The cake worked!

I made a cake for Trevor's birthday today, and for once, it worked out!  I've had some horrible cake failures in the past (thanks to Cynthia for the reminder of the 'brain' cake...LOL!) -- and this cake will not fall into that category.  Hurrah!

(Although there was one thing Trevor noticed, he thinks it says 'Happy Birthday Trevon' since the 'r' in his name comes a tad close to the awesome border effect.  Oh well, you can't win them all.)

My favorite Christmas decor in the house

These are velvety flat red ornaments hanging from a string of mini lights on a mirror in the living room.  So festive!

(And on another note, the countertops have been put it -- there's a few small issues that we're going to have fixed, one being the glue colour not matching well -- but I'll have photos soon!)

Cravings

Note to self: This beet and goat cheese crostini looks most excellently tasty.  Must buy crostini and goat cheese, stat.

Glimpses of our Christmas Tree

Kitchen inspiration

I think I love the finishing details in these kitchen more than anything (that and how it's not all just white!).

 

See more here.

It's all about the kitchen today

I'm sitting waiting for the countertop guys to arrive with our new granite countertops for the kitchen.  We tore out the old (nasty) ones last night and stacked them in the backyard for a future trip to the dump (preferably on a day when it's not raining).

The kitchen looks like it's had it's head shaved.  Very odd.  And VERY hard to use.  Even opening a can of soup for lunch was a lesson in balance and patience.  (And the bathroom was used as a stand-in.)

Needless to say, even a day without a functioning kitchen throws me off.  Just a couple of months ago we were in this situation while putting in new floors.  It gets old, fast.

(Before and after pictures will be coming soon!)

Then and now

Venice has had record flooding in the past few days, and it seems so strange to see the photos of it now compared to when we saw it over a month ago.

Then (St. Mark's Square):

(Remember these yellow chairs from this café!)

And now:

(There are the yellow chairs!)