Written by : Julie Cove

This weather has been so amazing, hasn’t it?  We were off to a very slow, cool start but here we are in the midst of lovely blue, blue skies and the warmth of the suns rays!  I love it.  I love waking up every morning and peering out to find that cheery, fresh, early morning blue sky waiting for me to embrace it.

I’ve been having soooo much fun this summer so far that I thought I should share and also find out what you’ve been up to.

Having the opportunity to take time with my 2 youngest children this summer has been such a gift.  They love just hanging out around home or venturing out for adventure days as we call them. I often don’t tell them where we are going yet I have a rough agenda in mind and then we motor around town taking in beaches, markets, parks, look out points and sometimes handmade ice cream or sorbet for a treat from Organic Fair!  Marisa has a piece of paradise just up in Cobble Hill and she makes the best and most uniquely flavoured chocolate bars, dreamy ice cream and lavender lemonade all made from fresh organic ingredients, most of which comes from the farm she and her family own.  If you haven’t been to Organic Fair, do stop in either on the way up island or take an afternoon and check it out. My favourite chocolate bar is the Provence bar which is flavoured with lavender, rosemary & sweet orange-soooo good!

We’ve been twice to Organic Fair and the kids keep begging to return!  Amelia really enjoyed her chocolate cone!

We still have plans to pick raspberries from Dan’s farm and fill our tummies with tasty sweet berries-oh and our baskets too!  Living out on the Saanich Peninsula means we are almost completely surrounded with amazing fresh produce to choose from.  We visit local farms almost every other day with the volume of veggies we go thru these days on account of our daily juicing regime in the morning.  But we love our farm visits and we feel more energized and healthy when we can load up on veggies.

With all this sunshine the kids really like to cool off with water fun especially when we set up a home made version of a slip and slide last week at the lake!  They managed to use up the entire bottle of dish detergent for a sudsy, slippery afternoon.  They were a splishin’ and a splashin’…..!

We’ve also spent some fun times up at our lakeside cottage in Youbou as well as our seaside escape in Ladysmith.  The pool by the seaside is a favourite as is the fishing off the dock.  Last year Elliott even caught a shark- a dog fish that is!

We took a good peek at him and then quickly popped him back in the water after we snapped a photo and off he swam down into the depths.  It’s amazing what you catch when you secure a large rock on your line!!  It was one exciting day for Elliott that’s for sure!

Our property at Inn of the Sea has provided many wonderful memories for our family and that was my goal.  I wanted to create the summer time seaside memories that I didn’t have as a child.  It was also my intention to share this property with other families so that they could create memories for their family too!  Thus I manage it as a vacation rental property.

We rent out our seaside condo all year round and are usually fully booked in the summer but with a couple of cancellations we can still share our piece of paradise with you if you are still looking for some summer fun for August and September.

Our website is www.seasidevacations.ca if you wish to check it out.  I decorated with seashells, slipcovers, antiques and quilts.  It’s really a nice seaside get away in a quiet well manicured resort.  Give me a call or email me if you can still fit a get away into your plans this summer.  If not book mark the site for the fall or spring and even a summer vacay for next year if you are that organized!  We are wide open.  Me, I’m such a last minuter it’s not even funny!  Thank goodness I am the owner!

Hope  you have a fabulously sunny summer week….. filled with lots of summer fun!  I would love to hear about your summer fun-drop me a line or leave me a comment!

Written by : Julie Cove

I just returned from an amazing whirlwind of a trip and promised I would share.  It was a complete luxury to travel to five cities in Europe with 3 friends whom are kindred spirits of mine and all love much the same thing as I do!  We had the time of our life and we shopped in the most incredible neighborhoods in the world.

As a buyer for my store of 19 years I often feel like I have seen every home accessory ever on this side of the pond.  Shopping in Europe for me is like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to eying up some of the never ever seen before accessories that I came across. I was on a mission as I perused these magnificent shops but I’ll explain that later.  But boy did I hit the jackpot for a few unique items that I was able to send home.

Some of you may remember way back when Catriona Wilson worked at The House Dressing Company. She was a delight and we miss her cheery nature even still as it has been at least 10 years since she was employed. But I had the great pleasure of visiting her in Bath Spa, 2 hours east of London by train.  We had a delightful day seeing Stone Henge which was utterly amazing as well as the Roman Baths which again were incredible to experience.  The weather was ’summer perfect’ as we meandered thru the English countryside and walked the regal streets of Bath.

Paris was the next stop.  Have you been?  If you haven’t, I highly recommend it, even if you don’t speak a word of french.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triumph is so magnificent, even if you’ve seen it before.  And those French women, they have got it going on when it comes to looking good.  From head to toe, they look soooo elegant that you can’t resist gazing just a bit too long–and some of them were whizzing by us on a vespa in high heels!  And the French men…. well say no more!

Copenhagen is my new favourite city.  I can’t wait to return.  Imagine this.  A charming old, old town of many many blocks of walking streets only–no cars.  Just bicycles, mothers with prams and people strolling thru squares, enjoying outdoor cafes, window shopping or seriously shopping in the many stunning design conscious shops that are all adorned with billowing planters of pretty summer blooms.   Heaven, I say!

