The New Plant Parent: Develop Your Green Thumb and Care for Your House-Plant Family + Win a copy!

ABRAMS Books sent me The New Plant Parent in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Everybody likes my husband. It’s true! Babies coo in his arms, kids laugh at his jokes, old ladies wink at him in the grocery store and plants flourish in his care. (A leaf falls off the philodendron and he can charm it right back on.) I’m okay with people, but I’m a disaster with plants. If only there were some way to learn how to be better? Something with two covers and a bunch of pages in between, maybe. A handbook of sorts. An illustrated guide, if you please. I think that is this book: The New Plant Parent: Develop Your Green Thumb and Care for Your House-Plant Family by Darryl Cheng.

Bird is the word: Flying off the shelves for Mother’s Day + Win with Foxy Originals!

Foxy Originals gifted me the pieces in this post in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

“[My kids are] 7, so to me, I’d just rather have a hug and a ‘Happy Mother’s Day!’ But when they’re that age ― and moms know ― you have to be a good actress. That’s when you gotta turn into Meryl Streep. Seriously, because they give you gifts that are just … [sighs] … So I just had to go ‘Oh that’s amazing! Oh that’s so beautiful!’ And they were so proud. But now I understand why athletes buy their moms a house when they make it ― because they really should to make up for this crap!” — Wanda Sykes 😂😂

As much as we love the kids’ homemade gifts and cards, sometimes it’s nice for us mama birds to get something we would pick for ourselves. This selection of Foxy Originals favourites fits the bill. 🐦 😂 But hurry, they’re flying off the shelves!

Happiness is Baking + Win a copy!

Hachette Book Group Canada sent me Happiness is Baking in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

“Years ago I heard a doctor talking on television about the dangers of stress. It can kill you. It can cause a heart attack or a stroke. The doctor listed ways of coping with stress. Exercise. Diet. Do Yoga. Take a walk. I yelled, ‘Bake cookies.’ I often talk to the television. I yelled it again and again. The doctor went on with his list of 12 ways to reduce stress…and he never once mentioned my surefire treatment. Baking is a great escape. It’s happiness. It’s creative. It’s good for your heath. It reduces stress.” — Maida Heatter, Happiness is Baking

The Big Book of Less: Finding Joy in Living Lighter + Win a copy!

Thomas Allen & Son sent me The Big Book of Less in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Hey everybody! I hope you’re having a great week. I’ve got a crappy cold and haven’t been able to write here as much as I’d like but I’ve been dying to tell you about this book. It’s the new one (out just last week) from the editors of Flow magazine, The Big Book of Less: Finding Joy in Living Lighter. It’s a book of articles and activities about living with less (less stuff, less information, less control, and more) and learning less-ons along the way. #seewhatididthere

The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals + Win a copy!

Penguin Random House sent me The Home Edit in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was trying to remember the last time our house felt organized, and I think we reached peak domestic efficiency just before baby. A rainbow of impossibly tiny outfits ordered by size and colour hung in the closet. Neat rows of diapers stood at attention in a cloth-lined wicker basket on the change table. Receiving blankets went in another basket; lotions and potions huddled together on a tray. There was a place for everything and everything in its place. It was a thing of beauty.

No blender, no problem: Evive Smoothie Cubes + A giveaway!

Evive Smoothie sent me the products in this post for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

They say the smoothie was invented when Chuck Norris interrogated a banana. But who has time to karate chop a bunch of fruits and vegetables when time is short and the need for something quick and healthy is big? Enter Evive Smoothie. The Montreal co. created frozen cubes of organic fruit, veggies and plant protein that you pop into a jar or a bottle, cover with liquid (water, almond milk, whatever you prefer) let sit for a few minutes and then shake up to make creamy, nutritious smoothies in a jiffy. No blender required! Evive Smoothie sent me their eight flavours to try. Let’s check them out.

New York in Bloom by Georgianna Lane + Win a copy!

ABRAMS Books sent me New York in Bloom in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Happy book birthday to New York in Bloom! Told mostly in photographs, it’s Georgianna Lane’s love letter to the city’s parks and gardens, floral studios and displays, and market blooms, and it’s out today. The book is a companion to 2017’s Paris in Bloom (also lovely) and a third book, London in Bloom, is on the way.

Little People, BIG DREAMS + A giveaway!

Quarto Publishing Group sent me the books in this post in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

After reviewing a number of subscription boxes over the past few weeks, I’m turning to something a little different today: books! (But I do have one more box to share with you before the month is out. And I think you’re really going to like it.) Today I want to share some of our favourites from a highly collectible series for young readers, Little People, BIG DREAMS. They’re whimsically illustrated picture books aimed at kids aged 4 to 7 that tell the stories of people who pursued their dreams to achieve incredible things, despite some difficult beginnings and/or hardships along the way. Quarto sent me advance copies of the newest additions to the series — Stephen Hawking and Muhammad Ali, both published earlier this month — and the Women in Art Gift Set featuring Audrey Hepburn, Frida Kahlo and Coco Chanel.

Fantastical Cakes: Incredible Creations for the Baker in Anyone + Win a copy!

Running Press sent me Fantastical Cakes in exchange for an honest review. Here’s what I think. 

You know you’re getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It’s like, ‘See if you can blow this out.’ — Jerry Seinfeld • I’ve loved baking and decorating cakes since I was a kid but I can’t remember any that were spectacular to look at or eat. (Well none except the Strawberry Shortcake one I had for my 10th birthday, but that was store-bought.) It’s only since having my own kids (and a few years later, starting this blog) that I’ve learned a little about the hows and whys of baking and decorating and experimented with a few different techniques. If I could turn back time (🎵 If I could find a way🎵) I would have read Gesine Bullock-Prado’s Fantastical Cakes: Incredible Creations for the Baker in Anyone YEARS AGO because it taught me so many things I wish I’d known before. Unfortunately the book only came out in November and before that Gesine was busy running her Vermont baking school and writing five other books and tending to two dogs, two cats, a flock of chickens and the other animals on her farm. (She’s still got the baking school and the farm. And probably another book already started.)