fleur violette

hi. hello. sorry. 

i know i haven't posted in a few and well its not for lack of things to do. i haven't talked about it much on here but i am actually back in school for a couple weeks. every monday for sevensix weeks to be exact. and even though it is not a rigorous schedule, it almost makes it harder to get the things done that need to be done, you know, in-between working almost every other day. 

i have a website to design and build and i couldn't be happier about that project. i'm soaking up every word the teacher says because well...websites are never going away and i've always had a secret goal of being able to make them myself. its funny how projects you are excited about seem to get done a whole lot faster then any of the other ones. 

speaking of 'the other ones'.....i have a 50 page thesis to whip out of my 'insert graphic body part'. whats my topic? LETS NOT TALK ABOUT because i don't actually have one. the clock is ticking away on me and about three months remain on this baby and yeah i'm a bit stressed about it since i don't even have a topic to submit for approval. guh. fml

as well, in the spirit of doing some work and getting PAID for it, i have a logo to design for a small business in the area. which if done well, has the possibility to lead to a job using my skillz for a web design company. kinda excited about that and also kinda clueless about what '7 bridge' means for someone who produces music. maybe it means nothing, maybe it means everything ???? maybe i need to research this.

and of course there are other factors piling on top of each other such as getting the wrong text book in the mail and having to do a test on the first three chapters before sunday. (AHHH!!!)

and other random stuff that is clouding up my mind for that class, my first (and only, ever) online class.  

well sitting here on blogger typing this isn't getting me any closer to completing any of these things. but i just thought you might like to know why it is that there are actually not enough hours in the day. 

all pictures from labokoff on etsy

oh

staking a claim among the young defectives

a friend of mine (hi laura!) recently went to paris and posted some of her pictures on facebook. in keeping with my new motto of finding beauty and inspiration everywhere i wanted to pass these on...although its not very hard to find beauty in paris i am sure. thanks for sharing these laura and i hope your trip was amazing. see you tomorrow! 

ps this one is what melted my heart, i am love with all of the different colours and textures and layers. 

standing there with your smile blinding your eyes from seeing

last night the president finished work early and came home and whispered the magic words that make me fall in love every time. 

'want to get kawartha dairy ice cream?'

ummmmm YES YES YES in a waffle cone with a cherry on top! 

it was a perfect night for a walk and talk. high on summer and sunsets. 

if you've never had kawartha dairy ice cream, let me tell you this is not your average run of the mill sugar plus cream plus flavor crap. kd is made in heaven by angels dressed as milk maids and you can taste that in every lick. it is beyond amazing. it is natural, homemade, comes in probably 100 different flavours and really there is just nothing else that compares to it. 

so if you haven't tried it, may i suggest you do. and may i also suggest bordeaux cherry. 

when i lived in toronto i randomly found a convenience store on bloor street that carried the kawartha dairy ice cream bricks. i would never lie to you and tell you i didn't go back multiple hundred times to get my fix. 

and then the sun was setting, and i was full of ice cream and covered in bug bites picking flowers off trees. 

pretty much the end of the story is, i am sure that summer is here. xoxo

Strawberry-Sour Cream Scones with Brown Sugar Crumble

as soon as i see strawberries on sale/in season i am making these heavenly looking scones. yuumyummmmmmmmmyyyy

which reminds me. i want to go berry picking this summer. its going to happen! hey miss teacups, you want to come with me? then we can make these adorable delicious scones to go with our tea. 

Strawberry-Sour Cream Scones with Brown Sugar Crumble

Makes 10 scones

For the scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

4 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter

1 cup roughly chopped strawberries

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream

1/4 - 1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 Tablespoons salted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the flour until it looks like coarse bread crumbs. Add the strawberries and toss until the berries are coated with flour.

Whisk together the egg, sour cream, 1/4 cup of the milk, and vanilla. Pour this onto the flour mixture and then fold them together until all the flour is moistened. If necessary, add up to 1/4 cup of additional milk until a shaggy, moist dough is formed. Try not to overwork the dough.

