Summer Plans

I, Katie, hereby commit to making this summer the best one ever! I plan on including the following:

• picnics - I bought a fun new hippy blanket for this very reason
  
• hiking - we started the routine this past weekend
  
• bbq'ing - trying out some new grilling recipes
  
• adventures - being brave and trying new things, and lots of day trips
  
• freckles - I don't tan, so I'm aiming to build up my freckle quota :)
  
• reading - I've got some great books waiting
  
• praying - it feels so wonderful when you chat regularly with God
  

Check out today's photo - doesn't our front yard look pretty? I love when the blooms start filling up all of the mulched parts. The colours looks dreamy together. Summer is here :)

My darling has a homemade tent set up in the living room - we're going old school with our dining chairs and a big blanket, and a mattress underneath. We're going to make s'mores and have a cozy evening in together... I love these nights the most :)

Happy Wednesday!

23 before 24 - Check.

Over the past month, I've been working on one of my 23 before 24 goals:


Snail-mailing weekly.

I've had a lot of fun sending notes, cards, and little packages to some of my darlings. I love using stickers, colourful markers, cute store-bought or homemade cards, anything that is different from your "Bic pen and Hallmark card"... and if it's sent just-because, all the better.

This week, I'm sending out a little lip gloss to one of my cousins... she doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe. :) I love giving someone the giddy feeling of opening up something personalized. It's nice to find something other than bills, fliers, and junk mail in the mailbox. It definitely puts a positive spin on your day. I got an Etsy package last week and I couldn't even take my shoes off before I opened up the box :) It's definitely one of the best, if not one of the simplest, special surprises.

Happy Tuesday!

Back It Up.

I'm baaack.

Daniel and I took a much needed vacation last week - it was fabulous to relax for more than a couple of days in a row! We traveled, got to spend time with our friends, attended a wedding, and did an adventurous thing or two :) I have so much to share with you this week!

I spent some time crafting on the weekend... here's a little sneak peek:



I have a few things up my sleeve for the blog this week... summer plans, crafty endeavors, recipes, and hopefully an old faithful - in the form of a mix tape, Polyvore Loves, or a peek inside my bag. I can't wait to post some colourful, exciting things for you to enjoy!

Happy Monday!

Break It.

Foodie

Daniel and I took the time to make a yummy summer tonight, and I thought I'd share a few simple ideas with you.

We buy salad mixes fairly regularly (with our schedules, it's a real pain in the butt to buy various leafy greens, tear, and wash them) and add our own yummies to the salad. Tonight we added green onions, pecans, and basil - delish.


We're both hooked on sauteed mushrooms - this time we did them with onions, a little soy sauce, and some freshly ground pepper. I could eat a bowl of this alone.


Daniel barbecued some steaks for us - he marinated them for a few hours, then grilled them with some store-bought barbecue sauce. He's the master of the grill.


We also had maple sweet potatoes, and cinnamon-y carrots... no pictures, though. The carrots kept steaming up the lens :), and the sweet potatoes were ready right before we ate, so no time for a shot. We enjoyed our supper immensely!

I haven't weighed myself in a while - I like to do it right away in the morning, before anything else, and this week has had some crazy mornings. I've been feeling good - a little exercise here and there, but nothing too intense yet. It's so hard to make the time - and that's what it is. The time is there, it just needs to be set aside... I need to realize that exercising is just as important as anything else on my daily schedule. I have the day off tomorrow, and we've got some fun plans that will include outdoor activity. Stay tuned for pictures :)

Happy Thursday - and thanks for reading!

Be Still, My Heart

I have a very soft spot in my heart for Anthropologie. When we were in Boston last fall, I did some intense drooling over their products - but I couldn't pick one! When I finally settled on a sweater, I took a peek at the price tag and placed it back on the rack. Painful. I'm hoping to get to the one in Toronto next month - hopefully I'll find something dreamy in my price range - everything in that store shouts my name!

I'm going to showcase their home goods today - don't even get me started on their clothing!

There is a beautiful new application on their site that allows you to mix and match bedding (sheet sets and quilts/duvet covers) side by side. It's so much fun to see what the prettiest combination will be. Sorry, I won't be spending $800ish on my bed. It's fun to look, though.

Here are my favourite duvet covers:






Here are my favourite sheet sets:






I'll take one of each in a full/queen, okay? Okay.

