highstreetlove

8.5 months!

2012-01-27T22:46:00.000-06:00

6.5 months!

2011-11-30T08:57:00.003-06:00

Our little lovey dovey is almost 7 months old - where has the time gone?!

sam + kyle invites

2011-10-24T10:23:00.003-05:00

While I was enormously pregnant I worked with B's cousin Sam to make her fun wedding invites. It was such a great project because Sam + Kyle are two of my favourite people and their wedding was in a super cool location - Coney Island in Kenora. Literally the day before I gave birth I handed them over to be mailed... phew, just in time! In August the Crandall family united for the party of the century and we had an amazing time celebrating the long-awaited union of Sam + Kyle.

wish list

2011-10-18T13:59:00.006-05:00

Skip Hop makes such cute/practical things. Almost anything and everything from them is on my wish list.

5 months!

2011-10-08T21:01:00.002-05:00

Our little sir is 5 months old already. He's mastered rolling over and loves playing on his tummy. He makes tons of chatty noises and it just melts my heart to hear him say mum-mum-mum even if he's just making sounds. He's also really in love with Berkeley, its so adorable.

baby favs

2011-10-08T20:53:00.004-05:00

Our other favourite baby item is hands-down our Video Baby Monitor. It has been so handy to be able to check in on Lachlan while he's sleeping. Sometimes he makes noises but isn't awake and sometimes he's awake but not yet making much noise. And we get to see the adorable positions he sleeps in! Our favourite is bum in the air.

best baby purchase

2011-08-30T21:10:00.002-05:00

One of the BEST purchases for Lachlan has definitely been our Bumbleride Indie. Recently a friend sent me a message about which stroller I have and I replied in a rambling response going on and on about why I LOVE this stroller. I have zero complaints, seriously. It has gotten a ton of use - on our gravel road, out and about in town and even on a boat a few weeks ago.

We also have the carrycot and used it as Lachlan's bassinet in the early months but probably didn't use it to its full potential with the stroller. We used his car seat (our friend's Peg Perego Primo Viaggo - lovingly borrowed) with the attachment in the stroller more since we were usually coming to/from the car.

[Just playing in the stroller after a walk. I realize the danger potential in this photo - he was fully supervised!]

little lachlan

2011-07-24T17:03:00.004-05:00

My baby boy has been keeping me busy, but mommyhood is just wonderful. Our little mister is 2.5 month already and its crazy how time flies (and yet some days just crawl). Lachlan is full of adorable smiles and noises, already quite the little flirty guy.

lachlan's pad

2011-05-24T18:27:00.004-05:00

Finally! Here are some pics of our little guy's nursery. At the moment we use it for changing diapers because Lachlan sleeps in his Bumbleride Carrycot in our room. Here's a little run down of where things are from:
Crib - Walmart (USA)
Dresser, Carpet, B Bookend & Fabric for Curtains - Ikea
Chair - Kijiji (and then refinished)
Change table - Already owned (and then refinished)
Elephant canvas - Home Sense
Elephant clock & decoration in the window - Superstore
Plush Owl - Pier One

baby b is here!

2011-05-11T17:05:00.002-05:00

Our handsome little guy arrived Tuesday, May 3rd at 8:52pm! Lachlan was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20.5 inches and we are the most proud and happy parents :)

project #2 complete

2011-04-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

B's pre-baby makeover task is also complete! He did an amazing job refinishing an old dresser we salvaged from some friends years ago. No before pics, just the lovely outcome. The step-by-step for this came from Young House Love's almost identical refinish.

chair makeover

2011-04-13T17:27:00.006-05:00

My little pre-baby project is complete! (well... close enough to complete that I could take some pics, the back panel still needs sewing but what the heck). It may seem silly to change beige upholstery to a different beige upholstery but I think the new one is much much fresher and nicer. It was my first re-upholstery challenge so perfection it is not! But I love it none the less :) And B did an amazing job refinishing the arms for me!

Total cost was $50 (chair on kijiji) + $20 (memory foam) + $6 (upholstery ends on clearance). Plus many many hours of course. This rocker will either stay in the nursery or go into our room since we do also have the La-Z-Boy for hanging out with baby.

full term

2011-04-06T10:25:00.004-05:00

Woo Hoo, baby is full term now (37 weeks)! My due date is somewhere between April 27th and 29th and I've got 2 more weeks of work planned. My fingers are crossed for the wee one to arrive before my birthday, May 5th because 28 sounds so much younger than 29 :)

On a side note, ohdeedoh featured this amazing collection of lullabies today, which supports an amazing cause, is incredibly designed and the songs are really good.

more cute bedding

2011-03-24T11:15:00.003-05:00

Another line of adorable bedding has popped up! Auggie's super cute and simple combo of trees and horses would have been just perfect for our nursery. Why oh why must I find these things when the room is 90% done? Maybe that's why I've still been holding off on finishing the crib skirt and bumper pads (which won't get used for quite some time anyway)...

too cute!

