Written by : Julie Cove

Oh how wonderful that the sun brings us joy and gorgeous blooms!  It lifts our spirits and energizes us with it’s brightness and warmth.

I couldn’t resist taking a wee bit of time to appreciate my surroundings on this glorious day.  I thought you’d enjoy a glimpse of what I found in my garden.  Take a peek!

Don’t these springy greens make you smile:)  I was amazed at how lush the plants are becoming with all this warm weather we have been enjoying.  Those daffodils are about to peek open any time now.  And my euphorbia (bottom left) is bursting with my favourite chartreuse green.  The moss carpet is even perking up with it’s lovely green creeping between my stones.  It must the Aries in me that completely wakes up when spring arrives and I am loving that it’s incredibly early this year.  Don’t you?

And these blooms, my word!  See the happy little faces of the crocuses looking back at you, sooo lovely.  The snow drops are not lonely today with all their bloomin’ friends.  They have been waiting a long time for the flower gang to join them!

Why don’t you take a moment and check out your yard or your neighborhood while the sun is out and see what you can see emerging?  A nice walk in the sun to catch some much needed vitamin D would do us all good.  Our trusty weather man says lots more sun to come….. bring it on!

Have a glorious day:)

Written by : Julie Cove

Maybe it’s the high after being so inspired while I was on my fitness retreat that has me noticing constant streams of inspiration or perhaps it’s the blogging course I am taking that is so stimulating cuz I can’t help but notice how much more inspired I am these days.  Maybe it’s because I have made a decision with where I want to go next in this journey of life, I’m not sure, but what ever it is I hope to share a bit of it with you today and inspire you in some way.

But first I want to let you know that Karen’s Haiti event was very well received and she raised over $6,000!!!  Did you make it to the performance?  What a fantastic accomplishment. Congratulations Karen!  I wish I could have seen the talented performances by all.

Doesn’t it feel like spring is knocking on our door awfully early?  And don’t ya love it?  I can’t believe the flowers already, rhodos, daffodils, lots of snowdrops and the heather’s are gorgeous!  I am an Aries sign- born in April- no wonder I love this early spring.  How’s your garden doing?  I popped over to Ingrids today and her garden looks so manicured and she’s topped the beds with some gorgeous black soil to nourish her hungry plants.  I was so inspired that I am going to get my gardens ship shape this weekend too!  Those bulbs are currently peeking thru oak leaf mulch that needs to go, pronto!

As for the inside of the house, after a week away I have returned with a fresh eye and it’s time for some de-cluttering.  This is always part of the transition into spring but sometimes by the time spring is actually here we want to be outside enjoying it- so now is a good time while we may still have some rainy days to fill up some bags for the thrift store and make some breathing room in your home.  Ready for the challenge?  How’s your house looking- need a little spring tidy up?  I love to play some of my favourite music with the volume cranked up while I purge thru the house!  Be ruthless and remove what you don’t use, love or need and you’ll be de-cluttered in no time.  As for the kids rooms, I do it while they are out, or it can be tricky especially with all those stuffy’s my kids have, like one million!!

How about your mental clutter, ideas floating around in your head, or things you want to accomplish.  How about getting yourself a little note book and writing some of it down so that it is out of your head and onto paper.  That’s what I am working on too!  My top 5 things I would like to accomplish this year or in the next 6 months.  You choose your time frame.  You can do one list for home and one for work and even one with the family if you wish. To share one of mine, I plan to be way way more active this year and lead a life with a daily fitness routine that is top priority.  Each and everyday I plan to do some sort of movement that can be considered exercise.  While away in Mexico we did all sorts of fitness and I am stoked, just what the doctor ordered!!  Only thing I know I will yearn for is the seaside setting and the sunshine.  But maybe I’ll just hang a really fabulous image of a beach like this to inspire me!

What inspires you?  What makes you feel like you need to take action and do something different?  What is it for you– magazines, fresh flowers, music, inspiring movies, other peoples stories or actions, a really good book, a vacation?  What ever it is indulge yourself, and maybe this week could be the time to set a goal for that something that you’ve been meaning to start or finish and then list the other 4 things that you would like to accomplish.  It feels sooo good to have a plan of action and make a decision vs thoughts floating around in ones noggin’!

