French-Pressed Coffee

I've been rolling out of bed extra early for a few days to take pictures of work products on my different tables. I wish I had a very large house, so I could have dozens of interesting, weathered, handsome tables, and mismatched chairs of all sizes and colours! I would also have dozens of beds for dozens of weary travelers: friends, old and new. I just want to share my cozy home (wherever that may be), and share laughter. Thankful to know home is something I carry with me, something I can physically create wherever I go.

You carry your home with you. It is in your heart!

My new nook

My new place (next door, literally sharing a wall to my old place) is set up mostly how I like! Once I find the perfect old barnwood table and some cabinets for arts and sewing, I will be truly settled. I recently joined Airbnb, and they quickly sent a photographer my way.

Click here to see more of my cozy home.

Secrets

Sometimes I like to take long, aimless walks in the sunshine (or midnight moonlight) and think about my secrets. Just pondering them over, smiling or tearing up or shivering with excitement about past and future secrets. Mysteries. Wonderment. Well, I have a pretty good secret project that I am working on right now with a dear friend. It will be revealed in weeks or months to come, promise! I PROMISE I WILL BLOG MORE!



Remember when I promised to take photos of my charming new place that I moved into last June? I know I shared a couple here and there, but not much. It's really much better in person, so feel free to invite yourself over for a meal. I am always cooking and making lovely drinks, and I do enjoy pleasant company. Anyhow, sweet Lauren came over recently to have a little shoot for her blog. Go have a looksee! I poached eggs in a homemade Italian tomato sauce with fresh basil, scooped up in multigrain toast. My new favourite brunch.
(photos by Lauren Winter)

$35

I don't do a ton of "mid-range" shopping. I prefer to shop dirt cheap at the flea market, or get nice things from Anthropologie (okay almost always on sale, but still good quality). I stop by Target or Forever 21 on occasion for quick things, but it's a rarity. I just want to own things that will really last, which is ironic considering my new job, more on that later. But brand new pots and pans are expensive, especially when you have lots of things to replace from moving altogether too many times in the last 6 years (approximately 12, I just did a rough count). Anyhow, I passed a TJ Maxx the other day and just so happened to have received a $40 gift card in the mail recently. Since December, I have been searching high and low, far and wide (NY, LA, NASH, eeeeeverywhere on the WWW) for the perfect, nude coloured heels. No. Luck. ANYWHERE! So doesn't it seem wrong that I stumble upon them (literally, tripped over the only cute shoes in the whole store that happen to be a size 7) that I find the exact style, height and colour at a discount store? Thanks Steve Madden, but why did your cutest shoes not even hit Macy's? I found them for $34.99 tho, so I was more than happy. This purchase would be easily covered with my gift card, but what I REALLY needed was pots to cook all my yummy vegetables in. Cute, matching pots. Pots with non-stick power. I had searched high and low for two weeks for such a product that was not $79.99 per pot. Lo and behold TJ Maxxx.. you win again. You had several half sets, non-matching sets, and ugly pots. But... there was one full set of three ADORABLE pots to match my cute new vintage kitchen. These great pots are the prettiest soft turquoise, which just so happens to match the inside colour of my white, french bathroom trash tin. Granted, how many people will notise that my pots match the innerworkings of le bain?! Well, I catch these things. The set of 3 was only $35, a breath of fresh air post drooling-sesh at Le Crueset. What's a girl to do? Use the gift card for the shoes, which were way cheaper than she expected to pay, or use it for the much needed pots, which were cheaper than she expected to pay?


Obviously I got everything, completely guilt-free.

Here is a snippet of my new place. It's coming together, I can't wait to share more! I found the gorgeous two-piece brass outlet cover at the fairgounds, 2 for $1. This old trunk (I don't know, early 1900s at least) is quite ragged but easily worth a couple hundred. It was marked $10 at the flea market, and while I love bargaining with the vendors there, I almost wanted to offer him MORE! The books I have been collecting for awhile, mostly rare vintage children's books, random old stories with strange titles, french method books, and a 1930s book of Parisian maps from my Grandfather.

Today I googled: lace vinyl placemat. No luck.