2011-03-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

Skip Hop just introduced a new line of bedding that might just be one of my all-time faves. I definitely would have used it as inspiration for our nursery! Some things are still a little in progress with the nursery so maaaaaybe I can work some of these cute owl items in. Or maybe I have to just finish the few projects that are on the go and call it a day, hahaha.

I am currently taking my first crack at reupholstering a chair found on kijiji. So far, so good and I will post before/after pics when it is complete! And B has been doing an amazing job of refinishing a dresser which will be our change table, soon to be complete. Plus he's painting the closet for me - small detail but I think it'll be nice when its done.

pinterest-ing

2011-03-14T10:53:00.003-05:00

I've joined Pinterest! Noteworthy things that I find in my internet travels are posted there, which is kind of nice because it helps me keep track of where I've found things. Below is a sample of something pinned to my "nursery inspiration" board - a cool poster by Julie Mercier.

big art

2011-03-05T14:01:00.002-06:00

B and I love maps and have recently hung a replication of a very cool vintage hand-drawn map in our mud room. Another cool and super cheap way of getting some awesome map decor would be this 20" x 28" wrapping paper from Kate's Paperie. The Cavallini World Hemispheres Map is my fav.

non-traditional fabrics

2011-03-04T10:46:00.005-06:00

Oh! These folks used the same Ikea fabric I have for the nursery. I am making our crib skirt out of the funky bright coloured fabric seen here as curtains. For our room its less over-powering (and the yellow is softer) but it gave me a basis for pops of colour to work with for the art work. And it goes well with the green Ikea rug and the curtains I made from another Ikea fabric. Here's a reminder of how the nursery is shaping up.

dreams

2011-03-03T09:24:00.005-06:00

Sometimes I dream of adding a cute little studio to our property that could double as a work space/guest room. As our family expands maybe one day I'll get my wish. A stunning miniature place like this one via Apartment Therapy would compliment the style of our house perfectly in a nice modern way. Maybe one side could be shed and the other side studio with a loft? Multipurposed :)

cool nursery art

2011-03-02T07:36:00.000-06:00

I think the walls of our nursery are all big full (I say think because nothing is hung yet pending placement of all the furniture), however if I end up with the space I'll definitely get this sweet poster by The Neighborhood Studio. Totally works with all the neutral animal/alphabet/oragami stuff happening in the nursery.

more sewing

2011-02-28T08:00:00.000-06:00

While B was out on the west coast earlier this month I had some time to do some sewing after I finished my quilt. Just a few simple little projects - some terry cloth lined burp clothes, a little stroller blanket set, a cover for my new printer and a back-sized heat bag (which has been WELL loved!).

inspiration

2011-02-25T13:02:00.004-06:00

Our nursery is far from complete but the majority of the things going in it are here, just not in place yet. I was browsing around Flickr and came across a nursery that I absolutely LOVE. It is kind of where I'm headed with our nursery - a nice neutral wall colour + bits of all kind of bright colours and patterns. Those windows are to die for, I sure wish we had those in our nursery! In fact, even the layout of the room is even very similar to ours. Here's a peek at thebline's beautiful space.

[photo by Amy Bethune via Flickr]

more large-scale art

2011-02-18T17:00:00.001-06:00

The animal tea towels I got a while back are now framed and waiting to be hung in the nursery and I am so thrilled with how they turned out. I've got my eye on another tea towel that I think would be fabulous to frame - City Towel: Day by EVRT.

spoiled!

2011-02-17T12:41:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited to receive this Pack N Play from my mom! She had an "excited grandma" moment and got a whole bunch of stuff sent to us. Some stuff off my Babys-R-Us registry (which is available online) and some stuff from Sears (where I have not yet registered but will).

i heart my sewing machine

2011-02-12T18:07:00.006-06:00

Pregnancy has me feeling wonderfully domestic :) I've been putting my sewing machine to good use in the last few weeks and have a bunch more projects planned to finish before April. This is my first quilt - gender-neutral, for our little one. Lots of work but definitely worth it!

prettiness

2011-02-11T09:50:00.006-06:00

Although I still and will always love my dress I can't help but drool over these Paloma Blanca beauties. Maybe it's because my waist is gone and the prospect of ever fitting back into the gorgeous dress hanging in my closet is quite daunting at the moment! B's super awesome cousin is getting married this summer and she is going to look SO hot in her gown. And I will have post-baby motivation to wear a cute dress by August.

cute AND practical!

