Bits and pieces.

Oh, hi! I can't believe it's already Wednesday, this week is just flying by! I had a bunch of things I wanted to write about but was laid up sick at the beginning of the week and then attended a birth until the early hours of this morning so I'm playing catch up a bit now. Anyway, here's some photos of what we got up to this weekend. The weather was beautiful so we got tons of walking in, went to the fantastic Spool of Thread grand opening (more on that soon), ate a gigantic plate of nachos, picked out houses that we'd like to live in, bought new jeans that are about two miles too long for me (story of my short-legged life) and then crashed on the couch for a drink at Rhizome at the end of a long day. It was so good to forget about housework and the like to spend the weekend hanging out with friends and enjoying the sunshine!

Everything should be back to normal on the blog tomorrow, including the next artist interview with the lovely Lisa Congdon! Hope you're all having a fantastic week!

A quick note..

Hello Hello! I'm just popping in quickly as our laptop is having issues yet again, and using our old desktop is like pulling teeth it's so slow. And uploading photos? Oh man, kill me now. I got myself a new camera was pretty excited to show you some of the photos I'd taken with it over the weekend, but I think uploading them could be the death of me. So here's the very first two. I love the colours in that top one. We live in pretty much a giant pink apartment complex, and I love the reflection of the sky in all the windows. In the second one you can see Ursula doing her most favourite thing, rolling around and around on the balcony. I swear it is all she does out there, for hours! It was cracking me up as each photo I took she'd twist in to a new pose. Super model cat!

I'm sorry I haven't announced the winners of the bunting giveaway yet, but the mighty desktop isn't really down with the whole more than one window open at once thing so I'll try getting to that tomorrow if I can sneak a moment at work! Fingers crossed our laptop will be back and healthy by then, also!

Hope you're all well. Get up to anything exciting over the weekend? I'd love to hear about it!

Five Senses Friday

purple underbelly by afton lorraine

Fridays are a little funny around here. With Richard working the night shift (and now often with extended hours since we're trying to save, save, save for NZ) it means that he doesn't usually get up until around 12ish, we have lunch/dinner around 4 and then by the time I'm ready for bed in the evening it's the middle of his day and he's ready to do stuff. Which means we try and squeeze as much in those in between hours. It can get a little frustrating for us both I think, but daylight savings making it a little easier, as is taking the time out to reflect on my week like this. Also, the idea that just because it's The Weekend it doesn't mean I have to instantly start wanting to do a million activities. Why I have a brain that thinks like that is totally beyond me, it is almost never what my body wants to do!

:Tasting:

Blue Sky Cola, I love it so.

:Seeing:

The results from the first rolls of film I've had developed in a couple years.

:Smelling:

Spring rain on hot asphalt, easily one of the best smells in the whole world.

:Hearing:

More birds and a few bees as we've started leaving the windows open.

:Feeling:

Excited to go check out some Record Store Day sales tomorrow!

Hope your weekends are all fantastic!
xo

On the balcony

I mentioned last month that I was starting to plan out our balcony garden for the Spring/Summer and I must admit that we've yet to really get out there to get it started. I've done lots of scouring the internet for inspiration, though! That totally counts. Right? When I came across this photo by geninne d. zlatkis I realised that mostly I just want lots and lots of plants. I feel like if I just overwhelm the space with pots full of green, I'll get the cozy, secret garden feel I'm looking for. It is a really large area, which we're totally lucky to have, but it also means a huge space to fill! It's also a pretty exposed place, so along with some pretty daisy type bushes I'm leaning toward picking up a bunch of succulents that will hopefully best be able to withstand a lot of sunlight and being out in the open on what is essentially a giant concrete slab.

images sourced from living in penny, charles & hudson, green renters, the kitchn

Staying with the secret garden feel, I plan on picking up some clematis and maybe honeysuckle this weekend to get going on our trellis that we've put up on either side to offer a little privacy. The weather has partly been an excuse for us not getting out in the 'garden' but with the beautiful forecast we've got this weekend I can put it off no longer! Although, you never can tell with Vancouver weather so we shall see. I'll report back on Monday!

