My etsy faves this month

For you I Pine organic pillow via Earth Cadets

When the cooler temperatures hit I tend to hide in my house more often which means my focus pinpoints on the stuff inside the house. I see the dust bunnies I avoided all summer, the chipped mugs in the cupboard and the worn tea towels on the hooks. Of course Etsy has some super cute replacement items so I thought I'd share some of my favourites. [Above: I love these bold and gorgeous pillows from Earth Cadets. See the rest of my favourites below]

Hand printed towels via Earth Cadets

Painted wooden vases via Shade on Shape

Animal wall hooks via Magszilla

White cloud flat mug via Wakako Senda

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The gardens at The Old Tin Shed

While we were up in Bancroft at the cottage, we went to a place called The Old Tin Shed. We've been there a few times before, but when we were up this past summer I really took notice of the gardens out back. They were gorgeous. I loved the colour, rocks, pond and old wagon wheels. I would love to add some of these elements to our garden in the next few years, but until then I'll just stare at these photos!

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Summer recap // August

A few days ago I recapped our July now onto August!

Mila discovered she liked shopping on a little trip to get one toy at Toys R Us... I might be in trouble one day judging by the little wagon she found and filled up. We also discovered SkyZone which the kids absolutely loved. We also had lots of silly face making in the back yard. I think that was my favourite.

I'm super proud of this little guy: he finished his first official soccer season and he came along way. I loved watching him run as fast as he could down the field and even score a couple goals!

We have some amazing neighbours and one of them is always having one event or another to raise money for the less fortunate. This August, we got to experience an awesome backyard concert by Georgian Bay to raise money for Elisa House. These women are amazing to listen to and I loved that the concert was practically right next door!

In mid-August we trekked up to Bancroft for a week at a super sweet cottage. It was a beautiful week -- just look at that sunset!

Finally... this August I decided to get serious with my fitness and I started the P90X3 workout program. Mark has been using it for a few years, but aside from doing the yoga and pilates workouts, I haven't done much with it. I realized this summer that the only way I was going to get to the level of fitness that I wanted was if I do some form of exercise every day. It's easier with P90X3 because the workouts are only 30 minutes so they're very easy to fit into the day. Right now I'm on day 43 and I'm feeling great!

Well that was our summer recap! I'm sad that it's over but suddenly I find myself craving sweaters and boots! I hope you had a great summer too!

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Branch bubble chandeliers

I've had my eye on a certain style of chandelier for the dining room for a while: the branch bubble chandelier. My heart actually skips a beat when I see one. I love how they reach out to every corner of a room and provide an aura of gorgeous light over the dinner table.

Now just to convince the hubby...

Here are my favourites. Most of these are by Lindsey Adelman, but one or two I found on Etsy. I also made a Pinterest board with more variations. Aren't they gorgeous?

Photo Sources

1-4 || Lindsey Adelman

5 || Dutton Brown

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Summer recap // July

Somehow the summer is over. I'm not sure how it happened. Maybe it was the babies that were born, the weddings and showers we had, the weekends we planned, the cottaging. Whatever it was, it's over and September is here.

It was a quick, but fabulous summer. I thought I'd get back into the good 'ol blog here by sharing some photos of our summer divided into July and August.

Here we go!

The kids and I spent a lot of time together. Leo wasn't in any camps so we spent our time at the beach, The Children's Discovery Centre (neat place by the way!), splash pad after splash pad and good old fashioned indoor fun during the really hot days.

I also hooked up my Croozer to my bike for my first ride with the kids. Where did I decide to go on my first ever ride you ask? Why downtown of course! I got five minutes down the road from my house and thought I was making a big mistake, but I was meeting my friend so away we went! It was a great ride. We got to check out a few things happening at the Harbourfront Centre for the PanAm Games which was neat.

I got a lot of reading done this summer, with what time, I'm not sure. One of the best books I read was Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson. This is an excellent book if you're someone who likes to get the most nutritional value out of the food you eat. Robinson goes through every fruit and vegetable on the market, explains the history behind the food and then tells the reader how to choose the best food in the supermarket or farmer's market, how to store it and then how prepare it so that it maintains as many of its nutrients as possible.

Of course we had a lot of picnics!

We also revamped our house exterior. Thankfully it's almost finished (it doesn't look like this anymore!). More on that in another post.

The kids and I went to Riverdale Farm and also to pet some animals at the Canada Day festivities in Cobourg where my Mom lives. Have you been to Cobourg by the way - it's gorgeous!

Last but not least, and this actually happened on August 1, my little sister got married! I put it in the July post because all of the festivities we had beforehand like a bachelorette party in Niagara-on-the-Lake and little boy suit fitting happened in July. The day was perfect and my sister was gorgeous. Once I see more of the professional photos I'll see if I can share them.

That's it for July! I'll be back next week with August!

Get more from me here:
IG: @lealoulemonade
Facebook: /lealoulemonade
Twitter: @lealou