bigger isn't always better

I think it's easy to put off doing a kind deed because you want to make it special. A friend's sick and you think to yourself, 'Oh, I'll have to take them around a meal' and then you spend so long worrying about what to cook, whether they'll like it, whether it's special enough that before you know it she's well again.

That's where I think the small gestures come in handy.

I was chatting to my mother-in-law the other day and I mentioned how I like to try to live by the maxim "The smallest gesture is better than the grandest intention" - and it's true. So often we'll think about all the things we 'should' do that'll make a difference, but because we're so busy and life gets in the way we just don't get around to it. Then we feel guilty and often the friend we hoped to make feel better just feels neglected.

Instead of coming up with a beautifully made card to send to someone - it's best to send off a quick email or text to say, "Hi, thanks!" or "Thinking of you x". Obviously a phone call's better - but a fill in text can be like a smile, just to let them know they're in your mind.

What small gesture can you make today?

what's cooking this week?

This week = busy. Therefore here's a meal plan to suit:

Tonight: Ballet and it's a wee bit on the frosty side. I'm thinking pork cutlets, mashed pumpkin, green beans with almonds and some sweet potato chips for my pumpkin-loathing lass.

Wednesday: Steak and salad

Thursday: French lessons, so I'll whip up a Provencal chicken, rice and salad.

Friday: I'm at my mum's night out {squeee!}, gal's at her nana's having a sleepover with her cousins so it's just my hubby home-alone. He'll enjoy a t-bone steak and steamed vegies.

Saturday: English cousins having a sleepover at our house so their mum can enjoy time with her mum. We should make home-made pizza - complete with home-made dough. Either that or I'm thinking those honey soy chicken wings and noodle salad from Jr MasterChef last night - yum!

Sunday: Leg of lamb and roasted vegies all in the slow-cooker.

Monday: Twilight netball night, therefore a chicken curry that I've prepared earlier for the slowcooker will go down a treat. All I'll have to do is cook some rice and wilt some greens and serve.

penny pinching for paris {and provence}

My saving needs to spill over in Christmas pressie buying this year. Luckily we do a Secret Santa with all the adults in from my husband's side of the family and we don't exchange gifts with my mum and step-dad. I want to save, but also support small businesses so I'll be shopping on etsy, rudy and the dodo {cute little aussie company www.rudyandthedodo.com.au} and I might even be inspired to make the odd pressie. I do love these pretty teacup candles featured on Martha - how adorable are they!

Thoughtful, thrifty shopping means getting in early and checking out what's on offer - so I'm determined to spend a little time each week checking out what's available. Normally I just do the last minute rush - but not this year. Nope, organisation's going to be my middle name!

oooh, what a manic monday

This morning started off manic {rush to buy milk for breakfast, dash over to the next suburb so hubby can pick up the car we left at our friends' on Saturday night, race to canteen to report for duty} and now I'm looking at a list around a kilometre-long and trying to breathe...

I'll start with the essentials {such as finding these fabbo D&G heels on Zappos.com}, move on to paying the deposit for the farmhouse we're renting in Provence {yep, our second place is booked - will post pics soon! Squeee!}. It's all do-able - if I can keep my cool.

How's your week looking?

all fired up

We went to friends' house for dinner last night {an absolutely delicious Jamie Oliver-inspired meal of roasted chicken, vegies and white beans - I must have the recipe - it was divine!}. Along with all the chatting, eating and {ahem} drinking, I also found the time to fall in love. See, our friends are also Mac-fiends, and their love runs even deeper and truer than mine. They have iPhones, iMacs {including the adorably retro coloured-belly mac!} and, le sigh, an iPad.

Now remember how I said I'd be sensible and look into buying a laptop to take with me OS? Changed my mind. I need an iPad. I tested out the screen-accessed keypad and was easily able to type a few sentences, even after a fair bit of champagne and with fingernails too long to type properly {I miss netball because I always trimmed my nails weekly to play - now I tend to forget...}

Apparently you can buy a dock that contains a keyboard - sold!

