Happy Monday - a farm weekend and flashy week

The weekend was lovely. Long walks in farm fields, harvest meals and breathing in fresh air; nervous stomachs and gasps of disappointment as our team lost in the last 10 secs; packing and organizing for my week amongst flashing lights, tours to the Canyon and time with my Pa.

PS. And when I return I will be posting photos of my desk/work space. I was tagged by Karyn and look forward to sharing it with you!

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Happy Weekend - Farms and Football

Happy Weekend!
Another great week is coming to a close, which saw us entertain family, enjoy a quiet day in the office (with more walks then one should take in a work day) thanks to our American friends celebrating thanksgiving and me finally sitting down to watch Up!, which is heartbreaking, hilarious and thoughtful; better then I had imagined.

The weekend has us taking off to a friends farm for two days, cheering on the Rough Riders at this weekends Grey Cup and packing for Vegas where I will be spending the week. And I hope to mix in a visit to the farmers market to gather a final taste of the fall harvest before it is tucked away for a year.

I hope your weekend is perfect!

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Holiday Colors - Robin's Egg Blue, Gold and Frosty White

Thank you to everyone for your feedback and assistance picking holiday colors! I settled on Option A: Robin's Egg Blue, Gold and Frosty White

Trying to use as many things around the house that we already have, I have started the transformation from fall to holiday decorating, just a few things at a time so it doesn't feel too festive just yet! So far I am loving the gold against a few natural pine items we have, one of which is the Christmas tree I can't wait to show you.

I also gave a facelift to an old pair of orange candle holders, that are now the perfect shade of Robin's Egg Blue and the pedestal for some frosty white pillar candles!

So far I am loving decorating for this holiday season; now all we need is some snow!

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Christmas Tree Preview

All day Saturday was spent with Papa J designing, sawing, plaining, drilling and crafting this year's Christmas tree. We are just adding the finishing touches and can't wait to reveal it to you soon.

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To Denver and Back

The last 24hrs has seen Mr. S and I travel to Denver and back for a business meeting and amazing night in the Vale Mountains.
The time was pretty much spent talking, meeting, learning, discussing, however we did manage to mix in some amazing airport Mexican Food and some early morning mountain gazing.

The weekend is packed full of creating (Papa J and I are building this year's Christmas tree) and hopefully some down time.
Happy Weekend.

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Teddy Bear Affair - DIY Accessories

This weekend Mr. S and I were so fortunate to be guests at the Teddy Bear Affair, a Black Tie Gala to raise money for the Children's Aid Foundation.

Getting dressed for the event was actually quite easy and fun. I was excited to wear the dress I had purchased for the Junos but never wore, but felt like it needed a little punch of color and pizazz. Drawing from the many blog posts and inspirations on how to make flowers, I made a corsage and matching hair pins, which were accented and "bling-d" by a few Swarovski crystal sewn into the centers.

It was an absolutely dreamy night that raised over 1 million that will fund programs that support abused and neglected children and youth across the country.

And to top it off, Mr. S wore a tux and was the most handsome date ever...

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Birthday Gift Preview and perfect weekend

This is a sneak peek at the birthday gift made just for my dearest friend Signy whose birthday it is today!
The weekend is full of amazing fun - a black tie ball for charity (Mr. S is out getting a tux right now), visits from out of town friends and once again trying to get ahead on Christmas Gifts and Decorations.

Have a perfect weekend!

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Remembrance Day Card

This evening was spent with Mr. S's Grandfather, to honor his time in the war and to absorb as many of the memories that are just now being spoken, so monumental that now, so many years later, he is just starting to replay them out loud.
Stories that are being soaked up just as eagerly by Mr. S's Grandmother who is also hearing them for the first time, despite living them from afar both during and after and for whom we honored this evening for her sacrifice and strength during a time of so much unknown.

And as a small gesture of appreciation for all they sacrificed, Mr. S and I brought a bouquet of red flowers dawned with a card, which I pulled together with a few simple items I found in my craft box.

Simple and takes just minutes to put together - here is a quick tutorial on my Remembrance Day card.


