Happy Turtle

Fashion Fridays-Enjoy the Valentine's

2012-02-11T13:55:00.000+02:00

Advertisement in a Greek newspaper.

A Princess of Style

2012-02-07T19:15:00.001+02:00

I love fairy tales.

I love happily-ever-afters.

I love Kings and Queens, palaces and castles.

On February 5th, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, celebrated her 40th birthday.

To mark the occasion, the royal court of Danmark issued a series of photos,

one of which really caught my eye.

The perfect stage,

the perfect clothes and pose,

contemporary and chic,

for a young mother of four,

a Scotish-Tasmanian Princess

who has studied and worked in advertising and marketing.

Picture perfect.

Happy Birthday, Your Highness!

Our Chalkboard

2012-02-06T10:24:00.001+02:00

On our chalkboard :)

For Mosaic Monday,

and my bloggy friends,

Happy new week,

Fashion Fridays:How to tie a scarf

2012-02-03T20:29:00.001+02:00

Is there an element in your wardrobe that defines your style?

It may be a colour, e.g. all black,

a style, like long flowery dresses,

or an accessory, such as oversized glasses.

For me it used to be rings, stacked one on top of the other. That was the glorious 80s.

Now it's bracelets, and come Summer or Winter, scarves.

I absolutely love scarves.

via

They add colour and pattern to the simplest of attire.

A plain t-shirt, a jacket or cardi and black slacks for work,

a white t-shirt and white linen drawstring trousers in the summer,

there is always scope for a scarf or wrap.

A tiny triangle, a square, a long scarf, I like playing around them.

There is a range of materials and prices to choose for.

Here are some ideas:

Apply to your style

and have fun!

Sweet Happy February

2012-02-01T12:46:00.000+02:00

These pictures took my breath away this chilly February morning.

Sa Majesté, Marie-Antoinette, would approve, I think.

Sweet, loving, warm, hearty

February,

dear friends

Love You

<3 <3 <3

Chalkboards and Confessions

2012-01-31T21:16:00.001+02:00

Chalkboards have been around for quite some time now.

We have a chalk board painted wall for ages, and I never tire of it.

And we have a couple of chalkboards at home that I'm going to show you.

But they just got their seal of aproval and avant-guardedeness by the one and only Oprah.

A lovely entirely hand-lettered cover for the February issue of O, the Oprah magazine, and inside a story all illustrated by artist Dana Tanamachi.

Take a look.

The cover.

"Meet the artist"

The Story

"Six Word Memoirs: Your Life Story in Six Words"

Also

Read an interview with the artist at Design Sponge.

Dana Tanamachi homepage.

Seek

Imagine

Reject

Believe
Provoke

Freedom

Me in 6 words

What about YOU?

Royal Chicken Recipes

2012-01-31T14:11:00.000+02:00

Hello, dear friends,

I found today a recipe that I would like to share with you.

I find the story behind it very interesting and evocative of the times that the western world faces today.

It is also evocative of the mentality behind the absolute well off,

probably more symbolically rather than in real terms,

the kings and queens.

Poulet reine Elizabeth,

as it was originally known,

concocted for the banquet for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 2,1953,

was a deliberate and tactful compromise between the luxurious and the thrifty for a country still under the dreary yoke of postwar rationing.

Coronation Chicken was invented for the foreign guests who were to be entertained after the Coronation. The food had to be prepared in advance, and Constance Spry, who also helped with floral arrangements on the day, proposed a recipe of cold chicken in a curry cream sauce with a well-seasoned dressed salad of rice, green peas and mixed herbs. Constance Spry's recipe won the approval of the Minister of Works and has since been known as Coronation Chicken.