Oh, iPad, you must be mine...

rocking my foundations

Wow, did we have some wind last night. At one stage I was pretty sure our house was going to be picked up and transported elsewhere it was so crazy. Everything still seems to be in the right place this morning - so that's a good thing.

Apparently it's snowing in Goulburn today - which helps explain this crazy cold as well.

Oh spring - come back, please...

it gets better

I am loving this new project where famous faces are putting themselves forward to tell teens who are being bullied, ostracised or are experiencing any difficulties due to their sexuality: "It Gets Better". Their messages are heartbreakingly honest and I've found it hard to watch any without shedding a tear. Tim Gunn is spectacularly honest in his video, and if even one teen is helped by his words it's been a massive success.

Chatterbox Sara has written a beautiful post over on her blog that covers this subject in far more detail: check it out.

Here's hoping that our children grow into a world that practices tolerance, love and understanding - regardless of any differences of sexuality, colour, looks or practices.

Along with hoping we can do our best to raise children who not only aspire to these ideals - but will be brave enough to stand up for them too.

what's in a name?

If you'd asked me two days ago how I came up with the name for my blog I would have said, "Oh, I don't know - it just sort of came to me". But if you asked me today I would have realised that the name came to me because my gal's first ever pair of shoes were a pair of bright pink patent mary janes {and we continued the mary jane theme for as long as possible - damn they're a classic shoe...}.

I do like a story behind a name. Our gal's name has a story: a good one. When I was barely pregnant we travelled to the UK for my sister-in-law's wedding and as she was getting married up near the scottish border we decided to travel to my ancestoral town in Scotland. My grandfather had recently given me an oral history of our family which went back to the town of Crieff in Scotland - so I knew I had to go there. Visiting I realised how popular my family name was: streets, pubs and even the castle above bore my family name. It was while we were reading the history of the castle that a girl's name leapt out at us. She was the Queen who lived in the castle in the 16th century and both of us knew that would be our daughter's name.

Sure enough, we were blessed with a wee bonny lass and she has a name with history, a story and great beauty. It's a name to be proud of and one that just suits her to a T!

loving mr lynch

Twin Peaks, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, even the virtually incomprehensible Mullholland Drive, all leave me with a lasting love for David Lynch.

I'd love to see this exhibition of his photographic work in Paris. Sigh.

But for now I'll content myself with the fact that Foxtel are about to start screening Twin Peaks from the end of the month {squeeeeee!}

friday flowers

I do love Crepuscule roses - their pretty peach faces look ever so lovely rambling all over buildings and arches. Before our wisteria took off I was thinking about replacing it with a crepuscule rose, but now I'm far too deeply in love with the pendulous violet blooms - as fleeting as they are.

It's another grey and murky day here - why does Australia turn on the worst weather when we have overseas visitors? My gal also has a pool party to attend this afternoon - although a bit of grey sky's never put a child off a swim. But I hope for the birthday gal's sake that the sky clears before the party.

Aaaah, Friday. Gotta love the day that signals a weekend!

hey girly

It will come as no surprise to anyone who's had more than a cursory glance at this blog that I'm quite a girly girl. I only wear dresses and skirts - pants are for sport and the odd spot of lounging. My nails are never nude - but always clothed in pretty colours. Going up means glamming up with make-up and I take no greater delight in planning how to make-up my face well in advance of the event. My home is filled with flowers, pretty colours and fripperies that cause me delight.

But in some ways I'm the antithesis of what's expected of a girly girl.

I shower quickly. In, wash, out.

I loathe shopping. Window shopping is my idea of personal hell - I shop with a purpose and much like showering I'm in, buy, then out.

Chatting on the phone - eek, not my thing. But commenting on blogs, facebook statuses and twitter - oh-so-my-style...

