Melting Magic in Nottinghill

Melt. What a deliciously appropriate name for a gorgeous chocolatier, in the heart of divine Nottinghill. Family, festive spirit & merchandising delights for all to enjoy, as shared by Bill Granger & his 3 daughters. Chocolate treats & perfect gifts all wrapped up in bonbon colours, simply yet beautifully displayed & something for all ages. I love the idea of one gift, whether it be a bonbon chocolate, soap, or a decoration for the tree, buy one in each colour, make a story, & make a statement, simple & understated - one of each colour, wrapped in a gorgeous little carry bag & tied with grosgrain ribbon to match, finished of course with a simple festive tag. Hot pink with orange, lime & hotpink, or all 3 together, always looks fresh, happy & very chic. Hydrangeas & fairy lights, Jo Malone Candles, traditional carols, mince tarts, shortbread & eggnog, yes, I'm ready for Christmas coffee with friends:-)http://www.meltchocolates.com/

Holiday Mantel...

Lo and behold, I got some Christmas decorating done! I conquered my mantel, which can sometimes be a challenge with  its large scale/depth, and I hung my holiday "subway" sign, a gift from Matthew Mead for my holiday photo shoot. You can order one like it (it also comes in red) here on his website. I also picked up some glittery stags to flank it on the wall. 

Who knew I'd ever have a deer's head on the wall? Hah!

Happy decorating! 

I am off to do more and will be back to share it all soon!

Forty Years Later...

Yes, it's true. I am forty today.

I should feel different, but I don't.

Forty sounds different, though.

I know it sounds totally over the hill to people 25 and under.

But I wouldn't trade places with my 20 year old self.

That would mean university classes, being separated from my man (he graduated before me), and too many unknowns.

I would still have to go through pregnancy and childbirth.

I loved both, but I did it, and it was hard, and sweet.

I don't need to repeat either.

I see young mums with little babies and I want to stop them and tell them how lucky they are.

To not always look to the future, rushing milestones.

I want to tell them to cuddle their babies even more, to not worry about it being "too much."

Can you ever breathe in the scent of a baby too much? I miss that.

I would trade places with my 27 year old self, though. Because I miss my little boys.

I want desperately to go back and scoop them up.

Because teenage boys are a far stretch from little boyhood when they stand taller than you.

I want to go back when everyone believed in Santa, not just Sophie.

I want to drink in her innocence, as she is still very much a little girl.

I want to freeze time and make her always love playing with her "babies", happy to hold my hand, and believing in Santa.

I want to tell all of the parents who are "done" with Santa to stop debunking ALL of the happy myths surrounding him to their children. Who, in turn, work very hard to convince my child to not believe. 

I want to ask them to allow the rest of us to enjoy it, and enable our children to believe in magic for just one more year.

Is that too much to ask?

I am happy that I have learned that all that I want is not at all that I need.

That laughing with your husband over shared, inside jokes can make your day.

I marvel that I have become messier. That clutter all of a sudden means that my life is full.

That I no longer crave a "perfect" home, for that might mean it is empty, that my little birds have left the nest.

I love that I don't know all that lies ahead, but I feel better equipped to embrace it for what it is.

That I don't need to be surrounded by people to be content...that I can entertain myself.

For you can still, at times, feel all alone amongst a group of people, no matter how old you get.

I am okay that I will never conquer my curls and my freckles have merged into age spots.

I still dislike what I have always disliked about myself, but I like more things, too.

In essence, I am happier than my 20 year old self, and that is all I need to confirm that my forties are not going to be so bad.

Despite the cackling of my sister as she welcomes me into "the club."

The End

(Whew! I guess I had to mark the milestone somehow on my blog, right? 

And I am not having a big Fortieth celebration, That is not who I am at all. 

I can't think of anything more uncomfortable, actually!)

Then:

Now:

In a nutshell, being a good mum is all I ever truly wanted to be. 

Everything else is a bonus...!

(above two photos: courtesy, Matthew Mead)

Saturday Projects...

