blog crush - she left on a monday

most blogs that I find myself enamoured by are usually very visual - home design, craft projects, great ideas, gardening and generally pretty things to look at and be inspired by. and then I came across this one which has inspired me in a whole other way...

she left on a monday is more than just pretty pictures and great ideas - although you will find them here, I find myself checking in a few times a day to see if Natasha has written more. her words are so beautifully put together into the most lovely stories which are so obviously from her heart, it's definitely one you should add to your list. today's post, a letter to my sixteen year old self brought tears to my eyes as I was reading it while getting ready for work this morning.

and while her words are amazing she is also a wonderful photographer and takes beautiful images of my home town and one of my favourite countries

check out Natasha's blog here and her etsy store here

wow I won!

remember that little blog called The Swede Records that I mentioned earlier in the year? and how in love I was with their new header that the very talented Kelli Murray created personally for them??? well last week Jenny May and Kelli joined forces and posted a give-away on their blogs, so I entered straight away! - and guess what??!! I won! woohoo!

this morning when I crusied on over to their blog there was a photo of me (I think it was my mustache that did it...) :) what a wonderful surprise to wake up to this morning! thanks Kelli and JennyMay!

check out more of Kelli's work here at her etsy store, her blog here and you should also check out the awesome wedding invites Kelli did for her own wedding - amazing!

Doesn't this look delicious?

We got our awesome fridge delivered on Saturday and I've been going through what sort of delicious and beautiful foods I should get to stock it. After months of eating take out, going to restaurants, and eating junk food I'm looking forward to actually having food that's fresh and tasty. I came across this blog while poring over the pictures on Tastespotting (which I can do for hours and hours) and can't wait to try this recipe!! I love how everything is separated into their own groups within the cabbage cup instead on jumbled together. For some reason I'm anti-mixed up foods which may be a little strange, but I hate swirled food and cringe whenever I share something and the other person (usually Cody) dives in with a fork and mixes the whole thing together into one homogeneous mass. I much prefer to have each bite remain unique and am always on the lookout for the "perfect" bite. Anyway, the point is, this blog is awesome and this recipe looks like it's full of perfect bites.

concrete block centrepiece

this just has to be one of the most simple, inexpensive yet gorgeous ideas for a centrepiece I have ever seen.

Kelly from yes, please is such a creatively talented gal and has a guest post on 100 layer cake on how to make your own table centrepieces out of railroad planks, pegboard, and vintage books. but I really love the industrial feel of this concrete block paired with the pretty flowers. I think I'm going to have to have a party now, just to try this one out!

find out how to make your own and check out kelly's other great ideas here

latest blog crush

if you have not found Elizabeth through the blogosphere yet all I need to do is show you these images

her sewing talents which you can buy here

and give you the link to her blog e tells tales, and you too will be hooked... it's just that easy :)

all images at e tells tales

Blog Crush

I took a little break today from obsessing about what color to paint my walls and spent some time fantasizing about my soon to be awesome and amazing garden. We've got a yard specialist coming by this week to go over a game plan for how to arrange the yard and are setting up some time this weekend and next for a massive yard clean-up. The basic plan is to install a dog run on one side of the house that has an attache doggy entrance to our utility room so the kids can come and go as they please into a protected area in the house, but still have access to their play area outside. I also want to install the dog run so we can finally spruce up the yard and plant my vegetable. So as I was looking up pictures of vegetables on-line and making my never ending lists of what I want to grow I came across Apples and Butter, a really good site with wonderful pictures and lots of recipes for using up all the beautiful fresh produce I hope to have this year.
One of the things I love about this site is that all the food looks delicious and flavorful, but it's also wholesome and made with food that I can basically take straight from the garden. Very inspiring! I'm making my lists right now of what to grow and hope to have some great pictures of the yard and garden progress to share.

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

blog crush

the other week I came across this very cool blog jam packed with useful information about renovating your house - so I started reading post after post (there is a lot to read) and thought I'd ask Kelly my own question about where to begin as she has quite a few houses under her belt... I was amazed at Kelly's response and recommend that if you're looking to buy, or renovate you should read this great post and check out her great blog!

blog crush

this has got to be the sweetest blog around, and you really should check it out. Jenny May and the Swede blog about their lives and their love, she sings songs for him, he makes a video wedding proposal (which sounds sickly, but it's really just so sweet - they are so in love....) plus they just got the coolest new header (which totally looks just like them) so being Valentine's month and all, give this blog a little love :)

blog crush

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really like Duston Todd's photos

more here

wedding inspiration

there are so many wedding sites out there and most of them give me the heebie jeebies - they are just so 'weddingy' ewk!... so when I came across this gorgeous little site, I was instantly in love :) I mean check out their inspiration boards - they are just dreamy...

i heart you dottie angel

dear dottie angel

thank you for being a great inspiration to me today. I came across your blog via flickr when I was searching for white painted fireplaces and wow! I spent the next hour or so (ok nearly 2 hours) oohing over your lovely images, pondering your fabulous sense of style and falling in love with your wonderful talented crafty projects. you have inspired me to set up my crafting area in my office so I can have everything I need to make all the pretty things I have in my head and saved to my hard drive :)

oh and olive is such a cutie!

xo kate

find out more about dottie angel here and visit her lovely blog here

I'm in love!

I found this blog today and am about the have a heart explosion! Jennifer Causey takes a picture of her breakfast pretty much every day and includes links to things that inspire her along with little notes to people. I can't stop looking!