQ just posted that the 15th may be in this month. She gave it an R2. (Yippee!)

Nothin' special.....(that's the point)

It's raining (and usually I look at rain like - good for my flowers, the grass will get greener, I don't need to water anything today, it'll clear the air - but today, I just can't.)

It is now the 7th of May and I'm tired of answering "soon....really soon". When is soon actually?

And besides that - I'm bummed about Alison. Yes, Alison from AI. Huh? Oh, come on. The girl can sing! Anyway, she probably would have been gone next week.....

OK, I dumped it, it's over, now I'm going to enjoy a picture of my tulips. I'll be back tomorrow with my little fashionista.

I ♥ Faces Contest / Hats

Ever since I got this new camera (Nikon D300 - eeek....I can't believe it's mine!) I've been so excited to use it, use it, use it. After all, how else do you get to Carnegie hall? Answer: no other way but practice your pants off! (After 13 years of classical piano, I know that.)

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not planning any trip, anytime soon to Carnagie hall - I just want to take better pictures of my little sweetie (and our soon to be little sweetie #2). And maybe some pretty flowers and pictures to paint, that's it. I am in awe of the beautiful, artistic creations I have seen recently on some of fav blogs like http://2happy.typepad.com/ and http://www.salsainchina.blogspot.com/ and http://www.thelongroadtochina.blogspot.com/ and http://www.pixelfairyprincessphotography.blogspot.com/ as well as the fantastic contestants every week on http://www.iheartfaces.com/.

So when I heard that this week's theme was 'faces and hats' I was off to the park with my little sweetie, my groovy new camera and a hat (actually a few, but we have to pick just one - bummer!). I love the contrasts in this picture and it defines Dahlia perfectly as she is a study in opposites. The hard background of the rock and black leather (she can be hard as nails and oh so stubborn), the fancy hat (Dahlia is a fancy smancy girl at heart) and the softness of the tulip which picks up the soft pink in her cheeks (deep inside that solid exterior lives a very sensitive, sweet soul which I am honored to uncover and discovery daily). And the diamond that caught the light? It speaks for itself!!!

Be sure to head over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!