a peek inside the fishbowl

Posts Tagged ‘Home

To review: every other Tuesday is my day off and I’m trying to use this time to recharge my batteries. No work, no meetings, minimal errands. Last time I biked downtown to see the tulips and meet Mark for sushi. I can’t tell you how spectacularly exhausted I was earlier this week. Last weekend was […]

21 Sep, 2016

The mystery of the lost marbles

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno|Misc. life

If you live in Ottawa you know it’s been a pretty long and hot summer. To that effect, I’ve been dutifully filling up our two bird baths with fresh water. I also added something new to the mix. Well, new-ish. I had this on the go last summer and thought I’d revisit the idea for […]

Thanks for your entries! This giveaway is now closed. Looking for a promo code for Mopify? You can use mine: https://mopify.com/r/db9b013. :) When I was small, my dad worked and my mother stayed home. As a business owner, he often worked long hours at his shop. I believe it’s an unspoken agreement, a General Rule that applied […]

11 Nov, 2015

About that new couch

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno|Oh! Things!

This is the timeline of our family couch history, in a nutshell: 1995 or ’96: Mark’s Swedish “park bench style” bachelor couch was traded in for one we bought together at The Bay. April 2005: our family won a huge contest hosted by the Ottawa Citizen. The prize: a complete overhaul of our living room. Our couch was taken away, reshaped […]

30 Oct, 2015

A walk around the garden

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Home/reno

Suffice it to say, I am overwhelmed by the state of our back yard at the moment. It’s a beautiful mess back there. I was secretly hoping that the recent windy weather would blow the leaves to Timbuktu, but half of them haven’t all fallen off the trees yet. The other half just piled up in the least convenient […]


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  • Gretchen Humphrey: I had a beautiful bee& birdbath filled with a solar fountain and dozens of antique marbles that were suddenly disappearing. At first I thought my
  • Jinjer: I am sobbing reading this post. And you're right, companion is not enough. Little furry treasured gifts that they are. Thanks for sharing cutie-pi
  • Karen: Dear Andrea, Mark and your daughters I am so very sad for your family xxx Piper was/is my favourite Instagram post. You shared with us so intimately
  • Christina Banuelos: Thank you for sharing Pipers life with us. Your posts of Piper brought me joy. Every time I see your post and see what kind of mischief Piper was gett
  • Carla Slocum: I am sitting here yet again crying at your loss. We have known that loss with Asta the WFT our first pup but now have the enormous gift of Stryker the
  • Janelle Brown: Dear Andrea Thank you for sharing Piper’s story with her followers. I empathise with your grief and emptiness as I lost my 14 year old Westie last
  • Natasha McReynolds-Nicholl: My god reading this is heartbreaking. December 1st was the as you describe longest day of my life, we lost out beautiful WFT hazel. Pipers final momen

The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

If you'd like to contact me, please use this form. If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here. Thank you for visiting!

 


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