Victor's Loot

I know we said we weren't going to go crazy with presents for Victor this year since it was his first Christmas and he didn't really understand the concept, but man, did he ever get a lot of presents!  Dan and I actually just bought him three gifts, but 2 sets of loving grandparents and a few aunts and uncles later, he ended up with quite a few new toys, which is nice I suppose since all of his toys right now are hand-me-downs (not that he knows the difference!)

Anyway, here are a few of the things he got.  I didn't save any links, if you're wondering about a particular toy just let me know...  

My mom got him a Leapfrog magnet set, since he loves pulling magnets off of the fridge these days...

"Where's the bone?" fabric book, from Dan.  He doesn't like this one too much yet, maybe when he's older.

Tupperware Shape-O-Toy, from me.

This isn't a toy, but since he's been waking up every night from being stuffed up, it was a welcome present (from my parents).

This was the 'big' one; a ride-on Buzz Lightyear toy from Grampie John.  So many buttons to push and play with, and it's the perfect size...this might be favourite of all (so far anyway!)

Grampie John also got him a Mega Bloks table, except it's Cars themed (I couldn't find a picture of it).

This is probably his second favourite right now, the Playskool pop up toy.  I remember having one of these as a kid and loving it, some things never go out of style :) (Same with the Shape-O-Toy, I remember having one when I was young too.)

This is probably MY favourite toy; a beautiful set of wooden blocks by Djeco, a French toymaker.  My sister-in-law Sarah got these for me, I LOVE them, they are so cute, natural, open-ended, and Victor will play with them for a long time (or so I hope, right now he just chews on them, ha!)

My parents also got Victor a ride-on toy, but this one is a bit different, since the seat splits open and Victor can walk with it (although he hasn't really mastered it yet).  He loves the buttons and lights on his head though :)

My mom didn't realize that I had also bought Victor a magnet set, so now he has 2, but it worked out since one set is at my mom's and one set is at home.  I bought him the farm set (the great thing about these magnet toys is that they are bilingual so I have them on the French setting.)

Matante Daphné got him another classic toy, a Mr. Potato Head.

Great Nan (Dan's nan) bought each Victor and Rowan a cute polka dot piggy bank, I love them!  Now we have somewhere to put all those spare pennies (future allowance/college fund, haha)

Since my parents don't have a highchair at their house and the Bumbo is too small, my dad bought Victor this jungle booster seat, which is really cute.  I'll probably get a similar one for home since I'm tired of having the high chair in the kitchen.

Wow!  See, a little bit spoiled, don't you think?  He also got some things not pictured here, including a few Christmas tree ornaments (I'm thinking about starting a tradition of giving Victor an ornament every year until he moves out, then he can take them all with him to set up a tree with his future wife someday...cute, eh?), some clothes, books, and other randoms.

As for Dan and I, we got the usual (PJs, chocolates, undies, scratch tickets, socks, magazines).  Dan got a new lunchbox and work boots, and I got some new kitchen stuff, which I needed and appreciate.  We're getting to the point where we really don't need or want much at Christmas so I'm trying to make it not about the gifts, but with a kid now I don't think that's going to be completely avoidable.

What did you get for Christmas?  Santa didn't bring me my Canon L-lens or 5D Mark II, maybe next year :S

Be back soon with some more end-of-year schtuff.

Until then,
G.

Blankets on my mind...

[Print by The Black Apple]

It's downright chilly here today, so I've been thinking a lot about my next sewing project, a blanket (I call them blankets because I don't actually do the quilting part, though I might try this time...) Anyway, I made this pink one last year using Anna Maria Horner fabric and I LOVE it, so I want to do something similar for Victor (the idea back then was that I would made a pink one and blue one for my eventual kids' bedrooms, thinking I'd have one of each...I should have made the blue one first, wishful thinking I guess!) This time though I'd like to make it a bit more challenging (this will be my 3rd patchwork blanket, since I also made this small one for my friend Sara last year), so I'd like to do a triangle/diamond pattern, and also maybe quilt the blanket and do a nice binding. So I've been searching Etsy for pretty fabrics and ooooh, it's so hard to decide!  I'm not sure if I want to go with more Anna Maria Horner (can't go wrong with her gorgeous patterns), or whether I want to go more modern, or...

Here are some of the pretties I'm looking at right now (all fabrics from The Fabric Worm.)

(These are kind of creepy looking, but I like them anyway...I think it's the Halloween spirit creeping up on me!)

 

(Love the modern designs in this bundle!)

(Sigh, so pretty, and I think it would be fine for a boy's blanket, right?)

(Just love...the colours, the fabrics, it's the perfect mix)

(AWESOME colour combo, I can totally see doing Victor's little boy room in orange and grey someday!)

