Hello.

It’s me again.

Thanks so much for choosing to spend some time with me on my blog. I truly appreciate it.

I first put up this “Best of Page” in April 2014. Based on my analytics (not counting my Home Page, my About Me Page, or My Bloggy Birth Story), here’s the June 2017 update.

Number #5 – Salad Drama

I like to think of this as the post that proves you DO make friends with salad.

Here, I write about my horror at discovering Blue Gardenia, my favourite lunch-time salad place, had closed down … and my joy upon realizing there was another location.

Number #4 – Will I Retire on Mulberry Street?

I was gifted a misbound copy of the book that launched Dr. Seuss. Read on to understand how this didn’t spontaneously translate into me retiring onto my own privately owned Island in the Sun (hip hip).

Number #3 – The Thing About Office Coffee Club…

Coffee-lovers of the public service coordinate!

Number #2 – TTOT I’m Not Caillou’s Mom

Okay, so this is what I guess you call a “slow burn” post. Apparently there’s enough keywords working here to keep Google satisfied. Sure, I mention Caillou, but also Cher, and Mariah. Maybe that’s the trifecta? Dunno. Here’s a video to enjoy while you ponder Google analytics. And for anyone curious, TTOT = Ten Things of Thankful, Lizzi’s weekend blog hop to celebrate the good – any and every good – in life.

Number #1 – What I Learnt Home Sick Today…

Here are my thoughts on Winx Club, after a day on the couch watching TV with my sick 5-year-old daughter. Apparently I’m not the only parent wondering about these here fae.

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So, based on page views, that’s my most popular.  But I don’t want to end the introspection and sharing here!

Because, really, at this stage of life? This is the ONLY place I have that’s really ALL. ABOUT. ME.

So, in addition to those posts, here’s five more have been quite popular. Not necessarily top ten – but, IMO (and that of enough other peeps that they can’t all be wrong), are worth another look.

R is for Rainbows

So this is a 2017 addition. And I must admit, I was a bit surprised at the stats here. I participated for the first time this year in the April A to Z Challenge – a yearly blogging challenge to post daily in the month of April while working through the alphabet. I blogged on the theme of “Growing up Girl” and what I had experienced to date with my daughters – now seven and four. The letter “R” could have been for nothing else. But clearly the whimsy and hope contained within a rainbow stays with many far beyond childhood. So here’s to finding rainbows!

1000 Voices Speak for Compassion

In January of 2015 Yvonne and Lizzi started a movement – #1000Speak for Compassion. In a nutshell? The aim is to get bloggers to flood the Internet with good once a month on the 20th. Go check the main site and my post for more info, but I think they are “change the world-ers”. I look to be part of anything that comes next.

This was my call-out post for the #1000Speak movement. My description of where I was and why I hadn’t been currently (really) engaged. And why I no longer saw that as an excuse. I think there are many who want the world to change. I think this effort brought hope. I like to think my post helped those like me think about where they might engage.

Is that an Ant?

First posted in 2015, this random query appeared to resonate. When the ants came back in 2017, I figured it warranted a re-blog. It still resonates. And for the record? After we set the traps, it took about a week, and all good.

Lullaby (For a Black Mother)

A post about my daughter choosing a beautifully illustrated picture book of Langston Hughes’ poem of same title. Our thoughts on the book, and my thoughts on how she was completely oblivious to the issue of race.

The Least Amount of Responsibility

I’d had a rough week. One of those weeks where work-life and home-life in no way balance because both are demanding overtime. Where all of Ottawa is out of diaper genies, the grocery store won’t let me leave and there is nothing in the house that begins with the letter T for show and tell.

Kevin Spacey made me feel better. Maybe he’ll help you too?

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So, that winds up my Top of the Pops as it were. That said, here are a few posts I love that I think you should appreciate now, so as to avoid the rush.

Vampire A to D

So, ever since reading Dracula at 15 I’ve been hooked and in the past two decades I have amassed quite the collection of vampire fiction and movies. For the past three years in the week prior to Halloween, I have done a Vampire A to Z highlighting my favourites from the genre. Here’s the post that launched the 2014 list.

When I Was 19

A post where I reflect upon my … wait for it … 19th year. Growing up, I think – or I like to hope – that we all have a spot in time where we finally feel like we fit in our skin. For me, that happened at 19. It was a good year.

That was my first year of university at Carleton. So here I share some memories.

A – We’re All Mad Here

I mentioned above I participated in the April A to Z Blog Challenge this year and wrote about life to date raising my girls. This of course gave me the perfect excuse to write about Alice. And given that launched a month of daily blogging as a full-time working mom? Well, that seemed pretty perfect to me.

A Woman of a Certain Age

Reflections on what it now means to be a woman as I’ve long left the young woman years, move out of the “young mom” years, and after I was first asked if I qualify for the senior’s discount. That was LAST YEAR. I was 38. Maybe I looked tired.

Splash Pads Happen

About how my husband kept asking me to bring the girls to watch him play football. And failed to think the Splash Pad next to the field might distract them from watching.

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If you made it to the end – thank you for reading through and I hope you enjoyed what you read.  I generally update the page a few times a year.

I do hope you’ll surf about, comment, and visit again.