Snowflakes and Snowmen!

Though we have not really had any snow here yet! (Not counting the small flurries on Halloween!) I love this program on Better Homes and Garden's website. Makes me want to get decorating!

Snowflake Maker

Very Cute Snowmen made from fondant.
Martha Stewart's No-Melt Snowmen

Maybe I will make these this year for the kids!
Martha Stewart's Snowman Cupcakes

Who could eat a snowman with a face like that?
Martha Stewart's Coconut Snowman

Favorite Things.....

So I am hoping to use this blog more often as I have been inspired by several others blogs. We will see how it goes!

I am inspired in my crafting, art, decorating, everything by many different things. I would like to think I see the beauty in things that even are not typically 'pretty'. Of course there are all those very pretty things as well. Of course I have a head full of ideas and actually doing any of them are not always possible. Thus the use of this blog to categorize and keep track of the things I love, the things I hate, the things I actually get the chance to do!

Here are a few images that I think speak to my design aesthetic.



Above: A beautiful craft center! Love the light open feeling!
Picture from Pottery Barn.


Above: Dinning Room that is my current inspiration for my own. I recently painted one wall green and another yellow to pick up on the colors in my curtains. I wish I had the moldings all done the same!
Picture from House Beautiful.


Above: Country Kitchen! I actually like the colors in my current kitchen better but I love the usage of the pops of green inside the cabinets.
Picture from House Beautiful.



Above: Oh how I would die to have stairs that were not only painted but had this much character! Somehow this sums up everything I love about decor! Who could not love this? Picture from Country Living.

Would you buy these?

More crafty things...

Projects in the works....

So I've been a-wall for a while. Being pregnant with number three, and having Liam start school and a busy summer are all my excuses! I have been working on making jewelry. I sent everything I've made so far to the Whistle Stop Country Store to be sold, we will see how it goes. I will attach some pictures of the earrings so far and I hope to be making more in the next week or so.

Mothers Day Weekend

So my mothers day weekend was lots of fun. A stormy Saturday! We went to the TFC game in downtown Toronto with the whole Lobban clan! The kids had a great time, we were all a little cold by the end though! See the pictures!

There is something about this picture that makes me smile every time I see it! What isn't there to love about David Tennant? I am hoping that Rex is not my Lawyer is picked up by NBC for the fall line up! As David Tennant is in the lead role. Anyone who watched Hamlet on PBS knows how amazing he is! Glad to see some are recognizing it!

New Post...

I click on this link for 'New Post'. I have/had so many thoughts running through my mind. It's been quite a while since I've actually stopped long enough to think for myself, about myself. I took a trip to Oregon to visit my family. No kids, just me. I did think then, but that feels forever ago. It wasn't but it feels like it. Life is hectic. It's kids, pre-school, doctors appointments, my health, the house, work, money, time. Too much stuff sometimes.

When did life become so complicated and yet so simple?

Planted new plants in the garden. Got more for this weekend grown from seeds. Feels nice to play in the dirt. I need to get myself dirty every once and a while. I miss painting. I miss yoga. I need more me time. Time that isn't about what I am not eating, or are eating based on my stupid diet, or just trying to survive.

Been a while...

So it's been a little while since I have posted. I kept going to post something and just ran out of time, or energy, or will. I've just finished two good books. My favorite of the two was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zafon. Very well written, and I got into the world he created and read it in one day. The seond book was The Swan Thieves by E. Kostova. A good book but I figured out the over all story arch about half-way through the book. I finished that in two days. I find when I really get into a book I can read it quite fast and it takes much of my time.

I am enjoying the Olympics so far. It's nice that it is in Canada. My favorite part of the opening events was the poem. As pasted next. It speaks to what canada is for me.


VANCOUVER, B.C. - A transcript of Shane Koyczan's poem, "We Are More," as delivered during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Games:

"Define Canada

You might say the home of the Rocket

Or The Great One

Who inspired little No. 9s and little No. 99s

But we're more than just hockey and fishing lines

Off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes

And some say what defines us

Is something as simple as 'please' and 'thank you'

And as for 'your welcome,' well, we say that, too

But we are more than genteel or civilized

We are an idea in the process of being realized

We are young, we are cultures strung together then woven into a tapestry

And the design is what makes us more than the sum totals of our history

We are an experiment going right for a change

With influences that range from A to Zed

And yes, we say 'Zed' instead of 'Zee'

We are the brightness of Chinatown and the laughter of Little Italy

We dream so big that there are those

Who would call our ambition an industry

We reforest what we clear

Because we believe in generations beyond our own

Knowing now that so many of us

Have grown past what we used to be

We can stand here today

Filled with all the hope people have

When they say things like 'someday'

Because we are more

Than a laundry list of things to do and places to see

More than hills to ski

Or countryside ponds to skate

We are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can't wait

We are first-rate greasy spoon diners and healthy living cafes

A country that is all the ways you choose to live

A nation that can give you variety

Because we are choices

We are millions upon millions of voices

Shouting, keep exploring

We are more

We are the surprise the world has in store for you, it's true

Canada is the 'what' in 'what's new'

So don't let your luggage define your travels

Each life unravels differently

And experiences are what make up

The colours of our tapestry

We are the true North

Strong and free

And what's more

Is that we didn't just say it

We made it be"

Children

So today my children were horrible. Fighting, pushing, hitting, not listening to me, etc etc. However there were a few moments that just cracked me up.

