NYC

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothin' you can't do

Now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

Let's hear it for New York, New York,

                                                 New York ---  {Alicia Keys, Empire state of Mind}

New York City last week was Fabulous! Absolutely amazing. It was my first time ever visiting the Big Apple and I loved it. The lights, the shopping, the people on the street.  All gloriously wonderful. 

We spent a lot of time touring furniture stores and galleries. Fit in as much as possible touristy attractions and ate all sorts of wonderful food. 

We arrived to NYC via a large white bus. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't 5'10 and I haven't self diagnosed myself with restless leg syndrome. Every 5 minutes my legs are a movin'. Left to right, up and down, crossed then un-crossed, in the aisle then under the seat. It drives me batty. Needless to say I felt sore, and old and was slightly grumpy when we disembarked the bus Sunday night at the hotel. 

We spent the rest of the week touring, shopping, snapping 1million+ photos, shopping, journal entires, eating, shopping and learning.

I loved having the opportunity to see Grand Central Station and Rockefeller etc... We checked out the pretty fancy Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Ralph Lauren Mansion  and visited a reportedly haunted Merchant Family Home. There was so much to take in both design wise with a history lesson on the side. 

I can't wait to go back! 

Thrifty Thursday

The job - less summer hours can get quite boring. At least mine did. There is only so much HGTV and TLC watching I can do before my restless leg syndrome kicks in. That's when I started scoping out garage sales and the thrift stores of Hamilton. It's also when I fell in love with Talize. I picked up various different sized and styles of frames this summer and tried my hand a spray-painting. I fell hard for a soft baby blue loved the way it looked on a light wood grain of frames. Add a little extra sanding after painting and they were oh-so-cute!  I didn't have an immediate usage for these pretty new frames and I even once offered to give them away, but I'm glad I kept them. I was able to use them in my mantel display project, and now that I have displayed on my new free dresser that I found earlier this month!  Needless to say this 99cent frames were quite the investment and I'm sure I'll have many more uses for them...

Mantels Galore!

A past assignment required us to complete a fireplace mantel design based on our own concepts. My partner LM and I decided to take the route of a rustic, vintage inspired fireplace mantel. Both of us had plenty of items at home that we were excited to share with each other and create something fabulous!
Many of the items that I brought to the mantel were things I have thrifted from Talize this past summer. Surprisingly enough creating the mantel wasn't as easy as we had thought, and the lack of an actual mantel added a different aspect of difficulty. But creating a mantel display upon a desk top drove our creativity to new heights! Sadly we didn't win the class competition for best mantel display but I'm pretty proud of what we came up with!

Thrifty Thursday

Not everyone supports my thrifty habits. Especially my mom. Apparently I spend a little too much time at these stores and come home with a little too much each time. However, my argument is, better a thrift store then the mall! The 99c vintage scarf hardly makes a dent in my budget compared to that denim shirt or infinity scarf I want from Forever 21. Plus, a lot of my purchases are practical. Like these 2 bathroom containers.  They were both $1 and come with cute chalkboard labels. And sure theres no room in the family bathroom, but one day I'm moving out. And with the great collection of practical household items I am collecting, I'll be able to receive the big, pricy, shiny housewarming gifts guilt free.

Halloween

Today is Halloween. All the little, and not so little children in my life are preparing for a great night of candy collection. There's a Waldo&Wanda, Thomas the Tank, Batman, Fireman and Spider heading out tonight that I know of with plans to stuff their pillowcases full!

My Family never really was a big celebrator of Halloween. Costumes were thrown together last minute, my parents rarely handed out candy, and some years we skipped it all together. I remember being a cow, little bow beep, little red riding hood, and a gypsy as a child. I think once my parents even made me a monk. They're weird, I know. Those costumes were probably repeated various times in the next couple of years by myself and my siblings.

This year I'm living away from home and I have no plans for the big night. In fact, I think tonight will be the perfect opportunity to get some shopping in.

However, earlier this week I did do some Halloween related activities. My good friend from college MG wanted to decorate her Condo for the occasion and we hit up the local Dollarama where she bought a cart full of decorations. We also spent an afternoon baking cupcakes tastefully decorated for the holiday and shared them with our friends and family.

And that's as much Halloween celebrating that I do.

Thrifty Thursday

I posted a while back about a quick Talize stop prior to a Thanksgiving dinner at the Mandarin. We had Dutch relatives visiting for the week and were trying to cram in as much Canadian goodness that we could. Before we met for dinner We had wanted them to experience the mall, where all the stores are under one roof. We ended up spending the afternoon there finding and buying gifts and did a lot of walking for my poor ballet flat wearing feet.

Needless to say, when I split up from the group to make a pit stop at Talize I had some pretty sore feet. Disappointed at the lack of worthwhile finds in Housewares I checked out the shoes. Usually I try to stay away from the shoe department.  Shoes are my weakness, I own an abundance of shoes and personally I find the price of second- hand shoes to sometimes be a little pricy. Talize had already been bustin' out the boots and I was excited to find these brown wedge sandals.

My sore, ballet- flat dressed, and tortured feet weren't feeling that great in these shoes but I'm glad I bought them. I can't stop trying them on at home.

They are originally from Old Navy and priced at $29

This most perfect find cost me only $9.99 and they are brand new, never worn and still had the tag.

I had been wanting to buy wedges all summer, since they were a pretty popular and EVERYONE seemed to own a pair. Thankfully I withheld and now I am even more eager for Summer to return! 

Thrifty Thursday

I have 2 homes. Having 2 homes makes me constantly on the move. I live in Toronto area during the week and head back an hour southwest to small town goodness for the weekend. Having 2 homes make's it difficult to really decorate in any way. Toronto home is for school, and I have roommates to be considerate of. I wake up, go to school, do homework, go to sleep and repeat.  Practicality wise there is no need to spruce up the place, make my mark etc.. Financially there isn't any means either...

My other home however, where I have my own room I'm just itching to redecorate. When my family and I moved into our present home 41/2 years ago I completely redecorated. I was finally not having to share with my sisters, could pick out my own colors, duvet, etc... and only I had to like it.

Now I wanna redecorate again. Over 4 years. That room decor has had it's worth. And I need storage, or shelving...something! I have a collection of clothing, shoes, scarves, jewellery, antiques, collectables, and pyrex dishes that my closet is running out of room for.

So when I saw this greyish blue dresser on the side of the road i knew it would look perfect under the window in my room. Plus, its extra storage. I persuaded my brother to help me carry it down the road into my room, which he did ever so cheeringly. It was even his birthday - he must of been in a good mood! The dresser doesn't have and knobs or pulls, but I'm thinking of finding some antique glass knobs and adding those to the front. 

This dresser has provided something new to look at in the room and the redecorating itch has calmed...for now. 

Best part? It's was free. Someone else's garbage is another woman's treasure! How's that for Thrifty?