Phewf!

Microsoft just blew my mind...did you know that you can save your Word and PowerPoint documents as a PDF right from the 'Save As' menu?? And it's good quality at that? When did that happen?! I don't think anyone can understand how much easier this makes my life. I wish I could do a happy dance but I'm running out of time for this post BECAUSE my last student of 2009 is coming for her lesson at 6:00....and then I'm on holidays. YESSS!

So check it out!!! A NEW AND POTENTIALLY long-lasting (as in I don't think I'll change anything about it anytime soon) website can be found at our new identity: http://www.dolceamanteduo.com/ You simply must check it out, I think it's the best of our websites yet and I plan to stick with it for a loooong time. I have to say that DreamHost is THE BEST place to host your domain name, they have been so incredibly helpful and friendly while getting me set up. You just ask, and they do it for you. Amazing.

Happy Holidays everyone!!

♥ Hils.

Use The Loofah

Hahahaha....okok. I really don't want to only post YouTube videos, but I laughed out loud alone in my house, so it must be good.

Visual Stimulation Inspiration

For some reason, I find that I'm particularly moved by much of the junk-mail media things I've set my eyes on today. I don't know what it is, but it's certainly fun.

This is the first one I saw today, a friend mass-emailed it around and, being a sucker for auto-tune videos, I had to have a look. But I was pleasantly surprise and completely inspired by it!! I LOVE SPACE, I just...love space. I think it's frigging amazing and I am in awe of words like "billions", "atoms", "cosmos" and phrases like, "we are made of star stuff", "the sea of space". Oh my God. Amazing. And also, I have a crush on Bill Nye and have since I was a kid.

Number two of the day, saw it while watching an episode of Oprah, and brought tears to my eyes. I'm crying now just watching it again. It is so true how the world turns a blind eye, I can't deny that I have. I don't understand why more hasn't been done to expose this to the rest of the population, why isn't this in our news? I feel like more of a woman, more powerful and able to help, just by watching this short video. What the hell have I done to make my community a better place to live?

Ok and one more, from the trusty news feed of my facebook page. Someone posted it, so I watched it. These girls are hot!! That is all.

dancing bear

Although I'm in an incredibly foul mood, I'm thankful that this bear was having a good time. There were numerous songs that this bear dances to, but I didn't feel like making anyone watch a full minute and a half of the same bear moves over and over, so I thought this short clip of an old favourite would do the trick.

Thanks for making my night, bear.

elephant artist

If you know me well, you know that I have always had a love for elephants! I have collections of stuffed elephants, of all shapes and sizes. On my music shelf I have all sorts of elephant paraphernalia, and we can't forget about the magnetic plush elephant who lives on the side of my fridge. My niece waves to him every time she passes by. I just realized that Noel has never even once, commented on my elephant collection or asked me to get rid of them. Honey, you're so sweet! I hope you're also thankful that it's not a continuously growing collection...

My mom sent me this video, you have to watch till the very end. Such peaceful, thoughtful creatures. Every stroke is like magic happening right before your eyes!

and i was worried about losing my job

Oh My God.

I had no idea. This is even more terrifying than my last blog post. Looks like there's a bigger fish to fry out there, and I thought I was starting to do my part to help...boy was I wrong. I haven't even started, and there is an entire mountain to climb. I wish that somehow I'd never, ever have to buy anything else, ever again.

If you care about you, your health, your family, the planet, the air you breath, the food you eat, the food your children eat, your future generations...watch this. Even if you don't, watch this anyway. It's unbelievable what we've been made to think, when this has so obviously been going on for years.

"The Story of Stuff"

sarah richardson is my idol

Some of my most favourite 'me-time' moments involve Sarah Richardson and the Design Inc. Team, and don't even get me started on Sarah's House. Whether I'm sick and snuggled up on the couch, having a quick lunch in front of the TV, or sipping a cup of steaming something after a long day of teaching, Sarah Richardson is there and I enjoy every second of her shows, watching wide eyed, trying to absorb every texture, colour, and shape during that half hour. I live for Sarah's design ideas. Somehow, all the things I love and wish for in design, Sarah brings to life. Somehow she has my exact same taste. The only difference is she's got a clue when it comes to what to do with it all.

It's not even just about her amazing, incredibly lusciously delicious design - her team is absolutely hilarious. Every single one of them. Tommy and Kate are my favourite (though I love them all), especially when you get them together with Sarah. Oh my God. So I'm sitting watching without blinking and suddenly they say something that catches me off guard and I'll spill my coffee in the midst of letting the laughter take over, and totally lose track of what was going on in the show. Thankfully - I have every episode recorded on my PVR. I can catch what I've just missed with a simple push of a button. Oh Sarah.

The episode I just watched got me totally inspired. The Design Inc team were redecorating their office. I too, have dreams of redecorating our office(or just even decorating...well really pre-decorating for goodness sake). And every other room in the house for that matter. Both Noel and I work from home, so we're sharing an office all day (and sometimes night) and just finding our own separate work spaces was hard enough. Nevermind trying to make it look good. But I want so badly to have an amazing space for us to both work in. With drawers and shelves and cabinets and colour. One day it will happen, I know it.

There are more important things to tackle right now though, like our bedroom. Though it's clean and modernly painted, it's cold and totally devoid of personality and life. Only lately have we noticed how uncomfortable the bed is too...maybe we're just getting old. But it's definitely time for us to do something about it. Investing in your bedroom is like investing in your quality of life. I don't know why we hadn't done something sooner!

Anyways, I can assure you that this will be the first of a plethora of postings about Sarah Richardson. She's just too much a part of my life for this to be the first and the last. Thanks for being just so darn great, Sarah.

bridewars

Last night, the girls and I got together for some delicious sushi and a movie, "BrideWars". It seems that whenever movies come out involving weddings, or brides, or dresses of some sort we flock to it, always together. There's just nothing better than spending some quality time with your best friends (sans 1, who's currently living in Italy). Although the movie wasn't necessarily received well by all of us, I thoroughly enjoyed it (I know what you're thinking - of course I did!). I love Kate Hudson in every movie she's ever made that I've seen. I'm absolutely not a movie critic, so I can't even begin to recommend this one or not. But I can tell you that it's packed with cute, and I loved it. It even made me cry, just thinking of best friends falling out gets me emotional, and I'm ashamed to admit it but my cheeks were wet for a good half hour near the end of the movie. Maybe it was just the night, or being there with my best friends...who knows.

I love you girls. Your wedding day's will be some of the happiest days of my life, and I can't wait. Just don't all do it at the same time, please.