snap it 'red'

Greetings all,

Red is by far my favourite accessory colour for decor, kitchen appliances & fashion.  Scrolling through photos for red inspiration rather than take a new photograph, i found these beauties from family travels . . . 

a Murano glass chandelier in Venice - very difficult to photograph the glass in stores as most have 'no photo' signs, so i took shots on the move, much to my husband's horror.  They make red glass with gold, which explains why red glass is the most pricey . . . 

 yay, Disneyland, better yet, the Disneyland Hotel in Hong Kong where Minnie Mouse visits your table while you dine, it was the BEST family holiday of all time . . . 

 living in Canberra is fantastically close to the ski fields, so we throw the children on toboggans & push them down hills at Mt Selwyn for a wild time (our children have no fear, they even build jumps.) FYI best thigh work out EVER going back up the hills . . .   

 one year we had friends getting married in Sydney & we were about to move from Darwin, so i sent my husband & preschool aged son on a trip together while i packed up the house (they went for a week, the girls were in school, it was 6 hours of silent packing each day, ahhh.)  Here is our boy on a ferry from Taronga Zoo across Sydney Harbour with his much loved fearsome tiger 'Bella' . . . 

 Oh look at this, our now enormous German Shepherd was once a little puppy with a sweet red collar.  I nursed him on my lap the whole way home from the breeders, 300km away.  Yes, he grew into those massive paws & is the most loyal & loving family dog.

Playing with Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love Photography Snap It series today, love Posie

i'm grateful for . . . 'an unexpected family week day together'

Greetings all,
Well with yesterday's post (chemical explosion in Canberra & school closures), it's no surprise we high tailed it to the countryside - to Poacher's Pantry, with the children & ate up a storm. 

 Seafood platter including locally caught salmon & trout from the lakes on the property.

 The meat platter with lamb, piggie, beef & possibly kangaroo, always a variety.

 Amazing bread selection with crackers to scoop up all the condiments & dip selection.  We also ordered fish & chips, smoked sausages & deep fried zucchini balls, as our children eat like horses!!

 As a surprise day off, it was just lovely to have a care free day at a restuarant, then all the way back into the city to the Lake to hang out with the swans, while handsome soldier & i chilled out on a rug.  My husband is all about building memories, which is gorgeous & heart breaking at the same time.

 Our children were climbing willow trees & all came back with head dresses of vines.  Naturally our middle girl was the self appointed queen of the forest people.

 This image totally sums up our 3rd born, she was truly born in the wrong era . . . who else looks this comfortable wearing a table cloth (it's a Country Road kaftan) & weaving vines.

  I swear his jeans were not this ripped when we left the house!!  I also promise to mend them tonight.

 Then again, there are so many explanations on how he rips his clothes!!

 The swans at Lake Burley Griffen are so tame, we usually find a party of 6 black swans.

SO there you have one very relaxed way to deal with a chemical explosion close to home which gives you an unexpected week day off with the family.  I have a million more photos from today, it was hard to narrow it down to a few.  We also went to a Home Improvement centre (how much work is it to design a house, every tile, every tap, every window) then a Seafood dealer, mmmm.  Making the most of soldier boy before he leaves us, again. 
For more Gratefuls, the gorgeous Brenda from Mira Narnie is hosting today.  She's all about family, married her teen love, just back from Italy & is an all round sweetheart.  Love Posie
PS the Riley book & pencil roll giveaway ends Sunday 18th, enter now!!

all you need to know about fashion for next Summer, from Europe

Greetings all,
This will be my final big-time-bragging-post about my trip to Europe earlier this month.  Now i'm a long time fashion slave & i can't wait until my girls are tall enough to done a Pucci frock & rock some high fashion ensembles.  Of course my investment in their style will be economical as they'll ALWAYS love eacher other, share their clothes & never fight over fashion, right??!!
The most beautiful word in the Italian language is 'SALDI' which means sale.  I paid full price for my Miu Miu sunglasses as they were fresh from Paris Fashion Week (i haven't had expensive sunglasses since i was a teenager & my then boyfriend/ now husband accidentally broke them!!)  These i treasure like gold in the giant hard velour case.  Even with the weaker Australia dollar, when Europe is on sale, designer shopping is affordable. I went a tad nuts in Guess on blouses, but this time i didn't buy shoes. Benetton is a no brainer for children's fashion - there's one on every corner in Italy!!

