J PLUS N

THIS CALLS FOR SOME CHAMPAGNE ... BIRTHDAY SURPRISE TAKE 3

2011-07-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

well the day finally happened ... j and n took an amazing hot air balloon ride over the city :)

not bad almost 2 years later, numerous cancellations by phone and 2 unsuccessful trips out to the launch site and the birthday surprise for n was finally accomplished. it truly was an amazing experience to float across the sky wherever the wind blows. it was such a peaceful trip and i must say we really did get to see the best parts of our city ... floating alongside the river really is the best views our little city has to offer ... so without further adieu i hope you enjoy a tiny glimpse of our adventure

j eagerly volunteered to hold the balloon open while the fans did their job

working with our pilot lee

he has been flying hot air balloons for 27 years and

had even flown all the way across canada!

getting so close ...

but to be totally honest j and n were just a little bit skeptical because we have gotten to this point before

hanging loose before the trip

(anyone who knows j knows that this is his favorite way to pose for pictures)

ooh haven't seen this happen before ... getting ready to tip the basket upright and climb aboard

we are in the basket and ready for takeoff!

very gently and slowly leaving the ground

across the river

over hawrelak park

we even got to float right over uofa our alma mater

the other balloon that went up with us

uofa

along the river valley ... legislature and high level bridge in view :)

telus field and downtown

even a view of the muttart conservatory pyramids

the wind blew us east beside the oil refinery

and we landed gently in a canola field

we all packed up the balloon and toasted our safe return to the earth with champagne

truly a fantastic flight ... thanks j ... glad to cross something else off my life list of things and adventures to experience

cheers ~n

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

2011-06-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

i usually don't bring too much of my work onto the blog but i am so proud of the father's day project i created for my little ones. i find that father's day crafts are usually lame and cheesy and turn out to be some sort of tie project. but let's face the facts how many dads out there wear a tie anymore? this project did take a few days but i love how it turned out and I feel like bragging a bit so enjoy :)

step 1 paint one of the little ones hand and use as a stamp

the writing on the poster says:

this is the hand you used to hold when i was only 5 years old

step 2 have the students paint the picture frames

(helpful hint get kids to do this one at a time

saves the paint and your sanity)

step 3 assemble the pictures and admire the cuteness

step 4 decorate with foam stickers that are dad like

(take note no tie paraphernalia here)

step 5 wrap with awesome wrapping paper and cards

and there is my awesome father's day gift (i even had a student ask me if i was making one for my dad - seriously how cute ... love love love my job)

cheers ~n

J PLUS N VERSION 2.0

2011-06-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

n has been on a six month hiatus from posting but i will be back somewhat regularly ... lots of changes have happened with the lovely house and time has been in short supply which = no postings

since getting back from our fantastic london adventure i jumped back into working full time, having an actual commute to work (40 minute drive compared to 15 minutes before), taking an online master's course (which no word of a lie is waaaaay more work than attending in person), writing two 5000 word research papers and prepping to do another 5000 word paper this summer and starting to think about my upcoming 20 000 word dissertation (which isn't worrying me at all)

with hand over my heart i do hereby promise to become a somewhat regular blogger again

see ya soon(ish)

cheers~n

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

2010-12-24T08:45:00.001-08:00

well the holiday season has descended upon us ... the time to fill our days with visiting, feasting and kinds of festive merriment ... it is nice to be back in canada to have a white christmas ... the next few days will be busy so i leave you with some pics from europe with all the streets decked out in lights and all sparkly for the season

oxford and their famous bicycles

the parisians know how to deck the champs elysees in style

grafton street in dublin

happy christmas to all

i have a few more travel posts to catch up on from our european adventure ... i've been so busy writing my 2 papers, prepping for my new job and getting back into our routine at home that i've saved the posts in the past months but still need to write them ... if you are interested please check back on the blog and travel back in time to the archives and you'll be able to catch up on all the fun we had

cheers ~n ... until the new year

IT'S ALL ABOUT BATH

2010-11-03T11:42:00.001-07:00

j's mom and brother are in town visiting for a few weeks and we've got a full agenda ahead with visiting scotland, ireland and all over england ... we've been sightseeing around lovely london for a few days and decided to take a day trip to the countryside ... i had the day off school so we headed to paddington station ... hopped a train and make the trip to the city of bath ... we hit the two main attractions ... the ancient roman bath house and bath abbey ... after we wandered the city streets, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves until dark and boarded the train back home

paddington station ...

the spot of many more journeys to come :)

the city of bath in full out fall mode

bath abbey

we paid a few pounds each to take a tour of the bell tower and climb to the top of the abbey for a view of the city ... the tour was a little disappointing because all it was about was how to ring bells and not much about the amazing history of this place ... i mean the first king of england was crowned here but it was all about the bells :)

beautiful views

next stop right beside the abbey ...

the roman bath house

but before touring the site ... a stop at a gift shop to bring home a cute little british doggie in the window

j's mom managed to snap a picture of me doing my photography thing ...

sneaky mom-in-law

next on the agenda ... wander aimlessly around the city and get lost on the city streets

a row of curved buildings just like our cartwright gardens block back in london

stay tuned for more travel stories as next weekend we are flying up to scotland to visit the city of edinburgh, taking a train to york for a few days and then training it back to london ... can't wait

cheers ~n

HERE'S A KEW

2010-10-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

j and n took another weekend and decided to tour the outskirts of london again ... hampton court was so much fun so we ventured out west of the city again ... this time to the neighborhood of richmond to wander the kew royal botanic gardens ... it was amazing, beautiful, breathtaking and so relaxing ... enjoy the tour

a nice walk through the neighborhood to get to kew gardens

the grounds of kew

one of the many ponds on the grounds

and one of the many greenhouses

this one the palm house

nice to wander the grounds and get lost for the day

we went on a treetop walkway ...