Liam, my 3 1/2 year old, was jumping on the couch and I told him to stop and his responce was "Yes Sir! Whatever you say Sir!" I asked him why he called me Sir, and he said " 'cause I felt like it!" And then when he was trying again later to do the same thing he said, "Look a spaceship!" and pointed over my shoulder trying to get me to look away.

I mean come on, you have to laugh!


On another note. I hope anyone that has anything to give can find a way to give to Haiti. I donated $5.00 via my cell phone this week which will just be added to my bill. And I will be purchasing the itunes CD of Hope for Haiti Now. Truely touching. We can each make a difference whether it is with money, old shoes and clothing, or even a prayer.

My Wish for You

This was sent to me by a dear friend. I love everything about it.


1. May you always be inspired and connected to your Source Energy, whatever you may conceive it to be.

2. May you know that you have a choice in all things in this life, no matter how difficult they may appear.

3. May you find and use your inner courage to move from point A to point B.

4. May you be fearless and not affected by other people’s opinions or the media’s tendency to create hysteria.

5. May you always know the Universe does not give us any challenges that we are unable to handle and navigate through.

6. May your creativity guide you to seek new and exciting pathways for all your projects.

7. May you live with compassion for all things including people, animals, plants and the planet.

8. May you learn that sometimes other peoples’ needs may have to be met before we can meet our own. This is fundamental to living with compassion.

9. May you commit to one random act of kindness each day, no matter how unsettled you may feel! They are probably having a worse day than you.

10. May your heart be filled with love and your soul guided by hope.

This is my wish for us all, as we enter this next decade. My hope always being that this planet of wars, unrest and fighting, both globally and locally, may one day be defined by peace, caring and sharing.

John Singer Sargent....

John Singer Sargent's Birthday was earlier this week. So I found a painting he created in 1911 called repose. Almost every painting I found of his works portray women, with lovely large skirts and extra cloth wrapped around them. There is something very reflective about the quailties of this portrait. I love the use of blues and greys. Something deeper I guess.

Anyways! I am sick, the kids are sick, snot for everyone!

"Nothing is more beautiful than the lovelines of the woods before sunrise." - George W. Carver

The Island of the Day Before....

When I see that I think of this picture. This was taken by national geographic in northern Scotland. An area where little to no people live anymore. It is a place in the world full of history and beauty and yet so untouched by modern man. I imagine it is cold, with the winds off the ocean, pouring over the mountain tops, beautiful cold blue breezes. I see the stones of broken, unused cottages that have stood for hundreds of years. Built by a hardy community of people who obviously found beauty in a rough terrain. The sky is similar to Oregon's skies, cloudy, overcast, but full of the mist that makes everything so green. I feel the whole world in the air. The history of time, the hope of community, the sadness of loss, and an unknown faith in all around me. I hear the mumblings of space, vast, open space, and the footprint of those that walked this land.

Here is to breathing deeply.

Wrote this Yesterday, didn't have internet.

January 4, 2010

Here is to having a fresh view take you by surprise.

This morning I woke up after what I would say was less sleep then I had intended and had a very productive morning. I took my pills, made oatmeal for the boys and myself, got everyone dressed, took the boys to the market while Chris was sick, got home, put away everything from the market, put Jack down for a nap, started making lists of things to organize in the basement, made lunch, emptied the garbage in the kitchen, emptied the litter box, refilled the littler box, fed the cats hard and soft food, cleaned up from lunch, did two loads of laundry, watched a rerun of charmed, had a cup of tea, played several hands of medium difficulty spider solitaire badly, and now I am writing this. Of course while I was playing cards badly my mind kept drifting to different universes. Dr. Who, Torchwood, Star Trek, and then just other places in the world… England, Scotland, Egypt, Rome, Italy. I was playing SIM’s last night and I wondered at what point did playing a computer game that took me to Egypt become the replacement for actually wanting to go to Egypt. Not that I don’t want to go, but at some point in time instead of planning the trip I always wanted to go on, I settled for the virtual version. I wonder if this is what the talk about happening when you have a family. Is it that you settle? Is it that I am settling? I am not sure that I am but lately I have been drawn away from the things that I had been drawn to. I am sure none of this is making any sense but that is what a blog no one reads is for anyways.

When I was a child I wanted to be an archaeologist. What isn’t to love about that? Digging in hot places searching for things never found or missing for hundreds of years? I loved history, and writing, and the unknown. Some part of me still does but then the little critics surface and say, “you can’t do that, or be that, you aren’t smart enough, or have enough time, who are you kidding?” I am also artistic, not that I would ever call myself an artist. I think you have to make something someone is willing to purchase from you in order to call yourself that. I feel like I have a million hobbies all of which I do ‘OK’. I don’t think that there is any one thing that I am really good at, or that I could say is my calling. My husband has always been into computers, so that is what he went into. Sure, he didn’t know what part he wanted to work with but he found what he liked. What do I like? What am I willing to settle for? What am I willing to work hard on? How can I pay for anything, like school, or anything else? Where do I want to live? In almost every dream reality I seem to have I live in England or Scotland. There seems to be some deep-rooted bond in my subconscious to there. Which is funny because I’ve never left North America. Am I a strong person? Am I someone who goes for what they want? Will I always be in the shadows or will I step into the light? 2010 is a new year and I hope to be in a different place when 2011 arrives.