2011-02-08T18:44:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness - I LOVE this Boon Loop Diaper Caddy! My fingers are crossed very tightly that I can get one of these when they are available in the spring. Made by Boon, makers of the Grass Bottle Dryer, also on my wish list. They have SO many cute modern and useful products for less than an arm and a leg.

a lazyboy compromise

2011-02-06T15:12:00.004-06:00

We finally found a chair that B and I both found comfortable. Of course it's not as sleek and pretty as I imagined but I just can't get a chair like that in Tbay. So, after much deliberation we decided on a La-Z-Boy Pinnacle in a cozy dark chocolate brown. To make it a smidge more modern I added the stainless handle, which means our semi-custom chair won't arrive for a couple months.

21 recycled bottles

2011-02-04T15:42:00.006-06:00

I loooove Matt & Nat, the cool Canadian company that makes ultra-stylish and durable bags from recycled materials (the 2 wallets I own still look brand new after 3+ years). So, when I came across a beautiful diaper bag of theirs at Winners I couldn't resist. It came with a nice padded change pad and has tons of handy pockets. It may not be as husband friendly as I might have planned, hehehe – the it's the white one below and has pink lining.

diaper bag

2011-02-04T08:00:00.004-06:00

There's a slew of nice diaper bags out there. I'm not tied to the title of "diaper bag" if I can find a functional bag from a non-baby source, but many actual diaper bags have some decent features like a change pad. Trying to stick with fairly gender-neutral and reasonably husband-friendly. These are my favs to date...

{Athleta Cargo Tote - $69.99}

{Le Sport Sac Ryan Baby Bag - $128.00}

{Lug Puddle Jumper Overnight Bag - $82.00}
{Skip Hop Duo Deluxe Edition - $54.00}
{Skip Hop Messenger - $79.00}

{Skip Hop Versa Expandable - $70.00 }

{Bumble Bags Rebecca in Lucky Clover - $80 on sale)

Kalencom

cute clocks

2011-02-03T07:20:00.000-06:00

The clocks are SO cute and they're letterpress and eco-friendly. They come with crayons to colour them in but I love them just as they are!

so blik'n awesome

2011-02-01T07:51:00.000-06:00

I have searched and searched Etsy for the perfect wall decals for our nursery and nothing seems quite right. Today I discovered Blik with designs by Threadless! Love threadless and even own a little onezie in the animal alphabet at the top - could it be more perfect?!

cute things!

2011-01-30T15:27:00.001-06:00

There is some super cute stuff at The Land of Nod, a cool kids sub-site of Crate & Barrel.

the great chair debate

2011-01-29T09:26:00.003-06:00

We need a chair in our nursery and I'm really on the fence. B wants a big puffy (aka ugly) recliner and I really don't. I don't want to spend a small fortune, nor be engulfed in a chair much too large for me. My original plan pre-baby was to put my Ikea Poang chair & ottoman in the nursery... but now it resides in a lovely spot beside our huge front windows that will be perfect for chilling with baby on the main floor.

Kijiji has about a million gliders for sale at any time, so that's a possibility. I'm also really liking this bentwood rocker and it's just over $100! The rest are from either cnsbaby.com (which ships to Canada) or Babysrus (which I'd have to get shipped to the border) and can get ottomans with them. They're more around the $400-600 range but they sure do look comfortable.

baby b's room

2011-01-27T08:03:00.000-06:00

Here's a little peek at where the nursery is at so far!

nursery inspirations

2011-01-24T16:54:00.000-06:00

Over the past few months I've gathered these pretty nurseries as inspiration for our gender-neutral baby room. I forget where these are from though - bad blogger! I'm determined to create a peaceful space with little pops of colour and pattern that avoids being too "cutesy". That's the best word I can use to describe the pastel-coloured/Disney-charactered/matchy-matchy typical nursery that some folks might love, but just isn't my thing.

cute monsters

2011-01-18T08:52:00.003-06:00

These screen printed posters might not work for the theme in our nursery but they'd be way too cute in a kids room one day. The Monster Friends Series is available at Family Tree Design & Illustration. Too bad they're sold out of the green, it's the best one... but how cool is glow in the dark??

stroller ordered!

2011-01-12T12:40:00.002-06:00

After an insane amount of research and deliberation... we ordered our stroller! Its the Bumbleride Indie with Carrycot and was probably our biggest splurge because we plan to use it a ton on our gravel road once summer arrives. Can't wait for it to arrive!

more animals

2011-01-10T13:43:00.003-06:00

A few years until Baby B can really use this cool toy, but it's so awesome! Goes on my wish list. Found via my new favourite site: ohdeedoh.

wonderful watches

2010-12-20T14:08:00.004-06:00

As an extra special gift, my wonderful husband surprised me with a stunning watch a few months ago. He gave it to me right after our first ultrasound. That's right :) B and I are having a baby! Many baby posts to follow for sure from now until April.

