Showing posts with label Gifts of Serendipity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gifts of Serendipity. Show all posts

30 November 2011

my ultimate 2011 Christmas Wish List

Greetings all,
Money is no object, everything is available in my size & a handsome porter carries my shopping back to my luxury car which is valet parked . . . this is my ultimate 2011 list of wishy gifts under my Christmas tree.  Of course i'd love Heremes scarves & Lanvin ballet flats, Missoni blankets & a Chanel bracelet, but this ain't a high fashion blog.
A classic Country Road kaftan . . .
 the Oroton Fortuna Hobo . . .
 Converse One Star Tempo sneakers . . .
 Kikki-K cooler bag (ultimate = realistic) . . .
 a white 6' long Porch Swing (just add handsome soldier) & . . .

everything is wrapped up in Marimekko Annansilma fabric.
 
Merry Christmas Posie, why thank you Posie.
Felicity Serendipity nominated me & now i'm nominating around Australia . . . 
Georgie from St Johns Wood in Qld
Ingrid from LottieLuLu in NSW
Kerry from TranquilTownHouse in ACT
Sarah from Molly's Maison in Tas
Shar from MumOnTheRun in WA

Thanks ladies, sorry NT, SA & Vic, next time, promise, love Posie 

09 June 2011

things i'm loving 'baskets of happiness' & my Gifts of Serendipity 'Six Senses Tour' feature

Greetings all,
Phew, what a week of market preparation.  If you could imagine the most fantastic market, only on once a quarter, 12 000+ people come-a-shopping in a massive, highly anticipated surge of handmade & handcrafted passion . . . well you'd understand the time i invest in production for such an event. 
Playing along with Paisley Jade's Things I'm Loving this Friday . . . basically it's 'basket porn'.
Mid week i picked up some new baskets from Provincial - picture French Provincial style at affordable prices, then 30% off this basket range = shopping spree!!  You can't present handmade goodness at such an upmarket event in broken down old baskets.  Ok, i might have broken/ stepped on a few baskets to make way for new ones, shhhh.  Presentation is everything, right??
 There are bread baskets, laundry basket, fruit crates, caddies & even a bicycle basket (with actual leather & brass fixings for your bike but i saw beyond that - i saw the perfect basket for my Liberty of London brooches).  All in that French-country-living shade of grey & linen, what is not to love??  Better yet, not a single thing i wouldn't use in my home, after market use.
 The charcoal tissue had these wrapped up inside - tea light caraffes.  I lit them tonight with some of those IKEA smelly fruity tea lights, quite pretty. 
 The glass carafes remind me of the wine my mother would buy in America, it had a jam jar kind of pull off lid.  She'd bring the carafes home in our luggage, they are EXACTLY like this, only with a base - these ones are bottomless & you place them over the lit tea lights.  Clever.  Just don't hold the wire holder by the handle, it's a bit, er, drunk, unbalanced & tipsy.
 I couldn't resist checking in on Revolve at the Tip just in case they had any decent baskets for my market wares.  Et voila, check out this bundle - one is even in the shape of a heart + another wooden caddy, perfect for my badge display.
 You see correctly, $10 for the lot, ten buckers!!
 Now i can't think of a single thing my husband will like in this post, he loathes my basket obsession, yet happily tosses his keys in them, socks in another, boots in the garage one . . . he'll come around.  To him they are like Tupperware, he insists he'll bury them with me. 
Have a gorgeous long weekend if you're in Australia, celebrating the Queen's April birthday in June, because that is when it suits us.  
If you're in my 'hood, join us on Saturday for the amazing Handmade Market at the National Convention Centre 10a.m. - 4p.m., which is just a short walk from . . . ANZAC Parade where at 10a.m. the Trooping the Colour is on, open to the public for the first time (it's a wonderful historic Royal Military College Parade honouring our Queen, normally at RMC by invitation only).  Oh that's a point, watch out for road closures around ANZAC Parade & Constitution Road Saturday morning.  Community Service Announcement over.
For those of you at the Handmade Business Summit, i'll see you at lunch.
Special mention that darling Felicity Serendipity has featured my Six Senses Tour of Canberra, check the post out, check her blog out, check out how wonderful Gifts of Serendipity makes you feel about your own dollups of lovely in your own life.  Thanks Felicity!!
Have gorgeous weekends everyone, love Posie

14 February 2011

bling on love . . . my valentine

Greetings all,
Happy Valentine's Day.  Whether you fall for it . . . the pressure to buy a card, jewels, flowers &/ or chocolates, who cares, i'm giving a shout out to my beloved husband!!  He reads my blog, so i post to keep him up to date with my life & our children while he's away.  Also, if you ever thought i made things up or exagerated anything . . . how dumb would i look to him??  My children & real life friends read my blog . . . so i keep it real man!!  They all know how crazy in love i am with my handsome soldier & our children really are great little people. 
There is a Valentine's Day link party with Gifts of Serendipity & Maxabella Loves, where people are flashing their love bling.  Voila, my rings, the half carat diamond says "we were young & modest with a tiny income", my husband chose the design & i still love the style.  I fiddle with my rings, especially when i think about my husband.  He is my teenage love, this is our 14th year of marriage/ 17th Valentine's Day, we've never skipped a beat. 
Some fun divorce statistics, if there is such a thing . . . military families have a 50% divorce rate (married a solider, check); parents with multiples have much higher divorce rate (twins, check); couples who marry under 25 have a higher divorce rate (22 &25, check); for every daughter your rate of divorce increases 8% (3 daughters, check); major life stressors like moving house/ interstate, losing a parent, acts of war (check, check, check) - that puts us at 350% change of divorce.
Why do we laugh off these statistics??  In a word 'communication'.  I am dedicated to my husband, his career & never complain if he's home late or away for months - he's providing for our family; we dated for 3 years & talked endlessly about children, retirement, extended family; we had twins in our mid 20s with energy to burn; & we've never fallen out of love for a second.  We're physical but with months apart, we are forced to talk, write, Skype & dream, when we're together it's like a honeymoon all over again.  All in all, when he's out in a war zone, the last thing i want him worrying about is how i'm coping at home & if i still love him.  He's the strong-silent-broody type, i'm the talker, but he nods & i force him to think deeply "are you happy, what can we work on" & above all, we're always laughing together or at my expense, either way, we have SO much fun!!
The most fascinating of those statistics is the 'for every daughter your rate of divorce increases 8%', even the professor who discovered that from decades of unbias census statistics, has 3 daughters.  It's the principle that people traditionally want sons, so you're more likely to have a larger family (strain on finances, time, energy, marriage) if you have daughters first rather than sons!!  We wanted 4 children, so the fact we had 3 girls first had little to do with that bloody annoying question "are you trying for a boy" - no, just a 4th child!!
 Filled with love in my heart & children who enjoy a bit of tax deductible craft . . . i picked up these beauties from Kikki-K, which kept them busy all day making cards for friends.  I asked the children what love meant to them . . . they came up with beautiful things like "love is family", "i love you", "having someone love me as much as Daddy loves you" ahhhh . . . to unexpected comments like "i know what you & Daddy do at night, can you be quiet".  Gulp.  Love Posie