And then there’s Stockholm.  I was thrilled to meet up with my dear norwegian relatives that reside just north of the city who kindly toured me around town sharing the sites.  We enjoyed an afternoon harbour ferry ride while I snapped a million photos.

Next up was a heart warming visit with many of my Norwegian relatives in Oslo, Norway.  Home cooked meals and a room of my own, what a treat!  I’ve visited many times before but this time I wandered in places I hadn’t been enjoying the lovely sunny weather after about 8 days of rain in our previous cities.  As I neared my last days I became anxious to head home and see my precious family who so kindly sent me on my way.  I arrived home to meet them all waiting for me, flowers and all, at the airport.  There’s no place like home especially when you have a wonderful family like mine to return to.

But now…. you are probably still wondering what mission I was on in Europe?  Well alright, I think I need to explain first what keeps me out of trouble these days besides my adorable kids.  Are you ready?  I have been busy building a new website with my sister Yvonne for a new passion: healthy living and healthy recipes!  It’s a site here called the Alkaline Sisters and it stemmed from my own experience with a health issue you may recall back a couple years, a herniated disc.  You can read my full story here. If you are interested in delicious healthy recipes paired with healthy tips you are going to want to check it out especially since an abundance of incredible summer produce is upon us. Don’t you love all the local veggies we can source especially here on the peninsula?  I will have lots of healthy recipes for you to cook with as I grow this blog.  Here’s a quick screen shot of the tomato post with Sun Wing Tomatoes.

In a nut shell, on my new blog I promote an alkaline lifestyle which is all about balancing the pH level of your body’s fluids.  To achieve this, a diet of 70-80% raw and some warmed veggies with only 20-30% proteins, grains and legumes is the guide.  As well, eliminating all bad carbs, dairy, sugar and processed foods has been life changing.  Following this regime has cleansed my system and alleviated the horrible pain causing inflammation in my back, which no other form of treatment, conventional or holistic, was able to do–believe me I tried them all!  I then added the unique Pettibon principles of chiropractic care paired with decompression, all guided by the amazing Dr. Craig Bentham at Backfit and my disc is healing quite nicely now.  I have also learned that it has been proven that cancer cells cannot survive in alkaline body fluids whereas they thrive in acidic body fluids.  Alternative cancer treatment often takes the form of a diet change reflective of the alkaline lifestyle and I have met cancer survivors that can attest to this who may not otherwise still be on this planet.  After experiencing this lifestyle for 2 years now and studying it for all this time I felt compelled to share so that others could benefit from this information. Many people can stand to improve their health if they put these simple principles into action.

So there you have it, my secret is out!  I am passionate about energizing the body thru healthy foods in order to avoid disease and cancer and I am sharing with the world wide net!

My mission in Europe, well… it was to gather unique styling props to inspire incredible photography shoots of the healthy recipe creations.  I think I did quite well and I look forward to sharing some of these items with you on my Alkaline Sisters site.  I also took part in a food bloggers convention in London that was amazing, very informative and wonderful to meet like minded food bloggers!

At any rate, take a look if I have peaked your curiosity and let me know what you think! You can click here www.alkalinesisters.com I love comments if you are brave enough:)  And if you are heading to any of the aforementioned cities and need to know where to eat, let me know.  We ate like royalty, and healthily too!

Hope you enjoy this glorious sunshine that is supposed to stay around for a while yet!

Written by : Julie Cove

The sunshine has done wonders for our little town of Brentwood Bay and the lovely plantings that line the boulevard have come into their own.  The mass of gorgeous perennials is a delight to drive or walk thru.  Having lived in Brentwood Bay for 15 years now I’ve seen an evolution of prettiness.  This lavender is so hearty and fragrant in such a stunning periwinkle I had to resist my urge to pinch some, even just 13 stems to make a lavender wand.  Congratulations to the gardening crew that plant and maintain these boulevards, they are dreamy!  What I love is that they ARE perennials and we get to anticipate these plants every year as well as the practicality of not having to put in annuals every season, makes sense don’t you think?

Our town is becoming quite saavy traffic wise that we now have a dandy round about to navigate on West Saanich Rd. at the north end of town, rather feels like I am in Europe especially with all this lavender wafting about.

It’s amazing how many people pass thru our little town everyday with tour bus after tour bus heading onward to Butchart Gardens, some stopping, some just touring thru.  Christine Cater can attest to the busyness of Brentwood Bay as she sees them in her shop, Knickerbockers in Trafalgar Square.  She’s a busy lady these days with a 2nd location that she just opened in The Sidney Pier in Sidney.  We wish her much success in Sidney.  Congrats Chris!

Aren’t  these hardy geraniums fabulous?  I especially love the Johnson’s Blue variety here bobbing their happy blooms in the breeze.  In my garden these are a life saver, making me and my garden look like we know what we are doing.

Whilst driving thru town, you will notice our Royal Bank Plaza is undergoing a major make over and we will have a new retail square when the work is complete. Looking forward to the end of the construction though.  But in the mean time with summer around for a while yet we can enjoy the beautification of our quaint little village, stopping to smell the lavender!

