the other blog

As many of you hopefully know, I have another blog, called Closet Rivalry. It's a fashion blog I share with my younger sister Jen. I'm having alot of fun with it (but it's not helping curb my shopping habits!) and my sister is too. But she's been talking lately about giving it up. Unfortunately we're not really seeing an increase in traffic, and we've only managed to snag a few ads. So in a last ditch effort to get this blog going and make it worth the effort, Jen has blogged HERE that we're looking for sponsors. Rates are totally reasonable (IMHO) and you even get a free month! So if anyone's interested, please give us a shout @ closetrivalry@gmail.com. Or just stop on by the blog and say hi. You'll see my sometimes wacky and maybe inappropriate outfits I sport for my government IT day job, stuff I didn't need but bought anyway cause I am a shopaholic (thanks Mom!) and the same sort of thing blogged by my sister but she has far more reasonable taste than I do being a stay-at-home mom and all. Plus she often gets shots that include my niece Gianna who is the cutest thing EVAH. Since I should include some pics before I sign off, here are a couple purchases I made this week that I freaking LOVE.

I'd live here in a heartbeat

Check out this amazing video for Dwell of Jens Risom's Block Island (Rhode Island) retreat. A little piece of prefab heaven in the middle of nowhere. 

getting in the holiday spirit

I'm not that interested in doing any Christmas decorating this year because I still hate my house and want a new one, so sprucing it up isn't exactly enticing. I did break down and do a few things - outside and inside. 

Last weekend while at my folks' place for dinner, my dad had a mass of strands of white lights he wanted to pawn off on any of us - I opted to take them thinking I could get some sort of vessel, throw the mass of lights in and call it a day. I essentially did just that. We went to Ikea and I found a huge black metal planter on sale for $39 that I thought would work well. I grabbed some driftwood branches I had in the basement and stuck them in and voila - instant front porch holiday spirit. Only problem was, it turns out those big white lights give off alot of heat and in a heap like that it's too much. All you could smell was burnt rubber. GROSS. So my $39 project turned into a $100 project - we went to Canadian Tire today and bought some small bulb outdoor lights instead. (I didn't bother taking new pics with the smaller lights.)

While at Canadian Tire I found these large ornaments and thought they'd be cute hanging from the ugly-ass porch. 

At Home Depot I was perusing the garden section and saw these really healthy little pine trees (or whatever they are) and thought it would bring some oomph to the dining table. I found a cool coppery pot there too for $10.99. I think I'll put some deer antlers around it. 

Last little project - I have a slight obsession with lights in jars. So I did that for the kitchen counter. 

Dinner out

Those of you who read my page frequently will know that one of my favourite Ottawa restaurants is Back Lane Café. The food and décor is awesome and it's conveniently located about a 1.5 minute drive from my house. It had been a few months since we dined there so I made ressies for last night. It was once again, absolutely awesome. 

They always have freshly baked bread to munch on - and this time it included potato foccacia. 

I forgot to take a photo of my husband's starter, so only got a shot of the last bite. { Niagara prosciutto, fior di latte (buffalo mozzarella but from a cow), toasted honey & black pepper }

My main was TO DIE FOR. { seared scallops, grilled vegetables, quinoa, dibas, almonds, beet & preserved lemon purée }

My husband's Cappasanta pizza. { wood fired scallops, sundried tomato pesto, goat cheese & arugula }

My dessert. *sigh*. { pumpkin pie, fig & muscat ice cream, raisins & sherry reduction with chantilly }

My husband's dessert (always with chocolate). { flourless chocolate brownie, passion fruit ice cream & curd with tahini chocolate cremeux }

Can't help myself

I thought I was done collecting West German pottery....but then the other day I stopped in at The White Monkey on the way home from work and spotted these 2 large beauties and could not resist. Small vases are one thing, large ones are fab-u-lous! They are about 16" tall, and the prices were awesome ($65 for the white one and $45 for the brown). Not sure where they'll go...I'm cleaning/organzing the hosue this long weekend so maybe I'll take photos later of where they end up.