HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W. B. Yeats taken from Penguin’s Poems for love
Posted in quotes and poems
save the date – sun 12th february – for our second lovely merchants event. even more interesting stuff to buy, gifts and cards especially for valentines, and this time sees our first lunch hosted by Colette and Louise in the bar /dining area downstairs. more news to follow, or see our facebook /blog page for updates.
did a day trip to whitstable today to sort out cottage – its amazing how quickly the high street changes; maybe its the recession, but new businesses come and go, and fortunately the end of the high street that is nearer seasalter is finally re opening with more interesting shops. obviously this end is cheaper rent, as the other end already has the cute gift shops and delis and is more established. so among the essential amenities (which i hope never go) such as butchers, vegetable and fruit stalls, you will find a great mixture of other interesting shops. valentines vintage is a new bric and brac store, selling anything from stools, sideboards to ceramics – at the moment they have a lot of affordable 60′s and 70′s furniture – reminiscing of my childhood days with melamine fronted kitchen cupboards with counters that drop down. bridge house art has a good supply of artists materials, so if you get inspired to sit on the beach and paint a sunset, then you can pick everything you need to satisfy that creative whim, buzz 4 wool has a good range of wool and embroidery materials. L’image has french style shabby chic furniture and accesories – its been here a while, but as it is situated as you arrive into whitstable, i think it gets overlooked. not forgetting that the high street also has a haberdashery shop, hardwear and kitchen shop, so its the perfect place to find all those useful everyday things that you always need, but have to drag miles to find whilst in london.
i always seem to find a vintage dress in vintage on sea – i bought a lovely 1940′s checked dress for £22 – much cheaper than anywhere else and in perfect condition. its got to be worth the drive down, if not to savour the wonderful oysters, view the windswept sea, but to buy a piece of vintage.
Posted in whitstable
if you want to know more about vintage clothes and how to introduce them into your own daily wardrobe, then this little book is the perfect thing (and of course, i did the photographs again). its especially a good gift for young teenagers who are just getting into buying vintage. its a follow on from the style me vintage make up book, that shows you how to get the make up look of 1920′s or 1940′s, but this one shows you the styles and types of clothes that illustrate that era. it also shares Naomi’s address book and her wonderful sense of vintage. you can also employ naomi to take you shopping, advising and helping you choose some vintage pieces that will suit your particular style. her own personal collection is to die for!!
Posted in books
yesterday marked the start of a new year in the chinese tradition and is the year of the Dragon. Like the western horoscope, there are certain personalities that fall within the characters. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled.
all the celebrations in london are celebrated this weekend – its a busy but fun thing to do.
Posted in cultural events
sitting on planes inevitably meant that i watched a lot of films, unlike my husband who chooses to listen to music, i think that its a good opportunity to catch up on those films that i missed. its not the same as seeing them on the big screen, but still it passes the time. i managed to watch midnight in paris which was a light fantasy by woody allen – its great to watch especially if you love paris and its history with art. another film i managed to watch was from time to time, which strangely was another film that travels between time zones, but this was was perfect to sit and see with children, very reminiscent of the secret garden. i actually like these old fashioned tales, its the complete opposite to a harry potter adventure film – no big special effects, just a simple fantasy.
all the fuss about the artist encouraged me to go and see it – i have to say, i was slightly disappointed; i thought that the main actors and the clothes were great, but the storyline didnt make me want to be interested – i had no sympathy for a failing actor who doesnt like change. i have to admit, i never liked silent movies, that slapstick comedy kind of irritated me, so i thought that a modern version of a silent movie would be more inspiring, have something more profound to offer than a copy of an old style movie. i am not saying its not worth seeing, but because of all the hype, i was expecting something brilliant.
my daughter alice bought me this wonderful serum for xmas – it really smells and feels wonderful and is full of natural ingredients – rosehip serum.
i still use the lovely rosehip oil from comfort and joy which is especially blended for hormonal skin. you would think that putting an oil on your skin would block it up, but in fact it seems to do the opposite.
Posted in beauty
its chinese new year on 23rd january, the year of the dragon, but the celebrations in london are on the 29th january. i am always asked which are my favourite chinese restaurants in london, and funnily enough it is difficult to find them. there are so many mediocre and over priced restaurants that it can put you off eating traditional chinese food. there are of course the designer ones, hakasan, yuatcha, ping pong and gilgamesh, all very good quality food, slightly designer chinese food, but all very expensive! gilgamesh is the teenagers choice, trendy interior and more like a nightclub style restaurant in new york! my kids just love the traditional chinese barbecue roast pork, or char siu and roast duck, which is only sold in the more everyday style restaurants, so we frequent the following restaurants - royal china in baker street (always busy, so be prepared to queue), wing yip in cricklewood, a very big busy and noisy traditional restaurant, great value, and you can then do your food shopping in the vast supermarket adjoined to it, imperial china restaurant on lisle street, actually its through a door and courtyard on lisle street, but very good and moderately priced and then there is the good earth in mill hill, which is a smart smaller restaurant, but perfect for taking grandmas to – robert’s mum loved this place and it was close to her house! we recently discovered the phoenix palace near baker street, its fine, but not as good as royal china, but equivalent in price.
for authentic trolley style dim sum restaurant – stop the trolleys that look apetising to choose your food, then try new world near gerrard street. so appropriately its the new years celebration in china town next weekend, but remember that they will all be unusually busy this weekend. a good tip on normal weekends is to go either very early, ie mid day or even just before, or after 2.30pm, you wont have to queue so much.
here is a new image for my cards collection – dont you love the way nature makes things so beautifully? perfect for valentines
well our anniversary coincided with our trip to cartagena for a friends wedding, where by perfect chance we also spent our own honeymoon. there was one memorable phrase that was said at the wedding, which i thought was apt and very perfect
‘he will never make you jealous of other women, but will always make other women jealous of you’
thank you robert for a wonderful 17 years!
Posted in quotes and poems
