Tuesday Digs: Spruce up your casa - Free DIY Labels

While perusing around in my favourite shop in Paris, I picked up a few vintage labels for a friend. And, at five euros a piece, I don't have to tell you that the dogre was looking over my shoulder, watching my every move, every selection, and every price tag. I felt guilty but had not yet learned that you could find free printable labels online. If only...In any case, I spent the first night of discovery setting up an assembly line (for one), searching, printing, cutting, gluing (when applicable) and stacking. By the end of my shift, my back was in knots, eyes dry, and fingers sore. But it was worth it! Fancy cotton swab jar and wee his and hers cookie jars? Yes please! Envy not because you too can be super snazzy. Just click on over to eatdrinkchic.com (here and here) and get ready to become Martha Stewart's third cousin, twice removed.

On an unrelated note, I checked our mailbox today (which is rare) and was super excited to see a mysterious package addressed to me. Cue in wild imagination involving an acceptance letter for a masters program that I never applied to, a reward for a contest I never entered, or maybe a surprise Etsy gift from the dogre! Cue in boring reality: the cheque books he had ordered last week. It wasn't a complete disappointment though—I flipped open one book to find images of monarch butterflies and dewy leaves! The dogre went and personalized our cheques with cheesy butterflies and foliage! This is entirely apposite of the dogre. Pause. Did I say 'apposite'? Indeed I did. It was in my January 17th word of the day email, meaning "being of striking appropriateness and relevance". Wow, I'm just stimulating your brain with my funnies and education, right? Right! It does you a lot of good to come visit me here. So, I signed up for these emails hoping to increase my vocabulary but of the thirty or so words, I've only retained maybe four. I can't seem to remember them unless they're fun to say. Like, fatuous and flibbertiggibet. Hehe...flibbertiggibet. So silly. It's even funnier to hear it on Merriam-Webster. She's got such a thick news anchor voice!

I leave you with a few favourites from Stephen Colbert:

  Hey yogurt, if you're so cultured how come I never see you at the opera?

  Here's a brain teaser for you. Your brain is ugly. (this doesn't make any sense but it just makes me giggle!)

Tuesday Digs: A Condo Owner's Backyard

The place we're currently renting is so small that we've "extended" our storage space into our balcony (big blue bins). As unsightly as it is, we don't have to worry about any complaint since our building neighbour is a big, ugly commercial building. Our future home will be slightly, ever so slightly, larger so I'm daydreaming about actually decorating our concrete backyard! I perused the internet and decided that...

...wooden tiles will be a nice touch:

 {photo source: thedeckingoutlet.com}

...a hanging pot to nurture flowers or vegetables will make our eyes and hearts smile:

{photo source: apartmenttherapy.com}

...a romantic lantern will provide a lovely evening ambiance:

{photo source: thekitchn.com}

...candles would be great too:

{photo source: apartmenttherapy.com} 

...furniture to seat and serve many will be a must:

{photo source: odd's flickr photostream}

...but if something smaller came in a punch of colour, I wouldn't complain:

{photo source: anamari78's flickr photostream}

...and of course, a cute little garden gnome would be the perfect friend:

{photo source: apartmenttherapy.com}

Tuesday Digs: Let's Talk Magic Boxes (a.k.a. refrigerators)

Since we live in such a small space, I'm constantly feeling the urge to purge and strive for a minimalistic look. So, you'd think I'd keep my fridge clean...but I don't—I present to you a diarrhea of photos, postcards, stamps, drawings, and the occasional recipe. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my childhood Magic Box was bare of A+ report cards, affectionate cards from mum to child/child to mum, or proud artwork.

It might explain why I felt the need to put up my drawings of a prissy eggplant in pink glasses, prepubescent potato, headset wearing broccoli, bowl haircut carrot, chubby peach, blueberry bosom buddies, perplexed apple, and a snarky looking banana in a blue-green polo. I wonder what hidden gems a psychologist could drudge up about me, based on my selection of fruits + veggie characters. I suppose the fact that I drew this at the age of 25 already says a lot...
In any case, for someone whose favourite past-time is eating, talking about food, looking at food photos, recipes, and thinking about food, I'm pretty disrespectful towards the Magic Box. The inside is as messy as the outside. I should be ashamed of myself!

{image credit: Sub-Zero.com}

Our new home will have a standard stainless steel fridge but in my dream home, I'd have the Sub-Zero with the glass door. Although, considering the fact that our fridge alternates between empty and messy due to our erratic grocery shopping schedule, this may be a terrible idea. Seriously, we had Christmas dinner leftovers in there for nearly two weeks....And I knew after the first week that I had no intention of eating any of it! Maybe a chalkboard fridge instead. Would that be unhygienic? I often wonder.

{image credit: Design*Sponge} 

How about a Big Chill refrigerator! Look at the many awesome colour options they've got. Look!

{photo credit: bigchillfridge.com}

Who owns the house with the powder blue fridge in the last few pictures? I want it! If you're reading this post, fancy home owner, give it to me! Look at all that space! And the beautifully distressed coffee table, the adorably mismatched dining set, and natural light. GIMME! (Insert creepy Gollum eyes and rage here.)

All this Magic Box talk has made me hungry. Must scavenge. Luckily, the dogre cleaned it out last night. What remains after the exorcism of old leftovers is a mystery to be unfolded and I am the unfold-er to unfold such a mystery. Now. Good day.

 {photo credit: Vintage-kat}