18m above ground

amazing views

a visit to the japanese gardens at kew

kew palace ... it was closed to visitors

but we wandered around anyways

to warm up we stopped at kew greenhouse cafe

for steak and ale pie and homemade macaroni

seriously the best food ever!

and who could resist a piece of lemon meringue pie that looks like this?!?!

cheers ~n

IN COURT

2010-10-17T02:23:00.001-07:00

we wanted to see a new sight in london so we caught the tube to waterloo station and boarded a train headed west in london to the lovely hampton court ...

a quick cole's notes history lesson ... back in the tudor days cardinal wolsey built a magnificent palace for himself and king henry viii quickly annexed it for himself as his palaces were not as majestic ... he added onto it and at its peak in the tudor days it catered to about 800 people in king henry's court ... the stuart family (james i and charles i) and oliver cromwell also called the palace home ... charles ii built a new wing of the palace and william iii and mary ii added on to his design with a baroque palace ... they had plans to demolish the tudor portion but lack of funds (as with most building projects) stood in the way ... so we visited the tudor and baroque palaces that exist side by side along the thames in hampton court ... enjoy the tour we certainly did

the tudor portion on the grounds

clock court base of the tudor palace

astrological clock made for henry in 1540

wine cellar for the tudor court

one of the many parts of the tudor kitchen used to cook for 800 people a meal

fountain at the apartments and for special occasions wine would flow from it

every apartment in the tudor palace had its own fireplace ...

hence all the chimneys

beautiful gardens in the tudor portion

the new "addition" in baroque style

one of the grand staircases to the apartments

who wouldn't want a room decorated in weapons?

one of the throne rooms

a kingly bed ... not usually used for sleeping in

a hallway that housed the orange trees in the winter

just another courtyard to wander through

the pride of king william ... his gardens

and hunting grounds

seriously who wouldn't want to be a princess and live here?

cheers ~n

JUST A WALK IN THE PARK

2010-10-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

so far living in london has been A-MAZ-ING! we seriously cannot get enough of this city ... j and n are a couple of suckers for history and it is truly an absolute dream to live in a place that is so rich with history, beautiful architecture and so full of life ... completely opposite of our small city in canada

well it is october and there is no snow here, it is still green and sunny and surprisingly warm ... j jokes that we are living in tropical london :)

we ventured out and decided to go for a picnic in a park ... so many beautiful spaces to choose from but we went for the biggest in london town ... hyde park ... what a fantastically lazy afternoon to lose the books and get lost right in the middle of the city ... enjoy

cheers ~n

A STUDENT AGAIN

2010-10-06T10:52:00.001-07:00

just a really quick post to announce that i'm officially back in student mode and am consumed with loads of readings of academic papers, excerpts of textbooks and sitting in 3 hour lectures ... i still cannot believe that i'm actually in london working on my master's degree ... i am taking 2 modules this autumn term ... my first course is "planning for education and development" ... it is a practical course on education policies and different planning approaches developing nations and the international community use when delivering an education system and the various issues that are encountered ... my second course is "economic perspectives on education planning" ... the main focus is on efficiency and equity of education and how that relates to teacher training, incentives and education for all ... absolutely loving this ... will keep updating

cheers ~n

MISADVENTURES IN LIVING ABROAD

2010-10-04T04:13:00.001-07:00

well the joys of being on holidays is that you get to enjoy a hotel stay and all the perks of eating out, sleeping in, visiting sights ... traveling to another city for school is a completely different story ...

j and i had to madly rush around london as we only had a few days in our hotel and with our trusty tourist map and tube travel card we set out to try and find a flat to let ...

well first day we wandered around some neighborhoods we thought we'd like to live in and were disappointed at the prospects ... too far away from school, too shady looking, too close to all the pubs and really loud touristy areas ... so we restructured our plan and decided to focus on the bloomsbury area as that is where my school is ... we emailed some letting agents in the area and tried to set up some appointments ...

second day woke up to some emails and tried to organize some viewings and many of them couldn't meet until the next day ... by fluke we found an ad and phoned the letting agent and we could meet them in 20 minutes ... we ran over in the rain and met our lady and had a look around ... all i can say is the photographer was amazing at making the studio flat appear deceptively spacious ... we looked at 3 in this cartwright gardens building and it wasn't too bad ... extremely secure buildings that are well taken care of, the flats are furnished, laundry on site and super clean ... 2 out of the 3 were in the basement and the third was on the 3rd floor overlooking the tennis courts and green space and about 2 feet larger than the others ... we considered putting a deposit down but as it was nonrefundable and it was our very first flat we looked at we went on our way and tried to find our next viewing down by hyde park in paddington area ...

we caught the wrong tube line and ended up on the opposite side of the park and we ran to the neighborhood in the pouring rain only to find that our letting agent wasn't even there and when we phoned him he said he was on his way to meet us and after waiting for 45 minutes he still didn't show so we left ... we phoned to secure the flat on the third floor at cartwright gardens and within the 45 minutes of leaving the place someone had already secured a lease on it ... we decided to put a deposit on the slightly larger basement flat and went home somewhat happily that we found a place that would work for me to walk to school ... i'll admit we still we a little unsure if that was the right thing to do ...

the next morning we went to put all the paperwork through and it was confirmed that this was the right spot to live because transport for london decided to have a tube strike and it really showed us the nightmare of trying to get around when one of the major routes of transport gets shut down ... i felt much better that i had a 10 minute walk to school and a quick trip around the neighborhood we found a beautiful grocery store and a shopping centre that has a market on the weekends ...

thinking we were good to move in the next day we tried to set up the money transfer with the bank and the nightmare began ... we could only transfer an amount that large if we were there in person (well obviously that was not going to happen) the next option was we could transfer up to $1000 a day over to the company and at that rate we would be moving in the following week ... so the next best solution was to get one of our parents to go down to their bank in canada and force them to transfer the money over as soon as possible ... it actually worked but of course we had to delay moving in by 2 days because of the slowness of this whole process ...

in the midst of all of this i had to go enroll in person at the institute of education ... stand in many queues and find out at the end of it all that my canada student loan didn't really count for my status as a sponsored student and i was expected to pay a third of my tuition right then and there ... i managed to talk them into signing my loan papers and granting me an extension though ...

no pictures yet of the interior of our spacious flat at cartwright gardens but a view of the exterior of our lovely building ...

