lost in love

hi darlings! it’s been a little while… of no interest to you why so i’ll skip such niceties and just hope you are as excited as i to be lost in love for a few mins today. i promise it was not planned and i have been allowing my stream of life to meander the last few months whilst keeping the faith that one day i’ll know what i want to share with you again. well whilst tuning into ‘mr. selfridge’ a little spark went off and it makes sense that february should be the month to set that fire alight again. and the subject… well love of course! you might recall my post last february where i championed this short month and encouraged you to make the most of finding love in all matter of things for each and every 28/29 days and not just on valentine’s. if not maybe join me and try again this year. much has changed in a year with perhaps the most enthralling being that i am in love (finally!!!) with a bear – well technically he’s a man! mmm most definitely a man! yes lucky me! and as the universe works in a much mysterious way my divorce will also be final in feb and so the scales right themselves allowing for new beginnings. with this post i simply want to plant a seed of pleasure for the coming year and reiterate my new years message below. i have also been having a furious love affair with instagram so it is fitting to kick the love month off by sharing pix that hold memories that make me flutter. i’ll be back weekly my darlings with posts dedicated to ‘lust’ and ‘live’ to stir your own senses…

with love x

bohemian madonna – i will find you again…

haphazardly finding the perfect vintage vase…

watching the sun rise out of the ocean…

dancing like no one is watching…

pink pastel poetry in paint…

seafood! yes yes to those who know me… food in general!

a job that never feels like work…

perfect white roses…

and maybe one day i’ll reveal the bear x

published

a little milestone… see below the article i wrote for Grove magazine which is described as ‘the Vogue of Notting Hill’. a little background… the project is part of the renovation of a victorian detached home which i am working on at Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Couture and i styled and put this together for the photoshoot about a month ago. the space featured is the potting shed which had a complete re-haul and has now become the home office for the family dad. you can see more on this from the owners own blog goddess on a budget. conceived, schemed, styled and then turned around to suit a feature the magazine commissioned after i pitched the idea to the press. this for me is an achievement which has only been possible due to the many experiences i have had through my working life in pr, event and project management and finally interior design – all coming together and contributing to being… published!

no lie… diamonds are a girl’s best friend

the female affinity with diamonds has finally struck me – or more speared me clean through, piercing, removing and replacing my tender heart with a rock hard diamond version! it all suddenly makes sense! maybe i’m late to this realisation but let me explain and perhaps you hadn’t quite seen it from this point of view either… firstly good god its quite hard being a woman, in her thirties, single with average paying job, living in london! but… add diamonds to this mix and see how they instantly increase ‘being’ in value. one: woman draped in diamonds always has a smile on her face as she is mesmerised by the sparkle = happy woman whatever the weather. two: portable light reflection which rids wrinkles = woman always looking and feeling young and beautiful. three: woman with enough diamonds can sell when necessary = who cares if job is average paying, diamonds can be cashed in for champagne fund. four: she’s single at the moment because she is ‘collecting’ diamonds!

fun aside – on a more serious note this diamond jubilee weekend left in me a realisation of what we take on as women (small print: am really not a feminist but i can only write about what i am experiencing first hand and am learning a great deal about actually being a women at the moment!). i went to see ‘snow white and the huntsman’ on sunday. i LOVE fairy tales but they have kinda wrecked my life and i wish they had come with cliff notes. well this blockbuster version certainly captured the crucial moral lesson i wish i had clinched in the disney version… instead i just always wanted to look as pure as snow and have a handsome prince kiss me back to life. the notes would summarise ‘be honest, be kind (to animals), get tough, then… bat those eyelids with self assurance which comes from within and what really makes one beautiful!’

so at the end of this diamond jubilee weekend, with the queen standing strong, showing off her bedazzling collection whilst her husband is sadly taken ill, i  concede that diamonds really are forever. should you be lucky to have a few then hold them fast, show them off, they will always come through because they are rock hard on the inside, yet exquisite on the outside and a reminder of the kind of woman you should want to be, but remember – they sparkle so you fall in love with them so be sure to sparkle so prince charming may also fall in love with you…

well jel!

happy diamond jubilee

with love

one massive rock crystal bath tub! fit for a queen at just a mere £530,000… now where are those crown jewels i could sell!

wake up and smell the roses

saturday 26 may 2012: i’m almost always working so to be off is a treat

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25C, sunny, breezy, no clouds: yes i am still in london

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little mouse: my plus one for the day

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chelsea flower show / manicomio / kings road: with no time limit

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the start to the summer and what was a perfect day!

