A Little Madness in the Spring

A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown —
Who ponders this tremendous scene —
This whole Experiment of Green —
As if it were his own!

-Emily Dickinson

It has been gorgeous here this past week, and I thought I'd share it with some of you cold southerners. These are pictures of our backyard and all the beautiful flowers blooming in it.

"God so arrays the grass of the field..."

The More the Merrier...

We got our first snowfall! Snow is supposedly very rare in Vancouver, but when we walked out of church on Sunday morning the streets were spotted with snow, and it was drifting slowly down on us. It was really beautiful, and marks the first time Alex has ever seen snow!

We walked around our neighborhood taking pictures, and got a lot of funny looks for it. You would think since it doesn't snow too much more kids would be out playing in it... maybe it just wasn't enough.

Later that night, in an effort to make the most of the Christmas season and to partake in community activities, Alex and I decided to go to Bright Nights in Stanley Park. Stanley Park is absolutely beautiful, and people recommended that we go now to see it all decorated for Christmas. So we bundled up and rode the bus to the park. However, we didn't find the classy white lights we were hoping to see... instead we were bedazzled by an array of the tackiest Christmas decorations we have ever seen. I'm sorry, there's just no other way of saying it. But it was quite entertaining, and still has me laughing.

This was in the center of the park, and the first thing you saw when you walked in. OK it's not too bad, but just keep going.

This was on the inside of one of those gingerbread houses. Your eye just doesn't know where to rest, hey?

And this was another house. All those toys were just shoved in there.

It just became ridiculous when we saw South Park.

I will say though, that it seems that Alex and I were the only ones shocked by the display. Everyone else was talking about how cute the gingerbread houses were. Maybe we were just missing something. My guess is that most of the people had kids, and they of course loved it. 'Less is more' is never an option for a child.

It is also worth mentioning that there was a disco ball strapped to the top of the tent on our way out.

Twenty-Four

Alex turned 24 this month, and we wanted to celebrate! We received a gift card to Brown's Social House, and decided that (even though it's not that fancy of a place) we were going to dress up and make the most of it. It was really quite fun! The waitress asked us where we were going all dressed-up, and we had a humble time explaining that we had already arrived.

However, we did go see Fantastic Mr. Fox afterwards. Alex enjoyed the diversion from school and being able to indulge a bit in one of his favourite hobbies - movie criticism.

Charlie Brown Christmas

White lights, red ribbon, Point of Grace . . . it's Christmastime again! So along comes that warm, homey feeling that transpires with the dream of forgetting life for a while and going home to see my mom. It's different than going home any other time of the year . . . maybe it's Jeff Kiel's roaring fires, or perhaps it's the decorations and warm lighting. It's almost magical the way that hope can make these cold December days a little more bearable. And this year there's even more to hope for because we get to celebrate Christmas together with both of our families.

Even though we're far from family for now, we've tried our best to bring Christmas cheer to our little home. However we're working with the holiday decoration collection of newly weds. Stores are selling Charlie Brown Christmas Trees for $20 this year, but our budget's gonna have to stick with authentic Charlie Brown decorations. It's a little sparse, but we've scrounged the yard and I think what we've come up with is quite lovely.

Christmas stars made out of sticks. They're hanging above Alex's head in the photo below.

We have a holly tree in our jungly yard that is absolutely huge. I never even noticed it until some holly clippings showed up on our doorstep one day. I'm not sure why they were or how they got there, but I'm glad they did!

It's subtle, but nice.

I clipped these fuzzy fern things in October for fall decorations, and as they've dried out they've gotten even more fluffy. I really like them! I didn't want to throw them out just yet, so I hung them upside down, tied them with red ribbon and ushered them right into Christmas.

And to make things feel a bit more like Christmas, it's expected to snow this weekend! Of course, I think the Floridians are the only ones looking forward to that. The weather here has been absolutely wonderful! It's been sunny for almost a week, which means that it's been cold! Apparently, it gets colder when there are no clouds in the sky. So with the abnormally cold weather now and the rains on the way. . . the forecast is calling for snow. Hopefully it won't last too long and we'll still be able to fly out on schedule!

Merry Christmas!

Kitchen: Before and After

The kitchen was definitely the most challenging part of moving in. It's old and has settled at odd angles leaving large gaps between the countertops and cabinets. As you can somewhat see below.

Before:

First, we removed the baker's stand, which was nice but far to large for the space, and we replaced it with shelves we bought from IKEA. Then, we replaced the old lights and tore out the non-functioning fan that was above the oven. It was absolutely disgusting - covered in grease! Plus, the cord dangled down in front of the window which just really drove me nuts. Next, I made curtains to cover the cabinets that didn't have doors, and the window. And finally, Alex fixed the loose faucet by putting up wainscoting which we decided to hang around the whole kitchen to make a backsplash. It's still a little rustic, but it looks a great deal better!

After:

This picture is taken from the living room, standing at the front door. I hope this gives you an idea as to how the house is laid out.

If you're standing here, you can look to your right to see our bedroom, and to your left to see the bathroom. Sorry the window is dirty, we just had it replaced.

The sink with the new light fixture and lovely wainscoting backsplash 

The white curtains to cover-up the open cabinets

Our new shelves from IKEA

And yes, the plug for the refrigerator is in the middle of the wall, right next to the pantry. But it's a covered pantry!

These flour tins that say, "Be it ever so humble, it's ours," belonged to my grandmother. I think they're quite pleasant and simply put. And you can also see the sweet, gingham ruffled curtains in the background.

Be it ever so humble, it's ours...

"There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, 

And they all lived together in a crooked little house."

I was reminded of this Mother Goose rhyme one day when Alex was trying to put in the backsplash in our kitchen. He was having trouble with the measurements because there are literally no right angles in our house, everything sits in a slant. In exasperation he cried out, "Why is everything in this house crooked?" So I began to recite these verses - they were no help to him, but they sure helped me come up with a fitting name for our blog!

So now that all the projects are done, hear are a few long-awaited photos of our crooked little home:

This is our dining room table, it's actually in the living room and one of the first things you see when you walk in the house. The view out this window is our favorite, so even though it's the only place for the table, we kind of like it.

On the left side of the living room is our futon and barn door coffee table.

To the right, is our (at the moment) television-less entertainment center and bee-box bookshelves which are holding our DVDs.

This little area next to the front door had bookshelves in it, but we took them out and made it into a mudnook... it's not really big enough to be called a room. We figured it would be necessary when the rains come and we need a quick place to put our rain-jackets and umbrellas.

        

The house was built in the 1920s so you can do some really great snooping in the basement. We found these antique hand-drills in there and thought they would work well as hooks for our coats. So with the permission of our landlord we nailed to them to the wall and they work wonderfully! We also found the globe in the basement. I really like the subdued colors and vintage look of it. It fits the feel of our home well.

I will be posting more pictures of the other rooms soon! We have enjoyed settling in and glad that it's beginning to feel like ours.