THE WEEKEND

a great weekend!

the highlights:

• dinner, drinks + laughs with my friend L
  


• watching my husband + her boyfriend A falling drunkenly into a bush while clinging to each other in the hope of staying upright - it's not big, it's not clever......but it really was very funny!
  


• snuggling all day sunday with a sleepy + hungover husband
  


• watching stranger than fiction on dvd. this was such a sweet film + in it, maggie gyllenhaal's character has my dream job - running a little bakery, serving homemade cookies + cupcakes. wow, lucky girl.
  
  
  

• finding out that bernadette at sugarloop has put another batch of spring tree prints up for sale + managing to snap one up! this design is a little different to the first (linked to last week) but equally beautiful.
  

• the relief that my sent swap packages made it to their recipients safely + delight at their response. both nikole + donna seem to be happy with what was sent......thanks girls! here they are before being shipped off to canada + scotland respectively (the packages, not the girls!)
  

......my red, white + blue, british-themed vintage button swap package

+ the tuquoise hued, mellow + yellow swap one.

i'm off to dream about the cookies i'll serve in my imaginery bakery......

hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

xx

LONDON CALLING

things seem to have calmed down a little bit after the last few days of button swap excitement!

a few days ago i said i'd tell you about my jam-packed couple of days with jules, so that's what today's post is all about.

we started off on friday with lunch, so a visit to carluccios was in order - delicious. tummies full, and onto selfridges......i LOVE selfridges, it has so much to offer - great stationery, an excellent mix of clothes (high street + exclusive), fantastic homewares, amazing foodhall, i could easily stay in there for hours. we didn't though, just bought a couple of little bits + pieces, then battled our way up oxford street to topshop. now......i also LOVE topshop + in theory should adore the gigantic one at oxford circus, but i don't. it totally overwhelms me......there are too many things...... i can't seem to take it all in! i know there's some great stuff in there, but i never seem to be able to find it - drop me into a normal sized topshop though + i'll find loads i like. it's a strange one, but i do still get lured in by it's sheer size - maybe one day i'll learn!

we then moved our shopping trip onto covent garden, where we had a bit of a browse before succumbing to our tummies once more - wagamama this time......yum! i'd managed to book half-price theatre tickets the day before, so we finished our day off brilliantly with a trip to see dancing in the streets......

......it was really good! i'm mad on motown music, so i was in my element + jules loved it too, so it was a great end to a lovely but exhausting day.

the following day was destined to be a more chilled out affair, we took our time getting ready before heading into london again. first on the agenda was buying a picnic to take with us to the V&A - cue EAT for salads + sandwiches......

and peyton & byrne for some delicious cupcakes - check out these beauties......

strawberry cream + choc mint

(both fared pretty well but the heat did take it's toll on the crispy dried strawberries!)

because it was such a beautiful day outside, we had to force ourselves into the museum to see the kylie exhibition. it was worth it though, there are some amazing costumes + photographs on show - it's so interesting to see how her outfits look in real life compared to on stage or in photos. i'm honestly not kidding when i say that most of them look really, really tacky......even the dolce + gabbana ones, we couldn't believe it! the best ones in the exhibition were two stage costumes by john galliano (from the showgirl + showgirl homecoming tours), these really were gorgeous + so beautifully made - view them here + here.

before we left the museum for home there was time enough for a look round the fantastic shop + for me to treat myself to a few little goodies......

a cute pattern-cutting sketchbook and two funky cards, featuring designs from st.judes

all in all a lovely couple of days spent with a very special friend.

hope i didn't bore you all too much with my rambling!

xx

VINTAGE BUTTON SWAP DEUX

prepare yourselves. this post is going to be filled with so much gorgeousness, you might struggle to cope with your swap envy. you are also going to want to adopt my wonderful swap partner nikole as your new best friend......but you can't have her, she's mine!

this sexy little number turned up on my doorstep on friday morning.......

because i was just on my way out the door with my friend jules (more of that tomorrow) i didn't get a chance to open it, even though i was absolutely dying to. to cut a long story short, i didn't actually get to open it until saturday morning. this was a result of a very late return home on friday + the lack of daylight for me to take step by step photos - yes, the anticipation was excruciating!

anyway, first layer of wrapping off (don't you just love the lacy tape?), box opened + i was greeted by this......

inside was a charming little discription of the whole package and where everything came from. nikole decided to send all reused + recycled items, which is so clever + fits in perfectly with the vintage theme of the swap. the box itself was divided into three layers (to resemble a three layer cake - how sweet is that?) + the first one looked like this......