this post is my ‘hats off’ to the RHS and the truly wonderful event that is the annual chelsea flower show. i recently posted my disappointment in my visit to grand designs live and the fact that i was left disillusioned with the lack of innovation from what is supposed to be a showcase of creative evolution. so even though my expectations were high of CFS i was not expecting the overwhelming emotional and sensory impact the show bestowed on me. perhaps it was all due to a culmination of a series of events that made it so much sweeter: the tickets were an unexpected gift which i will never forget, nature boasted her best elements and i could ask for no one more special to share the day. with my blogs i set out to write about the emotional impact our material surroundings have on us, but i am never more in awe or often overwhelmed by the impact the natural world has on the advanced beings that we are. it is the greatest reminder that we share our time on planet earth with an abundance of designs that can never be manufactured or equalled, for free…! i was reluctant to leave what felt i imagine could be like entering the holographic worlds in star trek, a parallel universe, a living fairy tale. in truth i could never replicate in writing what i felt on the day and my pix are nowhere near illustrative of being in the moment. they will however serve their purpose as snapshots for future inspiration and join my L.O.V.E library and i hope provide a small sensory shudder for you too.

(all photographs taken and edited by me and my simple iphone 3gs – yes it is time for an upgrade or investment into a better camera 😉

discovered at the chelsea flower show – bloomin gorgeous!

caroline weihrauch

seeking under cover lover

i think cupid has forgotten about me so this little post is dedicated to love nests i hope will bribe him into finding someone to share them with me. i love a canopy bed and the thought of being secreted away behind swathes of sultry silk or voyeuristic voiles to while away the day… or two, is becoming a standard daydream. am not far from getting the canopy bed but seem an eternity away from sharing it. for now here are a few to fall in love in…

the arctic pear ceiling pendant from ochre. marries all my design aesthetics – sparkle / simplicity / structure

the bossy glossy, enough already!!

a few weeks ago over tea & cake in camden at yumchaa myself and ‘little mouse’ chatted about how depressing women’s magazines are and admitted that quite frankly these days we flick through the pix and no more. i stopped reading them altogether a  long while ago because the cycle of nonsense was just repeated throughout and i was bored to death of of being ‘told’ who, how, when, why, bla bla bla! i was reminded of this chat today when a friend’s fb post appeared on my news feed with the following – Women’s lifestyle  magazines make my head spin – and i really couldn’t put it better myself. ladies please click, have a read and have a think. for sure i still love a magazine (but my pennies only go towards the interiors publications, of course). if a glossy is lying around then i will flick, but i am firmly in camp cadenet and wish for editors to shake it up and settle back down to showcasing an honest reality. yes someone is always harping on about making changes (also bla bla) but strength is in numbers so perhaps we all need to make a little plea for less pretty plastic and more gorgeous guts (not talking tummy but spirit!) i dare say though, i still love a pretty picture as am fond of all art forms but perhaps they can be just so, pretty pictures in their own pretty picture section with no words… and if we must have words then perhaps just a few (2-3) choice topics a month that are thoroughly researched and have a multifaceted approach, followed by a little retail therapy section of what’s new in the shops and that’s enough for me. i have my own mind and don’t want to be ‘told’ but i do like to be informed, educated and entertained. granted many of the glossies have made changes towards such but i think can still  strip back further  or perhaps its just the tone that needs to be amended, less ‘you should = better you’ and more ‘let’s share = your choice’.  ‘the conversation with amanda de cadenet’ is due to air in the US and i hope we get access / viewing here in the UK too as am genuinely curious and excited to see if this lives up to its great trailer and whether we will be privy to a little less gloss and a little more heart. in the mean time the website is also a good conversation starter for ten… click image below

the rock & rum

i wake up to bbc radio 1 and the hilarious breakfast team every day and i LOVE them. they are like a bunch of friends who just leave me in stitches whilst i get ready for work – or not because most of the time am stuck lying there listening to the banter – and always start the day (late) with a grin on my face. thank you chris, aled, dom, dave and tina for breaking not only radio rules but adult rules and totally embracing being forever young and free to be down with the trumpets! with this in mind, last night when myself and a gf wanted to move on from the early closing pub to shimmy and shake on a dance floor – BUT not find ourselves in either a) a club full of drunken teens b) a club full of drunken antipodeans c) a club full of euro cash trash, all either playing one dimensional – i need a tab to actually make sense of the melody – pants trance or the bizarre need for 60’s / 70’s anthems that these teens are too young to have even been conceived to – i was stumped as to where we could go. i wish for a bar/pub/club playing radio 1 tunes; be it dance, indie, pop, rnb, reggae – whatever – just current stuff that we love hearing and could dance to with a bar at hand!… in notting hill! new bars… stop trying to be so cool. if i had the capital i would open somewhere in a heartbeat and it would be like having a house party every night!  my ideal would be for a portobello road location with basement (otherwise we’d have to clear out by 11pm… not an option we must stay open till at least 4am on weekends!) the vibe will of course be beach, bohemian, bourgeois. lounging by day – lifestyle literature, games, squishy sofas, fireplaces, great music! by sundown – pouring spirits, more lounging with hips swinging to more great music. the menu… caribbean – everyone loves a bit of jerk chicken! so if anyone does have the capital and wants to join me in this venture please, PLEASE get in touch! below is my mood board for said venture….

