The Things I Miss Most...

Well friends - this is it! I'm officially on maternity leave, and up here that means an entire year off to spend with my little girl. No, she isn't here yet... but her arrival is exactly what has inspired my post for today...

As much as I have been enjoying feeling this little peanut squirm around and kick inside of my belly, I must say, there are quite a few things I've been missing and that I'm looking forward to enjoying once she joins us. Here's just a few...

Tim Horton's Iced Capp. I must say, I really only treat myself to maybe one or two a summer (because for a medium made with milk it's STILL 220 calories), so there is plenty of time left for me to enjoy them... and let me tell you... I CANNOT wait!

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Cold beers on sunny patios. Let's all agree now... cold beers + sunny patio (or a dock at a cottage... or a back deck... or anywhere warm and sunny for that matter) = best part of summer. In my case, I'm anxiously awaiting my first nice cold Sam Adams Summer Ale, or Rickards White ANYWHERE sunny...

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Bikini's. Pregnancy has been kind to me (and I've done my best to try and eat as healthy as possible throughout it). Any weight I gained above and beyond our little peanut should come off pretty easy with some extra healthy eating and exercise... but I still don't think I'll be sporting any of my cute bikini's this summer. (But I guess that just means I can indulge and buy some cute one's next summer?)

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And I know what you're thinking... if I'm enjoying Iced Capps and Beers... how do I expect to look like that? Trust me, I'm not THAT disillusioned... AND I don't particularly want to look like a surfboard in a bikini... I just miss bathing suits (and my parents pool).

Eggs Benedict. Yet another item that won't get me back into that bikini any faster, but I can't even begin to tell you how many times we've gone out for breakfast and I feel like I'm "settling" when I have to choose something other than delicious eggs benedict! I've told B that this is the first breakfast I'd like after baby comes... with some smoked salmon instead of ham... YUM!

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Sushi. Do I really need to say anything more than that?

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Rollerblading. Yup - there's my secret! I can't believe it's July and I haven't had a chance to get out on my rollerblades! When I lived in Ottawa back in the summer of 2006 (OMG I can't believe it's been FIVE YEARS), I would rollerblade 2 hours everyday along the canal path. best.workout.ever. I can't wait to get back on my rollerblades with my iPod and work off some of this baby weight... and just tone in general!

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What did you miss most when you were pregnant... or for those of you expecting, what do you miss most now?

Little Additions

Nope... not that little addition. She's still tucked away inside of my belly (good thing too, as today is my last day of work before maternity leave starts!). Instead, today I wanted to share with you a couple of small things we added to Peanut's gallery wall in her nursery.


The other week I shared with you what we started with, and it wasn't too much.

So the other weekend, when my parents came by the dropped off a couple little wooden plaques for B and I to fill up some of the empty space.

You have to love what early morning light can do to a photo... no matter how much you play with you camera settings. Anyway - these cute little puppy dog plaques once resided in my father's nursery! Yup - these little cuties have some history in my family as they were made for my Dad by his grandfather. It makes me so happy that our little Peanut has something in her nursery that was made by her Great Great Grandfather. 

We also have something to fill that giant gap in the top right corner, we just need to find the right way to hang it (our last attempt failed). I may also play around with the positioning of some of the other items (that hoop can definitely move over to the right a little).

Do you have anything in your home that has been passed on through generations?

Canadian Design Bloggers Meet-Up

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm here to share with you all of the fun that was had this past Saturday evening in Toronto at the Canadian Design Bloggers Meetup at Brassaii! Alright - so fun is an understatement indeed, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that it was absolutely fantastic.


I was so happy to run into so many familiar faces, like the girls I'd met at Nate Day in NYC back in September - Sarah (who has great style, I must say), Vanessa, Christine and Lisa! And I loved seeing so many other familiar faces like Lindsay, Jen, Janice, Christine, Brittany, Staci and Wendy, along with some new faces too like Sarah, Heather, Heather, Lindsey, Lindsay, Emily-Jane, Amanda, Carolyn and Jennifer... the list seriously just goes on! SO MUCH TALENT IN ONE ROOM! (If I missed someone I blame it on my baby brain... I'm actually pretty impressed I remembered to put all of the these people above!)


