MY 3 WEEK COUNTDOWN

the great thing about teaching is that time is divided into little chunks of weeks leading up to some milestone to help pass the time. like summer vacation starts and then it's 8 weeks till school begins and then once school starts it's 5 weeks until canadian thanksgiving. then 5 weeks till remembrance day and then 2 weeks till parent teacher interviews and so on. i think i drive j crazy with my constant mini countdowns and my number of actual teaching days ... the joys of being married to a teacher

well n has a few more countdowns for the coming month of december ... 1 more day until i start working half time at a new school teaching the littlest ones (kindergarten), 10 more days for 1 christmas concert and staff party, 15 more days for the christmas concert at the other school, 17 days till the other staff party, 18 days until christmas vacation begins and 15 actual teaching days to try and cram in all the extra christmas stuff on top of all the kids regular learning

i went into school yesterday to plan with my teaching partner and we couldn't believe how quickly the next 3 weeks filled up with activities ... decorating gingerbread houses, grade 6 buddies to visit, a fieldtrip, retelling christmas stories and traditions, christmas concert practices ... what the what ... i can't wait to take some time to relax with family and friends and when that starts it will be 2 weeks until i go back to work ;)

cheers ~n

POST

the other day i was picking up some groceries at the italian center and on the way to the car something at the cutest little gift shop caught my eye. it was the most perfect mailbox. it now sits in my possession and i can't wait until the outside of the house is finished so that it can be proudly collect our mail

AND WE GET A BIT CLOSER ... TO THE VERY BEGINNING

this weekend the happy helpers came back and the project du jour is planning and starting to piece together the upstairs dormer for the master bedroom en-suite ... it is being made in pieces on the ground before the huge hole is cut in the roof during our lovely winter season ... fortunately the weather is cooperating as it is unusually warmer and there is no snow which is weird for the middle of november in canada

those who know j and n know that this project is near and dear to their hearts. this upstairs loft is what sold them on purchasing the house and they had a dream ... a dream of an entire master floor with vaulted dormers made into an apartment style suite ... complete with a bathroom en-suite filled with visions of a soaker tub, a bedroom nook overlooking the dreamy front street trees and an upstairs library to recharge, rest and relax with a great book ... that was 3 plus years ago and this weekend dreams really do come true!

after this weekend the bathroom layout settled on and part of the upstairs torn apart to make way for j and n's 4 piece bathroom ... yes you heard it right 4 piece bathroom!!

with a lot of planning and re-planning, scouring the internet for bathroom inspiration we found the layout courtesy of our hotel room from a last minute trip across the pond to london for spring break

here are the inspiration pics

here is the sharpie drawn layout of the bathroom (very official!)

flashback to the beginning where it sat for a few years like this because of the numerous projects (aka everything) on the main floor

but this weekend things changed and it started to look more like this!

still a long way to go but it's progress

the happy helpers are set to come back in a few weeks and j and n will have the upstairs plumbing ready to go and then the gigantic hole in the roof will be cut and the bones of the bathroom will be in place. the happy helpers have to take a vacation before the year ends and they have graciously decided to brave the cold and come back during the beginning of december for a few weeks and finish putting in the bedroom nook dormer and the upstairs library dormer. j and n are so excited that by christmas this amazing transformation will be well on its way to completion and it can't come any sooner as n's sister, brother-in-law, kidlet niece and baby-to-be are moving in while they build their dream house

cheers ~n

WHAT A GREAT FIND

so n knows that the sartorialist has been kicking around for quite sometime and spreading the fabulousness of fashion over the years. however n made a new discovery recently and it was in partnership with one of her favorite luxury brands ... burberry

nothing says classic fashion like a trench coat and burberry has perfected this since 1856. to n a fun marketing idea was born ... showcasing burberry trenches worn by everyday people in fabulous locations ... could it get any better than this? n doesn't think so

introducing the art of the trench ... all n can say that she is officially in love

cheers ~n

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THE FIRST (AND NOW FINISHED!)

