We have had much of a winter this year, but since it has arrived a little bit I thought I would share my favourite things about winter. 

• Everything is covered in a beautiful, sparkly, white!
• Winter skiing and skating (not that I have been able to these this year).
• The wonderful crunch sound your feet make on the freshly fallen snow.
• Coming in from a crisp winter walk and having a hot chocolate. 
• Watching the soft snow flakes falling while being cosy inside by the fire.

I love fall, it's my favourite season. So many great occasions happen in the fall, including my birthday. Here are my favourite things about this season.

This past weekend we spent visiting family in Ottawa. This is my birth city and my home for my whole childhood, so I know it quite well. We had a wonderful weekend, and got up to lots of fun activities. Just thought I would share with you some of my favourite things to do and eat in Ottawa. 

Just thought I would update you on our Nest. It's been a few months and we have gotten used to it and it us. So far, my favourite function is being able to change the temperature from bed using my cell phone. No more getting up in the middle of the night to turn down the heat. It also lets you know when you are saving more energy than other Nest users around you with the green leaf symbol. Overall we are quite satisfied with it. The Nest is basically just a thermostat, but with some extra fun features. Here are a few of our favourite things about our Nest!

Spring is finally here, and that means practically living outside for us! Since this is the case, in order to keep us out there it has to be just as comfortable as inside the house. Here are a few ideas to make your outdoor living space as appealing as your living room. Just add sun!

Here are just a few ways to make more use out of your yard or outdoor space. We even did this on our balcony at the condo, which created an extra room for us during the warmer months.

No matter how good the furniture looks out on your deck, if it's not comfortable no one will linger for long. Try out lots of chairs and couches before buying any. Decide if it's something you can sit on for long periods of time. Just because it's outside furniture doesn't mean you should be giving up comfort. 

Add details to your deck, balcony, yard to make it look decorated. Once you have your main pieces of furniture picked out, add lots of decor and lighting to create ambience. Fun lanterns, string lighting, potted plants, throw pillows, and blankets for cooler evenings. 

Think of your outdoor space as another living room. Pick furniture that resembles inside pieces, such as couches instead of folding yard chairs. Or a nice dinning table, instead of a plastic alternative. Keep this idea in mind when decorating, and you will have a wonderful outdoor oasis. 

Despite all this talk of creating an inside space outside, the furniture used is different than your pieces inside the house. Your furniture from inside won't stand up to the elements. If your space is covered from rain you can be a bit more flexible, but I would still bring it inside for the winter months. Outdoor furniture is made of materials meant to be outside, and the good news is there are so many great pieces to choose from these days. 

One of the great things about decorating an outdoor space is you can use more fun patterns and colours then you might inside your house. Bright colours and big patterns go well with the summer sun and the green of a garden. Decorating an outdoor space isn't a serious experience. Just have fun with it!

# 1 Minimal 
Keep items to a minimum! A cluttered shelf is never going to work visually. There are just too many things for your eye to register, that it just ends up looking like a big mess.

# 2 Angles Are Your Friends
By tilting certain things on an angle, instead of keeping everything one direction, you create visual interest. 

# 3 Groupings 
There is the magic number three for groupings that works well. However, you can group objects together in other numbers, such as, two different sized items, taller in the back and short in the front, or four objects about the same size in a neat row. As long as you can see the objects in specific separate groups you can play with any number. 

# 4 Visual Objects
Pick items that will stand out when your eye just glances over at the shelf. Colour contrast works well for this. For example, place white or colourful objects on a black shelf. The sharp change in colour will draw the eye.

# 5 Mix It Up
Mix in different types of objects on the shelf. Even if it's a book shelf, add a few objects to break up the monotony of the books. Also, place similar sized books together, and even try stacking books up instead of keeping all of them on their sides. 

Just have fun and play with shelving arrangements! If something looks good to your eye, think about why that is, then continue the same concept elsewhere. Then you will be creating visually appealing shelves in no time! 

When looking at houses for sale, you see everything! From the professionally staged to the hoarder type who insist they don't need to do anything to attract a buyer. To tell you the truth, it's the people in between that are the most appealing to a buyer. The house should be clean, uncluttered, but feel homey and lived in at the same time. 

By nature I'm already OCD (and get made fun of for my perfect organization all the time). However, for the selling process it came in handy for staging. And it must have worked (along with other factors too, like location and price), because we sold our condo in one day! In fact some of the people who came through our place thought it was professionally staged, there was no way people lived like this! Oh well, I guess I'm unique individual, with liking my pillows arranged just so. Here are a few tips on staging we gathered up from our experience selling. 

