Some press, new house stuff, and a cat

Posted on Sun, 6 Feb 2011 by KiM

As Jo mentioned yesterday we’re back to blogging on weekends. I think I’ll stick with the theme I had ended off with back in December of my blogland favs of the week as that was relatively painless to accomplish in the midst of my usual weekend activities of laundry, groceries, house chores, parental visits and whatever else popped up. But I will be breaking that up with random posts, like for example, new work going on at my house. Today is a random post as I had a busy week and wanted to share a few things before the work week starts up.

Thursday was quite eventful. It started with a little party after work for the launch of the 2011 Interiors issue of Ottawa Magazine. I was SO STOKED because as you may recall back in the beginning of December I mentioned in this post there was a photo shoot at my home. I was interviewed and photographed for this issue of Ottawa Magazine, which happens to be the first time I’ve gotten a shout out locally for being a blogger with some degree of success. And Thursday I finally was able to get my hands on a copy. The story is a page and a half with a rather large photo of me in my kitchen, as well as a shot of my dining room. The photos were taken by Dwayne Brown, who is super talented and SUPER nice, especially when he found out I was interested in photography. He gave me some tips, explained everything he was doing and let me watch as he tweaked the photos on his laptop. And writer Patrick Langston stopped by the house one afternoon and hung out with my husband, myself and our herd of cats and we had a lovely chat about moi and the blog. He also sent Jo some questions are a couple quotes from her and included in the article. Despite having been featured in several magazines around the world, I have to say this one I’m most proud of. Thanks to everyone at Ottawa mag, Patrick and Dwayne!!

***UPDATE: The story is now up on the Ottawa Magazine website HERE!

I had to leave the Ottawa mag party a bit early to make it home for a meeting with our architect who was going to show us his first set of drawings of the additions we want to do to our house. More excitement! It was so great to finally get a visual of how the house is going to look. We talked for a while and came up with more ideas for my husband and I to ponder. He left some drawings with us, and I scanned them and showed my parents and the next day got some feedback from my father. I really liked his ideas so I tweaked the drawings of the main floor to incorporate them. Below are the drawings so far. The red lines delineate the current home (our current office at the back of the house isn’t delineated in red because it needs to be torn down and rebuilt because it is not adequately insulated). We haven’t discussed details like window placement or exterior/interior finishes yet so windows you see on the drawings are just there as an idea. I cannot wait for this work to start – THIS HOUSE IS TOO FREAKING SMALL!!!

The title of this post ends with “and a cat” – so this is the cat part. Most of you should know by now that I am a huge lover of animals, and I must since I have 7 cats in that tiny house above. I’m always willing to help out a cat in need of a good and forever home when I can – and I almost brought this poor little guy home from PetSmart the other day for my parents who are currently pet-less but the timing could not have been worse so no happy ending there. But I would like to help out a reader here in Ottawa, Elfriede, who first emailed me back in October. Her son rescued a cat whom he dropped off at her house saying he would find her a home and so far has not. She asked if I could take her in because she didn’t want to have to take her to the shelter and although my answer was NO WAY, I told her I would be happy to post some photos on the blog in the hopes someone would be willing to give her a home. Elfriede would keep the cat but her new husband has asthma and cannot be around cats. Here is a bit of info Elfriede told me: My son has named her “Gretchen”. I took her to a vet a few months ago and he determined that she is female, 10 years old, and a mixed breed (himalayan and tabby). He gave her all the shots and a check up and issued a clean bill of health. What I know about the cat is that she is totally lovable, very affectionate, and in winter, when she stays inside, she is content to just sleep or watch cat-tv through our picture window. In the warm weather she prefers to be outside and explore. She never ventures far from the house. She likes to be around people and likes to snuggle up to anybody who wants to participate. If anyone out there thinks they could provide a home for Gretchen, please email me (desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com) and I can get you in contact with Elfriede. Gretchen is SO CUTE and I wish I could take her but that could mean the end of my sanity. Here are some pics:

Netpawz says:

Congratulations on the article!! I'm happy so many of the cats got into the picture! I loved reading your kitchen reno blog; I hope you'll do the same with the addition to the house.

Congrats! I can't believe I am just now finding out you are from Ottawa. I am pretty sure this is the first blog I EVER read. Wow! This spotlight is very overdue and completely deserved! x

Jaime says:

Yay for Kim! Yay for Ottawa! I find it hard to believe that you are just now getting your due respect from our city! I have been reading your blog for years and have always been so proud that you represent O-town!!

KiM says:

Thanks everyone!
(Jaime, I'm blushing…and now I'm off to bookmark a whole bunch of your recipes)

Jaime says:

Oh gosh, now I'm blushing!!

elfriede jeller says:

Congratulations on your coming out article. People are surprised to hear that Ottawa actually has its own celebrity style blogger. I saw my coffee buddy read the article at the Bagelshop and heard her comment on it. I went out the same day and tried to get a copy of the issue, but without success.
Thank you so much for posting the pictures of Gretchen, I do hope someone out there is not scared off by her age and is able to provide her a home. Thanks for the visual images and stories that you share with us daily. KEEP UP the great work.

KiM says:

Thanks Elfriede! (Celebrity? I don't know about that). I'm really sorry no one has expressed interest in Gretchen yet. I think I'll mention her again in this coming Monday's pet post.

ossi_a@hotmail.com says:

hi

ossi_a@hotmail.com says:

hi kim
if I may, I have few suggestion to your plans- 1. Why not have the staircase to second floor, near the main entrance, (where the stairs already drawn . it won't harm the size of the new livingroom/ master bedroom, when you or a guest want to approach the second floor you don't have to go circle all the house in order to get their (think of the near future – kid's friends…) 2. elemenate the existing stair case' that way you can plan a bigger third room and most important of all- you can plan a bathroom with a window, 3. i think all that changes won't be so costly in compair with beneffits
best of luck ossi

KiM says:

ossi, thanks so much for the ideas. i'm not sure your #1 would work because you'd walk up the stairs and end up directly in the master bdrm. as for the stairs, I'm kind of torn about getting rid of the old and creating a new set. one reason is I really don't want to do any work on the existing house so we can live here in moderate peace while the work happens (having 7 cats makes this project very tough).

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