Tuesday, January 27, 2009

a mid winter picnic and crockery for a fish

I did not feel like cooking dinner last night. So an impromptu winter picnic was conceived. My other half and I picked up an already roasted chicken, salad, pita bread and beer on the way home and dinner was almost on the table! Got out some dips for the pitas, dressing for the salad, some impulse cherries that I got the other day(who buys impulse cherries??? me apparently) and the all important salt and vinegar chips(a must have for picnic). I placed a checkered table cloth on the coffee table(a blanket on the floor would have been more apropos but drooling dogs standing over you the whole time would have kind of ruined the moment), cracked open some beers and dinner was served. It was delicious!
I must confess that we eat most of our dinners at the coffee table, not that we don't have a dinning table but after years of apartment living with no dinning table it's a hard habit to break! This is not something I'm proud of that we watch T.V. while eating dinner, but I'm pretty sure I am not the only one. Also the table is usually covered in craft projects. Opps...

Then we spent the night lounging! Our dogs are not suppose to be on the couch but as you can see they take this rule very seriously. NOT! It's our own fault I know but they are darn cute!
This lovely ladyhttp://kirstyfish.blogspot.com/ blogged about her lovely crockery and invited others to do the same. So here some of mine. This only scratches the surface as my husband will attest to. I think I may have a problem...





Not crockery but some lovely glass wear, love my cinzano ladies.
I think the pink lady looks a bit like a man dressed up like a woman. I love her anyway even if she is a man.
I baking a lemon souffle pudding with these babies, will let you know tomorrow how they turn out.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

in the laps of luxury

Bath time in the laps of luxury, well sort of. OK, so my only luxury is this.

This gorgeous Cath Kidston bubble bath that I got for Christmas from my best friend! In fact all my U.K. Christmas parcels contained some Cath Kidston stuff, oh my friends know me so well! As for the rest of the bathroom it doesn't have any luxury in it at all. More like small, dark and dated. It has been on the chopping block for the better part of a year but still it sits untouched. I keep telling myself we are going to get it done soon but it keeps falling down the list. And you know when you're going to rip something out, you kind of think well, there is no point in doing a really good clean, cause it's going to be ripped out soon anyway. Yeah. After a year it makes your already ugly bathroom covered in pretty orange and black mold. Nice! Also our bathtub is one of those really cheap shallow builder grade baths. So when you lie in it you you have to contort your body so that any body part below your neck has to be touching the bottom of the bath for max water coverage and less chance of hypothermia. But despite it's many pitfalls, I still love taking baths, I just can't wait till we get this reno done!So when I emerge from my lovely bath looking more like a lobster then a human, a little post bath foot care is in order. Lotions and red nail polish, my absolute favorite. I wish I could wear nail polish on my fingers but work makes it impossible, it just chips and my hands always have ground in dirt on them anyway(yep, it's embarrassing but part and parcel of the job). Toes on the other hand(pun intended) are fair game and I kind of like having a little sexy secret under many layers of thick socks and warm boots. I think that red nail polish is sexy and glamours and it makes me feel feminine and pretty in these Canadian winter months when layers and layers of clothes are required to stay warm.



Here they are in all their sexy red glory!
I don't like feet, especially mine but I thought I'd post this anyway. Hope you're not too grossed out, and they were just scrubbed clean!

Sunday, Sunday

O Sunday, Sunday, how I love you Sunday!














How did you spend your day?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

vintage bliss

Yesterday, I just needed to get out of the house. So I decided to go on a hunt! A hunt for lovely vintage things. And oh it was good hunt! Here is what I found.A pretty in pink teapot.

This lovely book, with great ideas. Printed in 1964, it's full of 60's fun.

Three beautiful handmade aprons.

I don't know what it is about these type of aprons but I just love them.
This one is my favorite, the detail it is stunning and it is the perfect shade of duck egg blue. I can just image small children tugging at these apron strings.Sheets, to be recycled into quilts.

A rare find of matching embroidered pillow cases.
Three more pillow cases, love the "his" one, wish it had a matching "hers".
The quality of the cotton in these is great, they just don't make them like this anymore.

ah vintage bliss!

Monday, January 12, 2009

a day in the life

My amaryllis is blooming and I have been gazing at it longingly, wishing I could "honey I shrunk the kids" myself and sit inside its giant trumpet. I did some shopping, love this red shopping bag that my sister gave me for christmas.

I baked some bread and I think I have really turn a corner on my bread making skills. My lovely husband gave me a bread book for christmas and it has some great tips. Today I made a half wholewheat/half white flour basic bread recipe but I think the real difference was made by putting a roasting tin half full of boiling water in the oven while the bread was baking and brushing the top of the bread with salt water(disolve a pinch on salt into 2 tbsp of water) before baking. It made for the most gorgeous bread, nice crusty crust and a lovely soft middle. I'm seriously thinking of baking my own bread once a week now. Plus it fills the house the best aroma!
Bread punching, the best stress reliever!
The finished product, with my new book.
I also baked some lemon and pistachio biscotti.

I also did some cleaning, check out my lovely dusting cloths and I love the smell of lemon pledge.

Lemon table arrangement

I treated myself to some pretty spray roses, these are called pink flash.
I love their tiger strip petals!