HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

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

JUST A WALK IN THE PARK

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

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

MAKES SENSE FOR THE HOME

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

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

IT'S RAINING IT'S POURING

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!

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

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

FOLLOW THROUGH

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

love love love it

cheers ~n

HAPPY VICTORIA DAY

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

SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE

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