Lucky 1313 viewers to my blog, how great is that!!

When I saw that 1313 viewings to my blog have occurred, I thought, it was time to write again. It has been a while.

We are once again snowed in, here in Toronto!! Are you kidding me? This is nuts nuts nuts. I went out this morning to visit a friend of mine that lives 5 minutes away, and nearly killed myself - the roads were that bad. It's been snowing all night, and now looks like all day, and it's not letting up. Everything becomes crazy in this weather, everything. Grocery shopping becomes a trek over banks of snow and whiteouts. seeing friends and family becomes an impossible task, since what used to be a 5 minute car ride, is now a dangerous mission through the deep freeze. I look at women with small children in stores, and I think, how do they do it? The kids are bundled beyond recognition, the women are tired and also bundled beyond recognition. These are the days that staying home might be a good idea....I should have!!

Now, from what it looks like, from what our little baby ticker tells me, the days are getting closer and closer. Though it feels like July's sunny and hot days are still far far away, I somehow see the next 6 months flying by. I know they will. We have so much to do, and I only wish for it to stop snowing so that I can get out there and start on that list. If only a bit.

Martin and I just had our first 'baby shopping' day last weekend. I was very exciting, since really I love to shop, love to decorate, love interior design, and of course love the idea of being a mommy. Out of all those things, the only thing that Martin loves is being a daddy. The shopping and decorating are far far far on that list, if there at all. He does appreciate that I love interior design, and loves when things look well put together and beautiful, but the finished product is where the process starts and end for him. Shopping, stores, planning, well that's my department. The truth is, that I LOVE having sole authority on the matter!! It's great to do things as I like, knowing that 99.9% of the time he loves it the way I make it look. Some women would complain, I think it's great not to have someone to negotiate with!! This is scarcely the way with all other parts of our life....

Anyhow, the baby shopping was good since we decided on a few things, and started the process. First of all, after about 30 minutes in a store, I decided, that even though I am planning a beige/green nursery, not knowing the sex of the baby is practically impossible when really trying to design. I mean, I can't do it!! So there goes that dream!! We have an appointment on March 3rd, and it looks like we're going to be finding out the sex then. My oh my how quickly things change....haha!! After this executive decision, (which was something Marty wanted from the beginning so he's happy) we went to our favourite store/interior designer in the city and talked to the owner about some ideas. We came up with a great one.

The store is called Flik and Company. Below is the shop sign: http://www.flikandcompany.com/

Stephan Howard and partner Mario Cote have the most amazing store you can imagine, in a trendy/artsy part of Toronto called Leslieville. Anyhow, we love their design sense and cannot imagine starting any project in our house, without first visiting the shop, and having a chat with Stephan. I think his creative energy rubs off on me when I chat with him, since I am always inspired to do something great afterwards. Anyhow, we have a piece in our house that we got from him a few years ago, a picture of it is below.

It's the most loved piece of furniture that I have, and it's the most complimented thing we have also. It's kind of a sideboard/bar unit, that was made from salvaged wood and hardware. It has a copper sink (that we don't use) and is quite large and bright. As you can see above - the picture does not do it justice however!! So, we decided to commission Stephan and Mario to design and have built the changing table for the nursery, in a similar style as the sideboard. The idea being, that we can place a changing mat on top, and use it as a changing table for as long as we need to, and then use it in another part of the house later once we are no longer in need of it in the nursery.

We are having it painted a olive green type colour....very modern, very cool but easily very baby. The piece will the starting point of the nursery. It will be the beacon of colour and style for the drapes, rugs, bedding, etc etc.

To the right are some of the beautiful objects in the store. The rocking horse might just find it's way into our house one day soon, but we will see!! It has to be somewhere secure enough for little hands not to get on it, yet in a visible place to be decorative. Hmmm...we'll see.

It looks like we have a great start, to what I want to be the best room in the

house. I want it to be child and baby friendly for one. I also want it to be a

place where we can be close as a family. Where we can spend time together.

It is a very large room, on the third floor of our house, and has all the

potential in the world to be amazing. I just have to think it up =)

The walls are being painted within the next few weeks. Right now the room

is empty and unused, and since it used to be a little boys room, it's a very

bright baby blue. Not my favourite, and quite sex-specific, as well as a

no-room-to-grow kinda colour. It is vital for me that we don't have to

change the nursery into a child's room by doing all that much. I don't want

it to be a radical change every year or so. Thus we chose a neutral tan that

I will stencil stars on. Big white stars where the cathedral ceiling slopes.

Should be magical. Somewhat contemporary and easy on the eyes.

I will post pictures of the room 'before' and the room 'after' soon enough.

It is so bare now, that it will be with great joy, that I will turn it into a great

space. May be in my next post, I will show the room in detail as it is now.

Oh, and one last terrific thing that I found out there, in baby-design land...

A few months ago I was at a interior design show with my sister-in-law and

found this great shop that sells these hilarious stuffed toys for kids and

fun-loving adults called Monsters, at the Monster Factory. Here is the website:

http://www.monsterfactory.net/store/index.php

Please check it out, and be sure to read the little quote that describes each monster when you click on the picture...they are utterly hilarious!! Plus they are soft, and really fat and fun to hold. So, I had to have one, for the nursery of course!! His name is Buddy.

Buddy is surprisingly deep for someone who spends so much of his time 'zoned out'

(as per the website...)

Kiddo: It is out of sheer love and joy that I am creating this space for you to grow in. Every thought and every idea is derived from love, and devotion to you.