Storage

With just over 1300 square feet, storage is a conscious thought for us. We have a few cupboards in the back porch, a lovely space under the staircase and plenty of room for cookware in our kitchen, but beyond that not much else. While I haven't found many beautiful solutions online to deal with the fact that we have very limited space (read: no space) for patio furniture, a bbq or a lawn mower (not that we need one since we replaced the small amount of grass with red crushed stone and a flower bed), the Museum of Modern Art does have some great storage options for smaller objects. I'm particularly fond of this arrow hook.

I'm thinking a collection of these arrow hooks would look great in our bedroom and would provide a place to hang housecoats or towels... or the pressed shirt that we collected from the cleaners for the next day's meeting (you know, if we were the type of people to send our shirts out to be pressed).

Ruffles

These cloth confections from Kate Towers are delightful. Swoon. For more of Kate's work, see here.

Italian

This coming weekend, Greg and I are hosting a swath of my family for dinner. To prepare, we're ensuring we have enough forks, sending out for more chairs and are planning a yummy (I hope!) menu. This is the first time we'll have hosted 12 (or maybe 13!) people for dinner. Right now the draft menu includes Italian influence with white bean dip served with pitas, rosemary bread sticks, a large green and tomato salad tossed in balsamic vinegar and oil, and a sausage cannelloni. Dessert (blueberry cheesecake and carrot cake) is being provided courtesy of my grandma, but otherwise I would have given serious consideration to making nutella crepes. Dinner parties are tough, so here's to hoping it goes off smoothly! Image via Boudist.

The dinner was a success!

Neighbourhood

After revealing our home, it seemed only natural to snap a few pictures of our neighbourhood.

Home

As long promised, here are some photos of our new home. Decorating as a team has been such a joy and we're content now that our home is a true reflection of us both. For more photos see here.

Fascinators

I'm feeling inclined to put my clothing shopping whims on hold for a while. In lieu I am feeling inspired to use new accessories to breath life in to my current ensembles. I'm adoring these headbands from Ban Do. They'd be perfect for dressing up a basic black turtleneck and black pencil skirt. They also remind me of played-down versions of the delightful fascinators young Royals wear weekly in the glossy pages of Hello.

Buttons

I love buttons and have since I was a young girl. The most vivid memory I have of kindergarten is playing with buttons that our teacher kept in a basket. Presumably placed in the room as a device to teach us to count, I was fascinated by the pieces. I remember taking a yellow button home one day in my pocket and that button was added to a sweater that my mother was knitting for me. Perhaps my love of buttons at age five was an early sign of my love for finding beauty in the everyday, and combining form and function.

Given my penchant for buttons, I was struck by this neckwarmer on Etsy this morning. Isn't the button placement fantastic? It would be the perfect accompaniment to the fresh walk Greg and I have planned with family this afternoon. Images via Decor 8 and Knittles.

Hockey

We're loving this song from Portland's Hockey.

Cushion

A message to my beloved... Also, we're still missing one of our couch cushions from the cross-country move, but new pictures of our place are forthcoming! Pillow for sale from Alexandra Ferguson.

Hands

These two photos melt my heart. Both images via Le Love.

Wall

Typography + an inspiration wall = love. Image via Apartment Therapy.

One-Shoulder

Greg might prefer asymmetry in federalism rather than dresses, but I'm enjoying this Grecian, striped number. Dress via Sometimes Dresses, Sometimes Jeans.

Office

I've recently become employed with a new outfit in my home province's government. We're in the midst of staffing up and organizing office space. As a result, over the past two weeks we've been sharing and discussing various office layouts for our new space. Given my 9-5 activities, this blog on work space caught my attention on Apartment Therapy. Doesn't this loft seem like a great place to get creative? Of course I'm also drawn to the white walls!

Coat

It's fall. I already have an overflowing closet of fall-appropriate jackets. But I love this golden coat. Image via J Crew.

Boxes

I love window boxes and I've really enjoyed improving the back garden at our new home. Fifty seven paving stones, forty bags of weeds, fifteen plants purchased on the cheap from summer's end sales and more than ten full days of work later, the garden looks presentable. I'm saving my pennies for a bbq, table and chairs, and solar lanterns to make the site an entertaining destination next summer. Friends near and far, please pencil in our event on Regatta evening 2010; we're looking forward to hosting a cook up, complete with mojitos, smokies and a viewing of the championship race at the lake. Here's to planning ahead!

