Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts

Competitive Home Decor

Beautiful Inspiration from Wicked and Weird for clean fresh bright bathroom
Click to see source on Pinterest

It finally is starting to feel like fall around here, which is great.  Not great because I love fall, (November is the most miserable month of the year, in my opinion), but because with the lovely warm September and October, I found myself outside watching the kids in the playground, going for bike rides and walks, and generally soaking up every last morsel of sun and warmth like someone scarfs down caramel cheesecake knowing she is starting a diet the next day.

beautiful living room inspiration from Wicked and Weird for rich saturated colour
Click to see source on Pinterest
The cool rainy weekend spent inside revved up my nesting instincts again, but more importantly forced me to acknowledge the house reno/flip next door that has been going on all summer is coming to a close, and that said house is starting to put our house to shame. As they paint the trim and stucco the foundation, I suddenly notice all our cracked paint and crumbling mortar.  As they spray the ceiling of the front porch a nice clean grey, I see that ours is yellowed and peeling.  As they landscape the back yard, I realize that I haven't weeded in months and my outdoor rug looks like the bottom of a shoe.  By the time they list the house it will no doubt be clear to me that have no choice but to undertake a COMPLETE OVERHAUL OF OUR HOUSE.

... funny, the hubster is on the other side of town, but I could swear I just heard him groaning...?

Anyway, hopefully this new-found competition/inspiration will result is some fun blogging.  In the meantime I leave you with some of my more recent Pinterest pins, because a blog post with no images is a sad blog post indeed, and I ain't showing you my house beside their house.

beautiful dark kitchen window with brass hardware from Wicked and Weird
Click to see source on Pinterest
Click to see source on Pinterest
Emily Henderson living room inspiration from Wicked and Weird
Click to see source on Pinterest
Emily Henderson bedroom inspiration found on Wicked and Weird
Click to see source on Pinterest

The dawn of a new reality


Did you all like that one post I put up this summer?  It was awesome, wasn't it? Yeah...

Well, I did write many more of them in my head, usually at 2 am, but obviously none of them made it into the computer.  I even took photos specifically for blog posts, and then sort of shuddered at the thought of opening Photoshop and ran outside.  And that is where I spent pretty much every day this summer - outside (see photos above)!  With the boys, of course, and family either Out East or Out West - and yes I realize that my life is kind of ridiculous, and I am spoiled absolutely rotten.  I thought I would throw together a few of the look-how-awesome-my-summer was shots into one big clump to get them out of the way. :)

My comeuppance has come this week, as both boys start full days at school.  Suddenly I am none too fond of Mr. McGuinty and his full-day kindergarten (the very thing I was crossing my fingers for when I was a working mom paying for childcare).  It's like the end of the most glorious, happy, unbelievably-amazing vacation - a two-year vacation at that.

Two years of being at my kids' every beck and call, of crafting, colouring, drawing, breaking up fights, kissing owies, twisting the chicken timer on the time-out spot, and developing an amazing respect for the phenomenon called 'quiet'.

Two years of days at the park (feeling incredibly guilty as I facebooked and instagrammed my brains out), listening to toy cars discuss red lights versus green lights, denying TV, and then binging on 10 episodes of Max and Ruby (usually with a chaser of Caillou).

Two years of tantrums at the grocery store, book store, cafe, halfway to the park, halfway to the car, in the car, outside the car, upstairs, downstairs, and especially on the time-out spot - many of them thrown by yours truly.  Two years of spontaneous hugs, puzzles, stories, bike rides and snuggles.

You get the idea.  It only hit me last week that days like these will now be confined to two months in the summer, if they still want to hang out with me that is.  For the rest of the year I will have to make due with those fun hours around dinner and weekends, like regular folks.  It was a tough realization to come to terms with, but being grateful for those two years really, actually (Cam's favourite word) did help.  There some sobbing, gulping-for-air tears (all mine) last week to be sure.

But this week things seem to be shaking into some sort of new reality.  I am trying to take it easy on myself and not demand that I find a job STAT (which is how I feel).  I am happy to report that I am still gunning to do interior design, I will keep up with the marketing consulting, and the encaustic project is still a go.

So there you have it, my life in a nutshell.  I am sure you really didn't need to read it, but for some reason I needed to write it!  I seem to have been putting off blogging until I had all this stuff squared away, and now I hereby give myself permission to get back into it. :)

For the love of Fall - I'm IN

Clockwise from top: source | source | source | source | source | source

Clockwise from top: source | source | source | source | source

Yes, that big clatter of brass you heard was me jumping on the bandwagon.  Today was cold and bright, and I had to dig out everyone's mittens and toques before school.  When we were all home in the afternoon, the sky darkened and there were little, teeny, tiny, fleeting flakes of snow.  The lamps inside glowed, the radio played, and I snuggled on the sofa with my boys, a blanket, some books, and a cup of tea (nobody move, mommy's taking a sip!).  It was downright SNUGGLY.

