Life & Travel

When Sara Celik, a naturopathic doctor and spokesperson for Renew Life, invited me to try a cleanse, I was truly meh about it. After talking me through the process and serving up sensible answers to my long list of questions, I was still skeptical—but willing because she suggested a cleanse that wasn’t a full-on fast so I wouldn’t get so furious. 

When you have a knock-out virus, don’t try to convince yourself that your A-Type and OCD impulses will beat the germs that are bringing you down. Instead, take a deep breath (well, as deep as you can) and surrender to the upside of being a sick mom. Here’s how to bring on relief that will help you stay in the game and ease your aches, chills and annoying cough. 

It’s the first day of spring and we thought we would rev up your reading list with the books that have inspired some of the moms we have met over the last year (believe it or not, Love, Emoem, is celebrating it’s first birthday in just a couple of weeks!). Whether it’s on your Kindle or waiting on your bedside table, these are the pages that are moving our real moms, mind, body and soul. 

Ixtapa and its neighbouring towns on Mexico’s West coast has serious cred. Artists Damien Hirst and Julian Schnabel are spotted in the beachside village of Troncones and luxe hotel chain The Viceroy has an outpost in Zihuatanejo. We, however, were going on our first trip with a group that included 6 parents and 4 kids, so a surfer inn without a kids’ club or a haute boite for grown-ups only wasn’t on our hit list. For our first trip with vacation buddies, here’s how we made Ixtapa fit our multi-family squad. 

What I’ve finally figured out (ta-dah) is that lunch time is my clean-eating time. Here’s the hitch though…making clean food is a bitch. There’s a lot of slicing, dicing, pureeing, soaking, stewing, rolling, baking and other prep that I don’t have the time or patience for. What’s a girl to do? Order in (without breaking the bank). 

Doesn’t the saying go, “it’ll get worse before it gets better”? Well, that’s happening. I’m 6 weeks into my skin supplement routine. My skin is still breaking out (albeit, less but now it’s moved to my forehead) and my next, ‘beat-adult-acne-challenge’ is my diet. I’ve been a pretty healthy eater as of late—thanks to 2017 New Year’s resolutions—but I know I can do better. And, after hearing so many girlfriends talk about ‘rebooting’ their system with a detox, I figure my time has come.

Every October my entire family gets their flu shot. It’s non-negotiable. And I’ll be frank—I used to be indifferent about it, even skeptical. Then a couple of years ago, my daughter got sick from Kawasaki Disease (KD). This made me realize all of the illnesses little ones are susceptible to and learn more about what I can do for her health.

After a two-hour drive through sleepy fishing villages, valleys and coastal terrain, we reached the city. Our first stop was the traffic light on the city’s outskirts, where we got into a car accident. After checking a dented door and our shaken nerves, our driver swiftly negotiated his mistake with a handshake, a smile and an apology to the other driver. That’s how we were jolted into the happy chaos of Havana.

Having worked with fashion magazines like Elle Canada, Glow, Fashion, Canadian Living and Marie Claire Indonesia, and entrusted to paint the tips of celebs such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Hilary Duff, Melissa Forrest has serious beauty cred. To the fashion set she’s known as part of an all-star team at Tips Nail Bar, but she’s also one cool mom to two daughters, age 20 and 18, and admits that motherhood continues to teach her so much more about herself. 

BTW, sharing the love is good for you. It can lower cholesterol and blood pressure and it helps boost dopamine (naturally). However you decide to give, any act of kindness will also help lower the volume of the headlines that are bringing us down. Here are 3 easy ways you can lend a hand today. 

Accessory designer Minling Pan, the creative brains behind MIN, a line of chic and whimsical bags, is regularly jetting off across the globe. However, if a trip takes her more than 10 days she’ll often bring Gloria, her toddler along for the ride. While it can be stressful there are a few things that she relies on to make the journey with her mini as comfortable and tantrum-free as possible.

Phaidon, Assouline and Taschen offer up the créme de la créme of coffee table books but take a closer look at your kids’ library. It’s stocked with artful and inspiring pictures and prose grown-ups can appreciate too. Here are the kid’s books we think will enrapture shi-shi guests (even those without kids) and wildly deserve a spot in your collection of chicer-than-thou tomes (yeah, we have a copy of The Fashion Book too).  

It’s safe to say that I’m not one to rough it. After our first-ever family camping trip I was exhausted, which is why I was looking forward to our weekend invite to Viamede Resort. Situated in the Kawarthas on Stoney Lake, the resort was laid-back and rustic making it a perfect fit for my outdoorsy huzz. For me they had a buffet breakfast and fresh towels every day. Now that’s what I call compromise.

We’re considering out-of-the-box vacation adventures and So Fresh Living has our attention. Launched by Lauren Spicer, a Canadian expat who lives in Panama, she specializes in planning bespoke vacations in her adopted home and here she shares all the reasons to break from all-inclusive resorts.

What’s caught our attention this week? Here are the links we’re lovin’ for reading by the pool, dock or even by the sprinkler. 

You could order a photo book on Shutterfly but why not surprise dad with this cut-and-paste storybook project we spotted at Susie Sheffman‘s house. It’s a lo-tech idea that’s easy, personalized and full of giggles.

Meet our guncle (that’s short form for gay + uncle). He has no kids but plenty to say about modern parenthood. This month’s guncle has something to say to a mom he met on a plane. He understands traveling with kids is hard, but he says if you don’t keep them in check, it makes the flight hard on everyone. Read on, if you dare.

Aching for relief, I wrote an article for Best Health magazine exploring the monthly roller coaster we’re trudging through and I consulted a handful of experts to please explain what the eff is going on in our bodies. You can read it here to get the full story, but in short, Mary Wong, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, says bad PMS is a sign that our body is out of whack and it’s telling us to de-stress and stop doing so much.

Two summers’ ago we went on a trip to Lisbon, Portugal. With two kids in tow—and in retrospect, too much luggage—it was exhausting (cue the: ‘what were you thinking?). While the kids loved riding the tram cars and the crazy-cool lifts, what I gleaned from our 7-day vacay is how much inspiration Lisbon has to offer for contemporary design, even though it’s one of the oldest cities in western Europe.

A musing from a woman who should be quoted more often. Thanks to Jo’s Paperie for the chic script. 

Meet our guncle. He has no kids but plenty to say about modern parenthood. Today he’s sounding off about stage moms. Read on, if you dare.