It's In The Bag Blog Crawl

I'm so happy to be participating in the very fun Blog Crawl organized by the lovely Ashley from A Hasty Life. I always love seeing those What's In Your Bag posts, and now you get to see what's in mine--whether you want to or not!



I had hoped to get this post up eaaaarly this morning but technical difficulties prevented me from doing so. Unfortunately that means you'll have to deal with some not-so-great cell phone pictures of what I lug around with me every day. That should definitely be one of my resolutions, to start posting pictures as stylish and gorgeous as other bloggers do! I'm on it.

I also figured it would be more fun to see some of the random items that appear in my purse. I mean, most of us carry around wallets and cell phones, above are some of the other things that I can be found lugging around. Among them...

• Advil Extra Strength Liqui-Gels (I heart these to death and am never without them)
• Playing cards (often also accompanied with a book or two--you know, in case I ever get bored...at work)
• A notepad and pen, which I can never find when I need them
• An old ticket to a sporting event (movie tickets can also be found)
• Some random hair and a mirror I rarely use
• MAC Lipstick in Russian Red
• Smashbox Lipgloss in Candid
• MAC Lip Pencil in Whirl
• Play-Doh left over from a niece or nephew
• A rosary (which I keep in the tiny pocket of my purse)
• A clutch that I used on the weekend and stuffed into my bigger purse--ID, extra money and all
• Gum and...batteries?
• Blog business cards (from House 09) as well as "real job" business cards (not pictured)
• Cotton balls and Q-Tips swiped from a hotel on a recent stay

I'm switching bags constantly but this is one of my fave day bags.

Big, easy to keep clean and in a good neutral colour. Perfect for me.

So, now that you've seen the unvarnished truth of the random things I'm carrying around every day I'd love to see what's in your purse! And you can check out what was in Peggy Ann's bag yesterday and see what's going on in For The Easily Distracted's purse tomorrow. For a full list of bloggers participating you can go here. Thanks Ashley for organizing this great blog event!

Blog for Digs: My Childhood Room & Ideal Girl's Bedroom

In support of the great charity Dwell With Dignity, Claudia Clobes of Stonehouse Love has organized a blog crawl with the theme "my childhood bedroom was..." with the assistance of Beth from Hello Splendor. More than 55 bloggers have or will participate to support Dwell with Dignity, which works to "help families escape poverty and homelessness through design; one household at a time." If you'd like to help check out their website.

I had quite a few different bedrooms and bedroom designs when I was a kid, but the thing I remember most is the freedom my parents gave me to create my own space. Sure, my mother had a strict rule about nothing hung with tacks or tape (if I wanted to put up a poster I could only do so on the inside of my closet door), but they also always let me choose the paint colour and scheme of my room.

[via]

When I was about six or seven my dad took me shopping for a new bed. I think he figured a little girl should have a frilly canopied thing or one of these Cinderella beds. Imagine his surprise when I pointed at a bright blue bunk bed (I had no one to share it with except stuffed animals and the occasional sleepover guest). "Are you sure?" he asked doubtfully. I was sure. We got the blue bed. That room had walls that looked like clouds, decorated with sponge (hey, it was the 80s) flowers, all done by my dad. I loved that room, blue bed and all. And I loved him for not forcing me into something that wasn't "me."

Amanda Nisbet, Oprah at Home [via]

My next bedroom was a decidedly girlie affair. Pink walls and a pink bow border (hey, it was the early 90s). When I was a pre-teen I chose lavender, something like the colour scheme above except that my bed was also black and wrought iron. And so it went, with every new room I got to reinvent myself and my space. I'm thankful that my parents gave me the room to experiment. More recently they didn't even wince when my brother decided to paint his room black and red, and didn't bat an eyelash when my sister requested fluorescent pink and black. "Are you sure you'll be able to sleep with that pink?" was all my dad asked her, with the same doubtful look he'd had about my blue bed. She was sure. And so he painted.

These days if I had to describe my ideal girl's bedroom it would look something like these...

Massucco Warner Miller

I've always had a thing for daybeds and window seats!

Amanda Nisbit [via]

Massucco Warner Miller

Tamara Mellon's daughter's room via Elle Decor

I also certainly wouldn't have minded a closet like this...

[via]

Check out yesterday's post at Size Too Small. Thanks to Claudia for organizing this great blogger initiative! For more information or to contribute please visit Dwell with Dignity.

I'd love to hear about your childhood bedroom--or what kind of bedroom you'd always dreamed about.

On the 8th Day of Christmas...

The lovely Ashley of

gave to me a

wonderful book filled with exquisite things

and a pretty cocktail ring.

Thank you so much Ashley for a thoughtful,

perfect gift (a book and jewellery, who
can ask for anything better?!)

On the 9th Day of Christmas, the 

wonderful Laura of Somthing Legit will
be receiving something green and sparkly!
Check out her blog on Monday to find
out what it is. I hope she likes it!!

Have a great weekend!

Thank you to Beth and Lauren of Aspiring Splendor for putting together this great blogger collaborative and for including me in the fun! 

My Life is an Open Book Blog Crawl

Today I'm participating in the fab Blog Crawl put together by the lovely and talented Beth of Hello, Splendor (really, if you haven't checked out her stuff yet you should, Beth has mad skillz). I've been having such a great time reading and learning more about my fave bloggers and discovering blogs that I hadn't been fortunate enough to happen upon yet. Thanks for organizing this Beth! So here it is, my life to date, in book form...

The Author

  

Me, a regular girl from a close knit family that is all about good food and sarcasm, laughter and togetherness. I value dreams (sogni) and smiles (sorrisi), books and new experiences, faith, the people in my life and travelling to new places. I'm a night owl who, at this point, has premium coffee pumping through her veins.

The Setting

Toronto, my home, with various farflung

destinations thrown in for good measure.

The Characters 

My husband, my family and my friends, without whom the pages

 of my book would be dreadfully dull and hardly worth reading at all.

The Plot

Prologue

It all started here on a warm summer afternoon.
While on the streets this was happening...

Needless to say the girl that received this kind of a welcome got quite used to, shall we say, large birthday bashes in the years to come.

The kind that turn into birthday weeks and birthday months.

The girl grew up, made friends, mended broken hearts (her's and those of said friends) and learned lessons she would always keep with her. Which brings us to Chapter One...

Girl meets boy on a steamy summer night. Looking back some of the things people used to tell her about love (that you would find it when you weren't looking, when you least expected it) were quite true, while others (you'll never find it sitting at home) turned out to be altogether false. Because this girl met her boy while sitting on her porch, on a still July night, and they've never really been apart since.

Fast forward seven years, one wedding, a house being built and a hopefully long and healthy future stretching out before them, surrounded by the supporting cast of family and friends who have been by their sides every step of the way. The girl, finally embracing her artistic inclinations, has started a blog and met many new, wonderful friends and has been inspired to embark on a new adventure: freelancing in addition to her full-time job.


The Twist

 

Maybe baby? Not yet, but who knows. Anything is possible as the boy, the real dreamer of the two, likes to tell the girl (she prefers adventure--with a safety net). Maybe a novel on the horizon, a family, more travels...

Not knowing is half the fun.

 

 

Stay tuned...

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and taking the time to read my book. Check out Erika at BluLabel Bungalow's wonderful story and tomorrow head over to My Little Happy Place to see what Alison's book has in store. If you like, take a moment to enter my Shopbop giveaway (for a $100 gift card) and check out my piece over at OgleTO about the Top Five Fall Trends of 2010. Do tell, what are you fave trends at the moment?

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