It's plastic, it was in my neighbour's garage sale, and it's now one of the most precious items in my whole house.  This is the first thing my son ever bought me with his own money.  When I saw that my neighbour across the courtyard was having a garage sale, I could see the rows of kid's toys and tried hard to keep my little guy occupied indoors for as long as I could.  I envisioned him going over there & falling in love with at least a dozen items, his few toonies, loonies and assorted change burning a hole in his little tin Lightening McQueen case.  Finally, I could contain him no longer. 

As expected, he soon came back home and announced he needed a quarter to purchase an item.  Well, not bad, I thought; just one thing caught his eye, and at a quarter no less.  What could be the harm?   Lo and behold, he came back home with an item purchased not for himself, but for me.  Lovely and thoughtful to boot -he knew I needed an "in between" sized vase for holding flowers.   Our children never cease to amaze & surprise us do they?   Little things like this, the notes he leaves me around the house, the mulitple Mother's Day cards he made me a month ahead of time, the small and large tasks he takes upon himself to please me, and all the surprising sweet nothings he says to me on a daily basis.  Man, I love this kid, he is the centre of my universe -and for a precious little while, I know that I am the centre of his.  

Another new feature here!  This one goes hand in hand with the "Design Inspiration" category, because anyone that knows me, knows I am a big time bargain shopper.  I love the thrift shops, garage sales (in fact, if it wasn't raining out today, I'd be scouring suburbia for treasures at this very moment) and have a very hard time spending full price on things for the house.  Above is my latest Canadian Tire find for $29.99 -can you believe it?  I've been coveting starburst style mirrors for a while now, and recently almost picked one up at Winners for $80.  I controlled myself, then found this one, almost the same when shopping in CT's outdoor decorations aisle, so I assume it can be hung oustside as well.  For me, it's adorning my newly painted chocolate (mmmmmm) feature wall behind our bed.  We're not done in there yet, so expect more design pics in the near future.

My next bargain is below; a Good Will find for $1.99.  Something about the shape and the graduated colour caught my attention.  It has a small ding in the interior lip, but nothing stays perfect for long around here, so I can live with it. Again, anyone that knows me, knows I'm not much for knick knacks, so if I pick something up, I must like it enough to put the effort into dusting it regularly.