Summer Goals!

Here is a little list of some things I want to do over the summer (or in the near future!):

• Continue working on my Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith!  A couple of summers ago I filled out a few of the pages (ha and Keith might have helped!) but I want to work more on it, instead of just having it sit on my bookshelf.  I'm not really into journaling (although I really wish I was.  There are so many inspiring photos of journals on flickr & pinterest that I've come across.) but I really enjoyed working on this. Maybe to help me keep my word I can start posting what I've filled out in the book once a week.  I want to get into a routine on my blog!
• Get together with De & Nat and figure some things out for our Etsy shop that was might be starting!  (Speaking of Etsy, Canada Post is now back in business!  So my shop is open again, awesome!)  I would give you guys more information about this, but I want to keep it a secret from now!  Once we get started I'll show you some sneak peaks!
• Work on all of the summer ideas for my shop that I have floating around in my head.  Yesterday I started thinking about some new items for my shop.  Some new summer-y items!  I'm really excited to get started on this stuff.   I hope you guys like it!
• Start working on De's shower gift!  I'm actually going to go out in a minute or two and pick something up to work on it.  Once I give it to her for her shower (on July 8th!) I can show you guys the finished product!

What are some things that you are working on?

Hey Canada Post, would you mind stopping this strike?  I wanna be able to receive awesome packages in the mail like these:

design*sponge

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Dress shopping!

Tomorrow I'm going wedding dress shopping in Toronto with De & Kathy.  (I'm not sure who else is going yet!)  I'm pretty pumped.  I looked for a bridesmaid dress to wear while I was in Europe but I didn't really find anything (I didn't go into any fancy bridal shops or anything.).  The colours are blues, greens and purples.  Here are some pretty dresses that I've found while looking online (I know some of them aren't blue, green or purple...):

All of the above are from Nordstrom

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This one I just found today and I looooooooooove it!

It fits the colour scheme perfectly!  I hope they have it at one of the stores we look at tomorrow so I can try it on.  Are there any shops in Toronto that I should check out? 

aaaaaaaaaaaah.

Today's blog post was going to either be about part of my trip to Europe, or photos of Tim & De's buck and doe from the weekend.  But, ever since we got back from Europe it seems like everything is falling apart.  First my memory card is shot, then the pool heater won't work, then the dishwasher breaks, the other day in fan in the kitchen started smoking, and two days ago another pipe burst.  Today we woke up to the entire pool being EMPTY. (After Squirt keeping me up all night because of the huge thunderstorm we had.  When she gets scared she has to sit on my head while I sleep, ha.) So, now the pool is completely ruined.  I was trying to e-mail photos to the pool company we bought it from this morning and the camera (different camera than the one with the bad memory card.) wouldn't connect to any of the computers.  GAAH.  Haha.  I should have stayed in Europe!!!

Annnnnnnnnnd now blogger won't let me attach any photos from any website, so... sorry that this post is pictureless!  I had an entire post written out, but without the photos it's kind of pointless.  Man, this is just not my week... ha.   Hope you guys are having a better week than I am!

Summer List Part 3: Road Trip Edition!

Hey everyone!  The weather has been awesome here the past few days, I've been spending a lot of time outside in the pool!  I love it.  Keith recently bought a new truck and he's been saying he wants to go away a lot this summer.  We will definitely be going up north camping a few times, but he wants to go away to a few other places too.  We're thinking of Ottawa:

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Montreal:

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Chicago:

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Keith really wants to go out East, check out all of the different provinces out there.  I went out East a few years ago (er, more than a few years ago.  Haha.  More like 11?) but never went to Newfoundland.  Maybe we'll go this summer!  See PEI:

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New Brunswick: 

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Nova Scotia:

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* - ugh I got so car sick when we drove on this years ago... ha!

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And Newfoundland!  (Which would be a first for both of us!)

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So maybe this summer will be all about the East Coast of Canada (and... maybe a quick trip over to Chicago!), then next we can go West?  Keith went out West years ago, but it's still on my list of places to visit!  I would love to go up north to the Yukon and Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but I'll save that for another blog post!  Is there any place you're dying to visit in your own country?  Maybe this can be the summer you go check it out! 

Summer List Part 2!

Today was another really nice & sunny day!  I went out for lunch with my friends Sam & Shannon, then afterwards we sat by the river while I made jewelery out of grass.  (Haha.)  I didn't realize it until a little while ago, but my left shoulder is burnt!  Oh well, I'm sure by tomorrow it will be a nice shade of brown... anyway, we were talking this afternoon about some more things that we really want to do this summer.  So, it's time for part two of my things to do this summer list!  (Haha what a unique title!)

8.  Have garden parties!  Maybe not so fancy... but eat a lot of meals out in the garden.  For one of De's bridal showers we're all going to be sitting outside for a tea party.  I can't wait!

9.  Go to the drive in.  I went for the first time last year, and I was freeeeezing the entire time... haha.  This time I will be much better prepared!

10.  Sleep on a trampoline.  I loooove sleeping outside, and as soon as the weather starts to get warm I want to sleep outside every day.  This summer I have to try sleeping on a trampoline, at least once!

11.  Make pizza on the barbeque!  I have been wanting to do this for a while, and I feel like this summer is the time to finally do it!  Haha.

12.  Go up north to a cottage.  Even if it's just for a long weekend, I love going away to a cottage.   We sold our family cottage a few years ago (I'm still bummed out about that!)  but there are soooo many different lakes up north.   It would be awesome to go with a few friends & rent one!

13.  Go on lots of adventures!  I guess this is pretty vague, but I just want to do something every. single. day.  Even if it means just going out & walking around and finding something new!  I just want to do something. 