a trip home…. click on below to check out video by band simple plan feat. sean paul… filmed in BARBADOS

gold fever

i’m currently questioning whether our motives for success have been seriously clouded by competitive minds, forever measuring ourselves against  our peers so we may feel that we are accomplished and have a reason for being more worthy than others, to feel good about ourselves? we are of course competitive by nature which is necessary for our survival and evolution, but i feel that we have forgotten that the experience is to benefit not oneself but all involved. a competitive spirit should ignite and encourage the players, to achieve by being part of an experience that offers growth in communication, confidence and capability, to better ourselves to help those around us, not to create fear and loathing of one another. for an eternity i’ve always shunned away from competition, because i am fiercely competitive and as was my need to constantly prove i was worthy, but i fervently disliked the anger and fear i felt and still feel in these situations. therefore i would rather not play, and instead content myself in the fact that someone else will feel better about themselves if i let them win/rule/conquer. however this is a complete false sense of self and an equally unhealthy suppression of a natural instinct. thankfully (!!) with age the need to reign starts to wither, though i believe will never fully disappear. perhaps it’s early for this to set in as one’s 30’s are for taking on the challenges and knocking the competition out the way so one has a better chance in the last stretch to the finish line, but…i want to cross that line with smiling faces waiting to celebrate with me, not to stand above and alone. perhaps that’s why we celebrate 1st, 2nd and 3rd place so we never feel completely isolated. just a thought… and to illustrate lets LOVE our fav metals of gold, silver & bronze…

you so would if you could….

merci mes amis…

505 views / 18.02.2012

writing this blog is my guilty pleasure. i was and mostly am the quiet one but i fight myself to have a voice and the guts to make it heard. i am finding it true that with age we are less inclined to worry so much about others and their perceptions, assumptions, interpretations of ourselves. i no long feel the need to always please and prove. i love the way i think, i love to learn, i love to share. this is but a simple way of sharing my little voice and so to celebrate this little number but proud benchmark as well as wish you all…

THANKS with LOVE 

 here are some more of my guilty pleasures…

lusting for lingerie

studying my stars

pink power…

choc chip cookie dough

trash tv…

wondering when i’ll next whisper…

always remember to be nice

i hope i achieve this on a daily basis as i certainly aim to! 

with this in mind i would like to say THANK YOU to 2 fellow bloggers and virtual friends.

the first is fiona who wrote the most amazing post on her blog  la la moon regarding my envie interiors, for which i am so thrilled and thankful! you can see this by clicking on the link above. i make a point of being friendly with everyone i meet on my path as i strongly believe that you never know how your crossing might one day effect you. fiona and i, though having been to the same school, we didn’t necessarily spend time together. she was in the year above me and as i remember very cool, very pretty and i believe head girl..fiona correct me if i’m wrong in remembering the head girl bit – the rest is correct!. so kinda out of my league! however we found a creative affinity years later and i have admired from afar her travels and treasures she has found on the way. she launched a blog and website way before these were the norm and i recall a twinge of envy at the birth of  la la moon (love the whimsicality of this name!) but today i see this as an inspiration and the envy was really admiration! fiona, again thank you for your wonderful words and i look forward to the evolution of la la moon!

i am also a firm believer in fate and things happening for a reason, big or small! so one day as i was quite happily browsing tumblr for inspiration i came across a delightful french interiors image which had been posted by {double take} a bajan blogger!! i was so excited at the fact that there was another interiors enthusiast and professional from my little rock! so i sent off a little message to say ‘hi’ and since we have connected and natasha via love design* (i mean how could we not connect with the same LOVE for design!) has been very kind in supporting my new venture as a blogger! i of course am tremendously envious of the fact that she has a sea view from her office, therefore making her an authority on beach living and design! natasha i hope we can meet next time i am home, no doubt we have crossed paths on those sandy beaches before!