Gimme a Hug!

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love children's books... I have a new favourite. 

This is the sweetest story about a cat named Jules who wants to hug the whole world and he travels across the globe hugging everything from a butterfly to a baobab tree.  The Rockstar often asks for this story to be read to him before bed while he's curled up in my lap drinking his "baba", he asks for it by wrapping his sweet little arms around himself and squeezing.  The illustrations are lovely and the words make my heart sing: The world is so big. And yet so small. It's time that we embrace it all."

Big hugs to Patrick McDonnell for putting this story on paper and a hug to my neighbour Anne for mentioning it to me before Valentine's day.  It was a perfect gift for our wee man and for me!

Flicks Worth Watching

You might remember that I had a slightly humongous crush on Jim Sturgess after watching Across the Universe? The crush is alive and well so it was a treat to find that Jim was the star of Fifty Dead Men Walking. This is a stellar movie about an IRA informant that had both Mike and I glued to the screen.


Away We Go was recommended to me when I was on the hunt for a chick flick last month. The person who suggested it thought it would be especially fabulous for me to watch because I'm pregnant and so is one of the main characters (played by Maya Rudolph from Saturday Night Live). They were right, I LOVED this film and so did my friend Jessy. No this isn't a pregnant-viewers only film, guys would like too. It's a love story but it's also a quirky comedy.


Drew Barrymore directed the awesome movie Whip It starring Ellen Page (Juno). Drew Barrymore and Juliette Lewis are also in the film so of course it's fabulous! I'm going to the a local Roller Derby game this weekend thanks to this movie; if I was 14 years younger I think I'd be trying out for the derby after watching this. A feel good chick flick BUT not as predictable as you might think. Definitely check this one out!

I'm a Believer!

I definitely believe in Wally Lamb's ability to write amazing fiction. If you haven't read I Know This Much is True then you've been missing out. I think The Hour I First Believed is a close second and that says a lot! Amazing story, fabulously written! Awesome summer read.

9

Tim Burton is one talented individual. I was thrilled to hear that he's working on Alice In Wonderland but that film isn't being released until 2010. 9 on the other hand is being released in September and it looks awesome!

Check out this trailer:

A Must Listen

When was the last time someone made you a mixed tape? Lucky me was handed a gem of a CD by one of my all time fav girls - thanks Jessy! Jess handpicked a stash of sweet sounds for my ears to enjoy and Spoon's Don't You Evah was the first track to stroke my ear drums. Yep it's true, I've been thwacked with cupid's arrow: I ♥ Spoon.

Unicorn Ralph

About ten years ago a friend of mine named Lisa had a weird dating experience involving unicorns. She had gone out on a few dates with this seemingly normal guy before he took her back to his apartment to 'hang out' one night. She walked into the apartment where he lived alone and was instantly weirded out. There were unicorns EVERYWHERE: statues in the kitchen and living room, posters and cheesy gold framed 80's mirrors featuring unicorns and sunsets hanging on the walls. No doubt the guy had unicorns on his bedsheets too but Lisa didn't stick around long enough to find out. She said it was a total twilight zone experience, she fully expected someone to pop out and yell, "You're on Candid Camera." Unicorns?! Seriously? Weird.

The story was much funnier told over cocktails a couple weeks after it happened, I can still picture my other girlfriends' faces: hilarious.

What's my point? If the guy had displayed kickass unicorns like the ralphing unicorn found on this super cool stationary, maybe my stellar girlfriend wouldn't have ran screaming from his house. His loss.

Nut and Bee has Barfing Unicorns and a tonne of other fab designs for sale, be sure to check them out! Thanks to Love It A Lot for posting the unicorn shot, I forgot this design existed.

Hot Spring Colours by Eterknity

It's too early for me to swap my pick of the week but I can't hold off on posting pics of Eterknity's newest arm warmers.

I can't decide which is my favourite colour of the two colours, they're both FAB!

Stop by Bargain Boutique & Eterknity on Etsy to check out all of their beautiful designs!

India Rose Discount!

The duvet cover (note the ruffles that continue to suck me in) I've featured as this week's Fab Pick of the Week is just one of India Rose's many beautifully designed home furnishings. Suz from Alive in Wonderland wrangled a 20% discount for her readers and asked Suzie, the owner of India Rose, if I could share the code with you here at Gingham Skies. A big thanks to Suzie and to Suz! The discount code is daily25. Happy shopping!

By the way I L-O-V-E the croc cubes but couldn't get the picture to post without the colours going all wonky... these pillars are definitely a closer runner up for my luv. Fabulous!

I Confess...

While rotting on the couch feeling sorry for my flu-infected self this week I realized something: I love ruffles. I'm sure my dad is reading this shaking his head. I was an anti-pink anti-ruffle girl growing up and now I'm all about pink AND ruffles? What the?

Here are a few of the lovely bits I've fallen for while searching for ruffles.

My all-time favourite 'grown-up' bikini is a Victoria Secret suit. Buying a bathing suit on-line made me super nervous but it ended up being a perfect fit thanks to the excellent sizing thingo on the VS website. I think this ruffled number in black is fab and might actually convince me to wear a bikini in public this summer... I said MIGHT.


