Crochet this!

As you may know a little hobby of mine is crocheting (pronounced "crow-shay-ing", not "crotch-et"like I've heard it called before). Super easy, super meditative and super rewarding. Check out these crocheted dishcloths (made with organic cotton) I recently made for my 90 year old Nanny!

Never crocheted before? no problemo! Pick yourself up a hook (I recommend size 4.5mm), some basic yarn (nothing fancy), curl up with a cup of tea and hit up youtube (search 'how to crochet') and enjoy! Crocheted dishcloths are awesome beginner projects because a.) screw up all you want, it's only a dishcloth and b.) it's a square, doesn't get much easier than that!

If you plan on making dishcloths make sure to buy cotton yarn. I used Patons Pure organic cotton, which offered an amazzzzing colour selection but unfortunately has since been discontinued :( 

On this cold Sunday evening, give it a try! Let me know how you make out :) 

Bye for now, 

Emily Grace 

Foundation Walls - Check!

My foundation walls have finally been poured!!! Wooo hooo!!!

This is a HUGE weight off my shoulders! Getting to this particular point has been more work (and stress!) than I anticipated, however, many valuable lessons have been learned (patience being one of them) and I got through it all. I wouldn't change my journey thus far for the world...I love a good challenge!

So here's the not so short (but hopefully not too long) of what's been happening my way...

First of all, I haven't posted much on the progress because I would probably bore you to tears. The beginning of the building process isn't very exciting (or fun for that matter!) but in case you ever walk down that path a little sharing on my behalf might help you figure stuff out!  

Here are just a few of the items that needed to be addressed - in no particular order:

• House plans - check! There's a whole lot goin' on in the plans but don't worry, I'll take you through room by room in future posts once I get to the point of designing the interior (can't wait!) 

• Septic test holes & septic design (this obviously only applies if you need a septic system):  If you are on 'well and septic' as they say, you will need to have a certified septic guy or gal to come over to your property and scope out the best location to have your distribution pipes (where all the good toilet stuff will go...ewwww). They actually have to go in with a backhoe and dig test holes to make sure the location is suitable and if that passes then apply to the Government for approval based on their 'septic design' (how romantic). You MUST have this all approved before any building permit is issued. 

• Apply for building permit

And last but not least... 

• Construction Mortgage - Approved :) 

Once all that (and more) is done, then you move onto preparing for the foundation to be poured.

Plot Plan: Have a surveyor peg where the house will be located on your property and provide a stamped "Plot Plan". In my case I was allowed a max of 25 meters back from the road, and the standard 10ft must be kept on either side of the house from the property line. 

Excavator: at this point your excavator comes in, digs the hole for where the house is going and will normally will dig a few feet outside the survey pegs just to ensure there is enough room to fit the house. All dependant on your land, but in my case I needed to put some blasted rock down to have a good solid base underneath my house.

Then... the surveyor comes back to peg where the house will go (since the excavator dug up all the previous pegs).  

NEXT... Formwork & Footings - FYI formwork is the wooden mold that the concrete gets poured into. Footings is the perimeter of the house that gets poured first and then the concrete walls are placed on top of it. 

There are two parts that need to be lined up, you need to have the crew there who will be framing and pouring the footings and also you need to line up the concrete to arrive on site. I neglected to have the concrete lined up to arrive on site... OOPS. Luckily the concrete truck was able to come with little notice, phewph. Did I mention this all occurred less than 24 hours before a GINORMOUS snow storm came? Oh the joys of building in the winter... haha

Footings complete! Next up, framing for the foundation walls. 

Concrete walls are poured - see my special little concrete truck and pumper truck way up in the sky!

Last but not least... the surveyor comes back to confirm that the house was built in the correct location and then completes a "Real Property Report". 

In the midst of all this, make sure to:

1. Order your windows & exterior doors 
2. Order your roof trusses 

Asleep yet? haha.

The fun decorating stuff will coming soon!


Bye for now,

Emily Grace 

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

Hello again! I’m back after a one-month drought from blogging (my apologies!)…and I’m recharged and ready to go again!

First of all, Happy New Year!!! (and a belated Merry Christmas!)

I’m gonna dive right in and dare to ask the question, what did you learn from 2012? It actually hurts my head when people ask me that question. BUT, having said that, I do believe that it’s a very important question that deserves some quality time. So for what it’s worth I thought I’d start off the year by sharing with you some of my favorite quotes, lessons, and thoughts from 2012.

#1. Let it go. 

Easier said than done, I know...but a lot of the time when we're upset, angry, blah blah blah, it's usually the ego doing a really good job of holding onto stuff that we simply need to just let go of. 

#2. Listen to your gut (even if your head can’t make sense of it!).

#3. Ask yourself “What makes me feel alive”… and then go do it!

#4. Anything is possible, absolutely anything. 

And my favourite quote from the year...

"You must make the decision to live for the pure joy of it."

As for my goals for 2013? I totally stole this from my very best friend Rebecca (who happens to have an awesome blog, It's a Savoury Life), but I think we can all benefit from the goal in 2013 to just “Do Better”. Think about all the opportunities this can be applied to in your life? by simply saying to yourself…do better.

I think it’s pure genius! It gives me the energy to push myself that little bit further, get off my lazy ass and get out and do the things I love and stop making excuses. It reminds me to be extra kind to those around me, and to simply just “do better”.

Last but not least, I leave you with a good ol’ quote from Conan O’Brien: 

Next blog post, updates on the house progress! Yeowww! 

Bye for Now,

Emily Grace