100 things

I think much of the blogger land is doing this and I'm going to jump on the bandwagon too: I'm going to get rid of (at least) 100 things. Is that the challenge? Now that I think about it, it might be to only keep 100 things. I dunno. I'll start with the former.

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I'm not a big fan of clutter. I have a lot of it in my house and I hate it. I just stare at it and think about all the ways I can clean up the mess and organize the chaos. Well I'm taking 2011 to make a massive Goodwill run to get rid of anything I don't use. I have a box full of stuff and a pile of clothes that I've started with. Stay tuned for pics of the crap!!! (You've already seen a lot of the clutter in this post -- we'll get that all cleaned up!)

curtains...check!

Some time this week (I can't remember which day for the life of me), Leo and I spent the afternoon at Ikea just schlepping around looking at everything at a snail's pace. I can only do this by myself because Mark is a speed demon and will go through the entire store in a matter of minutes claiming to have seen everything.


I went to Ikea to get a curtain rod but by the time I was through the store I forgot to pick one up. I contemplated going back but remembered how dangerous it is when people backtrack on the floor arrows. Just as I was going to leave, I found one of those little passageways that allow you to go back through the store. Perfect. I was able to snag a DÄMPA rod with little effort.

I mentioned in a previous post that the curtains are from West Elm. I thought they were $29 per panel on sale, but when I got to the counter to pay, they were $23 for both panels. What a score. I wasn't sure what they would look like with the rug in my room but when we got them up, I was in love. The room feels so much more cozy now.


I still have to hem them so hopefully I'll get the motivation to do that soon. Until then, we'll just have to live with the puddle look! I'm also thinking that we'll have to replace the white blinds. I'll have to be on the lookout for something that works in the room.

Leo - 2 Months

Here's the little guy at 2 months. I was going to put this on my Lealou Momma blog but the more I think about it, the more I think it's a bit silly to have two blogs. This is the one I started with so I think this will be the one I contribute to solely moving forward for everything I do. Makes more sense!

So yes, this is Leo at 2 months. I can't believe it has been 2 months already. Time is just flying and I'm sure it will just get faster. This month Leo has been doing more tummy time (mostly because the doc told me to -- I keep forgetting!). We moved Leo into his crib right at 1 month and he's been sleeping very well for the most part. He had his 2 month needles last week so I think it's thrown his sleeping off a bit but it still isn't bad! We also moved from the swaddler to the grow bag/sleep sack. Leo was getting out of our swaddles every night so I knew it had to be time to make the switch. Leo is getting much more vocal; repeating noises that we make and giving us funny looks when we repeat his noises.

Today we had lunch with my husband's side of the family. Mark's sister has two boys and it's really neat to see all the boys interact with each other. I can't believe we have all boys -- it's going to get crazier as they get older!

So here's to 2 months Mr. Leo -- keep up the good work!

making an entrance

There is an artist who lives in my home town of Prescott whom I absolute love. His name is J Allison Robichaud. My mom and I went to his house a few years ago for an art tour and I fell in love with his work. I was only able to afford a little 3x3 piece but my Mom bought me this piece (on the left) for Christmas that year. It's a painting of a road just outside of Prescott.

Knowing I love his work, my mom got me another piece this year for Christmas which depicts a few tables at the Prescott Farmers' Market. I love the colours and the fact that a little piece of home is with me here in Toronto. I decided to put the painting at the front entrance. I was looking for something for this spot and I think it works well with the vases I have there already. Too bad the darn light switch and alarm pad have to be there too!

house list 2011 - small house projects

The other day I told you that the biggest project on our list this year was our basement, but there are some other things I want to tackle while that's being done. Here it goes:

1. Re-organize my office: The minute I was done work to go on maternity leave, I cleaned my office from top to bottom. It was so clean and I was happy. Then I had Leo and it quickly turned into a catch-all for the house. I piled the desk with receipts for a budget project we're working on; there are gifts, ribbon, baby stuff -- it's all here.



So the plan is to get this place back in order. It's right off the dining room so it's a bit unsightly when we have dinner guests.

2. Finish our bedroom: We've made several changes to our bedroom but it's not quite finished.

I need to put up the curtains I just picked up for a sweet deal ($23!) from West Elm.

I'd like to finish this little vignette area with a radiator shelf and some tchotchkes.


We also want to put some sort of accent wall behind our bed whether it's a paint treatment or wallpaper. I might consider changing the bedding as well, but I'm a bit partial to brown and grey for some reason. In the corner there is an old chair that needs to be reupholstered as well. I'm thinking some sort of teal colour to match the teal in the rug.


3. This ikea table has been around for a long, long time, and it shows.


I've had big plans for it for years but I keep putting it off. My goal is to make it into a bench that I can either put at the foot of my bed or by the window in my room. Again, thinking of teal of some sort with some new legs. Stay tuned for that.

4. Last but not least (for this post -- there is always something else to do! :)) I want to finish the mudroom.


Right now it's stuck in a bit of limbo. I'd like to finish the window with some trim and a blind and that will be good enough for now. We have plans down the road to rip up the floor to put radiant heating because it gets pretty cold in there over the winter months.

Don't you just love how I have shown you all the messy rooms in our house? Lord we have some work to do...

What are your house plans for 2011?

house list 2011 - the basement

In the two years we've been in this house, we've done a lot. Changed all of the electrical, added pot lights throughout, changed the hardwood upstairs, added a stair runner, added a powder room on the main floor, renovated the bathroom on the second floor; put a pantry in the kitchen. Most of that was in 2009. Now we're ready for the next projects. The biggie is the basement. It looks like this now:



Pretty huh? If you can believe it, it was semi-finished when we moved in but we had to do a bunch of stuff to it including, oh I don't know, lift the house up an inch so the house would be supported properly. See that big post in the middle of the room? No wonder we got a deal on this place.

Anyway this is our inspiration:


We LOVE this basement. It's a bit walnut heavy but we would still like to have some wood features of some sort in our space. I particularly love the barn doors. Our plan is to add them to the laundry room and to the bathroom we'll eventually be putting here.

So that's the big project for this year. Mark drew up the budget and the initial plans last night so hopefully we'll get started in the next few weeks or so. I'll keep ya updated!

the resolution post

(image source)

So I'm not really one for making new year's resolutions because I'm a big believer that if you want to make a change, you should do it when the time feels right (most times it's September for me because it used to be a new year of going back to school). That being said, I do like to think of certain things that I would like to do and change in the coming year. So here is my list:

Be more thoughtful: I have SO many thoughtful people around me and I want to be more like them. These people are ALWAYS thinking of other people and go that extra step to make others around them feel special.

Get out with Leo as much as possible: I've already signed up for my yoga class and my bootcamp class which I will do with Leo and as he gets older, I'll look into music classes and more groups where he can interact with other babies his age.

Go for more walks: this will be a tough one in the colder months because I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to cold weather but I would like to get outside as much as possible. Being stuck in the house for so long isn't good! (I say this after my first walk outside in two days)

Get back into sewing: Not sure what I'll sew but I do want to get back into it.

Organize the house: It's already quite organized but it could be better. With all the clothes and toys coming through the house it's more important than ever to keep this place in tip top shape so it doesn't get out of control. I like the 1 thing in/1 thing out mentality -- let's see if I can stick with it.

Create a budget: Mark and I have never been good at keeping a budget but both of us really want to know where our money is being spent. I've spent the last 3 months writing down every single penny we've spent so now it's a matter of creating a budget and sticking to it.

I think it's it for now - quite the list but these are all pretty attainable I think! What are your resolutions this year??