Materials:

- Red Construction Paper
- A plain note card or construction paper folded into a small card
- Scissors
- White Glue
- Dark colored buttons

Step 1:

Fold the red construction paper in half lengthwise and cut out on the fold three "fat and awkward" heart shapes. Once cut they will open up to look like dragonfly wings and will be the petals of your flower.
Be sure to cut the three shapes out at slightly different sizes to give your poppy depth and a touch of realism!

Step 2:

Using your fingers or a pen, roll up the sides of each petal. A few small creases will help the petals hold their shape, but be careful not to create any sharp lines or angles when doing this.

Step 3:

Starting with the largest one, layer your petals from biggest to smallest and at slightly different angles, securing them with a dab of white glue.

Step 4:

Finish your flower off with a button glued right into the middle. Play around with different sizes and shapes to add interest and contrast!

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Remembering

Today will be spent remembering...
Lest we forget.

Image: poppy field in provence

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Put down the Duckie

Yesterday marked the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street and to celebrate a show that has brought the message of acceptance, emphasized importance of community and diversity and has promoted the arts to children and adults alike, I thought I would share with you my favorite all time Sesame Clip - Put down the Duckie!

So the story goes, during the season that this song premiered, every time a celebrity appeared on the show, the producers would tape a special verse to be sung by that celebrity, and these verses were then edited into this amazing little piece of 1980's history. John Candy, Pee Wee Herman, Paul Simon, and of course Ernie and his duckie, this song is about as good as children's programming gets!
To watch the full video, please click here.

You gotta put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Yeah, you gotta leave the duck alone
You gotta put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
If you wanna play the saxophone!

Happy Anniversary Sesame Street.

Ps. What is your favorite sesame street clip?

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happy friday!

Maude has not quite gotten into the swing of working from home...

Happy Friday!
At the end of today we will pack up our home office for the weekend and turn it back into a dining room - the desk to a table upon which delicious food will be enjoyed and no emails sent, our relationship from colleagues to partners. Work put aside for two days to enjoy what is left of fall and to hopefully get a jump start on Christmas gifts!

Have a perfect weekend.

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New Routine

This morning I started work on my new routine; and I am not talking about a tightly choreographed number a-la Glee. This routine is for my brand new work from home life.

I am already slipping and it is disconcerting. In just the two days since I have been practicing this new life, I have added 20mins to my snooze button ritual (I now hit the button 8 times instead of 5) and have worn clothing that should be reserved for people who are working out; which sitting at my desk and typing does not qualify as.

So to break the cycle I am working on a new morning routine, of which step one is an early morning walk; a breath of fresh air and a way to force myself into real clothes.
Today's walk took me past early morning conversations infront of local bars between men who have been chatting all night, the only change a hot coffee and cigarette now in their hands instead of a warm beer; kids being dragged by moms, their over sized backpacks and wandering minds slowing them down; and people rushing to commute, to get somewhere, to not be late.

My heart jumped when I saw the bus coming; the thought to speed up and catch it crossing my mind. And then I remembered that my commute is one flight of stairs; my office is my home...
I like this new routine.

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Welcome to our home, I mean office...

The view from my new home office desk - hidden behind that computer is Mr. S and probably our cat who thinks this is all pretty great!

Welcome to our home office!

Mr. S and I have gone from living together and working together to living/working together in the space we live...and now work!
The last 24hrs has found us evicted from our office space (turns out the people we sublet from have hit hard times ie. weren't paying rent) and the proud new owners of a home office. The space we once reserved for dining with friends and slow meals by candlelight is now home to two computers, three screens, files, invoices, etc.

It is exciting and daunting all at once.
Great because who really wants to commute on public transportation with the threat of flu bugs lurking on every surface; scary because what if it turns out I have no self control and end up watching talk shows all day - I hear The Tyra Banks Show isn't as awful as some may think.
Awesome because I no longer need to ponder the perfect office attire each morning; not so awesome because all signs are pointing to me being one of those people who will never wear real pants again - its all elastic waste bands from here on out!

We are still working out some kinks and also some rules to make this go smoothly - for example: working from bed, while technically working from home, is not a productive option

I love to tell you more about how we are going to make this work, but Dr. Phil starts in half an hour, its time to get out of my jammies and I need to get my grocery shopping done before the store fills up with the "after work" crowd...

