Tag Archives: photography

Gratefully Grateful *9*

9 Mar

It was another great week with sunny beautiful weather. I managed to finish up some fun sewing projects. I introduced the Days For Girls project at a local Women’s Day event and received lots of interest and support. I went fabric shopping with some of my favourite fellow sewers and ended finding some really gorgeous materials.  I spent the week-end catching up with an old friend and his sweet kids (and laughing a lot). I got to eat my favourite garlicky pizza at our local pizzeria. And I actually ticked a lot of items off my to-do list.  Nice.

I’m grateful for…

IMG_5825…sunny days in my living-room.
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 …my daughter’s washi art projects to be found around the house.
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…the fact my kids still want me to wipe the sand off their feet after a day at the beach.

Wishing you all a great week ahead.

Gratefully Grateful *1*, *2*, *3*, *4*, *5*,*6*,*7*,*8*

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Days For Girls

6 Mar

IMG_5806A few months ago I was poking around online and came across a site for the grassroots non-profit project called Days For Girls. From the second I read their action plan, and subsequently their entire site in that first sitting, I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of.

Days For Girls was founded in 2008 by Celeste Mergens after working in a Kenyan orphanage and noticing that the girls weren’t educated about their menstrual cycles nor equipped to deal with it (no feminine hygiene products available to them).

This feminine hygiene program’s motto is: Every Girl. Everywhere. Period.  Their vision is for every girl and woman in the world to have feasible access to quality sustainable hygiene and health education by the year 2022.  Like I said before, I’m on board 100%.

Days for Girls volunteers produce reusable menstrual cycle kits.  The program has already sent kits to over 60,000 girls in over 60 countries worldwide.  These kits last approximately three years and have literally changed the lives of many girls and young women who before had to skip school and/or work due to their menstrual cycles.  This in turn has resulted in lower school drop-out rates in many areas as well as a lot less lost income for days missed at work.IMG_5817

Days for Girls is also very active in helping set up local sewing cooperatives and teaching the local women how to make the kit components themselves.

After writing back and forth with their International Chapter Liaison Cindy Murdock I started up one of Europe’s first Days For Girls teams.  So, I’m now official and couldn’t be prouder!  I’ve been busy cutting, sewing and gathering supplies for kits and luckily I have a fantastic group of friends who are happily getting involved and helping me out.

A project that helps girls and women in need and that involves sewing?  A match made in heaven for me.

If you are interested in becoming involved or donating supplies contact Days for Girls here (or look here for a team or chapter near you).  If you’re living in Italy or even Europe and would like to help out my team by sewing kit components or donating supplies (cotton, flannel, ribbon, miniature soaps, new cotton underpants or facecloths) contact me at VareseItaly@daysforgirls.org.  I’d love to hear from you.

 

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Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Dates

4 Mar

This past Christmas a good friend of ours brought us some dates back from his recent trip to Algeria.  I’m going to be honest here and tell you that I thanked him and then proceeded to hide them away at the back of my baking cupboard.  I’ve had a thing against dates that goes back to childhood.  My mother and grandmother would always sneak them into various sweets and desserts or try and get me to eat them straight-up.  It was torture.  Just the look of those dark brown sticky LARGE looking raisins really made my stomach turn.

But I’m happy to announce that at 39 years old I’ve finally matured and realised that dates aren’t all that bad actually.  I’m still not interested in eating them straight-up but can admit that added to certain dishes they can really enhance the taste and texture (including a mind-blowing Lamb and Date Tagine we ate in Morocco).

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So a few weeks ago I dug in the back of my baking cupboard and got out the box of Algerian dates.  I decided I wanted to try to make a fudge chocolate cake and thought the dates could be a perfect way to intensify the flavour (and make it a little bit healthier?).  And the result was delicious.  And keeping with family tradition I did not tell my kids the secret ingredient in the chocolate cake they were so happily enjoying.