High maintenance? Nope. My hair's home-dyed {thank you Clairol Nice'N'Easy}, I don't do regular facials - my only indulgence is leg waxing - which is an essential really.

I don't buy new frocks for special events - I just re-accessorise. {frugal - but if I'm honest it's my loathing of shopping that makes this a necessity}

I'm the first one in my family who's ready to go out - even when I've done the full make-up. I've learned not to stand fretting at the front door and now I lie on the bed and read until they're out the door.

You?

getting closer...

We're finally getting a Gold Class cinema in this neck of the woods - and it's meant to be open in time for the premiere of Harry Potter - S.Q.U.E.E.E.E!

jeff probst i heart you so

Have you seen this? I've been a huge Survivor fan since the very start, missing a few series in the middle when Channel 9 decided to either screen it at Midnight Saturdays or not at all. And I'm loving this new series to bits - especially now Jeff's blogging about the episodes! I adore how he's sitting at home, watching with us and offering up insights - and how he loves and loathes the same people I do {Naonka - evil piece of work}. Tragically they've now moved it back to a later time slot so I'll need to prop open my eyes with match-sticks to keep viewing it - but oh, it's worth it...

my baby's a buddy!

It feels like only yesterday when my gal went off to Kinder Orientation to meet her 'buddy' - and today she's training to be a buddy herself! She's desperate to meet her little kinder friend and to guide her through that first school year.

Today's an out of uniform day for Buddy Training and my gal's looking cute-as-a-box-of-buttons in shades of pink and green {right down to green toenails, bless!}. In just a few short weeks she'll meet her lil buddy - can't wait!

aaaaand, back to bed

Ouch. Have a migraine. Developed last night, and has refused to abate despite drugs and sleep - so more drugs and sleep it is.

See you tomorrow x

glee + rocky horror = squeeeeeeee

Can.

Not.

WAIT!

Go here if you want more {more, more, more}

penny pinching for paris {and provence}

I think the most important thing about being frugal and saving is to make it enjoyable. Rather than concentrating on what you're missing out on, focus on what you're creating. Keep tabs of how much you've saved and celebrate milestones with something the family can enjoy.

We had a family picnic the other day with my sister-in-law and her two gals. Now, normally when we picnic I head straight for the shops for baguettes, cheeses, olives and all manner of yummies. This time I made chicken, avocado and lettuce sandwiches, popped some popcorn, grabbed some crackers and a dip from the fridge. I filled a big bottle with water, took down a tablecloth and we set up at the beach. Guess whether we had just as much of an enjoyable time with a put-together meal as opposed to a $50+ banquet?

It's easy to fall into expensive traps. I know that I've done so in the past. Spending money's a helluva lot easier than saving it. Saving takes a little thought and preparation - but boy, does it make life simpler in the long run.

It also helps to include your child in the frugality - and helps set them up on the path to financial freedom in the future. They don't need to worry about money, just learn that there are more frugal options - and often ones that are more environmentally responsible too.

you little sew-and-sew

With the Australian dollar virtually equal to the US dollar I'm going crazy checking out Amazon and Etsy. On Amazon I found THIS what I believe to be the book that will help me learn to sew. I need it, I want it, I must have it...

meal-planning monday

Woohoo, school's back! Now we can get back into something resembling normality. Starting with meal-planning: here's what we're eating this week.

Tonight: twilight netball resumes, so it's an easy, thrifty dinner. I've removed some salmon patties from the freezer and we'll have them with salad. Perfect!

Tuesday: We'll be eating the pork roast I bought from the markets but didn't have time to cook last night as we were out visiting until late.

Wednesday: Chicken and chorizo pasta bake.

Thursday: French lessons resume, and then I'm off to a party afterwards {I know!} So I'll put a beef curry in the slow cooker for the boy and the gal. There'll be plenty leftover for a thrifty freezer meal next week.

Friday: Now the weather's warming up I want to start bbq Fridays. I'm thinking some fish on the bbq with a thai salad on the side.

