Season Greetings...

Man, I feel like a woman!

Source: flickr.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Saw this today on Pinterest and having spent the last week admonishing myself for not sticking to my
pre-Christmas diet, suddenly things don't look too bad. Curves are where it's at! Time for another glass of Baileys me thinks....


B x

Feeling Festive?

Hello my lovelies!
I do hope you have been keeping well. I am embracing the entrance of winter and as such, have been making wintery Christmas wreaths. One of my creations has a staring roll in my new header (did you notice?) and the others have been posted in my Folksy Shop

I am really enjoying creating again and if that's all I get out if it, that's ok with me...although a few pennies for my trouble wouldn't go amiss!

I am so looking forward to the festive season. However, the closer we get, the nearer I am to saying goodbye to my little sister and her gaggle of gorgeous girls.

They head off to sunny LA in January to start a new life. Can you believe I came home from Canada 2 years ago, in part, so that our kids could grow up together and now she's off to pastures new!? I just know she's going to have a fab time and am soooo excited as I already have my tickets to visit in August; woo-hoo!

Roll on Summer!

Just kidding! Let's enjoy the moment. I'm getting the decorations out of the loft at the weekend and have my first Christmas dinner on Saturday...I feel that festive feeling coming on!

Are you feeling festive yet?
B x

Remember, remember...

Remember, remember the fifth of November; gunpowder treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder season should ever be forgot.

Happy Bonfire Night!

B x

Morning Glory!

Hello my lovely friends. How the heck are you?
I am good, although I have to admit to 'over doing it' a bit lately,
hence my new attempts at clean living.
I use the word attempts as I am really quite well known for some flaky, faddish
ideas which usually last until about lunchtime!

Oh well, this is one of my favourite morning tipples, whether I'm being good...or not.



2 apples, sliced and cored, a few carrots and a nugget of fresh ginger

Pop it in the juicer

Catch all the good stuff!

Your morning glass of goodness awaits!

What's your favourite morning tipple?

Hugs, B  x
p.s what d'ya think of my new kitchen counter tops? Fancy, eh?!

Missing you...but having fun!

I know, its been an awfully long time. I hope you have had a lovely couple of months. I have been enjoying the summer; painting furniture, sorting the barn out and celebrating my sisters' 30th birthday with a night in London and a trip with 'The Girls' to Marbella, Spain. Just wanted you to know that all is well and that now the kids are back at school, I will be back to some kind of 'normal"! See you soon.
Hugs,
B x

Shabby Chic comes home at last!

Oh. My. Giddy. Aunt.

Be still my beating heart!

I realise I may be late in the day to have heard this little nugget of joy, but for those of you who are unaware; I have fabulous shabby news...

Rachel Ashwell has collaborated with House of Fraser and will be releasing a new Shabby Chic interiors collection this August here in the UK. The collection is set to include furniture, dining, home accessories and bed linen.

Say it with me..."yippeeeee!"

I simply don't know how I'm going to stand the wait. But until such a time as we can ogle and touch the pretties in the flesh, let me leave you with these gorgeous pictures of what is to come....enjoy!

Roll on August!

Hugs, B x

Vivian Maier - A Life Uncovered

Last week I went to a lecture at the National Portrait Gallery. It was part of a bigger exhibition, about Street Photography. It was incredibly interesting and I thought I would share what I learned with you.

This is Vivian Maier. Born in 1926, Vivian was of French-Hungarian heritage. She was employed as a nanny for many years but was rather reclusive and didn't have any family or friends. All through Vivian's adult life she took photos. Photos that captured American life from the 40's to the 90's. She also travelled extensively and always took her camera, recording what she saw.Vivian didn't share her photography with anyone. She died alone and penniless in 2007 and her boxes and boxes of (some undeveloped) work was put up for auction in a Chicago auction house. On that day a young historian, John Maloof, put in a bid for a box of photographs by an unknown photographer and left the auction house. He later found out he won the bid and after leaving the box in a closet for several months he decided to take a look at what he had bought...

Maloof discovered that there were more boxes out there that had been sold at auction and set about tracking them all down. He now has all but one of the boxes which amounts to hundreds of thousands of shots. Only about 10% of which have been developed so far. It's sad that Vivian had to die before we got to see the beautiful work she created. However, John Maloof is compiling a book about Vivian's life and work, which will be out in November and a film will follow next year. I find Vivian's work fascinating and I hope she knows how much joy her photography has brought to so many people.

Hugs,

B x

All images are from http://www.vivianmaier.com/

Barn update

I have a sore throat. One of those itchy, scratchy, irritating sore throats. It's very aggravating. On the brightside, it does mean that at 3 o'clock in the morning I am up and sitting at my computer and there couldn't be a better time for me to give you a little update on my barn project.

When we first moved in to Pear Tree Cottage one of the things I was most taken with, was the lovely barn/out building that came with it...


(Excuse the photo quality, they were taken with my phone and are now the only photos of the barn as it was.)

                         This fabulous stove is in full working order and staying in the reno'd barn

                                      It really was just a dumping ground after we moved in.

                                                 very 'rustic', but not very stable....

                                             The barn in relation to the house

           I'm hoping to keep one of the old windows and turn it into a mirror...I'll let you know how that goes!

                                The vegetation was really making itself at home!

                  Who needs velux windows when you already have natural  light streaming through your rafters!

Well, clearly you can see there's much to be done. My aim was to restore rather than get rid of all of the barn's charm. However, as any of you who have taken on a project like this will know, it's a bit like dominoes and once you touch one thing, it tends to have a knock-on effect elsewhere. I hope I have done the barn justice. You can let me know, I will be posting new pictures very soon.

Now, one more mug of hot lemon and honey and I'm off to try and get some sleep.

Night, night.

B x

Simple pleasures...

My favourite arrangement...

Pure beauty.

Enjoy your weekend!
B x



p.s I' ve been without a computer for 2 weeks...grrrr...but just wanted to thank you guys for your lovely words of encouragement  re my last post- it means so very much. Also, big things happening with the 'barn' ! Will update (with pictures) next week. x

Sorting it out...

Recently, I bought these beautiful suitcases at a local flea market, which were filled with lots of gorgeous loveliness.

While I sit here, sorting through my new pretties, I find myself having a

bit of a tussle with my conscience.

It’s nothing new really.

The same tussle I have every year...every month, sometimes even on a daily basis.

The usual one that goes something like this...

”What am I doing here? The kids are getting bigger. They’re at school all day, they need me less and less. I could be out. Meeting people. Earning my own some extra money. Doing MY THING.” Except, I’m not sure what ‘my thing’ is.

10 years ago I was carving a career in the media world. I worked in television.

It was fun. Exciting. I met my Mr Right there.

I felt like I was at the centre of the universe in that office. As though our decisions meant everything.

Now I realise that as fun it was, it really isn’t the be-all and end-all. And I’ve moved on.

Being there for my kids is the most important thing to me. But I also need to feel fulfilled. My business dreams seem to have stalled- I’ve lost direction...

But as I sit here and try to decide what to do with my future and while I sort my lace into pretty piles I think...”filing was never this fun at the office!”

Oh my...!

It's that time again...the new edition of Lonny e-magazine just hit my inbox and I am loving every bright, delicious, summery page of it!

Pop over to fully enjoy!

Hugs,     B x