I {heart} NY, orignal sketch by Milton Glaser

Life List: Visit NYC in all Four Seasons. Summer, check!

New York was fabulous. We had an amazing time, and over the next little while I will be sharing some of our experiences. But for now I need time to recover from my holiday...

I'm doing my usual vacation beauty prep, and thought I would share this easy scrub with you. My sister works in high end beauty retail and this type of thing can cost upwards of $30 for a small tub of exfoliating scrub. This costs like 2 cents.

In the palm of your hand combine one spoonful of oil (I use olive oil but any common cooking oil will do) and one spoonful of either salt or sugar. If you have any cuts on your hand, I would not use the salt. Rub the mixture all over your hands vigourously. Rinse with warm water to remove the sugar/salt, but don't use any soap, as you want the oil to remain. Lightly dry hands and continue to rub in oil until it is absorbed.

I do this frequently, as I love to exfoliate! You can use this all over, just combine the mixture in a small bowl to make enough.

I guess I'm starting this Friday off on a low note, as one of my life list items is technically unachievable now. This morning, NASA launched the final flight of the Atlantis space shuttle, marking the ending of the space shuttle program. And I wasn't there to watch it. So I guess that puts that item on hiatus for awhile.

Oh well. It's another Friday, and another summery forecast for the weekend! What do you have planned?

• I started this morning off with an Eton Mess donut from Jelly Modern. It was fabulous. Have you been yet? The Eton Mess was a special flavour for Prince William's visit, but they have many other delicious flavours like the lemon, or maple bacon!


• I picked up a copy of America's Test Kitchen magazing this week, and I forgot how much I loved Cook's Illustrated in general, and also the ATK show on PBS. Easy, straighforward recipies with great tips and photography. I'm planning to cook my way through that magazine from cover to cover.


• We have made a couple of restaurant reservations for NYC, and one that I am particularly excited about is ABC Kitchen. At this year's James Beard Awards, ABC won Best New Restaurant for 2011. You can count on a few foodie posts over the next couple weeks.


• Black Sheep White Light is a Toronto retailer of beautiful and sustainable hides. Originally they sold a variety of sheepskins, and have recently added reindeer hides to their line.

Happy Weekend!

Some classical favourites:

As with many classical songs, you may know a song to hear it but may not know the song name or composer. I heard Trois Gymnopedies being played on an accordion as we were walking through Paris years ago, but at the time, couldn't recall what it was called. We were newly engaged and I thought that it would be a great song to include in our wedding. I remember I kept repeating about 6 notes from tune over and over in my head so I wouldn't forget which song I was trying to find. Once we were back home in Canada, I spent weeks and weeks on classical music websites, going through archives and catalogues and listening to every song imaginable until I finally found it. And we played it during our ceremony, as we signed the certificates. And I will always remember passing that little cafe in Montmartre and falling in love with that accordion and how authentically French that moment was.

#teamconnie photo via @AlexKGT

For the past 8 weeks I have had the amazing pleasure of joining these fine folks, and many others at the high top table at Charcut, to cheer on our Top Chef, Connie DeSousa. The finale for the show was last night, and while Connie didn't end up on top, it was incredible to be surrounded by so many enthusiastic fans and give her a standing ovation for a job well done.

This group of friends is another example of the amazing power of Twitter. I know I may be preaching to the choir here, but Twitter really has opened up so many incredible social opportunities for me. And I am so greatful for that.

Who are these tweeps? Well they are: @chelseamwatson, @RobWaye, @alexKGT, @brie_elise, @Dave_khan, @chelscore, @jamiepenno, @dansgoodside.

Special thanks to Dan for starting the team and bringing everyone together every week, and to Chelsea for designing our t-shirts!

And here's a great wrap up post by Dan on FoodNetwork.ca!

Sound the horns! We're kicking off the life list summer with a trip to NYC! Toot toot! While the rest of Calgary is Stampeding it up next week, we will be taking advantage of the down time by enjoying a little holiday. And I know this trip will only get me another 1/4 of the way towards my goal of NYC in all four seasons, but I'm really thrilled to get to spend a week in the Big Apple! And who knows...maybe there are other list items to tackle while we are there.

Besides the obvious NYC attractions, we want to try to hit up some interesting parts of NY that maybe others would overlook or will make our trip unique. Here's a couple of things we are really looking forward too:

The Radio Dept and Asobi Seksu at the Seaport Music Festival (free!)

Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty at the Met (the reason I prioritized this trip)

The High Line (the second phase just opened!)

Bicycling in Central Park

And let's not forget all the fabulous food...

If you have any suggestions for us, leave a comment!

photo above of a Banksy piece in NYC, via High Snobriety.

Happy Canada Day! This is an extra Fab Friday as it is also a holiday. First long weekend of the summer. I hope you are all getting out to enjoy it. On my agenda? A pig roast, campfires, canoeing in the mountains, learning to golf, and lots of good quality friend time. I can't wait!

• Love this Calgary print by etsy artist birdAve. Etsy is also featuring lots of red and white on the homepage today in honour of Canada Day.

• Thinking I might like to steal some of my neighbours rhubarb and make this rhubarb galette this weekend.

• My friend Alyssa did a guest post over on sfgirlbybay!

• And now that the postal strike is over, my latest issue of Anthology mag arrived. You must pick up a copy. It's always filled with such wonderful things.

• Loving this Feist cover by James Blake, Limit to Your Love.