acquired

five new things came into my life over the last week - all of which i am loving very much.

1. a felt elephant from my lovely husband. this adorable little creation was spotted at one of the vendor tables at the market. it puts a smile on my face every time.

 

2. an aloe plant.  my parents always had one in the house which my dad would use to help heal cuts (from shaving or gardening).  it reminds me of him.

3. a bag clip that i am thinking of using on my key chain.  stefan and i went out for a quick bite to eat (kai was testing out the new sitter) and we settled on chinese food.  bao bei, a chinese brasserie, was having a fundraiser (education for women and children in palestine's west bank) and sadly were not serving food.  before we left for wild rice, serving modern chinese, i purchased the bag clip - it seemed wrong to just walk out without making a contribution.

4. a pair of boots that i have been coveting for far too long.  i was never able to decide on the shade of brown i wanted for the brown boots i would one day own.  so when i spotted these at a consignment store for such little money i decided i could not be choosy about the brown anymore. i think i did pretty well with these!

5. this was an object i was first coveting over here.  our local anthropologie store now carries them and i simply could not walk out without one of these gorgeous vases!

weekend pics

here are some snaps of the weekend.  it was filled with friends one evening (stefan made a delicious chicken cacciatore), a leisurely walk to granville island (fall flowers and apples are now available!), playgrounds, cleaning out closets, and a new babysitter (the latter two will have a post coming later in the week)!

our friend's teenage daughter brought dessert - homemade chocolate ice cream with a hint of orange and chocolate sponge cake

the 'green playground' as kai has called it since he could talk is still alot of fun for him, although he plays on it a little differently at the age of 8 compared to the age of 4!

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

our favourite grapes, concord

ambrosia apples are a favourite, too bad their season is so short!

   

we just learned that three harbour seals live by granville island

kai had his soccer photos this weekend which was conveniently located at a park so of course we had some play time at another playground! i love how comfortable kai is playing on his own (or with me), such a happy boy.

    

falling into autumn

can you believe it's october already?  i don't mind it at all.  the weather is sunny and crisp, especially today (although vancouver is usually wet, grey and crisp but we won't go there today).  for me this means wrapping myself in a scarf, pulling on a pair of boots, and enjoying my favourite season.  happy autumn everyone!

via here

date night

it's been too long since stefan and i were out on a proper date, just the two of us.  last night was the night and it was lovely to spend two uninterrupted hours with him. we went to tableau, a new casual french restaurant.  they made the perfect french onion soup!  and we each had classic frites, his with steak and mine with mussels.  so delicious! and i am loving joie wine again, it's a favourite.

we can too easily get sucked into other aspects of our lives - the computer, dinner prepping and cooking, laundry, parenting - that take away precious time from our relationship.  so, i love our idea of reinstating date nights.  i was nervous, i think i had butterflies in my tummy, is that possible after 16 years together?  anyway,  i think it ended well and that he will ask me out on a date again :-).  i imagine date nights will include many lovely dinners but i think there will also be some bowling or bocce playing other nights.  and maybe we'll take out our pre-kai climbing gear too! 

he was looking especially handsome, if i don't say so myself. i definitely ended up with someone fabulous... and smart (he did ask me out after all). 

 

cookie please

a delivery service that goes by the name insomnia cookies sounds dangerous.  i just learned (via here) that you can have freshly baked cookies delivered to your door if you live in new york (and near a university)!  it's a late night delivery service for those who are peckish but don't want anything too heavy like a pizza.

hmmm, i could use a cookie to dip into my tea right about now! but really, thank goodness i don't live in new york. and if you know of something like this in vancouver please do not share it with me.

pretty. colourful. domino.

these rooms are perfectly pretty and i particularly love the use of colour in these images. in my own home, i use accessories to bring colour in.  i have never felt the need for a theme or to coordinate accessories.  i think anything goes as long as we love it.  i say 'we' but mostly me because stefan lets me do my thing in the house (thank you!).  i think colour impacts our mood for the better and although i love white and wood and earthy colours, over the last few years i have been drawn to more colourful items, especially in art.  i think kai influences my decisions too, i want our home to exude happy. 

have you ever thought about colour and its impact on you and your home? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all images above once graced the pages of domino magazine (i still have the cutouts of a few of these images in my design folder), the magazine folded in 2009 along with many other design magazines such as wish and blueprint. sniff, sniff. 

package

i bought a necklace and it arrived in a cute package today.  it comes from pyramide, an etsy shop. vintage gold and silk thread.