a haikukie

I found my first ever haikukie.

It reads.

WHITE SQURREL
i don't believe you!
albino squirrel? i never!
sounds crazy to me!

I did not create this haiku, nor did I create this cookie. But this haikukie looks delicious.
I hope they make more haikukies.

have you seen the white squrrel? He lives in the park.

Nikole and I saw him, one glorious fall day. On the same day she took this photo.
Everyone wanted a photo of him!

droplets

It is cold and grey this week, but I managed to find some beautiful raindrops on my walk to work.

hanging on the berries and twigs, it looks like a necklace I would like to wear.

If your day was also grey, I hope it turned out beautiful too.

house numbers

I have an aunt and uncle that bought a house because it had a good number.

It was the number "8". "8" means fortune in chinese, so whoever lives at "888" has fortune x 3!

"42" is not a good number, from what I understand, it can be interpreted as "easy to die". The number "4" is death, and "2" is easy.

"17" doesn't mean anything (I don't think it does anyways!). I just love how perfectly it is carved out of the fence. I think it would be really elegant if it was backlit at night. Jin loves house numbers that light up. It is easy to find.

I don't really believe that house numbers determines your fate, but part of me wishes I had an eight.

do certain numbers mean anything in your culture?

meat pie with heart

I didn't pack my lunch today, so I went to search for some soup and a sandwhich. But I saw this pie instead, and I thought it was so cute.

I was really tempted to get a tart, or a keylime pie. But I was so full!

Maybe next time.

favourite time of day

Mea and Mojo stay in our bedroom for now, we are planning to let them out when the commotion has settled a bit more.

Everytime I walk into our bedroom, Mojo gives me a "meow!". He always thinks it's meal time.

This is him, waiting for Jin to come back with his food.

He looks so sweet.

some light

The succulent in the first photo, some people call it a Jade plant, others call it a Money plant. I like both names.

My friend got it for me as a housewarming present when Jin and I first moved into our previous apartment together! It has survived through the years, and made it over to this house. I am so glad it has, because I think it is one of the prettiest plants I have.

I am so happy this house lets in more light than our previous apartment. And that it has some window ledges deep enough to hold small potted plants. Jin put some sheer curtains up so that the light will always come in the house. I think our plants will be very happy.

Lately, I am totally oogling over every post from this blog. My Scandinavian Retreat. (via KITKA.)

in the olden days...

...they assembled houses with nails like this.

They are substantial in weight, and they make clinking noises when I toss them in my hand.

I picture myself trying to hammer this into a piece of wood, and I chuckle. I think I would struggle a bit,

or a lot.

They don't make nails like this anymore.

I really like them.

powerful!

I feel so alive!

I made our first home cooked meal today in our new home. Yesterday, our contractor connected our stove, and today, we scrounged and looked for the essentials to make shepherds pie!
This potato masher came with the house, it works surprisingly well.

We haven't had a home cooked meal in a whole month! It will be so good to have a full working kitchen again.

gifts

I want to show you some surprise housewarming gifts from these lovely ladies!! Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts! We love them!

The first thing I saw when we moved was a pile of bills, and among them was this beautiful hand letterpressed housewarming card in the mail from Tanya. The image is of how to build a bird house. I love the technical drawing!

This little bird came from my good friend Nav. She got this in Montpellier (doesn't Montpellier sound like the prettiest place on earth?). It is a Sifflet Oiseau. Mea and Mojo think I am a real bird when I whistle it.

Rosalyn came by for a visit,and she made us a beautiful piece of art. I feel so lucky to have a piece of her work. I have admired her since I saw her installation at the workroom.

My friend Pandora gave us a new "dinghy" for our yet-to-be-installed bath tub! The boat will always float to the top of the water, so I will never have a hard time finding the plug!

And, can you tell that I am in love with my white floors?

fluffy

The house is going "woo woo" all day from the wind outside. This is the most snow I have seen all winter. Mea wants me to let her out to explore. Not today little Mea.

Look at my new mittens!

I saw Melinda's mittens at brunch, and I immediately knew I needed a pair for myself to get through the winter!! I asked her to make me a pair, and yesterday, Melinda delivered them to my door! They are so perfectly knitted, and the roving is so soft and warm on the inside! Thank you so much Melinda! I have the prettiest mittens in town!

I love how red they are.

She brought homemade peppermint marshmellows too! They are in the sweetest shade of light light pink, and are so fluffy in my mouth. I wish I could find my tin of hot chocolate right now to have the marshmellows with.

I hope you are keeping warm today, hopefully with your cat curled up in your lap, with warm wooly mittens, with a cup of hot chocolate with marshmellows in it, or with all three.

TEN!!!

I have been holding a crow bar in my hands these days, instead of a camera. A crow bar that is almost as tall as me, and weighs half as much as I do. I miss my camera, but there is nothing like taking apart a floor! I was really scared at first, but now, I think I am getting the hang of it! It has been a good education in architecture.

2009 was such a good year! I managed to complete everything except for two things on my list of things I wanted to do. I will make sure to complete them in 2010. This year, I am super excited to see how we settle into our new home! I am sure there will be much to learn.

Jin hurt 6 out of his 10 fingers while working on the house! Poor guy!! I had to scramble to find the box where we packed the bandaids!

happy 2010, friends! It is time to pull out the high ten!!

Hope you had a sweet celebration!

xo