Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleighbells
And schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winter that melts into spring
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel…so bad

Today my two sisters, my parents and I traveled to visit my brother who lives 2 hours away from the Farm.  The day was filled with laughter, strange movie references “These are not the ‘droids you are looking for!”, stories that might have sounded like a kidnapping to someone evesdropping, “You are not listening to me.  I have the pizza.”, and twenty questions on the trip home that started conversations about food, bucket lists, places we’d been and a few tales out of school about school.  Nana, sisters M and N played Wii Dance Off 4 with nephews GR and Y. Even dad had a pretty good day.  Naturally we had to stop at Morden’s Chocolates for Russian Mints, Mixed Nut Brittle, bags of ‘seconds’ and Almond Crunch Clusters (I should have bought some of the latter…).

Pictured above is the quilt I am racing to finish by Sunday for my grand-daughter.  I am half done the binding as I type.  Cute, isn’t it?  Just like my A.A.E.P!

Heart 1

Heart 2

Heart 3

Love the markets in London!

Greenwich 

Clean Slate Collection – Crate and Barrel

My absolute favourite part about the change in seasons to spring is the opportunity to do a little spring cleaning. Sometimes this is simply a closet overhaul, sometimes it is a deep clean of the kitchen, yard, or car, or sometimes it is as easy as changing some of the items around in your house and in your day to day life to bring a little spring into your life.

Here are some of my favourite things to ring in spring, but I would love to hear how you usher in the season.

1. Clean Slate Collection from Crate & Barrel - Beautiful and streamlined cleaning products so nice it almost makes you want to get up and do a deep clean
2. Florals and Pastels for Spring (from here)
3. Spring is a time to bring back the Sangria
4. Get yourself organized with a closet overhaul (I wish mine looked like this one)
5. If nothing else, some fresh flowers always do the trick

SANTORINI – I love you !!!! I wish I could become a part of this picture forever.

Wild Boar head for wall £60, Merchant and Mills Sewing book £19.95 and Liberty fabric patches for your best cardi £8.95. (invaluable for cashmere moth eaten ones too!)

Here is a little excerpt of Summer Poppies which I am slowwwwwly working on finishing.  This book will take place both in the present in the fictional town of Fayette and in the past in the real Irish town of Mountmellic.

Chapter 3  Ireland

Siobhan Bloomer was born in 1939 and she was the oldest in a family with four girls. At least, that’s what her parents, Eileen and James, told everyone. Siobhan’s younger sisters were Caitlin, Therese and Shelagh, but there had been another sister once, an older sister. She wouldn’t have even known about her had she not been in so much trouble.

            The Bloomers ran a grocery that was attached to the side of their house on the outskirts of the town of Mountmellic. There were cornflakes and cakes of soap, loaves of fresh bread that Eileen herself made every day in the family kitchen and all sorts of treasures to be found down the tight aisles. Siobhan loved to sneak in, touch the tins of beans on the shelves and look at the pictures of the pretty women on the washing powder boxes.

            The two best parts of the shop were right up in the front where her mother stood. There was a big glass jar on the counter full of sweets and a tall black stove behind the counter where her mother boiled the water for the tea and served the many ladies who took a moment to set down their shopping, rest their feet and enjoy a good gossip. Siobhan learned early that if she were very well behaved, she could come in, flash a bashful smile and the ladies would sometimes buy her a sweet. If she was noisy or naughty though, or knocked something over, her mother would give her a swat across the back of the legs and send her into the house. But those days didn’t happen often. Siobhan liked sweets more than the satisfaction of being purposefully wicked.

            By the time she was only five years old Siobhan was already allowed to help her mother out on busy days. If Eileen was busy with a customer, she would often call out for Siobhan to come in and fetch her something that the lady had forgotten, or ask her to take down a mug or a cup if her own hands were full. That was how the trouble started.

            One Saturday, Siobhan was in the shop with her mother helping her to put away the deliveries. She absolutely loved the days when the man with the loud motor van pulled up and brought in box after box of treasures. She loved too listening to her mother argue with him over prices and such and then watching her charming father come in to take the man aside, pour him a small glass of whiskey and silently complete their transaction in the dark corner of the shop. On this morning, the man had already come and gone and Siobhan was sitting on her mother’s chair behind the small counter because that’s where Eileen had told her to sit while she checked on little Caitlin and baby Therese in the kitchen of their house. Mrs. Mooney came bursting in through the front door and slammed it behind her. Looking violently around her, she caught Siobhan in a scowl and demanded Eileen.

