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Vegetarian Party Food : Three Quick Crostini Toppings

Happy St. Patrick’s Day : How I Decorated

vintage lego ceramic figurine elf on clover leaf

Green greetings to you, my online friends!

In an ongoing pursuit to surround Nick and myself in a joyous environment, I set up a little area filled with cuteness in our living room, in honour of St. Patrick's Day. The honest truth -- it's been set up for a couple of weeks and I had to point it out to him today. He hadn't really noticed it. haha. I'm not surprised. He said that, while he truly appreciates that this kind of thing brings me happiness, his only real engagement with the various seasonal decorating I do is nervousness about accidentally knocking something over and breaking it. I've assured him that if anything ever gets broken he will not be blamed one tiny bit. I might cry my eyes out on the inside, but I will never get mad. I put these things out at my own risk, and while I have a right to do it, so does he have the right to move freely around his home without worrying about breaking a figurine! That is wisdom gleaned from nearly 25 years in a happy marital home!

But, while he couldn't give a hoot, I thought you might enjoy seeing it! If you follow along on Instagram (Loulou Vintage Home) you will already have seen these photos, but I don't get the impression there is much cross-over, so here are the shots for you. I very much appreciate having you here and wish you a happy day.

Keith Haring : Art is for Everybody, at the AGO Toronto

at the ago toronto art gallery of ontario for keith haring art is for everybody temporary exhibition 1024x768

I saw the Keith Haring show at the AGO recently, with my friend Julie.

This is the only Canadian stop for this touring exhibition. It is on until March 17, 2024. Details can be found on their site, here. It’s so good.

Vintage Barbie Dolls Get Dressed Up for Valentine’s Day

vintage barbies dressed for valentines day handmade accessories 1024x767

Hello! If you celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday, I hope you had a good time.

The Barbie doll gang had fun getting all dressed up and going to a special concert, performed by their friend Barbie herself.

Recipe : Nick’s Fruit and Nut Dark Chocolate Treat

homemade healthy dark chocolate treat almonds and dried apricots 1024x768

Hello! With Valentine's Day this week and Easter coming up next month, Chocolate season is upon us. So, here's an easy recipe for a delicious chocolate concoction that is as healthy as it can be while still being called a treat.

This recipe has been developed by my husband Nick, who has a great interest in cooking nutritious food. He tested this until he got it just right. I was the lucky taste tester and can attest to the fact that it is very good. It's not very sweet, though, so, if you find it not to your preference, play around with the kinds of chocolate you use. It's best made with bars of chocolate intended for baking but chocolate chips will work in a pinch.

There are photographs of the process following the written recipe.

Frosty Winter Decorating

snowman print by canadian folk artist lucy ogletree winter decor 1024x768

Greetings! I hope 2024 is off to a good start for you.

I've realized that since I began using Instagram last January, I've been posting a lot of the decorating photographs, which I used to post here on the blog, over there. But I know not everyone is on Instagram, so I'm going to begin to also share some of the images here, where there's more room to chat a bit more about the items in the displays.

So, here are recent photos of a few spots in our home decorated for winter. Long time readers will know that I love thrifting, therefore a whole lot of the items in these shots are from the thrift store. Nothing else gives me the thrill of a great thrift store find!

We'll begin with the snowmen! Something that the vintage/collecting community does on Instagram is give people a theme to consider when setting up their items to be photographed, and I've enjoyed playing along with many of them. For "Snowman Sunday" participants were asked to include a snowman somewhere in their shots. This has been going on for the months of December and January, so with three weeks of January already passed, here are my three contributions.