New plummy painting

Yesterday I woke up and decided to make my life a living hell, so I immediately dove into scrubbing the oven at 8am. Did I mention I haven’t thoroughly cleaned it in 4 years? I didn’t? Probably because that’s embarrassing and it means I’m a bad person. I also decided the Christmas tree and all the decorations had to come down, and they had to come down now. Whilst in the middle of cleaning the oven. Because I like making things difficult for myself. Oh, and I wanted a new painting for the living room. Are you noticing a trend? I had a very short attention span yesterday. 

The black and white painting on the left – I repainted that canvas nine times. Nine. So you can imagine I was happy when I sat down and in 20 minutes managed to paint my new burgundy number, and then I actually liked it the first time around. Said black and white painting is the only thing I’ve really painted in the 10 years since I moved to Ireland. I don’t want to sound emo, but once I moved here my interest in painting died. I used to paint a lot in Canada, and I’d paint huge behemoth paintings. So I really enjoyed my little painting stint yesterday. The picture above is the closest representation to what it actually looks like. I’m quite happy with it and its nummy colours and drippy drips. It’s giving me hope to start painting again. I know. Barf. 

Also featured – black and white paintingDIY Scrabble monogram – faux hydrangeas {spray painted since} – Karlsson flip clock

From me and mine to you and yours …

I still can’t believe Christmas is only days away. I’m happy to say all our Christmas shopping is done – well, with the exception of some last minute ingredients for treats I’ll be making over the holidays {like this peppermint chocolate bark by Ketty of French Foodie in Dublin. DROOL}. I got all our shopping done on my lunch hours last week, which means I only had to endure an hour of wading through the retail madness each day. It’s been all go, go, go the last couple of weeks, so I can’t wait to chillax and slow down for a few days.
I only got to take pictures of our Christmassy bits over the weekend. I didn’t go as overboard as I had hoped this year. I did however fancy up some mantle swag by using yarn in my favourite colours, made some tassels and taped them up with clear tape. As you can see, there are no more edible ornaments on the tree. Those suckers were devoured weeks ago. 
And below – we don’t have a fireplace in our apartment {massive sad face}, so husband simply downloaded one for me this year …

So from me and mine to you and yours – I hope you have the happiest of holidays. Don those onesies, get comfortable, and turn on the movie marathons with a box {or six} of chocolates within reach. ‘Tis the season  ðŸ™‚ xx A

My IKEA Family Live feature!

Heart palpitations at the ready. Back in July you may {or may not, I won’t be offended} remember I shot and submitted pictures of our apartment to IKEA after receiving some rather exciting e-mails from them asking me if I’d like to be a featured IKEA member for their IKEA Family Live online magazine. UMM, yes please with a körsbär on top. 
After some trials and tribulations {which by the way, I received a camera stand for my birthday, ha!}, I submitted all the pictures safe and sound and met my deadline. Sigh of relief. Then the waiting game went down. It wouldn’t be until November until I’d be featured {having submitted the photos in July}, but it was just enough time for the dust to settle and for me to get excited about it all over again!  

Me on the IKEA Family Live  homepage. No biggie. 

I know, slight overkill with the screenshots and whatnot, but how often do you see yourself on an IKEA website? Of course, to see the full feature, click on over here to read all about it and gawk at a couple more pictures of our apartment if you’d like 🙂 
And if you’re a fellow IKEA fiend and would like to also be a featured member, just send an e-mail on over to [email protected] with a couple of pictures and details on your home! You know you wanna. xx A