Staying in.

Despite grand plans for gardening, bike riding and birthday partying this weekend, I ended up spending it mostly in bed with a nasty cold (seriously, I feel like I've been perpetually sick this past year). It was pretty nice having a lazy weekend however, and we did venture out on Sunday to do a major bulk stock up at Famous Foods, making it home just in time to beat a downpour and cozy back up with some library books on the bed. Can I just say that if you're in Vancouver and have never been to Famous Foods you absolutely must go! It can be a little pricey, but they have such an incredible selection of natural foods. There is pretty much every herb, spice, root, tea, grain that you can imagine and now our pantry (read: cupboard above the sink) is organised and stocked with mason jars full of beans, lentils, organic sugars, grits for polenta and the like. It feels good.

This weekend found myself getting lost in the recent photos of India in this incredible flickr stream. Also? The latest installment in Ebony's Tokyo Guide. I can't wait for the official guide to come out, especially as Tokyo is somewhere we hope to be heading to in the not to distant future. Oh, one last thing. After seeing this stunning pysanka I have become obsessed with trying this myself. I'm pretty sure I have in fact done this or something like it before, but mostly likely in primary school and as much as I like to imagine myself full of patience and a delicate hand but I'm not so sure. Anyone tried it?

How were your weekends? Get up to anything exciting? Here's some tunes for your Monday morning (not mine this time, but this gal has some great taste. I love all her mixes!) , I hope it starts your week off well!

This week.

I almost started off by saying this past week had been a bit of a write off. You know, it all started out on a pretty crappy note and we both have been in a bit of a funk ever since. But then I looked through some photos that I had taken on Wednesday while running errands and I realised that wasn't true at all. Because neither of us felt much like doing anything else, we spend a lot of time just hanging out, chatting, walking instead of busing, listening to records and the like. While we didn't get much stuff done, I feel pretty recharged now at the end of it. The Spring sun has been out in full force this week and I have been soaking it up, soaking up the sun and the blossoms that have started to cover the city. I've gone without socks, without my winter coat. I turned off my alarm last night and slept with the blinds up so I could wake up with sunlight instead. I walked around new neighbourhoods, smelled blossoms, painted my nails peach and stopped for delicious lunches. It was good.

I'm looking forward to a few days off coming up, trying not to plan too much for them (although I always do, I just get so excited!) but hoping to get in some more sun. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, I'll see you back here on Monday!

Happy Friday!

French toast with raspberry preserves and blackberries, from here

We're having people over for a potluck brunch tomorrow, and along with some yummy fruits and pancakes I'm thinking I might try making some vegan french toast. It is hands down my favourite brunch food (although is sometimes tied with something more savoury like a root hash or the polenta from Rhizome. Ok, I just really like brunch) but I have yet to try making my own vegan version of it. I'll admit I'm a little afraid that I'll be disappointed with an egg-free version but I've got some soft and crusty bread so should probably just give it a go!

I hope you all have lovely weekends, any exciting plans? I'm going to a gardening class on Sunday with a friend, can't wait!

xo

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

I finally got to see Bright Star last week and it was every bit as good as I was hoping it would be. I love Jane Campion (An Angel at My Table is a favourite) and knew that I would be in for a visual treat. Aside from the beautiful love story and a lovely Abby Cornish (and me bawling at the end), the film was just so incredibly stunning to look at. The colours, the natural lighting, the wide sweeping landscapes.....so so good! There were so many moments where I actually did a little gasp and how beautiful the shot was so I thought I would share with you some of my favourites.

