Mornings At The House Of Fawn

Our mornings usually look like this: we wake up (somewhere between 6 & 8am), come downstairs, one of us makes coffee (in our beloved Bodum) and then I generally write some posts (for the site that pays the bills) while the boy gets Gretchen some breakfast. If the boy is working mornings he'll head off while G & I wave at the window, then we'll play, read stories & snuggle up while watching one of our favourite shows. If the boy is working afternoons we try to spend as much time together as we can while doing chores, running errands and playing with the babe til her late morning/early afternoon nap.

I really like that I can almost always count on our morning routine. It makes the day run a little smoother when I have a familiar feeling during those first few hours.

What do your mornings look like? Do you have a routine? Is there anything special that you have to do start the day?

Wordless Wednesday (On The Piano)

The Tuesday Diptych Project: Week Nine

Desiree (left): Spring has been teasing us this week. We've had snow, and rain, and finally some sunshine. I'll be pleased when we can put away the snowsuit & mittens for good! The little one & I have been spending lots of time in our backyard, now that the weather is a little more forgiving, and she's found hours of enjoyment playing on the blue porch -- climbing the stairs, up and down, up and down. She loves to play with the little stones on the path, gathering them up in her hands, placing them on the stairs & helping a few wayward bits into her mouth (and quickly back out again). I've filled her sandbox up with brand new sand (which she also had to taste) and she's been trying to pluck all of the new little sprouts out of the earth. Thankfully, over the past couple of days I've been able to teach her a gentler approach to flower & all things green and growing: she leans her face very close and sniffs with her nose. I hope she'll always remember to stop and smell the flowers -- a lesson learned at just fourteen months.

Johanna (right): To me, nothing says spring and Easter more than a fresh bouquet of pussy willows. When I was a little girl, my mom would put a bouquet of pussy willows into one of her nicest vases and then we would decorate it with our hand dyed Easter eggs. This was a yearly tradition which we called our Easter Tree.
When I brought this bouquet home over the weekend, memories came flooding back of our family Easters gone by. I thought back to all of the good food we would've ate, the church breakfast that we went to, the coin boxes that we handed in at Sunday school, the celebrations, the Easter egg hunts, so many lovely memories. Now that I have a little one I hope that I can continue such wonderful memories in our home.
This Easter weekend will be a quiet one with just the three of us. I plan on making brunch and an Easter dinner and of course we will be going to church. It will be quiet without the hustle and bustle of running around. Perfect I say! A perfect way to stop and recognize all the beauty of spring and celebrate the promise of Easter.

Small Town Ontario Love

I really love our city.

The other day @Ptbo_Canada tweeted the following: When you think of "icons" in Peterborough, what comes to mind?

Having lived here for nearly 24 years, I can think of a few things:

Our beautiful downtown, the fabulous indie shops (Simple., Glow, Bluestreak), the fantastic restaurants (esp. Hot Belly Mama's, The Olde Stone, The Speak Easy, St. Veronus, The Only, Reggie's, Matsu), the cafes (Dreams of Beans, Natas, The Silver Bean), the parks, the playground, our zoo, Trent University, Trent Radio, Little Lake, the Folk Festival, the Festival of Lights, fireworks, Jackson's Park, the cab drivers, skating on the canal, the music/arts scene, the Liftlocks, Rotary Trail, ArtSpace, all of East City (represent!), the beautiful green spaces, my friends, my family, my life & much, much more.

I love Peterborough.

This is where I grew up & I'm happy to raise my daughter here.

I'm not saying that our town has no negative aspects, but to be honest, who has time to dwell on the bad things in life? Forget it, embrace the good & keep on living.

What do you love about the place where you live?

Source.

Fourteen Months

Can you believe I'm already mama to a 14-month-old babe?

And the time just keeps on whizzing by!

Vintage Plaid Love

I just want to wear plaid shirts all day, every day.

They make me feel like a rock star & a cowboy. And a sexy lumberjack.

I've posted this image before, but this is me in my favourite plaid top!

It's in need of a one new button, but I love it so.

Tell me about your most favourite shirt.

Sources: 1, 2 & 3.

This Story Has A Happy Ending

On Thursday, this little guy flew THUD into our living room window.

He laid very still for a while, with one wing stretched to the side and all I could think was "how am I going to put this poor thing out of its misery without traumatizing myself?" Not a happy thought.

