#1- Host a Dinner Party
Last week we had a few friends over for a lovely dinner party. The menu consisted of a cheese plate appy, almond crusted chicken stuffed with goat cheese served with couscous and spring salad with blueberries, pears and sunflower seeds for our main course....and finally berry crisp with ice cream for dessert. Great food, great company....and overall a successful dinner party! Unfortunately I dropped the ball in the photo department and with no documented proof that this fabulous evening happened....you will just have to take my word for it.
#12- Decorate the Baby Corner
Since we don't have an extra bedroom in our apartment the baby will be sharing our room for awhile...but I wanted to make the space feel special and baby-like so I had an idea to create a few wall canvasses to put above the bassinet. Then.....when we move and the baby has a room of her own, we can use the canvasses to decorate her space!
So the obvious first step was a trip to Dressew; a fabric store with the best selection in Vancouver! They have every fabric imaginable and the prices are pretty reasonable so although it took hours....in the end we had some great finds.
My vision for the wall decor was to make 2 similar fabric covered canvasses with an applique of an owl on a branch and then above those would be a covered canvas with a painted wood letter (the baby's initial). I wanted to use various patterns and colours to create kind of a patchwork look, but it turns out that pattern mixing is more difficult than I thought! Luckily I had recruited my friend Jill to help me find the perfect combination to achieve my vision. So this is what we found......
and this is what I made!
Well actually it's only half of what I made....it turns out when I measured the wall, I didn't take into consideration the thermostat and so only one owl canvas fit. So, I guess I will have to save the other one for when the baby has her own room and more available wall space! For now I think it looks pretty good and it defines the baby's corner to make it feel more like her own.....not that she will even notice so let's be honest it's really more for me...but cute nonetheless right?!?I also had another project I needed to buy materials for on this trip to Dressew. We recently got a new couch and of course..... a new couch just screams for new throw pillows! Am I right? Since I find it a bit ridiculous how much they charge for pillow covers and they are so easy to make, I decided to make a few new pillow covers to freshen up the space and tie in some colour to our neutral grey couch. Again I wanted to try my hand at pattern mixing and I knew that I wanted a mix of white, black, grey and turquoise blue.
The black and white patterned pillows are actually from Ikea because they were on sale and I really liked the bold pattern, so I used those as a jumping off point to find other complementary fabrics that tied in the grey of the couch but also incorporated a pop of turquoise to match our side tables. I chose these 3 fabrics that I thought might work together nicely. Then I had to figure out how many of each pillow to make and what size for each etc.....so much to think about! I also had my husband's voice in the back of my head saying "really? 8 pillows? Where am I going to sit?"...soooo I had to limit my selection to a reasonable 6. 
In the end I decided to use the 2 large black and white IKEA pillows, then I made two smaller grey and white cases and 1 white and turquoise patterned case. I eliminated the green and blue fabric because it didn't look right....but just five pillows didn't seem like enough and I felt that I needed 1 pillow that was a solid to tie in the turquoise. Tyler disagreed....but then I was in Pier 1 and there was a sale on napkins that happened to be the perfect size of my pillow form and they had 2 turquoise napkins left that matched perfectly. It was obviously meant to be, so for under $10 I was able to create a solid pillow to tie the whole colour scheme together! I think Tyler agrees now that he sees how good it looks....and after he realized that he and the 6 pillows do actually fit on the couch! Side note.....check out the photo project from list item #9. After 3 years of the frames sitting behind out couch, I finally committed to a photo to blow up and divide into 6 to create an art piece to put above the couch. Since I took the photo and my perfectionist hubby took on the task of painstakingly measuring and cutting the photo to fit in the 6 frames....creating this photo art project was a team effort that we are really proud of!
#13- Prenatal Yoga
For the past few months I have been attending prenatal yoga classes and they have become the best part of my week! Yoga has been a wonderful stress reliever for me and this class is no different in that sense.....the only difference is that the class is all women and the bathroom is a whole lot busier! It's so fabulous to get together in a room full of women that are there to empower and support each other in our common experience. The teacher is so encouraging and she reminds us all that we are strong, powerful and we have everything we need to create a positive birthing experience for ourselves. There are women in their 1st trimester alongside women who are long past their due dates....but we are all there to take time for ourselves as mommas-to-be, to practice breathing through challenges and to prepare ourselves for this life-changing journey we are about to embark on. Love, love, love this class and can't say enough good things about it!
My only gripe is that it's only offered twice a week :(
So for those keeping count I have 7 weeks(ish) left until the baby comes and 5 1/3 list items left.... I hope I can fit it all in!!
♥ Lindsay