This fall's edition of Canadian Gardening arrived in our mail box late last week and has tempted me with the most festive, autumnal window box. Complete with tiger striped miniature pumpkins, small flowering cabbages (which I've also used in planters in our backyard), tasmin tiger spurge, sprayed black branches and black scallop bugleweed, these window dressings look spooky and are a perfect 'welcome mat' for fall breezes. These window boxes expand my thinking on fall planting beyond mustard and pink mums, orange cotoneaster berries and red burning bushes.

As our street is framed with towering maples and chestnuts, the falling red, yellow and orange leaves would be nicely accessorized with this window box. For more fall container planting inspiration, see here.

Alberta

After deciding to pack up camp and head east, Greg and I spent time thinking about the mementos we'd like to carry back to Newfoundland and Labrador with us before departing Edmonton. We decided that we'd like to carry back memories of our weekend trips to Banff and Jasper National Parks, the mid-century modern buildings around Edmonton and the neon signs on Whyte Avenue.

Banff welcomed us on Saturday afternoons when we headed due south-west of Calgary for a break from the glitz. Jasper was our getaway for Thanksgiving 2008 and Victoria Day 2009. Scattered in gift shops around the parks are vintage and replica 'vintage' posters of the parks and the Canadian Pacific rail lines that crawl through them. To remember our weekends away, we purchased one such 'vintage' poster and framed it in an ever-popular Ikea Ribba frame. It now welcomes visitors in our foyer.

We also chose to keep guests informed, and visually stimulated, by adding to our collection of coffee table books with the Art Gallery of Alberta's Capital Modern. A flick through the pages of this picture book reminds me of the long walks Greg and I weaved during our first months together in the city. The history of buildings that I walked past daily was largely unknown to me until making this purchase. I'm always fascinated to learn more about the history of seemingly common-folk places in my very neighbourhood.

Finally, we purchased a yet-to-be-assembled picture rack that will eventually hold photos Greg took of neon signs in the neighbourhoods of Strathcona and Garneau, and across British Columbia on our summer vacation. I've long had a soft spot for neon signs and look forward to expanding on our collection as the list of our past travel destinations continues to expand.

Links

Love! This golden butter necklace from J. Crew would coordinate perfectly with my uniform.

Poster XI

It sure has been a while. Positive poster via Decor8 via Freya Art & Design Workshop.

Sweets

With our move, I've gotten out of the habit of testing new recipes during the week after work. Now that I'm back into the swing of the 9-5 world, our measuring cups and spoons, blender, wok and chopping knives beckon to me. Now that our kitchen tools have found a new home, it seems only fitting to put them to work.

Yesterday, Greg and I wandered around our neighbourhood to the curious and delightful Sweet Relic. Perched steps from a spectacular view of the industrial (by Vancouver standards) waterfront that is St. John's harbour, the coffee shop meets book and antique store is a great place to linger on a relaxing afternoon. Located on Signal Hill in the oldest home in Newfoundland and Labrador (as articulated by the historic plaque on its facade), Sweet Relic offers a great alternative to big box book stores and Starbucks' grande lattes.

While poking about the shop, I happened upon a hat box full of small recipe books organized by ingredient called Sugar & Spice by Keda Black. I've been thinking about recipes recently, and this box conjured up thoughts of chocolate and sweets and dessert recipes! For an online consortium of recipes, check out Design Sponge's 'In the Kitchen With' series. As an aside, I'll certainly be borrowing recipes from the series for our upcoming housewarming party (photos of the house and party to follow soon).

The groceteria nearby, Belbin's Grocery, also tempted my taste buds this weekend with its selection of oils, including pomegranate oil! Our neighbourhood has certainly offered up many culinary delights thus far (and I'm not even counting our proximity to the dining haunts on Duckworth and Water). All in all, I feel reinvigorated to express myself through food after this weekend. In fact, Greg and I are also joining a cheese club! The best part of this reinvigoration is that it's occurring only steps from our home, which fulfills our life goal of living, in the fullest sense of the word, in our own neighbourhood.

Davenport

One of the new spaces in our home is a den off the kitchen. To complete the cozy room, we're searching for a davenport and have found a range of options from Sears. Above are the ones we're considering.