yup that's our ground floor flat ... what a lovely view :)

our gigantic door and awesome tiled stairs

one of the best parts about walking home is the fantastic curved street completely lined with baskets of flowers and planter boxes ... it really does make the tight living quarters more bearable and a little more dreamy :)

cheers ~n

JUST A FEW NEW THINGS

2010-09-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

as i type this a lot has happened in the past few weeks ... so many changes everywhere in the jplusn house

first off we worked our butts off for months and finally made progress in the finishing of major parts of the house ... still didn't get all of it finished but that's what our happy helpers are for (thanks again guys we really couldn't have done this if it wasn't for you)

as you can see all of our doors now have handles and it is so lovely to hear a click as the door smoothly closes

my attempt to grow a herb garden this year fell short and i ran out of time and patience trying to get those seeds to sprout ... so it will have to wait for next spring until i am back in the country ... they are tucked away safely in the garage and my photobooks that i made of j and my trip to new york now occupy the shelf

we finally found a light at the home depot to fill the entrance way ... we got to enjoy it for about a day and then we were gone ... something to enjoy when we get back

our master ensuite has all it bits and pieces in place ... i didn't get a chance to snap a pic of the drywall progress but oh well

you get the idea of what it's going to look like when it's done

of course one of the biggest changes was the exterior of the house ... j's uncle strapped the house and got it ready for it's extreme makeover

then we filled the spaces with blue styrofoam boards to help up the insulation factor on the house ... it already feels warm and cozy

next some amazing james hardie board siding to amp up the drama on the house ... we hadn't heard of it until about 3 weeks ago and i must say it is gorgeous ... the perfect color, the most amazing grain to it and the beauty of this is it looks like wood but it's cement board so no maintenance ... yeah!

the start of something beautiful ... the dormers are going to be the same siding as the bottom of the house and then the triangle parts are going to get a lighter tan color and some vertical pieces to give it a nice contrast ... i'm sure it will look great when it's finished ... this is where j and n exhaustedly left canada, boarded a plane ...

and as i type this ... this is what is now outside my hotel room window ... we are in london for some time while n gets to start her master's in education and international development at the institute of education

it's noisy, it's busy and it's going to be a welcome break to take an extended working vacation ... can't wait to start my classes, find a flat, tour london and of course travel around in europe

cheers ~n

LOOKING SO FANCY

2010-09-17T13:35:00.001-07:00

near the beginning of n's summer vacation she had an ambitious idea to dig up a bunch of grass and build some lower tiered flower boxes in the front yard ... well as n's extended summer vacation comes to a close ... n and her fabulous mom have had a couple weekends to sneak away from the never ending house finishing list and step out in the sunshine that finally came and build the planter boxes and finally fill them up with cedar mulch and i must say they are looking so lovely

with the addition of our spacious and lovely veranda came the challenge of trying to salvage the skinny walkway and make it appear larger than it really is ... enter some gravel from the backyard used to make the teeny tiny sidewalk appear bigger

the flowers now reach all the way to the sidewalk

who doesn't love symmetry? it was a little tricky to get this but i think it looks fab

side profile ... so nice to have the front almost done

i am pleased with the end result

cheers ~n

MAJOR BLOG SECRET

2010-09-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

so we had to decide what to do with out puzzling front entrance and come up with a solution that would work for our little house ... we wanted something covered to protect the entrance way from the elements and something to add a little space to ... on a friday night j and his trusted happy helpers came up with this grand plan to build a covered veranda and they worked exceedingly fast and this massive project was completed in 2 weekends

here's our little hut before all the dormer additions

house completed with the bedroom dormers

our new and lovely two tiered deck

it's wonderful to have all this space

what the house looks like now ...

i can't wait to get some chairs and a table out front ...

and some pots and flowers ...

and the house numbers ...

and the mailbox ...

cheers ~n

SOMEONE'S TURNED 30

2010-09-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

well as each year passes it is inevitable that you get older ... well this day of september 4th n hit a milestone ... i turned 30 ... my lovely parents brought over some of my favorite flowers to commemorate the day

i received many birthday cards of course poking fun at how old i am getting ...

oh the joys of being the oldest

another look at the beautiful flowers sitting in my dining room

cheers ~n

update - j also arranged a fantastic surprise breakfast brunch at the hotel macdonald in the empire ballroom on the sunday ... all of my family and j's family were there ... it was an amazing atmosphere to be dressed up sitting in a fancy ballroom and enjoying a buffet that cannot be described ... the food ranged from salads to custom made omelets to an entire dessert station ... absolutely fantastic and an amazing way to turn 30

A FUN LITTLE PROJECT

2010-08-21T15:36:00.001-07:00

j and i have lots of fantastic pictures in our house but it's always nice to add in your own things to make a place more homey ... enter one of n's many projects from the summer ... redoing and updating j's office

part 1 ... i took some of our travel pictures from our fantastic vacations in hawaii, london and new york ... i developed them in black and white, bought some frames and ta da ... instant personalized art

next i moved the paintings out of j's office, found a spot on the wall and put up the arrangement so it can remind him of happier more relaxing times if he's having a tough day at work :)

part 2 ... do you ever save tickets, brochures or postcards from your travels and never know what to do with them besides storing them in a box? me either ... until now ... i had an idea to get some deeper frames and arrange the leftover reminders of our trips into collages ... i made 2 for our new york vacation and 2 for our london travels

here they sit on the table awaiting a spot on the wall in j's office ... it took a bit of time but i decided to go with a color theme for each frame

new york new york ... aah the memories of staying at the landmark waldorf astoria hotel, going by accident to the museum of modern art (moma) instead of the met, our new york city pass which was so helpful to explore the city sights at a fraction of the price, sightseeing at the empire state building and traveling on the circle line ferry to see lady liberty and ellis island ... all those fond memories in one little box

more new york ... this box includes tickets to yankee stadium during the second last season before they moved ... where we got to see a-rod, jeter, posada, clemens, matsui, the legend that is riveraas they played the tigers with pudge and the chance to boo sheffield, using the metro card to ride the subway to the game and having some super friendly homeless subway guy take our money, disappear for awhile and actually return with our card loaded up for our ride to the bronx (for a small donation of course), our second row broadway tickets to phantom of the opera, and remembering the city all lit up at night

