Things of beauty...

The final day of the school term sees us watch Boo sing in a carol concert in a tiny country church, brimming with parents, proudly watching. It's one of my favourite events of the year as it really does herald the start of our Christmas holidays. Afterwards, we always descend on a single, unsuspecting but accommodating village pub for hot chocolate and mulled wine. So that will be my morning, followed by an afternoon of dog walking at the beach and then getting the house decorated. We will choose the Christmas tree tomorrow...

The weekend is peppered with two Christmas cocktail parties; so I shall also be putting on my currently unused heels and heading out with friends. I feel like I need this; whilst I like the early darkness and cold of these winter evenings, it do find myself wondering: should I really be in my pyjamas by 9pm most nights? There, I have shared my secret!

I wouldn't be me if I weren't in some sort of pensive mood; and indeed my thoughts about this time of year seem to be playing on a loop pondering how lucky I am. How much we have. How privileged I am to enjoy all the trappings of a 'perfect' Christmas. It is a blessed life, even with its trials, as there's something about this time of year that makes it all come into sharper focus.

And so to things of beauty...enjoy!

...the beautiful Yasmin Le Bon...

...style starting early...

via Cannelle et Vanille photograph by Arran

...everyone should own roller skates once in their life...

via dust jacket attic photograph by Alexi Lubomirski

from here photograph by The Sartorialist

photograph by Lars Ranek

...quirky dress and smouldering eyes...photograph by Elizabeth Messina

Wishing for a restorative weekend...

Downtime...

I am unwell! Ugh...like clockwork I have this every year; my body has a way of telling me to slow down. I've got tonsillitis. It's a warning sign to take some time out as I am running too fast at everything, all the time. Somethings gotta give...

via everything fabulous from Rue magazine

Funnily enough this morning, after I had accepted I would be spending a couple of days in bed on antibiotics, I got a delivery of a book that I forgot I ordered. It's written by someone I consider a friend - Tania Kindersley and her colleague Sarah Vine, it's called 'Backwards in High Heels'. There is a blog of the same name. Getting this book, today of all days, is like the literary equivalent of finding lost money in pockets. My plan is to lay in bed and read it cover to cover and not feel guilty!

Do you get the same thing? A warning sign to slow down? Any advice on how to catch it early would be greatly appreciated!

Tell all...

Hello, it's time to share again...I like to have these little audits every now and then! Are you with me? If you had to choose an answer of the two options below, could you? I know from responses before that sometimes people really struggle with this! Life is full of choices... xxx

Emily Blunt via Sunday in bed

Emily Blunt or Emily Bronte?

Baby boy or baby girl?

Gift from a friend: bunch of flowers or homemade cupcakes?

Getting dressed: lots of layers or clean minimal lines?

Skittish magazine devourer or absorb-every-line book reader?

If you could: spend money on art or invest in stocks and shares?

Raybans or Oakleys?

Little white lies or forever truthful?

Natalia Vodianova via pretty stuff

Best asset: face, body or mind?

Love a good argument or neutral and non-confrontational?

Sunday lie-in or early morning walk?

Bloody Mary or Strawberry Daquiri?

Sunrise or sunset?   

Secret-keeper or ready to spill the beans?

Ocean-front house or mountain chalet?

Doer or thinker?

via this flickr

Things of beauty...

Hello, hello. A much better week this week, I have got my head together finally! Have you sensed there has been too much rattling round in there for a while?! It's exhausting trying to be 'at one' with oneself. Well at least it is for me...

Meanwhile, for months I have been trying so hard to help my son learn to read. I set myself a little goal that we would read every night, no excuses and the fact that I pledged to myself and to the Internet somehow worked and I have not missed one night. The net result: he's doing so much better at school. Accolades all round, so I am delighted. All you ever want for your kids is that they can do stuff; they don't have to be the best by any means, but you just don't want them to struggle with life.

 Still tweeting...it's a revelation! Still loving my blog. Still generally quite happy with life :-)

via crush cul de sac

Taking the world of pretty-picture-lovers by storm...bridal website BHLDN. As I am not getting married I swooned over the underwear...

We go skiing in a week but there is no snow in the Alps - well not no snow, but not much...please can there be a large snowfall??

via are so happy

It's the minutiae of life that reminds us what matters...

I realised that not one member of my family had read even one book of the 'Harry Potter' series...so I have ordered the box set...

...the beautiful Emma Watson...

I spied the first daffodils making efforts to remind us Spring is coming...

I could sleep for a week; every night I put my head on the pillow only to wake what feels like half an hour later, when of course a whole night has passed...

Boo is reading 'Anne of Green Gables' at the moment, out loud to me as I cook in the evenings. So utterly sentimental, it makes me cry just thinking about when Matthew Cuthbert gives her the dress with the puffed sleeves. It's always been about dresses for me! Love the series - have ordered the box set!

...Emily Blunt...

I have very little planned this weekend, time to regroup!

Have a lovely one...

Beautiful things...

Hello again my friend. It's bitterly cold today and so here I sit, fire lit, ready to hunker down for the weekend. I will collect the Boos from school and gather provisions and we will chillax on the sofa. I have it all planned out.

Another busy work week for me; my work life is like a 'deja-vu' from this time last year so I am spending my days trying learn the lessons from the last big and extremely challenging project I was involved with. My mantra is 'you can only do your best, you can only do your best!' More soul-searching about whether to work or not and precious input from different friends. One friend who made me think maybe I think too much! So I am trying a new approach; it's simple - smile, let it go, be kind and others will be kind to you. Slightly abstract but worth a try! What do you think?

...ever classic, even in a raincoat, Olivia P...

I like this simple room; boats and feather pictures and white-washed walls...

If only I weren't, but I so am...

Really really tried hard to stop and take time to read this week; it's not gone that well. A couple of pages here and there...

via pink and green owl

 Time for some 80's nostalgia... 'what a feeling...'

...the 'sorry and aren't you clever scene' from Flashdance...

I have the first blooming hyacinths of the season in my house and they smell divine...

Yet more Danish art...

by Peter Vilhelm Ilsted 'Two of the Artist's Daughters at Liselund'

via the bottom of the ironing basket

My monster house de-clutter continues...I love this laundry room; what better use for a dolls house?

...love her face; Emily Blunt...

via my little things

Have a serene weekend...

love Lou Lou xx