In my defence, it felt a little more wintery than fall-like.  The leaves are mostly gone from the trees and sitting in huge piles on the street, waiting for collection day.  It was dark around 5 pm.  So I did what any self-respecting bandwagon-jumper would do, and made a huge and hearty pot of chicken noodle soup from scratch, heavy on the noodles, while Sarah Vaughn sang us a soundtrack.

I am not a fan of change - anyone who knows me will tell you that is the understatement of the decade. And fall is a rough transition, like leaving your beloved home for a year of unknown travels.  I can see the beauty, but it is still to close to summer for me to enjoy it without looking back wistfully over my shoulder as summer recedes.  Plus, this summer was a real hum-dinger - which made it that much more difficult to let go.

But eventually, even I turn and face the right direction!  So build up the fire, brew me a cuppa, break out the knitting needles, and let's talk cozy!!

PS. I have no idea why these images are looking so green - they look perfectly warm and creamy in photoshop.
PPS. Image sourcing is EXHAUSTING - damn you Pinterest - but such a thrill when you finally find the right one!
PPPS. Don't forget to tune in to CBC TV tomorrow at 2pm.  Don't be late, I am up right away, and if you blink, you'll miss me in all my dorky glory.  I am going to my neighbour's house to watch - the only time in the last two years I have wished for cable!

This is me, embracing autumn


I just thought I would post a few photos of my mantle.  I am clearly turning over a new (dead and crispy) leaf and Embracing Autumn.  Just look at that harvest-filled scene.  Sure, the grass is from my front yard, the big pumpkin was picked up when my son's class went on a field trip to Downy's, and my neighbour brought over the gourds.  I still really got into the spirit, wouldn't you say?  Who's a downer now??


A confession...


OK, I am going to come right out and say it: I don't like fall.  Or even autumn.  Yes, I know, the colours are incredible, the air is crisp, yada yada yada.  The thing is, I really like summer.  The windows open, the sound of cicadas, the feel of grass under bare feet, simple loose clothes - this is my happy place.  The fall means the end of all that, and worse, the onset of winter (cue gloomy music). Everything is dying.  There is the smell of decay in the air.  And I really don't like the colour burgundy.  Or MUMS AND CABBAGE PLANTERS.

PHEW.  I feel better getting that off my chest - liberated even.

However, I have been told that this opinion is a 'downer' (perhaps it was the reference to death and decay...) and I have obligingly tried to find the magic in the season.  I even took pictures - see?  A lovely walk in the ravine, a trip to Downy's Farm with Cam's school, playing with baby snakes... all good autumnal times.  Let's call it my Instagram Ode to Autumn.
 (Cam seems determined to put up with it all as well in that last photo.  And the other one?  Must be his father's genes.)
I do love a visit with Baba, winter, spring, summer or fall.  And family photos of all four of us are so rare I am happy with that one too.  And, um,  yellow is really pretty... sort of like the sunshine on a warm summer's day... 

I really am doing my best here people.

An Autumn Weekend

This weekend definitely felt like fall.  For the first time in ages I was actually cold when I went to sleep!  We were supposed to go camping but bailed when the boys were up all night with miserable colds and Saturday morning it was pouring buckets of rain.  Oh, and did I mention it would be the boys' first camping trip ever?  Probably better to stay home and work on my list of project, wouldn't you say?

I am almost finished painting the dresser - I have tried to do it well, not just quickly (which is my usual painting method-of-choice) and have been at it for 5 days.  I am on my sixth super thin coat, with sanding in between each layer and a day for each to dry.  I suppose five days isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but when the piece of furniture in question is used for housing thousands of toys, and said toys are now randomly piled and scatted all over the first floor, and the piece has nine drawers and two doors that are also strewn about the same area, and half of your living room furniture are under a painting drop cloth.... five days is a loooong time.  I am hoping that tomorrow I can put it all together again, put the toys away, take some photos, and restore a tiny piece of my sanity.

Then on to something else, which I have decided should definitely have beautiful fall colours like the ones in the bouquet above.  Isn't it incredible?  The gold service is not-too-shabby either...

Photo from Honey of a Thousand Flowers - one of the best floral eye candy sites out there.
Arrangement is by Sarah Winward, photography by Green Apple Photography

First Day of School: Survived

Well, somehow we all survived the first day of school, despite the fact that my kids are clearly nuts.  There were lots of emotions going on, and things began to fray around the edges in the late afternoon, but we did it.  Will started French Immersion and came home speaking "French" with all his cars (Je m'appelle Corvette!).  Cam found the huge bin of cars at his nursery school and was in heaven.  They also painted with cars, which sort of blew his mind - he did 4 paintings.  These photos crack me up, especially Cam's Zoolander face...
And another year begins... I am one lucky mumma.