            “Where’s your mother, girl?”

            Siobhan was a little frightened of Mrs. Mooney. She was loud and always seemed angry. Shyly, she pointed towards the kitchen.

            “Ah, with the babas, well, don’t just stand there gawking at me. I don’t suppose you know how to pour a cuppa?”

            Siobhan did know how to pour a cup of tea, she couldn’t imagine not knowing how. But she had never done it out here in the shop. In the house the teapot was always on the table and you just poured from there, but here in the shop, there was a big black kettle on the stove, which was higher than their kitchen stove, and you had to pour that water into a pot and make the tea each time someone asked for it. She had watched her mother do it a thousand times, and was sure she could copy the same actions. Besides, she didn’t want to make Mrs. Mooney angry. Just as Siobhan was reaching for the kettle, standing on her tiptoes to be able to see over the top, she heard her mother shout at her.

            “SIOBHAN, NO!” Eileen bellowed, running toward the counter and rounding the corners of the shop faster than a wild horse in the field. She snatched Siobhan up in her arm and kept on going, out the front door of the shop and around the corner, sitting her down on an upturned pail.

            “Don’t EVER touch that stove in the shop, or the one in the kitchen do you hear me? Especially when I’m not there,” she had a red face and there was something in her eyes that Siobhan had never seen before. “Do you hear me?”

            She nodded at her mother and put her fingers in her mouth for comfort. Still not understanding the situation, she watched her mother’s shoulders shrink back down into their normal position.

            “I’m sorry love, why don’t you go in the house today and help out with your sisters. Therese has been roaring all morning and Caitlin needs a playmate. Go on with you.”

            Cautiously, Siobhan went back into the house and sat in the kitchen. She was sulking. She didn’t want to be stuck in here when there were so many more exciting things to do. Therese was kicking up a fuss and the girl that came in to help with the children, Maureen, was doing her best to console her with Caitlin hanging off her legs. Quickly, before Maureen could see her and give her something to do, Siobhan snuck back into the shop and hid in the back where she could see the door but nobody could see her. She could hear her mother crying quietly and talking to Mrs. Mooney at the counter while the normally horrible woman was actually speaking soothing words of apology.

            “I can’t say sorry enough, Eileen. I forgot. It’s been such a long time now, sure I won’t ever ask that of your girl again. Don’t fret, love, she’s just grand now, isn’t she?”

            “She is, she is. I just came out and she looks so much like Norah, I couldn’t bear it,” Eileen said, sniffling.

            “Don’t give it a thought, love. Haven’t you three other fine girls now? God never takes two little ‘uns from the same family, that would just be cruel.”

            Now she was confused. Who was Norah? Leaving the rest of the conversation, Siobhan snuck back into the kitchen to find Maureen.

            Finally having gotten her quiet, Maureen had put Therese back into her basket near the stove and was now busy pouring Caitlin a glass of milk. Siobhan climbed up onto a chair and thought about what she had heard. “Maureen,” she asked, “who is Norah?”

            “No-wah,” Caitlin said, her mouth outlined in white. She giggled and then took another drink of milk.

            “She was your sister,” Maureen said bluntly without really looking up from the potatoes she was peeling for supper. “Why?”

            “I don’t have a sister called Norah,” Siobhan said matter of factly.

            This time Maureen looked up, her face a little bit white. “Well, you did. Why d’you ask?”

            “Because Mammy said I looked like her when she was cryin’ with Mrs. Mooney.”

            Maureen cast a quick glance around, “what were you doin’?”

            Without waiting for her to do it, Siobhan got up and poured her own milk. “I was gettin’ the tea for Mrs. Mooney because Mammy was busy and she pulled me away and told me not to touch the stoves no more. Then she cried and said I looked like Norah to Mrs. Mooney.”

            Maureen took down the biscuit tin from the shelf and handed one to Caitlin and then one to Siobhan. This had to be a big secret, because the girls weren’t allowed biscuits until the afternoon and it wasn’t even lunch yet.

            “Well, this’ll be a fine day for the cryin’ then,” Maureen said, biting into her own biscuit. “I suppose you’d better steer clear of your mammy today altogether, child.” She sighed.

            “But who is she?”