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Our Haunted House

My dad is the kind of dad who stopped at no end to make sure that whatever we did as kids was done the best way possible - the right folder for a special assignment, just the right wood so that my grade 8 airplane project could technically fly if it had to and the perfect 70's outfit for a 2min dance I had to do at camp, which only took about 5 hours and shopping in every Toronto thrift store to find. And just to be clear, my dad's intentions we never for us kids to "kick butt" or be better then the others, he just wanted us to be happy and feel good about what we did; not to mention that I think deep down he was pretty entertained by all of our projects and activities!

Although as we get older our reliance on my dad to help us with projects has lessened, there is still one yearly activity we do together just like we did every year of my childhood; decorating the house for Hallowe'en!
Having done this for over 20 years now, my parents have a whole section of their attic dedicated to Hallowe'en supplies - coffins, witches brooms, flying zombies - just your typical spooky stuff; and each year my dad will pick up something new to keep it exciting and make it the best possible (this year's purchase was a skeleton fence!) With a loose theme in mind and more rubber rats, bats and severed limbs then one household should own, we set out to transform the house into a haunted setting perfect for wowing, ideally not traumatizing, the neighborhood kids!

This year's theme was a zombie grave keeper overlooking his graveyard accompanied by a man eating spider. We only had one kid cry and one child try to walk through the grave yard - everyone else was perfectly spooked and managed to overcome any jitters to pick up their candy out of my cauldron (it is amazing what kids will do for bite sized chocolate!)

At the end of the night when all of the decorations are packed away in their boxes (securely sealed so no ghosts will escape) and the house returned to its un-haunted self, we settle in to toast my dad, a man who will truly stop at nothing to make people happy....or spooked!

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Hallowe'en Cake!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone!
I am just coming down from the sugar high that only bite sized chocolate bars can induce and wanted to post about a Hallowe'en treat I made for our dinner last night!

Every Hallowe'en is celebrated the same way in my family and all started the year my brother was born (2 years prior to my arrival). The same family members come over, the same meal is served (lasagna, fresh bread and salad) and the same oohs and ahhs are exclaimed over the little witches, dinosaurs, monkeys and superheros that parade through our home! There is one other tradition I will post about soon....

For last night's meal I offered to bring dessert and put together this very simple but very sweet cake for everyone to enjoy!

Ingredients:
- 1 chocolate cake mix
- 1 vanilla cake mix
- box of food coloring (green blue, red, yellow)
- premade vanilla and choclate icing (or make your own of course!)
- medium sized cupcake liners

Directions:
Prepare chocolate cake mix and split between two cake pans. Bake and set aside to cool.
Prepare Vanilla cake mix and add to it yellow and red food coloring to make Orange! I settled on a soft orange to avoid putting buckets of dye in the batter.
Pour half of the Vanilla (now orange colored) cake mix into a round cake dish. Bake and set aside to cool.
Pour the other half of the Vanilla (now orange colored) cake mix into 16 small or medium sized cupcake liners. Bake and set aside to cool.
You should not have:
- 2 round chocolate cakes
- 1 round Vanilla (orange colored) cake
- 14-16 small vanilla (organge colored) cupcakes

Take your Vanilla Frosting and separate into three portions to be dyed three different colors:
1/2 orange
1/4 green
1/4 black (I settled on greyish purple)

Take your chocolate frosting and layer the three cakes ontop of each other - brown, orange, brown - being sure to slather lots of choclate frosting between the layers to help them hold together and taste delicious.

Cover the entire cake in chocolate frosting!

With all of your cupcakes pulled out of their liners, cover one entirely in orange frosting and place in the middle of the cake. Then cover just the tops of the remaining cupcakes with the orange frosting.
Since I do not own piping bags or proper cake decorating equipment I simply used ziplock bags for the green and black icing. Scooping the icing as far into the corner of a bag as possible, use the ziplock bag as your icing bag and cut just the tip off the corner to let the icing through!
With your piping bag prepared - start decorating!

Mr. S and I used the green icing for leafy hair on the little pumpkins, vines and leaves on the top of the cake, and the black icing to create a variety of spooky pumpkin faces!

Perched on their sides, the little pumpkins decorated the bottom of the cake and looked so sweet with their different faces and expressions!

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