Hugging trees, chasing shadows

Today Max bonded with a tree....

Chased his shadow....

Drove a train....

And bought his Mummy flowers!

Thanks for the fun day boopie!

xxx

Home Inspiration!

Morning! How y'all doing today?

Richard and I are borderline obsessing about building our Raumati house at the moment.

I guess because we are stuck in a smallish two bedroom rented flat and everything in us wants to get stuck into a renovation or building project!

We are pretty much done on the design and planning stage and have our sketches and drawings ready to be sent to our NZ draughtsman, so exciting!

It was really difficult to pin down a design direction as we love so many different styles.

But when we saw this house on the Trade Me property website we were sold!

Of course our interior style is a little different to this, but I love the bare bones of this house. The windows, the proportions and the fact that from the outside the house doesn't look too imposing. Oh, and the marble! I loooove the marble!

xxx

Friday's craft project

Tomorrow I will be roaming the streets of Fulham with a carrybag, picking up fallen leaves.

Every Friday I help out at a toddler group and I have to think up a craft for the little kiddiwinks.

So for this week I'm thinking Autumn leaf pictures!

Twenty toddlers, a bag of leaves and pots of glue...what could possibly go wrong?!

xxx

Poolside Gossip

Soooooooo Richard and I spotted this brilliant photographic print in a gallery down Fulham Road yesterday.

It is our birthdays coming up and we have been working so hard lately and it's good to invest in art.......

But really we didn't need an excuse, cos it's just too fabulous.

(I think that is actually my Mum in the 70's on the left!)

'Poolside Gossip' by Slim Aarons.

xxx

Rainy day fun...

Today Max and I created beautiful Owl pictures from left over scraps of fabric....

And 'cupcakes' from pink playdough....

Dear reader, what are we gonna do when the weather REALLY packs in?!

xxx

When my back is turned....

....Max will find new and ingenious ways to climb up on the bench.

He doesn't even like carrots!!

xxx

New shoes!

This morning I did a sneaky little mission into the City. Leather Lane to be precise. Home of my favourite shoe store Kate Kanzier.

I have been after a pair of brogues for ages. So I had to purchase these beauties for £30.....

A pair of Autumn friendly tan ankle boots caught my eye, so in the bag they went! Also £30.....

Bargain of the day though was this pair of buckled ballet flats for only £10!

xxx

Farmers Market goes Uptown!

As a slight change to the regular programme I decided to check out a different farmers market this weekend. As I needed to visit the stunning ribbon shop VV Rouleaux, which is located just off Sloane Square, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to visit The Kings Road Market located in the Duke of York Square.

First impressions were good. It appeared to be a larger and better presented market than my fav Barnes market. But style does not equal substance in this case. It is a great market for international specialty foods. Having the usual suspects: bowls of olives, fresh pasta, cheeses etc. We tried a few items from the Rainforest Food stall, their ginger juice is unreal. But, there was a lack of simple fruit & veg, which is actually what I go to the market to buy. So, I came away pretty much empty handed. (Apart from my ribbon purchase, £30 later ouch!)

Rounded off the day with a divine latte from The Pantry in Old York Rd. Best Coffee all week!

Heading out for the day....

Stylish cupcake lady.....

Soooo pretty.....

Homemade jams.....

Juices?

Nah! Make mine a latte!

xxx

Bon Voyage

Today my BEST London buddy left to move home to NZ.

We have known each other for almost exactly 2 years.

We met randomly one day when we were both buying coffee at our local cafe.

Just started talking, hit it off, swapped numbers.....

Now I can't imagine what London will be like without her here.

Thanks for everything Vic, it has been the biggest pleasure getting to know you. You are like family to me now. I know everything is gonna be great for you back in New Zealand.

Miss you already......love you lots.

xxx

Vic & I being fabulous in Paris!!!

Girly coffee morning in Kensington Park.

Last week my lovely friends Danielle, Vic and I headed to Kensington Park to have a posh breakfast at L'Orangerie.

On the way there we windowed shopped in High St. Ken and feed the swans at the lake.

It was a misty day and the park felt moody & Autumnal......

There was a fab installation of archways around the park, I couldn't find anything to say who the artist was but they looked quite Rob Ryanish to me.....

Some of the goodies on offer at L'Orangerie, does it truly say £5.10 for a meringue?!

Gorgeous girls, Vic & Dan, with their gorgeous girls, India & Evie.....

Heading home we decided to grab a cab. We saw one pulling over just outside Waterstones and ran to jump in it, almost bowling over Nigella Lawson as she was getting out! She was having a book signing at Waterstones. Hooray for celeb spotting! A great morning had by all.

xxx

Today is over!

There are some days when you just go to bed and say 'today is over!'

Yesterday was one such day......

Why?

1. Max got bitten by some kid at nursery.

2. Then I took Max for a haircut and the hairdresser SHAVED the sides of his head while I wasn't looking - I'm not even joking.

3. I spent hours making a soup and then accidentally dropped a dirty old dishcloth in it!

4. Then burnt my hand on the dirty soup.

5. And the zip broke on my fav pair of boots.

Mmmmmmmmm.....dumb.

xxx

Juice kids

Max and his mate Jude enjoying the goodness of the juice!

xxx

Farmers Market

I absolutely love the farmers market at Barnes, so I am making it something of a weekly event.

Autumn produce is just too good to resist. Especially all the lovely berries. I also have a big thing for sweetcorn right now.

My weekly list looks something like this:

A nice wedge of Parmesan

Blackberries

Apples

Sweetcorn

Pork shoulder (to make a warming cassoulet)

Organic whole chicken

A coffee (Flat white)

One or two croissants & a crusty baguette

Here is my basket from this week and a sneaky little hand stealing a blackberry!

Beautiful Barnes.....

The makings of apple and blackberry crumble.....