I’m very excited to announce that FlutterFlutter will be making a virtual appearance on Home with Lisa Quinn next month! My blog, and Juju Hat Tutorial, will be part of an episode airing on December 22nd on the ABC Live Well Network. Here in Vancouver it’s not available, but it’s aired nationally in the US, and rest assured I’ll be catching it on the web!
Don’t forget to enter the $75 Giveaway! You have until Friday to enter here!
I hope that you enjoyed a fun Halloween this year! We sure did! Gotta love great neighbors, makeshift fireworks, and the faces of two very excited kids! I also love the beautiful little pops of orange throughout the house at this time of year!
Halloween at our house started with spooky pancakes. Jason used a turkey baster to free-form outlines of cat heads, witches hats, moons, and pumpkins, of course! He then carefully filled them in, and voila! I was pretty impressed by the pancakes, but my favourite was the costume he donned to welcome the kids that evening. Priceless.
I have to start off by saying that I don’t have weekends like this very often!! Thursday’s IDSwest Opening Night kicked the weekend off to an early start, and the momentum pretty much stayed strong until Sunday!
On Saturday I got to hear Suzanne Dimma and Mark Challen banter back and forth while discussing her & and husband Arriz Hassam‘s amazing cottage (above), which is featured in the current House & Home magazine. I found this H&H video if you want to hear some more about it too!
Then, I spent some time interviewing Brent Comber, who definitely deserves his reputation of being a great guy. That will be coming soon!
Fast forward to Saturday night, and after a wardrobe change, the Canadian Design Bloggers West met up for Blend!! Suzanne Dimma, Mark Challen, and Kelly Deck all came out for the party! And IKEA Canada, who sponsored our entire party, was there too! And you should see the huge swag bags we took home… wow!!
Members Erica, Tracey, Sarah, and Tamara, all looking fabulous!!
Suzanne has such an amazing sense of style. It was great to chat with her!!
And of course, this post would not be complete without a huge thank you to Barbara, Nancy, Karla, and Victoria, who organized the event! I look forward to doing this again next year!!
Photo Credits: 1. Sari McNamee 2. House & Home 3. Jacqueline Mavin 4. Sari McNamee 5. Rosa Pearson 6. Michelle Molinga 7. Sari McNamee
If you’ve wondered why I’ve been blogging less, other than the fact that it’s summer, this is the answer! I have spent all child-free moments planning for the parties that happened here last weekend. On Saturday the family party started early so that the kids could help celebrate Jason’s 40th birthday! And, keeping with tradition, my mom brought one of her delicious homemade birthday cakes.
Saturday evening was a backyard BBQ with good food, friends, and a fire in the firepit! Yes, you can see the finished patio in all it’s glory to the left of Jason, where he sits eagerly awaiting cupcakes by the fire. We still need to landscape, but it’s done!! It was great to have the parties in our backyard to break in the patio!
With Style & Grace, my go-to food blog, was the inspiration behind these Caprese Skewers that I served up as an appy that night. I took the pic before I drizzled on the balsamic, but you get the idea… very yummy, and so pretty!
Today we are celebrating another big 40th! It is my mom & dad’s 40th wedding anniversary!! I made up this card in honor of the big day! Congratulations to you both!!
Our backyard is the poster child for this quote! Or, in our case, “Things will likely get messier before they get prettier.” I think the concrete and dirt piles in our backyard illustrate this well!
As you can see, we got a little carried away. We decided that since we were tearing up the backyard already, and would need to get a bin anyways, that we might as well keep on going! So, Jason took out some frustrations with the sledgehammer, and the ugly slab of cement that comprised our small patio is no longer! Win, win situation!
And it didn’t stop there! Next, we thought that if we were putting in a new patio that we should bring it all the way out to the rocks, so bye-bye retaining wall… thanks to our amazing friends and family that helped us out!!
Stay tuned for the big reveal!!
Photo Credits: Rosa Pearson Design
Jason has been working hard digging trenches in the clay after work, and now we’re filling them back up! Some readers with similar issues commented, asking what the next steps were going to be, and so here’s the play by play!
First, dig out a trench 16″ down and 12″ wide, with 1″ of slope per 100ft to get the water in the direction you want it to go.
Then, add 2″ of 3/4 crush in the trench and lay in 4″ perforated PVC pipe. We were warned not to use Big O, since it tends to fail.
After connecting the pipes, wrap them with permeable landscape cloth.
Cover the pipe with 3/4 crush. And then cover with a layer of landscape cloth.
Top with 2 – 3″ of topsoil, and you’re done!
We have struggled with a dark and soggy backyard since we moved into this house. This tree has been topped so many times by the previous owners that it is shaped like a giant mushroom, and blocks the sun from coming in, keeping the ground soggy and kid free… and that is not what you want in a backyard! Time for the chainsaw to take down this huge tree!
Here is what it looks like now, bare, and messy from trench digging. I have to say that I love trees, and I fought to keep the tree for quite a while. But, Jason won, and I am happy now that he did. We now have a spot in our backyard where we can grow veggies! There are currently eleven tomato plants up there waiting for some sunshine. Jason, you were right. ; ) (Yes, those words are an early birthday present for you. Enjoy.)
Today, I’m participating in her summer blog crawl over at Gallery No. Eight! So, hello if you’re a visitor today! I’m so thrilled to have you here! 🙂
Brittany asked us to share a summer moment with you. My favourite is always found in Tofino, over on the Westcoast of Vancouver Island. It’s the place that we go ever summer. And every summer we talk about how we could live there year-round. It’s that wonderful. And relaxed. And beautiful. Here are some of my favorite places in and around Tofino!
This is one of the largest trees on Meares Island. You can get there by kayak, or water taxi. I’ve done both, and either way it’s fabulous! Do you see my son at the bottom of the tree?
Beach time, of course, is always a hit. It’s the first thing we do when we arrive. And, after a ferry ride, and hours of driving, some open space to run is perfect.
Canada’s answer to surfing. Thrilled that I tried, and conquered. ; )
And for those of you with kids… you need to take them to see the aquarium in Ucluelet. It’s a fifteen minute drive from Tofino, and the best aquarium we’ve ever been to.
I met for lunch with some of the Canadian Design & Lifestyle Bloggers West yesterday in Vancouver at the Banana Leaf Restaurant – what a lovely bunch they all are! It was great to be able to put voices to the faces of some of the blogs that I’ve been reading. I came away inspired, and looking forward to our next meet up in September! If you are a Canadian blogger living in the West, and thinking about joining, please do, we’d love to have you!
Top Left to Right: Rosa (me): Flutter Flutter, Barbara: hodge:podge, Andrea: From My Living Room, Darryl: darryl bueckert, Tracey: Keeping House & Everything Else, Karla: Kerrisdale Design, Sherri: So Much to Love, Victoria: Edin’s House, Nancy: Marcus Design, Meesh: I Dream of Chairs, Jodi: Simply Inspired Home, Tracey: My House of Giggles, Rachel & Lily: Birch & Bird, Carol: The Design Pages.
We are going flying today!! No, not in a plane. Just us, in goggles and flight suits, floating around above a really large fan. I have to say that I’m super excited… and just a tad bit scared. Flight Zone is where the action will be this afternoon. I’ll let you know how it goes! Wish me luck!! We’re hoping to look just like the guys in this video.
Hope you are enjoying a nice start to your weekend too!
UPDATE: This is what our adventures in body flight looked like! That is one powerful fan!!
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