Well hello there. It’s been so long since we last spoke. My bad–but I swear it’s with good reason! Until I really, fully, completely catch up here’s what’s up with my insta-life. If you’re not already following along, check it out @heidijudkins. See you very soon!
Last weekend we were invited to a BBQ and I was in the mood for some classic summer food. My mom always makes a killer broccoli salad–perfect for an occasion such as this. Indulgent, easy to make and always a crowd favorite. All you need is two heads of uncooked broccoli chopped in bite-sized pieces, 5 strips of crispy bacon (broken into small pieces) and a handful of raisins. For the sauce: 3/4 cups mayonnaise, 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar and 2 tsp of sugar. Mix until smooth. Add all three ingredients to a large bowl for presentation (or a tupperware to go), add sauce and incorporate into the broccoli mix. I usually let mine sit for about 30 minutes before serving to let all the flavors come together. I highly recommend serving alongside a burger and corn on the cob. Just a suggestion.
So much has happened since my last renovation update–most notably, we now have walls! Now I am really starting to see this space as my home and the excitement has set in. This week we also bought some amazing pieces from Restoration Hardware for our bathroom, dining room and kitchen. I can barely stand it–I cannot wait for them to be delivered! Here’s what we’ve got going on this week…
{Our living room–so excited about our brick wall, but we still need to remove the glue}
{new windows in the living room–we added an additional window for more light}
{The beautiful original wooden beams–unfortunately we had to cover them up because they aren’t very soundproof}
{Old school construction–plaster walls}
{my future walk-in closet–I’m going to fill this thing fast}
{Our 4th and hopefully last pile}
Red fruits+vegetables have been on high rotation this week.
It’s raining buckets here in Montréal today. Literal buckets. Other than the minor/serious flood that happening in my backyard, the only thing I’ve got on my mind today are booties. I agree, that sentence sounded weird. I mean the booties that you wear on your feet. If you’re addicted to boots like I am, the bootie now allows you to wear boots all year long! These babies still give you some ankle breeze so your feet don’t feel like they’re about to fall off due to heat–plus they are a perfect shoe to transition you seamlessly into Fall. Let’s observe…
{Studded leather ankle boot//Chloé}
{Suede ankle boot//Alexander McQueen}
{Swarovski crystal-embellished suede ankle boot//Giuseppe Zanotti}
{Pistol leather ankle boot//ACNE}
{Leather ankle boot//Marc Jacobs}
Hi Friends! I hope you all had a great week and I wish you an even better weekend. Since we are tearing down everything in our duplex and starting over from scratch, this means I have many, many design decisions to make. For me, the most important room in the house is always the kitchen. It always seems to be the place where people gather–and no matter how many times you try to direct guests to the living room, the kitchen always wins. Here are some of the kitchen inspiration photos I have pinned on Pinterest–this will give you an idea of what we are going for design-wise.
{exposed pots and pans/dishes and the heavy wood shelves}
{lighting and the white cabinets with stainless appliances}
{beautiful subway-style ceramic tiles with stainless accents}
{exposed concrete wall and square sink}
One of my friends just recently left Montreal to fly back home to Italy for a few weeks. Green with envy, I couldn’t help but take a look at all the pictures from my time in Italy. I spent 4 months in Rome studying art and it forever changed my life. In more ways then one. I swear somewhere deep down in my Norwegian blood that there is a tiny bit of Italian…at least a drop. I fell in love with Italy and we’re not breaking up any time soon. The food, the wine, the people, the simplicity of it all–what’s not to love? While there are sledge hammers below me knocking out walls of my soon-to-be home, I am here daydreaming of Italy and hoping I will go back someday soon…
Hello! So I know I’ve kind of fallen off the blogging bandwagon recently {I’m sorry}. My life is literally in shambles…well by that I mean the first floor of our duplex is in shambles. I’m not talking any old shambles, I’m talking really, really big shambles. Exhibit A:
{a view from the second floor onto our “backyard”–one of many loads of debris taken from downstairs}
To get you all up to speed, the husband and I just recently bought our first duplex. Yes–and I’m freaking out about it. It was the biggest purchase I have ever made and at 24 years old, I’m feeling the weight of this little thing called responsibility. Despite my fears (and seriously depleted back account) I couldn’t be happier. This is my second real estate purchase, but now I own a house! A real, live house with a backyard and everything. This time around will certainly different. Our last apartment we completely renovated the inside, but our new place we’re knocking out walls and stripping everything down to the support beams. Needless to say, it’s a huge project.
Our goal is to completely renovate the first floor and basement while we are living on the second floor, relatively out of the mess. Once those floors are finished we plan on moving back downstairs and renting the second floor. Since we are starting from scratch, this means I have many, many design decisions to make. Exciting and stressful. For the next several months I will be showing you our renovation process step-by-step. The full transformation. I am going to wait to show you the before pictures until the renovations are completely done. I think this way you’ll see how much we are actually changing. Here we go:
{day 1-walls are gone and on the right you can see that we had a hidden brick wall}
{day 2– ceilings stripped and bathroom/bedroom walls are non-existent}
{day 3-work starts in the basement and we find beautiful concrete floors}
Are you as stressed out as I am when I look at these pictures? I know it will be beautiful in the end, but for now this is certainly not. Until next time!
In my family it’s an unspoken rule that there must be some sort of red, white and blue food decorating our independence table. You’ve all seen it before, the obligatory flag cake. As of late, I have realized that much of my social network does not enjoy cooking and/or baking. So, I decided to opt for something festive that doesn’t involve the latter. In fact, the hardest step is pouring water! This everyone can do and it’s a fun and easy way to get in that red, white and blue. Alas, I give you: blueberry and strawberry ice cubes. Drop 3 blueberries/1 halved strawberry in each section of your ice cub tray, fill with water, freeze and then serve in the drink of your choice. Happy 4th of July everyone!
We’re nearing one of my favorite holidays–not to mention the only holiday that I think it’s appropriate to dress in the coordinating colors. There’s nothing better than a good ol’ american flag t-shirt. This year I’ll be north of the US, having my own personal celebration tomorrow. Either way, I’ll be wearing something red, white and/or blue. Here are my picks for the 4th: OGJM Hyacinth Necklace from JCrew, Sequined linen bomber jacket from JCrew (check it out in action here), Appliqued cotton clutch from Totem Salvaged, Jenny 150 tartan slingbacks from Christian Louboutin, Biennial Hobo from JCrew
from maine to montreal 