Maybe it’s something completely out in left field and that’s okay!   Let me share a quick story of a friend who was ready for a change from her interior design occupation and decided that she needed to pursue her love of stationary, cards and invitations.  She had always had a fettish for all things paper and lovely so she decided to go for it!  It’s taken some courage, some dedication, patience, alot of patience with web designers especially but she’s just launched her on-line paper store and she’s doing it- fulfilling her dream!  Wowee!  Initially it was going to be a retail endeavor but ended up turning into a fantastic on-line business.  Vicki is a good friend and was a long time valued employee at The House Dressing way back when- you may recollect and here she is an entrepreneur!  Take a peek at her gorgeous new website and store called Paper Circle right here. Congratulations Vicki!  I wish you much success in your exciting new business and that it nourishes your creative talent!

One last thing, while I’m still in an inspiring mood, I would like to share a lovely blog that I came across this last week. This gal is in my on-line blogging course and she writes in a very poetic way and it made my day when I scrolled thru some of her many, many lovely archives reading her inspiring words.  Her blog is called Anna Bella, take a peek right here.  Do you have a favourite blog you find inspiring that you would like to share?  Leave us a comment so we can check it out too!  I hope you have an incredibly inspiring week!

Written by : Julie Cove

You may be wondering what difference you can make as you see the incredibly sad news on TV and all the suffering.  Well, my close friend Karen felt exactly the same way and was compelled to move into action.  She is brilliant at bringing talent together that touches your heart while making a difference in this world.  Here is her press release below for a special event called Hope For Haiti this coming weekend – take a peek!

Another Ordinary Miracle

For many, the scope of the tragedy in Haiti is simply too much to take in. There is so much destruction and devastation it is hard to believe anyone can make a difference. But every day there are stories about how people are making a difference. Hope For Haiti, a fundraising evening to be held this Saturday at the Friendship Community Church, will bring together Victoria residents in an act of generosity and hope.

Almost immediately Victorians were looking for ways to help. Karen Elgersma was watching the devastation and wondering ‘what can I possibly do to help? Maybe not much, but I have to try.’.

Elgersma started calling and emailing all the extraordinary people she knew and asked them if they could somehow help create an “ordinary miracle” of people coming together in the spirit of community. Every one of them said yes.. On Saturday night at 7:00 pm, these incredibly talented people will come together to sing, speak, read and perform  because they want to help.

“As a TV reporter for the past 12 years here in Victoria, I have learned one thing, that when people come together to raise money for something they care about, something magical happens. They don’t just raise money but they raise hope, says co-organizer Karen Elgersma, TV reporter for Shaw TV’s The Daily. “And somehow that hope stretches across countries, across cultures and it manifests something beautiful.”

A number of members of the media and community are participating. Singers include Charlotte Elgersma who will open the evening with a special version of Josh Grobin’s You Raise Me Up, Astrid Braunschmidt of A News, and James Green of The Daily with the Paul Wainwright Trio.  Dan Khan and Sucheta Singh of The Daily have prepared special readings, Karen Elgersma will emcee.  Other talent includes Sunny Shams, Dr. Bones and The Blues Project, The Riverside Trio and a number of members of the community. Of course we will also have a special rendition of the song Ordinary Miracle.

Once people heard about the opportunity to help they jumped at the chance. “One young girl emailed me and asked if she could read a poem. She just wanted to do something, anything for the people of Haiti,” says Elgersma.

Hope for Haiti will be held Saturday, January 30th at 7:00 PM at Friendship Community Church at 7820 Central Saanich Road at Mount Newton X Road. Tickets are available at the door by donation to The Red Cross or Samaritan’s Purse Canada. Tax receipts will be provided.   For more info call 250-652-2723.

I hope you might get a chance to partake in this special evening of entertainment.  You’ll be glad you went and your heart will grow 10x’s bigger!

Have a great week:)

Written by : Julie Cove

Are you excited about this new year? Do you have aspirations to try something new in your world? – a new hobby, a new direction for your health, or perhaps you are thinking of changing careers?  I believe that change is a good thing and I approach it with positive energy.  Accepting change and moving forward when it might even feel difficult means that we are growing and opening ourselves up for opportunity.  I love this quote “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” by Benjamin Franklin.  Change is inevitable and if we are open to change we will gain the best results.  You are probably wondering what’s all this talk about change- well, a new year often provokes this but so does the journey of our lives.

