slide show sunday. take 4.

 Another beautiful weekend had here at our nest.  Another slide show bonaza for you friends!  Here's lil' Azriel and I snacking at the zoo on friday. 

 Seeing blue at the zoo... quiet splash pad... despite all of peterborough being there that day!

 Stroller social scene.

 Saturday morning.. pouring rain.  Steaming up the windows by playing 'xoxo's... literally.  Exciting moment of the morning: discovering my hair is finally long enough to put in pig-tail braids!

 Touring our local art gallery... a.k.a... 'glorified wheelchair ramp' with fun art!

 Saturday afternoon at Ben's family.  Azi loves eating rhubarb in the raw there... pretty flowers too!

 The white wonder... family dog - Hazel.

 Snuggles and stripes on the back porch.

 Azi gets her pants heaved up from Nana without fail.

 Azi and friend, Wren discover the joys of thinking 'inside' the box.

 Family saturday meal: 9 plates filled with BBQ sausage, potato, pasta salad, chips and wine on the side.

 Sunday after church, Azi and I took off with my folks to visit the big brother in the big city.. Toronto!  Visiting the new condo him and his girlfriend bought by the harbour front.

Nothing like waddling through throngs of twiggy.trendy.texting.Torontonians to make me feel all flabby and frumpy.... sheesh!  That harbour front is quite the people watching carnival.  It was hot and beautifully sunny... and everyone - and their dogs - were out to play.  It was great to visit with family... but it was good to drive back home too.  I'm becoming less and less of a 'big city' kind of girl... and longing for quieter, natural surroundings.

Anywho, that's the slide show for this weekend!

It's going to be a fun week friends, stay posted.

nite nite!

Mel :o)

soul.food.sunday.1

 Morning friends.  It's Sunday. What does the day hold for you?  Here, we get ready to go to church. Maybe you are too... or maybe that's not your 'scene'.  Sooo, here's what we're going to call 'soul.food'. sunday. slide show for you...  a verse to guide your day, inspired.illustrated by our gal Azriel... if you will.

 "Man [or, baby] does not live on bread alone...

... but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord"

Deuteronomy 8:3

God's Word is poetry.prophecy.penetrating.powerful.personal.

Go on.. take a bite.

Azriel's says 'bred' and 'biboe' by the way.  How cute is that?

Have a lovely Sunday.

(Slide show sunday to follow later).

Mel :o)

take a hike.

Hello friends!  Did you have a wonderful day out in the sunshine?  I hope so (if you share our weather system that is..). I mentioned in my post earlier about our family date outing yesterday... so I thought I'd share a few pics from the fun.

Here's my big head getting in the way of our daughter's... she wasn't impressed.

 Our lil' gnomie exploring the paths out at the Trent Bird Sanctuary.  Can I just say that our girl is the slowest walker on the earth.  Snails are zipping past us.  Ben's beard is three inches longer with every step Azriel decides to take.  I think she has the makings of quite the 'naturalist'... since every pebble.stick.leaf needs to be examined in wonder. for ten minutes at a time.

 Needless to say, if we wanted to hike - and get back the same day - we needed to strap that baby on and march.  Azi complained about the fast 'pace' and her distant 'view' from all of nature.  So I gave her a pine bough to play with... which she loved cramming in my face.  Thus, I gave her a softer leaf.... and the cramming... and laughing, continued.

 Having worked up an appetite.. we stopped in at Reggie's Hot Grill - a glorified chip truck outside of Trent University.  Yum!  They know how to grill..  and for cheap... perfect!  As usual, Azi got busy in the dirt...collecting stones to make inukshuks on the picnic table.

root beer. sausage on a bun. sweet potato fries with curried mayo.  Mmmmmmm!

What do you and your family like to do?

Where's your favourite 'family date' spots?

A good hike in the woods is always tops on our list.

Hope you all have a beauty weekend,

Mel :o)

confessions [of a Mel] part.2.

I love this guy.  He just happens to be my husband.  I confess that I think my blog may often teeter on the edge of looking 'baby' centered.  Yes, our daughter is the yummiest thing since sliced bread.. but there needs to be a balance.  A child-centered home is not our goal, she is a part of our already existing love circle.  Don't worry..this won't mean new posts with 'cute outfits' I made for Ben! ;o)  It does mean, I may have to gush about him here - and you're just going to have to hold back the gag factor.

****

Yesterday we got a chance to have family date time.. which was great.. but by the end of the day I still felt like I missed Ben.  How often we can feel co-existing.. but not connected as couples eh?  I was eagerly playing in the clay last night (yes more pottery!)... but then it hit me that I would much rather run in and be near my man.  We built a fire outside. and sat. and talked. and laughed.  It was good.