moving onto london ... no stop to london is complete without riding the tube and making sure to please mind the gap, our travels included stopping by the national gallery in trafalgar square to admire way too many paintings, finding the iconic red telephone booths that line the streets, and the double decker buses that are everywhere, cruising the thames on a river boat and admiring the many bridges that we walked over again and again and also a stop to shakespeare's outdoor globe theatre

london and pieces of england ... this box has memories of our one day trip out of the city to soak in the history of the mysterious stonehenge, the city of bath and the amazing windsor castle, of course just like new york this london trip also used the city pass which opened up exploring the sights at an exceptional price, tours of the majestic st. paul's cathedral and the surreal westminister abbey and remembering big ben the official time keeper of the city

i found the perfect spot for these on the wall beside the closet door in the corner ... offset them to make it not so straight and boring

part 3 ... i added in another picture of a street map of new york city (courtesy of ikea), moved j's desk and angled it against the corner, and slid one of his filing cabinets over beside it

i think these two projects found a perfect spot in j's office and remind us of all the fun that we've had over the years

cheers ~n

FINISHING DETAILS

2010-08-18T11:03:00.001-07:00

it took about 4 years to finally finish all of the major changes in this front room ... there is still a few finishing details like painting all of the trim, putting up a window covering that isn't a stapled together sheet held up with alligator clips and nails (the result of j's fabulous "sewing skills"), adding an area rug for the sitting area, an end table possibly with a lamp and few more decorations to make the place more homey but that can wait until a later date and at this moment in time i am proud to show off what has been accomplished ... we have a sitting area, an entrance closet and a dining room with a table and chairs! we can actually have people over to sit down for a home cooked meal and they don't have to balance their plates on lawn furniture ... so i hope you enjoy the transformation ... i know we certainly are :)

here is a before picture ... i unfortunately do not have very many before pictures as i didn't document the changes happening in the beginning ... as you can see the room is primed and ready for paint ... before it was yellow on 2 opposite walls and a rust color on the others ... it was beautiful ... so beautiful that we immediately broke out the primer and turned the room a powdery white ... there was a door and tiled entrance on the left hand side (which you cannot see) and the window was over closer towards the corner ... the floor was yellow skinny hardwood that we would liked to have saved and resanded and stained but it has pieces missing and "repairs" done to fill in the massive holes from the old octopus gravity furnace ... so we went right over top with a dark laminate floor

fast forward a bit of time (well actually about 2 plus years) and the door and window switched spots (during the coldest time of the year one december when it was -35 degrees celcius plus the freezing wind ... everyone thought we were crazy but when you are doing the work yourselves you make the time whenever the happy helpers are available to lend a hand even in the dead of winter), a tiled entrance migrated across the room and it stood painted with its new floor for awhile awaiting the changes to come

next add in some important pieces to pull the room together ... like an actual closet plus simultaneously finish the basement and move the leather furniture downstairs for the living room

find some much smaller chairs for the sitting area ... and finding 2 of them makes it even better

buy a table for the dining room area that's not too big and not too small but just right ... and of course it should fit the criteria of being modern in design

next find some dining room chairs ... i like the contrast of the white table with the black chairs and leather is easy to clean ... and i like how they kinda match the detailing of the white sitting chairs

find a few things for the empty corner ... anything to do with the eiffel tower and flowers will do nicely

put it all together and admire that the idea from 4 years ago is actually almost complete :)

add some lighting, a few more decorations and now the room is ready for company to come over and visit and feast

reuse some previous decorations and pieces and people can come over to sit and talk or enjoy a book

hope you enjoyed the tour of our little front room ... can't wait to finish off the room but that will wait until we get back from our overseas adventure :)

cheers ~n

N'S OBSESSIONS ... TAKE 4 (ALL THINGS LONDON)

2010-08-11T11:12:00.001-07:00

in a few weeks time i am packing up a portion of my belongings into a few suitcases, taking j with me and heading across the ocean to begin my adventures as a graduate student in london, england :) ... i am so excited to start my master's ... so this edition of n's obsessions is dedicated to all things london ... aka the waterproof, warm and of course stylish :) i am a bit of a nerd for supplies and i seriously cannot wait to get a chance to use these

1. flowered waterproof laptop bag ... i found this bag at my local indigo bookstore of all places and immediately fell in love ... i am not naive and i know that it is going to rain and rain and rain whilst i am there so this is the perfectly stylish solution to protecting my laptop and books

seriously how cute is this bag?!?!

2. houndstooth rubber booties ... my mom is well aware of my obsession with all things black and white and she found these super cute booties last spring for me to wear when i was outdoors on recess supervision in the puddles ... they remind me of a certain girl who is also in love with houndstooth and that makes me smile when i wear them

these are like shoes and probably won't be the best for those super rainy days ... but i will wait to buy a pair of unique rain boots until i get to london

3. a hoodie built for the elements of england ... this jacket is a waterproof wind resistant fuzzy lined comfort ... perfect for those crisp days to come and it was found at costco so you know the price is always right :)

4. my plaid fulton umbrella ... one cannot take a trip to london without an umbrella ... i came across this one at a small luggage and travel shop and i was immediately sold ... i mean it's a london based company that solely makes umbrellas and it is commissioned by appointment to her majesty queen elizabeth 2 ... could it get more british than that?

5. coach purse ... so this summer n's sister little j started working at a local coach store and little j one day came to the house very excited and said that she found the perfect london purse for me ... it's waterproof, mostly black and came with a ridiculously low price tag ... so this purse is now in my possession and is used on rainy days here and can't wait to travel to london with me

cheers ~n

LOVE YOU J!