The watch he got me was a very classic and glitzy Fossil and I adore it! I had been eyeing up white ceramics but their price tags were just too insane. I wear it daily and love the mother of pearl face (which is not even a fraction as pink as in the pic). My watch search had ended with B's sweet surprise, but today I came across another watch that is just so darn cool – the WeWood Crono.

spread the love

2010-10-28T11:45:00.000-05:00

What a cool idea. Hearts for Haiti make wonderful Christmas gifts for sure.

poster heaven

2010-10-21T15:24:00.004-05:00

I have a new favourite place to find print goodies! So many rockin' posters on Poster Cabaret. Including this one by Tad Carpenter featuring a pretty fantastic last name/an amazing musician :)

earthy

2010-10-04T14:59:00.002-05:00

What a sweet poster! Its from Brainstorm. Perhaps a next purchase?

something new

2010-09-17T14:26:00.001-05:00

I bought this today :) its from enormouschampion.

bench love

2010-08-04T15:08:00.006-05:00

Our new house has a sweet and oh-so-handy mud room but it's in need of some love. So I've been scoping benches, as my mister says that's a must. From Ikea to hand-made hockey stick benches to old-fashioned deacon's benches. However, this one featured on Remodelista makes me swooooon the most!

in your pocket

2010-07-29T13:22:00.003-05:00

I'm in love with these cute little pocket books! AND you can design your own. Too cool. If I were getting hitched again I would for sure give these little guys as favours. My wheels are already madly spinning to come up with a project to turn into a little book. Scout Books rule.

tbay likes photographs

2010-07-08T13:02:00.002-05:00

Need a laugh this morning? I was greeted this bright and sunny morning by this lovely editorial (click to enlarge). Thunder bay has one local newspaper and they thought it was appropriate to slam the current cover of the phone book, which I art directed with a talented local artist (Greg Dubeau). They also praise the previous 2 year's covers, which I did, so I guess that's good? Art will always be subjective and controversial I suppose. Thank god I'm a designer, not an artist.

clever design

2010-06-17T11:08:00.002-05:00

What a clever idea for all your favs! Side table by Etsy seller janedandy.

b is back!

2010-05-21T14:34:00.005-05:00

Yay! My love's contract is over and he is home much sooner than expected and ready to begin his new position this long weekend. And help me pack. Oh so much to do... Here's to the most amazing friends ever, who in weeks to come will be life savers. And cheers to the rest of our wedding party around the globe, thinkin' of everyone today!

an a without a b

2010-04-13T15:13:00.004-05:00

I miss my husband already. 2 days in. 4 months to go.
Fingers crossed he gets to come home for our move in 6 weeks.

[photo by Shannon Lepere]

big & bold

2010-03-31T15:19:00.007-05:00

I loooove design sponge's before & afters. There are so many great and creative DIYs on there and I'm always inspired. I have a long list of "when I have time" projects on my list and re-upholstering a chair with a bold funky pattern is one of them (or rather taking it to somewhere to do said re-upholstering). And I think our new house would really like to have a cool chair.

hot ties

2010-03-29T10:23:00.004-05:00

I really dig these new ties from toybreaker.

first house

2010-03-25T14:07:00.005-05:00

Our home will always have a special place in our hearts, being that is was our first. It is where we've lived for 3 amazing years in our lives and we love our little home enormously. However, with the purchase of our new home it is time to say goodbye and list it on the real estate market. The place is spic-and-span and ready for this week's viewings. Take a look.

[photos via ThunderBayHouses.com]

forever house

2010-03-10T10:06:00.005-06:00

Boy, lots can change in the span of a week... we bought a new house! At the end of May we move into our dream home located on a dead-end road just within city limits. This is the part of the house that instantly sold me:

oh canada

2010-03-04T09:19:00.004-06:00

It's hard to describe how amazing it was to be at the Olympics. Once in a lifetime for sure. Definitely incredible, exciting and pride-filled. Most of all I think of how genuinely HAPPY everyone was to be there for such a huge event. Its tough to go from a 24/7 sports bonanza back to regular life, but it will be in my heart forever.

[Video via Stanley Makes Three and yes, it totally brought tears to my eyes]

goin' for gold

2010-02-12T10:04:00.005-06:00

I've got my red mittens ready to go for my trip to Van on Sunday! This Valentine's Day I'll be reunited with my husband who has been out on the West coast working at the Olympics for a month already now. So darn exited. My Dad and I are going to see Cross-Country Skiing at Whistler Feb 17th, Half-pipe snowboarding at Cypress Feb 18 and Finland vs. Germany Men's hockey Feb 19th. GO CANADA!

sweet vid

2010-02-05T10:36:00.009-06:00

I have to share this very awesome video because its about the place I live now. Its not my hometown in that I didn't grow up here, but it is where my home currently is. The production on this video is so awesome, and so not TBay. Good job!

Jordan Burnell is 1/2 of the rap group that makes up Burnz n Hell. The other 1/2 is Coleman Hell (small cameo in the vid) and he's my work-mom's real son, so I'm excited these guys are starting to create some buzz around town.

