Ready, Set....

So it is 2 in the morning and we are about to embark on Yulli's first trip in a couple hours! Of course I am not packed or even close to being ready! Instead I am sitting in front of the computer blogging away and drinking a giant glass of wine (Don't judge... I didn't want it to go bad while I was away... we don't waste wine in this house LOL)!
Wish us lots of luck! I'll try to keep you posted on the yummy food we are stuffing our faces with OR all the drama that hopefully won't transpire!

Quick Clean

I often get asked how much time I spend cleaning the house. Not very much to be honest! It's not exactly my favourite thing to do! So anything that cuts down cleaning time is awesome! Check out one of my fav cleaning tools: our giant dust mop!

This thing is a HUGE beast (the pic doesn't do it justice)! It is similar to one of those brooms that custodians use to clean schools! Haha seems INTENSE and it sure is! But it seriously makes sweeping the house so much easier and soooooo much faster. It is also removable and washable! Very handy for cleaning up Kalbi hair. So laugh all you want but anytime not spent cleaning is time well spent!!

Chalk-less Labels

Between being sick and preparing for our trip, there has been no time for anything design or decorating related! Sorry I suck! But here is something little that I did a few weeks ago!
I finally got around to slapping some labels onto the jars in the pantry. I knew I wanted chalkboard labels since they are all the rage right now. Picked up these Martha Stewart labels at Staples. They have all different sizes and styles and I like that they are removable! What I don't like is how chalk smudges when you touch it... not so pretty or practical! Being the super smartie that I am, I decided to write on them with a white pencil crayon instead. Still gives the look of chalk, but not smudgy and also erasable!!

 

Little Baldie

We gave Yules her very first hair cut! She has quite a bit of hair which makes it even more apparent that she is missing a few patches in certain areas. She is a baby with crazy hair that sticks up at the back and a major receding hairline in the front. Husband always jokes that she looks like Richard Simmons. Not a good look for anyone... even him! She now has a mini arsenal of hats and hair accessories to conceal her baldness. We've also tried combing her hair all which ways to cover up the baldness, but it just ends up making her look like she has a bad comb-over, kinda like Donald Trump. My parents keep telling me that if we give her a trim then it will stimulate hair growth. They compared it to mowing the grass for a healthy lawn. At this point, I was willing to try anything so my baby doesn't look like The Donald!

Husband noticed that the cover thing said Vidal Sassoon... I sure hope he has the solution! (hehe you see what I did there...get it... anyways...I'm so cool!) Here is a shameless shout out to Vidal! Yules is very open to sponsorship or some free products! Just saying!

What to pack?

Hey y'all! It's been another busy few weeks but nothing terribly exciting to report.
We are preparing to take Monster on her first trip!! EEEK!! Not sure if we are ready for this! I used to roll my eyes when I saw babies on planes and wondered why on earth people took them out! Now I am going to be one of those people! If I'm on your plane and the monster is being a monster... feel free to roll your eyes but also take a little pity on me too!

We will be gone for a couple weeks and will be going to Seoul (my favourite eating destination) and then Hong Kong (my other favourite eating destination)! Our trips usually consist of lots of over-indulging but not sure how much eating will occur with a child in tow! Wish us luck because we sure will need it!

Yules is all ready to go... wish I was too! I'm seriously starting to freak out a little... okay a lot! What on earth do I need to pack? I feel like I need to bring everything! So many what-ifs! Any advice from the super moms out there?

The NEW brown-bag

Okay, so even though I am seriously dying with the flu... I missed you guys and I'm sure you are missing your dose of me too! So here is a mini little post!
I wanted to share these super cute bento lunch boxes that I got! Husband is currently working in town and brown bagging it... something new for both of us! I thought I would play the part of a good, diligent and domestic house wife and make his lunch for him! So of course I needed something cute to put it in!

How cute are these containers? I love all the different sections and how it all snaps neatly together! Now tell me, what grown man wouldn't want to eat lunch with plastic cutlery adorned with hearts?? Haha are all the other boys going to be jealous their wives don't pack them cute lunches or is Husband so getting beat-up at recess?

