Better Homes and Garden Christmas Door Inspiration

De tout, de rien

Well, hello again! I haven't blogged in so long, I'm embarrassed! I could blame it on life in general, but I'm just plain ole lazy. Or I just don't have my act together. Or possibly both.

I started my blog with the intention of talking about everything and nothing, an all encompassing blog if you will, hence the name, but I find myself wanting to shift the focus to home decor, thrifting and crafting, which are things I have always loved. I have been so inspired by so many other fellow bloggers out there. And you know what they say: write about what you love.

So here I go. We have officially entered the Christmas and Holiday season and so far, the following project is all I have done, besides buying a few gifts. I know, you've got me figured out. Procrastinator here. Guilty. I do my best work under pressure at the last minute. So you may see me do 22 posts on Christmas eve. And then nothing for 3 months.

Anyhoo, I saw this Christmas door decoration on the Better Homes and Gardens website and fell completely in love with it, because it was so different.

Better Homes and Gardens

As luck would have it, I found a very similar silver shell platter for $4.99 at the local thrift store. It had just the right amount of tarnish:

De tout, de rien

I created my own version, which is a little fuller. I drilled a hole in the top part big enough to thread the ribbons through (I'm so proud of myself, I just recently learned to use a drill. Me. Using a power tool. Gold star!) I knew I wanted an apple green satin ribbon, but I was also inspired to use a darker, olive green grosgrain ribbon for added depth and texture. I threaded the ornaments on the grosgrain ribbon and tied them with a knot.

De tout, de rien

Then I found a glittery pick at the craft store in the same shade of apple green. It was large and long enough so I used it as the background. I found some shatterproof bulbs at Wal-mart: two green pinecones with silver accent and a mixture of greens and brown (the brown ties in nicely with the patina as luck would have it), plus some red for contrast and to tie back to the door colour. I put double-sided tape on the back so that the whole thing wouldn't bang on the glass every time we open the door.

Et voilà!

De tout, de rien

De tout, de rien

De tout, de rien

If you have a similar platter, but don't want to drill a hole in it, it would also look lovely as a table centre with bulbs and pinecones, on a bed of artificial snow. Leave the tarnish on. The whole idea is to show off that lovely patina.

I would have liked to show you the greenery arrangement I made for my urns but it's raining so hard I couldn't even go out to take a pic! Well, there's a post for another day, so I have no excuse to wait so long for the next instalment!

I'm linking up to:

The Courage to Go On.

My friend and her family invited me to join them on a trip to New York in either 1979 or 1980, I don't quite remember. I'm sitting in the middle in this picture taken in front of a sculpture created by Fritz Koenig called "The Sphere".

This is the same sculpture 21 years later, after 9-11. 

My friend recently sent me the picture. She had found it in her mom's album. We had forgotten about this. The strange thing is I had seen the second picture just a few days before. I sent her the "after" picture and we both agreed how eerie it was that we found those pictures just days apart.

According to Wikipedia, at its current location in Battery Park, a plaque alongside The Sphere reads as follows:

For three decades, this sculpture stood in the plaza of the World Trade Center. Entitled "The Sphere", it was conceived by artist Fritz Koenig as a symbol of world peace. It was damaged during the tragic events of September 11, 2001, but endures as an icon of hope and the indestructible spirit of this country. The Sphere was placed here on March 11, 2002 as a temporary memorial to all who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
This eternal flame was ignited on September 11, 2002 in honor of all those that were lost. Their spirit and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

In 2005, I went back to NYC with my own family. We visited ground zero. The volunteer who gave us a walking tour was a young widow of 9-11. Her husband, a firefighter, never came home. Her story was so touching and such a testimonial of survival.


Today, I will be thinking about her and about all the other people who lost loved ones on that day, and pray that they continue to find the courage to go on.

Playing Tourist in My Hometown

I feel fortunate as today it is a gloriously sunny day with a gentle breeze here, while the Eastern seaboard is bracing itself for a monster hurricane. I'm praying that everyone and their pets will be safe and that Irene will somewhat calm herself down before landing on shore.