This recipe seems quite fussy with all of the different steps and bowls that have to be used but it really is quick to make and so worth it.  The addition of cinnamon with the chocolate and dates makes it a really deep and rich cake.  I’ve proclaimed my love of the chocolate and cinnamon combination here in the past when I made these Chocolate and Fresh Cherry Cakes with Cinnamon.

Read on for recipe… Continue reading →

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Gratefully Gratefully *8*

2 Mar

We’re just back from an amazing week in Morocco.  We spent time hiking in the mountains, eating the most delicious Moroccan meals, visiting ancient Kasbahs, driving through the ever-changing mountainous landscapes, speaking French, building sandcastles on the beach and even surfing.  It was a full week to say the least.  And even arriving back in a freezing cold and rainy Italy at midnight didn’t dampen our high spirits.  Many family memories were made that will last a lifetime.  And obviously for that I’m extremely grateful.  As you’ll see, my grateful post is pretty Morocco inspired this week.

I’m grateful for…

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…Moroccan olives.  I miss them already

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…this neighbourhood outside of Agadir with painted trees in bright and cheerful colours and patterns.

IMG_5796…Mint Tea.  We drank it daily and even brought home a few bundles of fresh Moroccan mint and a new teapot to make some ourselves.

I wish you all a lovely week ahead!

Gratefully Grateful *1*, *2*, *3*, *4*, *5*,*6*,*7*

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Gratefully Grateful *7*

21 Feb

Happy Friday folks.  Here in Italy it’s a beautiful sunny day.  The tulip bulbs are sprouting in the garden.  The forsythia (say that 5 times quickly) is already in bloom.  The mountains are in full view and covered in snow.  My purple hyacinth has filled my living room with a lovely pungent perfume.  And I’m in the midst of packing for a trip to Morocco.  Life is pretty great.

This week I’m (also) grateful for…IMG_4752…Monday morning gnocchi making lessons with my lovely friends.

IMG_4777…a new project of mine that I’m so excited about.  It involves sewing and helping girls and young women in need.  I’ll be writing all about it very soon.

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…colourful cushions and quilts made for us by friends and family.

I wish you all a great week-end.  I’ll most likely be offline most of next week but I’ll try my best to post photos of our Moroccan travels over on Instagram.

Gratefully Grateful *1*, *2*, *3*, *4*, *5*,*6*

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Traveling With Kids: Venice

20 Feb

My latest Traveling With Kids column is over on the creative parenting site Classic Play today.  This time I write all about traveling to Venice as a family.  We spent a few days there at Christmas and it was absolutely beautiful.  We all loved wandering along the canals and admiring the stunning architecture as well as visiting the sites and museums.  My kids have officially declared it one of their favourite cities in the world.  Lucky for us it’s only a 3 hour drive away…

traveling-with-kids-venice1Click here to read more.

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Vive La Difference

10 Feb

Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you all had a lovely week-end and are ready to kick off this week with a spring in your step.  The weather over here today is grey and rainy which makes it a tad bit difficult to get too much of a spring in my step.  But I’m trying my best.

Today I’m over on the the London-based design blog Colour Living taking part in their Vive La Difference series.  Tina (the blogger behind Colour Living) sent me a list of themes and words in which I had to choose a few to interpret into a creative image.  Tina then created her own image using the same words as inspiration.

IMG_4153After reading the list I chose the words book, fabric and library.  Three things that I really love.  Click over to Colour Living to read all about my dream library as well as to see TIna’s interpretation (and inspiring description of her imaginary library). Thanks for having me Tina!