            “Well, before you were born, your Ma and Da had another wee girl. Norah. That was before I came here to work. They had another girl helpin’ then. Mary, I think,” she took another bite. “When she was just a little thing, no more than two or three, she accidentally pulled a pot of water off the stove onto her head and went off to heaven. You were born just a week or so after that, and then I came to take care of you.” Maureen polished off the rest of her biscuit and brushed the crumbs from the front of her dress.

            “But how did she go to heaven from water? You put water on my head every Sunday when we wash before Church.” Even as a child, Siobhan wanted to understand how things worked. She knew that when people went to heaven it was a great scary thing, because it meant you went into a great big box and people put you in the ground with dirt all over you and then you never came back. She never wanted to do it.

            “The water was boilin’ hot, wasn’t it? Like tea water. Took the poor wee thing right away,” Maureen shook her head sadly.

            “That’s bad,” Siobhan said. She knew how hot tea water could get; she couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt to have it poured all over your head.

“Yes it is. Well, it was. Now, you must do something for me,” Maureen said, leaning in across the table.

            “Okay.”

            “You must never ever talk about this again. Your Mammy was so sad when Norah died, and she doesn’t talk about her. Not ever. Neither does your Da. And now neither do you. I only told you so you’d mind your mother and stay away from the stoves, understand?”

            Siobhan nodded solemnly. This was her first really big secret.

I am absolutely loving Just Give me a Reason by Pink and featuring Nate Ruess, I just can’t stop listening to it this week. I can just imagine myself on a road trip with my sisters blasting out the music and singing along – we’d be completely out of tune of course, but it would be so much fun!

I’ve just started following Perspective Pictures on Twitter as they share some amazing pictures. Take a look at this musical landscape. Isn’t it stunning?

Also check out a new blog that I discovered on Monday – Raspberri cupcakes – it’s a fabulous Sydney baking blog with gorgeous food photos and delicious looking recipes. At first glance my favouites so far are the Gummy Bear Layer Cake and the Pretzel and M&M Cheesecake. Plus who wouldn’t want to make and/or eat these colourful looking things? Rainbow Rice Krispies Treats – Genius!

One final thing that needs marking – WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Yes I’m a football fan and a big supporter of Manchester United so I’m extremely excited right now. We won the league with 4 games still to play. Woop woop!

Lau xxx

Peonies

My favourite flower, with hydrangeas coming in a close second. They smell wonderful, they’re gorgeous and you only need a few to make an impact.

Wine and Cheese

Or I’ll just take the wine. The combination is delicious though. It’s my favourite thing to eat relaxing at home (sparingly of course).

Chanel

Love the brand. Love Coco. All I can afford are the perfumes. But I’ll take it and its pretty pink box for now. Chanel’s Chance is my go-to scent.

Pearl Studs

They’re a classic, elegant, easy everyday accessory perfect for any Hepburn worshipper.

Old Books

There’s just something more satisfying about opening an old book from the library or thrift shop. That well loved smell is one of the best parts of reading. It’s like every book has a secret past it wants to open up to you.

Warm Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

The best comfort food. They give your home a wonderful cozy smell in the winter. They’re gooey and deliciously decadent right out of the oven. There’s another perk to making them from scratch, cookie dough, need I say more?

