"The colour you want is the colour you get."

Does that sound familiar? It's from an ad by Penelope Cruz for a hair colour or something. I thought she sounded so cute (sorry, can't find the right word) in that ad. It became a favourite line in our household for sometime.

"I think I want a white kitchen. White backsplash, white cabinets, white countertop." ~ me

"The kitchen you want is the kitchen you get."   ~ MDH

And MDH says the same thing when I pick for colours for the home. Am I lucky or what?

I'd like to share some of the photos I took that I go back to once in a while because there's something in each of them that inspires me. I hope it will inspire you too. Here they are:

I love French macaroons. My fave is pistachio.

We have enlarged the picture above, framed it, and hung it close to the kitchen area. I like the gray tone of the chinaware and the somewhat restrained colours of the French macarons.

chocolate with marshmallows - perfect for a cold evening like tonight

The one above may be very similar to the first pic but the chocolate bars make the pic interesting. Brown and pastel combo surely wows.

And here's something different from the first two -

I love the earthy colours of the pic above which is something I'd pick in a heartbeat. And btw, this is a candidate photo that I will hang in the kitchen.

And yesterday, while I was contemplating on what bling to make for today's outfit, I was gazing at this -

This was taken during MDH's birthday dinner over a year ago at Perspective Resto at Brookstreet Hotel.This was yum.

The dress was blue-gray. I'll take a pic of the bling some other time, when there's good lighting.

I hope you enjoyed viewing some of my colour inspirations and that hope they'd inspire you too.

Bling it on, Baby!

I love colours but I don't think my love for colours is very obvious in the home pics I post here.  I enjoy experimenting with colours. Just not on the finishes at home that require longer commitment 'cause it can become expensive if we change them often. Going bold with colours on one or two walls is okay. But not for things like wood floor stains. MDH and I must have visited several showhomes over a hundred times because I really, really wanted to be sure that the wood floor stain we'd pick was the one. Okay, over a hundred visits is an exaggeration :). Looking at over a hundred images in the web isn't which was what I actually did.

And oh, did I say I am easily affected by the colours around me? I am. I remember one time, we had to paint our family room twice in one weekend. I picked the colour I like but realized after MDH finished painting the entire room, I didn't like it on our walls. I was so bothered I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to step in the room. So no choice but off to the paint store we went and picked another colour. We picked a neutral colour.  Beige actually. BM's Alexandria Beige if you're curious :)

So where do I inject colours? Mostly in home accessories. And blings.Yes, blings.

I made the necklace above. Burgundy and lime green necklace worn over a gray cashmere sweater and a pair of jeans was what I wore for casual Friday this week. Then I remembered, I had to do an interview. Good thing you do interviews sitting down so the pair of jeans wasn't too obvious.

And speaking of blings, I've started making some for Christmas gifts. Mostly for our godchildren. Only for the girls, of course. I hope they'll like them. We still have to think of something for the boys.

Eager Beaver

... for December

We decided to place the Christmas tree in our living room which is adjacent to our dining room.

It will be our first Christmas in the new home. And I am so excited. So excited that as soon as the following events were over, MDH and I started bringing out boxes of our Christmas decors:

• Thanksgiving
• Halloween
• Housewarming

We're in Canada so our Thanksgiving was celebrated weeks ago.

The invitation we sent out

And yup, we had our housewarming last Saturday. Over 60 dudes and dudettes came to celebrate with us and we partied 'til 2 am. Clock was set to standard time so we had an extra hour of partying. It was fun. As usual, the kitchen was where most of the adults congregated. The kids, however, were all over the house which made it extra fun :).

So yeah, expect to see more Christmas pics in this blog. Here's one more -

Fireplace in the Family Room

My Not-so-LOFTy Pics

We've finally painted the 2 walls in our loft. Colour blocking is probably the least expensive an inexpensive way of putting umph in a room. And that's what we did for our loft. We used Prairie Lily by Benjamin Moore for the paint. It feels very cozy!

We've installed a white desk and white shelves to designate a work area. Love, love the contrast of the walls and the fixtures btw.

Not to scale :). I had to come up with a rough drawing to show to the boys.

For the pics above the desk, here are the pics I came up with. The dominant colour is white. Again. What else is new :). I also made use of the knick-knacks we have around the home as photo subjects. Needless to say, I like how they turn out.

I took the pics, made use of the stuff we already have around our home.

Here are the pics, up close:

BTW I call the loft walls my "happy walls." They make me happy every time I stare at them. Colours do have an effect on me.

Next on the list to do: paint the master bedroom and ensuite. The colour will be the exact opposite of what we've picked for the loft. Grayish blue is what we're planning to use in our bedroom, grayish brown for the ensuite.

The Hub of our home

The kitchen is the hub of our home. It is where most of the family activities inside the home take place, where we entertain close friends and family members. It is where most of the action takes place.

We've equipped our kitchen with 2 ovens, 3 if you count the microwave oven :). Gone are the problems we had of trying to schedule which ones to cook first because there was only one oven to cook in. This Christmas, while the turkey will be cooking, I can take my merry time whipping up my dessert 'cause I can have my oven anytime.

And speaking of ovens, I was so happy the holes below the wall ovens were finally replaced with 2 sets of drawers. After 5 months, the ugly holes are gone. Phew! One item being crossed out in the to-do list.

It goes without saying that we don't want anyone going hungry or thirsty. Not in our kitchen. Most importantly, household members can pretty much take comfort in the fact that they are free to be themselves, learn things, make mistakes, and have fun. Well, it’s pretty much how we run the entire household.

The kitchen is probably the part of the home that we’ve put most of the things that we really want. I wanted a white kitchen, MDH was kind enough to consent to this.

