National Sunday Supper Day

My family and I spend more time together than most families. Sometimes it's a lot (too much) but my family is very involved in each other's lives. Even if we have caught up during the week, we have always gathered for Sunday Family Dinner. We have done this for my whole adult life. When my Grandpa was still around, we would meet every Sunday at the same time, same table, at the same restaurant. The resto staff would hold table 1 for Old Mr. S. and pretty much boot people out of the table if they were not finished their meal before our arrival. He was one of my favourite humans ever, and I think people generally took to him. Every where we went, he would be saluted by someone he knew. We loved our Sunday dinners with our Gung Gung. After he passed in 2004, we have kept up with our Sunday dinners. We go to different places most times now and sometimes we cant make it, but it's still such a nice family tradition. This morning I heard that it was National Sunday Supper Day, a day to encourage families to sit down for a meal together. This was a national-made-up-holiday that was easy to get behind for our family! This was our meal today. 

Spring is coming!

Hi!

We had a beautiful weekend here. Seems the nice weather tends to arrive on the weekends lately! Definitely not complaining! Been spending these days working on the new Spring/Summer Collection and getting the pieces stocked up for the online shop as well at for the One of a Kind Spring Show. Will be showing you the new pieces soon! 

Thank you to those that scored a phone case and jewellery grab bag from our mini fundraiser! Your purchase dollars have been donated to the Canadian Cancer Society. Your support is extremely appreciated!

Today is the 29th of February. We have an extra 24 hours to enjoy this year. I'm hunkering down with pliers in one hand and making a mega To Do list for the next few weeks. Can't believe March will be upon us tomorrow. Hope your day has been lovely. 

xo

M

PS. Here is a cute pic of my nephew at the aquarium.

Hong Kong, part II

It's been a busy Summer and now as I browse these pictures, my memories of these experiences have already dimmed!  Glad I took so many photos!  Sorry for the delay in posting these.  Here are the photos from the second part of my Hong Kong travels.

Landing in HK after our Maldives break!

Pastel colours of Wan Chai.

Lovely little speciality shops. Stationery...

china...

Entry way into the old days!

Interesting architecture.

A visit to Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens on a steamy hot and humid day.
Not the best idea.

Eyeballing the high end shops in Central.  This was the Fendi window.

Picking up souvenirs for the people back home!

You can find anything on the streets of HK.

Tutus, leis, and a giant yellow t-shirt with with Winnie the Pooh's face!?

The Peninsula Hotel, the oldest hotel in Hong Kong.  A reminder of the 1920's...

with a modern bar with padded walls at the top of it!

Favourite meal.  A simple and delicious bowl of lai fun with char siu (noodle soup with barbecue pork) at Tsui Hang Village.  Yum yum yum... could eat this now.

Love seeing the remnants of days gone by peeking thru all the modernity of the city.

Pretty floral soup pot turned plant container.

Alleyway juice spot. I favour these spots over the fancy trendy juice bars!

A taxi ride via winding roads.

Waterfront at Stanley.

Building and pier both painstakingly moved from Central to Stanley.
Above is Murray House and below is Blake Pier.

Stanley Market.

Lovey dovey speech bubbles, a version of love locks at the viewing deck of the shopping centre at Stanley.

Hot pot with my cousin and her family.  So good and so fun!

Korean grub at U-Hang on High Street.  Loved the decor.

At the horse races making picks based on jerseys!

A gai si, or wet market.

Tea shopping and tasting with Mom.

Dense green foliage amidst tall apartment buildings.

A three week trip was over before I knew it.  I didn't have any jet lag upon my return to Toronto, but it took me weeks to recover from the over eating and intense family time!  Now as I write this a couple months after the trip, I have witnessed a few more friends lose some very close loved ones. Reminds me how lucky I am to have two healthy parents that love to sidekick with me!  I am so  grateful to have been able to spend some quality time with fam especially in such exotic places!

Maldives

After spending some days in Hong Kong, I joined my parents on a trip to my dad's dream destination, the Maldives!  I had seen so many stunning images of the place over the years that I was pretty excited to tag along!  It truly is beautiful there.  We only visited the small island, one of the almost 1200, that our resort was located on, but the water and white sand were absolutely incredible!

The island was lush and was beautifully landscaped and maintained.

Loved passing this arched banyan tree every day.

Sorry to post so many photos, but I found it hard to choose.  It was a small island that you could walk across it in about 10 minutes.  I felt like I was in a beach version of Smurf Village!  The water bungalows extended into the unbelievable turquoise waters.

Lounging on the deck of our water bungalow.  Not too shabby!  Before we got on the plane, the forecast was for 2 hours of sunshine over our 4 days.  After arriving in the darkness of night, we were pleasantly surprised to awake to bright sunshine and the most amazing colour of water I had ever seen.  So spoiled to have had direct access to warm clear waters just steps from our beds.  Besides meal times, we spent almost all of our time here, outside on the back deck of our bungalow,.

The moon was amazing and bright.

Fell asleep to the sound of the lightly lapping waves.

We had dinner here every night... got dark quite early so we couldn't see the water, but you could hear it!

Path to our water bungalow.

Some of the seating (or the bedding) at one of the restaurants.

Another killer sunset!

Complete with pink cotton candy clouds.

More sunset snaps!

Yes, same view... as I mentioned, we were pretty much planted in one spot for 4 days!

Gahhhhhh, so wish I was back there!

Loved all the foliage... and plants that we don't see in these parts!  Loved pink/green colour combo.

My Dad dipping his toes in.  Each bungalow was a semi, with two separate suites.  Never met our neighbours, but heard a lot of hysterical screaming in fear of the water!  Most other guests at the hotel were from China and spoke Mandarin, which I do not understand any of.  Must learn a few words one day!

Took my phone out in the water at low tide early in the morning.  Held it above my head with a death grip on it as I waded out gingerly.

On this afternoon the clouds rolled in quickly over minutes before it rained torrentially for the rest of the night.

Blew me away that the sky could be so dark and the water still so vibrant.

So many fish and sea creatures of all sorts... I have never swam in waters with so many surrounding me.  One of these big guys that were about 18 inches long nipped my thumb!  Brought a disposable underwater camera.  Still have to take it in to be developed!

Yes, more of the same!  I couldn't get enough!

Cloudy day.

Palm trees at dusk.  Glowing blue skies.

Frozen Bracelet in warm climate!

Such a peaceful moment to be out in the water, all by myself staring out at the horizon.  I could do that all day!

And quickly, four days in paradise wrapped up, and we flew back to the busy hub bub of Hong Kong.   Hong Kong Part II will be coming up!