And here's a gorgeous quilt I found on Flickr, this is what I mean by the 'triangle look', I don't want to make an actual pattern with the fabrics, I still want a scattered, patchwork-ey feel to it.

I'm really excited to get started on this project.  I'd also like to attempt a Lincoln log quilt and a scraps block quilt someday. There's something about the practical nature of making blankets that I love...plus it's within my sewing skill level at the moment :)

Have you made any blankets/quilts that you are proud of? Please link me up, I'd love to see!

Be back soon,

Geneviève

PS-I'm also trying to finish up my knitted blanket for Victor, but like all things I'm starting a new project before finishing an old...

Bag for me, bag for baby...

A couple of things I'm pining over online...

1. A nice camera bag. The one I have right now is too small for my new camera, plus it's U-GLY. This super cute teal one is from Jo Totes, and from what I can tell it's just the right size for my Canon, plus my purse stuff, cell, and maybe a diaper or 2 (I mostly want it for lugging my camera around on an everyday basis, since right now I put it in my non-padded purse and it freaks me out so much!) Plus it appears to be affordable compared to a lot of other 'lady camera bags' I'm seeing out there, so I plan on using some of my session money to buy it. Lovesit.

2. Cute bibs. We fed Victor cereal for the first time today (yay, solids!), and it made me realize that we're going to need a lot more bibs around here (we already use at least 2 a day from drool alone!) This cute one is from the BabyMomo shop on Etsy, but I'll probably end up buying a set somewhere cheaper, I can't justify spending over 10$ for one bib...unless I learn how to make them myself?

3. Photography-nerd shirts. Kara posted a photo of her wearing this shirt from 40/60 Photography the other day on her blog and I looooved it immediately. It's kind of silly, but I think I might splurge with some of my session money and buy it :)

4. Smelly diaper storage. One thing I can justify buying for Victor (and for myself!) is a Wet/Ick bag.  Right now when we're on the road I just use a plastic bag to store his wet cloth diapers, but it's loud and annoying and smelly, so I think a cute wetbag like this is just what I need.  This one is from Monkeyfootdesigns on Etsy, and I think it would be just the right size, and I love the fabric (plus it would match my new camera bag/purse/diaper bag, ha!)

I haven't window-shopped online (especially on Etsy) in forever, it feels nice!  What are you oogling over on the Internets lately?

Until next time,
G.

Today so rocked.

wish... ;), originally uploaded by {sylvia}.

Today was awesome because...
-I got a lot done on my day off!
-It was sunny and not too cold
-I got a kick-ass deal on a stroller I was wanting (I got this Peg Perego for 150$!)
-I had a Starbucks Caramel Brulé Frappucino and it was DELICIOUS...oh my
-Traffic was light and I didn't catch many red lights
-I got 2 pairs of boots, 3 necklaces, a shirt, some pants, a bowl for the baby's room, and my sister's Christmas present while thrifting
-I took a drive outside of the city and saw how pretty everything is covered in snow
-I bought a pair of pretty (and warm) aqua gloves
-I got my Ashley G prints in the mail, plus the gifts I ordered for my grand mama and Dan's nan
-I made a Hot Italian Sausage soup, perfect winter food
-I recorded my v-log for Week 20-26 (right on time!)
-I stayed on top of my work emails
-Shimi followed me around all morning and was cute/cuddly

Tonight I'm working on more Christmas cards, my December Daily (going to use this list for Day 7), and watch some more Dexters with Dan (we're on Season 4, going to be all caught up soon!)

How did your day rock?

Hugs,
G.

PS-I want another Caramel Brulé...

A Pair of Prints.

These lovelies will soon be arriving at my door (an early Christmas present to myself, ha!) I love Ashley G's work, and when I saw she was having a BOGO sale in celebration of her 10,000th sale (!) on Etsy, I knew I had to take the opportunity to snatch a pair up. The one on the left is for me, and the one on the right is for the baby's room, I thought that the green would go well with the nursery colour scheme (the non-existent nursery, but you know what I mean...)

Today I picked up a few supplies for my craft-and-eat-a-thon tomorrow, picked up some pictures that I had printed (and will probably return later this week, they came out way too dark), and washed some more baby clothes :)

Oh, and took my 24.5 Week shots (I have to take .5 shots from now since it's dark by the time I get home on Tuesday, boo to winter!)

Definitely getting bigger, I just read today that in 1.5 weeks I'll be starting my 3rd trimester, holy moly! Not much time left now...

Well, off to watch more Dexter, have a good Saturday, more bloggies tomorrow!

Habits...

Before the beginning of summer, before this little being in me took over and made me completely useless (not that I'd trade it for anything!), I had several creative/fun habits that I managed to keep up, and I'm now realizing that I'm completely out of, well, the habit of doing them. And I want to get them back.

