Happy weekend to you

Breakfast at one of my favourite weekend places to be. The wonderful Monmouth Coffee Company, (Borough Market branch) by Lottie.

Mini-break joy!

At last I've booked a three night trip for spring. We decided on Lisbon. It's Europe's sunniest and cheapest capital apparently! We go at the end of April and I can't wait. It looks like a seriously beautiful and exciting city, with thousands of cafes. Heaven!

Lisbon street photo from Isolano with thanks.

Polaroid blue sky

Pretty pink sun brolly by Matt Hamilton

I love the way blue skies look on polaroid pictures. And I would love a sun umbrella this colour. However I think a shade this pretty can only be achieved through years of fading during long days at the beach...

My favourite A/W 09 dress so far...

is this navy satin lovely at Erdem. Sigh...

Sweet treats

{Sweetie picture from Rebecca Thuss}

All the ridiculously pretty pale spring colours in the shops are killing me. It's all I can do not to go and binge-buy about 10 dresses that I've seen and loved. Not sure how they'd look on a drizzly grey London day with a winter coat and tights though.... As far as I can see the solution is to try and mix a bit of pastel prettiness in with my winter clothes to see me through until it warms up. These lovelies would work particularly well with this grey dress I've just ordered from ASOS.










Pale blue Marc Bag
Pink Topshop belt
Anna Lou of London yellow cuff
Pretty Ballerina green pumps
Little Venice nail colour (part of the Cruise Collection) from Nails Inc

Prestige pancakes

Take your pancakes to a whole new level this year. Get advice from the best with The Guardian's brilliant How to serve Michelin starred pancakes, or alternatively just grab a can't fail, top secret ingredient. Charbonnel et Walker Truffle Sauce is basically joy in a jar. Make sure there's some left after today though.... this is useful stuff. It's amazingly good as a cake filler, smoothed on top of cupcakes, with ice cream, as a dip for strawberries, out of the jar with a spoon late at night.....you get the idea.

Brown paper packages...

The accessories on ASOS at the moment are a slight obsession of mine. They must have some brilliant bag and jewellery designers. Cute colours and unusual ideas, for not much at all. There is pretty much always something I am coveting. I've just ordered this green soft leather clutch, so am excited to hear the doorbell ring in the next couple of days indicating it's arrival.

What a pretty pattern

I love this print pattern designed by Brie Harrison, spied at decor8. Brie is a London designer who's worked on projects for Accessorize and Anthropology. This one features on card and wrapping made by lovely stationers Art Angels. I just wish there was a fabric to make curtains out of. Maybe one day.

Pink dream

I am sad to hear that Domino Magazine has closed. I would always buy it when in the US and loved practically every room they featured. Looking through the galleries on their website I found this beautiful pink sitting room. The bare wood floor and white means it isn't at all sickly sweet. It's made me want to decorate my bedroom in these colours. SO pretty and fresh.

Cushion cuteness

Every now and then NEXT do a homes item that everyone wants. I think this cosy little wool cushion, priced at a tiny £10, might just be one of them. A perfect birthday present for a friend - wrap it right and you can pretend you got it from a bijous boutique whilst weekending somewhere fabulous.

Chilly weather pie

Hmmm, it was spring on Wednesday. Now it's cold again. So I think I'll make a pie for Sunday. Queen Delia has a recipe for Root Vegetable, cheese and onion pot pie that looks really good....although maybe I'll sneak a couple of sausages in too. This plain but pretty white pie dish from Cox and Cox is perfect.

Have a beautiful weekend

The perfect way to get a splash of colour into a monochrome bathroom....! Beautiful.

Photograph from PICTURES, by Tim Walker via Oh Joy!

Superior showering

I absolutely love shower gels. I mean really good quality ones naturally scented with flowers, herbs or plants. In fact, I see having a constant supply as a beauty priority. Here are the three that currently vie for space on the shelf chez moi. OK they're not that cheap.....but I think it's a way of sneaking a little loveliness into your work day. Don't you?


1. Korres Basil and Lemon Showergel, £7. This has a zingy fresh smell, obviously. But the basil reminds me of summer salads, and makes the whole experience more than a little bit holidayish. It's a treat.

2. JASON Lavender Body Wash, £9.99. OK I admit, so the packaging isn't exactly what you dream of for your bathroom. But the excellent thing with Jason products is that the formulas are amazing, (this one's packed with relaxing provence lavender and aloe vera) so they smell incredible (just as lovely as way pricier brands). The biggest plus for me though is the absolutely huge sizes. This pump bottle is a giant 840ml. Thats easily three months supply.

3. REN Grapefruit and Neroli Shower Wash, £14. Now this is special. It's a bit pricey, so I save it for pre-party situations, or if I'm feeling a bit mis. Neroli, from orange blossom is a powerful happy maker, and I really think it works. Mix it up with juicy grapefruit and wow....who knew a lowly shower gel could be so heavenly?

Spring please come...

...so I can start wearing and filling the house with the pretty pale colours that are EVERYWEAR! This little fella would be perfect as a centrepiece for my seasonal stepladder come March.

Key love

It's not often I love something enough to want to actually make it, but this project on the creative and always clever design*sponge had me straight onto Ebay to see if anyone sells old keys (they do). There's not much art I really like, so I'm going to give it a go. SO cute and original. I'll let you know how it goes....

A seasonal stepladder

This floral display of loveliness was created by London florists Scarlet and Violet whose work is as beautiful as it gets. It made me think that I'd like to get an old step ladder like this one and use it as a kind of seasonal changing display. I'm thinking unusual pumpkins in autumn, roses and peonies in the summer and daffodils, hyacinths and fluffy chicks (fake obviously) in Spring.

Plain sailing

It's a few degrees warmer, and it feels like the right time to start looking around for things to wear this spring/summer. Boat prints are so sweet and still fairly unusual. My dream daytime frock on a seaside theme would be this one from Chloe...

But I think I'd learn to love the pretty New Look version just the same...