Sunshine and Greek food and All The Talking

Besty A and I have been mulling over our holiday options this year for EVER.

I kind of actually do mean that, with only a smidgen of exaggeration. Because this year marks our 20th friendiversary, or somesuch dodgy word. We were nine when we first met each other. Two decades of non-stop talking, several thousand 2+hour phone conversations and a few hundred in-jokes later, she's still the first person I call with good news. Or bad news. Or no news at all.

Or when I've bought something I'm not sure about. Or when I'm about to make a decision and it might not be a good one. And once, when I forgot my pin number.

So yeah. Anniversary trip. We talked about so many different options: Japan, South America, Cuba, Egypt, Jordan. At one point, when the finances were looking particularly grim, a tent next to a roundabout in Suffolk (to be fair, that would be a recreation of one of our first, actually pretty awesome holidays).

But, after all that, we're going to Greece. To Kefalonia, to be precise.

Because PRETTY.

Photo credit

Because it's in the budget, and it looks, well, like this.

Because we realised that actually, what we want to do on this trip is hang out with each other and eat yummy food and lounge around and read books.

Because neither of us have been to Greece much (A's been for Crete, I've been to Corfu a couple of times) so it's new to us both.

To keep on track for my 50 books a year target, I need to read eight books on this trip. All recommendations welcome!

Craftaholique

This weekend my friend A hosted what we're catchily calling 'A celebration because R is having a baby'.

And obviously I couldn't let an opportunity to get my hands on some crepe paper, ribbon and cake tins pass me by, so. Behold. 

A whipped up scones and the cutest-looking chocolate macarons, and I went on a bit of a lemon kick, and baked some lemon bars and a batch of lemon curd cupcakes.

And then we scattered a few gold spray-painted animals in among the baked goods. As you do. 

And there was elderflower cordial, and Pimm's, and tiny baby-gros and children's storybooks, and it was both super-relaxed and really special, and my friend K travelled all the way from Bristol for 24 hours to come to it, and, and, and. 

Basically A throws a jolly fine shindig. And one of the best parts about being back in England is that now I get to go to things like this. 

Also. Tiny golden animals MAKE EVERYTHING AWESOMER.

And this is why...

I shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Target.

 Me + clearance aisle + seasonal aisle = insanity.

I'll be in San Francisco and Napa this weekend, doing some wine-tasting, possibly hanging out with some Tennesee Fainting Goats, and almost definitely eating myself into a hyperglycemic coma.

Happy Easter!

Book love

If you know me, you might already know this, but when it comes to present-buying, I take things seriously.

I have been known to miss people's birthdays entirely because I haven't found a gift I like enough to buy. (Note: I do not recommend this.) My record for belated gift-giving is around 13 months. (Again, not recommended. Sorry Nat!)

I usually start researching waaay in advance but then procrastinate about potential options for ages. Quite often I'll have the perfect present in my head and then get increasingly frustrated when I can't find an exact physical representation of the image in my mind. And when I do buy something and feel like I've hit the wrong note, I remember it for years. Actually years.

Anyway, all of this is a long-winded way of saying that at least with birthday and Christmas gifts, you get another chance every year. But christening presents? There's only one opportunity to get it right. And it's not like you've known the person you're shopping for very long - in fact, you have very little idea what kind of person they're going to grow up to be, what they'll love, or care about, or cherish.

Forgive me for saying this, but I really doubt it's going to be a silver egg cup.

So I tend to go with books. Beautiful, ornamental books that serve as both bookshelf eye-candy and future escape to other worlds. Fairy tales, adventure stories, some of my favourite classics, in hardback, and preferably with gorgeous illustrations.

They're surprisingly hard to find. But I think I might have hit the jackpot, courtesy of Barnes and Noble. These three are about to form a christening gift for a certain little boy:

Because, in the words of J.M Barrie, all children, except one, grow up. And if they grow up imagining pirates  and treasure, Toad of Toad Hall, crocodiles and fairies and messing about on the river - well, so much the better.

All I want for Christmas is...

... this:

Image from here

A super wide-angle lens for my beautiful camera, to be exact, so that I can take uber-awesome photos of Bolivian salt flats and Chilean deserts. Sadly they're a leeeetle out of my price range to buy new. And also to buy second-hand.

So I'm saving my pennies, scouring t'interwebz for bargains and spending far too much time looking at incredible photos of the Salar de Uyuni.

In the meantime, I'd settle for a cute journal like one of these.

Both images from Paper Source

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - part 2

Now on to my favourite (and most researched) section of the Christmas list:

Little people:

One amazing additional bonus to my friends starting to become parents? I get to buy kids stuff! Right now they're all pretty much babies, still, so a few of my favourite children's purchases might have to wait a few years.

But I can't say that's limited me too much - there are so many cool things out there! Starting with books. I'm pretty old school when it comes to children's stories, I tend to stick to the classics, and to the authors that my brother and sister and I loved...

Like Janet and Alan Ahlberg.

All of these images from Penguin

Or Meg, Mog and Owl.

Although I'm also a sucker for any kind of stories about feminist princesses...

And when it comes to toys, I get paranoid about plastic bits breaking off and getting swallowed, or just generally not being very durable - so I'm leaning towards wooden toys that the babies of my acquaintance can play with, smash around, suck on and generally use as weapons to their heart's content.

Cute helicopter from John Lewis

How cute? From here

For the nesters:

This would totally include me, if I didn't keep on moving and clogging up my parents' garage with all my possessions.

Current contenders include these beautiful Roald Dahl mugs - you can get everything from James and the Giant Peach to the BFG, to my personal favourite, Matilda.

Matilda!