Some of these include:

1. Taking photos and uploading them onto Flickr. I used to carry my camera with me everywhere I went, and I took pictures almost every day, if not several times a week. I went out yesterday and took some shots in the yard, and it was fun, if a little weird. But I need to get back into the habit of loading them off my camera, into Photoshop for a quick edit, and then onto Flickr/my blog. I used to do this daily, automatically. I miss sharing my life visually (which is sometimes so much easier than words.)

2. Being crafty. I need to get re-acquainted with my scrap/craft desk, it's been sitting gathering dust for far too long. Again, I used to scrap at least 3 nights a week, but besides the layout I made earlier this week I haven't touched it at all. Last night I went through the new Toast catalogues though, and ripped out all the beautiful images (seriously, I don't look at the clothes to buy, I look at the photography and styling!), so I may do some pages/home decorating projects with those soon, but there are other crafty things I want to get into as well. I have a sewing machine that has been sitting in its case untouched since June, and I need to bust it out and learn to use it!! And with a little one on the way now there are sooo many cute baby items I'd like to try and make, and blankets/bibs to get finished, and curtains for the nursery, so much! Not to mention knitting and crocheting, embroidery...just being crafty! My mom and grandmother might be coming next weekend, and I think it would be a perfect chance to get started on some of these things.

My little crafty corner, how I miss you.

ADORABLE baby vest and hat made my Soulemama

3. Thifting/shopping. Yep, might sound weird to say that I need to shop more, but lately I really do! My clothes are getting to that not-quite-too-small-but-kind-of-tight stage, and I imagine that in the next 2 weeks or so I'll be down to about 50% of my usual selection (which isn't much to begin with, especially for Fall clothes!). Sooo, that means I need to get a new wardrobe, yay!! But, like everything else, I haven't been to see my dear old friend, Value Village, for a good long thrifting excursion in quite awhile. I'm hoping that this will change this weekend, and that I find some cute Fall clothes. Top of my list: Some cute tights/leggings, maybe a plaid skirt, new jacket, shoes of any kind and some cardigans.

(Shopping Aside: It's also getting harder and harder for me not to want to buy baby clothes, there are so many cute items out there, just look! Adorable onsesies! Birds, trees, flowers...and a bear costume! Beyond adorable!)

[From Fawn and Forest, Old Navy and H&M)

There are other things I should get back into the habit of doing too, like cleaning, but I don't consider those things a priority ;) So yeah, just some things I've been thinking about lately with the coming of the new Season. I also need to get OUT of the habit of certain things too, like zonking out on the couch in the evenings, going to bed at 9:30, and generally being a lazy bum.

Anyway, this weekend should be pretty laid back for the ole' Flynns. We got some good news earlier this week that has settled some of the concerns I'd been having for the last little while; Dan, who had been laid-off from his job a few weeks ago, was hired back on with his company on Monday (with a raise!) and it looks like we'll be able to stay here until the baby is almost due (Jan/Feb), which was our original plan. We were thinking for awhile that we would have to move home sooner, which was fine by me, but this plan is better/more practical.) So that's nice, having things back to normal, and not having to worry about money again! We're still trying to keep things low-key though, we need to start saving for some baby basics as well as for an eventual down payment on a house. Geez, when did I get grown up all of a sudden?? So yeah, we'll be staying a home, I have some projects I'd like to get started, some baking/cooking to do, and maybe a bit of sleeping in, we'll see :)

What are you plans for the weekend? Anything Fall-ish? (Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice Fall day, maybe I can convince Dan to do something outdoorsy with me.)

Happy Friday!

This Weekend...

- I will debate painting my kitchen
- I WILL paint my nails black
- I will take pictures of my new pedicure (!) and my new eyes (well, my new sans-glasses eyes)
- I will ooooh and ahhhh over these fabrics I got in the mail yesterday:

- I will make a Curry Tuna Pasta Salad and Parmesan Shrimp Pasta Bake with Dan

- I won't sleep in

- I won't let the rain get me down

- I will try to stay motivated and excited*

- I will call my friend Sara for a long overdue chat

- I will try to scrap another page like this one:

-I will enjoy my day off

-I will probably sleep in

-I will watch more Mad Men

***

*I was talking with my friend Heather last night (the one who moved out West in February to pursue her dreams of working for herself) and she has been crazy inspiring me ever since. We had a talk last night about coming up with our Life Goals in various area of life (Financial, Relationships, Appearance and Health, Career, Personal Development, etc) and then creating Weekly Goals to work towards those Goals. Totally up my alley. We are going to be each other's accountability partners, checking in every week to see how we are coming along. I finished mine today and I must say that I'm super psyched to see how it all goes. Something is shifting inside me, the perspective of my life is changing, I can feel it, I have career dreams like I've never had before, so I'm very excited and optimistic about the future (as early as next year...) Will share more soon :) Thanks Heather!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Oh me oh my it's May!!