Saturday: Steak and salad will be easy/peasy.

Sunday: Roast chicken and vegies {normal meal traditions will resume...}

I also need to get in and do some school lunch baking. I'm thinking pizza scrolls {puff pastry, pizza sauce, cheese, diced onion and bacon, rolled up and baked.} Luckily I bought a yummy banana bread at the markets yesterday so it's been sliced and individually-wrapped and frozen. I love having options in the freezer ready to load up the lunchbox - the more the merrier.

purple power

There's just something about the colour purple that screams strength to me. I don't know about you, but I'm extremely influenced by colours. Even though navy and white are a classic combination I still can't wear them as they remind me of my school uniform and signify the opposite of elegance. In winter I love black and not because it's safe, or 'slimming' but because I think it's a truly striking colour when accessorised well.

In spring and summer I burst out in colours - the brighter and bolder the better. I'm also lusting after paler shades of peach and apricot and shall need to find at least one item in these colours.

Do you have a confident colour?

sunny sundays - hurrah

It's a lovely sunny sunday today - which is lucky as we've quite a bit planned. We've just finished breakfast and soon we'll be heading off to the Darby Street Fair, followed by the Farmer's Markets and then off to Morpeth with the English rellos. We're also hoping to fit in a quick visit to our fave nursery just outside of Maitland - and, as I have nary a bottle of champers in the house, I think we'll need to stop off at Dan Murphys too.

Dinner will be something roasted from the Farmer's Markets. Love a Sunday roast.

What are your plans for the day?

my favourite monster

Please: go here...

Grover+Old Spice = Much Hilarity.

soggy saturday

I have an awful feeling we're in for one of those horribly long soggy patches we get in Newcastle in Spring. Weeks of rain that seem like they'll never let up. So much rain that you have to continually fertilise the garden as it washes away the nutrients. Eep.

At least I'll save money on washing my car...

friday flowers

Today I'm going to love this day so much I'll want to marry it.

I'll be carrying this bouquet naturally.

ridiculously gorgeous

perfectly pretty

I'm just heading out to collect my gal from her sleepover party and then, at lunchtime, I'm off to pick up my sister-in-law and two neices. They're coming to stay for a few days which is very squee-worthy. Hopefully the weather will pick up, although I don't think the overcast sky will stop three girls from swimming up a storm.

I can't wait to see them all giggling away together, and to spend the time giggling and chatting with my sis-in-law. I'm sure there'll be a fair bit of plotting what we'll do when we head over to see them next time...

PS: This shot? Just because...

a question...

Does anybody know why my blog links don't seem to be updated? Specifically my Best Read column where blogger is stubbornly refusing to post Maxabella Loves as today's post {ie MINE}.

pssst

Hey, I'm guest-posting today over at Maxabella loves. Guess what I've written about...

bathing beauty

This is the bathroom in our 'second choice/second house in Provence' {yeah, I know, I hate me too...}. I'm thinking I'm needing similar tiles when we renovate our bathroom so I'm saving this for inspiration.

Le lovely.

taking flight

Guess what? We've booked our tickets for our holiday next year. Squeeeeeeee! We have a friend who's a travel agent and my husband gave him our dates to check out any early bird deals and oh boy, did he find a deal. Next year we're flying with Singapore Airlines, in the swishy new airbus for a price less than what we paid in 2006 - and 1999 for that matter! I know!

Now, I just need to work on looking as glamour as Ms Dietrich here - that'd get us an upgrade to business class wouldn't it!

double duty dinners

Here's another chapter in my on-going "Penny Pinching for Paris {and Provence}" and it's all about dinners. I don't know about you, but one of our greatest expenditures is on food - and I'm not going to start eating baked beans and two-minute-noodles! Instead, when I cook I look to see how my food can do double duty.

