What's In My Locket?

My Mother’s Day gift came early this year! 

Lockets. I love them. I am almost always wearing one. I have one I inherited from my Gramma with a photo of each of them when they began dating. I also have a few aromatherapy lockets that I rotate through.

I think what I love about photo lockets is how they are so uniquely personal and sentimental, but also a bit mysterious. Not many people will ask to see what you feel is so important you want to carry it close to your heart. It’s a way of keeping those treasured people or things with you throughout the day. Each time you see it (or if you are like me, play with the clasp), you think of what is inside that locket. It’s a way for me to have a little moment of mindfulness in a typically hectic day.  

When I was contacted about the Monica Rich Kosann collection, I just about fainted. They are STUNNING. Exactly the piece of jewelry I would cross my fingers for when opening up a gift. The pieces are unique and gorgeous, and I love that they come with a long chain, as I love to wear my necklaces long. This locket is a piece of jewelry I know will be handed down just as my Gramma’s locket was.

What I think really stands out in this collection is that Monica began as a photographer. Her eye for design and aesthetics is obvious, but it comes from a place of function. She has designed the pieces to hold my favourite photos, not just a pretty necklace. The most unique thing about this locket is that you can go to the website and upload your photo into the template which is specific to your locket, and print it out immediately. You don’t have to fumble through resizing and cropping, or order an expensive custom print. This also means it’s easy to change up the photo when you get a new favourite. 

This is my ideal Mother’s Day gift, because I will let you in on the little secret of what’s in my locket: my boys and my darling husband. But I bet you never would have guessed that. They did just edge out a giant cup of coffee though. It was a close call. Basically if you ask me what I want for Mother’s Day (because that is totally something you would ask, right? RIGHT?) I would tell you the following: something nice that I would never buy for myself (check!), a giant cup of coffee and an hour to browse in Chapters alone without having to visit the train table. 

I have great news for my fellow Canucks, who so often get let down once we go to our online cart and see the shipping is more than the product: Monica Rich Kosann offers free priority shipping on all orders to Canada. Not only that, but if you are local to Calgary, they also sell her collection at Rubayait on 17th Ave if you want to see them in person first! 

**Disclaimer: I received this necklace in exchange for a review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own (as always!) and I genuinely am in love with this product. I mean, who wouldn’t be?? 

Learning to Crochet in the Mountains

I have done the impossible! I have become crafty!

A few of my blogger friends (and by a few, I mean 14 of us…) decided we needed a weekend away. An epic girls trip in the mountains where the only thing we had to worry about was where to eat and which pjs to bring.

Our view from the room at Big Horn Meadows. It looked like a painting!

Now, when I say epic girls trip it may bring about different connotations than the reality. This was the type of girls trip where we shopped at the thrift shop, ate at the local café, ordered pizza, watched Pitch Perfect 2 and crocheted. That’s right, we crocheted.

One of my dear friends happens to be a very talented crocheter (is that a word? Spellcheck says it is not. What do you call people who crochet?!) and she was crazy enough to volunteer to teach me. I will tell you, it started off very rocky. Somehow I managed to keep adding stitches upon stitches when I should have been keeping them the same. It is a mystery. HOWEVER, it did eventually get easier, and I managed to make this amazing little hat.



It turns out I find it very relaxing and therapeutic and so now I am attempting to make a blanket. Erin has tons of easy and awesome patterns on her blog (www.mrsbrits.blogspot.com) if you want to check them out!

Why on earth did I not turn my phone around for this pic? Because I was too cozy and chill, it's my only excuse.  

In Radium we were so fortunate to be hosted by Big Horn Meadows Resort. This is not just a clever name; there was  actually a herd of Big Horn sheep that wandered around the grounds the entire weekend we were there. Hello guys!!

The rooms were awesome. They were 3 bedroom units, and were spacious and gorgeous and cozy. They would be perfect if we took the kiddos out to Radium with us, as they could have their own little room, and we could still hang out in the living area and kitchen and not worry about keeping them up. The rooms were so large they fit 14 of us comfortably in the living room/dining room area and we were even able to do yoga on Sunday morning! So perfect.

This may be the only time you will see a photo of me without my trusty glasses. 

Nothing refills your batteries like a weekend in the mountains. I honestly cannot recommend it highly enough. We of course went to the Radium Hot Springs for a soak, and also I went every single day to Kicking Horse Coffee headquarters. Because COFFEE.

So a huge thank you to Big Horn Meadows for hosting us crazy ladies! I can’t wait to go back. They also happen to have a special on to save 20% off room bookings for 2 nights (or longer, because you will not want to leave), so if you want to check them out just let them know you want the Blogger Discount. It's good until June 23, 2016, but it's not valid on long weekends.