WEEKEND GETAWAYS
Weekend Getaway: Mexico City
Annika Lehtonen is originally from Finland. She went to Mexico in 2008 for a short 6-month internship after finishing her university degree in Madrid, Spain... and those six months turned out to be nine years (and counting) in Mexico! She's married to a Colombian man and now has two young children. She has a demanding ...
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FUN
Personalised, handcrafted wooden toys. Perfect baby gifts!
Heather, a mum of two and the founder of Noc Noc Wooden Toys recently got in touch to say hello and introduce me to her brand. She's a local mum, living just twenty minutes from me! (I continue to be blown away by the amount of creativity and talent that comes out of this area. Remember ...
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WEEKEND GETAWAYS
Weekend Getaway: Istanbul
Born and bred in London, Alara Hindle studied Islamic Art and Archaeology at Oxford, and was then sent to work in the magnificent Topkapi Palace in Turkey. Once there, she met and fell in love with her husband, and has been living in Istanbul ever since! Two daughters (eight and three-years-old) and a beloved art ...
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FUN
'Hats of Faith' a book by Medeia Cohan and Sarah Walsh
Hats of Faith is a beautiful new board book which celebrates the shared custom of head covering in different faiths around the world. The book, written by Medeia Cohan and illustrated by Sarah Walsh, aims to educate children about diversity and tolerance in a simple, endearing way -- highlighting all the different types of hats with ...
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RECIPES
Delicious apple muffins
On sunny weekend mornings, when the weather is nice and the waves are forecasted to be good, we hurry up with our breakfast, load the surfboards and beach bags into the car, and head to the beach! It's become one of my favourite things about living here -- that we can spend so much time ...
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BABY
A wonderful selection of baby gifts from Un Elefantino a Pois
I am still trying to figure out what to wear and how to dress the kids in Australian 'winter time'. While the nights and mornings can be chilly, by midday we are shedding the woollen layers we've put on over our summery clothes. It seems I always have a bonnet, jumper and booties in my ...
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RECIPES
Barley Salad with Broiled Feta and Tomatoes
My sister introduced me to this delicious barley salad (found in the Kinfolk Table cookbook) last week and we loved it so much the first time she made it, we begged her to make it again a few days later. It's the perfect summer salad with the roasted tomatoes and feta adding more depth and flavour ...
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LOCAL TIPS
Tips from a local: Edwina in Clapton, East London
Edwina Gieve grew up in London and has lived in Clapton (in East London) with her husband and three children for the past five years. She has three boys -- Dashiell 6, Cosmo 4 and Esmond 11 months. Apart from being a stylish and super inspiring mama, she is also the co-founder of the beautiful ...
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FASHION
Josefina Bags -- redefining the nappy bag
On first glance, the Josefina bag looks like a beautiful, super stylish handbag -- something you'd feel comfortable carrying into a business meeting or hanging over your arm on a date with your husband. Nothing about this bag says 'baby', and yet it happens to be an extremely practical, super handy nappy bag. The Josefina ...
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RECIPES
Vietnamese-style summer rolls -- our children's favourite lunch!
After my recent post on school lunches, I received several requests to share our recipe for the vietnamese summer rolls my kids love so much. Michael makes these for the kids at least once a week and it's always a huge hit -- it's the one day of the week where all three kids come home ...
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FASHION
Maternity and breastfeeding clothing from Clary & Peg
Aside from making beautiful, vintage-inspired maternity clothing, Clary & Peg, a London-based label, have gone that extra step further and ensured that each of the pieces in their collection is breastfeeding-friendly as well. Which means that you can invest in a pretty dress or stylish jumpsuit during pregnancy that accommodates your growing bump whilst knowing you'll ...
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TUESDAY TIPS
What to pack in your beach bag
Over the past couple years, we've had the hard task of spending lots of time at the beach. : ) Okay, I joke... but the beach did become a central theme of our travels, especially as we discovered our love of surfing, and we went from being city dwellers to expert beach-goers. (It's a hard ...
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RECIPES
Super easy Quinoa Brittle, a recipe from Lunch Lady Magazine
We've written before how much we love Lunch Lady Magazine. If you aren't already a subscriber to this beautiful quarterly magazine, then I urge you to head over to the website and sign up now! It's one of the only magazines I read (from cover to cover!) these days. Even Michael can be found scanning ...
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FASHION
My favourite dress (and it's pregnancy and breastfeeding friendly!)
A couple years ago, at the start of our family travels, I discovered the newly opened Christy Dawn shop in Venice, California. We were renting a house around the corner and I managed to sneak off one morning (without kids!) for a little browse around the shop. I loved everything in the entire store, but ...
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HOME AND DÉCOR
Hand woven, sustainable rugs from Armadillo & Co.
Armadillo & Co. is an Australia-based company specialising in handmade rugs made from natural, sustainable materials. I've written about Armadillo & Co. before (here), and have long been a fan of their beautiful rugs, so it was an obvious choice when picking out rugs for our home. The Armadillo & Co. rugs are 100% handmade by artisans ...
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GOOD READS
'Say Bonjour to the Lady: Parenting from Paris to New York'
One of the things I love most about this blog and our community of readers is being able to share and discover the cultural differences in parenting styles. For example, when I wrote a post asking how often you bathe your children, I found the responses to be so interesting on a cultural level. Same with ...
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BABY
Soft, organic baby sleep essentials from MORI
I met with Akin, one of the co-founders of MORI, in London a couple years ago -- back before they had launched their business, when they were seeking advice about their idea. He asked me if I thought there was a need for organic baby essentials. Yes! He asked what I thought about the designs. I ...
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HOME AND DÉCOR
Emily Hogarth's beautiful papercuts
I have followed Emily Hogarth and her adorable family on Instagram for the past couple years and have always loved the snippets I've seen of her beautiful papercut creations in her feed. So I was so excited when she got in touch last year and offered to create a custom papercut piece for us based on our travels. ...
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FASHION
Clever nursing-friendly clothing from Boob
Can we talk about that awkward transition that happens with your wardrobe when you go from pregnant to breastfeeding? All the comfortable, beautiful dresses you might have worn in pregnancy no longer work for breastfeeding because you'd have to pull them all the way up and over your boobs, revealing everything below to anyone within sight. ...
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FOOD
School lunch ideas and our favourite lunch boxes by PlanetBox
When we lived in London, the children were able to eat lunch prepared and served by their school. We were lucky that the school's lunch options were mostly good and healthy, and we didn't have to think or worry about what they would be eating at lunch time. (Thinking about it now, I don't think ...
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TRAVEL
Weekend Getaway: Charleston, SC
Molly Fienning is a born-and-raised NYC girl who settled in Charleston with her Southern husband Ted and their two sons, Sawyer and Fox. The family has been living in Charleston for four years and recently finished building a new home in the historic district. Molly and Ted are co-founders of Babiators, the leading American sunglass ...
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BOOKS
"The Wonderful Things You Will Be" by Emily Winfield Martin
My sweet friend Sarah sent Wilkie this gorgeous book last week, and I don't know if it's the hormones or just the sweet poetic verse (probably both!), but it made me well up with tears while reading it. The Wonderful Things You Will be by Portland-based author/illustrator, Emily Winfield Martin, is a beautifully illustrated book that celebrates all the ...
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BABY ESSENTIALS
The new Free-to-Grow baby carrier by Tula
Until recently, if you had asked me what my favourite baby carrier was, I would have had a 3-part answer. I would have mentioned my favourite sling for the newborn days, a baby carrier to follow, and then a separate toddler carrier for when the baby is bigger. In the twelve years I've been a parent, ...
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