{my trip in photos: london 2012}

Happy Monday! Hope you had a marvelous weekend and are ready to face a new week ...

This weekend I finally began to sort through my photos of my European getaway, and I thought I would break up my posts by city. So here first is my view & list of must-see's in London-town, merely two weeks before the festivities of the Olympics began {all images taken by me, my dad, and brother - it was a family effort!}

A view of Big Ben - did you know the name actually refers to the BELL inside of the tower, and not the clock itself?

We stayed at the Lancaster Gate Hotel pictured below. A very picturesque & safe area, I would definitely recommend it. I loved that everything was black & white, with pops of red from flowers, to shiny buses, to the iconic and oh-so-charming telephone booths.

I'd recommed bringing along a classic trench coat, and as many pretty scarves as you can pack {layering is key in a city that experiences rain, wind, and sun all in a matter of hours}. I kept a small umbrella tucked in my purse at all times! Couldn't risk that flat-ironed hair getting wet after all ;)

Buckingham palace is a sight to see with all of it's grandeur and opulence! I loved all the little details. You can catch the changing of the guards every morning in the summertime.

A hit of neon in the streets ...

The newly iconic London Eye is the perfect high viewing point to capture a photo or two of the historic Parliament building and the great River Thames.

And speaking of history, another must-see ... Westminster Abbey. The details are nothing short of glorious! Everything is on a massive scale, the pictures can't quite do it justice.

Getting prepped for the games: I felt lucky to be there in a time when excitment could be felt in the air!

Another recommendation: book tickets ahead of time to watch a Shakespearean play in the open-air replica Globe theatre {Something I wish we could have done but I didn't know about ahead of time!}. It's been made to the exact specifications of the original playhouse, and it's the only remaining thatched roof since the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Oh, and of course it was also fantastic to simply roam the streets and take it all in, especially in a place where even the street-lamps are elaborate and glamorous!

Have you been to London recently? What a beautiful place filled with history. Anything else to add to this list? I'll recap Paris & Rome this week as well; each place was so different & so wonderful in it's own way.

{my week in pictures ...}

Happy Monday everyone! We're back at it, and I have to say I'm feeling decently rested after the weekend which isn't typical for me. I thought I'd share bits of what's been happening around here lately:

Well my grad came and went and it was really fun to celebrate with family & friends, here I am in the fancy schmancy get-up we had to wear ...

Nice hat hey? Definitely not the most flattering, but the PhD Regalia actually originated in the monasteries of the Middle Ages, and the 'hood' {draped over my arm in the first photo}was originally part of the monk's habit - a carryall for food or other small items. Funny but kinda cool!

My home is super fragrant right now as it is filled with flowers from family & friends, including some of my favorites like peonies and orchids! I'm praying I can keep the gorgeous orchids alive. Tips anyone?

Little Yoki is getting comfy in our home, she's learning quickly but of course we still have a few things to work on! It's easy to lose patience when you are standing outside in the pouring rain waiting for her to go to the bathroom, but all of her puppy snuggles & kisses make up for it :)

I was excited to be included in an article for the Canadian Press with a Canadian I very much look up to, Michael Penney! The article high-lights the trends in summer fashions and how they translate into your home. You can read it HERE.

Have a great start to your week!

{blogpodium: the business of blogging}

BlogPodium 'The Business of Blogging' event was bursting with information & I truly learned so much! Here's my recap of the entire event and several of the tips I learned on how to monetize your blog.

But first, a huge thank you to the fabulous organizers, Lindsay and Jennifer, they put on a first class event and it was literally flawless! {images via Mango Studios unless otherwise indicated}

image via AyA Kitchens

The sponsors they worked with to make this event happen were amazing. I love how so many leading businesses are beginning to realize the power of connecting with bloggers. AyA Kitchens was there to welcome us, and as the winners of their kitchen contest, Barbara and I felt truly spoiled all weekend! I love the swag bags that each blogger recieved from AyA, chartreuse is one of my favorite colors!

image via AyA Kitchens

We met up with Amanda & Nelson from AyA, and got a chance to create some fantastic memories in the HomeSense smile booth together with our wonderful sponsors! How exciting to be connecting the design community in such a way.

All of the event's sponsors were fantastic, tons of swag was at hand, I actually got a sore arm caring it all around!

Here I am getting bogged down with bags ... no complaints, I loved all the goodies! But truth be told my feet hurt ;)

Vanessa, me, Barbara, and Sundeep; my own image

I was happy to recieve the Gluckstein paint deck from Benjamin Moore {a selection of BM colors hand-picked by Brian Gluckstein}. With a quick flip through I found every single color I have used in my home were included! Phew, it seems I have approval from my design hero Mr. Gluckstein himself :)

Look at all of those lovely attendees! 188 in total to be exact ;) And the Arcadian Loft was a very stylish venue.