2010-08-09T12:26:00.001-07:00

on a certain friday in august ... the 9th day to be precise in the year 2002 at approximately 5:30 pm j and n were married under a big white tent in a beautiful outdoor location and celebrated with a small group of family and friends ... there was lots of candles, ribbons, lights and flowers, a string quartet, an hors d'oeuvre reception immediately after the ceremony, no program with speeches or toasts just an opportunity to share in light hearted conversation with out special guests ... happy 8 years ... love you j

xoxo ~n

AM I OBSESSED? ... YOU TELL ME

2010-08-06T09:37:00.001-07:00

the inspiration ... photo courtesy of a most fantastic blog: three men and a lady ... i was smitten the second i saw this and wanted to put this somewhere design in the house somewhere but wasn't sure until now

this is actually the office closet but

i forgot to take a picture before the paint job

... the closets used to be dark but

then you couldn't see anything when you went in them

... so enter the boring white bedroom closet

tape out the stripes ...

i decided to keep the stripe width the same but differed the distance between the stripes

paint the stripes and wait

remove the tape and admire

the finished product

enter the storage boxes from ikea

(i love the clean white look of these)

even the new light in the closet looks fancy

ta da ... a clean organized closet

will probably put another shelf underneath this one for the 2 boxes but that is for a much later time ... we have lots of other projects to finish

his and hers laundry baskets ...

all neat and tidy

it's nice to have an unexpected twist on an otherwise boring closet

cheers ~n

BELATED BIRTHDAY GIFTS

2010-08-03T20:26:00.001-07:00

well n finally finished j's birthday present and it hangs on the wall as i type ... not bad 4 months late but i guess better late than never ... pictures frames were found at ikea (of course they were ... is there any other place that mass produces copious amounts of frames for a reasonable price ... couldn't find that place here ... so ikea it is)

anyone who knows me knows i love to be organized and plan and plan and plan ... so i decided to take pictures of the different layouts of the pictures and then have j decide which one he liked best by scrolling through the pictures rather than have him come every 2 minutes and look because he was busy building and i didn't want to pester him in the midst of important building things

so here are the different layouts (some are nice others not so much)

layout #1

not bad some balance from top to bottom

layout #2

alternating patterns always seem to work

layout #3

again alternating but the 1 at the top might seem too small in the space

layout #4

for me it works i just think it would need a few more pics to give it a balanced look

layout #5

thick and chunky ... might work

layout #6

knew i would hate this but just wanted a pic anyways

layout #7

no no no no no and again no

can you guess which one j picked?

keep guessing

we have a winner ... layout #2

yeah it's the same one i liked

now that space on the wall no longer haunts me

cheers ~n

PRODUCT REVIEW

2010-07-31T10:09:00.001-07:00

this weekend n had the task of drawing up floor plans for project 109 and one of our friends told us about google sketchup ... it is a tool to create 3d models and this program was definitely not used to its full potential as my sketches were 2d ... would love to play around with this at a later time

overall it was fairly straight forward to use ... i really like the measuring tool that gave exact measurements down to the inches when selecting 2 points ... it really helped keep the drawings true to scale ... and i liked adding the details of carpet, wood flooring, tile, shingles and water to make it so pretty :)

upper floor plan

main floor plan

basement floor plan

(even the black tile around the bathroom is there)

our house on paper from top to bottom

cheers ~n

MAKES SENSE FOR THE HOME

2010-07-30T06:21:00.001-07:00

so j sent n on a mission to buy some towels for the house and she excitedly traveled to the local home sense store (for the discounted towels only) ... however a tip from an enthusiastic shopper informed her that friday mornings the new stock arrives and it would provide the most selection ... the only problem is that there were so many lovely things to pick that n did get the towels as shown below but she inflated the towel budget by 250% because the deals were just too good to pass up and it was truly things needed to furnish the house so here goes ... ooh and aah at the new purchases

lovely towels and the purpose of the trek

a new foaming soap pump for the kitchen and it's white :)

much needed wine glasses and place mats for the table

... can't wait to have people over and actually be able to eat at a dining room table

... soon very soon

well who doesn't want to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea

and dream of dreamy places like london, venice, new york and paris

matching plates

... the plan to put them above the cabinets for decoration

i spy a fancy place mat for zoe and new water and food dishes

a new cushy bed for zoe and it matches the house

zoe and froggy obviously approve :)

the reason why the budget jumped up so quickly

... new chairs for the sitting area in the front room

side note ... i really wanted to find white leather chairs that were open and had no arms well i found them and the cost of the 2 chairs was half the price of 1 chair i was recently checking out so it had to be bought of course

and i totally lucked out because there's not one

but two ... a matching set a somewhat rare find at home sense

... thanks for the shopping tip mom

cheers ~n

MORE STRIPES

2010-07-27T19:34:00.001-07:00

the same time the laundry room was getting the stripes my mom and i were working on the basement bathroom as well

before all white bright and shiny

planning and painting the vertical stripes

wait a day to do the rest

invite mom over again and tape off the horizontal stripes

admire the work before painting

paint and wait

the finished product

really loving the finished effect

cheers ~n

IN 2 DAYS

2010-07-19T07:48:00.001-07:00

as you can see the rain has finally stopped and given us a little break and the outdoor fun can begin again

what does the ladder against the house mean?

it's time to build another dormer :)

now those building fellows were super speedy (the very first dormer took 5 days to build, the second one 3 and 1/2 days and this third one only took 2 days ... i think these boys should go into business) ... and n was preoccupied with organizing projects and she didn't get any action pics so here's the final product

when i walk up the stairs this is what my eyes now see

... oh what a cozy library study area this will be

here's the before

(shortly after we first moved in 4 years ago and began to open up the loft space)

and now ... love the transformation

... so much room to walk around

and the street view

cheers ~n

IT'S RAINING IT'S POURING

2010-07-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

well the weather is not cooperating and we aren't able to head out and work on the numerous outdoor projects

... so we will stay inside

so what does n have planned for today?

well it involves miles and miles of green tape

(and we were able to test out this brand frogtape and just regular green painters tape and honestly the frogtape was far superior in preventing bleeding under the paint)

take a bit of inspiration from this handy pamphlet from benjamin moore

lets add some interest and fun details to the least suspected place

... the laundry room

start by figuring out the spacing of the vertical stripes

... paint the different colors

... let dry and peel away the tape

admire up close ...

wait until the next day to finish the design

tape the horizontal lines ...

paint, peel away the tape and admire

look how fabulous is the laundry room now?

i love adding unexpected details to unexpected places ... stay tuned for a few more unexpected finishing reveals ... coming soon

cheers ~n

1-800-GOT-JUNK? WE DO! WE DO!