The venue was gorgeous, and I wish I had taken more time to get some photographs of the space. However, I got way too caught up catching up with old friends and meeting new ones that I barely snapped any photos at all. I know... slap me on the wrist. After a whole lot of chatting though, we were all entertained by a fantastic talk from the one and only Tommy Smythe. Yes - he's just as funny and charming in person as he appears on TV. We all loved him!

Yeah... that was pretty much my view. That's what happens when you're the short one in flats at the back of the room. I didn't mind though, I still got to see all of Tommy's beautiful and inspiring travel photos, and got to hang out with Staci and Wendy. So worth it. 

Afterwards, we had a ton more time to mix and mingle...

And then it was onto the prizes! Seriously, not only did Vie and Daniella do a fabulous job finding an awesome venue, and a great speaker - they also found some incredibly fantastic sponsors who were beyond generous with their fantastic prizes! IKEA, Delta and CIL offered up some great prizes - and even I won a great little prize offered up by Kravet fabrics! 

We also got a great little grab bag to head home with which included the latest copies of House & Home and Style at Home, as well as some great little gifts from CIL and IKEA! Thanks you guys - it was so fun to check everything out after I returned home and raved to B about how fantastic the evening was.

I couldn't have been any happier to have the chance to get out of the house and see so many lovely and inspirational ladies! I loved chatting and laughing and interacting with a room full of like-minded people... and of course enjoyed some seriously delicious food! YUM! (Mini grilled cheese anyone?). So a HUGE thank you again to both Vie and Daniella for all of their hard work, and to the fabulous sponsors who helped make the evening so special!

To check out some of the professional photographs from the event - you can find them here on the Canadian Design Bloggers site! Some seriously great shots of lots of wonderful bloggers! I'm already looking forward to a chance to do this again... even with a baby on the way, I am determined to make it to the next event! 

A Little Break...

Happy Monday! What a great weekend I had. Lots of downtime with B, a heavenly pedicure on Saturday morning, a fabulous evening with blogger friends and a whole lotta nesting going on! 


I initially intended on putting up a post today recapping the fabulous blogger evening that happened here in Toronto on Saturday night... but I never got around to writing anything worthy of what went down. I spent most of Sunday hanging out with B enjoying some "us time", and scrubbing the house (I couldn't help it). I promise to have a post up tomorrow... but for today, I'm just going to take a little break.

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(I do wish that, that was where I was taking a break) What lovely things did you all get up to this weekend? Time with family and friends? Some fun projects? Anyone attend the blogger meet up here in Toronto that I didn't get a chance to chat with? Would love to hear from you and what you thought of the event! 

Fancy Friday Love

Happy Friday! What a week it's been over here... there was even a moment on Monday when we thought our little peanut was ready to join us. Turns out - she's staying put for the time being. This week I was inspired by SO MUCH in blogland... so sit back and enjoy! I have lots of fancy finds to share on this fine Friday...


I was beyond thrilled when Barbara shared a how-to for a fully functional Roman blind last Friday! As I mentioned previously, I'd like to have one in our front entrance, but hadn't really made much of an effort to find instructions on how to make one. I know I won't have a ton of time to tackle this once the Peanut arrives... but maybe it's a project my Mom can help me with? (Hey Mom... I promise I will actually help with this one haha).

Normally I'm a little claustrophobic and hate when a room feels too crowded. However, this small space for kids on ohdeedoh is so lovely, I may be able to look past the cramped quarters (after all... if it's for kids, I wouldn't be the one sleeping there). I can imagine three little girls having a fun and giggly sleepover in this pretty space...

How beautiful and soft is this map that Brittany shared on her blog last weekend? I have the travel bug, and therefore love using maps as home decor (even though we have approximately zero in our own home!). I think this one would make a fabulous addition...

A pretty idea for outdoor summer entertaining, straight from Ritzy Bee. 

What I wouldn't give to have a summer escape of my own, like this one that was featured on 79 ideas this weekv (take note of the map - probably part of the reason I love this space so much haha!)...

I was thrilled to finally get a good look at Rhiannon's finished office when Jen shared it over on Made by Girl earlier this week. Isn't it the perfect girl cave? 

