It's A Beautiful Life

Hello friends! How has this beautiful spring been treating you? Here, the sun has been shining and we've had temperatures in the nineties. I spent yesterday with a friend on the world's largest fresh water island, Manitoulan Island. We spent the day exploring some waterfalls and cute, quaint shops. We also hit up a farmers market and I purchased some organic veggie plants that I hope to be putting into the ground very soon. I bought two seperate varieties of heirloom tomatoes and had to laugh at their names. Hillbilly and Mortgage Lifter. :) Pure comedy.

Life has been exceptional lately. Finding out I am pregnant has been the biggest blessing - and the most life changing thing I've ever gone through. The time I've been away, I've truly just been enjoying this pregnancy, relaxing and reading stacks of books on pregnancy and becoming a mom.

I've spent my days outdoors, sitting on my deck. I don't have any fancy deck hairs - I just grab two from my dining room set. I sit on one and use the other to prop my feet up and to hold my books and water bottle. I'm hoping to get a touch of sunkissed skin and to enjoy that Vitamin D. I can't wait to get back out there today!

It's lilac season here in Ontario, and everywhere you go, there are bushes of lilacs. It's almost overwhelming how many people have lilac bushes. The smell is INCREDIBLE and the beauty just astounding. I myself have two large lilac bushes, one located right outside of my kitchen window. It's a late bloomer so by tomorrow I think we will be able to pick some blooms. In the meantime, my mother-n-law and sister-n-law and I went for a drive through the city the other night and picked bunches of lilacs from bushes that weren't connected to anyones home or yard. We went up to one of the water towers in town and there were scads of lilacs - and we happily picked ourselves some. There were so many that you couldn't even tell we had been there.

I came home and placed them around my house.

Some I added to my enamelware Ikea pitcher.

Others in small budvases I recieved for my birthday.

Things with my pregnancy have been excellent. We have our first official appointment on Monday with our midwife. I'll be having a full physical and running the complete gammet of tests that they due on a momma. I'm a little nervous but hope things will be fine. Does anyone really like to be poked and prodded? Despite it all, I've just felt so good. I'm one of those lucky women who hasn't experienced any morning sickness or really any nausea. My only food aversion is leafy greens - especially spinach. And normally I love that stuff! No real cravings for anything except for my father-n-laws hamburgers (which he made me!) and I want to eat tons and tons of fruit. I'm in my 11th week of pregnancy (unless the doctors end up telling me different at my appointment) and currently our baby is about the size of a lime! I'm feeling best when I wear my maternity pants or really loose athletic pants - though I can still wear a couple of pairs of jeans. As far as shirts - I'm not in any maternity shirts yet. I'm definatly getting a baby bump though!


I'm back home in Canada. We arrived back on Mother's Day. My sweet hubby bought me a dozen pale pink roses to celebrate our baby. We had an amazing drive that day and just enjoyed being with one another. We had incredibly favor at the border and made it through with no problem. Now we are just waiting to see the government's decision on whether or not I am approved for Permenant Residency. We could be waiting months.


We also had an amazing brunch on Mother's Day. Everyone brought different dishes and it made for one filling feast!

We had so many sweet rolls! Everyone thought someone else WASN'T bringing/making them!


Thank you for your patience while I have been gone. Well, all of you but one. Just lost a follower yesterday. :) Ah well - what can you do? I just needed some time to absorb all of the changes in my life and get my bearings. I've barely even read any of your blogs! I just basically shut myself off and have been pouring over baby books. Truly! I can't wait to see what everyone has been up to - and what all has been going on in each of your lives. Sorry for the novel today! I am a bit too wordy for my own good - but wanted to let you know what all has been going on with me. Love you all and will talk to you soon!!


and Baby

Quick Changes

Hello pretty women! How is your weekend going? Slowly but surely I am recovering from this past week. I apologize for the lack of posting. I've been Spring cleaning my casa from top to bottom - and my poor aching body is really suffering as a result. My knees are even a little black and blue from being on them scrubbing, mopping and painting. But my house is feeling so good - there is much more to do. The garage needs to be gone through and we have one room that is just a nightmare. I'm still working on my "project" that I mentioned in my last post. I'll give you a sneak peek though just to let you know what we've been up to. Hopefully it will all be done in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, I'd like to show you a quick change I made to some candlesticks. I may have to go see if I can find a before picture because silly me didn't take one before I painted. Ok, found one.

Our living room prior to selling the fireplace and repainting the repainting.

Both candlesticks were this dark wood color.

And now they are blue! I used a color from Ceramacoat called "Whispering Woods". Slapped it on with a foam brush, and there you go. All my candleholders were garage sale finds - always on the hunt for those! The small white candleholder on the left was purchased for 25 cents. He got sprayed with Heirloom White spray paint.

I love the new look!

