Kitchen Little

Can I just share how little my kitchen is? Ok, I will then. Because it's really important that you know. I think I shall start a segment called "Small Apartments Bite: Tips"

It may or may not consist of more than one edition, this being the first.

You see, sometimes I have been known to have a good idea or 2. This post has 2. But they're both kind of the same. Anyhow, sorry if you've seen this already because you've been over to our apartment and I've inconspicuously pointed out how crazy good this idea was... sorry. That's all I can say.

Exhibit A:

Here you have my tupperware plastic container and baking supplies cupboard. Up top is a container full of containers. I mean, who likes stacking and organizing plastic containers on a shelf?! Not me. So I throw it in there and when I need to find something I pull it out.

And I see that right next to it is my sweater-wearing hot water bottle - I've been looking for that! What a weird place for me to put it... but I digress.

So essentially it's a drawer. Which are a hot commodity in a kitchen this size.

get it!? I know... rocket science is hard but grand.

As for the baking supplies basket, It just made sense to me to put them all together because when you're baking you usually need more than 1 baking supply. The category kinda gets used in one shot, so in those cases you pull that bad boy out onto the counter and grab and go! 

The next exhibit  takes place in the fridge:

I just cleaned out the fridge, which gave me the idea of organizing it in a similar fashion!

And when I say cleaned out, I don't mean it is clean, I just mean there is no more rotting food in there. 

So when you have a super small fridge it starts to look like you have a gabillion condiments. Well, maybe we just do. Actually, that was a surprising perk about getting married. The condiment inheritance! Yay! But anyways, the point is, they can take up space and, well, I may as well tell you the whole story here....

....when we were storing 10 wedding cakes (baked by Mom) the week before the wedding, we had to make room for a rotation of one or two in here and so we took all those condiments, threw them in a cardboard box and put them out on the patio where they stayed fridge temperature, or so we hoped. After the wedding, we swiftly got that straightened out and put the cardboard box back in the fridge! Wow, I can't even believe that happened in real life... and let's pretend it didn't stay like that for three months following. Anyways, it kinda turned out nice to have those condiments corralled except when I wanted to use one. So now we have them corralled on a tray on the bottom shelf. It did appear that that tray (you may recognize from here hehe) was going to fit the other way in, leaving a perfect gap on the side for our water jug to stand up, but the fridge door would not close by this much. So it's in width-ways, but we'll see how long it lasts until I find myself the perfect sized tray. 

I think I like this application of my 'putting things in things' (I need to copyright that- don't mess with a good name!) because I can see almost everything on the tray and can pull it out - like a drawer - to see everything at the back! 

Aren't I so smart?!

I have 1 more tip for small spaces I think. Excited?

Buy tea towels and things in cheery colours that make you happy to look at. Unlike the dark brown cupboards you have to look at while you wash the dishes in your single bowl sink.

I'm in LOVE with the tea towels above. They're just striped. But they're vintage and the most gorgeous coloured stripes I've ever seen in luscious turkish linen. Yep, you heard right. Turkish. 

And no I did not let my dishes accumulate for 18 days (I would never...) I just did a lot of baking and cooking all in one night...for those who were too busy judging to locate my delicious tea towels underneath it all.

Exhibit C:

Hope this makes you feel better if you think your kitchen needs help. We're keeping it REAL right here! I have 13 cupboards and 3 drawers (and 1 single bowl sink). Count them.


That's all for now!

ayla

The day he proposed...

I get the nervous jitters every time I watch it!

And I'll never forget this day or the crazy feeling of utter confusion over "who is this man, and what does he have to do with me?!" when I saw the picture of him in the magazine pullout and I'd seen him walking around the thrift store... the only thing that made it all add up was when he smiled. And then I still couldn't believe it!
I just kept saying "you're crazy, you're so nuts" and I couldn't stop laughing!!!

Best day ever! And I'm so glad it's documented so beautifully so I will always be able to re-live it!

Thank you Ron for always blowing my socks off. You never cease to amaze me!

Lovin' every minute of it

instant camera fun, taken on our honeymoon in Mexico

Let's re-cap.


A year ago I was knee deep in school work, lacking sleep and motivation...
From graduation I went straight into the work world, having been hired the day before my last day of school at a larger design/build firm in downtown Vancouver. I was lucky. And very glad for the paycheck.
I worked through the summer and into the fall.

Then the boy proposed to me in the most amazing way possible. A day that will never be forgotten (not to mention the day before my first niece was born and I got to take the day and be with her!).
4 months later we were married, on February 18th 2012. We went on a beautiful honeymoon to Riviera Maya and now we continue with working good stable jobs living in a little old apartment perfect for saving up some money!

I feel so blessed, so struck by the feeling of  'we've got it made' and sometimes get an overwhelming feeling of happiness that can't adequately be described.

So I'll keep on blogging now, after a year that was documented in vast and various ways other than blogging.

Stay tuned for:
- a video of the proposal!
- vintage wedding gowns going up in the shop!
- a few little 'lipstick' renos around the apartment
and who knows what else!