So pretty the flower!

I love ranunculus! While at Home Depot yesterday, I spied the first ones this year. They had some yellow and a few pink but my heart was stolen by the three pots of white with pink tips. Sigh! Here is one of my beauties freshly watered and waiting to be placed in her new pot!

Martha Stewart Paint

I went into Home Depot yesterday to pick up paint stripper. Oh my, look what I found! The palette is unreal, so expansive yet so subtle. I was in heaven. I picked up a few testers and I am very impressed. The packaging alone made me happy but the product inside is also awesome. Is there anything she cannot do?! I paid $2-94 for an 8oz tester which is a very good price.

Available at Home Depot.

Lemon Cupcakes

I have made these cupcakes so many times and they are just perfection. They are from a recipe via Style at Home. Recommend them, recommend them, recommend them! Just one note - I do add more lemon zest than the recipe calls for! Lemon = good!

Recipe here

Style at Home magazine

Cannot tell you much I love this magazine. After the slew of shelter magazines that have gone to the newsstand in the sky, it seems all I have to do is go north of the border for some seriously good magazine! I have had a subscription to Canadian House and Home for some time and I love it. It is consistently wonderful eye candy! Last year, I came across Style at Home. I do not remember where I first saw it but it struck a chord. It is just a fantastic magazine with absolute masses of inspiration between the pages. Cannot get enough. I subscribe now and I think it is around $30 American which includes shipping and is, for me, a great deal. Love this magazine!

Cherry Blossoms

After the eye candy of yesterday, I was inspired to go look at all the cherry blossoms that are dotted around my house. With trusty camera in tow, I spent a good hour just wondering in the glory of these trees. Here are a few of my favorite shots from this morning.

Cherry Blossom Wedding

I love the Spring 2010 Martha Stewart Weddings. The stand out for me was the Cherry Blossoms wedding ideas. It just smacked you in the face with pure unadulterated Spring. I could just look at those pages over and over again. Here are a few of my favorites (oh and I will be making flower girl wands this weekend - just because!)





All images from Martha Stewart Weddings here

Rosanna Cupcake Pedestals

Ooh these are just too pretty. I need more pedestals like a bullet in the back, but they are calling my name!!



From Rosanna

Perfect for Spring

Yes please and thank you!

From Boden

Rosanna

More absolutely beautiful offerings from Rosanna Inc. Available in February 2010. I think the white Decor Bon Bon collection is coming to live with me. Simply stunning.

Found via Real Simple

Late Night TV!

The whole brouhaha at NBC makes me happy that I made the choice to join Craig Ferguson some time ago. Silly, irreverent and laugh out loud funny - he is the only choice for me in late night. I DVR him and watch him after dinner the following evening. Watch him - he is good!

Packing Tape at Michaels

I have a love/hate affair with my local Michaels. I love when they occasionally have a good Martha Stewart selection and hate that they mosty do not have a good selection of the Martha products! However, on my quest for a helium tank, I came across these beauties. One America Dollar per roll! Not too shabby.

Message in a cookie

Love these cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma. I like that you can customise the message. From sweet to rude with just a few letter changes. I will use them for Valentines and also for my daughters birthday which is coming up soon.

Banksy

I saw this image in a magazine recently. I thought it was very cool. My husband is currently stationed on an aircraft carrier and the silliness of the image appealed to me.

Hmmmm, I am not the only one.....

who loved this idea....


Way back in April of last year, I noted how much I loved the hanging books seen here in Cookie magazine. Imagine my surprise when I opened my Pottery Barn Kids today and saw this image



My first thought was "Wow, now I wont have to make them myself", but sadly they are simply props and not for sale! It did inspire me to put them back on the top of my to do list as I think a few of these would love wonderful in the playroom. I love the book colors and ribbons too. I want to live in that room! That sliding door makes me swoon!

Resolutions

I resolve many things but here are a few I wish to really do!

1. Be better at taking time for me. Sounds selfish but I believe it will help with #2! I am talking about taking time to exercise regularly, take walks alone to clear the mind, put make up on and change things up a little!

2. Be a better mother and wife. I cannot be specific about what this means but I sometimes wake up in the morning and think I could have been better at the whole mother and wife thing. I want to get rid of that feeling.

3. Take a photography class or an Illustrator class. Try a new craft. Embroider more and take photographs of things I love.

4. Clean out the damn garage and be resolute in my desire to get rid of the crap that lies within that place. Let things go!

5. Decorate the house from top to bottom. Not just clean and sort and organise, but decorate. I may be here another 3 years so it would be nice to have a home I love instead of a house I live in.

6. Go on a monthly date with my husband. Enough said

7. Take the kids somewhere fun every week.

8. Be a better correspondent with the family and friends that I love.

9. Be inspired. Beauty is all around me

10. Make friends. This will be the hardest one as I am happiest in my own company or that of my husband and children.

11 - train for a half marathon

12. Count and enjoy all the blessings in my life.

And there you have it - a dirty dozen!

Happy New Year