Poppies, memories, family time

I always say that I need to write down/acknowledge/focus on three beautiful things each and every day. But do I? No. Definitely not every day. Somedays not even every other day. Sometimes I get bogged down in all the not so beautiful stuff, and I forget. And so today, I'm making sure to do it. Life is good in so many ways. I'm a lucky girl for so many reasons. So, here's my 3BT on this bright Tuesday afternoon in June...

California poppies, picked by the roadside as the boys waited for the school bus this morning, in a little blue vase on my desk.

This beautiful spot where Em's memorial bench sits. We sat there together the last time I spent a weekend with her in Vancouver, before she moved to France. This weekend it will be dedicated to her, and we'll gather to have a picnic in her honour. Em loved picnics.

Hanging out in the front yard with the boys and Alan last night before bedtime. It's a beautiful yard, with good trees for climbing. I enjoyed being there, in the company of my little family, very much.

I hope you're enjoying at least three beautiful things today! And if you'd like to tell me what they are, I'd love to hear.

PS: Ooh, I almost forgot to mention... there are just 7 days left of school until summer vacation!

A sneak peek

So over the past 8 weeks or so we have gone from a living room with a horrid wood-panelled wall, to a freshly drywalled {and insulated} one.

From a dark brick fireplace...

... to a freshly painted white one {which I love}.

What a transformation! Our room is lighter and brighter and airier and I can't wait for the chair rail to go up and the new curtains to be made! {we have officially decided to cease and desist all reno-related projects until the new year... it's time to enjoy the holidays!}

There's no mantel yet {no time!}, but that didn't stop me from decorating the top of the bricks for Christmas! Doesn't it look pretty? And just wait till you see the rest of the room!

Now if I can just convince Alan to let me put a nail in that lovely new wall, so I can hang our Christmas wreath...

Garden tour

So, several weeks ago, I gave you a tour of our house. Now that summer's officially here, let's head out into the garden, shall we?

Open the front door and head out, down the stairs and onto the path.

Up to the right is the pathway that leads onto the front lawn or across to the driveway.

Head left to the cottage suite. I love the wild flowers that line the driveway.

Gorgeous tall foxgloves hide amongst the branches of this tree.

Sit in the corner of the front yard to relax and watch the boys run around on the grass or flip themselves out of the hammock repeatedly! My brother-in-law, Philip, made our adirondack chairs. Aren't they great?

Tiny pink flowers.

Fragrant yellow roses grow outside our front door. The bush was a gift to us when Sawyer was born.

Columbines are such an amazing flower. We have several of them in the front garden.

I'm not sure what these are called, but I love them.

This is the view across the front lawn and out onto our little street.

Alan built this flower bed on the corner of the front lawn, beside our driveway. You can see the back yard just beyond the van, with the vegetable garden right at the back.

Beside the boys' playhouse is a new little lawn and flower garden. We call it the "secret garden" because it feels small and tucked away.

Behind the house is a long stretch of grass. Beyond it is an area that Alan is going to turn into raised beds, pathways, an eating area (with firepit for marshmallow roasts!)... We've just planted two apple trees here as well.

Small dividing wall between the front and side gardens.

Beautiful bachelor buttons.

I love, love, love these blooms together. Just beautiful.

The world's most beautiful (and multi-coloured!) lupin, with our house and my handsome gardener of a husband in the background. If it weren't for him, our garden wouldn't be half as fabulous as it is. I am definitely NOT the one in the family with the green thumb!

Where I Live Wednesday

A while ago, I did an interview with Krysten of the lovely blog, After I Do, for her Where I Live Wednesday feature. It's up today and I hope you'll come visit. Take a look here and read all about my fantastic hometown- Victoria, BC! While you're there, be sure to say hi to Krysten and take a look around her very friendly blog. I especially like her book reviews... Thanks, Krysten, for allowing me to take part!

The house tour continued

So (as per request from my sis-in-law, Wendy) I started out by showing you the main floor of our house, and now we're heading upstairs if you'd care to join us...

First off is our bedroom. I'd call it the "master bedroom" but it's not much different from the boys' room, really. It's a bit bigger, and it has a bigger window, but there's no ensuite and there certainly isn't a lovely walk-in closet (in my mind, all masters should have a walk-in... am I right?) Anyway, this is our bedroom. It's cozy, and it will do for now.