2010-07-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

earlier i posted about how much junk is currently occupying the back patch of our yard and the latest projects have added even more ... we are so close to finishing the last big renos and want to wait until then to call for a bin ... you may think its crazy to not ditch the junk asap but it gets pretty pricey pretty quick to keep calling for a bin service and you can only have a certain number of bins in a year and then they cut you off ... so we will hold out until the last hole is cut in the roof and hope that no one calls to complain about the messy neighbors ... in the mean time feel free to judge the collection and j and n will go hang their heads in shame

cheers ~n

THIS MAKES ME SMILE

2010-07-12T08:10:00.001-07:00

as mentioned before zoe really loves her froggy but there is one thing that she will ditch froggy for and that is a tennis ball ... well actually any ball will do :)

cheers ~n

SO CLOSE ... BIRTHDAY SURPRISE ... TAKE #2

2010-07-08T11:52:00.001-07:00

so last year j surprised n with a hot air balloon ride for her birthday ... how romantic ... and we were so close to going but a nasty cloud covered swooped right in and shut that down pretty quickly ... so we decided to wait until the spring/summer to go again ... i mean who really wants to go up in the freezing air in an open basket in the middle of an alberta winter anyways

well today was supposed to be that day ... checked the weather ... gorgeous sunny not a cloud in the sky ... so at 5:30 am we got the phone call giving us the go ahead to drag our sleepy selves down to the launch site ... well i will let the pictures do the talking

6:06 am ready with tickets to catch our ride across the cityscape

pulling into the launch site ...

see absolutely gorgeous

unloading the balloon ...

see the competition in the background ...

they arrived 30 minutes before we did

still setting up and off they go

balloon stretched out, basket attached and ready to inflate

an inflating rainbow

holding steady to fill with all that air

and it just keeps getting bigger

j plus n ready for a hot air balloon ride

i think we are good to go

nope ... a gust of wind swoops in and covers the basket and vehicle

go j ... keep holding on

(side note ... the 1 crew member was holding the rope and the wind pulled him down and he was sliding across the field holding onto the rope for dear life ... j stepped in and helped hold the balloon down ... my hero)

unhooking the balloon from the basket

one of the burners caught the balloon and ripped a gigantic hole ... so it's a no go :(

time to deflated the balloon and pack up and try again

cheers ~n

update ... so we tried 2 more times since and have been unsuccessful in our attempts ... first time the west end of the city had a huge rain storm that night and soaked the launch site and the second time it was too cloudy ... next try will be august 10 ... take #5

FOLLOW THROUGH

2010-07-06T20:49:00.001-07:00

school has ended and on the first monday of summer holidays n went and did this:

love love love it

cheers ~n

I'M OFFICIALLY A PRINCESS ... MY BEDROOM IS A CASTLE

2010-07-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

the front of our cute lil' house got a major upgrade this past weekend ... the happy helpers came up and gave j a hand in building the bedroom dormer ... after 3 days it was finished and when i walk upstairs we now have a beautiful spot to lay our heads and the greatest part is that it is vaulted to over 9' and it truly feels like i'm in a tower or turret ... i can't wait to decorate ...

our little house is ready for it's makeover

the walls are prepped and ready for the roof to be cut open

the front wall waiting for the window

i see sunlight ... j and his happy helper hard at work ... they have a long way to go ... thank goodness for saws alls

why hello j

and now here the roof lies in pieces

now it's time to build that dormer

and the beauty of photography ... the dormer is finished ... how beautiful and spacious

what a lovely view from my new bedroom window

ooh and aah at the new dormer ... can't wait to move up there

cheers ~n

O CANADA!

2010-07-01T10:57:00.001-07:00

happy 143rd birthday canada

bright, shiny, sparkly, twinkling lights are always my favorite way to celebrate getting one year older

cheers ~n

IT'S THE END MY FRIEND

2010-06-30T06:17:00.001-07:00

aren't they pretty? just a few gifts for a very spoiled teacher as she finished her last day of teaching for a bit of time ...

n is officially taking off her teacher hat for 6 months and going to enjoy her summer vacation and then put on her grad student hat and head across the pond to london for her studies ... it feels bizarre to think that in a few months i will not be starting with a new group of students in the fall but i am very excited to take the next step in my professional development and start my master's

so here's the low down about my fabulous program through the university of london institute of education ... i am taking a master's of arts in education and international development which focuses on various education systems in the world and the role of education in the development process of middle income and low income areas ... and the part of program that truly sealed the deal for me is a study visit in paris incorporating unesco and the international institute of educational planning ... only a few more months to go :)

cheers ~n

SO MUCH TO DO ...

2010-06-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

here is the gigantic to do list for both home and work ... aaah not even enough time to write this ... must get back to work

project 109

master floor

... build 2 dormers ... 1 for the bed area and 1 for the library ... that means cutting out two gigantic holes and building the gable dormers and putting in the windows

... plumbing for the master ensuite and put in bathroom fixtures ... shower, tub, toilet, sink, faucets, and mirror

... electrical and lighting

... insulation and drywall and taping and mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding :)

... paint walls, trim and doors and door handles

... carpet the floor and stairs, tile the bathroom

... baseboards, window casings and doors

main floor

... finish painting the guest bedroom and j's office closets

... finish painting all the baseboards and window casings

... tile the kitchen back splash

... edging for all tiled areas

... door trim and handles

... electrical and lighting for the dining room lights and over the cabinet lighting

... re-drywall and paint the main floor bathroom ... built in shelving for towels in the bathroom

... assemble the railing for the stairwell

... finish capping for kitchen wall

basement

... finish tiling laundry room and bathroom

... carpet the basement and stairs

... baseboards and doors

... paint trim and doors and handles

... finish bathroom fixtures ... shower, sink, toilet, faucets, and mirrors

... shelving for laundry, bathroom and bedroom

exterior

... re-shingle the roof, soffits, facia and trim

... eaves trough and drain pipes

... railing for the covered deck and stairs

... lighting for covered deck

... build the lower deck

... build a new fence

... finish landscaping ... build flower boxes and of course always adding more pretty flowers and shrubs

... build a front porch

... siding or stucco for the house

... exterior lighting, address and mailbox

... potentially build a double garage with a rental suite up top and new driveway

whew this list is monstrous and the crazy part is this list is actually getting smaller and more manageable ... i guess that's what happens when you reno a house from top to bottom ...

and now moving on to the work list that has just been completed in the last few days

... finished report cards ... wrote comments and proofed for 42 students and proofed other's report cards

... finished individualized program plans ... in the past years i've only had 1 to write in past 3 years and this year i had 11 ... i was drowning in paper work

... finished files and notes for consultants

... planned for the last week of school activities and sports days

... attended a multitude of staff meetings

and the available timeline for finishing the house is getting much smaller because london will be calling in no time

cheers ~n

IT'S NICE TO COME HOME TO THIS ...