This little rocker is holding my half done crepe paper flower ball. I've grabbed the idea from Shelley at House of Smiths. I'm not such a fan of my crepe paper flowers - I redid a bunch but have yet to do anything with them. Remember I've been cleaning all week?


And in case you are wondering why I've been cleaning so much........

These guys. It's Spring. And muddy. And this is pretty much a daily thing. And well, you get the picture.

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

I'm working on these....

and then resting here.

Oh yeah! The sneak peek.......here you go!

A Desk Area

Hello friends! I've been pretty excited to show you what I've done in my living room as of late. Do you remember how I had this big shelf in the living room?

It was a yard sale find a couple of summers ago and I have decorated it regularly throughout the seasons. But, it didn't seem right on that wall. Too narrow for the wall space. Besides, I was feeling that it wanted to go take up residency in my dining area. I'm never one to deny a piece of furniture what it wants so I moved it. And in its place, I set up a desk area for myself.

I've had this desk for years upon years. Seriously, probably for at least fourteen years. My grandparents refinished it and gave it to me. Since that time, it resided at my sister's home and she used it as a TV stand. After about fourteen years of abuse, it was time for a fresh coat of paint....so I obliged. The table was orginally black, I just freshened it up. I also painted the piece on the side. My dad made it for me and it has taken me two years to find the perfect spot for it in my home. It was originally a maroon shade. I freshened it up too with the same satin black Glidden paint.

This little chalkboard has made it in a few photos on my blog before. It was always a natural wood frame - I just slapped some creamy acrylic paint on it. Finally got some chalk too! I think this heart is my only Valentine's decoration up.

My laptop lives here.

These magazine holders are from Ikea. They were about three of four dollars for all five. I cut some paper and the numbers with my Cricut Expression to jazz them up a bit. My hubby's magazine collection lives in them. The jar is a $2 find from the dollar store.

Here's a better view of the cupboard my dad built me. I put cords to my camera, ipod, extra batteries and such in the top two jars.

The bottom vase is from Ikea as well. In it are some numbered balls I won at Homebody Holly's awhile ago. I'd like for them to be in a glass vase or apothocary jar - but can you believe I don't have one? This is the only picture where you can see the stars cut out of the door of the cupboard. I wish I had got a better photo!

This candleholder was another yardsale find. The original owners had attatched a dowel rod to the top of the candleholder and used it to hold toilet paper. I added one of my favorite candles instead.

And one final shot of the area all put together. I'm still not sure what to put on the wall above the desk, but I don't mind waiting until I find the perfect thing. See the photo frames hanging on the wall? I can't wait to show you what I end up putting in them!


I'm linking up with:

Make Your Monday

My Fall Decorations

I've spent the past couple of nights decorating my home for my most favorite season, Fall. We've been experiencing some sweater weather here - in fact, they were calling for sleet on Tuesday. As if! I'm not ready for the white stuff but certainly bring on the red and orange leaves!

Here are some photos of my decor. I really apologize for the color quality of the photos. My house was unusually dark today and my camera left a number of the photos fuzzy. Again, totally apologize!


The front entrance way. I removed the boots and added a giant crock. It holds loose shoes that haven't yet made it back to the closet. The dogs kept knocking down the pretty barn boots.

My dad made me this bench two Christmases ago. He had painted it a lovely shade of red but in transit, the paint had faded so I opted to paint it a lovely shade of black this week.

This little corner in my dining room is something new I decorated this week. I resurfaced this chalkboard from my childhood. Need to get some chalk to write some inspirational messages. I'm maybe thinking of hanging a wreathe over it too. We'll see!

These little pumpkins came from Amanda at Imperfectly Beautiful. I won them for a giveaway she was doing. I was soooo excited! I love white pumpkins. They work perfectly on my $3 plate rack.

Some fall stuff in my Ikea enamal pitcher.



I collect fruit jars. Here are a few of my Ball jars and Crown jars. Thinking that they are a bit too "light" for the season, but I love to look at them.

My favorite corner in my living room.

More living room.

I snagged all of these white faux pumpkins at Michael's last year for 90% off!! 90%!! They were originally $16.99. I bought six or so. You do the math. :) Cheap! I love them because I don't have to worry with my wild dogs around them.

My shelves. I love to display my goodies on these babies.

The white thing is a door from Ikea. It was in their "damaged" section for $5. I plan on hanging it on the wall later. I'm not sure what I will put on it but for now I have a little crow plate taped to it with some green painters tape. I purchased the lamp at a yardsale for $2. It was brass but I painted it with my trusty black spray paint. I recovered the shade as well. I didn't do too great of a job but at least it's done. :)

I didn't so much care for the leaves in all of my vases but love them in the photos. They really seem to pop to me!

There are some more little decorations around my house. I will take some photos as things start to take shape with them. Have you started your decorating yet?