Seriously, where did April go? Seems like we were just talking about Spring getting here, and now soon we'll be talking about Summer getting here! Insane. Also insane? My severe lack of time realization. Sometimes the days can just drag on uncontrollably, but then, equally so, they can fly by and I wonder why the heck I didn't get anything done. This week has been busy for us for some reason, so I haven't had any time to do the normal things, like clean, laundry, sweep, bake, blog or craft (the fun stuff in life...well, maybe except for cleaning the bathroom.) I'm glad to say though that we were busy with some other fun stuff...after months of searching, I finally, finally, got my new sideboard on Monday night, and I LOVE it. Behold:

Sorry for the nighttime flash pics, I was too excited to wait 'til morning!

It's from the 1950s, has 3 sliding doors and 3 compartments, 2 of the compartments have shelves and one has a divided drawer, it's cherry wood, and except for a few scratches and water rings on the top, it's in great condition! (The middle legs aren't original, they were put on after, but because we are putting our TV on it we didn't think it would be a good idea to remove them, it's not ideal but it doesn't look too bad.) It was a leftover from an estate sale, so they were selling it for really cheap, I got it for 30$ (plus 30$ to delivery it home) One of the best deals of my young thrifting life for sure! Once I cleaned it up, we set it up in the living room and it was ready for a new TV! So on Tuesday, after a bit of research, we went out and got a new Sharp 37" HD flatscreen TV. It's great, much bigger than our other TV, yet it's lighter and more stylish, which was the main thing for me :) So on Wednesday night we set it all up together, and after making poor Dan move the living room around 3 times, we got it somewhat set up:

Yeah, totally not impressive. Buuuut, at least I know which wall I wanted it to go on and how I wanted the TV set on the sideboard (off to one side as opposed to centered.) All our DVDS and board games and Dan's Nintendo stuff is stored in the compartments, and our other entertinament centre and TV are ready to be sold. We still have to get a better power bar so that we can hide all the cables behind the unit, find a way to make the awful bunny ears less obvious, and decide what will go on it (I just took these photos from my wall collage on the other side of the room. I want there to be minimal stuff on it, a few prints and maybe something else, but mostly just a clean surface.) The bones are finally done in the living room, now it's just time to pretty it up :) I'm not sure what I want to do above the TV, I originally was thinking of doing another wall collage with various prints and frames, salon-style, to try and blend the TV into the wall so that it looks like just another print, but then the idea hit of making a fabric banner to put above it, but I'm not sure which I will go with yet. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have an area of wall about 4 feet tall (from the top of the TV to the ceiling) by 7 feet wide to fill. Any suggestions would be grrreat!

Also, as a "bonus" piece, the sideboard came with a top shelf unit which originally had an ugly backboard and tiled mirrors (she used it to house her china and things), but it wasn't attached to the sideboard, so I brought it home, removed the backing, and now it's sitting in my dining room (which is sans dining set at the moment.) At first I thought I wouldn't want to keep it, but now looking at it it's kind of a cute shelf:

Since I took this picture I moved it over to the far left and added a little vintage chair next to it, along with some baskets and books and things. I think that maybe once I start a collection of plates or cups or whatever, I might put them here. So yes, 2 pieces of furniture in one! Score!

So that's been the excitement around here. Last weekend was almost everything I expected, we were outside for about 75% of the time, which was nice, and although I didn't get my Slushie, I got 2 iced coffees and a trip to the ChickenBurger, so I was happy. Here are a few pics from the weekend:

Love or death stare? I can't tell.

Urban gardener.

One of the things that has been bugging me the most about this week is that I haven't been able to scrap at all. I printed the rest of my 365s (120 shots!), so I have them ready to go, and I've had a layout sitting on my desk for about 2 weeks now, just waiting to be glued down. It was originally for TAIF, but I missed it, so there you go. This layout is from last week, it is another one that was sitting on my desk for months (literally), so I was glad to finally get it done.

Yeah. It's decent. Just glad it's not a zombie layout, wandering around aimlessly without a heart or soul (in this case, a title and journaling.)

Ok well I guess that's enough rambling. I'm looking at lots of decor sites, trying to find inexpensive ways to make my house a bit cuter. Things with fabric and prints and crafts. Things that are DYI and easy and weekend-ready and inexpensive. Things like sink skirts (for some odd odd reason I've really been wanting to add a sink skirt to my kitchen...weird, huh?)Any favourite ideas for cute decorating on the cheap?

Hope to be back this weekend with some eye candy inspo! (It's supposed to rain this weekend so I won't be as absent as last weekend.)

(Oh, I also got some news about my whole TTC thing, but you can read about that over here.)