I had to include this last snapshot taken with my iPhone today as I noticed that these crocosmia had burst and they were so eye catching in this gorgeous orange set amidst green foliage, I was in awe!

If you have a chance to cruise the streets of Brentwood Bay, a good day to do so would be Wednesdays in July as the Music in the Park is a wonderful way to spend a summer’s eve.  Right behind the old school house is where we all set up our lawn chairs and picnic blankets ready to enjoy the treats of local vendors, dance or just chill out to the music.

And if you want to enjoy even more music check out the Butchart Garden’s music shedule as they boast a schedule of 64 musical evenings this summer featuring some incredible talent!  I’m excited about Jessie Farrell on August 17th and this coming Tuesday, July 20th is the Victoria Symphony.

I hope you pop by Brentwood Bay for a glimpse.  Maybe we’ll run into each other on the street!  If not, maybe we’ll see you in Sidney–it’s looking gorgeous theses days too!

Written by : Julie Cove

I honestly have to wonder how quickly time skips by because in my mind it feels like it was just last week that I opened my doors for the first time for the Canada Day Sidney Days Celebrations.  When I look at my 18yr old son I realize how much time has passed- his entire life is my measure of The House Dressing Company’s existence.  With his graduation ceremony and celebration yesterday it feels like the beginning of a new era!

I was just reminiscing the other day as I chatted with Chris Cater of Knickerbockers (as she unpacked boxes of yummy inventory) who has just opened a 2nd location in the Sidney Pier Hotel just in time to be a part of the celebrations this week.  The memories of my first weekend grand opening are sooo vivid for me and it was such fun!

So I wanted to be sure to invite you to celebrate our 19th year with us.  It’s been a fun ride.  I’ve enjoyed all of you customers over the years dropping in regularly to say hi.

Our anniversary sale kicks off today and tomorrow is the day that you can stop in and have your choice of anything regular priced for 15% off.  After tomorrow enjoy savings on a variety of goodies we have priced specially for our anniversary sale.  Our hours tomorrow for Canada Day are 11-5:00pm.

The Sidney Days Parade is tomorrow at 11am-you’ve got to come!  It’s such fun!  These are some snapshots from last years parade to get you in the mood and convince you to come on down and enjoy the fun–and shop a bit in the store if you wish at the same time!

What are your plans to celebrate this special holiday?  A family dinner or picnic?  Have you hung your Canada flag yet? Or will we be seeing you IN the parade?

What ever you choose to do to enjoy the day we at The House Dressing Company wish you a lovely day and thank you for your kind support over the years.

I apologize for the lack of postings on the blog here but I managed to sneak off to Europe for a couple of weeks and I plan to share some dreamy photos on my next post.  So stay tuned.

See you in the shop:)

Written by : Julie Cove

On rainy days I find myself thinking about lovely outings at the park.  Funny how it is, when the weather is nice we hum and haw as to whether we feel like a walk in the park, as though the nice weather is here to stay forever.  Yet when it’s gone we wish we had taken many more walks in the park.  This first photo from last spring is of my daughter Amelia and her best neighbor hood friend dressed in their finest for a walk in the park.  I couldn’t resist photographing the two of them enjoying their stroll together, purses and all!

This gorgeous park is just 5 minutes from us on Greig Avenue called Gore Park.  It’s like a secret wonderland filled with sprawling meadows and woodland blanketed with wild flowers from Easter thru Fathers day. We most always spot wild life that we can marvel over.  My favourite day to see this park is Mother’s day–I  make it a tradition as this is when the Blue Camus is blooming with butter cups and pink wild flowers as photographed below.  Last night we strolled thru again and noticed the wild cobalt blue delphinium is beginning to bloom–stunning!

If you haven’t ventured to this pretty place in Brentwood Bay I encourage you to find your way there before the blooms are finished.  It’s so uplifting to wander thru this special place.  You can’t help emerging in a really great mood.  Bring your camera along as you will want to capture the beauty.  I’ve even done some portraits here that are just lovely.

Every year on Christmas Day it’s our family tradition to take a walk in the park and decorate a tree full of treats for the birds–our Christmas gift to our feathered friends.  This park is where we hang our nut butter slathered apples, orange rind seed filled cups and star shaped toast buttered with suet, dipped in seeds.  The kids love to make these special goodies for the birds and enjoy hanging them all over the tree.  We always check back to see if everything was nibbled up and all that is ever left are the jute string hangers!

When we first found this park after purchasing our building lot over 14 years ago we were awestruck with it’s beauty and we still are today.  These past years are filled with memories of numerous walks to the park with many neighborhood friends.  It’s been a real gift to live so close to such beautiful spot.  How wonderful that this piece of heaven was left just as nature intended it to be.  Have you visited this wonderful oasis before?  Or do you have a lovely spot near your home that brings you joy?

With the summer approaching there will be many perfect days for a walk in the park.  Be sure to get your fill before the rainy season is upon us again!  How can you tell I am a fair weather gal?!

Have a great week!

Julie