Photo of the day: Lucas leaning

He’s such a ham. We were walking home from school and the setting sun was already below the level of some of the tall trees on our route, but there was one spot where the sun was blazing onto the white snow.

“Hey Lucas, sit here for a minute so mum can take your picture.”

“Okay mum!”

Lucas leaning

And with the giant flash bulb illuminating his face, he was lovely and adorable and sparkly, and I was happy.

How a chalkboard saves my sanity at dinner time every single day

Beloved called me at work the other day.

“I feel so lost, so adrift. I’ve lost my rudder and I feel like we’re directionless.” Nope, not an existential crisis – he was upset because it was three days after grocery day and the chalkboard where I faithfully write our weekly meal plan was still blank.

I love my kitchen chalkboard. LOVE IT! It has taken almost all of the stress out of weekday dinners. Not only do I know what’s for dinner every day of the week, but so does the family. It used to drive me bonkers that each boy would wander through whatever room I was in and idly ask, “What’s for dinner?” about three minutes after I’d finished apprising the previous kid of our dinner plans, or that it would be the first thing they’d say when they saw me right after school, occasionally before “hello”. I swear, I’d answer that question eight times in an average afternoon. We have three kids. You do the math. But now, they know – it’s written in chalk for all to see. (They still ask me, though. You can lead a kid to a chalkboard, but apparently you can’t make him read.)

chalkboard

I used to think I hated cooking dinner, until I realized that it was not so much the actual cooking that I hated, but the conceptualizing. So many cosmic tumblers have to fall into place for dinner to occur: you need to be able to pluck the idea out of the vast universe of potential meals, you need to have the ingredients on hand, you need to have the required prep time, and only then can you get on to the business of actually making dinner. The struggle is real.

The weekly meal plan takes all of that thinking and planning of the arsenic hours when you’re hungry and tired and cranky (YMMV, but I know I am all of those things between 4 and 6 pm on a weeknight) and puts them into a happier Saturday morning context surrounded by coffee and breathing space, and possibly rainbow-farting unicorns.

Hand in hand with the chalkboard comes the shopping list. I actually enjoy my Saturday morning meal and grocery planning ritual. About 20 minutes before I go out grocery shopping, I sit down with a coffee, a piece of paper, and my PC Plus points app. (I love PC points!) I start my list with things that are featured on the app for points that I would likely buy anyway, and sometimes I add a meal idea or two based on featured ingredients. Then I flesh out six or seven meals based on a big list of “things we like to eat” that’s stuck on the fridge with a magnet. Sometimes if I’m feeling inspired (or lacking inspiration) I’ll flip through my collection of Chef Michael Smith cookbooks, and if I’m really desperate I’ll peruse my Pinterest recipe boards (I have one for ideas to try and one for things that I know will work.) I fill in a shopping list based on what I’ll need to make those things, plus a quick scan of what I need to replenish in the fridge and cupboards. This always gives me a reasonably robust shopping list, and while I don’t religiously stick to my list, it does a pretty good job of getting what we need for the week without too many impulse buys or food that goes to waste.

As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I fill in the chalkboard with the week’s meals. I need to fill it in right away, as I find myself glancing to the corner frequently as I put the groceries away (or, more likely, as Beloved puts the groceries away) and making decisions about what goes into the fridge and what gets frozen for later consumption. Stuff heavy on fresh meat generally gets put into the rotation early in the week because I am a little unreliable when it comes to taking stuff out of the freezer – but the chalkboard helps with that, too.

I thought when I first started planning meals like this that I’d come up against my own fickleness (“but how can I be sure on Saturday that I’ll feel like tacos on Tuesday?”) but that really hasn’t been an issue. Sometimes we have pasta on Monday instead of Wednesday, and my ideas for Thursday or Friday tend to be a little more nebulous and based more on pantry staples than fresh food, so if we are going to go rogue and grab a take-out family platter from our favourite shawarma place instead, it’s likely to be on one of these nights. But I’d say we stick to the plan more than 80 per cent of the time.

I might have laughed at this “system” a few years ago but I rely on it now, and there are hella less dinner-time meltdowns since chalkboard arrived to save our sanity and guide us through the chaos. Clearly Beloved likes it, too, and I had to laugh when my brother and his family visited a few months ago and I noticed that someone had helpfully crossed off each of the meals we had already eaten during his visit.

Do you do this sort of planning? Could a chalkboard save your sanity, too?

Planning for PEI 2016: Why we love the Points East Coastal Drive region

Yay! It’s time to start thinking about our next summer vacation on Prince Edward Island!

This will be our third trip to PEI. In 2014, we spent a week near Murray Harbour, and in 2015 we spent a generally wet and rainy but still happy two weeks near St Peters Bay. We’ve criss-crossed and explored most regions of the Island, save for the North Cape Coastal Drive region, and while we have favourite spots throughout the Island, we always come back to the Points East Coastal Drive region. In 2016, we’ve booked 10 days at a cottage right on the water (yay!) between two of our very favourite PEI places: Souris and Basin Head Provincial Park.

Souris and Basin Head PEI

If you’re planning your first PEI vacation, I’d suggest making a list of things that are important to you and your family. Being on the water was important to us, but we don’t mind a bit of driving (ha, my kids may say otherwise!) so being an hour outside of Charlottetown will be fine for us. We like small towns and pretty scenery and really couldn’t care less about golf or nightlife. Cost is (always) a factor, and we find you get more bang for your buck when you are away from heavily touristed areas like Cavendish Beach. Souris and Montague, the largest towns in the Points East region, are plenty big enough for most of what we’ll need (groceries, restaurants and Tim Hortons) and most of our favourite restaurants are on the eastern part of PEI as well.