Did you see that movie or read the book “Julie and Julia“? Talk about a change for Julia when she was finally published. Here’s the link for the trailer if you missed it- movie trailer. During her life from her mid forties to her last day on this planet she was known as thee Julia Childs, gourmet cook.  And what was she prior? Not a household name that’s for sure.  She became famous in the 2nd half of her life.  How inspiring is that?  When I think of many of us women all I can wonder is what fantastic things might we do in the next forty + years?  What contributions or differences might we be a part of?

Can I share with you what I hope to accomplish this year? It’s still a secret so shhhhhh! You are the first to know since you are a valued reader of our blog.  But you have to promise me that you will accept this change as positive and embrace the change, okay? Promise?  Alright,  here we go.

You’ve probably heard me talk about my health and how tricky my back has been over the past 2 years and the challenges I have faced with trying to heal and still function with a family to raise and a store to run–thank goodness for my great team of girls in the store.  This last year has been an amazing journey in health and I am feeling fantastic again and my back is well on it’s way to being perfect once again.  After only 3 months of my new health regime I had discontinued use of all pain medications, lost 30 lbs, was sleeping well and had incredible amounts of energy and it only got better from here.  My biggest change has been my awareness of how important it is to pay attention to the food I eat and how it affects my bodies ability to heal.  I was trying to heal from the outside in thru all kinds of treatments and discovered that it needed to be from the inside out.  We really are what we eat!  My new lifestyle diet of the past 16 months has been to adhere to a balance of eating 80% alkaline foods and 20% acid foods.  Eating in an alkaline manner has been around for many, many years and is now slowly becoming a mainstream conversation but many people are still not familiar with it.

My first goal for 2010 is to share my passion for this lifestyle change that I made and help others who are facing illness or want to have optimal health.  But who knew that a bad back would take me on this journey.  The universe has funny ways of delivering it’s message and it takes courage to acknowledge the setbacks that we may think are setbacks and see them as a welcome challenge and possibly a new journey to who knows where.  My second goal stems from my passion for design that has ignited my original plans to expand the building that my husband and I created for the store and further develop it by adding additional upper stories.  I hope to begin this project with the blessing from the Town of Sidney!  It’s always been a dream of mine to design & construct a building and I need to complete this dream.  I believe that we all have dreams inside of us that need to be realized yet it sometimes requires enormous courage to take the steps towards making those dreams a reality.

So What’s my secret? I realized that as fantastic as it may seem to try to be super woman and do everything on my list of dreams all at once, that some parts of your life suffer when you try to do it all.  Multi-tasking is my middle name but my ill-health in 2008 was the breaking point that lead me to recognize that without your health you can’t do a whole lot of anything.  Soooo, to allow me to reach my next dream I made the difficult decision to complete my retail journey by listing The House Dressing Company for sale this month.  There you have it – the secret is out!  The store is now listed for sale and now I await for the universe to send me the right person.

Looking back on my 18 years with the store, it started with the dream of owning a small home accessories shop and perhaps awaiting each day behind a cash desk perusing decorating magazines in between customers.  Hmmm…… after all these years I have yet to have a moment to do such a thing.  The House Dressing Company took off and kept me more than busy, often 7 days a week between the 100’s of Martha Stewart type crafting classes (you may remember these) that I thoroughly enjoyed teaching over the 1st 10 years in business along with running the store. This really put the store on the map.  Next up was my idea for a better place to house this growing business which I was so lucky to design and build and enjoy the benefits of for the past 8 years in business.  Phew, it’s been an incredible journey!  I have enjoyed every step of the way and have been as creative as I could be with a retail store by hosting Radio Shows, Inspirational Evenings at Charlie White Theatre, Christmas Home Tours, Designing Show Suites, Shaw TV decorating segments , our latest Christmas Decorating contests, this House Dressing Blog and much more.

So now it’s time for the store’s new journey to begin and it starts right here with you. You, our loyal customer have played an important role in the success of The House Dressing Company and I have You to thank.   You have been amazing with your support of my home accessory and furniture business, by referring us and bringing your guests in to shop! I sincerely thank you for appearing regularly in our shop admiring our efforts to inspire you with our displays.  It’s made the journey so rich and rewarding, you have no idea how grateful I am to you all.  Any new owner will be lucky to have such a friendly and loyal community to embrace.  I know you will warmly welcome the new owner and his or her creative contribution to Sidney in the future.  What I look forward to is still being connected and supportive with the new owner as a landlord, helping him or her in achieving success as well as being an active property owner in Sidney while contributing to the building of our wonderful town.  What I love about Sidney is how you can walk down the street and wave to the people that you meet. Luckily, this doesn’t only happen on Sesame Street!  So I’ll probably see you on the boulevard!  Sidney is such a warm, friendly community by the seaside that is a real gem.  Those that haven’t discovered it yet have a treat in store for them because our little town just keeps getting better and better!