I heart not only this super sweet bag MadeByHank has created, but the name too: a roundy-bottomed tough ruffles zipper purse in pale seafoam and dark olive. Perfection.

Our sheets and duvet cover are a crisp pure white and I doubt I'll ever stray far from this look because I LOVE it. These ruffled pillows by Hettle would look fab on our bed... hmmm maybe I'll have to make some new pillow cases.


Eventually I'll get around to making myself one of these adorable ruffled aprons with the free tutorial found over at One More Moore.

Thanks to Orange Beautiful for the discovery of the bikini and pillow case.

Are you pro or anti-ruffles?

Feelin It

I don't know how you could feel anything but love towards MGMT. Jackie included them on her list of favs and seeing their name reminded me of how much I adore their music. I think it's nearly impossible to listen to these tracks and not bop your head and tap your toes. Love it!

What would you classify MGMT as, electro pop maybe?

Mmmmmusique

I promised more new music and here I am just a few days later delivering, lucky you!

My fab friend Jackie is the Queen of Indie and I've asked her to send me a list of band names so that I can update my collection of tunes. She and her man Ian are always at concerts and listening to the up and coming before they rise to the top so I'll be sure to share my new finds with all of you.

Mother Mother is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia which just happens to be the home of three of my most favourite ladies (Jackie being one of them). The band isn't just fabulous by association of location, they have catchy songs that I intend to listen to over and over again. Check them out...

Likey Lykkee Li

I'm smitten. Thanks to Liss from Daydream Lily I have been introduced to a new artist to obsess over. I can finally set Todd Terje aside (at least temporarily). Listening to this lovely Swede's voice gets my creative juices flowing... watch her video below for Little Bit and check out her myspace page to hear a few more of her songs.

Brilliant!

Yesterday I ranted and today I will rave. Last night Mike and I watched a special on the most amazing young man: Stephen Wiltshire. Stephen is a brilliant artist who happens to be autistic; when I say brilliant artist I mean brilliant.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about Stephen's art all day; while out for lunch with Mike I was thinking again about the phenomenal talent Stephen has for drawing from memory (he has been referred to as a human camera) when Mike blurted out: I can't stop thinking about that artist. My point is, this young man is worthy of awe... maybe you have heard of him over the years but Mike and I hadn't.

We have every intention of purchasing a copy of one of Stephen's prints down the road and had no trouble agreeing on the panorama of England which the filming of the documentary circled around.


Grab yourself a glass of vino and be prepared to let your jaw drop. The video is 40 minutes but well worth the time. I think it would be impossible for you to watch this and not be impressed. Let me know what you think!

A Terrific Taste of India

Photo taken and uploaded by Kristian Rasmussen

Tanya left us a box full of lovely edibles when she took off to Russia. One of the treats found in the mix was Gourmantra's boxed Tandoori mix. I followed the simple directions printed on the box and the end result: DELISH. Mike gobbled down his plate of chicken and rice announcing how fantastic the chicken was appx. 8 million times before suggesting this become a weekly meal; it really was fabulous. If you like Indian food you have to give Gourmantra's boxed mixes a shot.

ME! ME! ME!

I won! I won! I WON! I rarely win things so when I slipped over to the ultra lovely Daydream Lily this evening to see what pretty post she had to share today, I was thrilled to see that she had oh so generously drawn an extra international name for her giveaway! J-A-I-M-E. That's me!

I won a copy of the Australian magazine Frankie, a magazine I've coveted for some time now thanks to its mention by so many fabulous Aussie bloggers. I literally squealed when I saw my name.

Thank you so sO SO very much!

Beautiful Paper
Originally uploaded by words & pictures

You know how I love papercutting? Well I'll now add paper twirling (I'm pretty sure that's not the technical name for it) to my list of paper art loves.

Yulia Brodskaya's work is beautiful, don't you think?

Thanks to Black Eiffel (one of my new reads) for sharing these amazing finds.

It'll Make You Giggle

I labeled it 'movies' but technically WEEDS is a TV show. If you haven't seen it you should, it's really funny. I'm not a big comedy girl, I love to laugh but sitcoms and movies rarely do it for me. Maybe it's our warped sense of humor but Mike and I are hooked on Weeds - not the stuff you smoke, the show. A suburban mom turns to dealing to support her two boys, I'll say no more. We're into the second season right now and loving it. Have you seen it? What do you think?

P.S. I Loved It

If you want to watch a movie that will make your heart feel like it's being torn in two you should watch P.S. I Love You. I cried, hard, both times. Maybe I'm just a cheese ball.

Fab Pick of Last Week

These vintage typewriter keys turned wine tags are super cool. There won't be any question of what glass belongs to what guest if you sling these funky charms on goblets at your next shin dig. Visit QA Create to check out what other unique bits typewriter keys have been turned into.

Oh So Sweet Tags

Abigail Halpin has posted a free downloadable pdf for some super sweet gift tags. I have a zillion tags leftover from last year so as tempting as it is to print these off I'm going to save the pdf to print next Christmas. Enjoy!