The Hyacinth.....

........It's fragrance is taking over the house........I love it. It looks almost 3D..........Please come spring....I am waiting..........

Happy Friday all and hope the weekend is a good one for you

xxx

A new day begins..........

Did the day get better? Well, it took a while that's for sure. The headache seemed to linger all day, the washing machine...well and truly broken (and piles of dirty laundry seem to be piling up as I type!). My history with broken washing machines and dishwashers is not a good one. Those stupid extra warranty plans you take out are more hassle than they are worth. Suffice to say, rather than making my life easier, The last time those two appliances broke I was without a dishwasher for 10 weeks and a washing machine for 12! Now, I know some of you are reading this and laughing as you may not have a need or a want for a dishwasher. But living in a family of 5 with a tiny kitchen and baby bear, who was a baby at the time....I just couldn't stand it. I was glued to the sink, and hated, hated, hated there being a constant set of dirty dishes by its side. I seemed to have the appliances that nobody could fix, companies that were useless, and engineers who were even more so. Not being able to face the hassle of trying to get someone to come and inspect it and then tell me it will be impossible to fix, I spent a good hour searching online for prices.......ouch...they made me whince. Not a January expense Mr H and I are looking forward too.

I caught a beloved cup on the kitchen counter and it smashed to smitherines on the floor, spraying hot tea everywhere with it. Luckily, although it was a fave, it was not one of my brand new cup purchases....otherwise.....well.....that would have seriously topped things off!

So, during the day, I tried to take all your advice! I settled with a little hooky project, just a quick, satisfying one to calm me. I drank steaming hot tea from my recently purchased fave cups and tried to sooth my troubles away. A tad difficult with a raging head, but I did try!

I am completely in love with these cups! Is that weird? I know a fair few people who are funny about their cups. You know, how in the office, people take their own cups in to drink from instead of having the generic company cups provided. Somehow, a drink tastes much nicer from a cup you like! Well I certainly like these. I adore their shape and their texture. They are fine bone china, so the drink stays at it's hottest (incredibly important for me! Anything other than piping hot is just urrrggghhhh!). That's how I justified them to Mr H...he gets it, he knows what I am like! Their whiteness is pure and makes me smile, and their texture when you wrap your hands around them is soothing. To trace your fingers around the flowers as you drink. Okay, so yes, I am a little weird, but it is a very nice way to have your drink! Although I didn't get them straight from this company (and paid less for them too!), the company that makes them is this one. They are called 'plum mugs' as I guess their shape is...well...plum like! I like the way you can wrap your hands neatly around them to get the full warmth of the drink on your hand on a cold day. I am rather taken with their 'tubby mugs' also. Ah, what's a girl going to do!

So, feeling a little less devastated that it wasn't one of these new beauties that I broke, I drank out of them all day! They put a teeny tiny smile back on my face.

I tried to take pleasure in my hyacinth purchase that morning. Luckily they weren't in the bag with the broken eggs! They smell divine and look beautiful. They put a second little smile on my face......

My narcissus have opened and are the cutest little things. Little smile number three.

...And I have been indulging in toast and jam...rather a lot. little smile number four.

I indulged in a long luxurious bath in the evening complete with candles, ipod and wine......did a girly pamper...and felt all the better for it. Mr H made sure baby bear gave a me a good nights sleep, so all is better with the world (so far!) today!

Thank you ladies for your comments. More appreciated than you will know. Looks like we all get them. You are all just so awesome!

Happy Wednesday!

xxx

An obsession....

...to go with all my other obsessions!

This was about a third of my rose ring stash. I do love a rose ring, can you tell?!!!!!!!

As for yesterday's post? Yes, you were right ladies....they were indeed from Wilkinsons! Ranging from 79p - £4. They have certainly made my little kitchen space more cheery. Nigella, I do love your utensils but I don't love your prices, so Wilkinsons, for a cheap update, you definitely have my vote!

xxx

Pastel Finds.....

I am in love! With some cheap plastic bowls and utensils. They have brightened up my day and put a HUGE smile on my face. The fact that they were cheap as chips made the smile that much sweeter!

My most fave trio of colours

And gorgeous lemony soap to make me feel that spring is not far off!

xxx

Colour

The day is dark, wet and completely miserable. Is there anywhere where it is not depressing?

So, today I think about COLOUR.

I love bright colours, as many might have guessed! I also have a huge love of pastels. I have my favourites, you know, the ones that instantly draw you to them like a strong magnet in a shop. 

I love PINK, palest, soft, blush, shell, peachy, sheer, delicate. 

I love BLUE, duck egg, palest, chalk, sea.

I love GREEN, olive, minty, spring.

I love TURQUOISE, vibrant, pale

Some colours I have always loved from childhood....some have grown on me over the years.....but I have always struggled with two colours.....ORANGE and LILAC. Orange being the worst (or so I thought). I don't know if it is because it is a colour that does nothing for me, or that I always see it in its harshest form...that strong orangy colour that gives you a headache if you stare at it too long. I guess that's why I am no big fan of Halloween. Strong orange and black...yuk, so in October, I keep my head down! 

Lilac, follows very closely though. I can take purple (how could I not love the purple of the lavender fields behind my house), and like it teamed with olive, but lilac I find very, very cool and hard to look at. It puts me on edge. It's almost like it is an imposter. Trying to be this pretty colour, yet instead, to me it is sickly and cold. 

Now, I took a long hard look a few months ago at my makes, my buys, my house etc and realised one thing. It lacked something. I do love bright colours together, but there was a colour missing.......Yellow. Now, I don't have a problem with yellow (except acid yellow, but i'm guessing most people would have a problem with that!!!!) but it seemed not to feature much in my house. I guessed that maybe subconsciously, as it was close to orange on the colour scale, I had steered away from it. 

So, I made the decision to add more yellow to my house and see if it was the 'thing' that was lacking. Of course it had to be the right kind of yellow, pale and creamy, but I thought it might lead to a bolder yellow love.

A nice thrifty find of some Woods Ware 'Jasmine' china helped breath life into things. Do you remember? 

It now adorns my dresser and fits in well with the other bits. I also have a couple of other bits that are deeper in colour. I am astounding myself!!!! Yesterday I found this beauty in a charity shop and fell in love. Just right to balance the colour in my house. 

I am loving it more and more each time I glimpse it.......at 50p.....a bargain I thought! And it is a deeper yellow, a tinge of the orange creeping its way in!

But do you know what? I do love retro, which is a little strange, as a lot of retro stuff is orange...but I have always steered towards the stuff , well, that isn't orange! But....you know what? I think.....my mind might be changing. Just a little bit though! I don't think I will ever be able to take strong orange in any way, shape or form, but, I did buy some PALE orange flowery fabric (with the intense encouragement of my sister-in-law), and I keep staring at it, and beginning to like it that little bit more. So, maybe, the palest of orange, and the deepest of yellow I will be able to take in small doses, it might just start creeping into the house a bit more!

As for lilac...no way hosay...but I guess.....never say never! If you think that you can change my mind and plead your case for lilac then feel free!

So, tell me.....your favourite colour?....your least favourite? I would love to know!

Happy grey, dull Thursday!

xxx