We need to fight for our marriages to stay healthy and strong in a world of distractions.  I want my daughter to grow up in a home that shows love to all and rests on God's grace to supply it.

There it is.

Mel :o)

D.I.Y upcycle shirt for someone who looks cuter in it...

 shirt/scarf: upcycled from mama's wardrobe.

yellow bloomers: thrifted.

white sandals: thrifted.

We like to keep things pretty simple. pretty cheap. pretty pretty... around here.  This is my latest 'upcycled' shirt project for my gal Azriel. 

 I was just purging my closet this week.. and came upon this shirt that I knew I wouldn't be wearing again.  I'm becoming such a sentimentalist.. how could I just toss the shirt my man and I did our 'engagement pictures' in?!  This is our cute selves about 3 years ago... [sigh] we used to be so young and ... strange.  Now we're older... and ... stranger. :o)

 So I decided to upcycle this shirt into something for my gal.. and yes, I did think it was pretty smart of me to spell 'Azi' for her with the straps of the shirt [geek].  You know the deal by now I'm sure... or you can remind yourself of how I do these crazy 'crops' from my last tutorial.  I also cut off the bottom and turned it into a fun scarf for Azi.

 Voila! 

 It's hard to contain this much coolness... she knows how to work it.

I adore these crazy ruffle yellow bloomers.. they make me laugh everytime.

Azi doesn't just know how to be a patient model for her nutty mama.. she also works a mean plow.  Yes, we're that house with the antique plow in the yard.. hard to miss it... or the gnomes at our doorstep.  Or the mama chasing her daughter around the lawn with a camera.  How the neighbours must talk!

So there's some cuteness, and hopefully, once again, some inspiration to create for you friends!

Today we are linking this puppy up with the sweet mama over at Mama Loves Papa blog.  All the cute kids are doing it... really.  ;o)

Have a beauty day!

Mel :o)

Coffee brain. crazy brain!

One of our favourite family hangout spots... Chapters Book Store.  Ben and I like grabbing some magazines and a coffee.  Azriel likes the train set, and yelling "hi" at other kids.  I tend to look at home decor zines and get all inspired to re-vamp our home.. on a no-budget approach. ;o)  Ben likes to read books about bread-making, hobby farming... etc.  Azi likes pretty much any book she can get her hands on.

Today I am a mess from the Starbucks coffee I had though.  My heart has been going like a rabbit at the greyhound track.  I feel my limbs are humming. twitching. spasming.  Don't worry I'll make it!

My brain is a buzz too though.  This is not good.  An artist's mind already has enough to deal with.  It's hard enough to not get distracted by every floating cloud, curious shadow, quirky invention or craft idea.  Now I'm buzzed up on caffeine and can't stop thinking of projects i want to do.. without the time to do them.  That makes me feel - like Bilbo Baggins - "... thin, sort of stretched, like butter spread over too much bread".

I am fighting to reign myself in today.  "No brain.. don't plan that right now",  "Yes hands, hold your daughter right now".  

Back to Chapters for a second (sorry, my brain is flighty right now)... do any of you sewing folk know a good back-to-basics sewing book I should buy.  I have a gift card burning a hole in my pocket!  I want something comprehensive, but written for a 4 year old.. so I can understand it.  Thanks!

Sorry if I post too much... I feel near to busting with stuff to blab about most days... so yah, thanks for letting me.. let it out.

muah.

Mel :o)

tour our nest - the bathroom edition.

 

Hello friends! I mentioned recently how I would start showing the colours used in our home.  I've already done a quick tour in the past of our bedroom/my studio seen here.  So now you can have a little peek at our tiny bathroom. I love how the setting sun illuminates our mason jar of lilacs. 

 Here's the mirror we got when we moved in... I like how it echos the patterns found in the light fixture.  Shower curtain: brown tree motif.  Wall Colour: H.C - 72 "Branchport Brown" of Benjamin Moore Paints.  This is a rich, bittersweet chocolate colour with a hint of purple brown in it... love it!

 What's that you say?  A bird's nest... in the bathroom?  Yes!  I made this lil' nest to house my lil' pottery birds... in the weird soap ledge that was on the wall.  Why waste a cute 'nook' with sludgy soap, right?

 If you look to the left.. there's the throne.  The orchid in a pottered bowl from my local potter.  The tiny square pictures are : daughter's cute toes (below) and beautiful photo of robin's eggs by the lovely Erin of 'apples with honey' blog (above).  The gorgeous large painting I bought of a 'once-local' artist, David Blackmore.

Here's the opposite side... a room with a view (just hopefully not for the neighbours!).  I use a stool to hold up towels.candles.local pottery.  I store my daughter's bath toys under it too.

So there you have another wee peak at our nest, thanks for stopping in!

Mel :o)