Fitbit One

A few months ago, our office held a stair climb challenge: a spreadsheet at the front desk allowed you to track how many times you took the stairs to our fifth-floor office. I went like gangbusters while the tracking was on, then quickly reverted back to the elevator once the competition is off. It’s a revealing character trait of mine—I’m all in when the competition is on, middling when it’s over. It’s in large part why I’m in love with my new Fitbit One, one of my favourite Christmas presents this year. Like your average pedometer, it tracks the steps I take each day, but it also calculates flights of stairs, distance travelled, active minutes throughout the day and how well I sleep at night (not always a good thing to know). Best of all, it connects me with friends who are also tracking, pitting me against Alice, I Think author Susan Juby and her epic strolls around Nanaimo’s parks (stay tuned for a story on the latter in our March issue).

Fitbit One, $99.95, available across the West at Chapters/indigo chapters.indigo.ca

3M Command Strips

Thanks to a little holiday time last week, I finally got around to a project I’ve been wanting to tackle for about six months: designing a gallery wall of personal photos in my kitchen (watch the newsletter next week for my tips on how to create your own). I’ve long known that one of my downfalls is precision—that’s why I’m a knitter rather than a sewer (you can fake a lot with wool). So my greatest discovery in the whole process was 3M Command Strips. They’re strong enough to hold an 18 by 24-inch frame, though I was only brave enough to use them on my 8 by 10s. Essentially, they’re heavy-duty Velcro: attach one side to your frame, and the other to your wall; let the glue cure for an hour, and voila! You’ve got frames placed exactly where you want them. The best part? Should you change your mind, the Command Strips can pop off, thanks to an ingenious pull-tab. No more nail holes, no more inaccurate measuring—and a much less painful process.

3M Command Strips, $9.99/pack of six sets, available at Michaels michaels.com

Food for the Hungry Canada Gift Guide

It’s just about the time in the season when I start to panic about last-minute gifts I’ve yet to find for a few people on my list. Thankfully, the folks at Food for the Hungry have come up with a number of creative and useful gifts for both the folks on my list, and for the communities they serve. The 20-year-old organization communicates directly with their partner communities to determine what support they most need, and translates those needs into their annual gift guide. This year, I’ll be opting for a few coffee seedlings ($20, for communities in Ethiopia), chickens ($25, for Haiti), and perhaps sweetest of all, chubby cheeks (infant nutrition for babies in Peru, $30).

FH Canada gift guide available online at fhcanada.org

Portmeirion Christmas Wish Footed Cake Plate

This year, I’m participating in not one, but two cookie exchanges—which means this past weekend was spent creating tiny macaroons filled with lime curd (drop me a line if you’d like the recipe!). Of course, it also means my freezer will soon be filled with cookies for the two annual parties I host—one before December 25, and another in time for Slovak Christmas on January 6. A friend of mine got me into using cake stands for serving cookies, after she brought me a pretty pale green one for my 40th birthday this year (they’re perfect for layering your tabletop—cheese and fruit on platters below, cookies on top). For the festive season, this holiday-themed version from Portmeiron would make a perfect centerpiece.

PORTMEIRION Christmas Wish Footed Cake Plate, $60, available at the Bay, thebay.com.

Amir & Camelus figurines by Alessi

I decorated my tree this past weekend in fuchsia, red, gold and green, and, given that my new place now has a fireplace mantel, hung the stockings too. It’s all a little late for me, really—I’m typically a late-November decorator, since we’ve been talking about holiday décor here at the magazine since early July, and I’ve been itching to get at it since August. One thing I’ve been eyeing since July? Alessi’s Presepe collection—a modern, adorable nativity scene that the company created in 2007 and has been adding figurines to ever since (look for original sets for around $110 on Amazon oreBay). These are two of the sweetest: Amir & Camelus, created by designers LPWK and Massimo Giacon in 2010, join the happy scene for just $39, and they’re just as cute on their own atop my new mantel.

Amir & Camelus figurines by Alessi, $39, available online at Gabriel Ross, grshop.com.

Fashion-Inspired Pillow and Throw Collection

I’ve just spent the weekend in Tofino, with plenty of time spent under blankets and staring out at the waves of Chesterman Beach from my balcony at the Wickaninnish Inn. (Here in BC we’ve been blessed with a rare fall of cold crisp sunshine, and I wanted to revel in every minute of it.) It’s probably a small part of why I was so charmed by this new textile collection from Tabula Rasa. Launched in NYC this year by Emily Diamandis, former headsweater designer at Rag & Bone, the fashion-inspired blankets and pillows come in both a muted, natural palette of tawny browns and cool greys, or myfavourite—and favourite colour palette in general—magenta, mandarin orange and cool yellow. Perfect for settling into the season.

Tabula Rasa collection, from $220, available in store and online at providehome.com.

DAVIDsTEA 24 Days of Tea

Last year, I spent dozens of hours sewing homemade advent calendars for my niece and nephew (he’s got a dairy allergy, making the traditional chocolate ones a problem). And I found myself thinking about what a grown-up version of the classic calendar would be—and I see that this year, Davids Tea has created one. Filled with 24 mini tins of their tea—Santa’s Helper and Alpine Punch, to name two—the calendar can still give me the thrill of peeking behind the doors every morning, without the chocolate-rush guilt. (And true confessions: I’ve recently become a little obsessed with Davids. Even if my Irish ancestors might object to having sprinkles in their tea, the Birthday Cake Rooibos is the perfect after-dinner cuppa.)

24 Days of Tea, $34.50, available in Vancouver and Calgary at DavidsTea, various locations, davidstea.com.

Dahlhouse Art Poppy Mug

Vancouver’s Eastside Cultural Crawl is one of my favourite events of the fall, both for discovering new faces on the design scene and for revisiting my current favourites. Heather Dahl falls into the latter camp: her cheerful ceramics are beautifully executed, and feed my love of colour (I’ve long coveted a friend’s teapot that’s in a pretty shade of aqua—what a brilliant way to start the day). Not in town for the Crawl? Fear not: she also has her own online shop.

Poppy mug, $44, available at this weekend’s Vancouver Eastside Cultural Crawl (November 15-17) and online at Dahlhouse Art.

Banff Park Blanket

I spent this past weekend at a friend’s place in the woods on the Island. Saturday’s miserable rainstorm threw any plans for a hike to the wayside in favour of huddling under blankets and making a vat of chili inspired by Bonnie’s in Aspen. It was the perfect way to embrace the changing season, and a reminder that a great blanket can get you through the most miserable day. I’ve had my eye on this new line that the Bay has put out in partnership with the iconic Pendleton Woolen Mills to celebrate our national parks—Banff, Algonquin, Laurentian and Kootenay. Banff is my personal favourite (of course), crafted in rich chocolate brown and cool aqua, it’s made for an afternoon of doing nothing other than enjoying each other’s company.

Banff Park Blanket from the Hudson’s Bay Company Collection, $295, available in Vancouver and Calgary at thebay.com.

Skull Cake Pans

There is an undeniable truth I’ve come to accept about myself: I make terrible Halloween costumes. I like to think I have great ideas (a hurricane, a resident of the Capitol from The Hunger Games) but the execution fails miserably (the former looked like a potato, the latter, a little trampy). But I’m excellent at Halloween-themed baking, so for a theme-day get together with friends, I’m pulling out these wicked skull pans from Williams-Sonoma. Dusted with black sanding sugar (thanks, Gourmet Warehouse!), the finished cake will make an excellently ghoulish centerpiece for the table.

Skull Cake Pans, $44.80, Vancouver and Calgary at Williams-Sonoma, williams-sonoma.com.