I have been seeing typography trays floating around on the web and pinterest for a little while now.

from visual heart

from the backyard bungalow

from google.uk

It is a look that I really like. In fact, we bought our first typography tray over 15 years ago. It is a great place to keep the odd assortment of objects that my crow has collected over the years.

Every time I walk down the hallway and see the trays, I am reminded of so many childhood memories. Fisher price, crayons, Red Rose tea figurines, dude ranch badges, an old prescription bottle of my grandmother's...

And so many newer memories...odd little miniature pieces of furniture, modern Monopoly markers, Spongebob Squarepants, brass numbers... all brought home to me by my crow.

Some women sigh over big bouquets of flowers or extravagant trips. Me? I sigh over each odd little thing that he brings home knowing that each one will hold a memory of our years together.

I have a black thumb.

Which is good because I also have allergies. Major allergies. 

 Put a flower in my house and I will be miserable kind of allergies.

Sneezing, wheezing, congestion, scratchy eyes...you name an allergy symptom and I get it kind of allergies.

And, yet, I love all the flowers that abound at this time of year.

I know I could never grow them myself even if I didn't have allergies.

Did I mention I have a black thumb?

We are talking the kind of black thumb that kills everything that has the potential for flowering.

Well, to be fair, I do seem to manage to keep hostas and green grass alive.

That and African Violets. You can pretty much ignore African violets for months and months and they keep on going.

They are like that darned Energizer bunny!

Anywho, back to the wonderful gardens that I will never, ever grow for myself.

The ones in my neighbourhood are glorious. 

Just look for yourself!

Porch Love

I have been taking the dog for a lot of walks lately. This is probably one of my least favourite activities but it does allow for one of my most favourite activities which is to look at houses in the neighbourhood and see how other people live.

I have come across some lovely porches in the last week and, compliments of my new iphone, have some equally lovely images of them to show you. (My daughter did say I would love my iphone and, I have to say, so far she was right on the money!)

Imagine you have a lovely glass of ice tea, it is a sunny but not too hot day (perhaps there is a bit of a breeze blowing up from the beach) and you can take yourself to one of these spaces to relax and enjoy a good book. Ah, heaven!

Don't the third and fourth porches just call out for a hammock swinging in the breeze?

One day, I keep telling myself, one day....

What is it about white?

I was just looking over my pinterest boards and paused to look through my decorating one. There are way too many posts on it (over 1200) and I am thinking of creating boards for each area of the house (sort of like I have done for each school subject).

Anywho, what really struck me as I scrolled through my decorating pins is that there is A LOT of white going on.

White walls, white furniture, white linens, white dishes, white, white, white.

When did this love of white start for me? Í don't know but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

I mean, my heart actually stutters and I feel so happy when I see rooms like this...



or this...



(although I don't think I would have so many fishy things going on. More birds than fishes for me)

or this...



(though, I must admit, I have a hard time seeing this staying white given we have a dog - and, now, a cat - sleeping on our bed most of the time!)



I want to sit down to work on my computer at a space like this. Wouldn't you?

And kitchens...geez, don't even let me get started on kitchens. I have one of the last remaining 1980's IKEA kitchens. Picture mud brown counters and ugly cream coloured laminate cupboards. It is terrible. And not something I can just change on a whim as I don't own the space. Oh, but to have a kitchen like this...



or this...

or this...

Oh, what a lovely dream it is to imagine my kitchen all fresh and white like this! Hopefully, our turn for kitchen renewal will come up sooner rather than later at the co-op. Fingers crossed! (And toes, legs, eyes, you get the idea!)

My goal is to slowly work towards having a house that evokes the same feelings in me as these pictures. These spaces always make me smile, they bring a lightness to my heart and spirit. They make me happy. This is how I believe home should feel.

Parts of our space already do this for me. But I want ALL of our space to do this for me. Time and patience plus a lot of elbow grease will get us there. Stay tuned!

Behold....a Balcony Garden!!!!

Another item on my Summer Challenge board is to do something about our balcony.

The balcony itself needs some work but that is on the agenda for the fall. In the meantime, I didn't want to spend our first summer in our new home with an ugly balcony. I wanted a balcony garden. I pinned this picture to represent the garden for me.



Now, it needs to be said that I am not a gardener. There is really nothing about digging in the dirt that I find the least bit appealing. That said, I do like the look of a lush, green space.

I went to the garden centre just a few blocks from home. I like that it is a small, local centre and not a big box store. Once there, I explained to a very nice lady that a) I am not a very good gardener (i.e. I kill things) and b) my back deck faces west and only gets the late afternoon sun and c) I didn't want anything really flowery as I have a ton of allergies and d) in a perfect world I would like to grow my salad on my balcony.

She explained to me that my dream of tomatoes and lettuce fresh from my balcony is unlikely to happen as I do not get enough sun to support their growth and then she pointed me to the grasses and hostas. Oh well, good thing I like hostas and ornamental grasses!

Just under $60 later, I was at home getting my hands dirty and an hour later had this...

I already had two hostas that were blooming (bottom pic, aren't they purty?) and then I planted grass seed in any leftover containers (you can see it in the top pic in the terracotta planter and the big wide blue one sitting on the wash stand).

Yep, just everyday, ordinary, front yard grass seed. I figure I can have some lawn in a container since I don't actually own any lawn! Plus, it means I don't have to do any more planting this year. And it was free since it was the seed left over from our planting study at school.

Next year, I will add to the plants but this will do me for the summer. And, balcony gardening is off the list! Yeah!!!

Animal Love

As you can see, our newest family member, Simon, is getting along just fine with, our other four legged family member, Bosley. They are even managing to share the affection of my husband (who is asleep behind them) without fighting. I think animals can teach us a whole lot about accepting each other's differences and getting along, don't you?

Summer Challenge: Daily Walks

Another item on my SC list is to walk every day.

This walk is not about exercise (though I suppose it is a side benefit) as I plan to go to the gym for that.

  

No, this walk is about spirit.

To take 20 minutes or so each day.

To step out of myself.

To ponder and reflect.

To remember those near and dear to me.

To practice an attitude of gratitude.

To let go of negative thoughts.

To invite the positive in.

Today I started.

I walked down to the beach listening to my music and sat on a rock enjoying the serenity of the morning.

And it was good.
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