Ingredients

1.5kg/4lb free-range chicken
4 spring onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled, left whole
1 tbsp sea salt
10 whole black peppercorns

For the sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp tomato purée
85ml/3fl oz red wine
150ml/¼pint water
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground black pepper
caster sugar
2 slices lemon
squeeze of lemon juice
425ml/15fl oz good-quality mayonnaise
2 tbsp apricot purée (made by blending 4-5 stoned, dried apricots with 3 tbsp water)
3 tbsp whipped cream

To serve

1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander
rice, cooked according to packet instructions

Preparation method

Place the chicken into a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, cover with water and add the spring onions, garlic, salt and peppercorns.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes, turning the chicken once during the cooking process. Cover with a lid and switch off the heat. Leave for one hour, then remove the chicken, allow to cool completely, and tear the chicken from the bones into rough pieces.
Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 3-4 minutes. Add the curry powder and cook for a further two minutes, stirring well. Add the tomato purée, wine, water and bay leaf.
Bring the mixture to the boil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the sugar, lemon slices and lemon juice, to taste. Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and simmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine meshed sieve and set aside to cool.
Gradually fold in the mayonnaise and apricot purée, to taste. Add more lemon juice, as necessary.
Fold in the whipped cream.
To serve, arrange the portioned chicken on a large platter, pour the sauce over the top, sprinkle with the coriander and serve immediately, with rice.

For the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, another version was made, with a more tangy sauce.

RECIPE FOR JUBILEE CHICKEN

Preparation time: 20 min, plus 2-3 hours marinating.
Cooking time: 25 min. Serves: 4.

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breast fillets, about 18 oz (500g) in total
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil
Bunch flat leaf parsley
1 lime quartered

For marinade:Half lime, juiced and zest grated
3cm fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
1 clove crushed garlic
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

For dressing:3fl oz (100ml) creme fraiche
6 tbsp mayonnaise
Half lime, juice and zest grated
2in (5cm) piece fresh root ginger

METHOD

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a shallow dish. Add the chicken and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

To make dressing, place creme fraiche, mayonnaise, lime juice and zest in a bowl. Peel and grate the ginger, then twist in a piece of muslin, or press through a sieve to extract the juice. Add 2 tsp of the juice to the dressing. Stir, cover and chill to allow the flavours to develop.

Scrape marinade from the chicken and pat dry with kitchen paper. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and place in a roasting tin. Drizzle over olive oil.

Roast in oven (pre-heated to 190 degrees Celsius / 375 degrees Fahrenheit / Gas Mark 5) for 25 minutes, baste occasionally until the chicken is cooked through. Leave to cool completely, then cut into bite-sized pieces.

Combine the chicken and dressing, adjust the seasoning, and refrigerate. Serve with a pasta salad, lime quarters and chopped flat leaf parsley.

THE CORONATION BANQUET

If you wish to recreate the banquet held at Buckingham Palace after the Coronation in 1953, you may be interested in the menu:

Consommé Royale
(Chicken consommé garnished with cubes of royale)

Filet de Boeuf Mascotte
(Fillet of beef garnished with quarters of artichoke bottom tossed in butter with cocotte potatoes and slices of truffle)

Salade

Glace à la Mangue
(Mango ice cream)

Thus, dear frineds, we may be inspired for a royal banquet.

God bless us all!

Sources

50 facts about the Queen's Coronation

Coronation Chicken Recipe

Cath Kidston Cafe

2012-01-28T14:19:00.004+02:00

I love Cath Kidston.

I fall in love with patterns and colours from time to time

and you may have noticed my choices often move from classic to english rose to modern.

But that is who I am.

I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent

as the saying goes!

However,

when it comes to overall perfection

Cath Kidston stands out, up there in my personal kolophon of favorites,

right next to Lilly Pulitzer.

It took me ages to embrace the colourful side of me, but it's OK, girls, as long as we get to know and embrace who we are.

Which brings me to my subject.

The Café opened at the Cath Kidston store in Japan.

See the wallpaper? The red chair and cups?

And the bags? I love Cath Kidston bags.

Remember the one I got as a birthday present?

Then we move to stationery.

Look at the shades, the vintage typewriter, the kitch paintings, all setting the mood.

Remember. If I get lost somewhere one day,

I shall either be in the stationery or the bags section.

Otherwise, try Cartier!

Now, let's take our tea and cupcakes under the red and white striped umbrellas.

We might as well be in Brighton or Folkestone!

I wonder what these young ladies think.

"Yummy English Experience" is what comes to mind!

All images-Cath Kidston

Added:

Did you notice the open drawer unit where stationery is being displayed?

Looks so much like C's childhood chest of drawers.

