Monday, February 29, 2016

Spring Decor

As promised, here are a few closer-up shots of my spring arrangements. First, the sideboard:
The gorgeous berry bowl was a Christmas gift from my mom and the bunny plate a perfect match I found at Winners.

Funny story: when I picked up that bunny plate, Winners only had two: this green/yellow one and a purple/yellow one. I bought both, and gifted the purple one to my mom with some bunny dish towels. I brought the gift up a few weekends ago and mom surprised me with a gift of her own: a bunny bowl (picked up at Winners). She bought me the pink one and kept the blue. The apple certainly didn't fall far from the tree, eh?
This is the state of my table - I'm studying for SOCRA and have this lovely textbook spread out on the table. Also spread out: the Settlers of Catan card game (Pat and I have been playing a lot lately - so much fun!). In the far corner you can see my "center" piece:
There's the cute bunny bowl from mom (along with some adorable rabbit salt and pepper shakers and beautiful silver candlesticks from Pat's memere)!

Lastly, here's another shot of the boat:
That's right - something else has finally been hung on the wall! Pat found this clock at HomeSense - I think it's a great fit!

Are you ready for spring?

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Spring Tulips

We've barely had a winter this year, so I've been feeling in the "spring mood" much earlier than usual. So I rearranged a few things, pulled out a few spring pieces and picked up some gorgeous tulips at the grocery store. Here are the results:
It was a 3 for $20 at Metro, so I rearranged the pink and white-with-a-pink-stripe tulips and the purple-pink filler into two separate bouquets. The one on the sideboard went into a simple glass vase, the other went into the vintage brown pitcher gramma gave me. They make me smile every time they catch my eye!

I'll show you the rest of my spring decor tomorrow.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Superbowl Party Dessert

I know it's been a while, but I just had to share the epic cookie cake I made for the Superbowl party we attended.
It was delicious. Heavy, sweet, decadent - but absolutely amazing! If you aren't a fan of cake but love cookies, this is the cake for you! The top layer is chocolate chip, the middle chocolate chocolate chip and the bottom funfetti chocolate chip (made with a funfetti cake mix). Iced in buttercream and topped with three different types of sprinkles (jimmies, nonpareils and star-shaped sequins, all multi-coloured), this dessert was a huge win!

Here's the recipe.

Friday, February 5, 2016

2016 Goals: January

I promised myself I would "check-in" on my goals monthly - so here's my first one!

16 GOALS FOR 2016:
  1. Read 30 books. 3 down.
  2. Try 16 new Ottolenghi recipes. 2 down.
  3. Try 16 new (loose-leaf) teas. Around 5 down... haven't exactly kept track (I mean, I'm keeping track in my David's Tea Menu but haven't differentiated between December and January)..
  4. Put up shelves and organize craft room. Make it inspiring. Started cleaning up!
  5. Finish Amber art book - this year I WILL! 
  6. Work in sketchbook daily. Not every day yet, but definitely more frequent.
  7. Blog weekly. Also getting there.
  8. Finish 2 cross-stitch samplers. 
  9. Travel somewhere new. 
  10. Sign up for and pass my SOCRA certification. Signed up for the April 30th test. 
  11. Make an inventory of all my books. 
  12. Wake up earlier and practice yoga every morning. I did one day last week... does that count? OK, no, not yet... Next week!!!
  13. Make a weekly meal plan and prep veggies on the weekend. Coming up with a rough meal plan each week so far.
  14. Get rid of junk we never use (i.e. downsize our "things") and organize storage and spare spaces. 
  15. Work on making the backyard nicer (plant flowers, landscape, garden). 
  16. Set reminders in my phone to make me check in on my goals at least monthly (and blog about it). DONE! Now I just need to stay on top of blogging about it each month.
Not too bad - I've started working on most goals and trying to keep track of them too! I bought myself an agenda, and that's helping immensely. I'll blog about it soon, but I forgot how nice it was to plan and keep track of everything in one place!

How do you stay on top of your goals?