2010-06-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

in real life j gets props for being such an amazing, helpful husband ... in the blogger world not so much because he wants to be a silent invisible entity on this blog but today he can't get away with that ... while n is going through the year in busy teacher land j always steps up offers a helping hand wherever possible ... he cooks breakfast and dinners for n, if he has spare time he gets the groceries, he drives n to her workouts (because parking is scarce) and he always goes above and beyond and does the little extras ... case in point j loves to go golfing and this week he was going twice and j and n were so super busy that they wouldn't get to hang out for very long ...

so n came home to relaxing on the deck with these ...

homemade strawberry lemonade

and having the most delicious salad ready to mix ...

mmm spinach salad with pecans, dried cranberries and goat chevre cheese all with a homemade honey mustard white wine vinaigrette dressing

and dinner to reheat whenever n was ready to eat ... n's fav homemade pita pizzas ...

on the left grilled chicken with spinach, red bell peppers, grape tomatoes, mozzarella and goat chevre cheese and on the right tomato based with ham, red bell pepper, mushrooms, mozzarella and goat chevre cheese and of course secret spices all on a whole wheat pita ... don't they look yummy ... well they sure were :)

n has said it many times in real life and n will say it in blogger world ... she is taken care of by the bestest boy ever ... love you j xoxo

cheers ~n

FIXING THINGS UP

2010-06-21T15:58:00.001-07:00

n has been busy fixing up the front yard and trying to make it more beautiful ... anything to take the focus off the disastrous mess of the house ... things have been planted, flowers are blooming and things are definitely looking more pretty ... the planter boxes still have to be built and the cedar mulch put in but here's a peak at the changes

p.s. n can't wait to be done work and have a whole bunch of time to keep working on this:

the shrubs moved from the backyard now sitting pretty in the front

adding more flowers and shrubs to the middle plant box

soon to be a collection of pinks, blues and purples ...

can't wait to see all the prettiness

looking up from the sidewalk

all the grass n dug out the previous weekend ... slowly but surely

waiting for the boxes to be built and cedar mulch

cheers ~n

WINDOW TREATMENTS AND BASEBOARDS = A VERY SPOILED HOUSE

2010-06-15T06:03:00.001-07:00

this past weekend at project 109 our lil house got a wee bit fancier ... after 4 years of being bare the main floor received a much needed upgrade in style with the addition of window casings and baseboards ... the basement was feeling a bit left out and we wouldn't want it to feel that way so it also got some pampering ... window frames were finished, casing added around, the furnace room doors trimmed and the laying of tile began ... out little house is rounding the renovations corner and beautiful things are now happening ... here's peek at some of the makeover that occurred ... enjoy ... i know i am

the new window frames and casings

the furnace room doors

laundry/freezer room

basement bathroom

(yes more black and white)

kitchen with baseboards

(and the big empty space on the wall

is where the london pictures

are supposed to go

but n still hasn't got the frames yet)

the dining room area

cheers ~n

IN MY HOUSE IT'S BLACK AND WHITE

2010-06-10T20:03:00.001-07:00

anyone who knows n knows that she has a love to the point of obsession with black and white photographs, paintings, posters of buildings, cityscapes and landscapes and any other decorating ... now don't get me wrong i love an amazingly beautiful colored painting ... in someone else's house ... in my house it is black and white ... i actually had a really hard time debating with j about letting these into the house ... my reasoning to allow them was 1 - they were paris and london, 2 - they were a very dark brown and black with highlights of white and 3 - they were actual paintings instead of just a picture ... you may be laughing right now at how ridiculous that sounds but just ask j and little j (my youngest sis) ... we spent a good hour talking about these points in the store and now i am so glad that i caved and allowed a slight variation of color into our house

now just because i gave in once doesn't mean i'm willing to continue to do this ... i see lots of great colorful pieces but they still don't belong in my house ... i know putting this out in the internet world will bring criticism about how plain and boring my house is ... i know it will come ... i follow apartment therapy ... people's comments can be cruel

but i don't care i like my boring black and white obsession and here is the proof:

cheers ~n

DIGGING A HOLE

2010-06-06T10:06:00.001-07:00

this weekend n busted out the shovel, rake and spade and dug dug dug out a whole bunch of grass in the front yard ... this was a long time project that j and n have wanted to do since moving into this quaint lil' house that needs ever so much work ... the front yard has quite a steep slope to it and the grass that grows on it ... well lets face it the grass really doesn't grow and it looks rather sad and pathetic ... it is mostly a shade of brown with a faintness of green ... so out came the shovel and in a few hours the grass was dug up and the first stage was complete ... n just needed to wait for j and all his muscles to move the chunks out of the way so that the construction of the bottom planter box can begin ... that will have to wait for another weekend ... more to come

cheers ~n

WHERE OH WHERE HAS THE MONTH OF MAY GONE?

2010-05-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

as i type this i can't believe that the month of may is almost over ... it flew by in a flash ... i can't believe that there are about 5ish weeks left of work ... the last batch of progress reports to be completed ... the last few lessons to teach ... soon packing up the classroom before leaving for london ... it feels surreal that i won't be starting with a class again in september and won't be back to work until january ... but of course the adventure to come will be amazing and i can't wait

cheers ~n

HAPPY VICTORIA DAY

2010-05-25T15:33:00.001-07:00

yesterday in canada we had the day off courtesy of a certain queen of england and being a part of a commonwealth country ... to celebrate the day off ... "the young victoria" was rented, thoroughly enjoyed and made me wish that i lived in a palace

happy victoria day canada

cheers ~n

BACK TO FRONT

2010-05-22T10:53:00.001-07:00

so the back dormer has been in for quite sometime ... hoping this long weekend can bring some progress on the front of the house

on a side note ... wow this place looks just a bit disastrous ... one day some exterior finish will cover over the mess and it will be a distant memory ... one day

cheers ~n

update ... the weather so did not cooperate this weekend and the rain rain did not go away, the happy helpers stayed away and we will wait another day

