soon to be mrs

My poor blog, which was my baby, has sat neglected for literally an entire year. Hopefully I'm more attentive when I have real babies.

It seems like so much has changed since my last post, but at the same time, so little. We "brought home baby" aka our cat Luna. Who seems to have taken the place of the blog as my baby. We are 110% obsessed with her. She is the best and worst cat all at the same time. I could literally write hundreds of posts about her. And maybe that's why I stopped blogging because everyone (well not that anyone reads this anymore) would be totally sick of hearing about Luna.

We are still living in our little rental. Not much has changed. I should probably take some updated photos to show, but that would mean cleaning and who has time for that! We have tried and failed at buying two homes. The first loss more heart breaking than the second. But maybe third time is a charm. Hopefully we can move into something before the wedding.

And there it is folks, the only exciting thing that has happened since my last post. Rob proposed! We are officially getting hitched. The date is set, venue booked, there's no backing out now Rob!

When looking for a name for my blog I wanted it to be something that could follow me or grow with me for longer than one season of my life. I wanted "jyll along the way" to literally follow me along the way. And I figure since now is probably one of the most exciting times of my life, I should get my butt in gear and revive the blog!

My goal is to share some of my planning process, my DIY projects, and hopefully a little business venture I'm working on!

In the mean time I figured I would share some quick photos my cousin, Steph, took for us at our engagement party!

bringing home baby

So much has been going on lately and I have been really crunched for time. I recently started a new job (YAY), I have been working on a tonne of projects, and I just got back from Florida (trip planned prior to said job).  My new job requires me to work from home about 60% of the time so I have been working on creating a home office in my guest bedroom. It should be complete in the next week or two so I will have lots of pictures to share.

In other news we are bringing home our new bengal kitty on Sunday! I CANNOT WAIT. Her name is Luna and she is 11 weeks old. Here is a picture of her at 5 weeks when I went to meet her, and another from about a week ago!

We are already becoming slightly crazy cat people. We set up a cat tree last night that dominates our living room. 

I'm off to work now but I wanted to share our pretty little girl. More photos to come!

violet marie

Yesterday, we finally got around to taking little miss Violet's newborn photos. Everyone online recommends taking them between 5-10 days to ensure they are still sleepy and easy to work with. Well this 9 day old lady wasn't all that sleepy so we had to work a bit harder to get the photos to work. We did a few traditional ones and then did a couple autumn themed ones to celebrate her October birth.

Here are some of my favourites! This first one is actually from the hospital. Love baby feet!

all that glitters is gold

If you asked Rob, he would probably say I have a serious obsession with gold. The other day I told him I was going outside to paint something and his response was, "Let me guess, you're painting it gold." He isn't totally wrong. Looking around my living room there are quite a few hints of gold. What can I say! Sometimes a girl just needs some gold in her life!

A few weeks ago my cousin, Jenn, gave me a tea set as a house warming gift. The tea pot and tea cups were white porcelain but knowing me well she gave them to me with the intention that I would jazz them up a bit!

I woke up this morning to a miserable grey day. As I was making breakfast I opened the cupboard and those little tea cups were staring out at me. It was like a little gold lightbulb popped up above my head. I grabbed the tea set and a gold sharpie and got to work!

*Note: online reviews say to use an oil based Sharpie instead of a regular one. I only had a regular Sharpie and no desire to go out in the pouring rain, so that's what I used. I just plan on washing these gently.

I popped them all onto a baking sheet and into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. I haven't washed these yet but my fingers are crossed. They aren't perfect but I kind of love that about them!

cheers!

Bar carts have been taking the blogger/pinterest world by storm! With that said, you would think they would be easier to find! I started my search locally but quickly realized I wouldn't find what I was looking for here. And that would be: antique, brass/gold, glass, on casters...What can I say, I want what I want. A couple months ago I found that pretty much matched all of my criteria except it was a bit over my budget and in Michigan.

Since then I have had zero luck. Nothing online, nothing at the flea market, nothing at the vintage stores, nothing new, nothing used, just nothing. So last week I went shopping with my momma in the states I had high hopes. I was determined. As per usual we stopped at Target so I could drool over the Nate Berkus line. I was checking out some rugs for our entry way when I heard my mom yell, "I found your bar cart!" Um excuse me. Sorry Target employees, I may have just dropped everything in the middle of the rug isle.

It wasn't perfect. The gold finish was a bit dull. The tiers were wood instead of glass. But, I liked it. A lot. I flagged the first employee down to see if they had any more in stock because the floor model was a bit scratched. A few minutes later she wheels over a creaky, streaky, scratched and dark brown wood version of the bar cart. Ew. It was last years version and it had seen better days. She quickly offered me a discount on the floor model and I wheeled it away before anyone else could snatch it up! With 20% off it was within my budget, can't get much better! A few coats of my favourite gold spray paint later and I have my dream bar cart!!

Over the last couple months, I have been buying things for my imaginary bar cart. So being able to pull them out and put them on a real bar cart was super exciting! The copper ice bucket, blue and gold decanter, and copper moscow mule mugs were all thrifted. The bartender book and martini shaker was donated by my parents. The cocktail napkins were a gift from my cousin, Steph (love them Steph!). The mirrored tray and the geometric glass were from Homesense (more expensive version can be found at West Elm)

to blog or not to blog

That is the question. Since coming home from Barbados I really haven't done much that I find "blog-worthy." I love Kingsville, it's a great town. But in all honesty, there isn't all that much to do. We have a great foodie community and as much as I would love to share restaurant reviews, it isn't exactly common to see people with big SLR cameras snapping away in Kingsville (compared to a big city I suppose). I would love to share travel photography, however I'm not exactly in a finacial situation that allows me to travel. I love lifestyle blogs and wardrobe posts, but Rob wouldn't be so willing to take pictures of my outfits every where we go. So that leaves me with DIY and home projects. Is that enough? I guess we'll see. With that out of the way, I guess I should start sharing some DIY projects right?

Do you remember the black and white pillow from this post? I was at ikea a while ago and had a black and white pillow in my cart ($16.99 with the pillow, pretty good price). Before checking out I headed to the as is section and found a black and white pillow case for $2.00! I knew I had inserts at home so I ditched the pre-fab pillow and grabbed the pillow case instead. One straight line of stiching later and I had a pillow cover. I was also left with about 8 inches of fabric from the pillow case. Being the fabric hoarder I am, I decided to keep it. A few weeks later and I was staring at this mustard yellow stool I had taken from my grandma's house. It had the cutest hairpin legs that had seen better days, but captured my heart. So I grabbed my favourite gold spray paint and had at it. I originally planned for the stool to act as the chair for the desk in our kitchen, but I couldn't decide on a fabric for that room (we haven't really done anything in the way of decorating in there). As I was digging through my fabric remnants I came across the piece from the pillowcase. A few staples later and I was in love. See for yourself.

It's become the "aquarium stool." Rob and I often sit there and just stare into the aquarium (which is coming along nicely, I must say). And there you have my quick stool update!

a day at the orchard

Sunday morning I met some of my family at an apple orchard. While apple picking was definitely on the to-do list, the main reason for our trip was to take maternity photos for Carolyn (and take a few family photos for Jenn). Jen and Pat arrived first so we snuck in some photos before the girls got restless.

Isn't she the cutest thing??

Carolyn and Shawn arrived after our quick family session. I'm not a professional by any means and this was my first "couple" shoot. I don't know how the pros do it. Posing people is so weird! 

This was way too much fun and I hope Carolyn and Shawn love these as much as I do. It won't be long before there are newborn photos on the blog!