ideas

I've been getting a lot of ideas for nice Christmas projects lately.

a handmade pinecone wreath

a polar bear knitted ornament

a flock of hand-stitched skate ornaments

potentially a whole fleet of galleons made from scraps

a carved bird mobile

a birdhouse menagerie

ornament terrariums made of clear ornaments, dried moss and whatever else

and lastly, some nice evergreens and twinkly lights for the mantle

Can't wait till I'm back home to try them out!

fossil box

This weekend SJ was able to present his Dad with his long awaited and anticipated birthday present.... (drumroll please)... his fossil box!

SJ designed, scavenged and handmade this box exactly to his Dad's specifications.

Complete with moveable boxes inside to house the rocks!

Isn't it great?

My husband is very skilled :)

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advent

I really love December, even with the cold chill in the London air that penetrates any item of clothing you put on, and the mad rushes of people to get that 'perfect gift', it's still a magical month where you get to count down to holidays and get-togethers. It's especially special when you live on another continent from these people you get together with.

I've been counting down the days till SJ and I fly back to the States, and when I saw this advent calendar at Liberty I just had to get it. Unfortunately, as we are leaving in 10 days, I think I will have to smuggle it on the plane so I can continue to open all the little flaps!

belated thanksgiving

Here's some pictures I took from Thanksgiving.

Better late than never (I had some problems getting the images off the camera I borrowed from work...)

Table Pre-meal

There was lots of prep for dinner. We started cooking around 3pm after a final trip to the Co-op and didn't stop until dinner around 8pm. Here you can see the Pumpkin Pie (first to be made so it could cool), Biscuits, Stuffing waiting to be put in the oven, and homemade veggie sausages ready to fry!

And here's the motley crew of guests digging into their dinner!
I think they got used to the let's-eat-mountains-of-food attitude quite quickly.

A shot of the teeny-tiny space we managed to cram everyone into! I got to sit on the new ottoman :)

Oatmeal raisins cookies for dessert too :)

And two slices of pumpkin pie leftover for us the next day, perfect :) :)

And lastly a turkey everyone made by tracing their hands and feet

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weekend home style: country living

I just happened on The Selby this morning and this home caught me up in the wonderfulness of their upstate NY country home. They have a big barn that he uses as a studio and another barn for guests to sleep in/ party area in addition to their main house.

did I mention they have a fenced veg garden?

main house

guest barn

I love all the wood everywhere, it reminds me of my childhood

fresh herbs!

I think this is my idea of my perfect life

lovely (real) wood flooring

massive fireplace

stairs up to the bedroom

I like the bookcases as headboard idea- better grabbing distance.

nice, big, open kitchen with lots of counter space

big enough to make pickles from your own cucumbers from your own garden!

I think I am about to die from envy of the perfect house.

happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving dinner, I think it's because it involves so many of my favorite foods. You have the stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, yams, pumpkin pie... who could ask for more? This year I have finally gotten a good attendance for Thanksgiving, though we'll be celebrating tomorrow evening (I didn't think Brits would fully understand the whole holiday on a Thursday thing, though I am looking forward to explaining why Americans love Thanksgiving so much...)

But to everyone celebrating Thanksgiving today- have a good one! :)

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getting in the Holiday spirit :)

Harriet Hare courtesy of CJ

market chaos

So Taylor Swift decided to stop by Portobello Market again yesterday. And she came back to the shop, twice, once midday to get loads of tiles and again after 6 to get some more stuff. All I can say is that I'm glad I was inside the shop when she came, talk about feeling like a fish in a fishbowl. Sweet girl but bad timing....

Both Heidi and I agreed that we would not want that much attention from that many people and paparazzi. In a funny moment Bob- who has the stall under the right hand awning- told a paparazzi- "Didn't you get enough photos last time? Just send another one of those in, you're not getting any photos now with all these people in the way." Haha, oh Bob.

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stained glass

The other week I was looking at the stained glass kaleidoscopes that CJ brought my attention to on anthropologie. They seem to be pretty basic designs, though I'd like to check them out in person if I get the chance. I think I could take a shot at it, and maybe even one up their designs... :)

I like the fan design , especially if those two fans rotate individually.

I just need to figure out what colourful bits to put in the tube to make the fantastic patterns. I guess confetti, sequins, etc would work?

And I'd need to find some tubes to put the sequins in, but I think that if I used my imagination it wouldn't be too hard to improvise.

Maybe come December and I have my supplies again I can mock up a few experiments.

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shleepy bun

style weekend

I spent most of yesterday indoors, enjoying the ability to have a lazy sunday afternoon, which included going to the farmer's market (okay, that was outside), making horseradish mash, roasted carrots and veggie sausages, doing laundry and watching The September Issue.

I liked the film a lot, mainly because of Grace Coddington, who is also featured in this short clip about the US Vogue's December 2009 issue. It looks so fun :)

weekend home style: unexpected lights

Wouldn't it be neat to have a whole group of these in a corner of a room, or even right in the center, with various heights?

Doesn't seem that difficult to do either- as long as you have a good woodworker handy... and are sure you won't set the log on fire...

early christmas

Got a very nice, very early Christmas surprise from CJ today :)

Ain't it purdy?

stories

bikes oh bikes

It's very fitting that the same week my bike starts throwing early winter fits I fall for all of these great photos of chic NYC girls on bikes. I like that they are all wearing boots or skinny pants- very practical biking attire. Looks like big wire bike baskets are also very 'in' in NYC, though I'm sure that if I had one my stuff would always be flying out!

With that being said, I think I'll have to start looking for a new bike, or at least a new old bike soon, it's nearing the end of its life, but at least now I have all these images to motivate me!

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birds on wire

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

weekend home style: cozy nook

on cold days and nights it would be nice to have a cozy nook like this to cuddle up and read in.

musak

One of the prides of my job is creating mix cds for the shop. I probably spend far too much time making one cd, but it seems to pay off as people of all ages compliment us on our music. I think the best comment I ever got was something along the lines of "I keep staying in your shop because I love the songs, but at this rate I'll never leave!"

Even recently the man who owns the Scottish shop down the road teased me that he only comes into our shop to hear the music ;)

(screenshot of the most recent mix)