It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Over the past few weeks, I have been steadily decorating for Christmas. The main tree in the living room has been up for a while and last night, I finally decorated the apartment-sized tree in the basement (to the strains of Jeff watching Superman 2). It must be a hereditary thing because like my mom, I love having the tree(s) up.

A few weeks ago, I went to Jeff's parent's house to give their fir and cedar trees a trim. A bucket of boughs went from this











to a wonderfully-smelling this.

















On Monday night, it briefly looked as Christmassy outside as it does inside. It's surprising what even two centimeters of snow can do to create some Christmas spirit. It was mostly gone by the next day, but here was that particularly festive view out our front door.

Christmas Alert

December 1st arrived quietly, silently transitioning from a rainy November into a quiet, sunny but unusually cold December. I realized one morning that Christmas was sneaking up, not from the calendar but from my cactus. How exactly does it remember every year?!

Same old, same old

There has not been much to post over the past 4 weeks as life has continued in its busy routine. Jeff has been very busy with work and my highlights have been tackling the much needed "clean out the basement" project and completing a community cooking day with the women in our small group that left me with a freezer full of ready made meals (a very good thing). I chopped vegetables for about 6 hours but it is SO worth it.

Jeff's dad had a birthday that required another creative cake.....










Jeff continued building a linen/shoe/mudroom closet.....


and we did this all fueled by caffeine.














And, I read a book that has had such a profound impact on me that I find myself recommending it to everyone I know. One of my favourite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, chronicles her family's year-long commitment to growing their own food and limiting almost all of their food purchases to locally grown items.

Like me, you probably won't rush out to join a crop share association or completley swear off CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) meats but you will be effected by what you learn. I certainly was.

My plan for 2010? Integrate vegetables into my flower garden (if you've seen my flower garden, you will know this is no small task) and hit the local farmers market each week. Small things, maybe, but increasingly important things to me. I guess I am a farm girl at heart, after all.

Olympic invasion

As we all know, the Olympics are just around the corner, just across the water. I used to be an excited Winter Olympic viewer, tuning in for every event. The first two (and only two!) hockey games I ever sat through was when Canadian teams made it to the gold medal match.

Over the past decade, reports of scandal, corruption, high-tech cheating and a lack of ethics has dampened my excitement. As a taxpayer set to foot the bill for the upcoming over-budget games, my excitement has taken a further dive. I have been so disinterested in these games that I tried to convince Jeff to take a vacation that would put us out of the country (and out of viewing reach) during most of the whole thing. Jeff and I were busy the night the great flame came through town although, truth be told, I'm not sure we would have gone to see it.

The Olympic torch moved through Nanaimo on Oct 31-Nov 1 and created a surprising amount of community excitement and pride. Our cousin-nephew Spencer got out of bed at the crack of dawn and was able to touch this little bit of history as it ran by. Just the look on his face gave me a change of heart. Now I'm planning an Opening Ceremonies watching party- want to come and join us?

November Skies

This week, it has rained, rained, and rained again. My previous association with the term "November Skies" was this:

That's the bathroom in my Ontario condo, painstakingly renovated using a hand saw, a mitre box, a paint brush and the internet for DIY tips. And Ikea for cheap artwork and cabinets. The paint is Benjamin Moore's "November Skies" and was a big part of why I loved that bathroom so much.

"November Skies" during a rainy week here on the West Coast is a little more bleak.

The only thing to do on a day like this is to make a pot of soup and curl up to read a book. For me, today will include the soup (already bubbling in my crock pot) but no fireside books- I'm off to run some errands. Jeff and I have a hot date at 5pm at Home Depot.

I'll leave you to this video (with a nod to the Swedish members of my family!). If you haven't already seen it, it's certainly worth two minutes of your time. Have a good weekend!

First impressions

After our bathroom ceiling started peeling last spring, Jeff and I decided a facelift was in order. So far, we've "facelifted" the ceiling, walls, vanity and counter trim (goodbye old oak) and I plan to paint the baseboards and window casings tomorrow. I think it looks brighter and fresher, but somehow still incomplete.

After waffling back and forth between bamboo and roman blinds, the cheapskate in me won out. Roman blinds it will be. Because the bathroom is right off our front entrance, I think it makes most sense to use the same fabric for both. Hence, my dilemma. Neutral? Bright? Black and white?

Here are my four finalists. Votes, suggestions and opinions are most welcome!

Existing space















pretty boring, huh?!?!










Option #1 Safe, neutral and a much better match to the bathroom than appears in my bad photoshop. It also matches pretty well with the light beachy feel of the kitchen and living room. AND... it's a really good quality designer fabric on clearance for $3 a yard. Cheap yes... but also not quite right?














Option #2 This fabric has been one of my favourites for a long time. It's so cheery and happy- but is it better suited to a kids playroom than the front entrance? It's also a pretty big pattern that might get lost on a small window.













Option #3 If you look in my closet, most of my wardrobe is black, white, or a mix of the two. I love this in the bathroom but wonder if it is too boring for the entrance.











Option #4 I love Amy Butler's retro fabrics and have not used one in my home.... yet. I wonder if this might be a good compromise on all fronts, leading both into the grey master bedroom across the hall and ahead into the blue, white and green kitchen.












The plan for the master bedroom (also off the front entrance... weird, I know) is a mix of grey, white and black. The furniture is in place but the pillows and curtains are still lying by a heap beside my sewing machine. Here is my photo board plan to help with a visual until the real thing is complete.



Looking at this... I'm thinking Option #4 but I'm still just not sure.

View out my kitchen window

My very wise sister-in-law once told me that in order to feel close to far-away friends and family, she needed to envision the view out their kitchen window- that view that accompanies both the mundane and the exciting parts of every day life. I think she's really on to something. This past summer, I looked out the kitchen windows of several close friends and family members, all for the first time. Recalling that view is comforting and really does help me feel a little more connected.

Here's the view out my kitchen window this morning.

Preferred transport

One more Ontario photo... on our way to Pearson to catch our flight home, we were passed by a number of interesting vehicles. I was immersed in a magazine until Jeff cheekily asked, "In which van would YOU rather ride to the airport?"!!