Like the rest of the house, it's got great hardwood floors. It also has room for both of our dressers (that's mine you see above)

... and our queen-size bed. I love the headboard of our bed. It's a bookshelf! Isn't that handy? Can you spot Darth Vader in this photo? The room is bigger than it looks in this picture. There's room to walk on both sides of the bed, I have my nightstand on one side and Alan's dresser is on the other. There's a beautiful big plum tree outside the window, too.

Across the hall is the boys' bedroom. Plenty of room for both beds, a dresser, an airplane and about a million toys and books.

This is Sawyer's bed. It was once Dylan's. I love the drawers underneath it, which hold puzzles and games.

Dylan's bed, the toy cubbies, and various math-related posters! (as always, you can click on the photos for a closer-up shot)

The book/toy shelf at the end of the boys' beds. On the wall above it, a map that Dylan drew to tell you how to get from our house to his preschool!

Head out the door and diagonally across the hall to the bathroom.

It's a 70s masterpiece! Note the yellow linoleum floor

And mustard yellow toilet!

Good things this room has going for it are that it's large and has a ton of storage space. One day if our new (white) tub, toilet and sink ever turn up, it'll get a much-needed update.

The one room upstairs that I haven't shown you is the spare room, which I one day hope to turn into a pretty office/guest room. Something airy and bright, and a place to store all my stationery! Right now it's a bit of a mess, so I'm keeping the door closed (as you can see above!)

And there you have it. The top floor tour, done! Next up... the garden. It really is lovely, just you wait and see!

Want to come on a house tour?

So this morning I was chatting to my sister-in-law on the phone and she made a request. Lots and lots of photos of our house, indoors and out. We moved in here a few months after her last visit to Canada, so she's never seen Pughs' News HQ! So straight away (well, okay, after a tidy-up!) I got out the camera and got down to work. I was going to send her these pictures, but then thought I'd turn it into a bit of a house tour for all of you, too. It's always fun to see where our blogging friends live, non? (you can click on each photo for more of a close-up look)

It's hard to get a photo of the house in its entirety, especially in the summer when the trees are all in full, leafy bloom. I tried, really I did...

There's the front door. You can't really tell, but there's a pathway that runs between the two sections of our front lawn, going from one driveway to the other, and taking you up the front steps.

Here it is from another angle.

And another. Alan has put up lots of trellises because we've got deliciously fragrant jasmine and clematis vines growing up the sides of the house. Can't wait for them to start blooming! That's the living room window.

Super cute doorman. (and how do you like our fab English-style postbox? Alan and Dylan made it!)

Inside the front door you head through the hall and into the kitchen. The stairs go up to the right. Living room is to the left.

1970s kitchen in all its glory. How about those dark brown countertops?! (the floor used to be the most hideous dark yellow lino, but we replaced it with quick & easy "tiles" from Wal-Mart) We have big plans for our kitchen some day. You know, when we have loads of extra money burning a hole in our pockets.

Here's the opposite wall, and our art gallery/fridge. The door you can see leads downstairs to the laundry room and the library.

Love our little kitchen table. The peonies are from our garden. Head past the stove and super-cool spice rack into the dining room.

Lots of space to sit and colour here! (the boys also love to spin the Lazy Susan around really fast and let cars go flying off it! oh dear...)

The sundeck doors lead outside into the side garden. It's a nice, bright room.

Come through into the living room. I hate this wooden wall. It makes the room much darker than it needs to be. I'd like to paint it creamy white to give the place more of a cottage-y feel, but the plan is to rip it out and replace it with a proper, plastered wall eventually. For now, will just have to live with it! The fireplace is great though. The woodstove keeps us nice and cosy all winter long. I like the big window out to the front garden as well. And I adore our hardwood floors.

The living room from another angle (this is at the bottom of the stairs). Do you love my new print? I do. Thank you, Mom!

View from the couch under the window. The stairs lead up to the bedrooms and bathroom.

And here's where I sit to do my blogging (and eat my lunch, as you can see...)

Hope you enjoyed your wander through the first floor of our little home! Tomorrow I'll show you the rest of the house, and maybe I'll take you for a tour of the garden, too. Right now, I'd better drink my tea before it gets any colder. Then the boys will be up from their nap and we're off to ride the trolley!

PS: Well, Wendy, what do you think? Is this what you had in mind?