Two week-ends ago, my family and I took off for Montreal to go to my niece's wedding. The wedding, which took place in the Notre-Dame Basilica in the old part of Montreal, was as lovely as can be, every detail perfect, the bride absolutely gorgeous in a mermaid dress, the bridesmaids in sexy purple and the groom and groomsmen in tuxes and Converse shoes. Yes, Converse shoes. Totally funky! I loved it. The priest even made mention of it in his talk to the bride and groom, saying that married life was an obstacle course and you needed to be prepared.


This is the same church where we said our vows 24 years ago, so it was particularly meaningful to us. My niece had been our flowergirl. We felt a bit old...

Notre Dame Basilica

We made an extra long week-end of it and decided to play tourists in Old Montreal on the Friday before the wedding day. 

The details on the older buildings are spectacular.

A mix of old and modern, typical of Montreal.

Don't you just love this garland?

And this Art Deco brass detail, patinaed to perfection?

Un charmant petit bistro...

Even the street signs have an old vibe.

Oozing with charm!

A lot of beautiful boutiques. We almost bought these cute fascinators for the wedding!

A whimsical bronze

Streets of cobblestones that have been standing the test of time!

Street performers add to the local colour.

Eye catching door colour!

If you ever think of visiting Montreal, here are a few ways you can get around:

A beautiful Vespa. Why not? Very European.

This is a bike renting system called Bixi. You can rent a bicycle very cheaply for 24 hours and return it to any of these handy stations that are set up throughout the city. Very popular.

Here is another mode of transportation in Old Montreal.  Although I'm not a proponent of caleches because you never know how well they take care of the horses (I'm always so concerned about animal welfare), I still thought it made for a beautiful picture.

You can take the "metro"(subway).

This very Art Nouveau metro entrance is an exact replica of the ones in Paris, donated by, who else, Paris!

Closeup detail of the metro entrance. Gorgeous!

And, of course, like us, you can simply walk and take it all in:

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my beloved Old Montreal. 

Words to Live By

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

What a beautiful quote full of sincerity from Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Opposition party of the Canadian Government. Jack Layton passed away yesterday at the age of 61, after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Even though Canadians tend to be somewhat liberal to conservative and the NDP is more on the left, Jack Layton managed to carve a good slice of the votes at the last federal elections. He was well loved and well respected by all.

He wrote a beautiful letter to Canadians before passing away. The above quote is how he concluded his letter. I can't help but think that a dying man must be graced with a certain wisdom and clarity of mind that the rest of us just don't possess, in order to write such beautiful words. 

So today, as flags all over the country are flying at half-mast in his honour, let's take a moment to remember the words of a bright, passionate and determined man and try to live by them. Wouldn't they make a good mantra?

Little Time Wasters

I haven't been blogging much this summer. Firstly, I'm still trying to get the house organized after our move in April, secondly, well, I'm trying to enjoy summer, and thirdly...

These little guys are keeping me busy!

I volunteer once a week as a receptionist at our local Humane Society. I also foster pregnant Moms and their kittens. We have had several litters so far, but this is the first one at this house. And although I had decided to postpone taking any more litters in order to get the house organized, it is kitten season and the shelter was overrun, and so these little guys and their Mama arrived at our house June 16 at 10 days old. Mama is a young cat, barely 8 months old when she gave birth, so she was rather stressed out about the whole thing and not nursing very well. But once she got settled in at our house, she slowly caught on with the whole process and eventually became a very good mom. I keep them downstairs in the laundry room, which is spacious, fairly indestructible and kitten proof.

These moms are usually strays or abandoned cats. The shelter finds foster homes for them so that they can be more relaxed and so that the kittens can grow up in a home environment to get socialized.

 This litter has 5 kittens: 3 boys, 2 girls

See this little grey and white one hiding under the brown tabby? He's the cutest little runt. He's about one third the size of the others, but he's feisty and scrappy and always the first one at the feeding bowl. And he has the sweetest disposition! Love!

Here he is again!

This one is a little girl who looks like her Mama.

Here's the sweet little one looking at water for the first time. Doesn't know what to make of it!

