Martha and Missoni.

If you're bored senseless by my Missoni Knitwear Obsession just click away right this second. You've been warned.
That red YSL clutch arrangement was the 1st thing I ever bought from Jean Brown....I hate to introduce a sad note, but we are all missing Amber round these here parts. She and my sister have been Tripping the Light Fantastic in Honkers. I wish I could click my heels and be there too. Anyway. Don't lose sleep wondering what lippie this is. Mac's Russian Red.

I luff that red elephant brooch 11/10. The baby gave it to me. He's genetically programmed to love shopping for accessories.

I hemmed the curtains. Look:

And sorted out the Undercushioning on this chair

And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, the Universe Spoke to Me, directed me to Channel Martha (minus the stint in Camp Cupcake for share trading fraud) and told me to paint these wooden curtain rings in my dinng room blue. I know. I was as shocked as you are.

I did as I was told

Which resulted in this arrangement:

And then I got busy with my iron on hemming tape and my glue gun and finalised these curtains.

The ceilings are low so I decided against the puddling/puddings effect.

But I can see that the whole puddling shebang would work a treat with a ceiling as high as this-

Are you making pea and ham soup? Me too.

xxxx

Movies. Normans. Garden.

I don't know about the rest of you but I'm in the mood to Embrace Some Colour. I'm thinking that this Missoni cardy could look good with a sort of leopard print top. Because I like how it looks next to the cushion. I also like it cobbled together with ye olde faithful green Milly top.

But don't panic because I'm not turning my back on neutrals.

I experienced what could only be described as a Veritable Sewing Frenzy yesterday and sewed buttons back onto 4 different things. I'd put it off for so long. The end results made me feel like I'd scaled Everest. In fact I'm casting an eye round here looking for anything else that needs mending.

Someone told me that once you had a baby it was impossible to go to movies. Thank God they were wrong. The Baby has slept his way through lots of good movies with me lately. We enjoyed Catherine Deneuve in Potiche, we loved the documentary Babies and we thought Bill Murray and Robert Duvall were excellent in Get Low (Can I just say that I love Bill? Groundhog Day nevers loses its charm and I love watching him sing Bryan Ferry's More than This in Lost in Translation). Luckily for me the baby enjoys a limited release low budget subtitled French art house flick too, so yesterday we saw Tony and Angele. I loved it. It's set in Normandy. Has anyone else seen it? The ending was so sudden and so emotional. I've never taken the baby to a Babes in Arms movie session (you know the ones designed for mothers and babies so no one will get cross if there is Misbehaviour) but I'm open to the possibility.

Meanwhile I tried to recreate the honey soy and lime chicken with coconut risotto that never leaves the menu at the Continental Cafe. It wasn't a half bad attempt. And fortuitously, bok choy was on sale at Coles. 2 bunches for the price of 1! Run Don't Walk.

I have a new Obsession. Documentaries about the Normans. Those guys are fascinating. Maybe I'll make them the Official Conquerors of the Blog and stick a snap of them on the list to the right.

This is the view from Jersey to France that I took last year so you can get a visual of them surging across the ocean ready to conquer everything in their path.

The Normans had ferocious energy and ambition and fierce enthusiasm for everything they did. They also endorsed terror chaos and violence. (Not the sort of things you'd want to see on a Workplace Team Charter).

And they were prodigious fort builders too. The Channel islands are full of them and were one of my favourite things when I was tripping the light fantastic in Jersey at the end of 2010.

I do love a fort.

I'm not sure though if the Normans were Gardeners. But if they were you can just tell they would have given it their everything. And ordered a bunch of conquered peasants to keep it flourishing. Or else.

I action my own gardening without the assistance of serfs or peasants. Although I do have that nice whippersnapper mower man who helps out with the grass and pruning.

It's freezing here. Maybe I'll bake a cake.

xxxxxxxxxx

I Love the Beach 11/10.

I love these photos. They were taken at the beach when I was hanging with my sisters and their husbands and children. The sunset was beautiful and everything felt Peaceful and Soothing and Full of Promise. I hope the Baby loves the Beach as much as we all do.

I went to a lot of effort to match the outfits worn by me, Ole Mr FF and the Baby (Red and Neutrals. In case you're wondering)

Everything was Picture Perfcet and suitable for a Financial Institution ad.

This is Mr FF with my brother in law. The one from Honkers. He is very Tall.

I wore a silk Diane Von Fursty Wurst top gifted from my friend Kate. Gee I luff that top. One minute my accessory of choice was a YSL clutch, the next minute it was Through-the-Looking-Glass and I was reaching for a Baby Bjorn Sling. I know. I'm in Shock too People.

The Baby Bjorn sling whatsy is from Zsa Zsa (Hungarian to the Stars). I needed a degree in nuclear physics to figure out how it worked but once I had, it was Deadset Handy. And cosy.

I love this photo-

xxxx

The Shopping Gods and Other Stuff.

I am loving this rainy cooler Saturday scenario. I went to brunch with M at Anouk. Possibly for the last time in a while. When I got home I started perusing phone-book-sized American Vogue.
I wore this Ginger and Smart top thing. You know how some people subscribe to the removing- an-accessory-before-you-leave-home theory? Well I'm not one of them.
Say what you will about me, I'd never ever knowingly under-accessorise.
So I threw on 2 necklaces.
To quote my friend L, "More is More"

Since I've been pregnant, I've only bought 10 items of clothing (feast your eyes on them here) I've loved my Maternity Wardrobe (I know. I'm shocked too), but I've begun turning my mind to what I'll be kitting up in once I am No Longer With Child. The Shopping Gods Directed me to hop online and have a look at some high end discounted designer clobber. I do as I'm told.

I like this See by Chloe bag:and I'm partial to this See by Chloe cape. I do luff a cape. Too hot for my climate though.

This DVF orange dress is Frocktastic, especially with the beading.

and this would be good for summer

If this Moschino smock wasn't so prohibitively 'spensive I might've bought it.

and Old Malene Birger never gets it wrong

and this Moschino top is pretty cute

Anyway, because I've embraced Frugality with every cell and fibre of my being I didn't buy anything, but it was quite soothing to browse the possibilities.

All this rain'll be good for the garden

I wish my bromeliads would flower all year round

I'm getting so excited about seeing what the baby will look like and I've been cross referencing my own baby photos. This is me at my christening with my Godparents in the early 70s.

Speaking of baby related things, I'd like to say I bought my bugaboo after careful market research but the truth is I thought it looked nice and my sisters had them. Little did I know about the Struggle and Admin and degree in physics that would be needed to collapse and put it up.

But Bugaboo, I will not let you beat me Dammit.

I've recycled some of the baby shower Fat Bird bunting and used it to decorate the nursery. Look:

and I'm using the chic cream travel cot lent by my friend K to store cushions. So handy.

Normal clothes, I miss you.

And we're through the Looking Glass because in prep for the Big day I am polish free.

Do you own one of these?

I got it to go with these frozen meal arrangements that I've been shoving in the Chang Hong freezer (China's most popular fridge brand!)

The Shopping Gods know I'm being frugal so they kindly sent this $20 frock my way

it's from Willow's favourite shoppe Zazzy. The sequins are nice.

xxxx