-Britta

• Council collection. Every month every household can dump whatever home furnishings they don’t want on the street outside their house, and the council will collect it. For free. The most wonderful thing is that for a couple of days it gives rise to the best suburb-wide scavenger hunt as people take to the streets in search of goodies. It’s like a real live free ebay. We picked up, off the street, for free: a dining room table, three clothes horses, two wardrobes, a chest of drawers, a wine rack (which has still never been used for wine) and a barbeque. That sounds like a cheapos version of the very hungry caterpillar. Nick got a bit stir-crazy and wanted to bring back some mangey old fishing rope to decorate our room with. Obviously for all the hits there’s bound to be a couple of misses.
• How much coffee everyone drinks.
• The colourful parrot things that live in the tree outside my window eating only the red flowers. I’ve since discovered they’re called rainbow lorikeets. But they seemed to have left now it’s winter.
• That apparently it’s winter now. Anything below 25 degrees is considered freezing.
• How dangerous everything is and how little people care.
• That one of their prime ministers (Harold Holt) went swimming one day, and was NEVER SEEN AGAIN.
• That my new favourite brand of tea is Billy Tea Campfire brew, you can taste the smokeyness.
• Their extortionate number of public holidays.
• The free book boxes. I don’t know who supplies these boxes of free books that hang out outside the supermarket, but I have furnished my very own library. Made up entirely of the most insane books I have ever read, my favourite taglines being: “always outnumbered, always outgunned” and “the novel changes lives”.
• The supermarket is Woolworths. It feels like the nineties. But the only thing I ever bought from Woolworths was a Chupa-Chup spice girls head-mic, and they don’t sell those here.
• Up until recently, another of the Australian prime ministers, Bob Hawke, held a world record for beer-drinking. Downing a yard of ale in eleven seconds. Apparently it helped him in his election campaign because the population are such enthusiastic beer-drinkers.
• The cafe I work in. The most welcoming cafe I have ever been in. While training me, they insisted I learn all the regulars’ orders so they don’t have to trouble themselves with asking for anything.
• The phenomenal ability to cast aside its pretty brutal history, which I still haven’t plucked up enough courage to ask any Australians about, because it summons a pretty frosty reception.
• There’s a gambling game called Two Up, which is essentially heads or tails, which it’s illegal to play every day except Anzac Day, when everyone gets drunk and plays it all day. Anzac Day is tomorrow, and I am excited.
• Everyone here is totally unflappable. I was literally naked in a park the other day and no one even batted an eyelid.
• Everyone makes the most of the entire day. After work, people go to the beach. Before work, people go to the beach. And they all get up insanely early to go running. And they all go out every evening. I don’t know when these people sleep.
• Everyone here is bloody healthy and crazy body-conscious, but apparently if you drive ten minutes out the city everyone is massively obese.
• Car insurance here covers anyone to drive your car. Including people that aren’t residents and have never driven in Australia in their lives. Driving in Sydney is hair-raising. Everyone who owns a car here is a maniac, and there’s no way of telling which way the cars/bikes/trams are coming from.
• For a healthy country, they have the most incredible array of chocolate varieties.
• Musk sticks. The most horrendous sweet known to man. When you eat it, the sensation is less of tasting something, than of smelling something heavily perfumed and unpleasant.
• In every suburb is a high street with incredible personality, and buzzing with people all the time.
• Chinatown
• The massive fruit bats that fly from park to park at night.
• The amazing way that the city has somehow merged with the natural landscape, rather than destroying it utterly. Producing the most beautiful city.
• That no one actually seems to work a full day. My flatmate didn’t work at all for the first three weeks we were here, despite holding down a steady full time job, and now seems to arrive home at 3pm most days.
• I get a ferry to work. Across the harbour, and under the harbour bridge.
• The harbour bridge.
• It’s kind of an unspoken fact that the opera house is a little overrated.
• The outdoor cinemas. I saw To Kill a Mockingbird in a big park surrounded by people on beanbags and giant bats, not on beanbags.
• The ibis that stalk the parks like big tame pigeons. I had to stop to let one cross the path in front of me last week, because it’d be damned if it was going to stop for me, and I didn’t want to have a collision with a large pre-historic bird with a scythe-like beak. Google one to see why I didn’t want to argue.
• The people here are the most obscenely friendly people I have ever experienced.
• 13th Street. The tv channel to end all other tv channels. All they show is Poirot, Miss Marple, Bones and Midsomer Murders.
• The truly terrible postal service.
• An annoying tax office to rival our own very annoying tax office.
• That I’ve only just realised there’s a lemon/lime tree in our communal garden. I suppose I won’t know which until the fruit ripens.
• The noise when the road-crossing man turns green is a very high-pitched, rapid nyoo-nyoo-nyoo, that sounds like you’re in a nineties video game

This is only the few I can think of now. I imagine there will be more installments, although my blogging frequency is always a little unreliable.

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hill,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.

~ Taps ~

If You’re Thinking About…….3 LBD , 1 LND « The Sartorialist.

I know Anna Dello Russo says its all about fashion, but personally I think its all about style. Goes to show that with a little ingenuity anything including the LBD can be reinvented to look new an fresh. Check out these lil numbers. What are your favourite things to do with your LBD, let me know!

via If You’re Thinking About…….3 LBD , 1 LND « The Sartorialist.