# 1
Clean, Clean, Clean
Can't stress this enough, it is by far the most important aspect, and the first thing people notice.

# 2 
Clean Out Closets/Cabinets/Fridge
People are going to look everywhere when they come in! You don't have to be super organized in these areas, but make sure they are clean. 

# 3
Fix Minor Problems
You might be able to live with them, but they will be a turn off for your buyer.

# 4
De-Clutter Everywhere
Keep things to a minimum. However, you still need to keep some stuff out to give it the lived in look, so don't put everything away. Pick a few favourite objects that you think make your place look great and keep them on display.

# 5
Open Up Space
If you are really crowded in remove some furniture so it's easy for people to move around, and see the room.

# 6
Arrange Furniture and Accents
Make your place look inviting! Think of how you would make your place up for important guests.

# 7
Get Rid of Very Personal Pictures/Objects
 Sure, keep your own art and photographs on the walls, but any super personal photos or objects, put them away for now. For example, we kept out some travel photos, but put away our wedding photo.

# 8
Night Time Lighting On
Leave your lights on for nighttime showings; don't make them fumble around trying to find the switches. Make it a warm, inviting atmosphere by playing with your lighting. How do you like your lighting in the evening?

# 9
Get Rid of Smells
Don't cook smelly meals right before showings, and leave the windows and doors open before people arrive. However, make sure to shut them again before the showing, so it doesn't look like you are trying to cover something up.

# 10
 Plant Life
Have a couple of plants around, it adds to the overall atmosphere. Another thing you can do is have fresh flowers out in the kitchen and bathroom. Or you can go with a theme based on the time of year you are selling. As it is autumn for us, we actually had a few mini gourds out on our kitchen island. 

Be creative, and show your place off! Putting some time into your place shows you are proud of it, and buyers will see that your place is taken care of and worthy of purchase.  

I actually read a bunch of blog each day. I used to use Google Reader, but since that is no long available, I have switched to Feedly. I'm liking it, and it's fairly customizable which is great. Blogs are like having tons of free magazines! Some I have been following for so long I feel like I know the authors. I read all sorts of blogs, including design types. I enjoy reading them in the morning with a hot cup of coffee or tea in hand. 

If any of you have another blog that you think I should be reading please let me know! And I will add it to my list!

The design blog section is my biggest list. Mostly because they tend to be quite visual, and of course I love all things design. I also enjoy imagining living in some of these spectacular places, and then trying to figure how I can adapt an idea to fit my more modest dwellings. 

• Comtemporitst - I have been reading this blog for many years now. Great modern house tours from around the world and modern furniture and design.
• Design Sponge - A great visual blog that looks at many aspects of interior design.
• Young House Love - One family's journey on renovating their home. Lots of house projects and how to do guides.
• Home Designing - Amazing modern home interiors, lots of photographs to looks at for ideas.
• My Marrakesh - This is a design blog, but also could fall under travel, as she talks about living in Morocco. I enjoy reading this one because of my love of Moroccan design.

Who doesn't love food! Quite often the recipes I find off these blogs are far superior to the ones in my cook books. And it's fun to see the process through the wonderful photographs.

• Edible Perspective - A great food blog, lots of amazing recipes and all about the authors life as well. I have enjoyed many of her recipes over the years.
• Thug Kitchen - This one is quite amusing, taking good healthy food recipes and making them hard core. Not suitable is you don't like a lot of profanity. But it's done in a humorous way, trying to bring heathy food to a new audience. 

I need to find some more great travel related blogs. I have followed a few others but they have either stopped posting or stopped writing about travel and it didn't interest me anymore. I do really enjoy these ones, both have fascinating stories!

• Digital Nomad - A National Geographic explorer blogging about his travel experiences throughout the world. Amazing story teller!
  
• Frances Mayes - The real woman behind Under the Tuscan Sun. She blogs about her adventures in Italy and of her villa Bramasole.

I have always had a fascination with all things to do with science and history. I read a few blogs that fall into these genres. 

• Royal Ontario Museum - I read this blog for my love of archaeology and history, but also because I used to work here and it's great to keep up with what's happening.
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - I love anything to do with space! If I had another lifetime I might become an aerospace engineer. I enjoy reading this blog for this reason, but also because they often post photos from their archives which I find really interesting.
• Marc Ensign - This one isn't really about science, but all about social media and possibly its evils. A lot he has to say about our world is quite true and a breathe of fresh air.

I read of a couple of comical blogs too, just for fun!

• The Oatmeal - A comic that speaks often of our society, and of the author's life.
• What's Different in Canada - I came across this one day and started following it. The author is a Canadian living in the United States. Each post is about something that is different between the two countries.