j and n are very excited! we have a finally have a home for all our lovely coats and shoes in the front entrance. this is huge as we have waited 3 plus years for this day and finally everything is put away, clean and organized the way it is supposed to be. after much searching the best solution (and affordable for us) was to take a trip to our local ikea, bring home the flat boxes and let the magic happen.

side note - the setting up of the wardrobe unit didn't take long at all ... securing it to the wall was the issue ... j did run into some trouble when attaching it to our lovely plaster walls ... as he was putting the screws into the wall the entire screw and a chunk of plaster disappeared into the wall! our solution was to put a piece of wood in front of the brackets and attach it to the studs and we are happy to report that this beast is going nowhere :)

the beautiful glass doors that n just had to have were another story ... n is gifted at being able to read and interpret those pesky ikea pictures fairly easily and her job is to get the pieces ready and direct j with what to do ... after 7 plus years of marriage and setting up multiple pieces of ikea furniture we have a beautiful system ... there was no such luck with the doors after 8 frustrating hours they finally came together and now we have storage!!

the closet does stick out quite a bit in the entrance way ... much more than we hoped ... even though n is a fabulous photographer and it doesn't seem that way :) the eventual and ambitious plan is to steal a bit of space from the guest room and sink that closet back a bit more ... but we have upstairs dormers to build and a basement to finish so that is a much later plan. we are just excited to have a home for our coats and shoes

let the merriment begin :) all these boxes just waiting to become something

zoe seems confused why these boxes have taken over her play area

the first day the frame is made ...

yeah so close but little did j and n know that it would take forever for the front to be put on

here are the gorgeous

(time consuming pain in the butt) doors

but they are amazing and totally fit our clean line square design for the house

here is each side of the closets with drawers and shelves at custom levels ...

notice the boot shelf height is not too tall or too short its just right

one of my favorite parts of the closet ...

the drawer with all these compartments that can fit all our closet odds and ends

(keys, watches, garage door openers, mittens and all of zoe's leashes)

and without further adieu a final picture of organization perfection

which makes j and n extremely happy

cheers ~n

DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS?

yesterday zoe had her brother oscar come for a visit. in my opinion there is nothing better than 2 sleepy puppies ... especially 2 who are getting a little shaggy and really fluffy ... enjoy the cuteness i know i did :)

bestest buds: zoe (our black puppy) and oscar (my sister's apricot puppy)

zoe being all cute and cuddly

oscar having sweet puppy dreams

zoe in her favorite chair with her blanket :)

cheers ~n

NOT A GREAT WAY TO START A NEW MONTH

well n is still sick and hasn't had too many good nights of sleep with being feverish and achy, all the coughing and the never ending runny nose. well it seemed that all the pieces were going to come together for one magical night of rest. her nose stopped running, the coughing subsided and the fever finally broke :)

... and then halloween on a saturday night happened to ruin this ...

the neighbors kids decided to bless the street with a large gathering of obnoxious, loud and crude partygoers. instead of keeping the party indoors they took their "merriment" to the front lawn and street complete with fist fighting, dropping the f-bomb every 2 seconds and hooting and hollering, littering the street with bottles and cigarette butts and some aspiring dj who played techno music from his car for the whole neighborhood's listening pleasure

well the party went into the wee hours of the morning and the real fun for us began around 4 am when some inebriated and stupid fellow decided to run up to our house and throw a big chunk of pumpkin at our bedroom window. it nearly gave j and n a heart attack. and to top off all the festivities they awoke in the morning to find this on their murano that was parked in the street ...

all n wants to know is why? why are people so rude and disrespectful especially to stuff that isn't even theirs?

p.s. yes the ugly house in the background belongs to us and the big chunk of black is where the old door use to be and we still have got a ton of work to do on the exterior but we're trying to finish the inside first

cheers ~ from a not so cheerful n

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THE FIRST

living in an old war time cookie cutter house built in 1960 has a certain element of charm to it ... the big trees, cute as a button houses, one of a kind local shops and stores, parks and pathways to run and bike in and n could go on and on