Sprinkle a little flour on your counter, turn out the dough, and sprinkle a little more flour on top. Pat the dough into a circle or rectangle about 1-inch thick, and use a bench scraper to cut the scones into wedges.

Transfer the scones to a greased baking sheet. Combine the ingredients for the topping and use your fingers to crumble this evenly over all of the scones.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until the scones are firm on the outside and golden in spots. Let the scones cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These scones are best on the day that they're made. If you're planning on keeping them for several days, skip the topping (which will absorb moisture and get mushy) and instead smear them with butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar just before eating.

from apartment therapy the kitchn

her hair smells of sunshine and dust

is this what love is, he wonders, this substance that lies so pressingly between them, so neutral in colour yet so palpable it need never be mentioned? or is love something less, something slippery and odorless, a transparent gas riding through the world on the back of a breeze, or else - and this is what he more and more believes - just a word trying to remember another word. 

-the stone diaries, by carol sheilds

apple blossom on my window sill

money money money. i think about it a lot in a day. how to get it, where to spend it, how much, too little, now or later blah blah blahhhh.

its never enough either. thats always the part that gets me. once i have saved up enough for onr thing i am usually tired of it...on to bigger, better, shinier more expensive things. 

if i had it i would just spend it. its happened before. i'm not saying i'm not careful with what i buy....just the frequency is higher and the remorse is lower. A cushion is always there, a buffer, a blurry line of a limit.  in the past couple months the blurry line has slowly become lower and lower, to the point of extinction. 

but thats okay now. because i have a job now. 

but lets just say i should win the jackpot tonight*. 5o something million. here are some things i may decide to spend that money on, because it will be mine to spend and it would be GLORIOUS.

*i even bought a ticket this time so this could actually friggen happen!!

this font from veer called Kewl Script. because i am a geek like that. its only $59 to use orrrr to buy the disk is $5999 (kind of a rip off i think)

i would also buy a subscription to the magazine uppercase because even though i have never actually read one in real life, i can already tell i would absolutely adore it. 

fonts, cute pictures, excellent design, colour therapy its all in this little guy. 

and then every single one of these pairs of earrings are so cute and i could picture having outfits to go with each one. how to choooooose??

yall of these are from hanaya on etsy. which ones to chooose????

and last but not least this sticker is awesome.

guhhhhh i just finished scarfing down a bag of creamy dill chips and now i feel pretty gross about that decision. after eating chips my tongue is always scraped up and super sensitive. but i can't help it because i am a CHIP LICKER. always have been, always will be. everyone knows thats how you get all the flavour off them. duhhhhhh.  

pictures of my garden to come soon. this afternoon the president and i met my mom on her lunch break and she bought us ice cream and we went to the garden centre. we are splitting two different kinds of tomato plants so we don't end up with more vegetables then we know what to do with (early girl tomatoes and tiny tim tomatoes, such cute names). as well i picked up some red peppers and hot peppers to add to the garden with the broccoli and lettuce. 

hula seventy

somewhere a long the way i stumbled across hulaseventy's blog. and thennnnn i found her etsy shop girlhula and moral of the story is i want it allll. 

these pictures are all prints she sells, signed and delivered from $15 to $25. shipping to canada is only $3 which is pretty rad considering i've seen it be four five times the price to ship within the US. 

this one is probably my favorite. blue skies anddddd balloons :)

and if that wasn't enough i'll give you one last reason to check it out....polaroid week. 

pssssst.....don't forget this

from loupita. who constantly inspires me. 

she dreams in color, she dreams in red

the little checklist below is from this website that i stumbled across. today the president and i went to buy more flowers and herbs for our little beautiful green garden. i love just walking around surrounded by every colour nature makes, smelling every natural smell and being allowed to touch and even taste things. 

laugh every day. especially when you don't want to. that's when you need to the most.

love those who are difficult to love. everyone has a story. everyone has something that makes them the way they are. see past the outside.

set goals. make plans. have dreams. think of everything you want to do. then do everything you can to make it happen.