I would've loved to have had an indoor treehouse like this one, from ohdeedoh, when I was a child! Maybe it's something B and I can make for our little Peanut... one day!?

 

It's official, after seeing this post on Sugar and Charm  on Wednesday, I want... no NEED, an ebelskiver pan (you can buy me one here!). Seriously...

ANOTHER cute find from ohdeedoh - this "Mustache or Bows" party! What a great way to reveal the gender of your bundle to be with family and friends! Love this idea.

For those of you who may have missed this weeks "Nursery Week" here's a run down of what I shared...

Monday: Some Tiny Treasures that we picked up and added to the nursery

Tuesday: B put up a new light fixture and some floating shelves for our little Peanut

Wednesday: B also refinished an old nightstand we had to add some extra storage to the nursery

Thursday: My wonderful Dad built some pretty little bookshelves for our little girl and I ADORE them!

We've been working on organizing and adding a few other things to the room as well, so I may be ready to share a nursery tour some time next week!

What lovely things do you have planned for this weekend? We'd like to try and take it easy for the most part, but I'll also be attending the Canadian Design Blogger meetup tomorrow, and i'm so looking forward to seeing a bunch of familiar faces, as well as meeting some of my new blogging buddies. Those ladies have been working hard to plan what looks like will be a fantastic time. If you're going I'll see you there! You'll recognize me right away... I'm the small blonde one with a giant prego belly! Make sure you say "hi"! I'll be back on Monday with a little recap of our evening! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Nursery Week - That's What Daddy's Are For!

This is the project that I have been dying to share with you all week long... so of course I had to save the best for last! 


One thing we have received a lot of are books for our little girl. As a book lover myself I couldn't be any happier about this. What better to share with your little one than the joy of reading? Not only did we receive a TON of fabulous books from B's parents back at Christmas when we announced we were expecting, but my Mom also had attendees at my shower bring their favourite children's book... needless to say we have a ton of books and no place to store them. Enter my beyond talented Father. 


After my Mom told me he'd like to make something for our little girl, I produced this photo and asked if he could make something similar for the nursery...

Good ol' Martha Stewart! That woman knows exactly what's going on - doesn't she? Anyway, my Dad saw the picture and we talked it out, took some measurements and he got to work on the shelving. He even dropped by one night to borrow my scroll saw...

He decided that rather than building one piece like in the photo, it would be best to build four separate shelves that we could space and hang as we wished. He also added two dowels to each shelf to allow us to place both larger and smaller books on the shelves. When I arrived at their home this past Saturday I saw our beautifully finished shelves and couldn't wait to get them home. On Sunday, we did just that and B and my Dad were busy priming (Yes, that's right... they spent Father's Day priming Peanut's book shelves... aren't they just wonderful?). 

Last night, while I cleaned up the kitchen from dinner, B was outside spraying the shelves with white melamine paint. We decided to use melamine paint, since we knew that it would hold up best on shelves that would get a ton of use...

After letting them dry, B got them up on the peanut's wall late last night. We knew the perfect spot for them would be in the little nook behind her bedroom door. Yes, we went with white once again. We had briefly flirted with the thought of painting them the same turquoise as the dresser, until B pointed out white would be best so that the books would pop more, rather than the shelves. What a smart man my B is, huh?

Here they are looking all pretty on Peanut's wall early this morning...

There are only a few books on the one shelf, because we want to let them cure completely before we start loading them up. I just wanted to add a few to demonstrate how they will look. Once we tested out the books, B also brought up that we may want to drop them a little more to make it easier to get books in and out - especially the larger books in the back.  We'll have to think about that one.

Also - did you notice that B's painting found a home over her bookshelves? I am so glad it finally found the perfect home in her nursery. 

Overall, I think these bookshelves are fantastic and even better than what I had originally imagined! It really just reminds me how great Dad's are. Our Peanut is pretty lucky to not only have B has her Dad, but to have some really great grandpa's waiting for her arrival as well. 

If you're looking for some custom pieces my Dad is for hire (for real). You can email him directly for custom cabinetry and other projects. You can also email me if you have any questions about his work.

Nursery Week - A Repurposed Nightstand

First off, I have to thank each and every one of you for all of the sweet comments you have left over the past two days regarding our nursery projects. The room is mostly together now, and I find myself enjoying moments of just sitting in there thinking of finally getting to bring our little girl home. 