PEI2Mostly, though, we just fell in love with the easy-going, laid back feeling of everyone we encountered in the Points East region of the Island. There’s a little something for everyone – world class dining, white and red sand beaches, arts and boutiques, and outdoor adventures, to name a few. Here’s five of our favourite attractions and activities in the Points East Coastal Drive region.

1. PEI National Park at Greenwich

PEI National Park at Greenwich

A beautiful beach, a boardwalk through world-famous parabolic dunes, and amazing hiking trails – PEI National Park at Greenwich is one of our very favourite parts of PEI all on its own, but if you go, try to take advantage of the interpretive programs like Beach Detective.

2. Chef Michael Smith’s FireWorks restaurant at the Inn at Bay Fortune

I have a giant celebrity crush on “the world’s tallest freestanding chef” and even though we didn’t get the chance to encounter himself, my birthday dinner at his incredible restaurant was one of the highlights of our trip last year. The most amazing restaurant meal we’ve ever had, and something even the boys enjoyed.

Dinner at the Inn at Bay Fortune

3. Orwell Corner

Orwell Corners, PEI

Orwell Corner is an agricultural village settled in the late 1850s and restored to that time period. On the day we were there, the boys made candles, we visited the blacksmith shop, we learned about a child’s school day in the 1850s, had afternoon tea, and the boys fed the farm animals. It was the perfect mix of education and entertainment.

4. Basin Head Provincial Park

Souris and Basin Head PEI

I think it’s safe to say that Basin Head beach is our favourite place on PEI. Each time we visit, we have a bit of a different experience. Some days we jump in the waves, some days we explore the rocks and boulders, some days we just dig a really big hole in the sand. This may be the year that I let the big boys jump off the bridge, a Basin Head tradition for many. From squeaky singing sands to ice cream, I love everything about Basin Head. Conveniently, we’re just a few kilometers away this year!

5. Everything else

I need to tell you about the Lighthouses at Panmure and East Point and St Peters Bay. No wait, you need to know about the the ceilidhs. Oh and I really need to mention the restaurants like the Shipwreck Cafe and Red’s Corners and Brehauts. And the train rides at the Elmira Railway Museum. Oh, and the artisans like Peter Llewellyn’ Shoreline Designs and Teri Hall’s Fire and Ice Creations. And the simple joy of driving along a twisty coastal road admiring lupins and even rows of freshly planted potatos and the endless blue sea. And every kind of beach you could imagine – white, red, rocky, sandy, calm, fierce, playful…

Sigh. Is it July yet?

If you’re planning a PEI vacation, check out the Points East Coastal Drive website for accommodations, attractions and ideas.

Disclosure: Points East Coastal Drive is a sponsor of the blog, but I’m working with them because we are so enamoured with the region.

Photo of the day: Drawing manga

In addition to more black and white photography, this year I want to do more “lifestyle” photography. I realized when I made our annual photo book that I had taken a lot of family shots with my iPhone, but not as many with my big-girl camera. I want to make the effort to take more pictures of the minutia of daily life.

T drawing

I love this because it’s so very Tristan, in his very messy room that’s part little boy and part grown up – just like him. He’s drawing manga on his dad’s animation table. He had no idea I was even there, but was fine with me taking and sharing this picture. The teen years aren’t too scary — yet!!

Photo of the day: Walking

I‘ve got two big photographic learning projects this year: learning to make beautiful black and white photos, and conquering the use of flash. I didn’t need any flash with this one, what with that big flash bulb in the sky, but I am happy with the tones and shapes in this one.

Walking

I sort of wish his head weren’t directly in front of the play structure, but I think the rim lighting around his head gives it just enough separation to make it work. What do you think?

My favourite photos of 2015

The end of the year is the perfect time to look back and see both what I did well, and what I could have done better, with my camera. Here’s a collection of the photos I most love from all parts of the year: the photos I took to tell a story, the photos I took for business, the photos I took simply to entertain myself. Some of them I love because of the moment they evoke, some because I nailed them from a technical perspective, and some just because when I look at them I can’t help but smile.

In loosely chronological order, my favourite photos of 2015:

Pups in a pile

Catching snowflakes

Hockey day in Canada

Hockey day in Canada-13

Lessons on a grand piano

Ottawa Family Fun: Artissimo at the National Gallery

The grey wolves of Parc Omega

tiny flowers

SMHS walkathon

Apple blossom petals, stamen, stigma and style

dandelion seed head

Nature's paintbrush

Saying goodbye

Family photos at the farm

Todds planes-2

momanddad

defense detail

East Point and Basin Head-8

East Point and Basin Head-10

East Point and Basin Head-2

Exploring Thunder Cove

Exploring Thunder Cove

French River, PEI

Fun at Brackley Beach, PEI National Park

Covehead Lighthouse, PEI

St Peter's Harbour, PEI

Playground at the beach

A dozen sunny faces

A #ParksCanada employee cranks the locks by hand at the #Ottawa lock station. Never get tired of watching them do this! #RideauCanal #CanadianCreatives

Chapman Mills walk-5

End of summer jump

happy family on the porch

Watson's Mill

Thanksgiving trio

M and J got married!-8

Pumpkin picking 2015-2

Photo 2015-10-24, 2 30 55 PM

Cousins in a tree

Hween

family in the leaves

Christmas portraits

Jedi family Christmas ;)

Office

Christmas tree and reindeer

I have an inkling that 2016 will be a great year of growth and learning for me, from a photographic perspective. I’ve got new tools, I’m registered for a spring workshop, and the idea of picking up my camera to chase an adventure or idea still makes my heart sing.

Here’s to finding wonder and telling stories and sharing new perspectives in 2016!