take pictures. even if they're blurry. even if no one is looking. document your life. in color. in black and white.

write something down everyday: a poem. a list. a journal entry. a love note. get your thoughts out.

listen. to friends. to nature. to music. to a tiny heartbeat. to the person you love breathe in and out. take a moment to cherish all that you can take in.

read. reading is travel. is learning. is love. if you don't like to read, you simply haven't found something worth taking in. keep looking. everyone has a book with their name on it.

drink coffee with friends. and if you don't like coffee, drink tea. and if you don't like tea, drink lemonade. and if you don't like lemonade, drink water. and if you don't like water, go with your friend anyway. coffee shop conversations can't be beat.

try new foods. sushi. goat cheese. paneer. falafel. resist a tame palette. you won't be sorry.

go green. and not because it's cool. but because it's beautiful. and necessary. 

go organic while you're at it. start small. find a local market. make a difference.

find your style. wear something you thought you never would. try things on that look hideous on the hanger. be a maven. be marvelous.

pay attention to politics. exercise freedom. realize we don't have as much as we think. cherish what we still possess.

take time to do nothing. lay in the sun. take a car ride. nap. enjoy the ride. enjoy the journey.

buy flowers for your house when you can. the color. the life. it's therapy.

exercise. even if it hurts a little. even when your busy. even if it's just for a short time. get up. get out. get active.

never under estimate the power of 'i love you'. say it. mean it. then act like it.

acknowledge the world. then take action. donate your time. your money. your prayers. to the homeless. hungry. motherless. voiceless. in our country. and in other countries far less fortunate.

remember:: no matter how horrid a situation, it can always be worse. find joy in the fact you will never be given a mountain you can't climb. face it. embrace it. then conquer it.

all five horizons revolved around her soul

these pictures are from many many moons ago. before the snow swirled and my world started rolling in the direction i look forward to today. it was a day with everything going for it, but at the same time, fearfully empty. i was completely absorbed in my head, centre of my universe, spinning round spouting off words, phrases, meanings without intent.

today is a different day. the world has stopped spinning, circling, flipping. there is a sense of calm now. a tranquility that can only come after the storm. 

c'est la vie. 

i wouldn't appreciate the highs without the lows.

today's are days with to do list and rewards. they are about building blocks and family time. they don't revolve around personal agendas. today's are less about agendas but more things get done. its truly the change i needed. 

i used to complain about anxiety. a feeling in my chest that used to tighten. and release. tighten. 

now i am actually relaxed, listening to the rain fall just outside the door. norishing my herbs and the gardens i planted last week. 

i drink tea in the morning now, and instead of cigarettes and television to put me to sleep i just seem to drift off, slowly making my way through the nightly routine. until my head lands on my pillow and then its over. until the next today. 

i still have a lot of the 'what do i want to do with my life' stress. but i have the feeling i will have that until the day i retire from whatever path i stumble into. 

in the future i am making a promise with myself to take more pictures like these. more ones that have no faces or occasion. pictures that are about a feeling, a moment, a second when my chest opened up and i realized how much more i could enjoy life. 

i see beauty in so much of what i look at and i promise to share that second, capture it, try and express it again in a new medium. that is my new mission. 

we are shocked to be here in the face of the meantime

three boys versus one pool liner. 

and the winner is ......da boyz

it was a dirty, stinky, disgusting job that i wanted nothing to do with. except to act like the paparazzi and annoy them with my camera.

why would we be ripping the liner out? because this pool hasn't been functional in at least three years, has no pump, would have to be re-concreted and re-lined and then re-filled with clean water. and that all comes with a hefty price tag. the house we call home is essentially a flip house and always has one project or another going on. its exciting. 

the plan for the 'pool' is to break up the concrete even more then it already is and then fill it in with yard waste and soil. we will keep the shape of the pool and the concrete walkway around it and make it into a vegetable garden. which will smell a whole lot better then what is wafting out of there now. 