Nicole Balch from Making it Lovely was our keynote and she gave a wonderful talk! I so appreciated her willingness to share her wisdom with us.

Here are some important tips she shared:

- Nicole started doing ads after 1 year of blogging, her goal was to first reach 10,000 page views per month

- Having a combination of smaller boutique ads such as etsy sellers & bloggers, and larger ads of a bigger size designated to larger businesses is a great way to go

- You can work with an Ad agency, a middle man that brings advertisers to you. They have great connections & can save you time. The only negative is that they will take a cut of your sales anywhere from 40-70%, and a minimum 1 year contract is usually needed. Plus there may be delays pay, usually a 60, 90 or 120 day period.

- Sponsored posts are another source of revenue. It's good to start off a sponsored post with a line like 'This post is brought to you by ....' kind of like a commercial, to be clear and up front with your reader

- The BlogPodium audience seemed to agree a frequency of 2 sponsored posts per month was acceptable & comfortable to readers

- Google ads is an easy way to start making money, but you have to reach $100 to get your first pay-out, which can take a long time

- Start out by offering ads for free, and then when you get a little established, begin to offer inexpensive rates

- As your traffic grows raise your rates!

- Calculate your rates based on approximately $3 CPM (Cost per 1000 page loads per month). Ex. for every 30,000 pg views per month, this would be nearly $100

- 'Above the fold' ads should cost more (those that appear at the top pf your blog without the reader needing to scroll down the page to see them). Placement matters!

- Rotate your ads to give equally paying advertisers a chance at equal exposure

- Don't be afraid to ask companies for products that may help you in a current project! Chances are they will want the exposure and choose to work with you

The expert panel: Cheryl Kozoriz of Gluckstein Home, Laura Muirhead of Tribal DDB, Lindsay, Christine, and Leigh-Ann of Benjamin Moore

Such a wealth of information! A huge thank you to AyA Kitchens for making it possible for me to attend this wonderful event. I don't know if I'll ever win such a fabulous contest like that again! And thank you to all the other sponsors that made this event possible. My only hope is that I can make it back to BlogPodium one day!

{blogpodium: bits of my trip}

Hi everyone! It's Tuesday, and I'm finally back in action :) I hope all of my American friends had a great day off yesterday!

I had an amazing time in Toronto, what a great city. Today I'm sharing a few of our photos of the events of the weekend, and tomorrow I will share the deets on the actual BlogPodium conference which was a huge success! I learned so much and I hope I can convey some of that info to all of you.

First up, the actual city of TO was amazing! Kind of like a mini-NY in many ways. I loved the mix of old and new everywhere you look, what a contrast:

My blog partner-in-crime, Barbara of hodgepodge, and I tried to hit up as many spots as we could. Especially places we are envious of here in Vancouver, like Designer Fabrics for instance. Fabric heaven, that's for sure! And of course we should have assumed we'd bump into someone in a place like that ... sure enough Michael Penney just happened to be popping out with a bag full of goodies!

From there we hopped over to West Elm, another great place we lack here in Vancouver. I spotted this lovely tufted sofa that made me believe leather sofa's can still be uber stylish :) I love the practicality of a leather sofa {especially with dogs or kids} but I don't love how mine look. Too bad this one didn't fit in my suitcase ... instead I came home with a couple of Turkish towels which are a little easier to pack!

We had the amazing opportunity to visit the fabulous Meredith Heron in her equally fabulous studio. Wow, I could have stood there for days just staring at all the beautiful things. How amazing is that oversized carriage fixture? And look at the fab legs on those chairs!

Can you imagine those brass chairs? I died ... can't wait to see what she does with them. Thank you Meredith for having us!!

me with Meredith and Barbara

A definite highlight for me was meeting so many great people like Tim Lam of Design Maze and Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely, who was the keynote speaker of BlogPodium. She was brave enough to give some all-Canadian poutine a try!

Barbara, Tim, me; Gabrielle & Nicole

On our last day in TO, we hit up Aberfoyle, the oldest antique market in Canada. What a blast!

Gabrielle, me & Barbara

The lovely Vanessa of Damask et Dentelle was scouring the market for goodies ... I spotted hundreds of things I would've brought home, like this lovely desk ...

But instead I brought home this little Wedgwood Jasperware bud vase I fell for. Now I'm on a mission to one day find a couple of black and white Jasperware pieces like these ones Eddie Ross used in his desk vignette:

We stayed at the lovely Marriot hotel downtown, thanks to the wonderful people at AyA Kitchens who sent Barbara and I and covered our stay! THANK YOU! I had a giant King sized bed all to myself, I could've gotten lost in that thing. I'll cover more on the wonderful event sponsors, Nicole's keynote talk, and everything else surrounding the event tomorrow. As you can see I was a good student and took as many notes as I could!

