my weekend in summary (lots of z's)

this weekend was like a true to form, tourist in toronto weekend. and i loved everysecond of it. filled with super high culture rap battles, and some art at the AGO, when sunday night came, i felt like i did toronto justice this weekend.

creating; rap battlez with sister kelly; a jaunt on the east end; remerchandising on new branding; pulling together a gift for a friend… long overdue; new pieces… building for pop up sale in march; knittaz day with lady friends; some help; serious biznass; the ladiez (photo from erin)

friday: after work, my sister met me downtown, and we drove into my old hood - bloor west - for an appt i had. she wandered into the yellow griffin and i met her there for food and drinks after i was done. we then headed back home, where we had a drink with pat (landlord/friend) and mike, and then we bundled up, and walked up to bloor where we had our sights set on rap battlez at comedy bar. it was incredible, and amazing, and i heavily encourage everyone i know to go witness it. next one is feb 22nd. check it out. for real. once all was done, we wandered back home, and crashed pretty quickly. it was a late night!
saturday: woke up to the alarm, in time to get downtown. kelly and i packed up, got in the car, and met jeff downtown. jeff and i bought tickets to the AGO, and then had a very healthy, very quick mcd's breakfast before heading back to the frida exhibit at the AGO. it was, as i expected, stunning. and i'm glad - though i hesitated over spending the $25 - i decided it was worth it to adventure on the last weekend. i would have been heartbroken to miss it. we spent another hour or so wandering the rest of the AGO, including seeing the michael snow exhibit which was partially interactive, and great. then, a quick sushi lunch at one of my faves, sushi queen (please, no spouting sushi dishonour - it's cheap and quick and low level sushi, but i love it), and back home. we had a 2 hour nap (totally exhausted - have i mentioned i haven't been sleeping well lately?), and then showered, watched a 6 feet under episode, and got dressed for dinner. went over to wallflower on dundas where jeff had a burger, potato wedges and kale slaw, and i had some fried quinoa and kale slaw. totally amazingly delicious - as seems to be their consistent trend. we then wandered downtown to see flight .. which was long, but good. despite the 4 drunk kids who talked and laughed the whole movie (am i getting old?). then home, to bed.
sunday: woke up in time for mexican madness at sneaky dees, with friends (now including babies!), and delicious mexican wonder food. jeff caught a ride home with jill from burlington, and i picked up some last minute supplies (more knitting needles!) before heading over to my knitting party with the lovely erin, nicole, and friends. it was a blast, filled with ladies, food, sangria and knitting. and after all was said and done, and i dropped erin and nicole off at home, i got back home, grabbed some vietnamese, and settled into bed for some 30 for 30, some food, some organizing, and some list making. not as early to bed as i hoped, but better than normal!

hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

simplicity and beauty in the home...

after a week of home things, i think this quote is only applicable....

via

and, because it's friday. and because friday is meant for fun things. a free printable. i'd like to say it's from me, but instead it's from the lovely wolf & willow. a free printable 2013 calendar for your home.

stunning, and suiting to every room in your home. i've printed 3! find it here.
and, if you're just dying to review everything i talked about this week, you can find them all here: kitchen, bedroom, washroom, office, living room.

happy friday all!

inspiration in the living room

the living room. oh, the living room. i have this issue with living rooms. i want every room in my house to be one.
i grew up in a home where there was a family room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a living room. and the living room did not have much living done in it. it had the most uncomfortable sofas, the least amount of 'fun things' (in the eyes of a child), and was furthest from the kitchen. not ideal. i always promised myself that every room of my apartment or house would be fully lived in... and so a living room would be a gathering space.
a capture of books, comfortable things like blankets and pillows, and a museum of art and other loved things, a living room should be a centre point. and that's how i would organize mine to be.

keeping the mess to a minimum, in a room that's truly 'lived' in? that's the hard part.

mismatchy, filled with books, art and memories on the walls, and lots of comfortable things... my perfect living room. throw pillows that can serve as seats. chairs that people aren't afraid to sit in. blankets for cozy movie watching. mirrors and paintings; books and plants. everything about my daily life that can be captured in one place. shouldn't the room named for life, be the one that indicates how you do your living?

really, any way to display things that mean something to me, are perfect. i keep a lot of things - tickets from shows, postcards and letters from friends, and paintings or drawing i'm given. and i'm SO lucky to be surrounded by many many talented people. so i make a point of displaying everything i'm given. in frames, on the fridge,  in easels... whatever it needs to be shown to every visitor in my home. bits and pieces pulled together in actual curated collections on the walls and shelves.

shelving... the cornerstone of a living room. to avoid having 'things' all over, shelving provides spaces and galleries for goodies. making them somehow neat and organized (even if you've just thrown them on a shelf). even if art is temporarily stuck on the wall, in patterns with other recent finds... it all means something (AND gets it off the counter). next time, i'm building my own shelving... that perfectly suits my space, and me.

