Re-found Objects #4

I want the London Pubs, the Parisian Cafes, the Union Jack, Blackpool, Paris, Coronation... they're just all so pretty I want them all! Find them here.

Re-found Objects #1, 2, 3

I *heart* cake stands. I *heart* Re-found Objects. I *heart* that tomorrow is Friday

two of my favourite things

Danny Wallace and Florence Broadhurst wallpaper - what a lovely pair.

Danny's in NZ hosting Castaway which isn't even being showing on NZ tv. Well that's not fair!

If you haven't already read the following books, you really must. I promise you will laugh out loud. Just don't read them in public because you might get some funny looks.

Are you Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace

Join Me by Danny Wallace

Yes Man by Danny wallace

And speaking of Florence, I received an email from Signature Prints yesterday saying they are having a friends of Signature Prints VIP sale which sounds fabulous. But I don't live in Sydney. Boo hoo!

The Paper Crane Project

Who doesn't want to receive a pretty paper crane in the mail? Cool blog abstract the day has a little side project going. To participate all you have to do is sign up at thepapercraneproject@gmail.com and you will be one of the lucky 1000 people who will receive a paper crane in the mail which you must photograph and send back to eshu who is then going to make an installation of all of the pictures. Cool huh? Get involved I say!

Going Green

It seems everyone is eco friendly at the moment and with good reason. I want to bag myself one of these bags from Anya Hindmarch. So to all my London based friends - please go to Sainsbury's on Anzac Day (no holiday for you my friends) and pretty please can you buy me one? Promise I will send you some marmite, milo, vogels bread, L & P, the Listener, minties, pixie caramel and whatever you wish for!
Oh Sainsbury's how I miss shopping in your aisles...

Keeping Calm

A huge thanks to hop skip jump for posting about this fabulous poster and allowing me to use the above photo. I'm in love with this poster and this photo. I love the way it looks in front of the book shelf. The message is so powerful and... so calming! I think I shall be ordering in bulk. Order here.

because today is world poetry day...

here's the sweetest poem I know. Enjoy.

Girl, Boy, Flower, Bicycle by M K Joseph

This girl
Waits at the corner for
This boy
Freewheeling on his bicycle
She holds
A flower in her hand
A gold flower
In her hands she holds
The sun
With power between his thighs
The boy
Comes smiling to her
He rides
A bicycle that glitters like
The wind
This boy this girl
They walk
In step with the wind
Arm in arm
They climb the level street
To where
Laid on the glittering handlebars
The flower
Is round and shining as
The sun

Tuesday Treats

I don't need much of a reason to treat myself and I have been coveting this Florence Broadhurst book for a while now. And seeing that I had a 40% off coupon for Borders it was too good to refuse (if you're not already signed up to Borders weekly emails with weekly coupons, get yourself signed up now!).

I hope you all know about Florence Broadhurst but if you don't click here. And if you can, you must see the fabulous movie Unfolding Florence.

And the Anti 9-5 Guide looks like something right up my alley.

Please excuse me, I am going to curl up on the couch and read my new books now...

Veronika Maine

I'm loving the colours and silhouettes of Veronika Maine's new seasons styles. The above picture says it all.

Weekend Round-up

It's been a busy weekend:

3 fairs

2 magazines

1 book

4 cds

2 lunches with friends

1 movie - Miss Potter (delightful by the way)

Today has been a mixed bag when it comes to the weather. Beautiful, warm, shining sun and blue skies and then rain, more rain, a lot more rain, thunder, lightning, wind and hail.

Here in NZ, Daylight Savings time has ended so I guess we are officially headed towards winter. I don't really want to think about the mornings I have ahead of me when I have to de-frost my car before I can leave for work so I will leave you with one of my favourite photos I took in summer and I will hope for warm, sunny picnic trips in a few more months...

Weekend reading

Finally the new issue of Blueprint has hit Kiwi shores!

Today I also bought the new issue of Australian mag Shop Til You Drop which is always worthwhile. And this months issue has a write up on Michi Girl.

