Vampire Weekend Video

My brother Jake sent me over this Vampire Weekend "Cousins" video to check out, isn't it a fun one? They are such a upbeat group to listen to, one of my daughter's favorites to put on and dance to.

My Red Boots

Very cute vintage French toys at the My Red Boots Etsy shop.

Cute Kindle Commercial

I saw this commercial over the weekend and thought it was adorable. Although I will always treasure the smell and touch of a freshly bound book, I am thinking about asking for a Kindle for Christmas (not just because of the commercial). To those who have one, tell us your thoughts.

Clip Credits : Directed by Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths. Starring Annie Little who also sang the song "Fly Me Away" available on Amazon.

Martha Stewart Gift Guide

I am excited to share with you my gift guide selections for Martha Stewart which launched on Black Friday. See the gift details here and check out some more great ideas from other bloggers too!

Did you have a nice weekend?

I hope that you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. Are you still enjoying leftovers? Loving this photograph by Annie Schlechter.

holiday card giveaway!

We thought we'd start off this fine Monday {and last day of November} with a fun giveaway for our Bloomies! As you know, we offer graphic design services along with our event design services to make your event totally custom and unique! Well since the holidays are around the corner, we would like to give away 12 of these purty holiday cards, created by inBloom Event Design, to one of our lucky readers.

To enter this giveaway, please leave a quick comment here on our blog {Blogger blog, not our Facebook page} about what colours you will use to decorate this holiday {traditional red and green or something a bit different?} and we'll choose a random number...the comment that corresponds to the random number wins!

We will be accepting comments until Thursday December 3rd, and announcing the winner on Friday December 4th. Good luck!

The weekend, briefly

Such a busy long weekend. Thanksgiving was wonderful and my mom, my sister and I spent all day in the kitchen.

We set the table with family silver, my favorite heirloom lace crocheted table cloth, and the hand painted china.

{thanksgiving table}

We spent the weekend working on the leftovers.

{leftovers}

And there was a whole lot of this (poor Circe hates the camera - she cannot understand why I insist on pointing that stupid thing at her when there is a perfectly good toy at my feet).

{curious terrier}

There was soldering to be done (I took the photographs, rather than handling the blow torch).

{gingerbread house cookie cutters!}

And pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

{pie, eaten}

And a sunset drive down PCH, to round off the weekend.

{PCH, sunset}

my favourite artist: holly farrell

It has been a busy blooming week! On Wednesday we designed and set up a huge event for The University of Ottawa at the Art Gallery of Ontario - The Distinguished Canadian Leadership Awards! A wonderful gala evening that paid tribute to some University of Ottawa alumni, including Michael Burgess {we were lucky enough to catch a wonderful sound check performance during setup}, Rick Mercer, and astronaut Julie Payette. We will be posting some photos soon. It turned out marvelously!

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite Toronto artists, Holly Farrell. I am on her mailing list and just received an emailer regarding a new exhibition of hers. Take a peek at her lovely paintings - realistic portrayals of common, everyday objects with a vintage twist in fresh and bright colours. So simple yet so sweet! See her website here too, for more arty goodness. I would love to own one of her paintings one day.

We'll be back next week with our first giveaway so be sure to check in on Monday! Have a great weekend!

the bare bulb trend

Last year when I was looking for inspiration for a Prohibition themed event I designed, I noticed that a design store on Queen Street called Commute Home was using caged dangling light bulbs as pendant lights hanging over their furniture. It had such a beautiful industrial feel to it that I loved. It wasn't easy finding some back then to use but luckily we did find a pile of plastic ones in the basement of the venue that worked for the theme. On my trip to NYC a few week ago I noticed there was a big booming trend of using dangling bare light bulbs in the window design for stores. They had them everywhere...it was like the same window designer did all the windows in NYC...I want that job!! Unfortunately I didn't catch and pictures of the windows as I forgot my camera that day {of course!} but I did round up some pictures on the web.

These are all courtesy of Design Trends.


These are from Anthropologie.

And I can't remember where this is from, or the pic at the top but I sure do like them.

Tamara Muth King + Happy Thanksgiving

I love these breathtaking puritan photos by Tamara Muth-King. They are the first in a series of her personal work and I am can't wait to see more!

I was curious as to the meaning behind these photos so I asked her a little bit about them. Tamara states, "I was thinking about the way most teenagers dress, with the less is less philosophy, and all of the extremely revealing things that they wear, between extremely revealing cuts, thongs that others can see over they're ill fitting jeans. It's an anti fashion shoot in some ways, but the outfits become so fashionable at the same time. This shoot, and the next two are all based on pieces that are ultra conservative, but shot in a very current, innocent, and hopefully riveting way."

See all of the photos from this shoot here. Her work is stunning and riveting, don't you think?



I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, and for those international readers I wish you a pleasant weekend! Here is a great link to a video clip about how we can notice the little things around us.

What are you thankful for this year?

10 things I'm grateful for -
1 - my family
2 - my faith
3 - ability to use all 5 senses
4 - hot showers
5 - a roof over my head
6 - clothes to wear
7 - food to eat
8 - freedom
9 - good health
10 - technology (allowing this to be possible)

I am also extremely thankful for you readers! You make my days bright with your kind comments and emails. I appreciate you all for stopping by. Happy Thanksgiving!

(all images by Tamara Muth-King)

The Great Gift Challenge part deux

Here is the second purchase for the Great Gift Challenge with eBay and Martha Stewart (read more about the details here). I found this second price point of $75 to be a little tricky but thankfully I found some great options.

