the welcome experiment

have you noticed the lack of welcome experiment posts lately??? that would be because I have not received any more doors and have already exhausted most of my friends and family... SO... please send me a photo of your front door so I can complete my poor sad little experiment and give out the great prize we have lined up :)

here's a door I found in Cayucos when we were there over the valentine's day long weekend

metrically speaking

last week bryce got an early birthday surprise, that I am very proud to say I didn't give away... I usually suck at holding it in and end up giving gifts early since I just can't wait, but this one was a surprise till the end.

I told him that he needed to leave work early and that I would pick him up from work, he didn't realise that there would be a crowd of us and that we were going to see one of our favourite bands :)

the night started at the home of chicken and waffles which I must say I was very intrigued about - were they waffles with chicken inside? but no, fried chicken and waffles side by side on a plate... weird combo, but it was pretty good.
the mac and cheese was particularly good!
hannah had fried chicken, mac and cheese, collard greens and cornmeal bread

then we were off to the fox theater (an awesome venue) to see Metric who were fantastic! bryce and I saw them in Toronto (where they are from) in 2005, when we lived there and have loved them ever since.

me & christina

hannah & i (and some random smiling lady in the background)

cody & melita (giving me the don't take any more photos of me look...) :P

bryce & me

if you're not familiar with metric's music here are a few of my faves. emily's voice is amazing!

an oldie but a goodie

my all time favourite, which they ended the concert with.

buy metric music here

mad about mad men

Look what I found on my desk this morning...Mad Men season 3!!! I'm so happy that it's a rainy day - gives me an excuse to light the fire, sit on the couch and watch episode after episode of mid century bliss tonight.

thank you Chloe!! :D

Drunk Urkel

composting fences

yesterday while driving home from wine country we drove past this house with a fence that looked like a really skinny compost heap, so of course today I googled it and it really was a composting fence! Here are some photos I found on digginfood blog of one.

this has got to be the most practical fence I have seen... the construction looks pretty simple and much cheaper and so much greener than most fences.

plus, imagine the variety of things you could put inside it, which would change the look. imagine it filled with autumn leaves of gorgeous colours...

spring in sonoma sneak peek

we had such a fantastic time in sonoma this weekend, and of course I took way too many photos, so here's a sneak peek until I can sort through the pics tonight.

have a great monday!

happy birthday baby!

Bryce is 36 today and we are spending his birthday doing exactly what he loves most biking in the hills, sipping wine and hanging out with our two furry friends!

love you baby!

happy friday!

well it's my favourite day of the week again and I have so many blog posts to post from this week, about the concert we went to, the go-karting session, the chicken and waffles... but those will have to wait because bryce and I are packing up the campervan and heading to healdsburg, in Sonoma for his birthday, where we will be hiking, biking, winery touring and generally exploring the area. will report back with photos next week!

Hope your weekend is everything you are wishing for!

kisses

kate

photo here

Windows

We finally installed all the windows and the French doors this week! The house is totally sealed up and nice and snugly inside. We actually closed in some of the windows to accommodate more cabinets, but I think it looks lighter and brighter than ever in here.
Although, I do need to get some blinds or curtains to prevent the neighbors from peeking inside now. I wish I had thought of getting the French doors with the blinds built in!

Just imagine how nice it's all going to look once the floors are in and the walls are painted. Which reminds me, I still haven't decided on what color to paint the walls....

A desperate pup awaiting to be let in so she can jump, nip, and play.

Sorry, you're staying outside today Charlotte!

Happy Birthday, Cody!!!

Here's Cody at his 30th birthday party last week. We celebrated at Menara Morrocan restaurant in San Jose. Cody got to dance with a belly dancer, enjoy some birthday baklava, and then play pool with all f our great freinds.

