Lounging

Admittedly, I’m not very ‘outdoorsy.’  I’m more likely to spend a summer weekend tackling a big painting project indoors than I am to lounge around in the backyard.  But these outdoor daybeds have me rethinking all of that:

Or… we could take it up a notch, and make it a hanging day bed!!!  How fun is that???

all images via Pinterest

Inspiration File: Outdoor Room

I love pretty much every single thing about this room.  The black and white curtain panels, the red zigzag pillows, the white furniture.  Maybe next year I’ll do something like this in our backyard...

image via Pinterst

My New Art… SO Fabulous!

I’ve been wanting to purchase a painting for a while.  And I’ve had my eye on a few, but nothing was really convincing me.  Know what I mean?  I’d see a lot of things that I liked, but nothing that I LOVED. 

Then I found this…

As soon as I saw it, I knew I HAD to have it!  So I went to purchase it, and the website said that it couldn’t be shipped to Canada!  BLURG!!!  Luckily, Annie from The Now, hooked me up with the artist, Samantha Sano, who was super sweet and said that of course she could ship to Canada!  Yay! 

So, the painting is called Boerne II, and it arrived at my house yesterday!!!  I’m beyond thrilled with it!  It’s part of The Summer Project, a collection of gorgeous watercolours by Samantha.  You can read more about The Summer Project here.  You better hurry, though, because The Summer Project paintings are selling fast.  

Also worth noting… (although it’s probably obvious to most of you) the photograph is from Samantha’s fabulous blog, Style/SWOON.  I tried to get a photo of the painting in my own home, but can’t seem to find an angle without massive amounts of glare this morning.  And Samantha did such a gorgeous job of styling, that I thought I should share her photo instead!

Inspiration File: Best Kitchen EVER

I am SO in love with this kitchen (well, the whole house actually.)  It belongs to Sasha Seymour, a talented Toronto stylist.  Sasha’s stylist’s eye is apparent in all of the amazing unexpected and creative details.  For example, brass kickplates, the fireplace, the funky ‘70’s lighting, the gorgeous brass hardware, and those FLOORS!  I could go on and on.  But I won’t.  You can see more of this fabulousness for yourself in the house tour video from House & Home.

I couldn’t resist posting one more pic… the dining room… swoon!

Have a great long weekend everyone!!!

photos scanned from House & Home Sept 2011

Mandatory Summer Read

I just started it last night.  But trust me… you want to read this book.  I was already laughing out loud just reading the back cover and the introduction.  I won’t re-tell all of the funny parts here because Jeff is having to live through that right now and he already told me to stop because he can read the book himself. 

See ya later.  I’m going to read.  And lmao. 

You can get Bossypants here.

Fiesta! {Jack’s 6th Birthday Party}

Since I actually put some effort into Beckett’s birthday party this year, the pressure was on to do something special for Jack this week. 

The one thing that Jack really wanted to do for his party was go out to a nearby Mexican restaurant for cheese quesadillas (his favourite!)  However, it’s not easy to go out for dinner with a group of 15, so we decided to host the fiesta at our place. 
We happen to have a very good friend who is a chef (and Mexican!!!)  He whipped up some amazing quesadillas, along with the best guacamole ever, and a special salsa… not too spicy for the benefit of the wimpy Canadians!
I must say.  This is the way to host a party!  Not having to cook made it SO much more enjoyable! 
We ate outside:

The kids had a piñata, which also took care of the ‘treat bag’ issue:

The low point of the party?  The lemonade cupcakes that I attempted for dessert.  Why do I even try???  They were embarrassingly bad.  It looked like a 6 year old made them.  For the record, they tasted good.  (You can find the recipe here.)  But man, did they look terrible!  Brace yourself…

Seriously… wtf???  Next time I’m leaving this to the professionals.  Or maybe my Mom.   
Otherwise, the party was a big success!  The birthday boy loved it.  And I loved seeing him love it!

Happy 6th Birthday Jack! 

Inspiration File: Black. White. Gold.

I love so much about this room!  The art is amazing, the big gold mirror with the cute little bench, those fabulous black chairs, the mix of all of those textures, the hits of coral.  I could look at these two photos all day long.  Thank you Lonny!

both images via Lonny on Pinterest