Baby heaven

I'm in NYC this week visiting my sisters and doing a bit of professional development.  

I got to meet Willa.

Can you remember when life was measured in days?

And, I'm hanging out with Milo.

What a loving boy he is.

I'm eating them up while I can on this brief visit.  My only consolation when I leave will be that I am coming back in only three months.

My Stanley: The Cupping Room

As I think about the places I love in Stanley, I'm conscious of the fact that for me, My Stanley is about people.  Derek, Kieve and Man at The Cupping Room are who keep me going back, though having the best coffee in town helps, too!

The Cupping Room is relatively new to Stanley, but in the few months that they've been here, they've already established a healthy customer base.  We met Man first.  She stands outside their lovely shop offering free samples of their yummy chocolates.  My kids love her, as much for the free samples as for her sweet smile.  I love that she speaks to them exclusively in Cantonese.

Cally gets a free sample from Man.

For a treat, I'll give the girls (and Buddy if he's with me) a two dollar coin so they can go and buy just a handful of chocolates. Ella likes the white chocolate covered strawberries, Cally likes the rasberry yogurt ones and Buddy likes the chocolate honeycomb ones.  They, of course, know which ones my kids prefer and helped Grandad put a box together to take home to surprise the kids yesterday.

Kieve helps Ella pick chocolates.

Kieve is married to Derek.  She's lived in Stanley practically her whole life and, like me, shares the same sentiments about some of the changes taking place.  Stanley Plaza, where The Cupping Room is located, is a totally different place than it was when we moved here.  I fear it's losing the charm of the personalities who work here.  I'm glad that The Cupping Room has this charm.  I feel like I have my own coffee hangout again like I did at Cool Beans in Madison. 

Kieve makes the yummiest pastries (not the croissants) in a tiny little oven in their shop.

Strawberry and lemon poppyseed cupcakes.

My favorite are her scones.  She serves them warm with jam and clotted cream.  And, they are so delicious.  The perfect compliment to my latte.

Then there's Derek, the barista.  He's an artisan, really.  On one of my first visits to have a latte, he was talking to my friend about opening the shop.  I'm just doing what I love, he explained.   

There's no doubt how much he loves this when you notice the attention to detail he uses in preparing each cup of coffee.  Nothing is rushed, it's always the perfect temperature and the foam is like art.  

It's easy to see why he won 2nd runner up in the HK Barista Competition in 2011.

He knows so much about brewing techniques, the beans, everything.  Hardly anyone takes their drinks away because it's all about the experience of enjoying it right there.

Thanks to Derek, Kieve and Man, I look forward to my coffee shop trips even more now.

Laid up

I have been out of commission for the last two days.  Literally.  I think I've slept for most of both days.  Remarkable.  

I'll spare you the gory details of the sickness that has ravaged our house the last few days.  Poor Cally had the first bout of the stomach flu and now it's me.  My big boy came home today complaining of a sore tummy.  

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to fly out to NYC on Friday to meet little Willa.

On her way home from the hospital last Thursday.

I'm hoping the sickness doesn't linger and that while I'm gone, the children are well.  I feel guilty enough leaving them for a week.

Pinned

I wore this outfit two weeks ago (you'll see it in a picture I took with Scarlett).  It's been a blur this week with most of the high school away on school trips (I stayed behind to help the emergency contact person) and with the arrival of Willa.  I've been consumed with looking at pictures of this gorgeous little baby girl.  In about a week, I'll have her in my arms.  Can't wait.

Anyhow, back to the outfit.  I'm a sucker for whimsical prints, which is why I couldn't pass this dress up with it's safety pin print.  

That, and the fact that it has pockets.  I think all dresses and skirts should have pockets.

The humidity is creeping back in here in Hong Kong, despite the fact that the cold hasn't really left.   It makes it a good time for a hat to tame the frizz in my hair.

I really love the classic look of a blazer with a dress.

Outfit: H&M dress, Zara blazer (thrifted from the Salvo), Sam & Libby oxford shoes, hat was a gift

My Stanley: Peggy

I have been wearing cashmere sweaters from Peggy's shop well before I even knew who she was.  Well before we moved to Hong Kong.  You see, my family and Peggy go way back.  It was my mum and dad who first started going to Peggy's cashmere shop.  Now we have family friends who want to see her when they come, my sisters like to stop there and of course, my mum and I see her, too.  My comfy oversized mens sweaters are all from her.

