 Just thought I'd wish you all a Happy Halloween! I'm quite excited for this year as this is the first time we will have Halloween in a house. Which means we will have kids to give candy to! Living in a condo downtown we never had the opportunity, as the kids don't go door to door in any of the buildings we lived in. Should be a fun evening, and next Halloween we will have a kiddo of our own to dress up! Happy Halloween everyone! 
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Over the weekend we were in Ottawa, my home town, for my baby shower! My parents very generously hosted the party in honour of our much anticipated baby. It was lots of fun, and it was great to see so many family and friends. Not to mention the food was absolutely delicious. 
We got so many amazing gifts! And everything was different, except for one book, which we got three copies. I loved all the beautiful wrapping, and cute things that were inside. Jeff came to the party near the end and got to open our last gift, which was our biggest. A playard! Lots of thank you cards will be on their way. 
We have finally fixed all the holes in the walls and ceiling of the guest room, which were extremely numerous. Then we painted it! We picked a neutral tan colour, and decided not to go with an accent wall. This room is quite small and we thought it might make it look even smaller with one wall a different colour. I'm not 100% sure about the colour, but it's definitely an improvement. 
We also painted the closet doors in here, and added new hinges and door knobs. This room is now gold free! 
We used Behr paint colour Merino Wool, as seen above. It looks a little darker in the small bedroom as there is not a lot of light in there. We plan to add more lighting in the future to brighten it up. And we need some art for the walls. Here is the before and after pictures! 
Before
After
Check out this amazing desert house! It just fits right into it's landscape. It almost looks like a fossil. You can read more and see lots of photos here. This home is located in California near the Joshua Tree National Park. 
 We have a new creature for the nursery; meet Mr. Hippo! While we were in Niagara-on-the-Lake we came across a store that just made stuffed animal ottomans. They are meant for wherever you want to put them, but we thought one would be perfect for the nursery. It's practical as an ottoman/stool for an adult, and once our little one is big enough, she will have lots of fun playing on him. I hope our baby likes safari animals, because there seems to be a bit of a theme happening in here!   It's done, and I'm loving it! Our new joint office. Lots of space to work, and looks great. The green colour is nice and bright for the dark downstairs room. By having the second desk right beside me now I find I'm using it a lot more than when it was upstairs. It's perfect for working on side projects that need lots of space.  We moved my white board, and cork boards downstairs, and placed them on the wall between our desks so we both can use them. My desk sits in a cosy corner and I have everything I need within arms reach. An ideal home office!  
Instead of heading to a family dinner this Thanksgiving we took advantage of the long weekend and went on a mini vacation, as they are called these days, a babymoon. I'm officially not allowed to travel too far, so we booked a weekend package in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It felt amazing to get away from everything, even if the getting away wasn't too far. 
We drove down on Saturday morning and went to some wineries on the way (not that I was tasting) and hit up some fresh fruit stands. This time of year the wineries are bringing in the grapes, so we got to watch as the wine makers poured the freshly picked grapes into the crusher. So neat! Also, all the vineyards were shooting off loud noise makers, that sounded like gun shots, to scare away the birds from the grapes. I guess if you live in the area you get used to it. 
After, we continued on to Niagara-on-the-Lake and checked into the Shaw Club Hotel. Great little hotel, and very modern. We received a fun welcome kit in our room that was all baby related. It included a pregnancy magazine, baby name book, sparkling juice, and a cute stuffed monkey. Lots of fun! That evening we attended the Shaw Festival to see the musical Cabaret. Below is a photo of me attempting to dress up for the show with my ever growing bump! 
Sunday morning we each had a massage at the spa, as it was apart of our package. So nice and relaxing, and a great way to start the day to get all those back aches out. We spent the rest of the day wondering about the town, enjoying the beautiful weather. Late in the afternoon we drove over to the Niagara Botanical Gardens, where we got married, and walked around for awhile. It was perfect weather! 
We enjoyed a three course dinner that evening for Thanksgiving, and even though it wasn't traditional, it was delicious. We even had a pumpkin themed dessert of pumpkin mousse, flour-less chocolate cake, with candied pumpkin seeds on top. Amazing! I hope all of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
 For this past week we have been painting like mad in the office downstairs. We picked a fun green colour for the room. I'm really liking it, as it's bright and cheery. We might actually end up using my dark plum and taupe colours for the guest room, but we are still working in there. It will be a little while yet before that room is finished. In the meantime, our joint office space is almost complete!  This is the colour we ended up choosing, it's called Windmill by Behr. It looks a lot brighter in the room than in this photo. We have also finished all the white painting in the room, and replaced the door knobs and hinges on the closet doors. It's like a new room! We still need to rearrange all the current furniture and move all my stuff downstairs, which will be a big project itself. Can't wait to start working in there!  Before  After  Mi Casa, Your Casa has been created by Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena, as an interactive design installation in Atlanta, Georgia. See more on Contemporist. They look like so much fun to hang out on! Project Description: As part of a two-year initiative to activate the Sifly Piazza and engage the community in the vibrant campus of the Woodruff Arts Center designed by Renzo Piano, the High Museum of Art unveiled an ambitious interactive design installation entitled Mi Casa-Your Casa, conceptualized and created by contemporary Mexican designers-in-residence Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. Mi Casa-Your Casa is a site-specific installation that will invite the community to actively participate in the life of the entire Woodruff Arts Center campus through recreation, social interaction, performances, and art-making activities. Mi Casa-Your Casa is a welcoming space where visitors can play, create and relax. Hammocks, swings, easels, bins of chalk, and buckets of bubble water, among other elements, offer daytime “playtime” options. The Woodruff divisions (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Arts for Learning) will utilize the installation for performances, youth education and more. The High is also collaborating with artists and performers from across the Atlanta arts spectrum to enliven the space. These highly unique and original collaborations will allow visitors to experience some of Atlanta’s most compelling artists in exciting new combinations as they explore new territory and branch out in fresh and unexpected directions to bring the Piazza to life with art.   Baked apple donuts are a great afternoon treat. They would look better if cooked in an actual donut tin, but they worked just as well in a muffin tin. Ingredients
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