7 blogs

how hard can it be? i was supposed to write 7 things about me & 7 other blogs i like.. and ones not already listed on the blog before me. i forgot the 2nd bit in yesterday's post, but here i am making amends.. 7 super blogs that i love reading & smile when i see their new posts pop up in my google reader. 7 super blogs i'd like to pass on the versatility award to..

1. seventy tree. i bought some fun typewriter xmas cards from the lovely kerry & discovered her blog. i was even lucky enough to win one of her gorgeous prints recently. update: kerry's 7 things are here.

2. sarah wandering. "one part big city. one part small town. one part wandering." i found sarah's blog via  design sponge when they featured her amazing. amazing. hand painted rug. i'm also loving sarah's recommended xmas movie viewing in the lead up to xmas. 

3. smallest things. so frenchy, so chic. blogging about her life in paris. i love seeing a comment pop up in my email from the lovely blogger 'franglaise', because i think "a comment from my parisian friend!" is that weird? i hope that doesn't come across as weird.

4. little pinwheel. versatile is the word. mama, owner of the little pinwheel shop & co-owner of maeve online mag. is there anything this woman can't do? i was lucky enough to meet hayley a couple of months ago in person & above all, hayley has a beautiful & creative energy about her.

5. rummey bears. i love anna's superb photos. such perfect composition & colour. yep, when i think rummey bears, i think colour. 

6. little glowing lights. more gorgeous photography, food, flowers & styling. i'm not the only one who thinks so either.. catherine was featured on sfgirlbybay recently. update: you can read catherine's 7 things here.

7. olive & joy. lovely, clever julie with a killer eye. what can i say.. i like her style.

p.s. image from here.

versatility award

the lovely kellie from dear olive awarded me a versatile blogger award a month ago & it's taken me this long to respond. i'm versatile alright. architect. mama. tardy blogger. but i'm a super wife right husband?? i have to divulge 7 things about myself. here goes.

1. one of my favourite words is modernity. i like how it sounds. i like what it stands for. say it. you'll like it too.

2. i can get lost daydream-designing. it's true. if i get stuck somewhere without pen & paper i'll start designing places, normally houses, in my head. when combined with sleep deprivation, this can lead down a strange path. when mirka was a newborn, my coping mechanism for being awake at 3am & staring at the wall while settling her back to sleep would be to design-daydream. i knew i needed to get some real sleep when i started designing a house for the octomum & her tribe.

3. i'm a total piggy when it comes to chocolate. oh to be one of those people that take out a block of chocolate, snap off a row (one row! come on!) and put the chocolate away. so civilised. so unlike what a surveillance tape of me would look like. it would be ugly people. ugg-lee.

4. i enjoy making decisions. once it's made. it's made. hmm, that makes me sound quite close minded doesn't it? i hope i'm not. i like to think of myself as open minded but decisive. the only decisions i truly leave open though are design ones, because gawd knows a client will throw something in the mix later down the line. but that's ok because it gives me another opportunity to design & problem solve.

5. i love accelerating. not speeding. i'm too much of a goody 2 shoes for that, but i love planting my foot. so good when i'm driving somewhere & join a freeway. zero to 100 as fast as the subi will do it. it's no alfa romeo & not as much fun as the smartie, but it's as good as i got.

6. i like being naughty with kingsley. in front of her, so she tells me off. example? vivi had a terrible habit of giving the old elbow, nudge-nudge, when she wanted to point something out.. anyway after a car trip full of elbow nudges from vivi, i got out of the car & started singing "don't go nudging my arm"..  you know, to the tune of "don't go breakin my heart". anyways, vivi was oblivious until i could contain my laughter no longer, but kingsley, kingsley, was giggling & giving me daggers, telling me to be quiet. joy.

7. number 7. well i've blurted my way here & now i've got nothin' for number 7. well, you've come this far. it's been years since i've been on a big holiday. my last big adventure was to the u.s. & before that was to italy. so, at the moment in my daydreaming head of mine, i'm toying with the idea of going to thailand to stay in a treehouse and ride an elephant or to travel to turkey & be blown away by the hagia sophia, like i was by the pantheon at night in rome. magic.

update: forgot to mention the image is a lot of thumbnail snaps of one of my projects nearing completion a few years ago.

orla kiely teaser

oo-la-la, as if the pillowcases weren't enough, i had to go snooping around the orla kiely u.k. website & now i'm in love with these little fellas. unfortunately the ceramics aren't available in the u.s. & i don't have an accomplice in the u.k., like i do with vivi in the u.s. the dark grey sugar bowl would look so good in my kitchen too. bummer.

orla kiely sweet dreams

i bought these lovelies on one of my last free days before charlie was born. i had seen them in blogland somewhere and they had been floating around in my mind ever since, so who was i to walk away from the orla kiely bedding section when i found myself aimlessly wandering through myer? oh manchester. how i love thee.

charlie's 3 month portrait

little smiley charlie. this kid loves giving us big, big, smiles. the biggest are first thing in the morning or when mirka is around. charlie loves her. his eyes follow her around the room in total fascination. mirka loves him back, but i'm not 100% sure she knows he will become a little person & not just her little "charlie boy". she watches everything i do like a hawk & then projects it on to grover. if i put charlie in the baby bjorn carrier, then mirka zips up grover in her jumper.. so cute! and it goes on & on. it's just as fascinating for me to see mirka role model with grover, as it is for her to watch me with charlie in the first place. people ask me if he is a good sleeper and i think he is. he has been driving me a bit bonkers, wanting 2-3 hourly feeds during the day lately, but at least he normally sleeps from 9pm to 3am overnight. i couldn't tell you what happens between the 3am feed and when the husband wakes up around 7am though. i know there's normally another feed in there somewhere, but once charlie wakes up and i move him from his cradle to our bed, we fall asleep together until i wake up properly around 7am. the few hours of co-sleeping snuggles are really lovely, but i also find it exhausting. i think it's because i only sleep lightly with him next to me and i can't move without disturbing him. still, for now it allows me to not really have to wake up or get out of bed and that's a good thing.

p.s. thank you for all the lovely comments on my charlie teapot post. it means a lot to receive all your lovely comments and tam, i send you a big, big hug. xx

p.p.s. since the out-take from charlie's last portrait was such a hit, here is another one.. he loves it when i squish his little face up and make funny kissing noises & he rewards me with lovely, bubbly, baby noises.