 (this project can be found in HOLIDAY with Matthew Mead and is one of my favourite new decorations!)

It is a beautiful sunny Saturday which is perfect for:

Bringing in the remaining outdoor furniture, etc. for the winter

Tidying up the flower beds

Painting the Murphy bed (yes, I'm still working on it!)

and, my favourite project, making this garland for my tree:

 (source: Potttery Barn)

 Oh, and our town's Christmas parade is next weekend! 

The taxidermy reindeer must be getting restless!!

Take a breather...and Remember.

Like it or not, Christmas anticipation is all around us. But as Remembrance Day (Canada) and Veteran's Day (U.S.) are marked today, I hope that we all will honour it with the respect it commands. I want to share my favourite Remembrance Day reminder via this video, produced by singer/songwriter, Terry Kelly, who resides in Nova Scotia (my province) but is a native of Newfoundland. Please read the following background of the video before watching it. This song, its message, and the video itself puts such a lump in my throat and after watching it, you will be moved to truly remember those who have fought for our freedom and who continue to serve in battle and peace-keeping missions.

(From Terry's website - originally published in the Globe and Mail and written by Roy MacGregor):

It is a song that was intended as a rant, a little "venting" by the blind singer-songwriter concerning an incident he overheard seven years ago this coming week in a Shoppers Drug Mart in Dartmouth, just across the harbour from his home in Halifax.

He was in the store the morning of Nov. 11, 1999, when an announcement came over the public address system that the store would be following the legion's "two minutes of silence" initiative and fall quiet at 11 a.m. to honour those who had fought, and often died, for their country.

At the 11th hour, the store went quiet. Clerks stopped stocking shelves. Cashiers stepped back from their registers. Shoppers paused and lowered their heads.

Except for one man.

He was there with his young daughter, and he was in a hurry.

He demanded a clerk's attention. He insisted on going through the cash. He was loud and obnoxious and destroyed all hope of reflection for everyone within his sound range.

When the man completed his purchase, he hustled his little girl out the doors, but not before Terry Kelly - whose superb hearing compensates for his lack of sight - picked up her plaintive "Daddy - that was embarrassing!" as the doors swung back closed and, finally, allowed the store to fall quiet.

Outraged, Kelly went home, sat down with his guitar, and slowly worked out a tune and words:

"They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it's our land
Look at his little child, there's no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
"Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It's a pittance of time . . ."

In the song, Kelly unleashed his anger ("God forgive me for wanting to strike him") and celebrated the Canadian soldier, from those who sent letters back from the Great War to those who today send e-mails home from Afghanistan. He sang about the swift passage of time ("May we never forget our young become vets") and about the significance of that small moment we mark at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Please watch this video. I promise you it will serve as a profound message that you will never forget:

TV unit luxury Italian furniture manufacturer Bonaldo

TV unit luxury Italian furniture manufacturer Bonaldo

Are you looking for the TV unit luxury for your match .. modern furniture interior? There are different TV unit designed by Bonaldo, and they end luxury Italian furniture market, because their quality is fantastic. Here I'll show you the best of both of them: Vision TV Stand and TV Stand Panorama. Vision TV stand is lacquered anodized Bonaldo Doluflex with a high gloss front and a chrome swivel base, provides ample space for a TV, a closet in the back of the unit to hide cables, power strips, etc. Vision TV Stand Available in black gloss, white gloss, bright painted silver or Cappuccino. Whereas the Panorama TV Stand is made with a high gloss front and a chrome swivel base, provides ample space for a television, also available in gloss black, gloss white or cappuccino. Each model has a specific surface area and storage space for remote controls, DVD player, Sky decoder, CD or DVD.

Tale of a Kitchen Make-Over...Part Two!

 

Remember a few weeks ago when I promised to show you photos of my sister Wendy's kitchen makeover?
Well, I drove three and a half hours for the reveal (and to be served the most elegant lunch in her new kitchen), only to realize I forgot my camera! Lucky for both of us, she has a good friend with a great camera and photography skills who snapped a few so I/we could share.