So sad... the voice that was sampled on this track would not give the rights to the song so its been taken off of youtube unfortunately {March 11, 2010}

coolest studio ever.

2010-01-21T15:36:00.004-06:00

One day I'm totally going to live and/or work in a space like this! I am completely floored and had to share. design*sponge never fails to bow me away with the amazing things they come across. Possibly the best design studio ever - way to go parlaiment.

[images from design*sponge via the parliament site, photographed by lincoln barbour]

clever calendar

2010-01-14T12:05:00.004-06:00

Very cool. I think I want one. On sale at twentytwentyone.

reception - part 6

2009-12-25T10:09:00.001-06:00

Before we knew it it was time for the bus to head back in to town and since the farm is a good 20 minute hike, all the town folk sadly had to leave. I wish we could have kept everyone there together longer! But the bus needed time to go to town and come back to pick up everyone going out to Mink Mountain (us included). The bus ride was an awesome way to end the night. It was eventful... oh Hector... and included a few pit stops along the way. B and I really enjoyed getting to snuggle grade-8-style on a rowdy bus of hooligans! No pro pics from this part of the night, but I'll end things with another of Shannon's gorgeous sparkler shots. Merry Christmas!

reception - part 5

2009-12-24T13:28:00.001-06:00

After the cake cutting we did the bouquet/garter stuff. The garter was caught by our incredibly tall friend Stefan and my awesome former roommate (who is the catch of the century!) caught my bouquet.

[Photo by Shannon LePere]

reception - part 4

2009-12-23T14:07:00.000-06:00

Following dinner the speeches began. Our wonderful friends and family said some very beautiful words and everyone's smiles were big and happy tears were flowing. Then on to the dancing! It was still light out when we got the music going (love the long summer days here in July) but everyone quickly joined in the fun on the dance floor. After about an hour we took a break to cut the cake. Thanks to my hubby for not smearing it all over my face!

[Photo by Shannon LePere]

reception - part 3

2009-12-21T13:14:00.004-06:00

While everyone ate dinner we had a fun little game to get us to kiss, as per wedding tradition: guests were asked to "graphically design" something with the paper and crayons provided and bring their masterpiece up to us. It was a riot! Our friends are so funny and talented!

The very first one (top left) was given to us within seconds of the MC explaining what to do. While everyone else was being visually creative Alex cut right to the chase. So funny. It's probably still my fav.

reception - part 2

2009-12-17T10:02:00.009-06:00

I know I've said this a million times, but the food at our wedding was amazing. On a side note: my work Christmas party was recently held at Good News Café and I finally got to try one of the yummy apps that was served at our wedding!

[Images courtesy of Good News Cafe]

reception - part 1

2009-12-09T08:52:00.006-06:00

When we started the reception at 6pm the light was absolutely perfect. I can't believe how amazing everyone's photos looked in there. Lots of folks still had sunglasses on because the sun was nice and bright. And despite being in a greenhouse the temperature was just right (well for us Ontario people anyway - one of my bridesmaids had just returned from Australia and spent the weekend in a sweater, haha).

[Photo by Shannon LePere]

photos/cocktail hour

2009-12-07T11:27:00.007-06:00

For an hour and a bit following the ceremony we had some time to take photos. Standard family shots, fun wedding party shots and romantic bride & groom shots. While we did this our guests made their way back down to the area beside the greenhouse and enjoyed delicious cocktails and champagne. Shannon and Mel took some absolutely amazing shots and my MOH was a big help in getting everyone organized.

[Photos by Shannon LePere]

ceremony

2009-12-01T18:18:00.004-06:00

Our ceremony was short, sweet and incredibly windy! Our JP, John Guthrie, tied the power of the wind to the power of our love and it was very nice. At one point the wind actually whipped my veil out, which was fantastic! Throughout the ceremony the smiles on our faces were beaming and we kept squeezing each others hands. And then, poof, we were husband and wife!

[Photos by Shannon LePere]

getting ready

2009-11-26T07:51:00.009-06:00

Saturday, July the 11th was absolutely beautiful weather in Thunder Bay. The girls and I started off our day by doing some last-minute stuff out at Belluz that we ran out of time to do the night before. Once we were back in town we grabbed a quick lunch from Timmies then were off to our hair & makeup appointments at Michaels. All 6 of us (my mom included) were out of there in less than 2 hours and everyone looked gorgeous! We drove out to Belluz, got ready in the Belluz family home, then were quickly out the door and up the hill for our 4:30pm ceremony. My Dad drove us up there and I was jumping out of my skin with excitement!

[Photos by Shannon LePere]

horray!

