Oh Joy and cake memories to get me through a Monday

Oh weekend!  Why are you so fleeting?

We made a brief stop in Vancouver this weekend because I had tickets to the IDSWest, a stylish design conference and I thought we’d celebrate the hubby’s birthday with some friends while we were there too.  The conference took place at the Vancouver Convention Centre and this building is so gorgeous, it’s worth a peek into even if you don’t have a conference there.  This giant hanging globe is just incredible and you can even see it from far away if you’re outside of the building.

I didn’t know much about the conference but wanted to see Joy from the blog Oh Joy speak about her life.  I really love hearing the bloggers I admire talk at events and she was an energetic and dynamic speaker.  I learned that we are both born in the same year, we have husbands in the same field and we both did long distance relationships and somehow that makes me like her even more.

I also learned she makes Band-Aids and I totally want to buy them.

There were a few other morning speakers and I really liked hearing Tamara Taggart, a Vancouver TV personality speak and I think her Instagram will be one of my favorites.  She has a gorgeous family and a big heart and I love people with big hearts.  (Don’t you?)

She had on some adorable leopard print canvas shoes that I tried to find at Nordstrom, but then I got sucked into the rabbit hole that is Nordstrom shoes online and found these fox print ones I want instead. (And now Vancouver has Nordstrom too!  I am so happy for my hometown.  I can’t wait to pop into the new store the next time I visit!)

I wish I had more time to spend at the conference because we are still working on the cabin and I know I could have gotten a lot more ideas.  (I know I haven’t updated on the cabin project in a while but I will totally catch you up in the next few weeks.) But we had to stop in at my lovely friend S’s baby’s first birthday and there were so many amazing details at this pink and gold birthday.

I loved the cake table and the make your own cookie station and the gold-flecked pink lemonade ice cubes to put in the pink lemonade.  I love gorgeous details and I absolutely love cake.

I even threw the hubby’s birthday party BECAUSE of a cake I saw in my instagram feed-this cake was perfect and we needed an excuse to try it.  Thank you Heritage Canadian Bakery for such a delectable dessert.  With the meringues and the popcorn and the layers of chocolate and icing and jam it was the perfect cake explosion.  (It was easy to order even from a different country-I just sent them an email.  Oh the internets are amazing!)  And it was so nice to share it with family and friends.

We are lucky that Seattle is so close!  I will have to think of another excuse to have a celebration soon.

So there are still a few pieces of cake in my fridge and I am pretty exhausted from a weekend of play.  Do you have cake in your fridge this Monday?

(And did you see the giant Supermoon eclipse?!  )

Hope you have a lovely day!

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)