So here goes, my eye witness street wise account of . . . Summer European fashion - the wearable version for we mortals!! If you're leggy & slim, you have an edge on any fashion trend, congratulations.

Shoes . . . gladiators are still in, so i hope you didn't throw away last Summer's strappy sandles, ditto for wedges & don't be afraid of patterns or colours; NEW are flat ankle boots which are open sandles on the foot with leather boot covering the ankle (follow??) 
Accessories . . . either go the huge, colourful, chunky, mixed gems/ beads/ metals on a long or multistrand necklace direction, or minimal to no accessories. These ladies don't often adorn their clothes with brooches or jewellery, they let the clothes do the talking.

Clothes . . . to put it simply DRESSES!! Patterned silk (Pucci) or plain cotton dresses - strapless or shirred (rows of elastic around the bust) are totally in, or strappy, with high belts or waist ties. Jersey dresses are also still in, not shirt or wrap style though, more the fitted bodice to A line simple style above the knee. All these dress styles can be teamed with leggings just below the knee, in monotone colours. The ONLY pants to wear are belted, white & tailored slim with a fitted patterned blouse tucked in. There are plenty of ruffles getting around - on blouses, tanks, skirts, in different fabrics (from chiffon to silk to cotton) & they are flirty fun. If you must wear a T - make it stripes, wide, narrow, red or navy on white, a bit of nautical chic.

Hair . . . neat & short or long hair slicked back to perfection & touseled - like you're at the beach & both at the same time, nothing inbetween. As it's Summer, everyone is wearing panama, fedora or trilby style hats, worn low with big sunglasses.

Bags . . . Louis Vuitton reigns supreme, especially the beige on brown logo style (i got one for my middle girl so she'll be hip for life).

Bras . . . the shops are selling neutrals & monotones, but stores aimed at young & fun, leopard print never seems to fade!! Alas, it's Europe & bras are optional (as pointed out by my husband over & over). I'm not taking the chance though, i've breastfed way too many children!!

Nail Polish . . . found the awesome Kiko Milano cosmetic shop, bought gazillions of nail varnish here in every colour (i can cheat by 'sharing' with my daughters) but i haven't noticed coloured nail polish on fingers or toes on the locals, but we like colour in Australia so i say go for it regardless!! Tourists are still into their dark nail polishes, but i say bright Summery colours instead, especially if you're young, or young at heart.

Now for the men, i'm afraid if you're built like my husband, 32" waist & 45" chest + he's over 6' tall - absolutely nothing in Europe fits this shape, no idea where their rowers or rugby players shop.

Clothes . . . I've never seen so many slightly built & narrow chested men in my life, really slim cut fitted shirts & tiny boy jeans. I can't quite get past this uber tailoring. Those who have some bulk in their build still opt for cargoes or Ralph Lauren trousers. All shapes & sizes are wearing polo shirts, wide grey & white stripes are de rigeour.

Shoes . . . sneakers seem to be huge, trendy expensive types or outdoorsy style, something you'd find at Merrell.

Watches . . . my husband & father are classic Omega fans, have to say it's a once-in-a-lifetime super expensive purchase & the SeaMaster Professional is hard to beat (like it better than the George Clooney!!) Best prices in the world (outside Switzerland & the UAE - we did our research) are in Omega, Via Condotti Roma (on your way to the Spanish Steps). All the guys here are wearing big faced, flashy, expensive looking watches.