First I came across this cute Adidas yoga bag for $54.99 but lost the bid because I was going to pair it with a new yoga mat and I needed it to be a little less expensive to do that.



Next I was thinking about these Frye boots that were gently used aka vintage although you can still get them at other places (retail new for $350) I figured they could be refinished at a great shoe cobbler, but they are already priced at $67 with 6 bids and have quite a bit of time left to go.


I finally decided upon selecting the above Orla Kiely Cosmetic Bag (NWT) as the top photo and I hope that my friend will love it! You can always have another cosmetic bag, right? It was slightly over the $75 budget at $75.60, yet it was nice to find this Orla Kiely bag on eBay for less than their normal going $85-$95 retail prices.

Remember to enter the fantastic Great Gift Challenge for the chance to win $1000 gift card for eBay!

Holidays, managed (part 3)

This may be the most important tip.

{slow down}

Slow down and know when to quit. Some of us have trouble setting limits, which is how I managed to nearly chop off the tip of my finger a few seasons ago. Making cheesecake with an immersion blender sounds like an okay idea when it's 1 am and you're high on holiday music and feeling pressured.

Last year, I broke down and purchased frozen desserts from Trader Joe's when I was running low on time. And you know what? The world did not collapse. No one even blinked. And I got some extra sleep. Some of you are probably laughing right now but that was a huge step for me.

You don't have to do anything. Seriously. If you are stressed out by the thought of cooking the entire Thanksgiving meal, go order one. I give you permission. Or pick up Chinese food and call it a night. Just don't do it reluctantly. Whatever you decide to do, embrace it joyfully. The holidays are about you and your family and friends. When we lose our focus, it's hard to remember that. You should be doing things that work for you and make you happy (even forgoing celebrations altogether, if that's good for you), not worrying about how your efforts stack up against everyone else's.

And with that, I'm off to make a mess of my kitchen. Have a wonderful, fabulous Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll be back next week.

science-inspired design

Anthropologie has a funny sub-category of room decor called "Science-Inspired" and it made me giggle. But then when I checked it out I realized we were totally 2 years ahead of Anthro when we re-decorated our Dad's bedroom! Our Pa is one smartsy pants with a PhD in BioChem AND a biotechnology company. Since finishing his PhD and starting his first diagnostic company when he was only 25 years old, he proudly held on to his lab beakers and erlenmyer flasks and would sometimes stare at them all lovingly as they were getting all dusty in the basement.

When we re-did his master bedroom, we decided to add his "vintage" science tools to the room decor and used them as a cluster of "vases" on his dresser. In his bathroom we set out apothecary jars filled with bathroom stuff to keep the theme going. So Anthropologie, us Bloomers were the real trendsetters here!! I just needed to say it one more time because it sure makes me proud.

But, I'm thinking most people don't have a brilliant science smartsy fartsy of a Pa who kept his potentially radio-active lab paraphenilia, so you can get some knock-offs at Anthro instead!

Letters Lubell

I am pleased to hear about this gorgeous eco-chic line Letters Lubell. The letterpress collection includes notebooks, note cards, recipe cards, gift tags and more and custom printing is also offered. Wouldn't those tags be cute on a colorfully wrapped present. My favorite piece is this one my goodness, do I love letterpress mixed with that design.

Holidays, managed (part 2)

A little bit of work in the beginning of the season can make it go much more smoothly. Three simple shopping trips can leave you well prepared for the round of parties and entertaining. And I promise you won't have to set foot in a mall.

{impromptu champagne toast}

1. Wine store - pick up a case of decent wine and a few bottles of champagne. Sparkling cider is a good bet as well. When you're running out to door to a party or dinner, you can grab a bottle to take with you.

2. Thrift store - look for vases. Pretty much every thrift store has a decent collection of simple vases. I keep about five at all times. If you want to bring the host flowers, having those thrift store vases on hand makes a difference. Bringing flowers is great, but bringing flowers already arranged in a vase (that doesn't have to be returned) is thoughtful, and it won't send your host scurrying to the kitchen to try to scrounge up something that will hold flowers.

3. Office supply store - get some little hanging tags (usually called merchandise tags) and some twine or string. The tags are great for everything, because they can make simple, unwrapped items feel like gifts. Think about it - handing over a pound of coffee is nice, but if you've tied a bit of twine around it and added a gift tag with a note, it looks about a million times more personal.

Non-shopping related prep - I make a huge batch of this cookie dough to store in the freezer. It means I can have cookies ready in under 15 minutes, for impromptu occasions.

Any of you clever readers have holiday prep tips to share? I'm always looking for simple things I can do ahead of time.

Amy Atlas Thanksgiving style

Amy Atlas is constantly coming up with incredible ideas, and her Thanksgiving Dessert Buffet is no exception -- it's wonderful. You've got to see more photos here, especially if you are in charge of Thanksgiving decor this year. It will give you loads of inspiration.

(photos by Allan Zepeda and Mel Barlow)

Chewing the Cud

Last year I bought of few of these Cuddle with Cider Sachets from Chewing the Cud and they were a hit. This year, I love the idea of wrapping up gifts in their reusable Fabric Gift Wrap. What a great idea.

Moomah

Moomah has quickly been added to my must-visit places next time we go to New York City with our daughter. They state on their website it is, "A place of sweet whimsy, wonder and warmth, Moomah is a creative playscape, a cozy cafe, a living classroom, a quiet hideaway, an art oasis, your neighborhood meeting spot. Your favorite place to be together, and a place for your child to simply be." Brilliant, don't you think? Wow -- I wish more places like this existed! Older kids can even play around online with this online art project. Genius. How many of you New Yorkers have been to Moomah?

(via Swiss Miss)