WHITE DELIGHT

2010-05-18T19:52:00.001-07:00

not a lot of progress so far on the bathroom ... but the shower doors are now sitting inside the shower, the walls are painted and the cute little lights are up

i am planning an ocean influenced bathroom with a picture collage of north shore waves in the prettiest gray blue colors, lots of glass including a potential glass bowled sink that floats on the wall and chrome and glass towel bars and of course the black and white tile floor ...

cheers ~n

PRETTY PAINTED PICTURES

2010-05-15T10:28:00.001-07:00

well the basement has been painted for awhile ... i've just been lazy and haven't uploaded pics ... still have a lot of finishing work to do but it is nice to have some color on the walls (and the ceiling)

i love how the dark colors turned out down here ... it makes the space feel all warm and cozy

i want to paint some stripes on the white parts of the walls just to add an interesting and unexpected detail ... but i need my talented mom to come over and help out and that is definitely for another week ... carpet is coming soon so yeah

cheers ~n

IS THIS TOO MUCH?!?!

2010-05-11T21:56:00.001-07:00

when your pile of junk pulled out of the house is higher than the fence ... is that a sign that there are too many renos going on?

this is probably about the sixth or seventh time in the last 4 years that this has happened to us ... time to call the junk removal truck yet again before the pile pushes the fence over

cheers ~n

THEY'VE ARRIVED!!!!

2010-05-09T13:34:00.001-07:00

finally got around to ordering j's birthday prints for the house ... here's a peak at the potential layout for the wall ... so exciting to have my own pictures become part of the artwork in the house ...

now just to head to a certain blue and yellow mega-store to buy some affordable picture frames ... that's for another day

cheers ~n

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

2010-05-07T15:49:00.001-07:00

so this was last week ...

this is it now ...

seriously?!?!?! what the what i thought it was supposed to be spring

cheers~n

SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE

2010-05-02T20:59:00.001-07:00

this weekend j and n took a trip to the farmer's market on the weekend to load up with delicious vegetables and we scored on a container herb garden ... last year we wanted to set one up in the kitchen on this wall right here (oh and we have to still hang up the picture in the kitchen)

... i broke out the pots, the seeds and dirt

and had a great time planting the delicious herbs that will begin to

sprout just in time for bbq season

these are just so cute :)

yeah the shelf is hung awaiting

some cute little pots

all in a row :)

can you spot the difference?

the picture is finally on the wall

view from the living room ...

planning a special little zoe area

under the shelf ...

more of that to come

cheers ~n

I'M AN AUNTIE AGAIN ...

2010-04-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

on april 28th my middle sister had her second baby and i am happy to welcome another niece into the world ... she is a healthy 8 pounds and 21 inches long ... the newest little one is one beautifully named madison taylor (little m) and she joins her equally beautiful older sister hannah elizabeth (little h) ... hugs and kisses to all

cheers ~n

BLACK AND WHITE

2010-04-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

it is frustrating when you fall in love with a tile that would be absolutely perfect for your space and then you receive the quote for just the supplies and almost fall of your chair ... they want $1300 to tile a 5X7 bathroom and a 11X5 laundry room and if we choose to get them to install it we would have to pay $2000!?!?!? what the what that is waaaay too expensive for this little house ...

so this weekend we headed out to the 3 hardware store chains determined to find tile for the basement bathroom and laundry room (even though we had already been before and were a little disappointed) ... rona this weekend had 15% off your entire purchase so we started there and that was as far as we had to go ... i am happy to report that it truly was a one stop shop this time ... we settled on bright white tile for the middle and a funky black argyle diamond tile to border the rooms ... just enough to add some interesting detail and the price was a lot cheaper than the quote we had from before ... can't wait to install this sometime this month

cheers ~n

THE GRAND PLAN ...

2010-04-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

the other day i had a bit of a panic attack as i was planning with one of my teaching partners ... there are less than 3 months left until school ends !!!! where did the time go?!?!?! ... and then it hit me ... i now have 5 months left to put a bunch of pieces together for the fall ... well time to spill all the details about n and j's grand plan ...

... this fall j and n are going to move across the pond for 4 months and n taking a leave of absence from teaching and is going to grad school ... she is going to be studying in london, england ... n is taking her master's in education and international development through the institute of education (in a very teeny tiny nut shell she will be studying educational systems used worldwide and education program planning for developing countries) ... that's right we are going to london baby ... part of this incredible opportunity also includes a study visit to paris for a week to work with the international institute of educational planning and UNESCO ... that is why j and n have been taking french lessons ...

we are so excited and can't believe that in less than 5 months we are going to be living in a flat somewhere in this city:

cheers ~n

SPRING CLEANING ...

2010-04-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

happy spring to all ...

... this weekend as the sun shone brightly and the temperatures rose we cracked open the windows in the house to let the fresh air in and spent time outside racking up the remnants of fall and winter and of course time planning, planning, planning for the finishing of our backyard ... things like measuring for our lower deck, figuring out the stone patio for the fire pit area, the new fence, railing for the upper deck and stairs, and the lighting options for the covered deck ...

... of course with project 109 there is always a ton of projects to complete and they seem to be happening simultaneously and we are happy to say that as of this year the multitude of projects is dwindling and we are actually checking off a lot of big things on our list

cheers ~ from a cheery n

KICKING MY BLOGGING BUTT

2010-04-12T20:43:00.001-07:00

long time no writing ... let me explain

working between 2 schools this year has been tonnes of fun because i get to teach the littlest ones all day long ... but oh my oh my ... i have been so super busy this last month and a bit because each school has its own projects, events, open houses, parent teacher conferences, staff meetings and when you work at 2 schools it is automatically doubled ... even j mentioned that he hasn't had an evening wife much this last little while

... i will be returning soon with more posts once i get a second to breath, catch up on some sleep and feel rested

cheers ~n

SPRING IS HERE ...

2010-04-01T14:23:00.001-07:00

so today was my littlest sis' b-day and is there a better way to spend the day than not being at work and having lattes and pedicures ... didn't think so ... happy birthday little j

cheers ~n