Rather embarrassingly, I ended up with a bad spout of sickness after our Colca Canyon hike (umm… over-exertion?) so we became even worse tourists than we normally are and completely ignored the majority of the usual tourist attractions in exchange for cups of coca tea and afternoon (and morning and evening) naps. It is still pretty easy to put together a list of 5 amazing things about this wonderful little city.

1. Santa Semana

We arrived back from the Colca Canyon on the Thursday before Good Friday to find the city center packed with people and food stalls. We were told that Maudy Thursday was the most important night of the holy week of Easter in Arequipa. On this night, all the families in the city come into the center to join a procession through the streets, visiting each of the 7 main churches in the city center (this literally involves walking through them – sometimes without even a pause to listen to the ongoing sermon). The best part for us is that food sellers line the streets between the churches to sell Easter candies to the passing procession. There was no sign of chocolate bunnies or eggs – instead there were grapes covered in candy, chocolate covered marshmallows, candied figs and apples, home-made nougat – oh, and plenty of pork sandwiches for Chris.

The whole city had an amazing atmosphere and we completely overdosed on sugar – brilliant.

People in the plaza making their way to the cathedral

Eating my new favourite food - candied covered grapes

2. Mercado Central

We were very lucky that Carlitos (the owner of the tour company we used to hike Colca canyon) offered us a free tour of the city. As it included a visit to the Mercado Central we couldn’t turn it down. The market was really excellent, neatly divided into the key sections: fruit juice, vegetables, meat, fish, potatoes (there are so many different kinds here that it needs its own section), cheese and traditional medicine. It had all the key ingredients you would expect in a Peruvian market:- lines of ladies making fresh juice, sheep heads, testicles, llama foetus… and something we have not yet seen before:- frog juice.

Frog juice is sadly, exactly what it says on the tin: Juice made out of a frog. You start by picking out your frog from a little batch of live ones they have at the stand. They then kill it, boil it, skin it and blend it into a juice. One glass will set you back 15 soles (£4). I am relieved to report that neither of us tried it – even though the locals swear by its health benefits (in particular, it apparently improves your memory). There was one little girl waiting at the counter for her cup of frog juice and when Carlitos asked the owner to show us the frogs he had to do it carefully because the little girl wasn’t supposed to know what was actually in the juice (!!!) I made a promise to my future children to never do that to them.

A potato shop

Just a bucket of testicles

3. Santa Catalina Monastery

We did one proper tourist activity in Arequipa and visited a particularly beautiful old monastery. Historically, the monastery was a place that rich people sent one of their daughters (for a large fee) to spend their lives in isolation, praying for their family so that the family could be guaranteed a place in heaven – whatever sins they might commit. Today, the monastery still operates but on quite different terms: nuns do not have to pay to join and a free to come and go as they please. However, luckily for us they have preserved a large part of the monastery in the way it was for tourists to come and visit. We took a guided tour (for an extra 20 Soles, £5) and learnt lot about the place – but I mostly enjoyed taking pictures of the beautiful coloured walls!

Internal courtyard

Beautifully painted ceilings

Another courtyard

4. Zig Zag restaurant

We arrived in Arequipa the first night from Copacabana desperate for the toilet and starving (thanks to the Peruvian buses which had no toilets and no food!). Given that we had missed out on lunch we decided to splurge and pay London prices to go to Arequipa’s most highly rated restaurant, Zig Zag. (Mmmmm… I am getting hungry just writing this post.) The restaurant is famous for meat so that is what we both went for. I stuck to good old beef fillet and can say that I think it was better than any steak I had in Argentina. Chris went for the Zig Zag trio of Pork, Alpaca and Beef and polished off all three without any problem. All the food was served on hot stones and came with Andean potatoes ans ratatouille.

Any restaurant which gives you a giant bib must be good?

Cooking my fillet on the hot stone

5. Old buildings and leafy plazas

In short, Arequipa is very pretty. The central plaza is leafy and fresh and surrounded by beautiful buildings that would be equally at home in a European city. It is very easy to spend a morning just wandering around the pretty streets.

The cathedral

Fountain in the plaza

A street in the old town

And a special mention for…

The thrill of staying in a city on the base of an active volcano

Volcano views

But, on Sunday we did.

Liam is taking the week off from work to go to Peterborough and search for a job there because his best friend is currently living there and they want to be roommates.  I think this is great, I’m much more comfortable with him living with someone that he already knows and trusts for his first foray into independent adult living than trying to make it on his own or with strangers.  So, Sunday morning we took off and drove the three hours to the new place.  We  had three hours of uninterrupted time to chat, laugh a lot, and talk about his plans for the future.  Which I am relieved to know that he has.

