Overcome

I was not going to mention the recent tragedy in Connecticut on the blog, but I have been unable to think of much else this weekend.  I have tried to avoid the details - knowing that it happened at all is enough to send me into a tailspin.  I can't stop thinking of those parents, of the young children and the women who worked there, and the agony they must be in, knowing that what I imagine against my will is nothing, nothing, even close to their reality.  I can do nothing but send them all my compassion and love, and breathe in every moment I have with my own sweet boys.

Exposing my inner window geek

Hey guys, I wanted to let you know about my guest post for the Fieldstone Windows and Doors blog.  Our family gets pretty excited about building materials, so I ended sending them off more than they had probably bargained for - but that's what happens when you ask a Mackay to talk about windows and doors, am I right Mackays?  I focussed on the American Arts and Crafts style, so if you would like to read my essay post, head on over.

Foxy Stuff

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My Pinterest feed is overflowing with foxes!  They are the latest woodland animal to capture everyone's imagination, and will look great beside all the owl stuff you bought over the last couple of years...and the bird things before that.  Any bets on the next trendy animal?  I want hedgehog, but I don't think it is hipster enough - too obviously cute.  Wolf is too close to fox, maybe opossum? :)  Woodpecker?  Honey Badger? :p

Shopping for a good cause: Invisible Children

Invisible Children and its campaign against Joseph Kony attracted a huge amount of media attention earlier in the year, not all of it positive.  In my mind, it was a powerful and effective use of social and traditional media to not only bring specific African atrocities to light, but also to successfully engage and mobilize people in a 'new school' grassroots effort to make change happen.

The organization continues to work hard towards its goals, and this holiday season it has launched an online store selling artisanal African goods, including beautiful jewellery, bags, scarves, and shoes, with 100% of the profits going towards supporting Invisible Children's mission.  100% - astounding!  Now, having worked in many a non-profit organization, I know that there are many ways to explain the distribution and allocation of funds, and it is easy to nit-pick a claim such as this.  However, it beats the pants off buying pink nail polish and having 2% (or sometimes 0% - see "pink-washing") go towards fighting breast cancer.  And the products are both gorgeous and affordable!  I call that a win-win-win.  Now let's look at the pretty:

So many beautiful things - I don't think there is one thing on there I wouldn't love to have (with special love for bracelets).  The scarves, bags and shoes are equally awesome (and the shoes are produced in collaboration with Canadian-based Oliberté Shoes).  So if you have anyone left on your holiday list...start shopping!

Basement Update: The Carpet

Nothing terribly exciting to report folks, but I DID make my way up to Highway 400 and Langstaff to pick my carpet for the basement.  Our sample piece that we had kept to show the insurance people and contractors had been thrown away - a fact I discovered as I rushed downstairs to get it on my way out the door.  Oops.  No biggie, I grabbed some heavy duty scissors, pliers and screwdrivers (leverage) and yanked and slashed a piece from the stairs.  I guess we're doing the stairs.

The designer I met with pulled this one (above) out almost before I had shown her the old one.  I liked that it was a bit darker (the old one shown spots super easily) and had a tighter weave.  I am hoping the tighter weave conducts the heat from the in-floor heating a little better than the plusher one did.  I looked through a handful of other samples, but this one worked for me.  I was also distracted by grilling her about her background and how she got into interior design (she had a background in marketing and no formal schooling).  Sadly, there were no extra samples to bring with me, but I left feeling pleased.

Of course about 11:30 pm last night I couldn't sleep worrying that it was too dark, too grey, too muddy.  I only had my iPhone photos, and around midnight I got out of bed, went down and interrupted the DVD Chris was watching to check the photos against the pictures of the former finished basement.  He was less than impressed.  Then today I sent my mom the iPhone photos and she reassured me that it would look fine and reminded me to trust in myself.

Jeepers, how long will it take before I get to be confident in my own decisions, and not always second guess them?  Or is that simply my nature?  The bigger the commitment, the more I stress (just ask my husband). Anyway, I put together a bit of a moodboard on Olioboard with the new carpet and a new paint colour, plus a few new accessories to go with the 'warm, cozy' vibe I was hoping the new carpet would bring.