Got to love those stylists!

Fashion Fridays-Three (plus one) bags for Spring

2012-01-27T12:10:00.001+02:00

Coach

"The Willis"

~A classic

~Good size for day and afternoon

~I love the messenger style option.

~So stylish!

~I love the blush~perfect for my itching for Springtime!

Les Composantes

"Nola"

~Blue bag (and blue loafers) imply Spring in my fashion agenda.

~Soft, grainy leather

~Classic style

Bodie and Fou

the shop and the blog

are two favorite destinations of mine.

I have long loved Clare Vivier's Messenger bag.

Last time I checked I found they have come up with

a golden tote

that is lovingly described on the site.

French language is so poetic!

I love reading the Cote Sud editorials aloud,

just to give you a hint of how much I love French.

That bag kind of reminded me of something,

a bag in my own closet

hmmm!

A gift with purchase from Donna Karan, some years ago!

check-check

I am completely fashionable chères amies!

On Sleep and Beds

2012-01-25T11:53:00.000+02:00

I am in the sleep business.

Sleepy business? I heard you say.

Oh all right! Pun intended!

What I meant to start with, is that we sell beds.
(Oh look how little my kids were!)

And matresses. And pillows. Bedlinen and the like.

I also used to sell Designers Guild, Ralph Lauren and Jane Churchill fabrics and wallpapers.

But that was in the pre-Greek/Euro-economic-crisis days.

Which brings in mind. I have stacks of unused (ha!) fabric, fabrics and wallpapers sample books and so on. Do you think any of you dear readers, might be interested if I listed them at the shop? I haven't updated it for quite some time and am wondering if anyone might be interested.

Let me know, I'll see what I can do with them.

OK, back to the subject. I do know one or two or three things about good sleep, our super company training us vigorously and us being in the business for the past fifteen years. So, take it from this authority, that the article I found today, is on the spot. It's not about matresses or product selling, but about the essence of comfort in our very own cozy little beds.

A taste

Can you remember back to when you had babies to care for and how careful you were with their bedding? You'd make sure the sheets were clean and straight, you'd make the little bed several times a day and as soon as there was a wet sheet, into the washing machine it would go. You did those things, and more, because you knew how important that bed was to your baby. Well, I might be reverting to babyhood because I tend my bed as carefully as I would a cot or crib and I do it because sleep is important. Now let me declare my bias here up front. I LOVE my bed, always have, always will. I am a good sleeper. I'm rarely in bed more than ten minutes before I'm sound asleep. But I also do a lot of my thinking in bed in the cool dark hours of the morning and being in an uncomfortable bed would not be conducive to my sleeping or thinking. If I want to get the most out of every day, I need to sleep well.

...

Simple clean cotton sheets and a homemade quilt can nurture the soul as well as aching bones and a stressed mind. Allow your bed to do what it's there for - to keep you warm, safe and secure until you wake. When you think about it, sleep is a strange concept. We go about our every day activities and once a day, we get tired, lay down flat and lose consciousness. Weird! No one knows why we do that, but all animals, birds and reptiles do.

...

All that time (...) that you spend in bed sets you up for your active life by allowing you to relax into sleep, to dream and to wake refreshed and ready for the busy day. Those three minutes are a sound investment.

Read the full article and more at Down to Earth. And an equally lovely article in Women's Weekly right here.

Have a lovely day and a refreshing night ;)

Le weekend

2012-01-23T12:58:00.002+02:00

1. a pastitsio made to order that was so good I didn't get a shot ;)

2. a vasilopita in my kids' Scout unit. seeing them grow enjoying life and scouting's valuable lessons.

3. web surfing on a saturday night. no purpose, just strolling from link to link, like the good ole times.

4.going to church and filling our hearts with faith and hope to sustain our lives during the week.

5.my son saying the credo.

6. watching the Dancing on ice finals and smiling at the lovely people involved.
7.storing Christmas tree decorations. OK, Christmas, come back soon!

How many days till Christmas?

We are counting!

8. A new week starting with friends old and new, blogging friends that i cherish and a place to come and connect. Thank you all and enjoy the week.