Or how about some Anthropologie offerings? A seriously fancypants rolling pin?

Both images from Anthropologie

Or some rather gorgeous measuring cups?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - part 1

Yeah, yeah. It's still November. Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet. Whatever.

It's raining here. I am wrapped in a blanket, listening to Sufjan Stevens singing festive songs, and eating dark chocolate-covered almonds. If that isn't Christmassy, I don't know what is.

So I thought I might show you a few highlights I unearthed while browsing for potential gifts. That's ok, right? Blatant hypothetical consumerism? They are really pretty presents, I promise!

For the bookworm:

Image from Penguin

Let's face it, if you're going to buy someone you love a book, you might as well make it the most beautiful book you can find. And it probably doesn't hurt if it's generally considered a masterpiece. I think Penguin Clothbound Classics fulfil that brief. Personally, if someone was to buy me that gorgeous copy of Northanger Abbey, I wouldn't be devastated. And I'm eyeing up The Hound of the Baskervilles for a certain someone else...

Read all of those already? Don't feel the need to update your old copy of A Tale of Two Cities with something a little jazzier? Similarly ornamental to the Penguin Classics, but rather more obscure, are Persephone Books. 100 neglected books from the early and mid-20th century, mainly by women writers. Each with a gorgeous endpaper chosen from a vintage fabric design.

I already own The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett (which is being adapted for TV), Saplings, by Noel Streatfield, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

I know a certain horror fan who I think would love ghost story The Victorian Chaise-longue, and for newlyweds (of whom I know many) Persephone recommends 'homage to married life' Greenery Street.

For the beauty junkie

You know who I mean (hello sister mine! And mother mine! Oh. And hi me!). People who like nothing more than opening a Christmas stocking to find a perfume they've been spritzing themselves with at every airport duty-free and beauty counter for the past year.

For years now I've worn the same perfume, and finally, this summer, I decided it was time for a slight revamp. So I ambled over to Sephora, told the scary overly made-up lady I liked fresh, citrussy but a tiny bit sophisticated scents (I have a way with words, right?) and lo and behold:

Image from here

The catchily titled Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Mandarine-Basilic. I love it. And when I mentioned it to my mother the other day, she got quite over-excited about its sister perfume, Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune - which apparently smells of grapefruit, blackcurrant, patchouli and vanilla.

As for my little sister, there are few things that make her as happy as unwrapping a ton of Benefit goodies.

You can never go wrong with Benetint

I'm canvassing opinions on this highlighter and this cute little travel set.

And in the meantime, I'm lusting after a few more shades of Essie nail polish. Because. Hello. Navy nails for winter? Navy nails in a shade called Bobbing for Baubles?

Or, indeed, Midnight Cami?

Images from Essie

That's what I call festive.

Next up: Presents for little people, presents for home-owning nesting people. And, if I can ever, ever overcome this hurdle, presents for my dad.

Flea market finds - again

I've been waiting for a proper opportunity to play with my new camera (aka the love of my life) for weeks, and Sunday's trip to the Rose Bowl flea market finally gave me an excuse to get snap-happy.

It was a freakishly hot day, and the Rose Bowl is absolutely vast, so what started out as a serious price-comparison mission for mid-century sideboards soon turned into an excuse to drink lemonade and admire tea cups...

But I did manage to come away with a couple of happiness-inducing bits and bobs.

Who doesn't need a jigsaw puzzle/globe?

And while I managed to hold out on the extortionately priced tea cup and saucer sets above ($25. Really? Really?)  I did pick up another couple of pretty cups.

 

My photography skillz need some serious work, but these are certainly an upgrade from what I can produce with my phone camera, so I'm not too unhappy with my first efforts!

Want

Pic from Garance Doré

I need hair like this, if you please.

Crack den

The round-up will resume tomorrow, but for now I thought I'd show you what I've been up to this weekend.

My somewhat worrying addiction to peanut butter cups, and my belief in their crack-like propensities, has already been well documented - so I decided to start a little production line and manufacture some of the home-made version.

They're intended as Christmas presents for a couple of people, but I have to admit it's been a challenge to my will-power to avoid demolishing them myself...

Yum!

Living room makeover

So I bought a hammer.

I own tools! Well, tool. Singular. I ended up attaching the backing to a picture frame with a kitchen knife, because I forgot to buy a screwdriver. But whatevs.

I spent last night and a little bit of this morning mounting, framing, hammering and generally prettifying.

My lovely (and appropriate for Halloween) Tim Burton print has found a home.



So has my flea market mirror, although I decided it was a little small for the spot over the sofa, and moved it to the opposite wall.

That bunting you can see in the reflection? That's the temporary solution I came up with to jazz up the sofa wall, which was looking very sad and unadorned.

Incidentally, I absolutely loathe this sofa. It's an inherited Ikea sofa bed, it's uncomfortable, ugly, and has basically nothing going for it except that it was free. But new sofas are expensive things to invest in, especially when I don't know how permanent my sojourn in the sun might be, so it'll do for now...

As will my coffee table, which only has three fully operational legs, but does a borderline-adequate job of holding my beloved Moroccan bowl (I spent a week searching the souks of three different cities before finding this baby.)

I also framed a bunch of other bits and pieces that were floating around, including a little print of my home town.*

I've still got a huge list of things I'd like to pick up as cheaply as possible over the next few months. Anyone feel like giving away a sideboard, a vintage globe or a decent -sized desk?

No? Dammit.

But from the right angle, it almost looks like a home...

*You see that white building in the foreground of the print? It's a pub. Random fact: I used to work in it, very briefly. I can pull an excellent pint of Guinness, but I'm still terrible at pool.