Yummy Sunday Review

Hey Everyone -

Today's Sunday review is about local Farmer's Markets. I love going to Farmer's Markets and picking up homemade and locally produced items. I am going to find more time on the weekends during the summer to try to get out to more markets in both the lower mainland and in our new home, Edmonton. I only have about a month left to get to all the local markets around town. I still want to visit the Steveston market and hit Granville Island one last time (sniff, sniff...).

As I stated above, I love Farmer's Markets for the freshness and the uniqueness of the items they sell. Today I went to the Ladner Farmer's Market with my best bud and her family. I had never been to this market and didn't know what to expect. Let's say it did not disappoint. There was a good mix of vendors selling everything from baking and produce to artisans selling paintings and jewelery. I wish I had of brought my camera to take some pics of the market itself, but I left it at home. Boo....

Anyways, I am going to leave a few links below for some Farmer's Markets I will be checking out this summer. Hope you will too!

Till next time,

Mrs. Harty

http://www.ladnervillagemarket.com/

http://www.sfam.ca/

http://www.granvilleisland.com/public-market

http://www.osfm.ca/ - This is going to be one of the first places I explore when I get to Edmonton! Can't wait!!!

Here are some pics of the goodies I picked up today from the Ladner Market:

I am going to have this granola

tomorrow morning over some

yogurt. Yummy!
Anyone who knows me, knows I love

beets. I had some of these tonight and

they were pretty good. Not as good

as Grandma's though...

Mini Blackberry Pie
Yum Yum in my Tum Tum!!!!

Sunday Review

This week I thought I would do something a little different with the Sunday Review. I am going to be reviewing a wonderful book I have just finished reading.

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (the following plot summary is courtesy of Wikipedia)

The novel revolves around the twelve-year-old protagonist named Baby and follows her for two years. Baby lives with her father Jules, who has a worsening heroin addiction. The two move frequently, to various places around Montreal and across Canada, where they encounter many other characters, among them junkies, bums, pimps, and abused children.

Baby was born while Jules was in high school with her mother, who died soon after Baby was born, though the cause of death is not given.

Jules often leaves young Baby by herself wherever they may be living, for anywhere from a week to over a month at a time. Baby becomes distraught and finds herself wandering the streets of Montreal on her own. She is eventually taken away by Child Protective Services and put into a foster home while Jules goes through rehab. When Jules finally picks her up, he promises that everything will return to normal.

As Jules and Baby begin to settle down again, Jules' addiction gets the best of him and he begins to lash out at Baby, often for no reason. Baby eventually runs away and finds a semblance of security with a pimp named Alphonse. Alphonse develops an intimate relationship with Baby, taking her virginity, and forcing her to become a prostitute. She becomes one of his "girls" and is fearful of leaving him. She attempts to return to the apartment she had shared with Jules, but it is locked from the inside and nobody is there, so she assumes Jules has abandoned her. Alphonse also exposes her to heroin, making her addicted to it.

Baby goes back to school while still prostituting herself and meets an odd boy named Xavier. Xavier and Baby slowly but surely become closer and begin to date. As their relationship grows, they become very intimate, and have sex at Alphonse's hotel room, the only place they can be alone. When Alphonse returns to find them there, he beats Xavier and sends him home. Alphonse then beats Baby and takes all of her heroin. When Baby wakes up the next morning, she finds Alphonse dead of a drug overdose.

Baby leaves Alphonse's room and is left with nowhere to go. She decides to go to a nearby homeless shelter where she had heard that Jules was staying. They embrace, and Jules explains that he has set up a place to stay with his cousin. They pack up and walk to the local bus station. On the bus, Jules explains that Baby's mother died in a car crash while Jules was driving.

Upon arrival at Jules' cousin's house, the story ends.

This award winning novel is one which I could not put down. I think I had it read in about 3 nights.

Baby's life and story is so far removed from my life and I was intrigued to see what adventures the author had in store for her lead character. I enjoyed that this book was set in Montreal. It is great to see a Canadian city in an award winning book.

This story is told from Baby's point of view. While she is only 12, she has had to grow up very fast. This novel has believable characters and story lines where the reader feels like they are in the same room as Baby and watching the events of her life take place.

This novel is not for the faint of heart. It deals with drugs, child prostitution, and child abuse. Although, it deals with all of these tough subjects, Baby makes the reader believe she is going to be ok.

The only thing I didn't like about this novel was the ending. I felt like it left the story a little short. When the novel ends Jules and Baby are going to live with Jules' cousin. This cousin character is only brought to life in the last few paragraphs of the story. The way the author has left the book is disappointing because you want to know who this cousin is. From my standpoint, I think the cousin is actually Baby's mother and Jules' and her have reconciled and are now going to live together as a family. That is my view point. If you read the novel and have another opinion on who this cousin character is, please comment on my post.

That is if for now.

Mrs. Harty

Creativity

I got a little creative last weekend. It was my Grandfather's birthday and a friend of mine went in for surgery. The occasion called for some card making.

Hope you like,

Mrs. Harty

Sunday Review

Hi everyone -

Sorry about not posting last week's Sunday review. I was away on a girls trip to Galiano and I was a little pooped by the time we got home.
PS - there will be more to come about the wonderful time I had on Galiano in a future post.

Lush's Godiva Solid Shampoo -

When I first was introduced to Lush's solid shampoo line, I wasn't too keen on the idea of a solid shampoo. I have been a liquid shampoo kinda gal for my whole life, so I was a little skeptical when I received a solid shampoo bar in Lush's special promotion package. Let me tell you, I will NEVER EVER go back to liquid shampoo again. I love this shampoo bar!!!
Lush first started making shampoo bars because when they were starting out they could not afford bottles and packaging. They had to figure out a way to make a shampoo which could be solid and preservative free. I am so glad they did!
Godiva is a jasmine scented shampoo and conditioner bar, which is loaded with cocoa and Shea butters. I still use a conditioner afterwards just because I like my hair to be really soft. When I first received this bar, I was like 'whoa, that smells really strong'. But I have gotten used to the smell and actually crave to wash my hair with it. When you wash your hair with any of the solid shampoo bars, you take the same steps you would as if you were using liquid shampoo. I like to wet my hair, run the bar over my scalp a couple of times, rub it in a bit, rinse, then run the bar over my hair again and get a really good lather going. The lather these bars have is wonderful. Again, it is the soft lather with lots of little bubbles.
Another great feature of these bars is they last for 50 - 80 shampoos, depending on the length of your hair and how much is used. Not too shabby for $9.95.
If you are looking for something new in hair care definitely try out a solid shampoo bar from Lush. They have many different varieties for all hair types and scalp conditions.

Maybelline's Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Ultimate Length and Volume Mascara-

For most of my makeup wearing life, I have been a religious fan of Maybellines's Great Lash mascara. You know the one with the pink and green packaging. It is a cult classic. On a whim, I decided to try Maybelline's new mascaras, the Lash Stiletto line. I have puny little eyelashes with no thickness or length, so I really need a product that can build upon itself and give me both volume and length. Lash Stiletto does this. I have to say it does an even better job than Great Lash. This is my go to mascara. It builds nice shiny lashes which are super full. I really like that this mascara does not run, flake, or smudge. Another plus about this mascara is that it comes off super easily with just soap and water. Even with the Great Lash, I had to use a bit of makeup remover, not Lash Stiletto. A great tube of mascara for under $10!

So, maybe I'm born with it, maybe it's Maybelline!

Chat soon,

Mrs. Harty