2009-11-24T10:45:00.005-06:00

How exciting is this?! Our wedding is featured today on a super-stylish blog that I absolutely adore - 100 Layer Cake. Take a look!

paper details

2009-11-10T14:51:00.003-06:00

As a designer I get pretty excited about paper. Creating our wedding invites was an awesome experience because I had the excuse to order paper from Mr.French and play with my Gocco. Here's the breakdown of the papers I used to create the whole package.

Invitation Booklet, inside pages: ModTone - Taupe
A6 Envelopes: Construction - Factory Green
Invitation Booklet, cover: Speckletone - Natural Cordtone
Rehearsal Dinner Card and Thank You Card: Speckletone - Kraft

To see the whole suite check out the lovely feature on one of my fav blogs,
Oh So Beautiful Paper.

[Photo by Shannon LePere]

love these

2009-10-30T10:21:00.003-05:00

(From West Elm)

delicious food

2009-10-09T11:01:00.001-05:00

The best food we've ever eaten has been prepared by our friend Fern at Good News Café so we had 100% faith that our wedding menu would be to die for. We knew whatever she came up with would be amazingly delicious and beautifully arranged so we left it all up to her. Our only request was to try and make it local as a treat to our out-of-town guests and the environment.
It was absolute perfection and we've received many, many, many wonderful comments from guests about the meal.

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

thank you details

2009-10-06T14:28:00.008-05:00

Our thank you cards have now been delivered (pending a couple) and I'll share more on them very soon. In the meantime, I have to rave over how absolutely perfect the stamps were. They commemorated the Canadian Horse & Newfoundland Pony. My handsome horse is actually a chestnut Thoroughbred hunter but close enough. In university we completed our own set of stamps and mine (of course!) expressed the excitement of the Hunter/Jumper world and it was one of my fav design projects... so, perhaps that explains my enthusiasm for stamps.

honeymooning - mediterranean cruise

2009-10-02T08:07:00.003-05:00

It was a bit of a whirlwind, seeing 4 countries in only a week, and we got to see SO many places and cool things at each port. We decided to book excursions for each place because we didn't want to miss a thing. Our family motto actually is "Live Life to the Fullest" and that we did. The excursions were pretty expensive and made us feel like complete tourists but the amazing experiences were completely worth it. While its hard to chose a fav spot B and I both agree on the French Riviera - if we were insanely rich we would live there for sure. The weather there was a perfect 26 degrees C, which felt especially perfect after melting in 30 to 38 degrees plus for the previous 12 days! And now its apparent that we're Canadian with all this weather talk and even more apparent that we live in one-month-of-summer Northern Ontario.

Day 1 - At Sea

Day 2 - Port: Valetta, Malta -- Excursion:"Scenic Views of Malta"

Day 3 - Port: Naples, Italy -- Excursion: "Taste of Sorrento & Pompeii"

Day 4 - Port: Civitevacchia, Italy -- Excursion: "Rome on Your Own"

Day 5 - Port: Liverno -- Excursion: "Pisa & the Beach"

Day 6 - Port: Cannes, France -- Excursion: "Monacco and a View from Eze"

Day 7 - Port: Barcelona, Spain -- fly home via France/Montreal/Toronto

honeymooning - norwegian gem

2009-09-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Norwegian Gem is so huge we could see it for miles before we got to it. As we walked over a long bridge to get to it we got more and more excited that this fabulous playground is where we'd be living for the next week. We got a sweet room with our own balcony and spent hours exploring all there is to do on-board. Lots of time was spent at the pool, eating delicious food, watching entertainment, lounging in the sun, reading (check out "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein - a great one for dog owners) and eating more delicious food.

honeymooning - barcelona

2009-09-27T11:00:00.003-05:00

The Monday following our wedding B and I took a very early morning flight to Toronto to catch our flight to Barcelona via Paris. All of our traveling went well and we slept lots, arriving in Barcelona at 11:00am the next day. Getting to our first hotel was insanely easy - just jumped on an AirBus and it dropped us right at the Plaza Espanya where the B Hotel is located. This was our home base for 3 days and we greatly enjoyed our suite upgrade and the rooftop pool.

The location was great and we spent a day exploring Monjuic, a cool park complex on a mountain overlooking the city. The next day we got on a Hop-on/Hop-off tour bus which took us to Gaudi's Parc Guell. I've always adored the genius of Antonio Gaudi, which is a large reason why our honeymoon brought us to his hometown. We were walking up a street and to my surprise happened upon 2 more of Gaudi's buildings, it was amazing! The next day we spent a huge chunk of time at Familia Sagrada then wandered down to Parc de la Cuitadella.

