The year is almost over! Check out this article on Contemporist about the 11 most pinned Canadian houses of 2014. It's not hard to see why, all these houses are just amazing! Happy dreaming! I know I will be imagining living in these places. 

I love these cookies, but I only make them once in while as they are lots of work. They are the perfect refrigerator cookie. They have great chocolate flavour, mixed with real blackberries. Not overly sweet, but are quite decadent. My favourite combination! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and (in Canada) are enjoying Boxing Day. This was Jeff and I's first Christmas in our house. We are starting our own traditions, especially with a little one on the way. It's hard to say goodbye to our childhood traditions, but it's also exciting to start our own with our new family. Merry Christmas to you, and a very happy new year!

We decided to make a gingerbread house this year. It was so much fun to decorate. We actually have a gingerbread house mold from Lee Valley Tools. It's great, and has two different house designs to choose from. Plus you make the gingerbread yourself, which won't have any preservatives like store bought versions. Can't wait to eat it!

• 2 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon 
• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Molasses
• Decorations

1. Put flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and butter in a food processor. Mix until it resembles bread crumbs.
2. Add in the sugar, egg, molasses, and mix.
3. Press dough into mold. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Let cool for a while before popping out house pieces. 

As I shouldn't be eating raw eggs right now, I used a slightly different recipe for the icing. 

• 4 Cups Icing Sugar
• 8 Teaspoons Milk
• 8 Teaspoons Corn Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1. Mix together ingredients using an electric mixer. Add food colouring as desired. 

I'm so excited for Christmas this year, as we have a whole house to decorate, and we are getting a real tree for the first time. In our condo, and apartments we never had the room for one. It's always so much fun to put on some Christmas music, have some snacks out, and decorate with family. Here are a few tips for decorating your home! 

Everything looks more put together if you pick a couple of colours and stick with them throughout your house. 

Think about the most used areas of your home, this is where the majority of your decorations are going to go. 

Like designing a shelving layout, you want to group objects together that will be appealing to the eye. Check out my post on shelf design for more on shelf layouts!

Nothing says you need to blow the bank with decorating. There are so many objects you can use or even make to add to the Christmas atmosphere. 

Ultimately, Christmas decorating is not a serious endeavour. Make sure it's a fun activity, and that will show through. There are no hard rules that it needs to be done a certain way. Make it a fun family tradition!

I can see a tradition in the making! We ended up heading north to cut down our own Christmas tree, the old fashioned way. We went with good friends of ours and made an afternoon of it. We had lots of fun wandering around the trees, picking one carefully, and taking some fun pictures at the same time. As you see, my good friend, Courtney McIntosh, is a photographer and these are some of the pictures she took of our adventure. 

The place we went was just a small family run farm. It was very laid back. You just take a saw, pick a tree, cut it down. Then after you can sit by the fire pit with some hot chocolate. A perfect winter afternoon! If you are interested, check out Country Lane Tree Farm. 

This crazy house was designed by AABE in Spain. I love all the modern lines and simple white. It really draws in your eye. I wonder what it would be like to actually live in a place like this. I could be really neat, but I wonder if it would feel cosy enough. However, it's a great piece of architecture to admire. Check out more photos at Contemporist. 

Project:
The house takes up its position, back facing the other houses, and simply embraces the entire horizon. The architect has limited terrain to work on. The trick however is to release all the emotions of the place: opening or splitting, reflecting infinity.

Space and time are two infinite things that pass us by. Architecture, however, enables us to model space and set time, like a sundial. It can also embody a third infinite thing: beauty.

The white walls are blank pages for nature’s expression. The Sabine is a slow-growing pine, recounting the story of an ancient world.

This post doesn't have much to do with design, unless you count the fact that my body is designing a new human. We have made it to the last few weeks of this pregnancy, I can't believe it. It went by slow and fast at the same time. I'm sure the next month or so will probably go slow, although I'm happy to have Christmas as a distraction. It's starting to get difficult dealing with the extra weight, and I'm finding I'm not able to do as much anymore. Which can be a frustrating for me as I enjoy being busy and active. However, everything is progressing well, and we can't wait to welcome our new addition. Official due date is February 2nd, 2015. We will see how close to that baby arrives. We have one last ultrasound at 36 weeks to determine how everything is going, as there is a possibility that a c-section will be necessary. After that the final waiting will begin. Exciting and scary, and everything else in between! 

I love these stools so much, I would put these in my house! They are just so much fun, while being functional, and they have a really interesting design. They are created by deisgner Phillip Grass and are made in Germany and Denmark. 

About:
Founded in 2014, the Danish design & interior brand Phillip Grass strives to create furniture with an inspiring and vivid presence that gently blurs the line separating art from function. Poetic and imaginative elements enhanced with a subtle touch of humor are at the heart of Phillip Grass’ design philosophy. The sophisticated objects created by Phillips Grass challenge the conventional division of sculpture and furniture by merging the two harmoniously, and allowing the objects to take on a life of their own. 

Phillip Grass, the founder and designer, started his creative work as a craftsman producing wooden sculptures. His skills in woodwork was of great use in building a solid foundation for his cabinet making skills, which in turn formed the basis for his future design work with furniture.

I got these decals in the mail today from Indigo Baby. I just love their stuff, it's all so cute! I'm not sure yet on which wall these will go in the nursery. We will have to see what looks best. I love the bright colours and the fun graphics. Can't wait to put them up. Nursery update soon! It is definitely starting to look like a baby's room, and is very cosy!