Summer

Loving the back deck right now. I went to Pier 1 and Homesense and bought a ton of new pillows and accessories, plus grabbed a couple of pallets to bring to Dev so he could put together the coffee table. I love it!!! The lumbar order is in so he can start on the deck that will be wrapping around the above ground pool...we really needed to think about child proofing and putting in the deck/rail so our friends' kids (and by next year, our own little walker) can be kept safely away from the water. He's putting a pergola at one end that we'll add some hammocks to. :)

Excuse the bbq cover. I would love to get Dev a new bbq...just not in the cards this year.

                                      From the outside looking in...can't wait to for the deck :)

"Alvin"

We are now 11 days away from baby due date...I feel ready for whenever he/she decides to arrive! I've luckily had the chance to nest in the house and relax out on our deck, socialize with all my girls who are also off work for mat leave, etc, and bake everything...so yes, feeling ready to meet baby. For now, it goes by Alvin, til we meet boy or girl Alli/Devin combo!

For the nursery, as always I found a ton of things on Pinterest that I loved, but didn't want to go spending a ton of money. So we made it work with furniture we already had, plus an ikea crib (I painted the spindles--bbaaaahhhh!) and a beautiful glider I got as my shower gift. It was purchased from Penney & Co. michaelpenneystyle

Here's what we ended up with. I LOVE the sheets I found on Etsy as well. Woodland creatures! Shop Little Necessities

 

The diaper bag--Etsy--amazing... ikabags

 

We'll add the name letters to the bunting once we know a or b :)  I originally ordered the little white deer head, but when it arrived was so sad to see how lonely it looked on the wall.  Dev came up with the idea of the family of deer heads ha!

 

Still need to get some pics added into those frames. My mom did the painting. Now the waiting game...

Updates...months later!

Well, after MUCH time (clearly, blogging is not something I am good at), as I sit here browsing Pinterest and watching the Oscars, I decided to come back and simply, add on. So to update...this year has brought many changes to the house. For one, the need to change our office into an office/guestroom, as the old guestroom needs to make space for a mini version of us. So that room was done too (not quite there yet, but getting there), along with our master bedroom. But our most exciting upgrade is the new gas fireplace. Mantel and bookshelves were Kijiji finds (painted the mantel), so the overhaul was not too pricey.

PS Not sure if it's the pregnancy thing or what, but my already over-the-top love for my dog has turned into an obsession. See below.

Oh, and the wedding...
Yes I barfed Pinterest but it was a super cool Summer Camp Wedding...best weekend ever :)

White Bedding!

Is anyone else as obsessed with white bedding as I am? I do love the bedding we have already, but there is something about pure, fluffy, ruffled, white bedding that I can't get enough of. And add to that anything wood, there couldn't be a better place to snuggle in for the night.

The problem is the obvious--white doesn't stay clean for long. Especially when you own a black dog who likes to lean up on the bed for a good scratch before sleep time. That being said, nothing a little bleach can't handle, right?

Here are some inspiration shots that make me want to change things up a bit...

From FullBloomCottage on Etsy, this ruffle set is so gorgeous!

Source
Beauty Pottery Barn set:

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One day!!!

The truth comes out...plus Cookies!!!

So first off, here is the truth about who REALLY uses the tub...

And now...Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Flax Cookies!!!

Initially I found a similar recipe on BHG, but made some of my own adjustments and they turned out great. You know they're good when your pre-teen students request the recipe for themselves!

1/2 cup butter, soft

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup cane sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups oats

1/2 cup ground flax

1/3 cup wheat germ

As much chocolate chips as you like!

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease baking sheet.

Use hand blender or mixer to mix butter on low until fluffy. Add sugars and continue to mix. Add cinnamon, baking soda, salt and mix to combine. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and blend on low. Use a wooden spoon (or your hands like I do) to mix in the oats, flax, and wheatgerm. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Plop onto cookie sheet...I make mine fairly large (maybe 2 tbsp). Bake for 9-11 min (may take longer if you have two cookie sheets in and you might want to rotate the sheets).  I got 30 cookies out of this today, but can stretch it to 36 easily. Enjoy!

Insanity

Today I thought I'd put the spot light on my favourite place in our house...well ok, aside from the kitchen...

Let's begin with a before pic, just so you can truly appreciate the insanity. I actually didn't yet live here at this point; by the time I moved in, he had ripped out the 70s tub :)

So now, stairs facing the opposite side--before it was literally like a ladder.

Now to talk about kijiji...this clawfoot tub we got for $200. The girl who sold it to us had actually bought it second hand herself, pained it, then realized it was too big to fit in her bathroom :(

It went to good use here though! Pedestal sink: $50, again off kijiji. Dev's mom gave us the old milk stool; it was just hanging out in her music room.  Bath caddy was a gift from my bestie, whose own wood caddy I have been swooning over since she moved into her century home years ago.

We spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to paint or just clean and seal the brick wall. In the end, all of our friends convinced us into keeping the natural colour and we are so pumped we did! The ladder towel rack was a DIY too.

New faucets for the kijiji finds were our only splurge, and even still, there are some great deals on Vintage Tub and Bath.

The wall colour is a crazy story. I had literally an entire gallon of gray wisp leftover from the living room, so instead of putting that to waste, I took it into Benjamin Moore and they were able to change it to Baby Fawn...I thought that was really impressive!

Ta da! Great place to soak on a Sunday night.

Sunday Dinner

Growing up, anytime there was a special occasion my mom would ask us for food requests. And everytime my request was the same: her chicken pot pie!

Recently I inherited her 'recipe' over the phone. I made a couple of tweaks, like replacing the potatoes with sweet potatoes and shredding rather than cubing the chicken, but essentially this is it. I will tell you this...Dev is always going on about my cooking (he knows it's the best way to keep me in the kitchen--make me think I'm good in there to start;) but truly this pie is his (and my) favourite! There are only two of us here, and only about a quarter of it left haha.

I do cheat. My mom always did too. But it makes for the best pie...and a real easy recipe. Frozen puff pastry!

So here it is...this couldn't be easier...

Tenderflake frozen puff pastry, thawed

2 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded

1 sweet potatoe, cubed and boiled

1 1/2 - 2 cups of frozen veggies, steamed

2 cans Cream of chicken soup

salt and pepper to taste

egg whites

Turn oven on to 375. Grease your pie dish (I use coconut oil but really you can use anything). Roll out your pastry and place in the bottom of the dish. In a bowl, combine the shredded chicken, veggies, potatoes, soup, and salt and pepper (be generous). Pour this filling into your pie crust.

Now brush the edge with egg white so that the top crust will stick. Pinch with fingers, add a few teeny holes to let the air out, and brush all over with the remaining egg white. This makes the crust golden and crispy!

Bake for about 30 min--if the top isn't golden enough for you, turn up to 400 for the last 5 min or so.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm......Best Sunday dinner!!! Throw a simple salad on the side and enjoy!