Up until I was around seven years old, the best playdates were with friends who had lots and lots of Barbies. But somewhere around the time I started reading, I began racing to friend's houses whose parents had invested in stacks of board games. My favourite homes had their board games neatly organised by color or theme or alphabetised by name.

I grew up in Canada in the 80's. Nothing was "streaming to and fro" back then. It was a time when families were forced to sit around and play board games, drink hot chocolate and watch the snow fall.  It was a time when children played together--relatively quietly--for hours without breaking anything. 

Here is another great gift idea for your precious pre-literate, newly literate 0-6 year olds. We buy a lot of books for our kids. Unfortunately some end up being room decor while others end up being licked, read and re-read over and over again. Here is a selection of our favourites from our library. I have also included five creative ways to gift books to your friends and family... 

December is a good month to wrap things up...literally and figuratively. Lots of presents will be wrapped carefully and unwrapped frantically by young and old...wouldn't it be great if everybody found something delightful and useful when they unwrapped their packages? Like for instance an IPad Pro with Stylus Pen (in case my husband who never reads my posts is reading this one).

Just in time for this gift giving/recieving season, I wanted to write a post about what we will be buying for our friends and family this year. Read on for some great gift ideas for loved ones of all ages.

This is a post for those of you who are sick of girly, girly pink rooms. I often hear parents complaining that there are no modern, hip, non-gendered choices for children's furniture in Istanbul. When looking to create an alternative, cool look for our kids rooms, we sometimes have to scour the city for simple, scandinavian-ish, non-disney products. Sure, one could order stuff online or have things made by a "marangoz" (Turkish people have a phone number for at least one carpenter, one upholsterer and one house painter on their iphones) but, really, why go to all that trouble when you could re-do your little hipster's room in a day?

As if you needed another reason to shop online!?! Right? Well, I still feel obliged to share the news of my new online shopping crush.  I have purchased 10 items thus far from this UK retailer that has a superb selection of clothing for women, men, children and babies. I guarantee you will be itching to buy something by the end of this post...read on to find out why I am so excited to share my new find with you...

My daughter Ada just turned 5 this week. She thankfully chose a Tinkerbell and The Pirate Fairy theme which gave me the opportunity use lots of black and white in addition to the fairy's more colourful palette for the styling of her birthday brunch. It is not always easy to balance the menu/aesthetics of a party geared towards both children and adults...Read on to see if I got it right...

Imagine a birthday party without balloons. Andd...imagine only one focal point, one beautifully decorated corner...one single, gorgeous, colourful buffet table or dining table. Think of how easy that would be to pull off yourself. I really love party decorations but I don't like to be overwhelmed by them. One glorious spread is enough in my opinion. 


Take a look at these beautiful tables for a girly party...or a very feminine bridal shower...

H&M Home products, which will arrive in Turkey this September, will test the devotion of many die-hard IKEA and Zara Home Kids fans. Let's face it, price is a deciding factor for many non-essential kids' products. And room decorations, definitely fall in to this non-essential but important category for me. Linens, storage boxes, towels and other decorative accessories should not be expensive but they should be made of quality materials as they have to endure endless washings and lots of wear and tear. And of course they need to be well-styled to appeal to both moms and tots. Look no further...the most simple and splendid products are probably clearing Turkish customs as we speak.

I have probably tried every single children's shampoo, oil, cream and wet-wipe on the market. With two girls under the age of 5 and lots of product mishaps in which entire bottles of product are "accidentally" spilt, poured, squirted, squeezed, pumped out on to the bathroom tiles, walls or mirrors, one gets price-conscious pretty quickly. Obviously I don't want to buy products for my children based solely on value but it is becomes a serious consideration after a few pricey disappointments… After lots and lots of research and trial and error, I have chosen my favorite 8 beauty products which work beautifully on beauties of all ages. Five of the eight products are from Turkish companies but all are available throughout Turkey.

I often find myself online perusing the websites of a variety of retailers that offer beautiful furniture and decorations for kids. I get excited when I find beautifully patterned linens, coordinating accessories and simple rugs which would look wonderful in my children's rooms (or any room for that matter). I love the styling of Pottery Barn Kids, Restoration Hardware, Land of Nod and All Modern. While all of these stores range in style from slightly country to uber-modern, they all have a huge selection of items which you can easily mix and match to create your own style. Sometimes I have my shipping costs calculated, discover that my shopping cart of items totaling 69USD is going to cost me 669USD to ship to Turkey and start crying at the injustice of it all. But don't despair…this is where I come in to rescue you from this very important "first-world problem" (in-other-words a frivolous problem in the grand scheme of things but non-the-less important if you have a particular task at hand).

We are all back on our diets. And some of us have even started working out…

I know that mid-May is a little late to be hitting the gym or the track for a bikini ready body in June but better late than never has always been my motto. At this rate, I should be smoking hot by about November 2015.

But if there is going to be shopping involved to get fit or look good on the beach then I guess I am going have to amp up my workout/beach wardrobe so that I can be fully invested in my new fitness regime. 

Take a look at the image gallery below for inspiration…I am sure some of these beauties--both for you and your kids--will have you clicking on the "shopping cart" icon of the amazing online retailer I am featuring in this post. As always, this tempting site delivers internationally so click with care...

We celebrated my darling younger daughter's third birthday this past weekend and as she insisted on a FROZEN theme and as it was a Sunday Brunch (avec les parents) this 50 person birthday required that I carefully balance adult and child appeal. It also of course had to be SPLENDIDLY PRINCESSY (as nothing else will do for a three year old) and it had to be SIMPLY UNCHEESY for me to enjoy it as well. Simplicity was also imperative as I did not have caterers and did not order anything other than the cake and the carrot cake cupcakes…