Cheapy Contemporary Ceramics

***Okay here is one post before I go off the radar for a while! Wanted to add a few more pics but like I said Blogger hates me!***

This project is an oldie... but I was just telling a girlfriend about it the other day and she thought it was a goodie, so I thought I would share it with all of you too!
Husband discovered how much he loved to spray paint stuff after I got him to spray paint something (forget what). He was itching to spray paint again so I had to make up stuff for him to paint! I found some UGLY ceramic owls at good old Dollarama, but I knew they had potential! All they needed was a shiny coat of spray paint and they would instantly look like something from Indigo or Urban Barn. We decided to paint them white but you can paint them any color. They key is to paint it all ONE color if you wish to have the contemporary look.
I wish I had a BEFORE pic, but I don't. So I did some googling to see if a pic existed out there in the Internet world... and low and behold there is a pic! Not only is there a pic of the owl... someone else had the great idea of painting them too! I guess I am not so brilliant as I thought!! haha Here is her BEFORE:

vixenmade.com

There were some weird tree bark wood wing thingies that she riped off... I decided to keep them for a little bit of a rustic look! She decided to paint her owl glossy blue! Looks good doesn't it?

Here are our owls in white!!

That kicked off a spray painting frenzy! Husband wanted to spray paint everything... so I bought lots of random things for him to paint! But the owls are definitely my favourite! I can't wait for summer to come so we can hit up garage sales and see what goodies we can find to spray paint!

MIA

Hey guys! Just a quick note to let you know that I will be MIA for a while! Blogger hates me and I am deathly ill! For some reason I am not able to upload pics! There is no point in reading this blog if you are not going to be visually stimulated! I'm sure you would all rather see awesome pics of my flem, mucus and boogers than just read about it!! Haha I'm gross but not that gross! Even I have boundaries!!
Ps. If you know how to fix the pic issue, holla at ur girl!!

Guest room make-over

I've been working on this room for a while now! And by working on it... I mean it's been on my mind but I've just been too lazy to get er done! Husband had a few days off during the holidays so we decided to finally tackle it!
This is the BEFORE of the room!

Please contain your excitement people... I know there is just too much beauty for you all to absorb! Don't come knocking at my door all at once begging to sleepover! Haha... so sad looking huh?

 

I always knew that I wanted an upholstered headboard for this bed... but I'm super cheap and didn't want to dole out the big bucks for one! So once again, DIY to the rescue!!

The most important step in any DIY is to always have proper gear and an expert helper! Haha I'm sure OHS would agree that pajamas, rubber kitchen gloves and my trusty sidekick Kalbs should about do it!

Husband and I have upholstered a few things around the house since purchasing a staple gun (best thing ever by the way)!! So that makes us expert upholsterers right? NOT!! Haha! Anyways, an upholstered headboard is actually pretty straightforward. There are plenty of step-by-step DIY tutorials out there if you are interested in making one too. Just google it! My only advice is to use one large piece of foam instead of putting together a few small ones. You might save some money doing it that way, but if you are OCD like me, the little lumps and bumps might make you cringe a little. I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't use one piece, but oh well that's what I get for being a cheapo!

So pretty much layer the fabric, batting, foam, plywood and then staple away. If you are making a tufted headboard then I would recommend mapping out where you want your buttons and drilling out holes in the plywood before doing all that. Make your buttons and thread them through... which is really really hard if you only have a tiny needle. No idea where you find one of those giant long ones that the tutorials tell you to use! I bought the longest one that Michaels had and it was only a couple inches long! If you know where to find those giant needles, let me know! That was by far the hardest part... probably why I have no pics of that step! Like I said, google it or ask me if you want more details on that part! Anyways, we decided to mount the headboard to the wall with some french cleats. I've never used it before but very easy and surprisingly strong!

And since I'm all about being fancy schmancy, I wanted to make a matching bed skirt! I am NOT a sew-er (is that a word? Without the hyphen it would be sewer... like the place ninja turtles come out of... hmmm... anyways sew-er like a person that sews... like a seamstress)!!! What I'm trying to say is that I'm not very skilled at sewing, so my bed skirt would have to involve minimal or NO sewing! I decided to Stitch Witch all the seams!! OMG, how come I've never thought of that before? Stitch Witch is just fusible boding tape that you iron on and your fabric sticks together like magic!! My new favourite thing! I am never paying to get pants hemmed again!! The bed skirt is also velcroed onto the box spring so it is removable!

So after all our hard work... cutting, measuring, drilling, stapling, pulling, tugging, tufting, ironing and velcroing... it was time for the FUN part! I got to go to the happiest place on earth... HomeSense of course... and pick out some new bedding! I chose this gorgeous Tiffany blue geometric patterned bedding! Here is the AFTER!! What do you think?

 

 

 

 

The chair is from HomeSense too... I am quite in love with it! I actually sewed some of those pillows... can you believe it? The only thing missing in this room is curtains!! That is next on my DIY list! BTW did you notice how Mr. Elephant is in this room? I'm pretty much going to place him strategically into every picture until you all start to realize that he isn't creepy, just misunderstood and actually very cute!!