Specifically, this treehouse, perched on the rocks of Passage Island.  This amazing place is just a 5 minute water-taxi from Fisherman’s Cove, West Vancouver.  It’s listed  for $399,000 – why does that seem like such a deal?

100% self-sufficient…solar panels….generators… views to kill for…

How good would a latte and a book be in this very spot?

Grey clouds have dropped like a gauze over the city today. It’s reading weather.  I am a chapter into Anne Michaels‘ newest book, The Winter Vault. It’s only the second novel she’s ever written – her first being the famed story of Jakob Beer in Fugitive Pieces (oh how I loved Michaela). Most interesting so far has been the history surrounding the St. Lawerence River and the construction of the seaway as it swallowed whole towns. If you don’t like aching, poetic language, this is probably not the book for you.  I just happen to love what tortures others.

Thought: homes should be designed to inspire reading. What does that mean? Full of places that invite you to linger.  

Admission: I watched Marley and Me last night and cried like a baby. If you don’t have a dog, you might not get it.

Bon Weekend!

The song, The Girl, by City and Colour (especially how it ends and then starts again faster and more feverously, as if to say he really means it the second time).

The owner of Provide Home, who welcomed me into his fabulous store yesterday with pleasant conversation and a Nespresso cappuccino.  Across from Chambar and Cafe Medina on Beatty Street, you really need to go see this store…I wanted everything! I still want everything. It’s one of those places you could happily linger away an afternoon.

And lastly, the view from my office window. Of which, there is no photo to show you. I can only try explaining how the snow is beginning to melt away, the mountains are blue again, the light is dull, but more importantly, there is light. Yes, I can see it, finally. An eye of sky just opened.

My mom and sister gave us a Nespresso Cube for a shower gift. I actually screamed when I opened it. Ever since the day we went to register at the Bay and stopped by the Nespresso concept store, Ash and I have been dreaming of mornings with this sleek machine. And I am not, by nature, a pod kind of gal. I like grinds. I like the simple work of a bodum. But this is no Tassimo. The Nespresso makes real espresso. So this morning, please don’t call. I am not at home. I am at a cafe in Amsterdam. I am also a little dizzy. We can’t stop trying all the pods.

As for George, well… he’s the crema.

My mind wanders here.

Or more precisely, here.

Where’s Ash, you ask?

Oh, he’s just run down to refill our margaritas.

Hello, honeymoon. My name is Jen.

Please enjoy, but don’t come.

Photo via Desire to Inspire

I like this picture I took of this woman and her dog. It’s such a great capture of companionship. I even thought to myself as I watched her, I bet I’ve been this woman to other people, sitting places alone, with Whiskey by my side. It’s strange to think I even have a picture of this woman. Whose pictures might I appear in? 

Anyway, before your heart strings go weak for this poor, lonely lady…notice the hand on the right. A fairly attractive gentleman was walking along when he recognized her (with great excitment) as if she were a regular starlet on the street. He joined her for coffee and they shared a great laugh about something or other before he continued along. I love when perceptions are so wonderfully shook. I gave the dog my bacon. We were here, in San Francisco:

As for the reading. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

I just finished this book, which I have to say was one of those books that are both good and bad. It was entirely unknown to me that she (the author) is the sister of Daniel Day Lewis and the daughter of C.S. Lewis. So you can imagine my surprise when half way through the book she’s suddenly at Julia Roberts house, cracking open a bottle of champagne over a casual dinner (pure coincidence).  All in all though, I like when a good tale is intertwined with usefulness (in this case, recipes). I will definitely be making her perfect scrambled eggs. Plus, it was deliciously nice to be reading.

Then, two days ago, I ordered this book and this book. I am almost embarassed to share this. I think research is paramount to how I understand things. Reading and research. On my drive to work I had this realization: what do I know about being a wife?  What do I know about marriage?  So, I thought I’d better start learning what I can, beginning at the far-end of uncommon and working my way in, toward convention, in hopes of finding ”us”. 

No time for words this morning but I wanted to post a picture at least. Here’s a sliver of newspaper across a cafe table in San Francisco on a Sunday morning.

I heard it’s going to be 21 degrees this weekend, and it made me feel like finding something sunny. But then I found this:

…and I liked it better.

 Ash and I are trying to go the extra mile. We’ve been sitting here all morning with the fireplace off and we’re freezing. Little white clouds of breath escape from Ashleah’s duvet cocoon. Coffees are getting cold too fast.

 I’m reminded of the apartment we rented in the Marais, and how on our second day there, we got back to the apartment to find a little pink note slipped under the door. No one had paid the electricity bill for months. We lit the candelabra and got warm with a bottle of beaujolais in the dark.

Outside, an excavator is eating the back half of a house for breakfast. It’s a house that no one has loved for a very long time. Seems it’s light out all around today. See you tomorrow.

Good Friday. A good day for adventure. Ash and I headed out to a little coffee place we found off Commercial Street – Little Nest – and found so much more. A wide, white expanse of a café as comfortable as any living room (family and children included).

Bistro-sophistication:

The occasional toddler-sized pickpocket aside, the coffee was served to our table in white porcelain cups and the food was well-above anything normally labeled “family-friendly.”

I had: shockingly orange organic eggs and buttered multigrain soldiers. Americano.
He had: seedy muesli with cinnamon-yogourt and orange slices. Americano, too.

Total Bill: $17.50 including well-earned tip.

Whiskey waited outside, but got lots of attention…