However, after calling both my mother & grandmother for their advice, the little bird tucked in his wing, stood up slowly, and eventually flew away to join his pals in the sumac. I think this is the first time I've ever seen a bird "walk" away from a window incident. It was amazing. And heartwarming. And now I have to find some decals to put on the window so it never, never, never happens again.

Fingers crossed.

Have you witnessed any small miracles lately?

Bedroom Bunting Love

I love this bunting duvet cover & matching curtains from IKEA. Just whimsical enough, without being cutesy. They are actually from the children's section, but to be honest, I could see snuggling up with this pattern myself!

My Nook

Sometimes I sit with my netbook at our piano to write and reads blogs and such. It's a much more inspiring venue than our somewhat dreary & cold office. At least in the living room there is more light and I don't feel so cut off from the rest of the house.

What does your home office/impromptu writing corner look like?

Happy Saturday!

Salut, mes amis -- rise & shine!

This morning I'm heading to the farmer's market and possibly out for breakfast with the grandparents -- a fabulous way to start the weekend. Fingers crossed that my egg lady is at the market this week, waiting with lovely brown eggs -- oh how I've missed them!

What does today hold in store for you?

Paint-By-Number Mural Love

Oh my word. I just spotted this over on Happiness Is... (thank you Shannon!) and had to share it here. This, my friends, is a paint-by-number wall mural.

From Design*Sponge: "This fantastic wall makeover comes from scott and cheryl white in michigan. inspired by paint by number artwork, they decided to turn an ebay painting into their own custom wall mural. after their paint-by-number painting arrived from ebay, scott made a color transparency of it and borrowed a friend’s projector to trace it on the wall with pencil. scott and cheryl created a chart of all the colors, recreating their own numbering system. then after a trip to michael’s to pick up paints, scott and cheryl painted in their large-scale paint-by-numbers mural by hand over a period of eight months. the final results are stunning and i’m so glad scott and cheryl had the inspiration to create something so fun on their walls. well done, guys!"

Eight months!? Incredible. I would imagine after spending that much time & patience on one wall in your house you'd certainly never want to move again. If you did, you'd have to tear that wall down and bring it along!

Do any of you have murals in your homes? Did you paint them yourselves, or hire a professional?

Fawned Friday

Crossing my fingers for sunshine on this fine Friday morning! I hope it's warm where you are!

01. Lavender bag love.

02. Little ham onesie.

03. I'd really love to go for a walk here.

04. Byron bear print.

05. Vintage thermos love.

06. Soft kitty rug.

07. Vintage book belt buckle.

08. Such a sweet scene.

09. Scratchy, scratch.

10. This slug makes me smile.

11. A super simple tunic tutorial.

Happy weekending!

Miss Diana-F

Now all I need is some 120 film.

Remind me to paint a room this colour.

Thank you, Chantilly!

Hello, Yellow!

These little yellow lovelies popped up in our backyard a couple days ago:

So pretty! Only now I worry that tonight's negative temperatures will nip at them in a nasty way. I'll be sure to check on them in the morning -- perhaps they're in need of a blanket & hot toddy?

...

PS. Ten points to anyone who can tell me what these are called??

A Little Punch Of Colour In Honour Of Spring

On Tuesday I finished sewing some curtains I'd been working on this week & put them up in the kitchen.

The print is so colourful & cheery -- I feel in love as soon as I spotted it, and when it turned out to be on sale for 1/2 price I snatched it up! I actually have a little leftover which I might make into some pillow covers, as well as matching curtains for the other (smaller) kitchen window.

What was on your crafting agenda this week?

Vintage Star Wars Love

Our thrifting karma has been wonderful lately.

I actually have quite a few new finds to share with you, but for now, here's the pretty prize we brought home last night:

Ryan & I took a quick trip to Value Village where we spotted this beauty. Usually I would turn my nose up at a vintage blanket for $13.99, but you can bet we weren't about to leave it there. No way.

This blanket is now draped over our (nearly) 14-month-old daughter as she snoozes upstairs.

I hope she still thinks her parents are cool ten years from now.

Rolling Home Love

Sometimes I think that a simple, nomadic lifestyle would be the way to go. Aren't these rolling homes just beautiful?

This one has got to be my favourite. So charming.

Just look at the umbrella hanging by the door. Too sweet!

I often think about living life off the grid. Not necessarily in a home on wheels, but in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature & family. I'd like to have chickens and sprawling gardens, horses & unobstructed sunsets. Blissful mornings & a goat to milk.

What sort of home would you like to live in?

Source.

Wordless Wednesday (Sumac Love)