I love you(calyptus)

I'm happy to report that my many hints have paid off!

Last weekend Boyfriend came back from the shop with a nice big bunch of perfect grey-blue Eucalyptus! 

Wrapped in kraft paper too, just the way I like it. The smell hasn't quite developed yet but it will get stronger and stronger as the leaves dry out. 5 Euros well spent in my opinion! It makes a huge difference to the room.

The pampas grass was Boyfriend's idea too. He's developping quite the eye for nice things, I'm proud to say. Little did we know at the time he picked it that in the UK it's got a bit of a hidden meaning... quoting Wikipedia: "A widespread urban myth is that pampas grass is used by swingers to advertise their presence to other swingers in the area. The most commonly repeated version states that in the UK and Ireland a patch of pampas grass is planted somewhere in the front garden to act as a signal to passersby that swingers live in the home"

I'm glad we haven't got a front garden to put it in!

Too small for big troubles

If you're a regular reader, you'll know all about my wonderful niece Sophie and her cute little face. She lives in Brussels and is 2 and a half years old.

Last Friday was Sophie's last day at nursery school and on Monday she started "real" school. It's a big change for her because as well as switching from a place where there were 4 children to 1 adult to 20 children to 1 adult, she had to leave her best friend behind :( 

That seams like a lot to deal with for such a little person. So I thought a little care package in the post might cheer her up! 

This is what I got her:

We need to make sure she keeps that sparkle in her eyes

Also, might I just add:

2 years

Tiggs

Paris all over again

I feel a bit as if I rediscovered Paris last weekend. I'm still not madly in love with it, but I'll admit it's got its good sides. It's still crowded though, that's for sure. And that's the thing I hate most about it, and it will only get worse, so there you have it. 

However,

it's a pretty romantic place on a sunny day

I couldn't resist posting the saxophone player. He was so proud. And so cheesy. I mean, John Lennon shades, a scarf, AND a hat? Are you maybe taking the artist look a bit far? Are those leather trousers you're wearing?  May I tempt you with some cut-off gloves?

Ah, Paris! You always bring out the sarcastic English girl in me.

Pining for...peace & quiet

Not that I don't enjoy the occasional house guest. In fact the ones we had last weekend were lovely (a post is scheduled for as soon as I get round to looking at the photos). But then there's Boyfriend's sister, who's getting here on Thursday and leaving on Sunday. And the weekend after that, his parents are coming. I'm happy to play the tour guide but a quiet weekend in between visitors would have been nice. 

I'll just have to do this instead

 

And dream about the peaceful life we'll have in Yorkshire. At least until the family catches up again.

And wonder how the hell I'm supposed to get my Martinique-body back by the end of March. This would be nice for an evening meal by the beach though, don't you think?

Oh and this is my new favourite video. Watch it!

And follow me on Pinterest here. That's an order

Switcheroo

On Saturday I was home alone as Boyfriend was off in Tours doing something to do with a books fair that somehow ended up being more about watching zombie films and drinking Whiskey. Ok, nothing new there.

Soooo, I did the housework. Very serious housework that I don't always do, like wiping down the windowsills and cleaning the air vents and doing ALL the laundry until I saw the bottom of the laundry basket. Fascinating stuff. 

I like to switch things around a bit whenever I dust the living room to keep it interesting. This time it triggered a bit of a major switching-around-of-things that affected the hallway and the bedroom too. Like I said: this is pretty heavy stuff.

So, ready? 

Before

During

After!

And again: 

Before

After

The main idea was to get my chair stack jewellery stand under the globe, to stock it getting so dusty, and because it looks great (not to practical though when you're rushing to get out of the house and you have to run back into the bedroom, carefully lift the globe off, balance it on the bed, pick a necklace, carefully put the globe back in it place, then run). Then I decided the whole wall arrangement needed to be changed, so I took the mirror and put it in the bedroom and dug out some old that I bought on Etsy years ago that I've been longing to hang up ever since we moved here. The placing is a bit off because I used the nails from my Rob Ryan plates. Whatevs. We're moving in 3 months anyway.

I'm not a huge fan of the hallway arrangement, but I did what I could. Like I said: it's not for long.

Also we've decided to sell most of our furniture before we move, for financial and Feng Shui reasons. I like the idea of paring down and starting afresh with a clean slate. Plus, we saw so many bargains while we were in Yorkshire (hello beautiful art deco side table complete with mirror for sale for £65, how I hope you will wait for me) it would be a shame not to have room to indulge a bit. Basically we'll be taking my secretary desk, cocktail cabinet, dresser, Eames chair, a bed, a mattress, and a load of boxes. 

So if any of you live in the Paris area and like the look of my furniture: let me know! Bunnies get a special disount ^^

Weekend happenings

Hello bunnies! Did you have a happy Easter? Did you pig out on eggs? Did you overdose on chocolate hens? I was very good and didn't eat a single chocolate. I ate plenty of other things though:

As promised, I tried out this recipe found on Pinterest (adding some smoked trout to the egg because it needed using up):

As usual, it wasn't a huge success. Cooked avocado isn't as dreamy and creamy as I imagined. I'll stick to guacamole in future. Sadly I didn't get round to trying the banana chocolate chip cookie recipe. Well it's not so much a question of time but more that I felt bad for eating a whole packet of Eccles cakes between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, so more sugar didn't sound like a good plan. I made a (healthy??) banana matcha avocado almond milk smoothie with the other avocado. Much tastier.

Now for some of the outdoorsy happenings: walks in forests! Yes you heard me, there were several. Well, two. But the second one was nicer (probably because it's further away. We really do live in a crummy area). There was even a bit of lying down in the dried grass and gazing up at the blue sky through the trees. We saw some very cute miniature birds in the highest branches. We snapped some pics of the trees reflected in the water. Of fresh baby flowers. We got our boots dusty and we warmed our faces in the sun. Then we went home and cooked a full English breakfast for tea and ate it on our laps while watching back to back episodes of The IT Crowd. 

I'm looking forward to being free to declare 3-day weekends every weekend soon. 

 
PS: compulsory heron sighting