Our last 2 days were spent at Hotel Jazz and we again enjoyed our suite upgrade and roof-top pool! Our second location put us in the heart of the action, just steps from La Ramblas. This is the short version of all we experienced in Barcelona, it was so great. On Sunday morning made our way down to the Port and said goodbye to Barcelona for a week, more on that in my next post.

greenhouse love

2009-09-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

We absolutely loved our venue. The greenhouse at Belluz Farms is very high-tech and cool. The sides and roof open and close and this allowed for an amazing breeze to keep the temperature just right. The light was phenomenal - the photos taken by guests at the reception were fantastic. It's also huge and easily accommodated out 130 guests with a huge dance floor (and we only used 2 of the 3 bays). And the cement floor was wonderful for dancing in my cute chartreuse heels!

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

they will see us waving from such great heights

2009-09-16T11:01:00.008-05:00

Our first dance as husband and wife was "Such Great Heights" by Iron & Wine. Quite possibly the first movie we watched together was Garden State and its one of our all-time favs so the song was perfect for us. A couple other wonderful slow songs have special meaning to us so we included them later in the evening - "Nothing Like You and I" by the Perishers and "Transatlanticism" by Death Cab for Cutie.

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

our "ring bear"

2009-09-16T10:42:00.005-05:00

Emery is the cutest little dude. He rocked his "ring bear" duties, carrying the ring pillow my Gram made. He is my new sister's little guy (a.k.a. our nephew) and he's growing up so fast! Two years ago he was born on my 25th birthday and I couldn't imagine sharing a birthday with anyone more awesome. I love this pic, just too funny!

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

they may say i'm a dreamer...

2009-09-09T10:19:00.006-05:00

The song we chose as a father/daughter and mother/son dance was "Imagine" by John Lennon. It's such a beautiful and powerful song and it was nice for the 4 of us to be on the dance floor together. My Dad and I sang the words while we danced, it was fun.

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

a man and his guitar

2009-09-08T13:03:00.008-05:00

Dave is another of our wonderful friends who played a huge part in our wedding. A week before the wedding Dave saved the day (we forgot about ceremony music) and agreed to play guitar during the ceremony. Songs included "Hey there Delilah" by Plain White Tee's and "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins plus some other improvised tunes. You rock Dave.

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

more tid bits

2009-09-08T12:47:00.010-05:00

Melanie is a wonderful friend of ours and amazing photographer. She took tons of fantastic shots and ever so kindly gave them to us a wedding gift which we received this weekend. Thank you so much Mel, they're beautiful! More of Mel's shots to come this week.

(Image by Melanie Godecki)

the ladies

2009-09-03T12:06:00.007-05:00

My fabulous bridesmaids looked smokin' HOT at the wedding! Finding their dresses was a bit of a challenge with them all spread across the world (Southern Ontario, Northern Ontario, Calgary and Australia) but we managed to make it work. I was pretty set on finding dresses that wouldn't break the bank and weren't your typical never-to-be-worn-again bridesmaid dresses. That lead us to the Gap, where I ordered the dresses online and scored an such unfathomable deal that I was able to give them to the ladies as gifts.

These photos aren't of my girls, they're from a fashion shoot that was featured on a blog. I can't remember which blog they came from though, please let me know if you know.

etsy love - part 7

2009-09-01T13:30:00.001-05:00

Little known fact: B and I love to play Scrabble. We don't play all that often but when we do we love it... B makes up crazy words, I call him out and he usually lets me win. So, for our wedding we made magnets out of tiles that spelled our names and displayed them with our guest's magnet favours. The 20 scrabble tiles came from etsy seller timepassages and the magnets we glued to the back were from Michaels. They're now on display in our kitchen!

(Image via timepassages)

etsy love - part 6

2009-08-31T09:00:00.002-05:00

As favours for our guests we had button magnets displayed on a magnetic frame (more to come on that later). There were 10 different designs so guests could chose which ones they liked and take home 2 of them. I was worried about people losing their 2 little magnets so I got some mini glassine bags for guests to put their selections in and take home. They're about 2" x 3.5" and are from etsy seller nicepackage.

(Image via nicepackage)

etsy love - part 5

2009-08-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

When I was searching for a custom guest book when I came across some beautiful birch fabric on a hand-bound book by etsy seller Life Stories Books. It was perfect, so a custom book made with the following details: 6" X 9"with 36 pages of natural white Fabriano Artistico 90lb watercolor paper (heavy enough to include photos) and 72 pages of Arches Text Wove paper. The book has been sewn using coptic, kettle, and long stitches with grey waxed linen thread and a wide linen lace ribbon ties the album closed. I have to admit I haven't yet perused our guest book since the wedding - I think maybe we'll will wait a while and look through it together.

(Images via LifeBookStories )

etsy love - part 4

2009-08-25T14:04:00.007-05:00

For our ultra-stylin' groomsmen we found some equally ultra-stylin' ties. They're "topograpical error" ties from etsy seller toybreaker. The screenprint is of distressed remnants of 1900's sea-depth estimates taken in Scandinavian and Arctic waters. We loved them because of B's Navy connection as well as our overall love for maps. The groomsmen wore dove ink on navy and B wore dove ink on khaki.

