List of Links

Here is the requested list of where I get my inspiration on line.  I tried to explain a bit why I like the blog and where to click to see what I am talking about.  I broke it up by category so you can find what interests you.  So get comfy this is a lot of info!

As I don't really know how anything works on blogger....I will put a list here. When my Hubby has some free time, I will get him to help me make a bit of a side bar so you can see them more easily.

Fashion
I was on a quest about 2 years ago to find out how to plan the most efficient wardrobe possible. Buy the least amount of clothes and be prepared for all situations. Here was what I found on that quest...

Space between my Peers From Rebecca I got the idea of a limited colour palette.  She does frugal, she does proportion, modesty, wardrobe planning.  Very interesting.  Oh, and check out her fashion labs, so great.

My Wardrobe Today and Wardrobe Oxygen Real life and practical.  I like her a lot!

You Look Fab Good summaries of current trends.

Insideout Style An Australian stylist, often has good insights.

Super Kawaii Mama Her style is just cool.  More feminine, and edgy than I care to be, but I adore her vintage stuff.

Decorating
My favorite decorating blogs show real before and afters of real people's houses. I find them so much more inspiring then magazines.

Shabby Nest I have several of her projects that I am hoping to copy someday!  I especially love her boys room.

Nesting Place She is from NC!! And she says it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!

The Inspired Room Beautiful stuff.  This was one of the first design blogs I found.  Check out her drive bys.

The Lettered Cottage I could move in here.  Everything she does is wonderful.  And she stresses affordability.

House Obsession I love her kitchen!  Came here from the one below.

More Ways to Waste Time The title pretty much sums it up.  Check out her House Voyeur, and House in Progress sections.  This leans a bit more to the Apartment Therapy aesthetic, kinda mid century modern with a bit of vintage.

Crafting
Although I do consider my main craft to be scrapbooking, I don't really read any scrapbooking blogs, I would rather do it than read about it. I do adore the quilting blogs though, wish I had a bit more talent with sewing- the things people can make with fabric are so great.

Simplify  Ok I admit it I wish I was Camille Roskelley sometimes.  She is so talented, I love her house, her boys are adorable, and I even wish I had her clothes.  Go look.  It will make you want to take up quilting!

Little Birdie Secrets All different types of crafty ideas here

Today's Creative Blog A great place to find other crafty blogs.

Chic'N'Scratch Stampin Up! stuff. Very cute.  She does video demos, love that.  And of course she has the cutest southern accent, which makes me nostalgic.  

Becky Higgins  She is a scrapbook celebrity, in case you didn't know.  I like her style, it is fun to check here every once and a while.

Recommended by Others Here is what my wonderful friends have recommended to me.  Some I have checked out more than others...

Fresh MD I think this is fun for the medical stories, and generally interesting

Ramblings of a Renovating Couple Notice how this site links to a couple of the sites I have up top! and to Katiedid - I an copying part of that kitchen too!

Mommy type sites, recommended to me but I haven't had much time to check them out....

Simplemom.net

Soulemama.net

Dooce.com

suchthings.ca

Miscellaneous

365 Days of Exercise Inspired by the blog below this lady is blogging her every day resolution.  I find it inspiring.

A Year of Crockpotting Even though her year is up, the recipes are still there and they are good!

Bring the Rain Do Not Go Here unless you have lots of time and lots of kleenex.  She writes so well, I can't even tell you.  I was told  reading her thoughts on grief "is like therapy" by my friend after I told her to check this blog out.  If you do go here, start at the beginning and read through.  Her pain is so intense, but it is refreshing because there is no bitterness, it is so full of grace.  Amazing.

That's it, hope you find something you like, if you do, let me know!

A little vintage

Here are some vintage treasures I haven't exactly found a home for yet...
These drawers were from a garage sale 2 summers ago, just drove by and they had so much great stuff, I love these, but I don't really know where they should live. I had them on top of the cupboard in the kitchen, but now they are on a shelf in my bedroom.
This fan was my great grandmother's. Love it. It used to be in the living room, but I put it in the ensuite at Christmas time, felt to chilly too see it out every day, but I love it.

And TADA... here are the cool crates I bought last week.


The antiques mall near my Dad's care home is going out of business and baby L and I stopped by there on our way to visit him last Friday. I was actually searching for kid sized chairs, but there weren't any. Since the place is going out of business there was a room for 25% off and a room for 50% off. These Pepsi beauties were in the 50% off room, so I got 2! My hubby loves Pepsi and Pepsi was "born" in North Carolina where I used to live, so that gives these crates special meaning. Ok, I have no home for them yet, but they are boxes people, I have junk so I know I can use boxes! If the price was a bit lower I would have bought more... I also saw wooden milk crates, and a turquoise kitchen scale that were beautiful, but above the budget. I think I will try to get to more antique places next Friday, this Friday is already scheduled, trailer hitch getting put on the mini van. I know my life is glamourous....

Mantel Update

I first wrote about my fireplace mantel here, and I have slowly made some progress. This is the mantel as it stands today. Not quite sure, but I do think it is better... and my Mommy ok'd it and that means a lot.
The big silver box is my wedding pics so, although I know it is a bit big for the space, I really want a place for it in the living room. The middle thingy is a Russian Samovar that was my Great Grandmother's, and the coasters and the spoons (in the jar) were Grandma B's.
On the other side, almost everything is from a cheap-o store complete with fake patina, except the round wood box (my uncle made it, and it has american "state quarters" in it), the tin cigar boxes (a thoughtful gift from my friend Chantale), and the Pottery Barn books (they are new, but they weren't cheap, ha).