The carpet here is a screen grab from the manufacturer website, which (incorrectly I hope) shows the colour I picked as being much darker than I had in my photos.  But maybe if I add lots of textures (anyone want to get me some Mongolian fur pillows for Christmas?  Or maybe I'll try the fake ones from Amazon...and yowza, that throw from Anthro!) and a beautiful warm kilim carpet it will make the place more of a cozy den.  I have my darker David Hannan painting (similar to the one pictured here) and the sepia photos of Prague from an old calendar that I framed.  And Dad made me a gorgeous full length mahogany-framed mirror (or rather made it for himself and I stole it) ... But... I just liked how the light carpet reflected the light from the pot lights and made it feel less like a basement.  SIGH.  Stupid tree.

Amazing how I have no problem making other people's decor and design decisions, but am completely stymied by my own.  Never-the-less, there are supposedly people coming tomorrow to start fixing the drywall, so maybe it will be done in time for the in-laws after all!  The sooner the damn carpet is in, the less time I will have to stress about it.

It's time to get personal(ized)

I recently got an email from notonthehighstreet.com, a British online marketplace for beautiful, one-of-a-kind personalized gifts.  I quickly looked over the site... and 5 hours later... I had a basket full of gift idea for everyone I knew (sorry guys, I did the responsible thing and decided to blog about it instead of buying it all!)  They kindly offered me a gift from the market - or should I say shrewdly, since of course I love way too much on there, can't decide what to get, and am going to blog about it!

Started by two women, Sophie Cornish and Holly Tucker, notonthehighstreet.com is a place where over 3,000 independent artists and craftspeople can sell their products.  It is kind of like Etsy, only the products and artists are carefully selected and vetted for quality and dependability, and for the most part they maintain a certain vibe.  I am not sure when it was started in relation to Etsy (I suppose I could do some research, huh?), but these ladies have been racking up awards like crazy as the site has grown.  It is definitely as addictive as Etsy, that's for sure!  But on to the good stuff; here are some of my favourites from the site.  I was going to do one board, but there is just so much good stuff on there, it kind of got out of hand!

Weekend Update

Many of you have been asking for a basement report and I always oblige my dear readers.  These are photos of my basement on the 15th of November.  Should you photoshop out the heaters and fans, and add a lot of dust, you would have a completely accurate image of our basement as of tonight.  Did I mention that this is also our guest room and that my in-laws are arriving (with their beautiful white boxer Sunny) two weeks this Saturday?  Just checking to see if I had mentioned that...

Anyhoo...  Hopefully the nest two weeks will be FULL of basement reports!

Instead of worrying about our basement, we threw ourselves into family time this weekend.*  We had our last swimming lessons, made our way through Santa in the Junction (which was really fun) and went to see the Canadian Pacific holiday train.

The next day we all went to see Raffi, and the boys and I were so excited.  After the concert we went for dinner at the pub for a special end to a special weekend.  I wouldn't even trade it for a finished basement...

What about you - how was the first weekend of December?


*Actually, I threw myself into Mommy-Night-Out a little too forcefully on Friday night and felt the bruises thoughout family weekend...

Easy DIY Christmas Tree

My son has been coming home from school with Christmas on the brain for a few weeks now, and we have been reading Christmas books over and over and OVER (Caillou, Busy Town, Max and Ruby - everyone, it seems, has a Christmas version).  When I saw this ornament craft kit at Michael's, I knew it was just the right level for both boys to be able to do, and that it would fulfill the "Is this for Christmas?" requirement that all activities now seem to have.  Once the glitter and sequins had been properly applied and the goops of glue had dried, we needed somewhere to display them.  (I have decided to hold off on the tree for a bit longer because it dried out so badly last year.)

So I did what I always do and scrounged around for something I could re-purpose.  This green flower pot has been sitting idle for a few seasons, and by idle I mean upside down in the dirt under our porch.  I had the gold paint left over from the buddha project, and this awesome ScotchBlue painters tape that I had been itching to try out.  I sprayed the bottom and couldn't believe how crisp a line that tape made - nothing got under it to leave a little squiggle, which is saying something with this spray paint (it seems to  be very, very runny).  I was actually out doing this in the SNOW, and was worried the tape might not stick well with the moisture on the pot, but it worked great.

The boys had I had been hunting for the perfect stick on our walks and this one made it's way home from the park with us one day.  I sprayed it (and part of my patio furniture) white and stuck it in the pot using some sand from our sandbox in the back (I should really probably clean that guy out...).  We hung the ornaments (which weigh nothing) and voila, two happy boys and one happy momma.  I wasn't sure if I liked the green and gold combo as much as I thought I would, but it is growing on me.  I like that it is delicate and sculptural.  And wouldn't the branch look pretty hung with little gold balls on gold ribbon too?