Running down the lane past Scarlett's and the hardware store.

Peggy used to have a shop right at the corner of where the lane with the hardware store (next to Scarlett) meets the main lane of the market.  Over a year ago, she was forced to shut down because she wasn't able to get the same supply of sweaters from the factory over in the mainland.  We were sad to see her close her shop (which she owns), but even more upset to see it become one of the first to turn into a trinket/cheap bag shop.  Luckily for us, she re opened in a side lane, near where she lives.

Bright colors for spring.

Sadly, a few days after I snapped these pics, she removed her stock of cashmere sweaters and sent them to New Zealand (her choice because she's not replenishing her stock of cashmere anyhow).  I'm not sure what she'll do now.  She does have summery clothes like maxi skirts and dresses, but I don't know if she'll even sell those anymore.

Peggy's new shop in the side lane just down from the hardware store.

I walk along this lane several times a week to and from art class with the kids.  The lane will be quite a bit more dull without the bright colors of her sweaters and her cheery enquiries after my father and the rest of my family.  Peggy is big part of My Stanley.

I love the fact that when we walk by, she usually has a good idea of what we're up to.
I hope she stays around.

Named

I realized, when I went to bed last night, that I was just as anxious as Ella was to find out out my little niece's name.

I left my phone alerts on while I slept so I could hear them.  Just in case.  In the wee hours of morning, Joey nudged me to let me know that they'd decided.

Here she is, Willa Gwenyth.

Gwenyth was my grandmother's name.  When I was pregnant with Buddy, it had been our girl's name.  I'm so glad that my sister used it.  My granny was an amazing woman.  She'd be so proud. 

Willa has a gorgeous full head of hair (with a part, too!) and wasted no time arriving.  Yes, my sister has one of those birth stories.  You know, the kind where she very nearly had the baby in the car.  

I feel like it wasn't that long ago that we were anxiously awaiting Milo's birth.  Now here he is, a big brother.  My sister said he was crying as she had to leave the house in the wee hours of the morning and it made her sad to see him that way.  I told her that in the end, it will be much harder on her that it is on him.  I remember that adjustment time, when Michael clung to Joey and even turned his head away from me when I tried to kiss him goodnight.  It passes, but it's hard.

I feel a bit like I'm on cloud 9 today.  Still in awe that my niece is actually here.  I'll get to hold her next week when I go to NYC for a bit of work related stuff.  I can't wait.  She'll be tiny!

Sure enough, when I woke Ella up for school this morning, the first words out of her mouth were, what's the baby's new name?  I think she's tickled that Willa and Ella sound so alike.  She went off to school and even spelled it for her teacher.  Such a proud cousin.

Cally keeps saying things like Willa is a girl. She didn't wipe her bum bum.  Just for grown ups.  Buddy's teacher just started her own maternity leave this week (in Hong Kong you have to start two weeks prior to your due date), so he went right up to the substitute teacher to tell her.  I asked him if he told her the name, but he said he kept it to himself.  Even from his friends.  His own little secret.

What a sweet little secret she is.

My sweet Ella

Last night, when I was getting the kids bags ready for school and sorting through their folders, I pulled this out of Ella's.  

It was a little book she made at school with pictures of flowers, love-hearts, girls with long hair and high heels, a list of her friends at HKIS and me.   Mummy.  

It's not the first little book of it's kind.  I find lots of these in various forms.  Pictures, notes, special glued bits of paper, folded fans.  Always with I love Mummy.  Don't worry, Daddy gets them too, but his say Joe.  

Mummy and Joe.  

Don't you love it?  We do.  How wonderful that the pictures she draws in her guided play time at school are all pictures that tell us how lucky we are to be loved by a sweet girl like her.

When I spoke with Ella about her book this morning, I had to ask about the picture on the last page.  It's me in your tummy, Mama.  We've been thinking lots about babies in tummies lately.  And while we've been waiting for my sister's baby to arrive, we've been telling them stories about when they were in mine.  Tonight, my sister's baby came out of her tummy.  

We're all excited.  Thrilled, to be exact.  We looked over and over at the two pictures my brother-in-law sent.  But, mostly it's Ella who keeps wanting to see them.  We don't know her name yet, so with every beep my phone made, Ella was eager for me to check the message.  Do you think that's the text that will tell us her name, Mummy?  My sister promised that by the morning, Ella will know it. 

It will be the first thing she asks when she wakes up.