Swimming . . . speedos of course, it's Europe!! I had no idea it's a hygiene thing in countries like Spain, it's the law: speedos only (who'd complain if their world cup winning soccer team rocked up to the local pool in speedos??) I hope it's law in France & Portugal too. Personally i don't care, my husband has to wear speedos for water polo at work, but chooses board shorts for play.

Bags . . . again, a bit androgenous for me, lots of men carrying large Louis Vuitton satchels. If you're travelling, The North Face have an amazing selection of sporty luggage, buy on line from America, good luck finding a company who ship to Australia.

Hair . . . either short or slicked front & messy at the back, that overdue-for-a-hair-cut look but not too long & certainly not like a boy band (small mercy).

Hats . . . like the ladies, range of monotoned or natural coloured fedoras, some with striped bands, they look great on the right guy. Please no more boaters, we're not in Venice anymore!! The guys are also wearing large sunglasses, or thin rimmed Ray Bans, the big Aviator style, even mirrored ones (best left for actual pilots me thinks).

So good luck recycling your last Summer Seasonal fashion. I've ruined my white trousers by sitting on sticky resin THEN i dripped chocolate gelato down them, nice combination!! I have new jewellery, shoes, clothes, make up . . . just realised i've not mentioned yet that i had to dump about $200 worth of Clinique at Sydney airport!! Argh - even though i had less than 100ml of anything, if the capacity of the container is greater than 100ml, you have to toss it (Australian Customs rules are so tough)?? Cruel irony, the Duty Free Clinique counter was 10m away, so i restocked the essentials immediately (imagine 27 hours fly time without moisturiser??) THEN on the ship, make up & perfumes are 25% less than US RRP, which is like 65% off Australian retail prices. My husband actually said the words "you're losing money by not shopping" so while in a state of shock as that man loathes shopping, i armed myself with a swipey card that charges everything back to the cabin (read: husband's credit card) i stocked up on make up, moisturiser & facial products for the whole family. Even the birthday boy got the brand new Gucci Sport aftershave for his birthday!!
So now very much resettled into reality, children, school runs, children's parties, grocery shopping, P&C BBQ fundraisers, Shop Handmade & tomorrow a school Athletics Carnival . . . i've finally gotten over my jet lag & deep sadness of having to start missing my husband all over again.  A week in, i've replaced my driver's licence, Visa card & mobile phone, life is back in order.  Have lovely weekends, love Posie

it's over so quickly . . .

Greetings all,
Thanks for the great comments, i feel like i'm home with friends, love you all!!  Coping much better today, with sleep + the concept of children resuming school & me returning to Shop Handmade in the morning.  I have a new focus, ideas & energy for my work.  For now, while i get my act together, here are some more images to gaze at, ahhhh . . .

So glad i had Italian tags on my luggage, i was waved through DIY customs with the big boarder security question of "do you have any cheese in your bag??" 

Crystal clear waters of Croatia, chandelier from the Duke's Palace in the Old City & that square paver is the ONLY square one - marking the centre of the Old City.

More glorious sites about Greece - check out the insane colours against the pool at the Olympia Resort!!  Little side story about the few remaining columns at the Temple of Zeus, the Persians took 90 marble columns from here, ground them to dust to lime wash their mosques - OMG, how short sighted are these vandals!!??

More sites around Rome, the Palace, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum & authentic Roman Gladiators on their mobile phones??  Special mention that we went to the Vatican, did it for you Corrie from Retro Mummy!!  My husband was stopped over & over to take photos for people, he had our big Nikon around his neck so looked like a much better photographer than me with the little camera.  Either that or i look like the kind of person who would run off with your camera??

The horse statue is from the Palace in Rome, but i couldn't move the image from the rest of these snaps of Venice.  A peek at some woodwork, gelato & Murano glass around San Marco.  Just for Brenda of Red Stitch Design - some more tassell porn.  Very hard to resist but extremely expensive, that helped me part tassell-less.  I have my fabrics, ahhhhh . . .

Have lovely weeks, the Euro Fashion blog post will be next, bring on Summer, i have quite the tan already!!  Love Posie