... although right now j seems to think that the only charm is in the neighborhood and it has nothing to do with this particular house :) and n truly believes the charm is in the house

anyways with this supposed charm also comes many impossible problems that j and n are trying to solve in a way that is functional and isn't just some slapped together solution it also needs to keep with the overall design plan and to quote n "look pretty"

this impossible problem aka mission storage has been plaguing both j and n for over 3 years! apparently people who lived back in 1960 didn't own any coats or shoes or had a need to store them anywhere. j and n scratch their head that for over 50 years no one has bothered to come up with any sort of coat closet in this house. typically this is our solution for the lack of a closet:

do you see j and n's lovely breakfast nook table?

didn't think so because it is now our back closet and part of n's classroom storage :)

this is what j and n have to work with in the front of the house and we have come up with a solution that is functional, pretty and fits our clean line design

side note - we still have a bit to go before this part of the house is done - window and door casings, baseboards, trim for the tile, door handles and another impossible mission (railing for the staircase) but with that said here are the before pictures:

and this is not an acceptable storage solution ... although functional it is definitely not pretty

and the happily ever after (where did it go?)

side note - well j and n had a date on friday night to go pick up the storage solution but n has gotten really sick and they will have to wait till n is better and in the mean time trudge on with function instead of the pretty and will re-post when the happily ever after of their storage fairytale arrives

cheers ~n

N'S OBSESSIONS ... TAKE 2

again in no particular order just some things that n is currently obsessed with

1. n's new sparkly puma ballerina slipper shoes from brown's ... for everyday and everywhere ... they are just so pretty and the most comfortable pair of shoes ... ever

side note - the people at brown's were the most fabulous n couldn't find her size in stock so they ordered her a pair in ... and she had 15 days to decide if she wanted to keep them :)

2. mad men ... both j and n's obsession ... can't get enough of the characters and all their problems, the swanky offices, american society and new york city in 1960

3. black and white coach purse ... n splurged and bought this last year in hawaii over christmas break and she still thinks it is so pretty and perfect and it totally goes with everything from jeans to dresses

4. london fog ... on perfectly rainy fall evening n and j stopped at a local coffee shop chain to purchase a drink to warm them up before heading to ikea to try and find a solution to their storage problem and voila a new fav drink was found ... steamed milk with earl gray tea and shots of vanilla ... mmm makes n want one right now

5. classic literature ... in a previous post n purchased 41 premier classic books from some literary greats for her birthday present ... she has since visited the time of little women, pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility, the awakening and is currently wrapped up in great expectations

6. photography ... since n started this blog it created a renewed passion for pictures and helped nudge her camera out of storage and start documenting life again

7. leggings and scarves ... with the cooler weather in the air both have been n's go to in her wardrobe to stay warm and stylish

... yes n is well aware that this is not her but this is the look that she loves so much

and is super glad that it's fall and she can wear lovely things like this

8. spin class ... the weather here is very unpredictable with snow one day, rain the next, gusting winds or gorgeous sunny days. sometimes that can all occur within the same day ... n had been riding her bike home but isn't equipped to try and make the trek through weather that isn't sunny and calm. so a much welcomed substitute ... spin class ... what a great way to burn tons of calories and keep conditioned through till spring

cheers ~n

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

this weekend j and n spent the better part of it fall cleaning and organizing ... just like spring cleaning but instead of warmer weather to look forward to it was done with a big huge sigh because the snow is about to fly soon

well a few good things came out of the deep clean ... the most obvious being a cleaner, less cluttered, more organized house. BUT best of all was the change that happened in j's office as a result of rearranging our furniture in the house ...

... the reason behind moving all the furniture was because j and n were trying to solve an absolutely utterly impossible problem (more about that in a future post)

so without further adieu ...

the before ...

happily ever after ...

p.s. all the books that are stacked so lovely in the bookshelf are part of n's birthday present ...

a sweet deal from my local chapters store ... 41 books from premier classics publishing at 50% off for the whole collection ... my instant classic library

cheers ~n