Daily(ish) Macro

Here's an extreme close up of the hamburger I enjoyed last week with Cody while we went couch shopping. It's a bacon cheeseburger with pineapple and it was quite tasty. In fact, I think I may have a new favorite flavor combination: Pineapple and Meat. So... the couch we found this night was nice, but the couch we found the next day was perfect! Perfect with the exception of the $4300 price tag. Look like we'll have to keep shopping...

bag it up

who knew that grocery bags could be so pretty? baggu make these gorgeous ripstop nylon bags modelled on the old school plastic bag but so much prettier, environmentally friendly and machine washable - what more could you want in a shopping bag? and because they are so lightweight, you can stash them in your handbag so you have one handy each time you go to the store. the hardest part is deciding which colours to buy...

buy them here

gifts from my home

one of the cool things about buying a home from someone who's lived in it for the last 40 years are the great little gifts we find around the house... remember the diamonds we found? well last week bryce found these cute vintage looking jars in the garage, which I think will make the perfect craft storage! :)

ps the old owners never did get back to me about those diamonds...

love this swedish bookshelf

photos here

happy birthday Ami!

Ami and I met when we worked in Toronto together, and soon realised we like lots of the same things like camping, puppies & drinks after work, oh and baileys (as seen in this pic). this photo was taken on a work offsite to blue mountain

we miss you guys, and hope you have a wonderful birthday my dear!

kisses

Kate

sunday brunch

2 poached eggs + 3 strips of peppered bacon + half a fried tomato + 2 slices of whole grain toast + 1 cappuccino + 1 orange juice = perfect sunday brunch

goodbye little potting shed

getting out of bed this morning was hard... harder than usual for a monday... because I am sore all over from doing hard labour all weekend. not that I am complaining at all, as I would much rather get exercise by doing something practical and much more rewarding than going to a gym and sharing a sweat filled room with about 300 others... we took advantage of the yearly city clean up campaign and had a very productive weekend indeed!

so it was goodbye to our little potting shed that was attached to our garage, and although I found it very useful for storing my pots, gardening tools and supplies, the poor thing was old and rotting and home to many a rat it seems, who liked to take the oranges from the tree then camp out in the shed and eat the insides out.... eeewk!

we plan to make a new and improved version once we've cleaned up this area

but for now we just have to figure out how to get these metal poles out (which I think were a clothesline in their day) out, as they are solidly concreted into the ground - jackhammer time here we come!

blog crush

here's my latest blog crush that I came across this weekend. chezerbey is the name Lauren and Kyle nicknamed their 1910 era bungalow and their inspiring blog (of the same name) documents the work they have done to it - of course being architects helps I am sure, but honestly they have done such a fantastic job on this gorgeous little house that it I am ready to get moving on ours. I am slowly reading each and every post, but have already come up with so many great tips thanks to them!

check it out over here

Tokyo Sky Drive

I can't tell what's going on, but it looks like this guy filmed his evening commute home on a Tokyo train.I like it. Tokyo Sky Drive.

another lovely outdoor room

here's another garden space I am using for inspiration for our back yard - what do you think?

photos here

Daily(ish) Macro

Oh, yum! Vanilla bean, apple pie a la mode, AND coconut gelato in one cup!!

I know what I want for dinner.

happy friday!

today it is the most perfect (almost) Spring Friday! the weather here is spectacular! the sun is out, no clouds in the sky and the spring flowers are bursting with colour. SO happy it's the weekend!!!

we have another jam packed weekend planned again... I'm heading out with the girls tonight, looking at kitchen stuff tomorrow, a birthday party for Cody tomorrow night and then with whatever spare time we have left we have to do a yard clean up including demo'ing our back potting shed so we can put it out along with any other random junk we have lying around, for our yearly city clean up campaign, where people dump their junk on the road outside their house and the magic fairies come and take it away...

How are you (in the northern hemisphere) going to spend the first weekend of Spring??

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that the sun is shining on you wherever you may be

kisses

Kate

cute as a button

Aren't these the cutest cookies you've ever seen???

for the recipe jump over to Bakerella

kitchen inspiration

now that we have been in our place for 8 months (how time flies) and have really lived in the spaces, we are finally getting to a stage where we are ready sink our teeth into the planning of the renovation and since the kitchen is the first thing you see when you walk in the door - we are really keen to start there.

since the space is fairly small we are thinking white on white to open up the space

here's some inspiration for what I have in mind for our currently green and gold and wood and tile kitchen which you can see here to get the creative juices flowing...

photo here

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