Beauty and the Valley

13.9.10

End of summer goal: Eat well

One of my end of summer goals is to continue to eat well all the time, at every meal. It means so much to me to put good stuff into this system of mine (and that of my hub). Tonight I'm trying out a hearty rigatoni dish - its getting a little cool at night. It should be quick and easy which we'll need because we are starting the house hunt tonight. Other good dishes I've tried recently include:

9.9.10

French film: Dans Paris

A third French movie rental to round out my summer goal of feeling French through film. Dans Paris by directeur Christophe Honoré is a slow-moving examination of a man who battles depression after a break-up. Surrounded by his womanizing, younger brother and wanting-to-please retired father, Paul works through his melancholy.

7.9.10

Inspiration: Bathrooms

I think our real estate hunt will be kick started this fall and I'm already thinking about decorating (a house not yet owned). Here is my bathroom inspiration from Design Sponge's Best Of Bathrooms post.

The Hub + a gift

The Hub turned 35 this year. In addition to a backyard dinner party, I gifted him an original piece of artwork created by our carpenter-painter friend Gavin Hammond. Inspired by the lakes and trees of northern Ontario.

Summer goals: Restored furniture

They are finally finished! Two dressers: mahogany veneer and pine. I used all natural supplies to strip and refinish both pieces: soy-based stripper, natural degreaser, tung oil, linseed wax finish and milk paint. Not only do they look beautiful but they smell good too!

6.9.10

Beauty

Paul Newman. One of my longest Hollywood crushes because Paul really wasn't Hollywood.

31.8.10

My kind of window

Found over at Good Measure.

29.8.10

Travel daydreaming: Anywhere

My daily compass is soon to shift to a more structured, a more demanding schedule. But before it does, I'd love to just go anywhere. Image found here.

26.8.10

The work shed

25.8.10

Surfer chic

The Hub surfs. He loves to surf. He just got laser eye surgery to make his surfing better. But I'm in my soft-core thirties and when I had the chance to learn alongside the Hub in New Zealand three years ago, I declined. But if I did surf, wouldn't this be really surfer chic? Found at a new favourite blog called Aubrey Road.

24.8.10

Wish list: Notebooks

Let's just pretend I am still in school and my mom told me I could buy three beautiful new notebooks to start the school year. I'd buy the following three from Poppytalk Handmade's current market.

22.8.10

Wish list: Key chain

A little Made in Canada nautically-inspired key chain found over @ Aubrey Road.

19.8.10

11-month mark

It has almost been a year. I am daydreaming of Slovenia and Croatia.

16.8.10

Cabin kitchen

If we owned a small cabin, this would be a lovely kitchen to have. Found via That Kind of Woman.

12.8.10

Deer Tick

The Hub and I unanimously agreed: being in T.O. affords us the luxury of seeing live music on any given night. Take Tuesday night for example: headed down to Queen West to the legendary Horsehoe to see Providence, RI, alt-rockers Deer Tick.

Travel inspiration: Packing your bags

Despite how much I've travelled - overseas or by land - I still always fret when it comes to packing. I just adore these sketches by the uber-creative lady over @ Bugheart. Her fine lines and organization guarantee just the right stuff will be packed.