DUSTY ROSE CHAIR POST TWO

You remember ol' dusty rose from a few posts ago?  Well, I took a little trip to Fabricville this weekend and found a potential fabric for her.  I wanted something white, cream, or off white with some texture and there were a few things available but most didn't have the amount of texture I was looking for.  I did find something that I think might be a winner, though.

The best part is with a club elite membership it's only $6.99 / yard which is almost unheard of in my limited experience.  It will make recovering the chair much more affordable (because I don't know how to do things like that and have to hire an upholsterer).  What do you think?

Nail polish: OPI "If You Moust You Moust" (Minnie Mouse collection) and OPI "Arbre Aqui" (liquid sand).  A little beauty hint - peruse the Winners/Homesense beauty section for discount OPI polish.

OUT LIKE A LION

Leroy is tired of snow.  Really tired.  He liked it at the beginning of winter - the running, the jumping, the eating, the burrowing... but now, it's just getting stuck between his paws and making poops more difficult.  No one wants that.

We had the biggest storm of the year this week (a week after the first day of spring...yay).  It was a lovely welcome home from Calgary.  Thankfully I came home the day before the storm or I would have been stranded at some airport in Canada, I'm sure.

Here are some photos of sad Leroy covered in March snow.  He's so sad he's even in black and white.

Here's to one day experiencing Spring.  Fingers crossed.

CALGARY FOOD: MODEL MILK

I returned home Tuesday after a lovely visit in Calgary, Alberta visiting a friend from my undergrad.  We last saw each other three years ago when she came east to visit her sister at university, and when she left I remember crying and thinking, "I wonder when we'll see each other again."  Three years is too long, but better than I had hoped for back in 2011!  I had some Air Canada credits from the fall when I completely changed my life plans and cancelled my cross Canada tour.  They have to be used within a year so it seemed the perfect excuse to visit!

I'm going to break my trip into a couple of posts so you can enjoy the beauty of the Rockies separately. :)  This is going to be a little food post from one of the restaurants we ate at called Model Milk.  I think we all know how much I love to eat and going to new places to eat is always one of my favourite activities.  (Also on my trip we went out for authentic Indian food with a co-worker of F's who is from India.  It was amazing and I wish hubby could have been there!  I didn't take any photos though, sorry.  Let's just say google "dosa".  Sooo good and I'd never heard of it before.)  After that long aside, Model Milk was a cool little spot full of wood and brick and iron railings.  We sat upstairs where the room is essentially one large balcony that overlooks the main floor.  Around the outside perimeter is a long wooden "bench" with water jugs and artwork.  It's a very attractive spot.

The food was tasty too, although not the best meal I've ever had.  (Hubby and I have a mental list of the best meals we've ever eaten and we sometimes we reminisce about how delicious they were.)  F and I both had gnocchi with pumpkin puree, butternut squash, and brussel sprouts (yum - love them).  The other girls split a plate of chicken and waffles that probably could have fed three! 

It was one of many fun nights we had during my trip!  More to come later.

DUSTY ROSE CHAIR

A new (to us) piece of furniture joined our ranks last night.  This is why you cruise your Kijiji equivalent regularly.  I often go weeks (or even months) without finding what I'm looking for, but when it does appear, it is often my vision come to life.  You can find items with lots of character and charm for a good deal.  I found this cute little chair a week or so ago and was able to go have a look at it last night. 

Don't worry, it won't be dusty pink for long.  I would like to find a quilted ivory or cream fabric, although that might be kind of specific to find at Fabricville.  I'm also thinking of ditching the tufting.  I like tufting on certain things but I wonder if this chair would look better without it.

My original plan was to use this as a desk chair in our (slowly) re-vamped spare room.  Maybe it will still go there, but now I could also take it to my apartment for the next couple of years since I currently don't have any apartment furniture.  We'll see!  I'm excited to find some fabric and make this little guy beautiful!

