music my world

good evening lovelies. :)

i have a favour to ask you!

lately i have been in such a music slump, listening to the same old same old stuff i've listened to forever. and frankly, IM BORED!

so help me out, comment with bands you like, songs you listen to, playlists you made, whatever! i'm open to anything as long as you like it.

just to give you a little background, these are some of the artists that im constantly listening to..

-rilo kiley
-new pornographers
-regina spektor
-tegan and sara
-MIA
-radiohead
-fleetwood mac

pretty girly stuff. actually very girly. speaking of tegan and sara, i have yet to hear their new album but there are posters EVERYWHERE advertising it. i hope it lives up to all the hype.

in other random news, i made another bag tonight. i'm trying to balance living and working in the same environment because sometimes it feels like i never 'go home'. work is constantly there, things i could be finishing. BUT i think its making me more creative because i know when i am in the middle of crafting a new purse or sewing on buttons, i am definitely not working. right now that distinction is something i crave.

nighty night!

i heart martha stewart

i got this amazing little tool yesterday. it is a hole punch in the shape of a HEART! it is so perfect for making little cards, decorating paper, and making anything that is paper cuter.
making note book pages cuter? check.
making thought bubbles cuter? check.
making box lids cuter? check!
this tool is making me think of everything i can make cuter. watch out!

smitten kitten

So as promised here is the post i am devoting to the delicious meal that was no trick and pure treat. we bought the lamb at the farmers market earlier in the day and it had a quick marinade with red wine and chopped rosemary. we started out with a mix green salad with a homemade dressing of olive oil, red wine, maybe some balsamic, i'm not sure what else but it was delish. i was starving at this point, no snacking all day trying to keep my appetite for the meal of a lifetime.

while the potatoes roasted i took the time to cut all the veggies for the week. will make it so much easier to whip up the 17 stir fry's we make a week. plus scrambled eggs and well i just love vegetables.
and......TA DAAA. roasted red potatoes with rosemary, garlic, olive oil and s&p. so tasty and they smell so good while cooking. steamed broccoli and the delicious lamb.
oh and then can't forget my honey boys. so cute and so tasty!
when we came home from our walk after dinner i could smell this amazing smell as i walked down the hallway. i didn't know what it was until, duh, it was coming from our apartment! so lucky to have meals like this at home.

honey boys

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good morning. how was your halloween?

this was the first year i didn't get a costume together for halloween. i didn't have plans made for the night or a party i was going to. it wasn't premeditated, it just never came together. but don't start feeling sorry for me now. i had the best halloween all cozy at home with a full belly of delicious food and our own mix of scares.

in the morning we woke up and walked over to the st.lawrence market for some veggies and meat. i just adore that place really. usually by the time we get there at 1-2pm the vendors are starting to pack their things up so it is a great time to score some deals. (and we all know how much i looooooove deals hehe) this week we bought..
-broccoli
-shallots
-mix peppers
-green beans
-mix greans salad
-red potatoes
-rosemary
-bagels
-sliced mild Genoa salami
-sliced honey maple ham
-lamb
-6 honey boys (little honey cookies that are so cute and delicious)

its such a fun experience, checking over the produce, deciding what to eat for the week, seeing who has the best prices. i'd like to think that the farmers grow everything they are selling on their own land with their own hands..i mean..with their tractors.

on the way home we decided that poutine was in order and got some from smokes poutine. so amazing. we just got the traditional poutine and were not disappointed. the gravy is what they got right, not to salty, not to dark, not to bland. just perfect.

after inhailing that we watched some house (still addicted) and cleaned the apartment. i vacuumed and the president did alllllll of the dishes. no small feat. i love when we can get everything cleaned up for the new week and start fresh on monday. its especially important since i work from home and a messy living room means a messy office come monday, means something to distract me while i should be working.

i will leave the feast that we prepared for the next post as it really does deserve it. it was amazing. i'd never had lamb before and it was super flavourful and tender. oh man i am salivating just thinking about it.

after letting that settle in our stomachs i started to crave something sweet and well, ITS HALLOWEEN so i felt justified in heading out in search of something chocolate and creamy. walking around looking at peoples costumes sort of justified either putting a lot of work into a costume or none because i really don't think just a hat or a wig is really a costume. there were a group of six guys who had really put a lot of work into their robot costumes though, spray painting their boxes silver, wearing tubes on their arms and legs, they even had lights attached to them. seeing them regained some magic of the night in me. anyway, i decided on a hot chocolate from starbucks and once my people watching quota was filled we came back to the apartment and watched the scary movie the president downloaded. the strangers. SOOOOO scary. have you seen it? i screamed a couple times and once the movie was over i had to turn on all the lights and check the apartment for people wearing masks.

it wasn't the traditional way to spend halloween but i really needed a night in and i'm glad the night happened the way it did.

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237

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237. is the number of unread blog posts on my google reader.

i have a love hate relationship with google reader. it gives me so much. yet. i always feel inadequate to it. when, google reader, do you think i could find the time to read all of these posts? no this is a real question. i really need to know the answer.

i think i will try and go china painting this weekend. but. i may also just sleep and not get around to it. but (double but equals positive equals maybe this will actually happen?) i do want to go. my nana is cute she loves when we paint together. tomorrow is friday, i should call her.

last night i made a new friend. i named him/her black cat. i don't know how to tell if black cat is boy or girl. i don't know that much about cats (clearly) and they've never been that into me. but black cat is different and loves me. i went outside for a run (gasp) and when i was cooling off outside after it just came up the chair and wanted to be petted and then jumped right into my lap and nuzzled and purred. black cat has stolen my heart.

i was thinking of getting a fish named Norman but i think that might compromise my friendship with black cat.

ps. tomorrow is friday. (!)