(Images via toybreaker)

etsy love - part 3

2009-08-25T13:48:00.004-05:00

Since my husband (love the way that sounds) and I are from different parts of the province and our relationship was hugely defined by the vast distance, I decided to get him some cute cufflinks to celebrate our wedding day. His custom pair consists of vintage maps of Thunder Bay/Woodstock and were made by etsy seller foundling. I just love them, and I'm pretty sure B does too.

(Image via foundling)

etsy love - part 2

2009-08-24T09:02:00.007-05:00

As gifts to my bridesmaids I found lovely necklaces by etsy seller Elizabeth Rosas Jewelry. I love how simple and delicate these are and they went well with the ruffles on the girls' dresses. I wanted to find something the girls could wear again. These necklaces were a custom order and I got one for myself as well.

With the necklaces I also gave to the girls each a pair of little Larimar post earrings from the Dominican Republic (our engagement location).

(Images via ERosasjewelry)

etsy love - part 1

2009-08-20T11:39:00.010-05:00

As a special gift to my maid-of-honour, who literally heard every single detail of my wedding planning process from a far, I gave her a super cute pencil case by madebyhank. I adore this etsy seller's work. I'm quite positive she'll one day be big and famous, her stuff is just so great. I stalked her blog and shop for ages waiting for a listing of the perfect fabric combo. The houndstooth on this green little number totally sold me. So, to my m-o-h extraordinaire - thanks pig!

(Images via madebyhank)

another tid bit

2009-08-13T12:08:00.002-05:00

Shannon finished up with our photos last night and now we have 500+ amazing shots to pick and chose from. Here's another little sample. Photo by Shannon LePere.

On a side note - B and I celebrated our 1 month anniversary from different provinces as his Navy mistress occupied has him for a while. I miss my husband! Thankfully he'll be home just in time for the 2 month mark.

photo preview

2009-07-29T10:20:00.005-05:00

Shannon is amazing. Here is a little sample of some photos from our wedding taken by Shannon LePere. Can't wait to see the rest!

And Mel is amazing too! Our dear friend and super talented photographer Melanie Godecki also shot our wedding and here are a few of her lovely shots.

i'm a wife!

2009-07-28T14:34:00.003-05:00

On July 11th B and I got hitched and it was absolutely perfect. We quickly left for our honeymoon {Barcelona/Valetta/Sorrento/Pompeii/Rome/Pisa/Eze/Monte Carlo} and just got back yesterday! More to come on all of this fabulousness, just a quick note to say YIPEEE! Stunning photo by the ever-talented Shannon LePere.

soon to be saturday

2009-07-06T07:49:00.004-05:00

As our dear friends and families begin traveling the big trek to TBay I want to wish them all safe and scenic journeys. We can't wait to see everyone on Saturday when we get MARRIED.
Lots of love,
A+B

(image found here)

montréal

2009-06-26T15:34:00.005-05:00

Bonjour! Ce weekend que je dirige à Montréal avec mes filles pour un parti de célibataire sauvage et fou :) Trés bon!

go Pens go!

2009-06-12T14:04:00.003-05:00

These were the days! '91 and '92 were sweet, sweet years for this Penguins fan. '09 could go down as the best year in the history of my life tonight. GO PENS!!

29 days

2009-06-12T13:51:00.002-05:00

Holy cow, less than a month until the knot is tied! everything is moving along and details are getting all hemmed out. This week we've been check, check, checking off the list:

We finalized our menu with Fern at Good News Café and it's going to be delicious.
We rented a bus for guest pick-up and drop-off.
B's suit has arrived and to our surprise its Buy1/Get1 so he gets to pick out another one!
Applied for our marriage licence.
Got our Special Events and Liquor licences.

custom stamp

2009-05-27T11:39:00.004-05:00

The return addresses on our invitation envelopes were hand stamped by B with a custom stamp from Paperwink. The stamp comes in a cute linen bag and the girls at Paperwink have excellent customer service. Their website is also super cute. Greenweddingshoes blogged about them today and it reminded me of that awesome little detail on our invites. Photo by Greenweddingshoes.

honeymooning pt. 2

2009-05-26T08:08:00.003-05:00

B sent me this link today - it's totally our theme song for the cruise.
Give it a listen.

honeymooning

2009-05-25T11:44:00.006-05:00

2 months from now we'll be Mr. & Mrs. and we'll be mid-honeymoon, livin' it up on the Norwegian Gem. We are unbelievable excited about our honeymoon! On Monday, July 13th we depart for 5 days in Barcelona followed by a 7-day Mediterranean cruise up the coast of Italy. While in Barcelona we're staying at 2 fabulous design hotels - BHotel (meant to B, so it seems) and Hotel Jazz. Then we hit the seas in our awesome Stateroom with Balcony and check out Valletta, Naples, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Cannes. Totally perfect!