WHAT TO WEAR: DINNER AND A GAME

I'm home from work today because the roads are terrible, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog about our trip to Boston from a month or so ago.  Hubby and I hadn't been on vacation together since last year on my March Break (since as a third/fourth year medical student you don't get any vacation during the summer) so we decided to go on a little trip to Freeport, Maine, and Boston, Mass!  I have driven past Boston a few times on my way to Cape Cod and NYC, but I had never actually been there so I was excited to go, even in the midst of the snows of February.  It's the home of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, donchaknow!

My favourite part of the trip was the Boston Celtics game on Friday night.  I have been to a number of professional baseball games (all Expos games), but this was my first NBA game.  We went to dinner first at Boston Beer Works which is right down the street from the TD Garden.  It was pub food but really yummy, actually, and I'm not normally a fan of pub fare.  I had the nachos (ol' faithful) and they were delish!  And I know me a good plate of nachos, people.

I wanted to wear something kind of nice for a few reasons. 1. We were going out to dinner first. 2. I don't own any green Celtics gear and did not plan on buying any. 3. We only spent two nights in the city so I wanted to make the most of it.  I decided on a sweatshirt from Garage, a skirt (old) from TJ Maxx that I have since trashed (sadly) because it was getting pretty worn out, and booties from Aldo.

The game itself was pretty great.  My dad is a HUGE Celtics fan so I grew up watching a lot of Celtics on tv.  My dad's a teacher and when I was little, his classroom was full of Larry Bird gear and newspaper clippings.  H core.  So, needless to say, that added to my excitement at my first NBA game.

Hilariously, just before halftime, a player was subbing in from the sidelines and hubby and I were both (unknowingly) staring him down.  Hubby looked at me and said, "Is that Kris Humphries?"  I said, "I was wondering the same thing!!"  It was.  The Hump.  Mr. Kardashian himself.  That was quite distracting for me, watching Kimmy K's ex.  I got quite the giggle out of that one.

The whole trip we said, "Wouldn't it be nice to live in a big city and be able to go to shows and games whenever you wanted?"  It would be nice, wouldn't it?  ...and expensive.  Next sports-related item on my bucket list?  NFL game.  Because that would be awesome.  I think hubby would say his is a PGA tour event.  Tomatoes.  Tom-AAH-toes.

JEREMIAH 29:11 ALSO KNOWN AS I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY ON MY BIRTHDAY

You may already know from facebook we had some unpleasant news last week. March 5 was "Match Day", or the day Canadian medical students find out the results from CaRMS - the Canadian Residency Match Service - or something along those lines.  To give you some background, after we interview for residency programs we "rank" these programs, or submit a list in order of where we would like to do residency.  All the schools across Canada also submit a rank list, theirs of the students (in order) they would like to have in their program.  The magical (flawed? frustrating?) computer program then matches you with your top available choice based on the spots that are already filled with applicants who ranked above you.

We had hoped to stay exactly where we are.  We have lived here for four years now, have a home, a church, volunteer weekly at youth group, and I feel like after four years I finally made a couple of friends here...things are good.  It's the first time in our relationship we've actually been able to live together, even.  (We spent all our dating relationship and first two years of marriage apart - count 'em - that's four years long distance already.  We put in our time.)  I guess we felt rewarded for our time apart in being able to live together for the past four years.  Heaven forbid married people actually be able to spend time together.

So, needless to say, we were disappointed (understatement of the year) to find out I will be moving (alone) an hour and a half away for two more years of long distance marriage.  Modern marriage?  (Not to mention doubling our cost of living.)  Just call me Amy Two Two.  And for the love of Canadian authors, I hope you got that reference.

