Time to Unwind

The holidays are definitely a time to unwind and relax to the fullest. The only set plans I have during my week off work are to relax by the fire, take long hot baths, drink lots of tea, cosy up with a novel and spend time with family and friends.

Wishing everyone a very relaxing Happy Holidays!

Simplified Bee



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Simon & Renee

A couple weeks ago Ami de Co{u}r Event Design had the privilege of being a part of a Simon & Renee's fabulous wedding ceremony and vintage themed cocktail party at the Eagles Hall in Abbotsford B.C. The family began the celebrations with a photoshoot at Ann Marie's Cafe, a little 50's diner in downtown Abbotsford, followed by a pre-ceremony dinner. I think this is a perfect way to shake out the jitters and spend some memorable quality time before becoming Mr & Mrs.

These two lovebirds had been courting from across the great pond (Simon is from Britain) for several months before deciding to have their first ceremony in Canada. Renee and her youngest son will be moving overseas in the new year and then the happy couple are set to have a second ceremony with Simon's side of the family in August. Two weddings and the second is scheduled to be in a castle! What more could a gal ask for?!

The Hall was decorated with Christmas ornaments in champagne tones mixed with vintage furniture from Trove Vintage to create a cozy vintage family room atmosphere. Several of Renee's personal items were used to add to the intimate family setting. My favorite touch was a framed photo of Renee's late father placed on the bookshelf at the alter. Renee walked down the aisle to Etta James' At Last sung by her dear friend Melanie and as the happy couple returned down the aisle they were given a champagne toast by their guests. The whole evening was filled with special moments and was truely amazing.



Amazing Collaborators:

Photography ~ Nicole & Anthony Ldg Photographic Arts
Dresses & Bouquets ~ Charlene Glamma Puss Designs
Make-up ~ Kayla Sullivan
Vintage Rentals ~ Trove Vintage Rentals

Paint Chip Art

The weeks leading up to christmas are always more stressful than they need to be. The main reason for me is usually because my arch enemy procrastination torments me at all the wrong times. I envy the people that brag about having all their christmas shopping done in November. I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad if I purchased all my gifts but instead I seem to feel that christmas calls for handmade gifts. Normally this would be fine if I didn't wait until the week before christmas to start making them all. Oh well, maybe I will learn my lesson and be able to beat the procrastination monster next year.

I have wanted to try making a paint chip art piece for a while now and even more so after finding an excellent "how to" over at A Beautiful Mess. The selection of paint chips at the hardware stores are pretty amazing. I do have to admit that I did feel a little suspicious loading up my pockets with far more chips than any one person may need but that's what they are there for right?

As you can see from the photo my love for house plants unfortunately doesn't mean I am any good at keeping them alive. My ceramic Siamese kitty doesn't look impressed that I have tainted his good looks with wilting greenery.

Bits & Pieces

I have to admit I've been horrible at posting recently. So much going on and not having a working computer at home doesn't help the situation at all.

To make up for it a little I thought I would post some photos of some recent home decor projects.

I acquired this pair of old wooden water skis a few years back as a bonus for helping collect donations for a charity garage sale. I stripped off the paint and gave them a couple of coats of wood stain.

As soon as I layed eyes on them I knew they would be perfect as shelves.

After collecting a ton of vases and silver serving items for a recent wedding (photos coming soon), I needed to find a place to store them for the time being. How about the empty space above the kitchen cabinets? Storage problem temporarily solved!

Rawhide

These are photos from the annual Langley Cruise-In back from 2008. The car show is one of the largest in B.C. and covers several city blocks. Throughout the show they have different musical acts. My favorite from this year were the Blues Brothers. Lately the Blues Brothers movie has been aired on tv probably once a week for past couple of months. Let me tell you....I want to watch it everytime! I love this movie! It's packed with quirkiness, unrealistic police chases and excellent music. I want to open up a hair salon just so I can name it "Curl up and Dye". 

This year the Mainland Misfits will be hanging out at the Langley Cruise-In, skating around and sharing the awesome world of roller derby with all the car loving folk. Should be a fun weekend!

A 60th Celebration

Excerpt from two entries ago.....

"First installment-More to come (hopefully before next year)" dated September 1/2010.

Clearly I failed miserably at blogging on a regular basis. Looking back I hold a track record of one entry per year (pretty much to the week or in this case to the day). At least I'm consistent.

This past weekend we held a 60th birthday BBQ for my Dad plus two of his co-workers whose 60th birthdays are also around the same time. My Dad loves being outdoors, either hiking, spending time at the lake or puttering around the garden, so a woodsy theme was the obvious choice for party decor.

I picked all the flowers and foliage from a local quarry. I trespassed for a good cause.

The pine cone tree was a little tricky to construct. In the end I used a cardboard cone to give it support and secured the pine cones together with thread and glue.

My sister baked 60 cupcakes and I made the cake banner out of vintage word game pieces.

My boyfriend and I cut 1/2" log sections using a hand saw. Lots of elbow grease was needed but it was well worth it. I wasn't able to see the party location until we got there to set up, so my original plan to display these guys failed. We ended up hanging them on the fence with bent wire coat hangers.

The wind really picks up through the valley late afternoon/early evening so we either had to weight everything down or move it to safer spots until the wind passed.



Gloomy Day

Today is the last day of August but the weather outside is making it feel like the last day of summer as well. Please note that our first real start to summer was the first day of August. One month of summer...really? So I decided to post some random old photos with a sunny disposition to make the day seem a little brighter.