{this moment}

2012-01-20T20:54:00.000+02:00

{this moment}

inspired by Soulemama-

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A bookshelf named Love

2012-01-20T12:19:00.000+02:00

Love Letter Shelves by the Spaniard Ricard Mollon!

Modern enough,vintage enough to my tastes, plus they compliment a map wall

and you know I love maps in decoration.

The letters are sold individually so that one can create the word of his/her choice.

Available at Quattria.

Love...

a prelude to February and le Saint Valentin!

Monday Musings

2012-01-16T14:36:00.001+02:00

For

Mosaic Monday

and

of course,

YOU !

Have a beautiful week,

Mario Buatta: A man after my decorating heart

2012-01-13T13:45:00.000+02:00

Mario Buatta

"To be a good decorator, you have to be three things: an actor (you have to pretend you like the person, their house and their things!), a psychiatrist (you have to figure out what the client wants) and a lawyer (to collect your money)!"

This phrase from an interview Mr. Boatta gave to AD started me on this post.
It is so true and realistic, it reflects someone who's been in the business and who is confident enough and honest enough to distill his experience in a phrase.

That made me admire the person who is dearly known as the Prince of Chintz,
but is to me the Prince of professional decorating.
If a person is true to himself and his ideas, then he is true to his work.

I grew up in a maximalist home of velvet curtains and upholstery and armchairs covered in chintz.
I shaped my aethetics in the flowery South of England.

I work for a company with natural, contemporary aesthetics.
I had a long affair with Designers Guild.

Life shows me that I'm growing into a modern maximalist,
an archaeologist, universitarian and gardener by DNA,
and I am embracing the person that I am,
a work in progress.

As I am looking into who I am growing to be, in this start of the year, I find this serendipitus insight resonating to my heart and mind.

Some of Mario Buatta's decorating maxims:

“The best time to look at a room is the day after you’ve had a party because you see the way people used the space.”

Every room should be a different color. Each space should have its own mood.

Three perfect colors are lemon-yellow, leaf-green, and Prussian-blue.

These color combinations always work.

For a living room:

yellow walls, a pale-blue ceiling, and white woodwork.

For a kitchen:

off-white cabinets painted robin’s egg–blue on the inside (it makes the dishes look great) with a lemon-yellow ceiling.

For a bedroom:

apricot walls, a pale-blue ceiling, and off-white woodwork.

For a library:

red walls, squares of silver tea paper on the ceiling, and brown accents".

A few of my favorite rooms, decorated by Mr. Buatta.

I love the warm glow of this room.

I love the Brunschwig & Fils chintz with the rose and buttermilk velvet.
I like plenty of different types of sitting, too.

In this room, I can smell the warm, fragrant air bringing in the perfumes of the rose garden.
My favorite room of all!

This is a bathroom but it could well be my home office.

Elegantly feminine.

Gracie, Mr. Buatta.

Read more on Mario Buatta's views on decoration, homes and life, as it were,
here, here and here.

Listen here.

Happy New Year

2012-01-13T11:56:00.004+02:00

John Barman's apartment in Miami Beach via AD

Here is to a bright, cheerful, zesty,
colourful, juicy, fruitful
Happy
2012

Jamie Oliver's Family Christmas

2011-12-29T14:34:00.004+02:00

Do you like Jamie Oliver?

I mean, as a cook, a writer and a tv host, of course ;)

I do.

And my girls are madly in love with the guy.

Him being cute

and cooking

and being so nice and casual about it.

~sigh and smile~

Around Christmas we watched him cook on Jamie Oliver's Family Christmas

(there is also a dvd of him doing his Xmas magic, Jamie's Christmas ).
Also check his festive website at jamieoliver.com
You want to see some more?

Check this

Love!

Lovely Free 2012 Calendar

2011-12-29T12:27:00.000+02:00

Remember the calendars I told you about this time last year?

This one and this one?

Talented, generous people offering their artwork for free, making our homes a little lovelier~

This year I've got to share this absolutely great calendar.

It's original and very decorative

and I love that the artwork is relevant to each month.

You may add a page each month or frame and display all 12 months.

It comes from my primary source of all things blogging,

The Blog Guidebook,

which offers great tips and resources

as well as networking opportunities for either fun or business-or both.

