The boys did play

Recently my husband Todd went on a trip to L.A. and stayed in Burbank where all the big studios are , he works in animation and met with some contacts and friends while he was there , now I can't say I am not a bit jealous that he went without me , I have always wanted to visit , but I am glad he got to go. So here are a few pictures of the boys, Todd and Burt Ward(aka the "Robin") ,and Todd in the Monkees car , and him under the Hollywood sign.

Looked like fun .

Ever evolving ...

I think that "decorating" is a process , you could hire someone to do it for you or do it yourself, but it evolves over time or should , of course we have all seen a room decorated in the 70's that remains to be shrink wrapped from the past , I love listing in the MLS that mentioned "maintained" which means trapped in the past to me , or needs gutting really, green shag and nastly paneling, poor layouts kitchens and bathrooms in desperate need of a wrecking ball. I have always moved every 3 years or so , with a new blank slate to make my own in what ever style or colour I love for the moment , but since we have invested so much in our home and life here I find myself tweeking what we have which is even more fun than I thought making all the improvements that I dream of.I am not fond of builder homes , they come very bland , and going through with all the updates that I would want at the time of purchase would have added $50,000.00 or more,not an option, so I have been slowly improving one step at a time.
My latest improvements are the lights in the kitchen, I found these very affordable fixtures at Home Depot , $50.00 each , of course considering the difficult task that the electrician had trying to put two boxes where there was one and getting them in the location I wanted wow I have so much respect for the trade, I am still waiting on the bill ,but it will be worth it , it looks incredible, where most have a small awkward table I have a huge island ,and my new lights are the icing on the cake.
The photo of the sink is the first improvement we made , I found that Kholer sink for sale in the paper for $100.00 and the faucet on ebay about 5 years ago. I love my huge sink it has 3 bowls , although I would love an apron front sink but one big bowl or two , I don't know maybe.
I have put in the photo of the previous light fixture as well. What do you think?

Pick Me Up

I have always loved flowers , I remember back when Todd and I were living together in a small basement apt in Oakville , where I dreamt of fresh flowers everyweek but could surely not afford such a luxury on such a slim income of a student and me a nanny, and I find myself now being able to afford such a luxury but I rarely ever buy flowers , that makes flowers last on the list , and always skipped.

But I do love the look, so much so that I was my own florist for my wedding bouquets in 1997 , and my in-laws wedding in 2001 .

So when I suggested myself for my sister in law Nat's wedding I thought nothing of it, I am glad to have done it but did not have a clue for what I was in for , 20 tables , the attendants flowers and the bridal bouquet , all done two hours away from my home, so sourcing the flowers was trickier than I had anticipated as the flower market mislead me as to what type of place they were, over priced , over done pre arranged items does not a flower market make, but several hours of driving the niagara region the day before lead me to my favorite source, The Superstore,they are the best deal on roses , and helped me enormously, not to mention the brides pocket book .

Still Todd and I spent that evening stripping the stems of thorns in preparation for the arranging , which dragged on to 2:00am , it was quite an undertaking but I learned why florists charge so much it really needs an army to pull off a wedding, we had hundreds and hundreds of roses.

The first photo was the trial centerpiece, the vases were double vesel and the outside was filled with coffee beans , stunning, and the location overlooking the falls was breath taking, really beautiful day , and time.

Sophie my baby girl

Now what can I say , I adore this kid, she sure knows how to push my buttons and make me melt, I see her as more fragile than perhaps most , I feel like all our time together is so precious, I feel like she can be taken away without notice, of course this is true of any child , but because Sophie is allergic to peanuts I alway feel impending doom, we have been lucky so far, I am very cautious of course with everything she puts in her mouth .This past weekend Sophie was a guest at two birthday parties , she was the only one who couldn't enjoy a piece of cake, the just in case , they didn't "have" nuts but no one can tell us if there has been cross contamination, poor kid she hates to be pointed out in any way ,really ever, thankfully she knows the seriousness of her allergy and it is nothing to play with , what a burden for such a little girl. But I have faith there will be a cure or a treatment .So until then I go on ,scanning every new place , every environment for danger, there behind the glass of the office at swimming class sits a bag of reeses balls, wondering did her swim coach wash properly, on the handle of the water fountain I wipe with vigor, letting the servers know everywhere we eat, yet by the end of a meal they usually forget .

I can't complain it is just what we need to do , like seatbelts , like helmets, but unlike those that are obvious to all , we have to protect her from an invisable or hidden danger most times , but boy am I glad we are dealing with this now and not 10 years ago , people are much more aware of this issue of concern.

I am lucky to be her Mom.