Buying big and buying bulk is often cheaper, but as we're a family of three we don't usually need the huge cuts of meat. So now, I look at how many meals I can get out of a piece of meat. For example: Sunday night's roast chicken. It was a whopper - 1.8kg Lillydale. I simply put a few pieces of lemon and some sprigs of thyme in the cavity, popped it on a roasting rack and poured some water in the roasting tin. After an hour and a half it was golden brown and so juicy thanks to the lemon in the cavity. Mmmm. For dinner hubby and I had a drumstick and thigh, gal had the wings and a little breastmeat - with our salad and veg. After dinner I took off the remaining meat {probably two cups-worth of shredded breast meat} and put it in a container ready for tonight's dinner {linguine with lemon, chilli, chicken and basil}. Finally, the carcass of the chicken went into a saucepan, along with some roughly chopped shallots and was covered with water and simmered for an hour and a half. There's two litres of chicken stock next time I need it!

When I cook a leg of lamb I make sure it has the bone {for extra flavour}. We have the roast one night and the next I'll make a shephard's pie with the leftover shredded meat - or a lamb salad. With salmon I'll cook an extra slice or two for a salmon nicoise salad - cheap and a great way to boost your omega 3 intake. If I make a meatloaf I'll buy a kilo of mince and use half for the loaf and make meatballs with the remaining mix to serve with tomato pasta sauce and spaghetti.

I'm also going to look to totally use my oven. Why cook one meal on one shelf when I could be cooking tomorrow night's dinner on the other shelf - saving electricity and time.

What are your double duty dinners?

lanvin, le lovely

The colours! The fabric! The fabulously swooshiness of that skirt!

Oh, I'm a-swooning alright...

game for a giggle

How could I resist these? C'mon, heels with a mohawk? Priceless! Yves Saint Laurent sure know how to whip up a shoe - and considering I'd just come off watching Glee when I found these, they were a no-brainer to feauture {shoes that remind you of Puck every time you look down? Mmmmm}

So, it's a public holiday in part of the country today, but public holidays don't apply to freelancers - especially freelancers who've just returned from a week's holiday. Nope, I'll be working today. Enjoy your monday - whether you're on holiday or not!

free-ranging kidlets

This here is the sunroom where the adults spent many daylight hours of our holiday. Out that glorious picture window is just part of the 100 acres where two 10-and 11-year-old girls would wander. Those teeny little fluffy things in the background are the cows and alpacas they hung out with. The girls would wander in before midday and we'd head off to a town for lunch, then we'd come back and wouldn't see them again until it was time for them to walk with their dads up the hill to the local pub. The girls would sit around the corner in the 'kid's section' with a raspberry and lemonade and a packet of chips, while the dads sat in the next room with a couple of local beers.

Bliss.

I've just been over at MamaMia catching up on my reading and found the piece about Free Range Parenting. It's a concept I adore, but that just isn't always possible in my inner-city suburb. Where I grew up we lived across the road from the bush - with an old quarry in it. One day we removed the car bonnet from an old wreck lying abandoned and used that bonnet to hoot down the cliffs formed in the old quarry. We'd make cubbies in dry creek beds and abandon them when we found they were inhabited by red belly black snakes on our next visit. We had a service road outside our house that was the access for about seven houses in our street. We just saw it as a great place to set up ramps to ride over on our bikes. When our parents were away we'd climb up on the balcony on the second story of our house and jump the six foot of paving to land in our backyard pool {only six-foot-deep at the deep end}. How nobody died or broke things is beyond me.

I'd hate for my daughter to do some of the daring things I did, but being the only girl in a street-full of boys made for a tomboyish upbringing {and possibly the reaction of being such a girly adult?}. I would like her to experience more. I'd like a life more like the one we shared on holidays. That's why we'd like to go there with the same family again next year. The adults all got along and the two girls adventured magnificently together. Those roses in their cheeks may soon fade, but the memory of such an exhilarating holiday will stay for a lifetime.

