a spencer dakin experience

ok, because i'm the biggest nerd in the entire world, i planned a war of 1812 excursion for my family! yup. i think history is fun. i can admit that. my step sister had learned all about laura secord this year in school and was so excited to see where she lived and where she travelled that i had to plan an outing for all of us! and it was such a blast! everyone had such a great time and some of our legs hurt a lot the next day...!

picnic lunch at queenston heights

sammies and cukes and goldfish and club soda...

yum!!

addy and my dad at the top of brock monument

237 stairs and 2 panic attacks later...

and then down...

yup, we climbed that...

my boys!

handsome men...

secord house...

learning and junk...

hey...

i can guarantee what they're listening to wasn't that enthralling...

we all wore matching t-shirts!

we are that awesome!

in front of the secord house with our mediocre tour guide...

lainie and the big guns...

are you kidding me with this family...

how can you not love em!!??

at fort george

<3

<3

this is how everyone stood naturally while in bricks bastion

i couldn't have planned this...

we're cute like this...

addy is the best because she's always ready for a photo...

she's my #1 ham!

lainie is this best because it was so hard to 

take her picture!

she was so engulfed in doing stuff!!

i had such an amazing time making the t-shirts and researching (and making a fife and drum playlist...)! however, i realized i have to keep my camera on me more often (or learn to whip out that phone!!) because i'm missing some cool stuff we did after fort george like getting ice cream from cows and looking at the shops in niagara on the lake and our amazing dinner at the irish harp and the car ride home...!!!

leslie's map

i've been sitting on this story for a while. i'm sorry. i just wanted to do it justice! so, leslie is a lovely lady that i work with who shares my thrifting and repurposing passion. this just goes to show you that with a little imagination an old, unused, family treasure can have a new life with a little elbow grease and some thrift store frames.

the map was in her boyfriend's parents garage

hung on the wall behind some ladders and other yard equipment

it was in pretty rough shape

so they had to carefully cut it down off the wall

i can't believe she found such beautiful frames

at thrift stores! must find out where she goes...

skilled workers hanging the new found artwork

the imperfections give it great character

and just think of the story that it has

something old gives charm to this beautiful new home!

thanks leslie!

sometimes michael's is great

i don't go into michael's very often because i find their prices a little rich for my blood. they do have great coupons...i'll give them that. and this wonderful section near the checkouts where everything is like a buck fifty. amazing. here is some of the cool stuff i got this week...

what a haul and all for about $20

usually cupcake wrappers are expensive, especially printed ones like these

(i was drawn to some beautiful martha stewart pastel numbers but at $8

for 25, i couldn't justify it...it would literally be money in the garbage...)

these are totally cool though with a really fun circus theme

not that i write any recipes down or anything

but i thought they might come in handy if i wanted to share one

with somebody

these are my favourite!

if only they were sticky...they'd be just that much better!!

it brightens my day to jot a little note on a slice...

no more boring pencils for me!!

 i have a thing for kraft paper...

and these pads have a perforation at the top!

mr. brack revamps the bathroom

big changes are a comin'! this summer my dad is selling the house and (gasp)(fingers crossed...) mr. brack and i are buying a home!!! so we're doing little sprucing up!! take a look at how handy my husband is!...

i have no idea what he's doing here

look at how ugly this light fixture is!

all the tools he needs!!

prepping the bathroom

now, look at how ugly the floor is...

the dog was a huge help

his first tiling job!

tough work!

check out my beautiful new sink!

re-store: $55

all done!

new cabinet from ikea

vintage medicine cabinet and towel holder

(sorry about the awful lighting, but there are no

windows anywhere near this room...)

wrapped headphones!

believe it or not but this is the first thing i've actually accomplished that i've pinned on pinterest! i was very impressed with how it turned out. and the best part (other than it looking so gosh darn cute...) is that my headphones never tangle. that's right, you've read that correctly. and it didn't take that long to do either. about 2 hours in total. about $1.50 for the supplies from michael's...

i'm not going to bore you with the details as i fubbed up so many times

i'll leave it to the professionals over at free people!

aren't they so cute!

i've received so many compliments!

now i'm wrapping everything! my other pair of head phones, charger cables...you name it!!

give it a try!