So,

do as I do,

go here,

read the instructions

spread the good word

and enjoy!

Happy

2012

Pines and Mushrooms for Christmas

2011-12-27T20:22:00.001+02:00

I love ancient lore.

All of human understanding of the sacred looks to me

like a long procession of people trying to make sense

of their beautiful yet short, compared to the universe and the elements,

life.

...

So, why do people bring Pine trees into their houses at the Winter Solstice, placing brightly colored (Red and White) packages under their boughs, as gifts to show their love for each other and as representations of the love of God and the gift of his Sons life? It is because, underneath the Pine bough is the exact location where one would find this ‘Most Sacred’ Substance, the Amanita muscaria, in the wild.”

–James Arthur, “Mushrooms and Mankind”

Read the fascinating article here.
With thanks to Prairie Child.

Greek Christmas sweets (recipes)

2011-12-26T14:12:00.000+02:00

When in Thessaloniki, Agapitos is our favorite sweet shop.

They make some amazing sweets with great taste and imagination,

faithful to beloved tastes and traditions.

Pictured above, from an Agapitos ad, a selection of festive sweets.

Melomakarona, plain and chocolate covered, in the double-tier,

icing-sugar covered kourampiedes

and just behind them, a tsoureki for the new year.

My mother made all her sweets with the "St.George Mills" flour.

I was so pleased to discover their retro ads!

The recipe for melomakarona

(olive oil and honey sweets~find a similar recipe in english here)

kourambiedes

(almond pastries~similar here)

This one, above, is the recipe my mom made for the New Years pie

the Vasilopita.

We didin't make tsoureki, as is the custom in this part of Greece

(remember, in my part of the family we are Southerns!)

we usually bought one or two for Christmas morning and new year's breakfast.

(but you may find a recipe here).

We made this cake-like pie that I love making for our family.

If you read Greek, the recipe is above.

If not, read on :)

Ingredients

500grs (or 4 tea-cups) self-raising flour

250 grs. butter or vegetable butter or a mix of the two.

250 grs milk mixed with the juice of one orange

Before cutting and squizing the orange, wash then finally grate its peel

400grs sugar

4 eggs

How to

Beat the butter for 2-3 mins until fluffy. Then alternate adding the sugar, the eggs one by one, the grated orange peel, the milk and the flour.

Mix well.

Pre-heat oven to 180-200C.

Butter a cake pan well and dust with flour

(you may use less butter and line with grease proof or baking paper),

and pour in the mixture.

Wash and wrap a coin in foil and hide in the mixture.

{At this point I place almonds, cleaned, boiled and whitened on top, forming the number of the new year}

Bake for aprox. 1 hour.

Let the pie cool, remove from pan and place in a nice serving tray.

Dust with icing sugar.

Why add a coin, you may ask.

Here is why.

The tradition of vasilopita is associated with the life of Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocea, Asia Minor (now in Turkey) who lived between 330-379 AD. According to the legend St. Basil called on the citizens of Caesarea to raise a ransom payment to stop the siege of the city. Each member of the city gave whatever they had in gold and jewelery. When the ransom was raised, the enemy was so embarrassed by the act of collective giving that he called off the siege without collecting payment. St. Basil was then tasked with returning the unpaid ransom, but had no way to know which items belonged to which family. So he baked all of the jewelery into loaves of bread and distributed the loaves to the city, and by a miracle each citizen received their exact share, the legend goes. In some tellings the sieging chieftain is replaced with an evil emperor levying a tax, or with St. Basil attempting to give charity to the poor without embarrassing them.

Our kids look forward to the vasilopita each year, and so do I :)

Wishing you a sweet and blessed 2012!