Happy Tuesday!

Post-Weekend and New Plans

I bought a lovely book on our trip, and haven't had a chance to peek at it until this weekend. Sage and I went out on Saturday afternoon with a blanket and chilled... me reading, him chewing on a random stick. Sounds like fun to me :)

Handmade Marketplace is a great read for anyone with, or interested in starting, an online business. The tips and tricks make me feel like starting from scratch all over again. The book is so well written: terrific topics broken down into chapters, quotes and ideas from established entrepreneurs, and brainstorming techniques. I highly recommend it!

Speaking of online businesses, I took part of the afternoon yesterday to come up with some fresh ideas for my Etsy shop. I let each item expire so that I can start with a blank slate, and gave away most of my merchandise. I think I'll be taking polkadotsoup in a whole new direction (the shop, not the blog). I'll have new items, better photos and descriptions, and a catchy new banner (the bar at the top of a shop's main page). We're on vacation in a few weeks, and I hope to take some days to really get my shop re-established.

Hope your week is off to a fabulous start. Happy Monday!

Polyvore Loves

Here's a fun little Polyvore Loves for you this week.

I picked out items that I'd love to wear to a picnic... gotta love red gingham and dark denim. The colourful floral necklace is darling, too. Aqua flats? With bows? I'm in.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

fun in the sun by littleohme featuring Marc by Marc Jacobs bags

A Video for You

The other day, I was browsing through our PEI trip photos, and I came across this clip of video from our camera.

I had been taping the water swirling around, and didn't notice that Daniel and David were talking in the background. My video happened to catch a little joke Daniel made, and it made me laugh :) I think you'll find it funny, too - whether you're an Iphone owner or not (like us).




Happy Thursday!

Tune In

Here's a little Snow Patrol playlist for you... just seven tunes to get you hooked. Enjoy!

Create a MySpace Playlist at MixPod.com

Summer Switch-out

Time for a little home pick-me-up!

Our entryway needed some serious colour... the painting that was there was beautiful, but dark: black, red, and gold. I picked it up at a thrift store two years ago (for something like $3), and although I love it, it needs to be put in storage until the fall. Too dreary.


I have had a canvas hanging out in our storage closet that was itching to be used. I grabbed some masking tape, and mint and turquoise (although they do not look like those colours on here) acrylic paint and got busy. Taped off a bunch of diagonal lines, painted with two sponge brushes (my favourite for large areas!) and voila! New painting in about 15 minutes, start to finish.

We had bought the floating shelf a few months ago, it just isn`t in to top photo. It is the perfect size, since it is too small to collect any clutter. I added some of my yarn flowers in a milk glass vase, and three little bowls. They have cute cherry blossoms, and a delicate-looking branch... also thrifted :) They are great for holding our keys, memory stick, and pocket change.

There. A nice little summery update... sometimes it seems hard to refresh a room or area without any new purchases, but it is so much more fun when you can re-purpose something you already have. I did the same in the bathroom: emptied it of anything movable, scrubbed it down, put the essentials back in, and then edited the extras. It feels so nice to have a refreshed space!

Happy Wednesday!

Post-Weekend

I hope you had an awesome weekend, whether it was long or a regular length! We spent a lovely Saturday afternoon at the park...

Our turquoise shoes

Us

The un-fly-able kite, also known as the we-left-it-there kite

My rediscovered, newly favourited cardigan for summer - great colours!

Fun with macro

That kite was a killer! I picked it up a few weeks ago for Daniel, and we attempted to fly it for the first time. It did not leave the ground. We took a really funny video... the kite was one of the ones with two lines, and it liked to stick close to ground-level. We left it at the park. Someone else can try it out :)

There was a wedding at the park... the bagpiper was practicing the whole time we were there, so it provided some nice background music for the video :) As we were leaving, we kept meeting people that were all dressed up, heading for the wedding. We giggled as we thought of them all stepping over the kite in the middle of the field... maybe it would get into some wedding photos :)

My week is off to a busy start - I had to do all of the month end stuff at work yesterday, and last night was the last Monday School until the fall, so it was prize night. When I got home, I had some fun painting a new piece for our entrance - it needed a little colour. I will give you a peek this week, and I also hope to share a few other projects with you.

Happy Tuesday!