What do you hope to do this summer?  Have any ideas I should add to the list?  Let me know! 

The Slinky was invented by accident

The other day I caught myself up with the latest season of United States of Tara.  It's such a great show and the third season has been intennnnnnnnnse.  Especially the last episode (episode 11.  I think the newest episode is going to be on Sunday night?  Whoa.  I'm finally up to date with a tv show.  That never happens!).  Ohhhh man.  If you guys haven't seen this show before, I highly suggest checking it out.

I'm super pumped for the next season of Breaking Bad.  Keith didn't really watch all of the last season, so I think we're going to re-watch it all from the beginning.  I looooooooooove this show.  And Walt has turned into a total badass in the past couple of seasons, I love it.  I hope this show lasts forever.  (Haha.) Season 4 starts sometime in the middle of July (I think), so you have time to start watching it from the beginning.  DO IT.  It's awesome. Such a great show.

What shows have you been really into lately?   I started working on something new, might be something new to add to my Etsy shop...!  We'll see.  But it's something that I can just sit & do while I watch tv, so I'd love some suggestions of awesome shows to watch!

A man kept a chopstick in his stomach for 28 years*

I've had pretty bad luck with blogging lately!  Either blogger is down for me (has it been down for you guys, too?) or my internet hasn't been working.  So, I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately!  I have good news though!  All of my photos from Europe were saved.   Before I went away I bought a new memory and I guess it was a bad one... so 50$ later they are all saved.  I'll probably start posting my trip photos next week, this week I think I'll be spending most of my time at Tim & De's house making things for the Buck & Doe!  Today I sat outside and made a bunch of these:

zig-zag accordion streamers by Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day!

What have you been working on lately?  Any fun crafts you've stumbled upon and want to do?  Share links!

*Um, weird.  If you want to know the full story, let me know.

A raisin will bounce up and down in a glass of fresh champagne.

For some reason my one memory card (yeah, I filled a memory card and a half of photos while I was away... haha.) keeps saying there is an error.  It won't let me upload all of the photos to the computer.  Bummer.  I'm going to have someone take a look at it & hopefully all of my photos will be saved!  Anyway, that one up there is from Evian-les-Bains, the place where Evian water is from.  Evian water was a lot cheaper in Provence than it was in Evian, ha!  

This weekend Keith & I went to our friends' buck and doe, and on Sunday I had a little "girls' day!".  Brooke, Alex & I went out for breakfast (err, brunch.  And it was delicious.  It had been weeks since I had a regular North American breakfast!  Eggs & hashbrowns, yum!  Although I'm missing the croissants & crepes from France... I even made some crepes today, ha.) and it started getting a little bit warmer and sunnier out so we headed down to the beach for a few hours.  We sat on the patio at the beach and had some salads & drinks and ate some ice cream.  We all ended up getting a little bit sunburned!  

Afterwards I headed over to De's house to help tie dye some shirts for her buck & doe this Saturday.  Well, by the time I got over there they had just finished, ha.  But tonight we get to take all of the elastics off and see the finished product!  Tomorrow is Keith's birthday (and little Squirty's!) so after he's done work some of us are going to go out to eat, then head to the drive-in!  The rest of the week is going to be filled with getting things ready for the buck & doe on Saturday.  I'll be sure to start bringing my camera out (with my other memory card!) and take some photos of the things we make.  What are you guys up to this week?  Anything exciting happening that you're looking forward to this month?

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Ah, finally blogger is working.  Haha.  I'm not sure if it was down for everyone else, but every time I tried to log on it said there was an error.

Anyway, I'm back from Europe! Europe was amazing.  I have a ton of photos that I can't wait to share with you guys. How would you like me to post them?  Day by day?  Or do kind of "themed" posts?  I took a photo of every single meal that I had (and snack, ha!) so would you like me to do a post (or two, or three...) just about the food that I ate?  Or should I just do it day by day (or city by city, I guess.)?  I probably won't start posting the photos from my trip until sometime next week, but I thought I'd ask you guys to see what you would prefer.

This is just going to be a quick post (I still need to thank all of the lovely guest bloggers I had!) but I wanted to add this hilarious video I just watched in, ha.  Check it out:

Vanessa from Hello Vanny!

Hello adorable Holly Knit Lightly readers! I'm Vanessa and I run a lifestyle blog over at HelloVanny.com. When Holly asked me to write a guest post for her I honestly was stumped. This has got to be one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do blogging-wise. I couldn't think of anything to write! But then I thought, well I really love food, desserts specifically(I'm in culinary school for baking+pastry right now FYI!) I wonder what kind of desserts Holly will be eating in Europe. So I researched and boyyyyy are you all in for a special treat, let's all drool together shall we?







Nommy Nutella crepes! Have any of you had Nutella? It's amazing and so so so delicious. You need to try it. That's an order.





Gelato! Yum. I surely could go for some toasted coconut gelato right now. Can you tell I have a sweet tooth?





I'm currently a barista and would absolutely love to start my morning in Europe with a delicious flakey croissant and a double dry cappuccino. Everyday would be wonderful if I started it off that way.





Speaking of cappuccinos, cappuccino cheesecake? I could die and go to heaven.





Cannolis! These babies are a must have if you're going to Europe. At the bakery I interned at I could not get enough of these!





Eclairs. Do I need to say anymore?





That's it for my dessert craze. I feel like I could overdose on sugar just looking at these pictures. Holly, I hope you're having the best time! I'm jealous! And I totally think you should mail all of us a box of european desserts ^_^



xo

Vanessa