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Gratefully Grateful *5*

7 Feb

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are in the world but here in Northern Italy we have had a pretty long stretch of grey and rainy days.  Luckily in the middle of it all we had one glorious day of full sun and bright blue skies that helped keep everyone’s spirits (relatively) high. In all the years that we have lived here this has to be the most bizarre winter in terms of weather.  We actually haven’t yet experienced any real winter temperatures or conditions this year.  For me it’s absolutely fine.  For my kids, not so much.  They are praying every day for snow and I hope for their sake we have at least one good storm where the snow stays on the ground for more than a few hours.  But despite the grey skies and rain (and a mild case of the flu) there have been lots to be happy about this week.

This week I am grateful for…


IMG_4119-001…that one glorious day of sun we had this week.  Seriously, it recharged my battery and gave me some much needed energy.IMG_4208…our upcoming trip to Morocco and the fact I’ll be able to pick up a new pair of colourful slippers to add to our collectionIMG_4003…a lovely walk along the lake with one of my daughters.  And this very curious goose who decided to join us.  Check out those gorgeous mountain views in the background!

Enjoy your week-end everyone!

Gratefully Grateful *1*, *2*, *3*, *4*

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Surprise Message Bunting Cards

4 Feb

The other day I was chatting with one of my twin daughters about Valentine’s Day and all the fun we’ve had in the past making up special treats and cards for their classmates over the years. Over here in Italy (and I think generally in Europe) Valentine’s Day is a day reserved for couples and adults and not something kids celebrate like in North America.  So even though my kids have always been one of the few that celebrate it in school it has still become a lovely yearly tradition to make something together for their friends.
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This year we decided to make simple cards with sewn paper buntings that have little hidden messages.  Easy, quick and fun for kids of just about any age.IMG_4048-001

This is all you need to make these sweet little cards.  I used glassine for the actual bunting paper so that you can see the pretty patterned paper through it.  If you don’t have glassine paper any type of paper would be fine.
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I cut the glassine paper in long strips and folded it in half to have a square piece of paper.  I then sewed the pieces of glassine squares together with the sewing machine (making sure the folded edge is on the bottom).  This way the glassine paper is sewn on the top, closed by the fold on the bottom and open on the two sides (to make it easier to slip in the small pieces of paper with message on the back).IMG_4068After sewing the bunting together we slipped in little square pieces of paper with our special messages on the back.  Seeing as the glassine is open on both sides the messages are easy to slip in and out.  We then simply attached the sewn paper bunting to our cards with tiny heart stickers (pieces of washi would also be nice).

Now to come up with all the short little messages to go inside.  Some of my favourites that my kids have suggested for their classmates are: ‘you have nice handwriting’, ‘you are pretty smart’, ‘you have the best snacks’ and ‘you don’t smell’.  Let’s hope their romantic sides develop a little more in the years to come.

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Gratefully Grateful *4*

31 Jan

Oh this Gratefully Grateful series is working wonders for my psyche.  I spend my days really looking for things that I’m grateful for and that make me feel good and positive and all warm and fuzzy inside.  I often find myself making mental notes of beautiful things that I see, kind people I spend time with, new things learned and ways that I can possibly change my life and my family’s for the better.  Guys, I have become Pollyanna and I am so happy about it!  Yeah, there are still those difficult and stressful moments but I let them pass quickly and get on with the good parts of my life.  And I’ll be honest about the fact that I am so fortunate to have so much good in my life.  I know not everyone does.

This week I am grateful for…

DSC_0137-001…the fact that my daughter has no fear of bright colours and patterns and mixing the two as she pleases.  Even if she ends up looking different than anyone else around.

IMG_3922…our new family hobby geocaching and how it has made our week-ends so much more fun.  Check out our homemade ‘calling cards’ that we leave in the caches we find (and our corny tag-line too!).CTCNEWLOGO…that I won a space in Xanthe Berkeley‘s online course Creating Time Capsules.  I’ve been eyeing this course for ages and still can’t believe that I WON SOMETHING!  Many thanks to Xanthe (who is one of my favourite photographers).

Gratefully Grateful *1*, *2*, *3*

I’d love to hear what you’re grateful for this week.

Enjoy your week-end!

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