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the lovliest lover

gooooooood afternoon dears .

first of all, that picture! all of my favorite things- chocolate, wood, strawberries, white china, melting yummmmmmm.

sorry i have been so distant on here lately. actually well, i don't really feel THAT bad because over here in real life i got a job that i love, and am loving doing it! how often do people say that? seriously, i feel very lucky. i am growing as a person, as a business women and as an independent. i have forced myself to become more focused, more concentrated, more productive. i never thought i could work from home and stay focused for 8 or 9 hours straight but i really can and it isn't even that painful. well actually its not even a little painful as i just spent the day wearing my pj pants while writing out emails and designing things.

the perks are plentiful, warm lunches, snuggle breaks, watching episodes of the office on my 'lunch', setting my own hours, not being tempted to shop on my lunch break, no florescent lights. the list goes on and on.

oh! and before i forget, head on over to my dearest cousin carly's blog for a chance to win a surprise giveaway!

i figured it out!!!!

yes yes yessssss!

a while ago i was having issues with the blog button i made right over there ----> trying to make the html stay as html so that any of you darling readers could add the button to your sidebars!

AND I FIGURED IT OUT! FINALLY

so check it out over there, just chillin. all CODE like in the sidebar.

just copy and paste whats in that little box into your html/javascript box in blogger and poof you have a cute little button for your blog that is super cute and also links back to this ole blog.

if your interested in having something like this for your blog to generate more traffic from other sites, let me know. we can do an exchange of some kind. i looooove getting things in the mail.

phewf, i try not to let things bother me but this one was just nagging on me because i was 100% sure i could do it, i just didn't know how.

design dreams

lately i have been very inspired by using white as a main colour in a room. i love the clean look with pops of colour sporatically placed around the room. i think its a great way to focus attention on artwork, pillows and generally things you want to look at.

i love the combinations of white, olive green with a hint of yellow of tons of wood grains. just the perfect combination. completely mellow yet cohesive and mature.

also i'm in love with the look of round mirrors. especially ones with antique frames and tons of character. and actually i really like them in modern settings as well so maybe i'm just in love with them overall. now i just need a new apartment to style!

so first of all here are the pictures again from the last post, i guess they weren't showing up properly. i uploaded them a different way to try and make them bigger but i guess my plan didn't work out. anyway, here are the bags i made last week!
and this is a little project I've been thinking up in my head for some time. i needed a place to store receipts, i'm constantly finding them all over the apartment, stuffed in the bottom of my purse, etc etc. so i thought if i could make something cute enough to keep out on the counter i might be motivated to corral all the receipts towards it. the base of this folder type thing was something instruction manuals were tucked inside when we bough our last computer.
the base of the coverings is the inside of envelopes. have you ever noticed they have the best geometric designs in them? i just love them. thats another thing i'll have to make a folder for, all the envelopes i'm saving now haha. i just used to random stuff i had lying around to decorate the folder and then used my red thread on the sewing machine to stitch it all down. i'm happy with how it turned out.the next step is making dividers that go inside and further help to keep my life clutter free. now that i work from home i have to save my receipts from so many things for my taxes next year (i just found this out, kind of overwhelming. not sure what i can claim, what i can't, for how much blah blah blah) if anyone knows any more about this, in canada of course, i would loooove to hear from you.

the dividers will have the following categories and i think it will work out just perfectly.
-work
-grocery
-clothing and gifts (personal)
-household
-ebay

have a wonderfully productive monday!

this little piggy went to market

yesterday was a lovely day. we started out the day by going to the st.lawrence market. its a huge market near the lake in toronto that is in an old warehouse type building. the market is open every day but saturday is really the day to go if you want to see the whole place come alive. vendors from local (ish, this is downtown remember, i haven't seem any fields of brussel sprouts lately) farms bring in their produce and fill up another whole building accross from the market. we bought so many yummy things, i can't wait to eat them all. and at a really great price too.

we bought
four ontario mix peppers 1.50
green beans 2.00
brussel sprouts 1.00
shallots 2.00
two asparagus bunches 1.00 each
bottle of white ontario wine 13.00
two pounds of mussels 5.50
four pork souvlaki 4.00
french bread 1.99
four bagels 2.00

is that it? i think so. yum.

when we got home from the market we showered up and the president made the most delicious meal of mussels with asparagus and fresh bread. the smell of butter, garlic and white wine simmering on the stove is heavenly.

so i told you that i've been feeling crafty so here are a few pictures of what i have been up to lately.

here are two bags that i made using old skirts i bought that i bought at the thrift store. i think they would be perfect for using as a travel bag for makeup or personal items.

the first one is a really wonderful grey wool material with white silk lining. the red stiching on the whole purse pops with the doily closure. the purple vintage button on the front is from an old sweater.

the second bag is perfect for stoing computer items or a sewing bag. its big enough for some books or a lunch bag.

the yellow and white linen is the perfect match for the grey wool front. blue cotton lining really offsets the red and white buttons on the front. i'm excited to add these to the 'coming soon' etsy shop my cousin and i are opening!