One yummy package with a pretty purple bow

Lots of things to mention, so rather than writing a bunch of posts, I’m going to wrap them all up here in one yummy package with a pretty purple bow :-)

Isabella & Max Rooms | Console makeover

I cannot get over how AWESOME this console looks! Not to mention the amazing stencilling on the wall behind it. You can read about Janell’s amazing console makeover here, and how she stencilled the wall here.

Color Sizzle giveaway | I won!

Just before Christmas, I won this beautiful cushion in Kelly Porter’s giveaway at Color Sizzle.

I love letters & words used in home decor, so this is the perfect addition to my home :-) Technically it’s a Christmas cushion, but I think the gold WISH band is appropriate for any time of the year. So it has a new permanent home on my living room sofa :-) Thanks Kelly and Blissliving Home!

IDS 11 | Watch out TO!

In one week, the Ottawa TBBs will be descending upon Toronto for IDS 11. I have a feeling TO will never be the same after next weekend! I’ll have my camera in tow, and hopefully I’ll have a chance to snap some shots of big-name (or even small-name) Canadian designers :-)

We saw some really cool stuff at the show last year, and I’m betting this year will be even bigger and better. Click here to see the full list of exhibitors.

I’m really looking forward to Erin McLaughlin’s seminar on how to get your work published in magazines. Ever since I was little, I’ve loved to write and it’s always been my dream to have something I write published. And I’m also excited about meeting my friend Paul from Kitchen and Residential Design. He’s one of the first bloggers I followed back in my DesignTies days, and he’s the one who suggested the awesome tiles for my kitchen backsplash :-)

Spineless Classics | Oh yes they do!

The literary posters in my Lovingetc: January 2011 post generated quite a bit of interest. Phoenix at Phoenix in the City contacted the company to ask if they ship to Canada. Why yes, they do – they ship anywhere in the world, in fact! So, Mr. Holmes, welcome to my house :-)

An award | Super Comments

Bette at Idezine gave me the Super Comments Award earlier this week. I stole – I mean, borrowed – the framing idea form my friend Staci at {inspired by life} :-) How cute is the Panda bear? :-)

There are ten questions to answer/post with receipt of this award. Pay it forward to ten wonderful bloggers who comment on your blog. This is a wonderful way to discover other blogs that you may not know and the great bloggers who write them. I’m passing the Super Comments Award to YOU if you’re a regular commenter here at JAX does design! Along with a great big THANK YOU!

1. Why do you blog

I need to keep myself occupied at work somehow ;-) Ha! No, seriously, I blog because I love writing and I love decorating and design, and blogging is the perfect way to combine the two. It’s also a great way to “meet” people from all around the world and to find all sorts of wonderful inspiration (you saw Janell’s console at the beginning of this post!)

2. Name your three best memories

I’ll share my three best design-related memories.

• Meeting Donna from dh designs. That meeting led to a wonderful friendship with not only Donna, but a group of the greatest decorating ladies in Ottawa. WOOT TBBs!
• Being on an episode of Rate My Space. It didn’t make me rich or famous, but it was a fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience :-)
• My parents letting me choose the colours, bedding, curtains, etc. for my bedroom when I was about 14. My first real decorating job  :-)

3. Name four of the best fiction books you have read

Don’t judge!

• National Velvet
• A Race for Real Sailors {Not fiction, but I just finished reading it recently and I loved it.}
• The Black Stallion series (I was a horse-obsessed teenager!)
• Dr. Seuss

4. What are the five best movies ever made

• The Sound of Music
• Swing Kids
• Shrek
• Finding Nemo
• Toy Story

What can I say, I’m a Pixar geek! OK, Shrek is Dreamworks, but still… CG movies look so cool, and the colours in FInding Nemo just blow me away. And those eyes… Pixar knows how to do awesome eyes!

 

5. Name five things I cannot love without

Family, friends, and my hubby & dogs, of course! But if we’re talking material things…

• My car – I am SO NOT a bus person!
• Pizza – the most perfect food, in my humble opinion.
• The cottage in the summertime.
• A deep Teflon-coated frying pan. I use it for about 95% of my cooking.
• Sparkly & colourful things – they make me happy :-)

6. If you could change your name what would it be?

Jessica – then I’d be Jessie James :-)

7. Tell us a unique and interesting fact about yourself

Other than the fact that I’m a bit OCD? I can’t bend my knees much past 90 degrees. A kinesiology expert told me that I have the least-bendable knees he’s ever seen. Can’t sit cross-legged, can’t do the child’s pose in Yoga.

And I fall a lot. I fell off my bike and fractured my skull. I fell off my horse and cracked two ribs & punctured a lung. And I fell off a bridge and just about broke my a$$!

8. What do you love best about yourself?

That I’m full of creative ideas – just have to find an outlet for them all!

9. If you had a Freaky Friday experience, who would you change places with?

Simon Baker’s wife :-) And if I can have a Freaky Thursday too, Kyle Chandler’s wife :-) No, actually, even better – Tommy Smythe so I could be Sarah’s decorating buddy for a day!

10. What is the best thing about being a woman?

To be honest, sometimes it’s hard to recognize the best things about being a woman. We have to deal with so much physical crap, we’re expected to take care of everyone, our salaries and positions still aren’t on par with men (generally speaking), and boobs are pretty much useless and get in the way 99% of the time.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Image sources: Cake | IDS | Finding Nemo | Pizza | Crayons | Yoga pose | Sarah & Tommy | Boob cartoon