Holiday Window Shopping: HomeSense

It's that time of year again -- HomeSense is twinkling with beautiful things for the holidays!

After a quick stop into Starbucks for my Peppermint Misto, I took a moment for myself and wandered the aisles of HomeSense. I felt a sense of calm surrounded by the beauty of all that glows during the holiday season. They truly have some wonderful and unique decor for great prices.

Here are a few things I came across...

[add a little bling to your tree with these beautiful ornaments]

[add these sparkling trees to a mantle or group them together on a table as a centrepiece]

[welcome your guests with holiday table decor]

Read more about my HomeSense finds here, here, here, here and here.

A Gift From Shutterfly: Free Holiday Cards

My friend, Sheba, has made some wonderful cards for a few different occasions online at Shutterfly. When she posted on her blog about receiving 50 free Christmas Photo Cards from Shutterfly just by blogging, I had to join in! Thankfully, I haven't done my Christmas cards yet.


I've already started playing around with creating my own holiday cards. It's real easy, fast and fun! There are so many beautiful cards to choose from with tons of different layouts and options to add your own pictures and personal message. I'm having a hard time narrowing down my choice to just one! Shutterfly has some other great things you can make as well such as photo books and photo calendars -- both wonderful ideas for gifts for the grandparents!

If you're a fellow blogger and want to join in the fun of creating your own holiday greetings, sign up here to get 50 free cards for yourself! This offer is the perfect way to get started on sending out holiday cards to your all the wonderful people in your life!

Coconut M&M's

I just finished off the last of the Coconut M&M's my friend, Sheba, graciously gave to me. YUM! Now if only they would sell them in Canada.

'Tis The Season

The kids are in the family room watching The Last Airbender with their friends. I'm sitting in the living room with a glass of wine while I admire my new poinsettia. I was able to put up a few decorations outside today before the chill from the wind set in. As I glance out the window, I can see the lovely glow from the lights twinkling outside in the background.


I still need to buy some inserts for the planters outside -- hopefully I can find something tomorrow.

The poinsettia was only $19.99 at Costco for a huge plant! I'm thinking of going back to grab one more for the family room. I love that they add a little shake of sparkle to dress the plant up a bit.


Even though it's chilly outside, there's something about the glow from the Christmas lights and the sparkling holiday decorations that make me feel all warm inside.

Have you started to decorate for the holidays?

Words To Live By

I saw this wall sign and my heart instantly lit up with happiness. Words to live by! If only I had a free wall to add it to.

[from the Etsy store Signs Of Vintage]

Freshening Up A Bedroom

Looking at Bella's bedroom one day, I decided it needed a little help -- a little rearranging and something to add a splash of colour to the room. The double bed, a hand-me-down from my grandmother, had been pushed up against the wall for long enough (she'll learn not to roll off both sides of the bed, right?). It was time for a change.

I noticed in a Bouclair flyer a few weeks ago that a Kids Collection would be coming out soon. I showed Bella her options of what could be her new bedding and daringly let my three year old pick which one she liked best.

Here are the results of a Bouclair bedding make-over. Bella and I had so much fun putting it together!

Thanks Bouclair for bringing some colour to my little girl's room!

I strolled through Bouclair and came home with this:



And ended up with this:



I had this green lamp leftover from Lucas' baby room so when Bella came into our lives, I decided to add a little sparkle, and a little pink:



I've always wanted a chandelier in a bedroom or bathroom. Bella's room was the perfect place to add a little something special to dress up the ceiling. I found this chandelier at Canadian Tire on sale for $49.99:



Who says art has to be expensive? I bought these frames from HomeSense for $10 each. I found some pictures of roses from my garden and made some prints. Voila!:



One summer, Lucas and I decided to have some fun taking silly pictures of ourselves. I framed the pictures and they now hang in the hallway upstairs. Last year, Bella and I had our own silly fun:



This Ikea Smadal bookcase was the perfect addition to house Bella's collection of books and accessories:



I've been thinking for awhile now what to put above Bella's bed, when I came across these - wall stickers. And at $12.99, who could pass up this deal! It was really simple to apply the flowers to the wall, just peel and stick. They are easy to remove too:








One happy girl!

Starbucks Holiday Flavours

I'm super excited [though my wallet might say otherwise] -- holiday flavours are out at Starbucks!

Can I get a woot! woot!

With so many yummy flavours to choose from, it's hard to pick just one.

Today I'm Cafe Mistoing it up -- grande, non-fat, light foam, bold, peppermint, cafe misto. Could my order get anymore crazy? Well, yes, yes it could if I had asked for it extra hot, but I forgot.

Peppermint Cafe Misto -- Mmm, like a warm hug from the inside!

What are some of your Starbucks favourites?

[order scribbles]

Tall Boots

Now with leggings making a come back (and me finally accepting the 80's all over again), I've been admiring my friend Sheba's tall boots for awhile now. They are a fun, flat boot -- aka mom-friendly.

If you have been following my blog, you might remember that I bought a pair of tall boots last year. I thought they fit when I bought them but after smushing my foot into a pair of boots that are half a size too small, I've come to terms that I need to let them go and invest in a new pair.

Enter, the Bay.

I happened to walk by the shoe section yesterday and staring at me was a pair of Chinese Laundry tall boots similar to Sheba's pair and on sale for 25% off -- woot woot! Bring on the leggings!

Boo! Halloween 2010

Halloween was quite the event this year!

Lucas really got into the excitement of ghouls and goblins, even requesting the house be decked out in scary decorations. I've never been big on Halloween decorating but I seem to be getting more and more into it as well (oh, Dollarama, how I love thee). The things we do for our kids! He also discovered if you hit the townhomes, you can cover more homes faster. Oh Lucas!

This was the first year Bella made a costume request -- Hannah Montana, of course. I knew one day we would have the best of both worlds.

And I got to wear my wedding dress princess costume again.

Hope everyone else had a spooktacular Halloween!

I am...

enjoying a Pumpkin Spice coffee from Timothy's -- YUM!