And yes, if you are wondering my dress did have poodles on it :)

Thanks for reading through this massive post! More to come tomorrow ...

{aya 'blogpodium bound' contest}

I love what this amazing community of bloggers has been able to create; so many fabulous events with opportunities to learn, connect, and grow are taking place in so many cities. Enter BlogPodium: Canada's 1st and only conference series for design bloggers. They are holding a fantastic 'The Business of Blogging' meetup in May, and I'd absolutely love to attend it! Of course, fellow Vancouverites can tell you, the price for us to fly to TO is almost as much as it is to fly Europe ... and that's where the wonderful people at AyA Kitchens & Baths come in:

What an amazing opportunity! To enter you have to design your dream kitchen using products from AyA's website and other sites you love. I have to say, it was so much fun searching through their site and dreaming up a gorgeous kitchen. And I think you'll agree, this kitchen is SO me {you can click to enlarge for all the lovely details}:

No.1 - The Metal Peddler Copper Hood; No.2 - AyA Kitchens Antique English knob; No.3 - AyA Kitchens Classic/Traditional Allegra cabinet door style; No.4 - AyA Kitchens Traditional Large Crown; No.5 - Home Depot pot-filling faucet; No.6 - Ann Sacks marble subway tile backsplash; No.7 - Circa Lighting wood pendants; No.8 - La Cornue Chateau range; No.9 - AyA Kitchens English Antique Handle; No.10 - Paul Marra Brass chair; No.11 - 1st Dibs burled walnut table; No.12 - One Kings Lane accent chair

This really is my dream kitchen, because it has an 'old meets new' feel, with a dash of young traditional. References to the old-world include herringbone floors, large-scale cabinet crowns to the ceiling, the antique table, and plenty of brass from the Antique English AyA Kitchen hardware to the delicate brass chair. The geometric wood pendants and fabulous artwork add the touch of modern I need. Oh, and a pot-filling wall mounted faucet is totally on my must-have list, I'm not a fab cook so the easier the better! But in THIS kitchen, I think I'd become a chef ;)

Best of luck to everyone & thanks to AyA Kitchens & Baths for the amazing opportunity!

{thank you style at home!}

A very BIG thank you to the folks over at Style at Home for including me in an article high lighting budget decorating ideas. It's always fun to contribute, and I just love the way that this first-class Canadian magazine is creating a community of designers, stylists, and bloggers sharing creative ideas. This time around the focus is on using art to give your home some personality in a creative and budget-friendly way:

And there are 10 other art tips to check out, so head over for some fabulous inspiration!

{no pretty pics today ...}

Now I know that you visit here to look at pretty pictures of interiors, furnishings, fashion and all of that good stuff ... but today I'm a wee bit off topic ... I hope it doesn't seem too self-indulgent because I don't mean for it to be. I want to strive to be as authentic as possible here on the blog, and you all know that I am SUPER passionate about decor but once in a while you just happen to have an off day and can't quite bare to simply post pretty pictures ...

I always appreciate when bloggers that I follow and respect open up about their personal lives from time to time and keep it real ... so I hope you don't mind when I veer here and there :) I promise some regular pretty for tomorrow!

I'm starting to look for work as I know I will be graduating in a couple of months, and I started to feel pretty down as I began to find that website after website is stating "No job postings at this time" .... not something you want to see as you move forward and plan for your future! So I mopped and pouted a bit, questioned what I am doing and if I had made the right choices for my life, and Monday night I came across this image on Pinterest ... wham!!!

Who knew Pinterest could be THAT therapeutic? And after some wise words from my parents, hubby, and friends I am re-grouping and feeling better about things today and I know that I just have to focus and trust that the right thing will eventually come at the right time. I'm not saying I'm expecting the stars to magically align for me, but I know in my heart that worrying about my next steps isn't really going to help anything and will actually hinder my completion! Any one out there identify with self doubt/uncertainty of the future like this? I'd love to hear your stories.

Ok, phew, thanks for letting me get that off my chest today! On that note, I leave you with a song my brother wrote and recorded. Not only because I am INSANELY proud of him {he wrote ALL the music as well}, but because the words are so appropriate for me right now. It's called 'Our Conversation' and talks about how we can often feel so alone, but God's reply to us is that the plans He has for our lives are so much bigger than our own plans. I'm definitely going to be holding onto that; if you have an extra few minutes I'd absolutely love for you to have a little listen ....

Hugs to you all!