And I'll try to think of ways she can experience that exhilaration on a more regular basis too.

what's cookin' this week?

I know it's a Saturday, but after a week of positively indulgent eating {lots of duck confit, plenty of pork belly and all-round deliciousness} it's time to get onto some lighter spring meals. Here's what I'll be serving up this second week of the school holidays:

Tonight: Crispy skinned salmon, salad and steamed broccoli with almonds.

Sunday: Roast lemon chicken and salad.

Monday: Early dinner as hubby and daughter are driving to collect sister-in-law and two nieces from the airport. We'll make it a steak and salad night.

Tuesday: Gal has a pal for a sleepover. Let's try a chicken linguine dish shall we?

Wednesday: Gal is at a birthday party sleepover and I'm off to a dinner with my old netball team. Hubby can cook up a blokey t-bone with some steamed veg.

Thursday: Sister-in-law and the girls down for a visit: squid and prawns on the bbq with plenty of salads on the side.

Friday: Still visiting - I'll make up some 'never-fail' chicken pot pies and serve it with veg.

What's on your menu this week? Do you love a seasonal meal as much as I do?

birthday boy

Yesterday it was our kitty cat's fourth birthday. So we celebrated with a "birthday cake" made from Fancy Feast and tempters. I love this shot I snapped off with my dearly beloved Hipstamatic function on my iPhone {husband is not so enamoured so I have to make sure I take shots with the regular camera as well...}.

Look at our big boofy boy - cuteness incorporated or what?

totally recharged

This Saturday I'm grateful that we've just spent the most relaxing week in the country. Yep, that's the house we stayed in - again. I'd find it hard to ever stay in another holiday house as this one has so much to offer: views of the valley to die for, 100 acres for the girls to wander around, alpalcas {now officially my favourite animal after seeing them run - hilarious}, a massive big fireplace and huge couches to gather around at night, and the most delicious sunroom to while away the daylight hours.

I'm grateful for good friends who make a week go by so quickly and so pleasantly. I'm grateful for girls who spent the week with roses in their cheeks and a gleam in their eye. I'm grateful for all the beautiful champagne we consumed and fabulous meals we supped on.

I'm also grateful to come home to a lovely clean house thanks to my in-laws who stayed here and cat-sat/garden-sat and house-sat.

I'm pretty damned grateful I've got so much to be grateful for.

I'm playing along with Maxabella - wanna join in?

stella!

Open those diaries and circle 9am October 31 as Stella McCartney is designing a new range for Target. Yeah baby! Last time around I bought the most exquisite wool and cashmere jumper and swing coat and still love both of them to bits. Run - otherwise you'll be fashion roadkill.

And check out next week's Grazia magazine where selected pieces shall be featured. Squeeee!

i'm back

Well, I've just walked in the door after the world's most relaxing holiday in the world's most beautiful location. Honestly, it's hard to find a more glorious town than Burrawang in the Southern Highlands - bucolic bliss. The trees were in full blossom, the fields were lush and rich green - it was glorious. I must go back again soon.

teatime?

I've blogged before about my inability to make tea. See, I'm impatient and never, ever let it draw long enough to give me the rich hit I need.

However, if I had Karl hanging out on the side of my cup, well, I'd become a rich tea addict in no time at all... {available at Colette http://colette.fr/#/eshop/article/20612461/donkey-products-5-tea-bags-pret-a-portea/61/}

penny pinching for paris

I truly think that the best way to save money is never to see it in the first place. We organise for a chunk of funds to be paid directly off our mortgage, and whenever there's a windfall it goes straight into the home loan. Now I'm setting aside a portion of funds toward our holiday. We've worked out a budget {a realistic once, hence, a scary one} which is so easy to do with the internet.

It's easy to see how much our accommodation is {particularly if you book it in advance} and to check out the exchange rate and work out approximately how much you'll be spending on meals and activities {again, easy to see on-line how much a lunch or dinner is at a chosen restaurant}. Then it's a matter of putting aside a wee bit more for 'chance' and going from there.

