the best reason to stare at the ceiling all day

i've seen these capiz shell chandeliers around have decided i need one. i'm actually pretty okay with having no furniture, so long as i have this. 

or no tv. 

who needs tv when you have a kick-ass chandelier?

if given the choice, what piece of decor would you have at the expense of all others (or am i just crazy?)

images via west elm and fuse lighting

vintage kitchen gems and natural pantry staples, ahoy!

i'm getting much closer to finding a new place - will hopefully have some good news by next week or so!

in the meanwhile, i've been doing some research on the kitchen stuff i need to buy ... and have been trying to find the best ways to stay within my budget.

so i went vintage shopping yesterday, and found a stunning cake tray as well as an antique yogurt maker from about 1972, and finally a two-tiered devilled egg tray.

screw functional kitchen stuff - i'm going to have the best. kitchen. EVER. dinner will be eaten off of the cake tray. along with the antique yogurt. and 84 deviled eggs for dessert.

take that, martha stewart.

(in the meanwhile, i went to canada blooms last friday and found some fantastic ideas for my soon-to-be balcony and soon-to-be container garden, along with a billion other ideas for the backyard patio that i don't have. but will. eventually.

and i bought a fire pot. it's going to sit on my balcony, on the little patio set that i want to buy.)

it's gonna be awesome. i'm loving this article on natural pantry staples.

what recommendations do you have for someone who's trying to buy kitchen and pantry stuff on a budget? what should i prioritize? what can wait?

images by me, from my iphone, at canada blooms.

i think i might be manic in this one

it's been insanely nice outside for the past few days here in toronto. like, insaaaanely.

like, i-went-outside-for-lunch-and-sat-on-a-concrete-step-while-eating-my-turkey-sammich-and-my-butt-didn't-even-get-cold kind of weather. in march. unheard of!

so whether it's been the weather or the fact that i'm looking to move in a few months, i've been feeling quite peckish for some spring cleaning.

...it also doesn't help that, in my inbox every morning, martha stewart and her gang of decor/organizey magazine thugs show up - baseball bats in hand - ready to rumble.

(admittedly, i invited them all to my inbox by clicking on that 'subscribe' button ... so i suppose you could say that i asked for it. but still.) either way, they're there, and they're taunting me with the billions of helpful ways to be a happier, better, cleaner, more organized, productive, efficient, clothes ironing and money-saving monster.

and here are some of my favourite topics so far.

• on making my wardrobe last
• on giving my old clothes new life
• on spring cleaning the living crap out of everything
• not that i have tubes of dried-up crazy glue lying around, but a good mental and literal de-clutter never hurt anyone. i'm so down with purging.

in terms of trying to find some new digs, any of you who live in a big city can surely attest to the pithy square-footage to monthly rent ratio that selling an arm and a leg will get you. i was getting a bit bummed about the whole thing until i came across tiny ass apartment, a blog that describes itself as:

Wish you had a five-bedroom mansion in the hills and enough money to decorate it with stuff from Anthropologie that's NOT on sale? Face it -- you live in a tiny-ass apartment with only enough cash to buy... nothing. Here's how to still be fabulous.

(and i can interact with fellow TAA dwellers for tips and stuff on facebook too? sweet!)

... but in all seriousness now, anyone with any knowledge of awesomely lit and spacious hidden gems in uptown toronto for a good price, let me know.

images via TAA via apartment therapy

not to throw a tantrum, but

given my penchant for going MIA for the last forever, i find it highly ironic (and almost funny) that, when i'm waiting for some of my favourite blogs to update (i'm not going to point any fingers), i get really impatient.

it's like the blog version of waiting by the phone for someone to call. you know, when you pick it up every so often to make sure that you can still hear the dial tone.

yep, it's still connected.

it's not you, it's me. i just miss the updates.

(until then, i'm sure your site statistics are going to score a high number of hits from a certain somebody who uses firefox and is located in toronto, but for some weird reason sitemeter keeps listing it as ajax, ontario. strange. insult to east-enders everywhere? should i consider that commentary on my east-ender status?)

much love (seriously),
courtney

ps seriously, please post soon. i've read the whole internet.

step away from the cash register, miss

i'm still really working on getting back into my groove, but since it's been so long that i've been grooveless, maybe i should just get on creating a new one.

i went to the bookstore yesterday and did some wandering - one of my favourite things to do. i managed to drum up some willpower and abstain from making a beeline for all of my usual haunts (ie cultural studies), and instead checked out various books in the biography section.

long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by ishmael beah
one of the keynote speakers at the conference i ran last year was a former child soldier - his story was so tragic and so inspiring at the same time, i'm drawn to more and more of these recounts.

look me in the eye by john elder robinson
i've been devouring augusten burroughs' book, magical thinking lately; this is a memoir written by his brother john, recounting his life with Aspergers syndrome. from the first bit that i leafed through in the store, i've come to the conclusion that this family truly has the writing gene. envy ensues.

(ps i'm going to go ahead and highly recommend augusten's writing while i'm at it. i'm loving it like i haven't loved a book in a long, long while.)

and just as i was about to pick up both of these books and make a beeline for the cash, i ran straight into it. the cultural studies section.

dun dun dunnnnnn.

there it was, front-faced at eye level, on the first shelf i could see. the story of stuff by annie leonard (based on the internet project). right near by was the paradox of choice by barry schwartz.

it was like high noon in the wild west. the universe was telling me to step away from the compulsive buying spree and get focused on reading the books i already have.

okaaaayyyyuh. i guess.

so i put both books down (after adding them to my wish list) and found a comfy seat in starbucks and settled in to an afternoon of reading and people watching. one day, my pretties. i'll get you.

what's on your reading list?