JEEZY PEEPS! is the bunny not the cutest thing you've ever seen? hasn't she arranged it so beautifully? imagine the delight at knowing this is only just the beginning, there are still two more layers to go!

:: top layer contents ::

a pretty duck-egg buckle

duck-egg + brown speckled feather

an air mail envelope from japan......

a lovely scattering of vintage buttons

the beautiful bunny pin - made by sonja ahlers from recycled sweaters

on to the patriotic middle layer......

:: middle layer contents ::

cool little recycled notepad from five + a half

bulldog clip from japan

stripy string from austria

a canadian stamp + funky maple leaf button - homage to nikole's homeland......

10 other colourful buttons (special mention to the little blue one (top left) and the red + white stripy/spotty one!

this layer freaked me out a bit when i uncovered it - you'll understand why once nikole has received her package + i'm able to talk about what i sent her......it's quite scary.......but in a cool way.

last (but by no means least) we reach the bottom layer......

:: bottom layer contents ::

a beautiful black + green leaf, glass button from the czech republic

3 chunky beauties - she got these from an estate sale - $5 for someone's whole collection, why can't i find things like that!?!

4 cute hors d'ouvres sticks

a yummy bar of soap

the sweetest little message + tag

i. love. everything.

thanks nikole, you really are the best + i hope you're not too disappointed with your package, cause i know it doesn't even come close to this one.

everthing is laid out so perfectly + looks so good on it's corrugated card that i don't want to take it apart. i think i'm going to leave it all as it is for now as i can't bear to break up the collections just yet......maybe i could hang them on my wall!?!

oops, too late - the bunny's already broken free!

have a great day. xx

FIT TO BURST

one of my best friends from home is coming to stay for a few days + i'm SO excited i might just pop!

friday morning will be the official start of 2 and a bit days of girlieness. jules is actually arriving (minus my beautiful godson) on thurday night, but C will be away with work on friday and saturday so that's when the fun begins + we can get up to whatever we want.......within reason of course!

as i'm the host + the one who lives down here, it goes without saying that i'm the official events planner + it's not necessarily that easy 'cause i want to make it a really special couple of days for her. ooh the pressure! i'm currently shortlisting ideas + to make the most of our time, it looks like we'll be spending both days pounding the streets of london.

so far i'm thinking -

a trip to the V + A to see this kylie exhibition, possibly this new york fashion one, oh + we definitely need to make time for refreshments in the lovely garden

at some point it's essential we to stop in here, here or here for a sweet treat

maybe some last minute tickets for a show - if we're lucky!

probably (+ predictably) scoff our way through edamame + katsu here

a spot of shopping around covent garden or maybe a saunter up kings road

roll on friday - the possibilities are endless!

POP!

told you!

xx

SHINE ON

wow......what a great weekend! everything always seems so much better when the sun is shining, doesn't it? it's easier to get out of bed in the morning, you're filled with more energy, there's loads of different things to do, i love it! so much so, that i've not had time to do any of this for a few days. that's the bad side i suppose, and it's also a bit naughty considering i've only just started. it really doesn't bode well for the future of this blog, especially since we're heading into summer and (hopefully) months of sunshine!

so what have i been up to? well, i completed my button swap package for nikole + it's currently winging it's way over to canada as i write. i now just need to hope that it makes it's journey in one piece + that she likes what i've sent her - i'm keeping my finger's firmly crossed on both counts! once my eagerly awaited package arrives, i'll be sure to post pics + details of both.

apart from that, i had a lovely day with friends on saturday, during which i enjoyed 2007's very first glass of pimms - destined to be the first of many over the coming months. it wasn't quite pimms in it's traditional, heavenly, refreshing sense (laden with ice-cubes, mint, lemon, orange + cucumber), more a thick, syrupy, half lemonade, half pimms kind of affair - it was, however, lovely all the same + to be fair, the poor bar staff did try to find some fruit to put in it!

sunday was spent enjoying the hospitality of two of C and i's very best friends.

a gorgeous day

spent

in the garden playing boules

(our own unorthodox grass version - no skill involved whatsoever,

the contours of the land dictate who wins. they didn't choose me)

taking lots of photos in the garden (loving the apple blossom!)

drinking wine

eating delicious food

and generally having lots of fun

what more could we ask for on a sunday - thanks guys. xx.