We’re easing our way back into routine over here. Last night I bought a bunch of ingredients and let myself get creative in the kitchen again making a big stirfry with a homemade sauce – and it felt so good to be back doing what I love. One of the great things about being on the road for a long time is that I always come back home with my mind FULL of ideas – recipes, crafts, DIY projects, plans for the future. I think I need to be mindful and start tomorrow morning with a big cup of peppermint tea (my fav!) and my notebook to just let all the ideas come out, like if I don’t get them out somewhere, they’ll disappear.
If you can’t already tell, I’m in a super good mood today. The sun is shining, it feels like summer here and I’ve got the weekend ahead of me to really roll up my sleeves and make our apartment look good again. It’s going to be an “open all the windows and air the place out” kinda weekend. In the meantime, I’m sharing my favourite finds this week and hopefully they’ll inspire you to get creative in your own way this weekend!
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Butchers Block Counters: Everywhere I’ve lived on my own has always had laminate countertops and while the ones we have now are new from when we moved in and look really nice, I can’t wait to have something a little more stylish when we have our own home. I’d love something with warmth and texture like these butchers block counters from Miss Mustard Seed. Check out her Home Tour for more great ideas.
Baskets Above Cabinets: A project that I can take on right now, is adding some much needed storage above our kitchen cabinets. Right now I have glass vases out in the open up there, but over time they’ve gotten dirty and dusty. I’d love to find some baskets to fit above the cabinets (like the ones in this pic) so that I can wrap each vase in plastic and keep them clean. I think the baskets would look much better too – less clutter! (side note – I love just about everything in this photos – the floors, the stools, beadboard and cabinets. Lovely!)
We All Scream for Ice Cream: Last year we bought an ice cream maker and got on a big homemade ice cream kick. With the whole Polar Vortex thing going on this winter, I don’t think either of us wanted to be an colder than we already were, so the poor thing as been in storage since the fall. Then I saw this recipe for Drunken Millionaire Ice Cream and you better believe our ice cream maker will be coming out of storage this weekend.
Paint Chips No More: I was so excited when I saw this awesome decorating tip – rather than carting around a bunch of paint chips for the colours of your house, take a small wooden dowel and paint it with all the different colours of your walls, doors, trim, etc. Then the next time you’re out and trying to remember what shade of green you really have, you can just grab it from your bag.
Creative Pie Crusts: I haven’t tried this pie dough recipe from Martha Stewart, as I tend to stick with my tried and true family recipe from my Great Aunt Marian, BUT I did lover this picture with all the different pie crust edges you can make. I’m always so boring, going for a pinched edge or the old flattened with a fork method, but I love the braided edged and beautiful scalloped design. I need to remember this next time I make a pie!
Must Make ASAP: I spotted this recipe for White Pizza Pull Apart Bread on Bloglovin yesterday and bookmarked it for the next time we have company coming over. Then I got on Pinterest last night and my feed was flooded with everyone else pinning this too. I can see this being a popular appetizer this summer. It seems like the perfect thing to put out at the cottage after everyone’s been running around all day in the sun.
Summer Reading List: I normally read a lot – every night before bed, whenever I have some time alone and even on my lunch breaks if I’m in the middle of a really good book. But for the past six months, whenever I grabbed a book and sat down to read, I thought about the wedding projects/lists/emails that I should be doing instead. Or if I was going to read something before bed, it should be one of the bridal magazines or wedding etiquette books that I had. I figured that seeing as I am only doing this once in my life, I should really soak it in and enjoy all the bridal stuff while I could. Now that the wedding is over, I can feel that self-imposed pressure lifting, which means that I can dig into some new books this summer! I already jotted down a few including The Visitors by Sally Beauman. If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments below, please!
Quirky Bookmark: I cracked up when I saw this Wizard of Oz inspired bookmark. I wuld love this to sitting on my bedside table with a new book from the list!