This is less than ideal.  Far less.  I threw myself a little pity party for a few days and thankfully have climbed out of the hole I was living in at the end of last week.  (And as a little side note, I might do a post at another time of why I hate "silver linings" sentiments when I'm upset.  Just part of my weirdness, perhaps.) 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to help you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

I believe this verse with my whole heart.  It has always been one of my favourites and there have been other times in my life when I have relied on it.  And after a few days of feeling sorry for myself, I knew it was time to put on my "big girl panties" and lean on God.  This is His plan for me.  I don't understand it, but I don't have to.  I have faith it is a plan to help me and not to harm me.  If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans, right?

The photo I'll share with you today is from Match Day, which unluckily also happened to be hubby's birthday.  Ironic?  I made him a carrot cake as per his request and covered it with ombre shortbread cookies.  (He loved it because it was two desserts in one.)

To all of my classmates who have residency placements they are happy with - congratulations, I am very pleased for you.  And to those who are not happy with residency placements - I get it, and just know that somehow, for some reason, it's part of God's plan for you for hope and a future.  Someday hopefully it will all be clear!

SPARE ROOM: POST ONE

This year hubby and I decided to organize some of our bigger messes.  I love organizing, categorizing, filing, etc but just haven't taken the time to do it since we moved into our home in December 2010.  (One time at the doctor's office when I was about 7 or 8 I spent our time in the waiting room organizing and cleaning the children's play area.  I kid you not.  That says a lot about a person.)

At the end of Christmas vacation I organized our toiletry bins and medicine cabinet in the bathroom.  Disastrous, it was. (Yoda voice.)  I threw out bottles of moisturizer and shower gel that had separated into its water component and cream component.  Didn't know that could happen, did you?

In November we bought filing cabinets for the spare room and I made hubby throw away his grocery receipts from 2009 as we filed all our important documents away.  (And why do appliances come with sooo many manuals?  Will I ever actually look at them?  Should I really save them? FYI - I did.)

My most recent project was hubby's closet.  Our bedroom has a tiny closet that (barely) holds my clothing.  Hubby has been banished to the spare room where he has his own closet and dresser.  Now, before you feel too sorry for him, in our old apartment my clothing was in the spare room and his was in the master.  Hubby has a fear when I say I want to organize his closet that I am going to donate all of his most prized Vince Carter jerseys and holey underwear to the less fortunate.  This may or may not be because a few years ago he came home to find garbage bags full of his old clothes sitting by the door to our apartment...

You might remember our spare room is our "dirty little secret".  Here are the before photos of hubby's closet.  I kid you not; those piles existed.  (And, side note, I can't blame hubby for those hideous door handles.  They were there when we moved in.)

                                                                             
You may have noticed the closet is built up off the floor.  Yes, it is very weird.  No, I don't know why it is like that.  There is nothing below it and from the mudroom closet you can see that there is just an empty space underneath.

After a coat of paint on the closet doors, new cabinet pulls from Kent (and the old holes filled in with wood filler), a floor shoe rack, and two shelves (also from Kent), the closet is much more functional.  Even without the piles.  How he ever found anything in there is beyond me.  Surprisingly, even hubby admits it is an improvement.

            




                                              
A sigh of relief was heard throughout the house.  And don't worry - no Vince Carter jerseys or cowboy hats were harmed in the making of this project.  (Truth be told, the jersey and hat were once worn together.  But not since I've been around.  I don't stand for that kind of nonsense.)

It also might be worth mentioning that I just got twitter!  I posted a link on the right below my profile if you want to check it out.  Happy Monday!

YES I HERD YOU

I have a few things to post soon, including hubby's birthday cake and some (not so great) family news.  In the meantime I thought I'd just post quickly on a little purchase we made last night.  I have started to "favourite" items on Etsy that I like for future reference.  Almost all of them I'm sure I'll never buy, but it's kind of nice just for inspiration.  Anyhoo, a week or so ago I noticed a border collie magnet from PopDoggie and hubby actually insisted we buy it for our fridge.  I thought you might like to see it. :)

We thought it was oh so punny.  And since Leroy is such a sweet little man, I'll leave you with a couple of photos of him from September 2013.

Have a great weekend!