First time eating. Love the feet right in the bowl! They are 5 weeks old at this stage. At about the same time they start eating solids, they start using the litter box. Before that Mama cleans everything. They master the litter box remarkably fast!

Taking a little rest, all curled up together. How cozy!

And there's Mama. Her name is Mabel. I haven't come up with names yet for the little ones! Mabel had a very irresponsible owner who let her roam outside before she was spayed and now it becomes our problem to deal with.

This little one is all grey except for the white tips of his 4 paws!

This is the other little girl.

So tired after playing!

I spend a lot of time feeding them, cleaning the litter boxes, the food dishes, the floor, etc. But really I spend the most time just watching their antics! They run, they jump, they pounce, they climb, they do flips and somersaults, they wrestle and generally just practice doing big cat things. So much time wasted watching them play!

After doing this for a few years, you'd think I would be blasé about the whole thing, but not at all. Each time I get a new litter, I'm awed by the whole experience. And when the time comes to say good-bye, when they are 8 weeks old and ready to be adopted, I have mixed feelings: I won't miss all the hard work, but I am at this point attached to everyone of them and I blubber like a baby shed a tear or two on the way to the shelter and again when I say good-bye to them and Mama. (Mama then gets spayed and is also put up for adoption.) But I console myself with the fact that our shelter has very high standards of care, it is a no kill shelter and, because I'm there once a week, I may get to see them again before they each go to their forever home, and then get to hear their happy tail story about who adopted them, etc. And I also console myself thinking about how much joy they will bring to somebody else!

And this is the part where I do like Bob Barker and tell you to get your pets spayed and neutered!

Cool Dinner on a Hot Day

The weatherman announced that today was going to be a record day for heat. Right at this moment, with the humidity factor, it's like 116 Farenheit or 47 Celsius. Yikes! Today is definitely a good day for a cold dinner.

To stay hydrated, I am planning to whip up a pitcher of agua fresca, which is a cool Mexican drink of water, sugar, ice and fruit:

The starter course will be a bowl of gazpacho with perhaps a dollop of light sour cream. This vegetable cold soup is so tasty and refreshing, full of nutrients and very low in fat.

Photo credit: Andre Baranowsk

The main course will be this cold poached salmon with a cucumber dill sauce from cooks.com, served with a mixed green salad. This is one of my favourite ways to serve salmon!

To finish off, perhaps a fruit salad or some lemon sherbert, or, since this is such a virtuously low fat, low cal meal, a nice trip to DQ for a soft serve cone!

Photo credit: Dairy Queen

Stay cool my friends!

Some Birthday Wishes

This week-end, two great nations, two great friends who share the longest border in the world, celebrate their birthdays. We are lucky to be living in these two beautiful countries, where freedom prevails, where we have rights, where we can speak and speak up and be heard, where we have a chance to become anything we want and succeed at everything.

So, on this beautiful summer week-end, let's get together with family and friends, fire up the barbecues, whip up some strawberry shortcake and raise a toast to celebrate our two great countries!

Animations provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

Have a great long week-end, everyone!

The Enchanted Bench

You see this gorgeous Kilim bench below?

It was a wonderful giveaway from Tina of The Enchanted Home and Safavieh Home a little while back.

Well, guess what! This gorgeous, stunning thang is now IN MY HOUSE! That's right, I was the winner! I was in shock!

Tina and the folks over at Safavieh bent over backwards to get the bench shipped to me here in Canada and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. I am so grateful! 

The bench was delivered yesterday and it is stunning: the texture and neutral tones of the kilim fabric make this bench a very versatile piece and I love, love, love the unfinished turned legs on wheels. I don't know where it will end up in my house, I'm thinking perhaps the side entrance, which is kind of the mudroom. There's a little nook there where it fits in perfectly, but I would like to put a beadboard backing to add contrast and visual interest. When we finalize the look, I will certainly post some pictures.

Again, thank you Tina and Safaview Home! Make sure you visit Tina's gorgeous blog, and Safavieh's website to see their fantastic furniture selection (and yes, they ship to Canada!). You can also visit them on Facebook.