I think overall, a white kitchen will never go dated. And it looks divine whatever fruit you put on the island. The colours pop, don't you think?

And yes, this time we have a bigger island compared to the previous home. It's 4 ft by 5.5 ft. I wanted a different wood colour for the island but decided to go with white (chalk white, to be specific) as our furniture pieces are dark. And so is the floor.

Overall, I like the contrast.






I picked most of the fixtures - Moen faucets, Kindred sinks. The faucets were all installed by MDH. No leaks so far. Yay to that!

And in case you  want to know, the countertops are Kashmir White granite and the backsplash is honed Carrara marble in mosaic rectangular strips.

Share the Care

My share for this year's Cancer Awareness Month

Be Aware. Be Proactive.
Quit smoking.
Eat well.
Be active.
Get screened.


Fast Facts:

• About 1.2 million cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

• About 75% of breast cancers are found in women over age 50.

• The chance of having breast cancer for a woman in her fifties is about 1 in 50.

• The chance of having breast cancer for a woman in her nineties is about 1 in 9.

• About 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of breast cancer.

• Men also get breast cancer, however, men account for less than one percent of all breast cancer cases - breast cancer statistics.

For the Loft of Music

This is what you'll find in our loft - MDK's drum kit and some.

One of the things we share as a family is our love for music. And naturally, when we planned for things that we'd like to put in the new home, we made sure that music will become an integral part of it. The long term plan is to put a music/entertainment room in the basement. As of today, the basement is still unfinished. No work has been done in it and it has become one big storage area for our things that we brought with us from our previous home and we still couldn't find spots for them in the new home.

But...but...we asked a dear friend who is quite a very good architect to draw up a floor plan for our future basement. I am not a big fan of basements but as soon as I saw the floor plan that he came up for us, I fell in love with it and I couldn't help but get excited. I am hoping that next year, we'll be able to start some work for the basement.

For now, we're using part of the loft as the music area. It can be pretty noisy especially when either of my boys (MDH and MDK) start banging the drums but I really don't mind. MDK is into creating music as well. He has a mixer midi pad control unit in his bedroom which eventually will be placed in the basement. MDK has created some pretty cool stuff with it. One time, I was pretty amazed at how he came up with the reggae version of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car after listening to it. And it didn't take him very long to create it.

We will put shelves and a desk as MDK's work area in the loft. But before we'll install them, we will paint the 2 walls. I'm hoping this week, we'll be able to pick the right colour and start painting the walls. We are looking at red-orange colours, all by Benjamin Moore.

Here are the colour samples up close, with a close-up bonus shot of MDK's drum. I think either one of the paint colours will go well with the colour of his drums hahaha.

Stay tuned for some updates of our kitchen. One major item in the to-do list in our kitchen was crossed out this week. I'm one happy camper this weekend!

For guests only

We have the barest guest bathroom but I love it.

Cabinets in Espresso
White Marble countertop
Huge rectangular vessel sink
And the paint is Balboa Mist by Benjamin Moore

And here it is one more time -

I hope our guests will love this bathroom. We do.

Today is a four-cookie day

MDK helped made these cookies

It's a thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Officially, thanksgiving day is tomorrow, Monday. But some families celebrate it on Sundays. We do.


Aside from being a "turkey-day" today, it is a "cookie-day" as well. I am grateful. Not just for cookie/turkey days like this but any other day.

Some days are cookie/turkey days. Many are not. Sometimes our plate has nothing but vegetables. It can be a week of carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Oh some even are bitter-melon days. Some days we have a bit of everything. Some vegetables may be hard to swallow, some are not. They can be healthy but dull. But we all know we can't live on just cookies and turkeys. Ooh those cookies, "they do little for our nutrition, but a lot for our attitude."

Reminder to self: the next time my plate has more broccoli than cinnamon rolls, I will remember who prepared the meal and be thankful. And the next time my plate has some portions that are hard to swallow, I'll talk to Him. He listens but most of all, He knows what's best for me.

For now, I'm telling Him how grateful I am for these four cookies on my plate.

Comfort Food

Today, I pulled out an all-time favourite recipe from our recipe collection. It's one of the first recipes I learned from watching different cooking shows on TV, when I was left on my own, while MDH was in grad school. It was our first year as married couple. It was also the beginning of the many trials and errors I did in the kitchen. It helped that I have a very supportive, encouraging housemate a.k.a. MDH. I was never afraid to try things in the kitchen 'cause everything I prepared was always well appreciated. It still is up to now btw.

I can't exactly remember which show did I learn the recipe. It was an Italian cooking show, sometime in the mid-90's. I'm sure it wasn't Caprial's Cafe 'cause I think she only did cakes and pastries in her show.

Tonight, over meatloaf and mashed potatoes (and apple juice :)), we reminisced our first year in Ottawa, in the first apartment that we rented, in the first kitchen where I learned to cook for the 2 most important boys in my life. The apartment was MDK's first home btw.

So here's the recipe. Hope the wafting smell of the meatloaf will bring comfort in your kitchen same way it does in ours.

Ingredients

* 2 pounds lean ground beef (I sometimes use a mix of ground pork and beef or ground veal)
* 1 cup milk
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 celery, sliced into small pieces
* 1 medium bell pepper, sliced into small pieces
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 cup bread crumbs

* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup ketchup

* bacon strips


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a rectangular pan. (I used an 8 X 12 pan)
2. Saute the onions, celery, and bell pepper.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly the sauted veggies and the other remaining ingredients, except for the brown sugar, ketchup and bacon strips. Shape the mixture into a loaf on the rectangular pan.
4. Arrange the bacon strips on top of the loaf.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the ketchup and brown sugar. Spread on top of the loaf.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.