yesterday and the day before i transported some wild lily's from one garden to a little patch of ground that i dug up infront of the back deck. they will grow to be about three feet tall and will look amazing growing up the side of the deck, closing it in. as well, i started my second attempt at growing a herb garden. last years didn't work out so well but i have much higher hopes this year. mostly because they will be able to grow outside instead of in my toronto window. i bought two spearmint plants, basil, rosemary, thyme, and sage. there was already chives growing in another garden that i added to my little herb utopia. 

tooo tired to post captions .....long story short: it was friggen delicious. 

we fell through the ice when we tried not to slip

today was the day i was supposed to do everything i've been putting off doing. but then at 10:30 my phone started vibrating, and it wasn't the alarm. 

i'm sick she said. do you mind coming in, like, now?

inner conflict between money and a birthday boyfriend who just asked for more cuddles. oh boyfriend i love you to death but we need the monies more. so off i go, in on a day i was supposed to be out. turned out to be a profitable day, but guilt wasn't supposed to be on the menu. 

yesterday we moved all my worldly possessions back to lindsay and into my parents basement. i'm trying not to think of that as moving backwards, again. ho hum deedle dumb. 

but i can't forget to say that i lost the only set of keys to our car. you know whats worse then having a fight with your boyfriend? disappointing him. god i hate that. i'm almost positive some lady just picked them right off the counter at work. they were no where to be found when i finished my shift and the girl relieving me had seen them when she came in, only ten minutes before, lying right on the counter. magic? karma? fucking kleptomaniac bitch. 

at least this disappointment is only costing me $120 for a new wireless entry and whatever self assurance i had left. 

at least my karmas back to even. hopefully. 

in happier new. its the presidents birthday today, so dinner is his pick. to drink we are having amaretto and cokes to shoot down the rest of the afternoon, as well as a pinot noir to open once things in the kitchen start to heat up. we've already eaten a bunch of the prosciutto and melon that i was thankful our grocery store had in stock. after i hit publish i'm going to try my hand at mussels in a white wine, shallot and butter sauce with french bread to dip. never cooked mussels, should be interesting. i was getting tips from the chef at work so fingers crossed this works. after that experiment i'm going for something a little safer, tortellini in a blue cheese cream sauce. and then if we can find the room i'm going to pan sear some fresh salmon and pair that with curry sweet potato fries tossed in honey. okay wish me luck, i'll take pictures if its a success. 

ps. this spell check doesn't recognize the word prosciutto and keeps trying to tell me i'm spelling prostitute. ummmmm...'we've already eaten a bunch of the prostitute' doesn't quite have the same class. 

she was thinking of the oval of silence she would enter as soon as she left, the smooth pearl gloss of it

this is my 250th blog post. i feel pretty good about that number. there are not many things that i have put continuous effort into 250 times. besides, well, what i need to do to survive. but really, i could use a lot of improvement in that area. posting looses priority when work, life, everything just piles on top of each other. i just cant seem to find time, time is good at hiding, lurking somewhere in the future never showing herself fully. she is elusive and beautiful, and highly desirable. 

i've given up the hope of posting on days when i work. which at this point is mostly just the weekends. this week is going to be busy, i can already feel it gearing up. i'm moving my belongings out of storage in toronto tuesday and wednesday is the presidents birthday. We have ebay things to send across the continent, things to sell on kijiji and taxes to organize. all of it will be worth it though because we are getting closer and closer to being out of this hole of debt we were falling into. not 'debt' debt, but the negatives were getting higher then the positives and with our combined assets of one eleven year old car it wasn't going to resolve itself. 

this cafe is absolutely adorable. the back room has these awesome booths that are private and so comfortable looking. 

i'm so in love with these pillows. indigo blue and white, almost as good as espresso and chai tea. 

last week i went to toronto for a few days. number one thing i miss about toronto is the sushi. the amazing, tasty, chhhhhhheap sushi. this meal cost me 8.50, gracious tip included. i should open a sushi place up here ...ahhh...nevermind people here aren't ready for sushi. haha. it will  be my little secret. my little delicious secret. 

okay i'm deliriously drooling over sushi now, sweet dreams.