So now that the secret is out you can tell two friends. And who knows maybe you know someone who has a dream of owning a retail shop and you can share this secret with them.  I am placing it in the hands of the universe to bring a wonderful new owner for my shop to continue on with offering You the best there is to offer in home accessories and furnishings right here in Sidney.  Here’s to many more years of inspiration from The House Dressing Company in Sidney.

PS – Currently it is business as usual and will be until such time that a transaction takes  place and once again, you’ll be the first to know!  Next week I won’t be posting as I will be away on a lovely fitness retreat- working on strengthening my back and getting in better shape altogether, another 2010 goal!

PSS-I will be back shortly with another post for you where I will share ways in which you can help Haiti.

Written by : Julie Cove

As I was brushing my teeth last night I had this moment of panic when I realized it was very late Tuesday eve and I hadn’t posted anything for you!  I spent the evening doing homework for a blogging course which involved writing about my favourite blogs and it wasn’t til bedtime that I realized I needed to say hello to you.  So here I am with a quick snap shot (sorry- end of day with very little day light) of this wonderful new square vase with the bird artwork that we just got in.  I couldn’t resist doing a bouquet in it for Karen Elgersma from Shaw TV for a segment we did today on flowers and brightening your home for winter!  So watch for us on Cable 11 this week, perhaps Thursday or Friday.  If you miss it I may be able to post it here for you when I receive a copy.  I know I have promised one before Christmas but YouTube was being tricky and I haven’t resolved it with the fellow who burns the discs– but I do have a segment I plan on sharing soon!

With my home work in mind I thought perhaps I would share two blogs that I love to read because I bet you too will enjoy them.  I do have them as favourites on the left side on this home page with the links there but you may not have noticed them.  The first one is Decor8 written by Holly Becker.  She lives in Germany and has been blogging for over 3 years.  She’s a “blogger extraordinaire” and has an audience that is enormous for the sheer fact that her blog is all about incredible finds and beautiful aesthetics and a charming writer who shares them with us every single day (she takes the weekends off mostly).  I am officially addicted since I even bring up her site on my iphone on a regular basis.  It’s my daily on-line magazine fix!  Just today she did a story that further inspired my Shaw TV segment as I read her post  (her essay)  on flowers waiting in line for my salad and just before racing to pick up fresh flowers for TV!  It’s funny how some things in your day just link together so beautifully! (Don’t know what I would do without my iphone though!)  As it happens Holly is teaching the on-line blogging course that I am madly doing homework for.  I am loving it so far but am wondering how much time I will have for anything else whatsoever in my life as the addiction to this on-line blog forum is crazy!  My biggest issue for the next 7 weeks will surely be time management!  If you haven’t popped over to Holly’s blog Decor8 I highly recommend it especially if these grey January days have you down.  She will perk you up instantly with her friendly manner and lovely visuals.

My other favourite blog is such a pretty one and will make you smile and say “Wow”.  A Creative Mint is by Leslie Shewring, a good friend of mine.  Some of you may know her or remember her when she worked at The House Dressing many moons ago as she is from Victoria but has been living in LA for a number of years. Only a year ago we chatted and had a coffee and she mentioned she was taking a course (Holly’s course, of course!) and starting a blog as she had developed a fascination with this whole world of blogs and it wasn’t til then that I really began my curiosity and then gave in to my web designers requests to begin this blog!  So she was my inspiration to begin writing for you!  And she continues to inspire me thru her wonderful blog and get this– she is teaching the blogging course with Holly!  I am soooo stoked to be learning from these two incredibly talented gals!  So take peek over at A Creative Mint, I guarantee you’ll be telling two friends!

I hope you enjoy this little blog journey and if you have already visited these sites I would love to know what others are favourites of yours and to please share them in the comment section.  Have a great week and I hope you catch our TV segment in the next few days!