Anyway, Tips? Suggestions? General comments? I am not sure if I am happy enough to leave it and move on or not.... what do you think?
The next dilemma in this room is lighting. I would really like to have sconces over the fire, but what type and where exactly and does that affect my displays?

the answer (for my skin)

I always search and search to find "the answer" to different things in my life. When I find something that works I research it endlessly until I feel I know as much as I can then I move on to a new obsession. A while back, my sister introduced me to Paula Begoun books, and wow, this lady has answers! She calls herself the cosmetics cop she has website, cosmetics product line and lots of books. Well, really she has lots of editions of a few books. Basic premise: the cosmetics industry says whatever it wants, it can't really be held responsible, so it doesn't really act responsibly.

This lady researches thousands of products and rates them all, so you know what will actually help your skin (based on research), and what is not worth the money.

I could write a lot about what I learned from her books, but I am just going to say this, I love BHA. It helps improve your pore function and exfoliates, all that good stuff. Basically , I put it on the greasy parts of my face and they are less greasy, less likely to breakout and smoother too! The olay stuff in the picture is my current lotion that is running out, and the clearasil stuff is the new one I bought (for like $3). Both recommendations from the book, so great to see what is good BEFORE you buy it. The other thing I found through her is MAC cosmetics, so worth it!

Anyway, BHA is the answer for my skin. I won't buy anything without looking it up here first (I am always sorry if I don't). On to my next obsession....

More Before and Afters

Kitchen Edition. This is the townhouse kitchen. When we bought it the cupboards were in quite poor shape. They were an upgrade from the original cupboards, that were in all the other units but they were dated and sun damaged. The window in this kitchen was large and bright in the afternoon, so all the cupboard doors facing the window were peeling and badly in need of refinishing. The also had the lovely hardware in the middle of the doors that dated the whole kitchen terribly.

This was the first place we owned so I had big plans, and no idea how time consuming they would be. I also knew we would be living in the townhouse about 5 years (turned out to be 3) so resale value was a big factor.

I initially planned to strip and re-stain the cabinets a more modern walnut colour, but after a consultation with the paint store guy (who tried it on his own place and said it failed terribly after weeks of work), and my own sanding/striping efforts which took over 4 hours for one door, I decided to paint instead. I had R who was 10 months at the time and I wanted a finished kitchen sometime before he moved out of the house. I was still big on the wood look so I painted the cupboards brown. A few of my loved ones tried to talk me out of it, but I knew it would be right, and I loved the result.
We did a few structural-ish changes in the kitchen, including adding the microwave/hood fan combo, which was harder than you'd expect, and opening up the pass through to make a real window sized opening. Both involved altering cabinetry and of course, using power tools, so when I say "we" here I mean my lovely husband did it and I asked "How much longer?" at least 50 times while he slaved away. In the end I liked the new kitchen, even though I would have liked to change the counter out, etc. I guess it didn't matter much for resale as the new owner ripped it all out! A said it was ok, because we would have done that if we had the time/money, but I still feel a twinge when I think it is all gone.
In the end this update didn't cost much at all, paint for cupboards and walls (we used oil paint on the cupboards by the way and it held up very well), new hinges and handles, cheap subway tile backsplash, new laminate, and new dishwasher/stove/microwave. The appliances all came from coast wholesale appliance and they were cheap and worked great. Actually the microwave was top of the line, since I don't really cook (well) I thought that would get the most use! That's all, loved how it was just the right size and just so cute!

Kitchen Inspiration

All pics from before we owned this house

This house has a big kitchen. Really big. Not that great of a layout, but it has double the cupboards of our townhouse. Coincidentally the townhouse had double the cupboards of the apartment before it. Great you say, lots of counter space, lots of cupboards.
But really what it means is $$$. This kitchen is way too big to fit in the budget for immediate renos, even replacing the cupboard doors (all 26 of them) would break the bank. So I will live on with the grey striped laminate counters, the awkward setup and the terra cotta tile floor.
My dream would be white subway tile backsplash, corian countertops, white painted shaker style cabinets, stainless appliances and some vintage and fun touches.
Cote de Texas recently did a roundup of current kitchen trends and if you want to drool, go here to see them!
But my all time favorite kitchen ever is this one featured on More Ways to Waste Time. It is the vintage touches that get me, so beautiful, fun, everything a girl could want! In fact the paint colour in this kitchen strongly influenced me towards a cool wall colour for our kitchen, over the warm beigey colour I was considering.
For now I will have to settle for minor updates here, new backsplash, modern pulls and stainless stove have been promised me so I will wait for that. For now I will enjoy the space and the light that this kitchen has to offer.
Oh and I will post a picture of it in it's current state the next time it is clean!

I love a bargain

It's inherited I guess, I love a bargain just like my Momma. And boy were these shoes a bargain. A few days ago A bought himself $11 shoes. He was pretty proud, they are black skate type shoes, not my favorite but fine considering the price and that he has ruined every other pair he owns (renovations!). So I went shopping the next day and found myself a deal. Try $6.71. That is a deal indeed. And I love them. They match a cute little purse I already own, and according to many sources this colour goes with everything! Oh and did I mention lines that go across the foot make narrow feet look less weird? Perfect! I plan on wearing them a lot in the future, especially when it warms up enough to go without socks!