My sister's friend Anna in London (Hi Anna!) sent me this link to a fabulous company. What a brilliant idea to be able to get your treasured photos printed into books! I'm so excited about this and am already thinking about all the reasons why I could get some books printed - birthdays, weddings, babies, holidays or just because!

Happy weekend everyone ;)

Coffee for three

I was excited to see this Japanese made coffee set at a fair I went to last weekend. My parents received this same set as a wedding gift 40 years ago. OK, so mine is missing a cup and I don't drink coffee but I love it all the same. And the best part? It only cost $5.

go on, spoil yourself...

... so says the $10 voucher I received in the mail today from Redcurrent to celebrate the re-opening of their renovated Christchurch store. I love receiving mail and I especially love it when I am told to spoil myself. I drove by Redcurrent a couple of weeks ago eager to see if they had re-opened. They hadn't, but in the weekend I will be hot footing it right down to Victoria Street to smell the fresh paint and to spoil myself of course!

London loves

My friend Jamie recently found this great website and I love it too.
I lived in London for 2.5 years a few years ago and whilst having a love/hate relationship with the city when I was there (loved my friends, gigs, shopping etc, hated queues, rush hour tube rides...), I do really miss it.
Last night I was being nostalgic re-visiting all of my favourite streets and shops all from the comfort of my home. I know, it's not quite the same, but it's the closest I'm going to get right now without having to travel thousands of kilometres.
(bonus points to those who knew that the title of this post is also the title of a Blur song from their Parklife album)

I spent some money!

Yesterday was a day for unexpected shopping and new finds.

At Cherry Blossom (a beautiful shop filled to the brim with Japanese inspired textiles, papers, fashion, accessories) I found this clutch bag on sale and I had to have it. How could I resist? Check out those colours! And what's more, Cherry Blossom has delightful gift wrapping. Even for sale items ;)

After that I took a leisurely stroll up to SOL and boy oh boy am I s-l-o-w off the mark. It was my first time checking this area out after it had been redeveloped but it won't be my last time there. No sir-ree. When I was little my Mum worked for a clothing manufacturer just along from SOL so I know the area really well. It wasn't very cool then but now it just drips icy coolness.

At The General Store I saw this Tio chair.

I'm in love with it. It's no wonder that the creators won a design award for it. It's beautiful. And that you can change the cushion covers and create a completely different look? Well that's just pure Kiwi genius.

I discovered yesterday that one of the creators has a store in Auckland called butterfly net which I am definitely going to check out next time I am there.

Last night I checked out the Lantern Festival in Victoria Square. As always, the crowds were big, the food de-lish, the performers great and the lanterns? Well they were just lovely. See some for yourself below...

I created this blog to get the word out about things I like, mostly of a design nature but it's also about people. And for that reason I'm sending a big ups to Tony's Tyre Service who fixed the puncture on my car tyre for free. Gotta love that service. Thanks Tony! I'm going to tell all my friends about you.

Frankie Friday

For me, going home with a handful of new magazines to peruse over the weekend is one of lifes little pleasures. I am however, a bit funny with magazines. Soon after I buy them, I like to cut out (read: mostly rip straight out) the pages I like and put them in my style file (well one of many now). But this is easier said than done and I usually end up with a pile of magazines or tear sheets that need to be sorted through. This drives me k-razy!

So Friday after work I stopped by my local Borders store for my weekly check out of the new magazines. And I wasn't disappointed. They had frankie. Yay! I love frankie mag*. But there's one thing I don't get - I think we in NZ get this mag about one month after it comes out in Aus (ditto Shop Til You Drop and Madison). But we're only 3 hours away by plane! and we can get magazines from the States and the UK way faster than this. Can anybody shed some light on why these magazines from Australia take longer to get here? Because I just can't wait that long!

*frankie is one magazine I buy that stays in tact. There's just too much I like in it to pull it apart!

Stationery love

I love everything about Kikki K. Great sales people, great website and most especially - great product. My only wish is that I lived in Auckland or Australia so I could visit the stores more often (although they do offer online shopping. Yay).

This is it...

I've taken the plunge...inspired by the daily and weekly blogs I read (and love!), I've decided (after much trepidation - will I be good enough??) to dive in head first and join the blogging world...