We're also not really going to spend much on each other this Christmas. Instead, I want Euros to spend in France. I'm really trying to make it my mantra "Do I need this, or could this money be better spent in Paris?" Every time I choose a meat or product that's on sale I consider the savings as funds toward my trip - it makes saving that much more satisfying.

Do you have any savings hints that you've learned over the years?

magnificently monday

Sure, I'm away, in the country, but that doesn't stop me from posting an exquisitely classic pair of pumps does it? {thanks Maxabella for the tips!} These Ferragamo mary janes are so pretty I nearly burst into a spontaneous round of applause when I spied them.

Don't they give you a Mad Men vibe?

holiday, celebrate

In just a few short hours we'll be hitting the road and driving south for a holiday {sadly, not in a cute-as-a-button Citroen 2cv - my dream car...}.

Can. Not. Wait.

Now, hopefully I've scheduled posts while I'm away {fingers and toes crossed} so keep on popping by. Enjoy your sunday and I'll be back late next Friday.

true mud

I'm more than a bit in love with this Sesame Street take on True Blood.

gratitude is...

I'm playing along with Maxabella today and taking note of all the things I'm grateful for.

♥ I'm grateful that my gal has some beautiful friends who bring out her kind, happy and gentle side. She's had a friend over for a sleepover and they've swum, written letters to fairies, made vanilla hotcakes and been so adorable my heart's swollen to bursting point.

♥ I'm grateful for a garden that encourages visits from fairies who flit between the flowers {the girls have spied quite a few flower fairies in the wisteria this morning}.

♥ That I have an inviting pool to dive into today when the temperature's set to reach 29 degrees.

♥ My holiday that I'm heading off to tomorrow. Ahhhhhhhhh.

♥ That I'm part of a blogging community so embracing - love you guys!

friday's flowers

I do love the little mop-headed allium flowers. So fuzzy and sweet. I always plan on planting some around the base of my roses, between my catmint, but have yet to get around to it. This year perhaps?

friday I have sunday on my mind...

It might be friday, but I'm hankering for Sunday. On Sunday we're off for five blissful days down south in my favourite town in Australia {besides my own...}. Yep, we're hitting Burrawang in the Southern Highlands. Last year we had the most incredibly relaxing, yet fun, holiday with another family and we've booked the same holiday house again this year. The girls are beside themselves with plans and we adults are looking forward to days spent lazing, and nights spent sipping champagne in front of the fire {surely it'll still be chilly enough for a fire at night - won't it?}.

We've already got a few traditions: every afternoon the dads and the girls walk up the hill to the pub where the girls play checkers and sip fire-engines while the dads sip beers and chat. While this goes on we mums either sit in the sunroom and read - or possibly have an afternoon nap. I know - it's all too fabulous.

Of course I have work to finalise before I leave. I would also like to work out how to schedule posts so I don't leave you hanging for a week {anyone technological care to fill me in on that?}. Ah, country roads...

perfectly pretty

I'm having a wee bit of a floral crush on ranunculas at the moment. Kind of a cross between peonies and roses, these delicate little blooms come in just the perfect palette of prettiness. I'm itching for a bunch of these to brighten up my bench - particularly as I have a pale blue milk glass vase that'd just make them pop!

harry, harry, harry, harry, HARRY

The new trailer's released today. You just know I'm going to be linking to it don't you {just did - back there - it's on facebook so I presume you have to log in - but you're on facebook aren't you}? If not, try here. Now, I'm a little bit scared that I'm going to spontaneously combust with anticipation about this film - and the fact that it's in two parts? Eep.

Now, today, I have the peskiest job in the world to complete. It's driving me bonkers, but I'm determined to complete it. One more coffee and I'm on it.

love

In the dictionary, right there next to the words Elfin Elegance is a picture of Carey Mulligan.