Christmas anti-blues inspiration

2011-12-23T19:07:00.000+02:00

MENUS PLAISIRS

«Le temps et mon humeur ont peu de liaison. J’ai mes brouillards et mon beau temps en dedans de moi. » (Blaise Pascal)

Effet de la dépression saisonnière, l’hiver s’étend sur les visages comme la nuit grignote les journées. Seuls à se réjouir, les commerçants du «bonheur business». Du complément alimentaire censé chasser les idées noires, aux huiles essentielles antibrouillards intellectuels, en passant par une foultitude de petits et gros traités d’à peu près tout, promettant bonheur et joie de vivre, c’est un secteur d’activité qui ne connaît pas la crise.
À défaut d’extase béate, voici quelques idées de menus plaisirs:
❤ Entendre le réveil sonner aux horreurs et, une fois n’est pas coutume, le faire taire d’une bonne claque sur le museau avant de se rendormir trois heures, sans éprouver le moindre frémissement de culpabilité.
❤ Trouver, en se promenant, un filon de cèpes bronzés nés la veille et ayant échappé aux prélèvements obligatoires des bestioles de la forêt.
❤ Acheter, plutôt qu’un énième recueil de citations tartes sur le bonheur, un livre de Clément Rosset, philosophe rubicond qui travaille depuis quarante ans sur le sujet.
❤ Annuler un déjeuner avec un empêcheur de rêvasser en rond, et savourer comme jamais une heure et demie de solitude devant une omelette paysanne et un verre de bon bordeaux au café.
❤ Écrire à une amie chère qui vit à l’autre bout de la Terre, et recevoir une longue réponse de nouvelles.
❤ Jeter le minimalisme aux orties, relire La Légende des siècles de Victor Hugo et tomber à nouveau raide dingue de l’illustre génie.
❤ À Paris, inviter quelques amis, faire un feu dans la cheminée et y griller des châtaignes que l’on dégustera agrémentées de thé et de chocolat chaud.
❤ Ranger les affaires d’été, sortir celles d’hiver, et s’apercevoir que l’on a plein de pulls doudous et de jolies choses à mettre que l’on avait totalement oubliées.
❤ Faire plaisir à une maman débordée en emmenant son fils voir l’un de ses tout premiers films au cinéma et se tordre de rire en débriefant, à la sortie, avec ce philosophe en herbe.
❤ Froisser un citron vert ou découper un fruit de la passion pour s’enivrer de leurs parfums de voyage.
❤ Convaincre les pépés prématurés de la bande d’aller pour une fois danser après le dîner et les voir, sur la piste, plus contents et déchaînés que tous les habitués.
❤ Ressortir le baggamon et se lancer dans des tournois acharnés.
❤ Se concocter pour les trajets quotidiens, une bande-son ensoleillée.
❤ Faire un gâteau, ce qui met toujours de bonne humeur.
❤ L’apporter au bureau, pour partager un moment sympa entre collègues.
❤ Oublier la crise, la pression, la dépression. Se dire que le pire n’est pas toujours sûr et que ça ne vaut vraiment pas la peine de s’énerver.

Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre

Christmas stories

2011-12-18T15:32:00.001+02:00

The Night When Love Was Born

Christ the babe comes in Christmas as Christ the Savior comes on the cross - seeking only our embrace.
The mystery so large becomes the babe so small and infinite
God becomes infant.
And if there is no cross in my Christmas, then my Christmas has lost the Christ - What is the manger if not for the Messiah, the One who saves us with the scars?
Christmas isn't a product to wrap, but a person to unwrap.
Christmas cannot be bought.
Christmas cannot be created.
Christmas cannot be made by hand.
Christmas can only be found in the creche, in the cradling trough, in the mire and the stench and the unexpected and unlikely and only only in the person of Christ.

Devotional Christmas words by Ann Voskamp

A Child's Christmas Eve Dream

Last night I had a lovely dream, but strange as it could be,
For on the hill beside our house, stood a great Christmas tree.
It glowed with lighted candles, right at the top a lighted star,
And round it dancing in a ring, children from lands afar.
Polite little English girls, Swiss boy's with funny skis,
Dutch children in queer wooden shoes. joined hands with shy Chinese.
Turkish lads is tassled fez, tots from France, Greece and Poland.
Laughing as the children do, in the safety of a free land,
Perhaps my dream's a prophecy, of Christmas to be,
When little children everywhere, can sing because they are free.
I surely wish with all my heart, this day of Jesus birth,
That peace and love and happiness, soon cover all the earth.

