Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Suri-Lil

People used to comment that they thought I resembled Katie Holmes. Well, I went to my hairdresser today and we decided to give a fringe a go. A proper fringe - no wispy, layered thing but a full bodied no mistaking it kind of fringe. And blow me down if I don't look just like little miss Suri Cruise. Except much taller. And about 30 years older. And not as cute.

I haven't decided yet whether I'm that into it. I'll keep my eye on Suri and see if she updates her look soon.

Monday, 24 November 2008

It's not all about the gin.....

Of a morning (when it's not considered the done thing to crack out the gin) I have taken to drinking a heck of a lot of tea - English breakfast, green, oolong, peppermint, chamomile and berry. But my fav right now is some jasmine tea we got at an Asian supermarket.

Although not very sustainable, it comes in pretty individually wrapped teabags with the following message:


Ideal gift? Well there's Matt's birthday sorted.

My leisurely life.

I have had many people ask me how it is being a lady of leisure, and I have to say that I am surprisingly busy. The garden is in good nick, the washing is all done and the house is relatively tidy. I have been fielding emails with job offers - we live in a small place and fortunately there are lots of vet jobs. Many people refuse to believe that I could possibly not want to work for the next few months. I suppose it's better than struggling to find work.

Anyway, Matt took this photo demonstrating my fine multitasking skills which I utilise in order to fit in as many of my favourite activities at one time:


Basically I am: knitting, drinking gin, eating cherries, reading a book and (although you can't see it) listening to music. Not bad eh?

I only feel that my break has started this week as I have had two weddings to attend in the past week. Now that they are done I can concentrate on finishing off my Christmas presents, and continuing my Elderflower Cordial production line (which we had yesterday with gin and soda and lemon - not bad at all).

Our house is looking particularly spring like right now - I have somehow managed to decorate with large numbers of lovely roses. The kitchen table has lilac ones from one of the weddings (my bridesmaid bouquet) and pink peonies from our friends Jo and Alistair...

The mantelpiece and the sideboard has wild roses from Dot's garden:



Only six days left of spring then summer is here. I can't believe how time flies.

Thursday, 13 November 2008

While we're on the topic of flowers...

From the flowers on this tree...


...to this...

...to this...

...to this:

Homemade elderflower cordial. Good with gin apparently (not that I'd know). Next month I'm going to attempt some elderflower champagne.

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Rose cake

I am officially now a lady of leisure. I have had an afternoon nap every day for the past week, my feet are grass stained from running around barefoot and today I found myself at a loose end for the first time in forever. So, I made a cake for the boys in the office. Yesterday I made some lemon and poppyseed muffins as a special request for Matt but they somehow turned out to be extraordinarily inedible so I had to redeem myself today. I found an old recipe on a scrap from a magazine for a rose, cardamon and walnut cake, and I have to say that I really outdid myself. It was so yummy. Check it out:

Those are rose petals from the garden on top. I think the boys were pretty impressed. Only a little bit came home again.

Sunday, 9 November 2008

I want THIS kitchen


Our hunt for the perfect house in Christchurch continues... we haven't found it yet, but we've come close. Today we looked at this sweet Warren and Mahoney house in Cashmere (er.. yes slightly outside our price range) ... I instantly fell for this kitchen...I just love the original sliding cupboards and the colours. The bench was also covered in awesome small green tiles. So cool.

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

Pizza and Peonies


This evening was my farewell drinks and pizza at the clinic. I arrived a little flustered and VERY thirsty so I quickly downed 3 glasses of champagne on arrival. Although this helped with my nerves, it didn't help with my impromptu speech.... I don't think I said anything too bad though. I was actually quite taken aback by how many cards and flowers and chocolates I got, both from staff and clients - some of these were really touching and I can't help but think it would be nice to know how much people appreciate you before you leave. I was even a little sad to be going despite feeling like it was an overdue step.

There are some stunning peonies out at the moment and a lovely client brought in the bunch in the photo above - the same client made me a chocolate cake too! A whole cake just for me! BUT, I was so tipsy from all my champers that I left it on the roof when we drove off - we got right to the Sefton garage before I asked Matt about it - fortunately it was still swinging around on the roof, saved only by Matt's kayak rack which was keeping it snugly on top.

I haven't got a photo but the clinic got together and bought me a gorgeous 1920s Japanese lacquered tray. It is stunning, I will have to photograph it and put a photo up tomorrow.

Ah, the end of an era.