The Kitchen Chronicles: H20 no.

I need some help. It is starting to sink in that in just a week or two the ripping will officially begin. YAYYYY, oh wait. What do we eat? where do we eat? how is this going to happen???

I am learning that slow cookers and the microwave will become my best friends. My problem is that I am pretty limited in the cooking department and don't want to fall back on the same 3 or 4 meals. It may come down to that but I want to at least try some new things. I know a lot of you will recommend doing the back yard cookout, but the sad news is that our bbq died this spring and we will be building a new deck ASAP with a new exterior gas line for the bbq that will be installed when our new oven line is moved. So we will be waiting to buy the new barbeque until it can be installed too. Already it is apparent that our lack of foresight (which I can only attribute to pure elation that this freakin' kitchen is actually happening!!) is catching up with us.

Honestly, any tips, ALL the tricks and any advice you can offer as far as meals go will be much appreciated.

New purchases for the kitchen in the last week or two have been focused on the sink and plumbing.

The first was our sink. Kind of an important part. One 'must have' item on our list was an apron sink. Those run $1000 and up (and up and up and up if you want dual basins). And we don't want to go up. So we went to Ikea, where you can bag an awesome country sink for under $400.

This thing is HUGE. I think I could defrost 3 or 4 turkeys in this thing while simultaneously washing MungKee. It is going to eat up a lot of counter space, but I really love that it goes all the way back to the wall so you don't have to clean that grimy little inch of counter behind the faucet (maybe ours is just grimy because I don't clean it enough...).

With the sink safely home we turned out attention to the jewellery, aka the faucet. I only have what I am now deeming a minor hiccup on my hands now.

This faucet jumped out at us immediately. It is the perfect traditional touch to contrast our clean cabinet lines and the price at efaucets is within budget, so the green light flashed on!

The hiccup? This manufacturer doesn't make a matching pot filler for the range wall. DOH! I decided to pull the trigger anyway, get it home and see if I can perfectly match the chrome in person to another manufacturer. I will have to drag it to a few showrooms to find a suitable match, but when I do I will head back to ebay or efaucets to order. I am definitely seeing the savings add up when I order online versus local vendors.

So that is the status of our water fountain, as Wren calls sinks/taps.

Stay tuned on Tuesday for the cabinet style/layout breakdown, which may or may not change between now and then depending on our meeting with the designer on Monday...

Some Fashion for Friday

SOOOO glad I stocked up on some new sweaters for Spring. It can go from beautiful and balmy to cool and wet at the drop of a hat so sun dresses are not necessarily an everyday uniform.

No surprises, this sweater is from Rebecca Taylor. I think it is fair to say that when I love something I REALLY LOVE it. And lately that thing is pretty much anything by Rebecca Taylor.

The slightly bejewelled ties at the back are my favorite detail.

Past addictions include Juicy Couture, anything Anthro (admittedly still a fav), Gucci, and J. Crew (another continuing love affair). If you are in the Edmonton area and want to start some sort of clothing swap my checkbook will thank you!!

The thumb holes are super cute, but not that great for moms who are on their knees cleaning floors all day.

In an attempt to remind myself that it is indeed Spring, despite the recent rain, I wore this super sale Forever 21 dress on Sunday. I think it may still be on sale in stores for $12, so check it out maxi dress-istas!

I think it is time to hit the hair salon again, but I am sort of loving the length of my hair now that I can braid it again... so I may just go with a few highlights for summer. I'm just not a real 'hair in my face' kind of gal, so keeping it up or back is a must!

And speaking of fashionistas, my closet has been raided a LOT lately by this little one. Going from hating me combing her hair or anything girly, she has turned into the ultimate girly-girl overnight. She insists on wearing bracelets, necklaces, hair clips and a dress everyday. And while I rarely wear heels out, she has developed a major infatuation with them. She struts around the house, this is her favorite pair right now.

A cute pair, I agree, so I hope they don't get too much peanut butter on them!

Lilac Harvest 2011

It's one of my favorite times of year. Besides the fact that it has been murky and gloomy all week with non-stop drizzle (great for the yard, bad for those of us with 2 year old who are desperate to hit the park), my absolute favorite time of year outdoors has finally arrived: Lilac season.

It is such a short window, when the branches of all our lilac trees are so heavy with blooms they nearly sag. We have at least 2 varieties of lilacs, and thankfully they don't bloom all at the same time so I know that when these ones die off I still have a few weeks left with the others.

I have no idea what the 'correct' way of trimming them is, but I like to bring them in when there is still a lot of unopened blooms. When they start to mature I find that the flowers are much more delicate and fall off easily, whereas these ones will still have a week or so to enjoy inside. And the scent is amazing as they open up!

Still wet from the rain.

My $1 auction jars and basket finally reach their full potential, doing exactly what I had in mind for them when they came home.

Even after lilac season has past, I am just so thankful that it is summer. There will be many more blooms to grace us with their beauty and perfume still.