Margaret of The Old Digger

"Glory in the Highest to God, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men" (Luke 2:14)

Wishing you a bright, happy, blessed Xmas

Victorian Christmas recreated at Windsor Castle

2011-12-09T11:57:00.001+02:00

I am fascinated by the Victorian era.
It is a time in History when everything seemed possible, when lives were feeling warm and bright, and great things were accomplished in all matters of human life. I also love its style and most of all I admire Queen Victoria herself. What a remarkable lady she was! She ruled over a quarter of the Eart's population for 64 years, but she shaped the entire century and, dare I say, more.
Now, Queen Victoria’s Christmas has been recreated at Windsor Castle.

The royal residence at Windsor Castle has been transformed with decorations Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert would have recognised for The Victorian Christmas exhibtion.

Visitors will see how the Queen and Prince Albert celebrated Christmas with their young family as the State Dining Room and Octagon Dining Room are transformed with the tree, a display of Victorian festive dining – and a reconstruction of the couple’s Christmas gift tables.

Queen Charlotte, the German-born wife of George III, is credited with introducing the Christmas tree, but it was Albert who popularised it, presenting large numbers to schools and Army barracks. When a print was published in 1848 showing the royal family around the festive emblem, its use escalated throughout society.

The exhibition will feature a tree hanging in place of a chandelier, as in Victoria’s day, in the Octagon dining room. The artificial tree will be covered with items inspired by decorations featured on the Queen’s firs including swags – ornamental drapery – ribbons, replica candles and imitation snow.

While most people open their presents on Christmas Day, the Royal Family still keep to the German practice of unwrapping their gifts on Christmas Eve. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and other royals usually congregate in the White Drawing Room at Sandringham House around a 20ft tree, cut from the estate, and nearby is a white linen covered trestle table laden with gifts.

At Windsor two gift tables will be recreated with presents exchanged by Victoria and Albert.

In the Castle’s State Dining Room, the table will be laid for a Victorian Christmas feast with a magnificent porcelain dessert service by Minton of Staffordshire. Known as the Victoria Service, the set was purchased by the Queen at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and includes four porcelain figures of the four seasons, ice pails, cream and bon-bon dishes, and a pair of silver-gilt sauceboats shaped like sleighs.

During Christmas 1860 a visitor to Windsor described the “mighty sight” of 50 turkeys being roasted in the great kitchen, a huge baron of beef and a woodcock pie of 100 birds presented to the Queen each Christmas by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The Victorian Christmas displays at Windsor Castle will be on show until January 8.

For more information visit The Royal Collection. Also read Elizabeth Longford's authoritative Queen Victoria . I also love Jerold Packard's Victoria's Daughters.

12 Christmas Crafts n' Gifts

2011-12-03T10:50:00.001+02:00

Hello,
I hope everyone is happy and well
and looks forward to the most rebirthing time of the year.
Christmastime is all about nesting and spending time with loved ones.
It is also about presents and dreams fulfilled to the best of our abilities and imaginations.
Even if we aren't anything close to Martha Stewart, there is always something that we can make, craft or cook, to give a little joy and satisfaction to ourselves and our loved ones over Christmas.
Here is my pick of crafts and home made presents for this festive season

::make::

1.Owl ornaments

These are so whimsical!
The Owl being the symbol of wisdom and knowledge, the owl is also a meaningful ornamnet for the Christmas tree, encouraging the quest for self-development in our children and ourselves.

{via}

2. Holiday Burlap Pillows

Very classy and now, they will grace the holiday home for seasons to come.

This one is a particularly good craft for classrooms and the Boy Scouts.

If you do a holiday sale, this will work marvelously.

{via}

3. Cross-stitch winter scenes

Cross-stitching is simple, quick and heartwarming.

Plus, red, green and white is a Christmas classic.

{via}

::Cook::

4. Deeelicious and eye catching candy bark

Put in crispy clear wrap, add red and green tape

and gift around or sell at the school fair.

{via}

5. 12 Days of Christmas cookies

Stop by the Food Network and take your pick!
My favorite?
These chocolate cheesecake candy bars,
a very happy marriage of a brownie and a cheesecake!

::Gift::

6.Candy coloured sewing kit

This is so clever!