I hope you're all having lovely weekends wherever you are. I've spent mine sleeping in, lazying about in bed chatting to my bestie Jayne who is living in Edinburgh, eating bananas on toast and drinking tea. Soon we'll be off to a Waitangi Day celebration at a nearby pub to drink a beer or two, have a chip butty or two and no doubt listen to The Exponents.

xo

On letting go.

listen by courtneydawn (I highly recommend checking out her entire flickr stream, so good)

Awhile back I talked about my endeavour to become better at having balance in my life, with one of the key things being the ability to let go. This has become a bit of a theme for me lately, letting go of clutter, letting go other people's expectations of me, letting go of the excuses I make for myself that ultimately just hold me back. Definitely not perfect at this yet, but I'm working on it. It's tough you know, I think part of it comes down to being someone who loves big ideas (and small ones). I love the planning, the researching and the dreaming but I find myself often disappointed that I can't do every one of these things all at once, right now. Which is crazy, because I know if somehow I could magically do that I would actually hate the busy.

I had grand plans for this week, especially as it is Richard's last week of holidays. I'd planned out all sorts of errands and jobs to be done on Wednesday, a shop update and an amazingly clean house. I then spent almost the entire day at the dentist. Apparently I have to have a root canal, and some lovely and very thorough UBC students helped prepped my tooth for it. The dentist! I can't tell if I was more bummed about the pain, the money or the wasted day. After being a huge grump for the rest of the day I decided that you know, the shop update doesn't have to happen today. Yes, my house is a bit of a mess but my tooth no longer aches and I`m healthy. I'm behind on updating my 365, but really is that the most important thing? It's Richard's last week of holidays, surely walks in the park, movies on the couch and good conversation is the top priority here.

So this weekend I'm taking my time. There may or may not be a shop update on Monday. We've got beautiful sunny days forecasted for Vancouver, so we plan to picnic and go for walks. I'm going to take the time to really organise (or think about organising) our apartment so that it feels inspiring and calm to me. I'm going to finish my roll of film. I've been craving some kind of fruity scones, so I might just bake some.

What are your plans this weekend? I hope it's a good one.

xo

Happy Weekend xo

Hello lovelies, just popping in quickly to wish you all a lovely weekend. I've been a bit under the weather lately and ended up taking most of this week off work to try and get back to normal. It's been a week of lots of lemon ginger tea, hiding under quilts and Dawsons Creek (which I'd grabbed from the library just prior to getting sick in order to watch while crafting, lucky!). Oh, Dawsons Creek! I think its almost better this time around than when I first watched it in the common room with all the other girls from my uni dorm. They're all so soulful and dramatic.

It's also been a week of stewed fruit, and lots of it. We get an abundance of apples and sometimes pears in our veggie box each week, and combined with a dash of cinnamon or whatever berries we have in our freezer and some chopped nuts on top, it's just about the most perfect thing I can think of on these cold, rainy days. In fact, I'm eating some right now with granola and yogurt, yum. I also think that I'll be making these toasty oats to go with them, throughout the winter months!

Before I go, here are a few treats to check out while you're enjoying your days off!

Homemade Pipe Shelving (love this)

Lovely Holiday Postcards from Abby Try Again

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread (!!)

Pip's Where The Wild Things Are Christmas stocking!

xo

A Fall Weekend

Weekend-ing meant; a new quilt for the bed, new bookmarks in the making (apple and orange wood, that smell amazing), found wooden shoe forms, neighbourhood walks and flannel shirts, fabric scraps (I love how this photo tricks you into thinking that save from that one piece of fabric, our floor is spotless. Ahem..), collections, autumn leaves, new boots in need of new laces, kitten snuggling.

(You know that shop update I said was coming? It is, I promise! Only I found more clock parts and got distracted by embroidery, so it is now this coming Friday. Also, Jessica has done a wee interview with us over on her lovely blog. Go take a peek, there is a giveaway there, too!)

Weekend-ing

This weekend has been lovely and lazy, filled with blackberries (my favourite!), a bit of thrifting, milkshakes and long lie-ins. Thanks so much for all your blog birthday well wishes! I haven't actually drawn a name yet, but I promise to do so tomorrow morning and let you all know quick smart! Before I get back to Deadwood (we've just started the series after many a recommendation) and my glass of wine, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into what we've been up to.

From the top: clock making, teeny grape eating, reading in bed, fresh blueberry pancakes, Werthers Originals and The Templeton greasy spoon for milkshakes and portabello mushroom burgers. Yum.

I hope your weekends were lovely and relaxing, also!