One of the other projects that B started and completed (for me) this past weekend, was refinishing an old nightstand that we had laying around in the garage. We had picked it up off Craigslist for free around the time we moved into our home (yes... about two years ago), and while it's dresser partner was refinished, used in our bedroom and later sold, this sad and lonely little nightstand remained untouched and cluttering up B's garage. Needless to say, B was more than happy to work on it and get it out of his garage when I told him I wanted to incorporate it into the nursery. So, this past Saturday, while I was out hanging out with my Mom, B pulled it out and got to work...

He got it all sanded down and the first coat of paint on by early Saturday afternoon! He was wasting no time at all. We decided that rather than painting it the same bright turquoise that we used for Peanut's dresser, we'd do this one white. Our plan was to place it just behind the nursery chair at the head of the crib - the perfect place for her humidifier and the receiver for her monitors - so we wanted it to blend it, more than stand out. 

To continue in the spirit of repurposing, we agreed to use the old black hardware that adorned Peanut's dresser before it went turquoise...

Once it was all painted up and dried, B moved it indoors and into place for me...

At that point, I used some organic surface cleaner and scrubbed the interior of the drawers, ridding it of all dirt and dust. With so many lovely gifts from family and friends, we needed the extra storage, so this little nightstand offered us exactly what we needed for baby blankets and changing pads...

As I mentioned before, the top is reserved for Peanut's humidifier and the receiver for her monitors...

Because of the white we used, it really does blend in behind the chair, and also gives me a place to set down a glass or drink during feedings or cuddles with our baby girl. Here's another look which incorporate more of the room to give you an idea of where we are now...

I had another project all lined up to share with you tomorrow, but I'm not sure that we'll have it 100% completed by tomorrow. There's a few finishing touches we need to put on it, but I should be back tomorrow to wrap up Nursery Week! Enjoy your Wednesday!

Nursery Week - A New Light and Shelving

Yesterday, as part of "Nursery Week" on the blog, I didn't share much in the way of projects, but more along the lines of little treasures that we brought home for our little girl over the weekend. Though they will all contribute to the room, today I want to get back to sharing some more projects we've worked on to pull together her nursery.


For one, we seriously needed to get on replacing the light fixture that previously resided in the room. I'd been dying to replace it for ages (as I am with most of the light fixtures in our home), and was thrilled when we scored a cute piece at a garage sale for $2! So, the other weekend when we hung the Peanut's mobile, B also got to work taking down the old light fixture...

If you look closely, you can see that it didn't even sit flush to our ceiling. It annoyed me to no end, so I was beyond joyed to see it go! 

This past weekend, one of B's projects was to get the new light fixture up. By early Sunday afternoon, it was hung!

This photo doesn't even begin to do the light fixture justice. It has beautiful pearlized glass that looks fabulous up close - especially when the light is on. It seems brighter in the room than the old light, as it is able to reflect off the ceiling. We also have it on a dimmer, so I'll be able to keep the lights very low during night time feedings. I think it's perfect for this little nursery!

Even better, on Friday night we continued getting more on the walls... or should I say, B did. I was far too exhausted and was passed out by about 8:30pm. I woke up on Saturday morning to this lovely sight...

B added some shelving and I got to work adding some lovely accessories, including those two teddy bears that were gifted to me by my Mom quite some time ago. Let's take a closer look at what I've done to accessorize...

Yup, those are my Dad's baby shoes placed a top the first 12 of my Beatrix Potter books... and next to a photo of my Nana that my Aunt gave to me when she gifted me my Dad's booties. Oh, and see that pretty turquoise box with the brown bow? It holds Peanut's pacifiers at the moment - let's take a closer look at it...

She's already a Kate Spade girl, just like her Mommy! That is the box that my ring (that B gave to me at baby shower) came in - as soon as I saw it, I knew we had to use it in our little girls room.

Another couple small projects, but they have definitely really helped to make the room feel more complete. B's been working so hard on her little space, I really could never thank him enough for all of the hard work he's put in, especially recently as I find myself getting more and more exhausted again.

Have you worked on any small projects recently that have had a really big impact around your home?