Who doesn't need a sewing kit?

If it is a little fancy and sweet, too, all the better.

I love this useful, beautiful and frugal craft!

{via}

::Write::

7. Quote art

Now, supposing sewing or cooking is not one's best pick.

What can one offer to a favorite person?

A word of advice

A wise word

A favorite quote

Something needed and longed for.

Pick a nice antique or handmade piece of paper

a fountain pen

or crayons

and scroll away.

::Read::

8. Kids' Christmas Books

I can never get enough of kids' Christmas books. I love the happy tales where the tortured being ends up loved and warm and the beautiful paintings make me sing my heart out like a child in a blizzard.

::Listen::

9.Make a list

Make a list of your favorite songs. Christmas songs, love songs, children's songs.
Share the music, make the air vibrate with happy sounds.

::Drink::

10.Apple Cider

Tea, yes.
Something more festive and of the season, perhaps?
A glass of hot apple cider?
I say yes!

{here}

::Print::

11. Mail or Frame

Free, high quality printables are easily accessible.
Have them print professionally or home print
and add an instant stylish update to the home gallery artwork.
Mail, e-mail
or make a totally personalised calendar to gift
and bring a smile to the loved ones' face every day of the year.

::Be::

12. You and Him

Remember
the biggest gift to your loved ones is YOU
and the greatest gift to us all is HIM.
Remember and rejoice!

Diane Keaton clothes, plates and homes

2011-11-30T01:17:00.001+02:00

It is no secret that I am an honnest fan of Diane Keaton's.
If you've read my profile page, you know that Something's Gotta Give and Baby Boom are among my favorite feel good films ever.
So, I was thrilled to see the December issue of Elle Deco feature an article on Ms. Keaton.
It is written in my favorite Q&A format as in
"Diane Keaton's Must-Have list: What she can't live without",
that is sharp and enlightening cause it makes people answer on the spot.
And, surprise, Diane and I have one great article in common:

Oh yes, she is a lady close to my heart!
What's more, if more can be,
she also like lighthouses, which I love,
and carries big bags, like I do, eventhough mine is not a Louis Vuitton,
though I would love a Louis Vuitton ;)

I also saw her recently in some Chico's ads.
She looks great, the kind of confident, relaxed and somehow tongue in cheek attitude that I love, in a style that is beyond time and age, and so perfectly her.
Very me, too!

Her Spanish style home -in fact she has renovated several houses in her native Southern California and she has even co-authored a substantial book on local architecture called California Romantica: Spanish Colonial and Mission-Style Houses- is sober and majestic-no frills, with favorite browns and blacks, very earthy and non frivolous, but with surprising touches, like these upside down lights that look so perfectly in place, and the cacti in lieu of the more expected-and therefore predictable- fruit and veggies on the kitchen counter.

Now Ms. Keaton has ventured into the design world herself, creating a line of bold, no nonsense everyday housewares for Bed Bath & Beyond.

Though not my style (I like less matter-of-fact styles and more cheerful clourways) I find very true and charming what she said in an interview to the NY Times back in June.

When asked

Is the dishware inspired by anything in your own life?

Ms. Keaton answered:

I have a daughter who’s 15 and a son who’s 10. My life is such that I have these old dishes that I eat off with my kids. I’ve broken them, and all that. What’s come of all this is I like sturdy. I want something I feel will last and has some weight to it and is very simple. Like, for example, I don’t understand why we don’t eat more food out of bowls. I could eat all of my meals out of bowls.

Another favorite answer came when she was asked what kind of style she is considering for her new home. She answered:

There’s this American look which I think comes out of this factory-barn idea. The materials that are used are the kinds I find very appealing.I love cement. I love wood. I love shingle. I love casement windows. I’m now in love with shake roofs. I’m interested in roofs because they’re the most undervalued yet beautiful part of a home.I have a lot of theories, you see.

A very interesting woman, a lady I'd love to meet, and i am sure we'd get along perfectly well together :)

{Elle Decor article here.The NY Times interview here.}

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Victorian Christmas recreated at Windsor Castle

12 Christmas Crafts n' Gifts

Diane Keaton clothes, plates and homes

Lovely Free 2012 Calendar