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inspiration in the kitchen

if there are two place in my home that i insist are clean and sanitary, it is my washroom, and my kitchen. i'm obsessive. i frequently take my gas stove apart, and clean it down to the gas burners. i organize all of my dried goods in glass jars and old classico pasta screw top containers (which are the best - for cups also). i de-box granola bars, and isolate them into baskets; i organize tea by bagged or loose leaf, into ikea containers; i lazy susan the shit out of my spices. it's all relative to the amount of time i need to spend in there (lots - when your main food group is tofu, you need to utilize those seasonings friends), and i want the space that i prepare my food to be spick and span.
about a year ago, the house where i rent my apartment was all of a sudden home to a ton of mice. i'm talking hear them in the cielings type infestation. it was no one's fault - construction men left the doors wide open for almost a full year, which meant lovely little tiny fuzzy creatures wandered their way into the warm gates of heaven. my landlords and i waged full on mouse warfare, including the apolocalypse of mice - when the exterminator came. let's just say, i was the happiest woman on earth when all of my dried goods - all trapped nicely in glass containers - came out unschathed. it was like a pat on the back. i'll never change.
confession: i clean my kitchen floor with all purpose cleaner mixed with vinegar and lemon. on my hands and knees. with a rag. it's a process, and i will also never change that. but man... it's so worth it.
so, i take my decorating (but really, organizing) of my kitchen so seriously, it's not even funny. really - this is not a laughing matter. and i'm always looking for inspiration. here you have my faves.

remember what i said about glass jars folks? and remember what i said about it not being a laughing matter? this is serious business. save your dry things. mine are even colour coordinated (because i eat boring food) which makes for nice counter top decoration. popcorn, rice crispies, quinoa, oatmeal, lentils (brown - of course), quinoa pasta and rice flour. all comprise this beautifully boring spectrum of beige-y goodness on my counter. 

but seriously. everything in glass jars, a better world does make. 

i'm all about the shelving. after living somewhere with see through cupboards, you realize how important the aesthetic of matching dishes, and coordinated dinnerware is. doesn't need to be a matching set, just needs to be coordinated from the 'colour palette' perspective (sorry... we're getting too interior design-y here). 

and, i love that pig. 

OH! and rugs in kitchens. win.

all stacking, all the time. cartons on cartons on cartons. as long as you stick with what you like, you can never go wrong. i always joke that my boring taste in colours (think moss green and pale blue on white and/or beige) makes for easy peasy moving... i never have to worry that things in different rooms won't match. when you buy what you like, things will always go together. plus, when you wash your dishes, and you have a green spatula, green frying pan, green curly straw (i have no shame), and a green knife, drying on your green drying pad... you look like you have your life so planned out it's intimidating. 

(i don't).

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inspiration in the washroom

people think it's funny, that i'm anal about the cleanliness in my washroom (no pun intended). i insist that the places where i eat, and clean (kitchen and washroom, respectively) are impeccable. and so, while my home is often cluttered with things i need to clear out, stacks of books, blankets and pillows (i like things to be comfy), and clothes everywhere, my bathroom is most often spotless. i sometimes find the motivation at 2am to clean my toilet, and have been known to spray my shower just before stepping into it (ALWAYS when i should be doing something else... it's my favourite way to procrastinate). friends will be over, and they'll hear the 'spritz' of the cleaner (when they thought i was taking a shower, or just brushing my teeth), and know what i'm doing.
so, when looking at apartments, i'm looking for cleanliness. not size, shape, or beauty. which means, i often end up with teensy tiny (currently), or green and pink (just previous to now) washrooms.
needless to say, i'm ALWAYS looking for ways to make my washroom more organized, to hide all of my cleaning supplies, contact solution, and make it look a little more like a stylish woman lives in the place - and less like it's a teensy tiny, watermelon coloured hospital washroom.
a few pieces of inspiration for sprucing up, and personalizing... while maintaining the cleanliness and organization i neeeeeed.

trays to catch all are key. vital elements to washroom organizational success. vital elements to ALL room success really... as noted in my bedroom post. so i love how these large trays catch everything... instead of a few small ones, one large to hold all that is awry in the washroom of jshea. and, as much as i am not a woman with many hair products, of special beauty things, i still have my vices. like my aveda face spritzer thingy - or, as i like to call it, 'heaven in a bottle'. (trademark). it's a dream. so, with all my small things, i need them together. crammed in a nice little lucite tray. to display to the world, and pretend i'm all fancy like. 

and shelving. did i mention i like shelving? so, if i could store my towels in my washroom, instead of in my bedroom (which is where they currently reside, simply because it's the only room in my apartment where they fit), i would be in dream washroom land. and even - *gasp - shelves for photos?? dare i. it would be luxurious. i dream of washrooms like these.

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