New living room photos

I may not have been blogging much lately, but I can't seem to stop tinkering with the house - I do it almost unconsciously!  One day I feel the need to change up the mantel, another day I am switching pillows around.  Our friend and babysitter came over on Friday after having been away for a while and couldn't believe how many changes I had made.  Because I have been doing them bit by bit and been so distracted by my work and business course, I really hadn't taken in the cumulative effect of all my little tweaks.

Anybody out there?

Holy Sweet Mother Of Pearl, switching internet hosts is not for the faint of heart*.  That goes double when you are originally on Blogger and don't actually know who is currently hosting your blog!  (It is eNom.com by the way.)  Trying to remember all my passwords (with a special character? without??), requesting unknown hosts to unlock domains, having secret codes sent to you by both hosts - I don't know how people get away with all the crazy stuff they do online when you have to navigate the cryptic-undercover-secret-handshake back alleys of the internet just to move a design blog.  Add to that the fact that all my recent online charges got my credit card blocked (which of course landed me in a whole other realm of security shenanigans), and you have the recipe for one confused and frustrated blogger, with a blog lost in the ether.

But lo and behold, here I am - I guess if you are reading this you found me!  And thanks to everyone who sent me panicked emails and texts wondering what the hell happened to my blog, it made me so happy to know you guys got my back. :)

I am still on Blogger for now, but with Bluehost.  I am planning to move over to Word Press eventually, once I get a business going, but I don't want to let go of this design I worked so hard on, at least not yet. :)

*Apparently you can pay people to figure this crap out for you, if you aren't cheap (and ignorant) like me...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Yes, I am very, painfully, aware that so far Spring has been the mother of all disappointments.  Seriously Universe - ICE PELLETS?  Yeesh.  But, although the tulips are slow in poking out their heads, the Garage Sales have begun (Cue the music! Start the skipping!).  That is right my thrifty friends, yesterday my mother-in-law and I went to my first yard sale of the season, in the posh area around Old Mill.  We were there just at the end, which means we probably missed some good stuff, but got some great deals.  For example, this cheerful, hand-stitched wool shawl.  No holes, no snags.  $5.  Perfect to inject a little colour into a room or outfit. Love it.

Belgian Style Guest Post

Hi friends!  It has been even nuttier than usual around here lately - for some reason my life seems to follow the "feast or famine" philosophy.  For a while I was able to find some space, really concentrate on the business course I am taking, and focus on being an RSM (Rock Star Mumma).  Then, suddenly, I landed a lovely marketing contract with a very short deadline, got started on some graphic work with a very short deadline, and am struggling to keep up with the course and all the reading.  Thank sweet merciful heavens my wonderful mother-in-law is here for a visit and has been able to take on full time kid care, leaving me to reacquaint myself with the joys of hours upon hours behind a desk.

I have many half-started-but-not-near-publishable blog posts in the hopper, but the universe decided to cut my blog a break and sent me an email with a complete guest post from Arcadian Home, all about calm, steady, grounded-in-history Belgian decor.  That bedroom with the velvet bed cover is going to be permanently stuck in my imagination - to think I had once decided that I didn't like purple!  Thanks universe (and Arcadian Home) - I owe you a solid.

Hiding the Kitchen Clutter

I am quite thrilled with my kitchen; it was renovated over two years ago and I wouldn't change a THING about it - I love love love using it.  The only thing that was missing from it was a message centre or place to keep notices, tickets, adorable kid drawing, etc.  Our stainless refrigerator doesn't take magnets, which is fine with me - believe it or not I am a fan of clean lines and lots of space.  However, the piles of paper were growing and driving me nuts, so I picked the lesser of evils and hung this metal board from Ikea on the front of Dad's cabinet. While it did corale the bits and pieces, I didn't like that it marred and obstructed the beautiful cabinet, that it bonked the door every time you opened or closed the cabinets, and that it never looked tidy.