Kewpies

I am in love with Kewpie dolls and treated myself to a few of them recently. They remind me of the Easter Show when i was little. Did anyone else used to come home with a Kewpie on a stick? They usually wore a little ballet tutu with glitter instead of hair. They sat for years on my dresser.

Here are my new (but old), slightly larger Kewpies. Photographed with my iPhone 4, using a suitably retro filter from Instagram.

Too cute.

Haberdashery jealousy

When I heard a haberdashery shop was opening up on our small high street around the corner, I was really excited...but I was also a bit sad. I had been nursing a dream for the last two years or so to do the exact same thing. Then, when I heard this morning, they would also be offering classes as well, I slumped into a bit of a jealous heap frankly. This was my dream business!

To cheer myself up, I had a look at my favourite blog, Yarnstorm by Jane Brocket (I have raved about her here and here before, she is awesome, and her blog always makes my day) and spotted her latest children's book offering, Ruby, Violet, Lime. On the cover, was a photo of some cupcakes with lime green icing. I needed some of those lime green cupcakes in my life, I couldn't be sad with those in my kitchen so I set to baking, and this is what I got. 

Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cupcakes with a bit of food colouring in the mix 

I think some of the plants on our terrace were influencing my colour choices subconsciously.

See what i mean?

My husband's pride and joy - Abutilon. Very pretty.

I still feel a bit sad, but it has mostly been overtaken by feeling a bit sick from a cupcake induced sugar overdose. But seriously I don't think I can let myself feel jealous anymore just because I didn't get around to starting such a business myself. And I didn't start my dream business for several reasons. It doesn't mean there is any need for me to let go of this dream, just because someone has realised theirs around the corner from me. I think I will try and pick up some tips and tricks from them and their experiences, and you can pretty much take for granted that I will be down there enrolled in all their classes. Fingers crossed they start a sewing group. I dream of afternoons spent like this. If they don't, does anyone want to start a sewing circle with me?

I was probably a bit too 'green' to start my own haberdashery business just yet anyway.

Succulent love

I love succulents.

My granny loved succulents.

When i would visit her, she would show me her collection. She had rows and rows of them. At the time, I couldn't quite see the beauty in them. To my child eyes, they looked like mean, spiky things. I don't think it helped that for some reason, I remember them being covered in cobwebs, but that might just be my imagination. I know her love for them wasn't just my imagination. I remember her telling me all about them. I wish I could remember her words, but my memory is a silent one.

Succulents for sale at a market in Uzes, France

As my life progressed, I didn't really have any other succulents in my life. My parents were more keen on traditional flowers like roses, and our yard had agapanthus, frangipanis and magnolias. And again, I wasn't all that interested. I quite liked picking a bunch of lavender for a vase in my room, but other than that, gardening didn't take my fancy.

A few years down the line, I married a very keen gardener. We don't have a garden, we have to make do with a terrace, but my husband has filled every possible inch with pot plants that he lovingly tends day in, day out. It would take a few more years to finally pique my interest.

My first succulent 

Then, one day, I received a little succulent as a gift. I don't know what its proper name is. It is greyish green with pinks edges. I fell in love. Where my husband loves the actual tending of his, i am more drawn to the aesthetic of mine (lucky it doesn't need all that much care!).  The colours are amazing. The texture and shape. Some almost look like resin. They can look almost unnatural and hyper-real. I think they are fascinating.

Say Aloe Vera. Geddit? 

If like me, you love succulents, have a look at a little pin board of succulent pictures i have been putting together on Pinterest. Incidentally, if you haven't checked out Pinterest yet, I suggest you do soon, because it is AWESOME!

Filtering flowers

These beautiful flowers were sent from my family for our anniversary 2 months ago now (can it be that long!). They were so pretty, and managed to stay bright and cheerful for well over a week on our mantel. I thought the pinks 'popped' with this filter from Instagram. Prettiness.

Best wedding cake i have ever seen

Cats, sweetheart lollies, flowers, birdies, butterflies and glitter, this wedding cake had it all - my favourite ever! 

A little birdie

We haven't got around to carpeting the stairs to our loft bedroom yet. At the moment they are just the raw MDF with paint splatters and water stains speckling their surface. But every morning as i go downstairs, there is one particular water stain that makes me smile. Somehow, along the way, a little birdie has appeared on the third step down.

Isn't it cute?! I imagine it is mid tweet sending me on my way to breakfast every morning.

p xo

Birthdays away from home

It was my birthday recently. I was very excited in the lead up to it. I felt like I was 6 years old again, eagerly anticipating a wealth of presents, attention and love. On the day, I got all of that. But something was missing. Something, at first, I couldn't quite put my finger on. As the day pressed on, I kept finding my eyes welling up, and a feeling of utter sadness overcome me. What was wrong with me? Was I was being a spoilt brat? Was I upset over a missing gift? I couldn't work it out. My husband showered me with love and attention, as he always does; he took me for brunch at our favourite cafe and cooked me a lovely dinner, I received birthday wishes from my friends and family, as well as all the gifts I had been desperate for (a part-time pay check doesn't pay for as much as a full time one, hence my list of birthday wants, no make that needs). What was missing was me. I was missing from my own birthday, in Sydney, with my family and friends, and especially with my sister, whose birthday falls on the day after mine. It has always been a bit of an event in our house (and probably a headache for my parents) and it has always been special.

I don't know why i felt it so acutely this year. I don't think I noticed last year because of the lead up to the wedding (and our trip home) and the building work we were about to undertake. The year before, my parents were here. Perhaps, as a friend recently wrote to me, it is just time to come home.

And so, it was a bitter sweet day. Not to say I didn't have a wonderful day, I did, it just amplified what i am missing too.

Lots of love
P xo