My weekly finds...

I had LOT of luck in the last week during my hunt for trinkets to add to our home. The hubby would say I'm wasting my money, but I just can't help myself. Going from 1800 square feet (of which only about 1300 was 'usable' and 'livable') in our old house, to 2600 here in our Pink Castle, I'm finding that our 'stuff' just doesn't fill this house the same way. 

I'm not one who loves the look of sparsely decorated rooms - I feel like the trinkets help fill up our rooms and make them feel warm, lived in and inviting. 

Here are the goodies I found this week: 

This cute little ceramic owl is tiny and cute. He was only $2.99 at Value Village and I couldn't say no to him. 

Here he is sitting proudly on our mantle. 

Not only is this canvas the PERFECT shade of pink for Emmy's room, but Kate Spade is one of my all-time have designers AND this quote fits me/Emmy to a tee. Love everything about this. I picked it up at WINNERS for $19.99 and because it had a few marks on it I talked the manager into taking 10% off. Sweet deal. 

Love it. 

Another $2.99 Value Village find - it's a princess snow globe. Too cute for words. 

Best Compliment Ever

Grampa came to watch Emmy (and I, since it is a Parent & Tot class) at gymnastics this week.

She has SUCH a ball there. Running around, jumping on the trampoline in the floor, walking along the beam, doing forwards and backwards summersaults down the big spongy wedge things (yeah, I'm really technical about it, aren't I?). She loves it and has so much fun there with a smile plastered on her face nearly the whole time.

Grampa was seated in the viewing gallery to watch us and the woman sitting next to him watching her own little girl said to him "Is that little girl in the white top your Granddaughter?"

He said yes.

She then asked "Is that your daughter with her?"

He said yes.

Then she said something to him that made my heart sing. She said "They sure do love each other, don't they?".

What an amazing compliment - that she could see, from my encouragement and celebration of Emmy on the gymnastics floor and her smile that we are head over heels for each other. How amazing is that? It made me feel like I'm doing something right here...not that I need that validation, but it sure gave me the warm fuzzies to hear it.

Arranging our Art

I got a call from my Dad today asking if I wanted to go to Ikea. Silly father - the answer to that question is ALWAYS yes, so off we went.

I treated him to lunch ($2 for two hot dogs and a drink) and he treated me to ice cream.

We have the same Ikea mindset, which is a good thing, because we took our time walking through the upstairs showroom, looking for inspirational ideas and thought starters. I've gone to Ikea with friends before who do NOT, under any circumstance, go upstairs and look around and that makes me sad. I feel cheated from the magic of the Ikea Experience when that happens.

My pops only got a few, very useful items (picture hanging kit, lamp), however I tend to always get a whole bunch of stuff that I really don't need...or maybe stuff that I didn't know I needed. Today was no different.

My favourite blog in the whole world (Young House Love) posted last week about using trays as artwork, and as soon as I saw these two beauties, I knew I had to tackle something similar to what they did.

Love the colours and love the whimsey of the birdies. Oh Ikea, you continue to impress me!

I love them because they have a similar colour palette but aren't matchy matchy. Then I went crazy searching the house for other artwork and frames that could work in the grouping and here is what I came up with. It's definitely going to be a work in progress that I will continue to add to, but I'm super happy with it so far.

It's a nice little, colourful addition to the hallway to prepare you for the BLAST of pink in Emmy's room. 

That vent up top is a wee bit of an eyesore...so my hope is that this collection of artwork will help it to blend in and not stand out so much. We will see. 

Along with the Ikea trays, this collection of artwork features a few VERY sentimental items that are special to me. Closest and at the bottom is a hot plate that belonged to my Grama - I get the warm and fuzzies just looking at it because it reminds me so much of her. The bottom photo in the white frame is a sonogram picture of the Lemon. I also added some of my cousin's original artwork that I'm very lucky to own.  

Tomorrow Emmy and I may hit up Value Village and/or WINNERS to see if we can find any vintage/used trays or other items that we can add to this lovely arrangement. Stay tuned!

A Pink Castle for our Pink Castle

Happy Love Day!

On this, the one day of the year that those who hate hugging MUST give in an accept some squishes, I thought it would be fitting to share a bright pink update we've made to Emmy's pink room.

These Wallies decals are fantastic - they peel off easily and stick and restick when you don't get it right (or straight) the first time (whoooopsie)!

Here is the pink castle growth chart. How much more perfect could this be, since Emmy calls our house "The Pink Castle"? There is even a princess with brown hair - like our Little Lemon!

So cute - a little pond and multiple guest houses. I love how many pieces come in this package!

Since Mummy can't keep real flowers alive, fake ones are always a good choice. 

TA DA - Our Lemon is a Gymnast

...well, maybe not quite.

But she DID have her first Gymnastics lesson yesterday morning and I think she's in love.

Unfortunately Mummy and Daddy both had to work, but luckily I have the absolute best parents in the whole world, so Grama and Grampa took her, and Grampa even brought his ancient (but still operational) video camera from the 80's to capture a few highlights (complete with his commentary...well, a more accurate description would be his chat with a fellow visitor watching her own Grandchild).

They taught the kids to put their hands in the air after they "land" a move and say "Ta Da", so we were treated with the phrase "Ta Da" about 100 times last night.

She got to try the following things during the class, with the help of the instructor and Grama:

> a forward summersault
> a backwards summersault
> walking the balance beam (which is only inches off the ground)
> jumping on the trampoline

Camcorders from the 1980's don't have a "share to Facebook" option, so today Sweet Little Lemon Life blog brings you a video of a video for your viewing pleasure - added bonus: Emmy walks in front me me capturing the video of the video. Awesome.