It’s funny, there are moments as a parent when you relive what your kids were like when they were very little.  And then there’s moments when you start to really get to know them as adults.  It’s surreal, but it’s very rewarding.  My boy, whom I still remember as a baby, as a toddler, and so on, is now making plans for his future, where he wants to work and live, and where he sees himself in five and even ten years.  Not that I want to think of him as ten years older, it’s already jarring to me that he will be 20 this november.

But I’m proud of him.  Proud to be his mama and confident that hey, I did a pretty decent job with this one.

Good luck this week Liam!!

I have never been so touched inside or felt so appreciated.

Today I place it here on ‘Sugar’ forever. for me, for you, for us…your song for me.

Always C.  xxxx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjWgtaeWmk0

She

May be the face I can’t forget
The trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She
May be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day

She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
The smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She
Who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one’s allowed to see them when they cry
She
May be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I’ll remember till the day I die

She
May be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I’m alive
The one I’ll care for through the rough and ready years
Me
I’ll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I’ve got to be
The meaning of my life is

She
She, oh she
Written by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer ..sung by Elvis Costello.

MAKING ROOM IN MY WARDROBE FOR… Luella Accessories from Number One Shoes.
Number One Shoes has some amazing new season accessories from Luella Accessories – I’m loving this rocker chic look. I’m a big fan of studded … okay, everything … and am eyeing up the Kinsey Wallet and the Diana Ballet Shoes (ballet shoes are definitely my most worn style of shoe!).

LISTENING TO… Le Freque
I’m really looking forward to New Zealand band Le Freque‘s debut EP (which they are currently working on), because I’ve heard a sneak peek and I’m really liking what I hear.  I know that this is a total tease but trust me, they’re good! Check out the above teaser vid and find them on ReverbNation.

RELAXING WITH… Bloom Spa
On Friday I went to see Hannah at Bloom Spa & Beauty for a much needed back, neck and shoulder massage and a facial. Let me just say – it was the best end to the week! Bloom Spa & Beauty is probably one of the most beautifully set up spas ever, with fresh flowers everywhere, and a sense of luxury in every detail. *bliss* I definitely recommend booking in for a beauty treatment immediately!

PLAYING… Draw a Stickman
It’s a bit ridiculous how much I am loving this game right now.  It starts with you drawing a stickman (or something a little more detailed if you like), and then he goes on an adventure – during which time he’ll need you to draw a few things to help him on his way!  Fight dragons, hide from tigers, rescue other stickmen… this game is great for a creative time out or to entertain the kids if the weather goes to the ducks. Try the online version or download the app now from the iTunes store.

REFRESHING MY TASTEBUDS WITH… Peach FUZE TEA
The team at nzgirl and FUZE TEA hooked me up with the latest thing in refreshing beverages, a naturally sweetened low-calorie fruit iced tea.  It comes in three delicious flavours: Peach Iced Tea, Lemon Iced Tea and Lemon Green Tea. It’s a sweet $3.99 from supermarkets and convenience stores nationwide, and you can find my review over on nzgirl.
Meagan x

© Meagan Kerr 2013

The whole thing totally blew my mind.  It was jam packed with people and the artists on show were awesome.  There were also pop up shops, live music, little events and workshops for all ages.  If ever there was a reason to borrow a child for the day this is it –

I bought a print from Damien Florebert Cuypers called Kenzo Runway, Paris Fashion Week (below) for £10 but was otherwise remarkabley restrained.

Afterwards I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see a display of Patrick Heron’s work.

They have this self-portrait on permnant display which I love (including the stretched grey fabric wall it’s hung on) but I really came to see his Studies of a portrait of T.S Elliot… which I could look at all day.  I like his use of colour and the fact the paintings almost look collaged.

On the way home I went to the new Photographers Gallery.  I say new because the last time I went it was in the middle of Soho next to Orbital Comics.  It still (just) in Soho but now in a rather more impressive building.  All of the photographs on show, Chris Killip’s series What Happened In Great Britain 1970 – 90 were my favourite.  Boo and His Rabbit 1983 would be the one for my wall, followed closely by Housing and Swan Hunters Shipyard 1975.