Recipe Of The Day: Cheddar Vegetable Chowder

Today's recipe is an old favourite of mine. I absolutely love good soups and stews. A fresh salad is nice but I'm way more into the comfort food. I got this recipe from House and Home and it even comes with a step-by-step instructional video. Pretty easy to make. The hardest part is chopping up all the fresh ingredients, although you can use frozen vegetables instead if you prefer. I prefer them fresh. You can find the recipe here.

My mini-modifications: I don't use the bell peppers because I can't stand the texture of them cooked but they make the soup taste so much better when you do. A tip: buy your white cheddar from Costco to save some money cause this recipe calls for quite a bit.

If you have any delicious and simple soup recipes you would love to share send them my way!

Some New Art

I have bought some new art and thought I'd share. It hasn't arrived yet but I can't wait to get it!!

Gray Malin

First up is this Gray Malin print. There were so many to chose from this collection but I liked this one the best. You can see the rest of his work, including the rest of the Prada Marfa collection here. It's an intriguing story behind this photo and I'll let Mr. Malin explain it:

Marfa, a famous arts town located in West Texas, is home to many intriguing artistic endeavors; most notably a Prada store art installation. Filled with a 2005 collection of Prada purses and shoes, the store is sealed shut and sits freestanding on the side of the open highway.

That's just weird. I want it.

Steve Lambert

I have finally bought this print. Finally. There was a bit of rigamarole with the process but 20x200 was very helpful and I got it! Now I just have to figure out which room it belongs in. I always thought the dining room would be an amusing place for it. But then I cringe at the thought of explaning the joke to my dad.

Elizabeth Huey

And I am getting this for Christmas from my wonderful mother in law! The artist statement about this print leaves me feeling dumb. I like it because I like the way it looks. Okay, maybe I am dumb. To me it feels very 1960's and I'm reminded of a James Bond ski scene.

Stuart Klipper

New on my wishlist is this beautiful and eerie photograph of icebergs in the Antarctic. But I think this will have to wait. For now.

Here's my cow up on my dining room wall. She's so pretty. I bought her back in the early fall at Home Sense but haven't shown her off yet. She's very big and colourful and a great focal point in the dining room.

This is my DIY Rorschach art. I got the idea from Hannah J. at Angel Babies, Paint and Cookies  who shares her inspiration and tutorial. I've made two and have both framed and hanging in my dining room but I'm not really stoked about the other one so I'm hiding it from you.

A family photograph can be art, right? My talented friend Danaea Li took this photo of us this fall. It sits in our hallway in a beautiful frame from Indigo. I need to frame and hang some more from her family photoshoot with us. So many beautiful photos!

And here's what Georgina and I worked on today. It will remain a working project for a few weeks until I finally paint over it with white and start over or maybe it will be a keeper and end up in the playroom. Time will tell.

So, do you like my new art? I've always been very partial to photography and have only in this last year started collecting paintings as well. Although, lets be honest, I don't have the budget to buy anything more than prints of paintings. But I don't mind. 

How about you? Do you prefer paintings or photography?

The Bold Big Girl Room

To continue from my last post I'm going to share my favourite big girl room inspirations that are on the brighter, bolder and more eclectic side.

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I just love all of this. I could try to emulate it forever and would never come close.

J&J Design Group

This was the room that got me super excited to decorate G's room. I love the bright side tables, the bold headboard, the graphic wall paper and the everythingelse. I have stared at her back wall for long periods of time debating whether to wallpaper or paint it something like this. I have even bought wall decals to put on her walls as an affordable substitute to wall paper. They're still hiding in my closet.

Another black and white feature wall. I really like the colourful headboard. I had picked out a couple fabric swatches to do the same for G but chickened out in the end. *sigh* When it comes to going colourful you have to just go for it and commit. Do NOT chicken out. I'm not sure what I'm scared of or why it felt like such a big risk. I am definitely guilty of over thinking the whole thing.

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Beige walls never looked so colourful! Using a bright pink duvet, a mustard coloured ottoman and a piece of art to tie them together this room looks like it screams with colour. So simple but so strong.

The Handmade Home

 I absolutely love the gold star decals on the feature wall. And of course the giant art poster.

Palmer Weiss

I never realised how much I love orange and green as accents until I started working on this post. They're fantastic colours and work so well with pink.

Caitlin Creer

Inspired by the orange headboards and head shots from the previous photo, Caitlin designed this room for her girls.

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yeah more pink and orange

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Bright pink, Tiffany's blue and soft gold accents. This could actually go into the girly girl category as well. Ya, looking at it I definitely think this is more girly girl but the bright colours threw me off. It's a good in between both I guess.

Laura Lee Clark

Purple making a rare appearance on my inspiration board. I absolutely LOVE the day bed for a little girls room. I had one growing up and felt like a princess. I love how the furniture is arranged to look like a sitting room. This would be a great layout for a teen room.

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This is a bit mature looking for a little girl's bedroom but some dolls and children's books would be enough to make it feel more age appropriate. I really love the art above the tufted headboard.

Jill Sorensen

This was another strong inspiration for Georgina's room. I just love turquoise and yellow together. And while there's pink in the room it's not overpowering.

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A very bright and colourful room with all white walls and furniture. It's a great approach to colour if you're renting but I love this look in all rooms of the house as an owner. So bright and fresh and cheerful. I find working with colour easier when my walls are white.

Daun Curry

And while this is obviously a nursery, there are many design elements to draw on for a big girl's room. A patterned wallpaper, navy and bright pink colour scheme, bunny sketches (definitely want to try this for G) and that light! Actually, that crib has been converted into a toddler bed so technically this can qualify for a big girl's room after all.

All these rooms make it look so easy to pull together a beautiful, bold bedroom for a little girl. But I have struggled trying to finish Georgina's bedroom. Writing this I feel renewed and I'm going to go and rearrange some of her furniture and see if I can finally make it come together.