You might remember the before photo I showed you:

 

Well, here is one of the after shots:

Isn't is so fresh and pretty? My sister has an unfailing eye for putting together what the rest of us might think won't work. I always liken her style to that of an artist's; because don't they always have the most fantastic spaces? Sometimes more daring, but always edited with a knowing vision.

She and her hard-working (and handy!) husband did this make-over on a conservative budget and stretched their dollars as well as Wendy's design muscles.

It involved mostly paint, new counter-tops, HARD labour, one new appliance (an over-the-range micro-wave), and a new faucet.

And a whole LOT of style!!!

Small details can mean so much:

The new kitchen faucet is from ATG Stores.com  (which I love for its one stop shopping when doing home renovation!) for her review, and you can read about it here. She is still on the hunt for her dream sink but was happy to find that a thorough buffing to her current sink was all that was needed to make it shine again. Another savings!!!

Head on over to Wendy's blog and check out all of the other photos and details of this make-over. Be sure to say hi and check out all of her other renovations at  The House She Calls Home

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The makings of a Murphy Bed...

 (source here)

I am a transplant.

Which, loosely interpreted, means that all of my family (and my husband's) lives more than three hours away from us. So, when they come and visit they are in need of a bed...or two. And we don't have a guest room...

In the past, they have rested their weary heads on our futon, a cot, Sophie's bed or ours. It all winds up feeling like a serious case of musical beds, and it really wasn't working very well for anyone.

The handyman to the rescue!!!!!!

(This is the handyman):

He is also my husband, for those who might have been 

wondering.

Anyway, he is very handy. He buys us coffee:

 He fixes things and, more importantly, builds me things:

 And he is a very good father:

 

 But don't go getting the idea that he is perfect.

He is very messy, and he can never find anything!

Can yours?

Well, this handyman is also a problem solver and to solve our lack of a guest room issue he has built us a Murphy bed!!

From Wikipedia:  A Murphy bed (a North American term only), also called a Pull Down Bed, is a bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall, or inside a closet or cabinet. To achieve this, the mattress is attached to the bed frame, often with elastic straps.

  

I have secretly always wanted a Murphy bed. After seeing them on television shows in the late Seventies, I hankered for one of my own. And a futon just didn't cut it!

If you search Murphy beds on Google images you won't find anything all that inspiring. Because, let's face it, they are a hulking piece of furniture, aren't they? On a recent episode of HGTV's Bang for Your Buck, the homeowners spent more than $10,000 on making one that more seamlessly blends in to the room, mimicking an armoire/entertainment unit.

Well, ours is costing decidedly less than that (we purchased the mechanics at Lee Valley), and the handyman is going to do his best to make ours looks as handsome as possible. We hope to have it completed within the next two weeks and I will reveal the final product then. This is the only example that is appealing to me at this point:

(source here)

After costruction is totally complete, I will just have to paint it, dress it in pretty bedding and tell some guests to...

"Come on Down!"

OPENING THIS THURSDAY......

The Colour Lab Store/Cafe-Melbourne opens THIS THURSDAY!!!We can hardly wait...morning coffee (Nick makes the best latte!), freshly squeezed juices, delicious breakfast & lunch menu (I've been very lucky to sample many of the delights on offer by the Cafe Manager, Caroline, her culinary expertise is just amazing!), lots of energy, inviting ambience, friendly & fabulous staff, & a brilliant mix of produce & product. Over the past 3 months, there has been such excitement from other traders & business owners, Stonnington residents, customers & colleagues...thank you all so much for waiting so patiently for the doors to open, it has indeed been a huge project, but we promise you that it has been well worth the wait!!We hope that you are going to love it as much as we already do, & that you will become familiar faces & regular customers. We are really looking forward to sharing our store, cafe, events, workshops & calendar activities with you as we open the first Colour Lab Store/Cafe this Thursday, November 4th, 2010 at 9am!! :-)The Colour Lab Store/Cafe Melbourne385 High St.,Prahran, Melbourne. 3181P: 03 9510 3858E: thecolourlab@gmail.com