Best spam comment of the month so far…
“Well macadamia nuts, how about that?”
Worthy of a Monday morning gigglesnort!
Snippets from around my home
A little peek into my flat and the pretty things in it that make me happy.
Parts of my bookshelves – A collection of glass bottles, a couple of unicorn ornaments (the one on the right is from Poland, when we went to Krakow for a friend’s hen weekend), photos of Ellie and I and Julia and I, some ducks, a Meakin jug and my favourite thing on this shelf, an original painting by the very talented Chloe at Slightly Triangle. Plus a china duck and a western boot on the shelf above.
The bookshelf to the left (I have three across the back wall of my living room). Gil Elvgren’s pin ups take pride of place among the books, and on the top are some of my vintage treasures. Some of these were bought for Teasets to Typewriters and will form part of the stock when I eventually launch. The Whistlejacket print is not going anywhere, though!
‘Home’ applique and vintage glass candle holders adorning the top of my heater. I stitched this entirely freehand and it was the first bit of hand sewing I’d done in over a decade 🙂
My ‘mantelpiece’ – clearly, being a flat, I don’t have an actual one but this stands in quite well. Full of coffee table books and my vintage china. Then photos (Holly and I, Hannah, Lou and I, a framed Jane Austen quote, Ellie and I on horseback on the beach) and some vintage tins. On the top – a daylight lamp I use when I’m cross stitching, a painting I picked up in an antique shop, a photo of me and my childhood dog Tui, more glass bottles, Singer sewing machine, Rusty’s number plate, more vintage tins, a photo of the rally teams in Sibiu, candle holders and a china horse. 🙂
Juxtaposition of old and new – my old (but working!) landline phone and my Bluetooth headset for my mobile, which both live on my hall table.
And into my bedroom – the ballet print and pairs of pointe shoes that hang above my bed, the vertical patchwork I made last year to hang on the big blank wall above my clothes rails, and my jewellery board (next to my door, so I can grab stuff on the way out!)
Contrariety Rose’s Vintage Tea Party
Last weekend I traversed down to Reading (complete with Rusty’s vintage suitcase, pretty shoes and vintage-style party dresses) for a weekend with one of my best friends. She just happens to be behind Contrariety Rose (new site almost done! I’m working on the last bits!) and organised a vintage tea party for a few people while I was down there. It’s always wonderful to see Lou, but this was a specially exciting prospect after a fairly hideous week!
We went to a vintage fair at the Hexagon first (I bought a headscarf “for wearing in a sportscar”, said the lady at the stall. I couldn’t not buy it after that, could I?!) and Lou found this lovely little dress. Rachel found a beautiful 60s shift dress but I couldn’t get a photo 🙁
And here is Lou (first pic) and me (second pic) next to where we’d set out all the bits and pieces…
Tea party details:
Cucumber hearts and lollipop sandwiches from the Vintage Tea Party Book:
Cakes made by Lou’s partner’s mum – a Contrariety Rose cake and lovely little sparkly fairy cakes:
And the forks that made me think of the Mad Hatter’s tea party – there’s something wonderfully Alice-ish about them!
It was a fabulous afternoon, and so lovely to see all the girls – some of them I hadn’t seen since 2007, and a couple not properly since school. It was gorgeous! 😀
Things that make me happy Thursday (ahem, Friday) 9/12/11
This week, like the few before it, has been utterly insane. I haven’t had five minutes to do anything, and being December, the number of social events has soared very suddenly. I’m also battling insomnia and really not sleeping very well, but on the plus side, there have been some lovely things that have happened 🙂
being called ‘endearingly odd’ by a colleague
new year plans
vintage tea party happiness
seeing old friends and making new ones
old work’s christmas do
sparkly shoes officially make days better
an email from my boss appreciating effort i’d put in
Christmas decorations, Christmas music, Christmas earrings, Christmas lights
Having Floyd as my background photo (although I miss him)
people caring whether or not I make it to CAE this year
discovering Jasmine’s back at Ancient Lights and reinstating a proper cocktail menu
Zen and cocktails with dear friends
my love story theory
seeing Mum & Dad on Wednesday evening
Things that make me happy Thursday – 1 December 2011
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind couple of weeks, but here’s my list (one day I swear I’ll get round to writing these in advance and illustrating them with photos and things)!
- Two days off last week and spending the long weekend with Anna – it was glorious
- Pinterest – in among the madness at work, I’ve spent some time soothing myself with the gorgeous things people have found
- Driving to ease my stresses – it really is better than therapy
- donating to Movember – I’m so proud of the guys I know for growing ridiculous facial hair for charity
- wearing cowboy boots to work
- exploring new places
- successfully shopping on a budget
- making a Christmas wreath
- finishing my Curious Christmas box
- a lovely person suggesting a swap – I love swaps and am very excited for this one
- candles – they’re sparkly, they smell nice and there’s something very calming about candlelight
- twitter – my twitter mafia and other twitter friends have been so utterly lovely (not that they’re not normally) – a beacon of happy in the frankly ridiculous week i’ve just had
- late night texting
- a rare moment of almost silence in the Barbican tunnel – you could hear people’s footsteps, it was spooky
- my Twifts from lovely Louise (craftyguider)
- watching a pigeon fighting a paper bag and losing
- seeing the start of a possible romance on a broken train, while we all waited for it to get going
- my amazing sparkly shoes
- and very late this evening, a visit from one of the girls who lives in the flat underneath mine – she’s really lovely and I think I have a new friend in the making! 🙂
And after a pig of a day, writing this post has made me smile so I can go to bed happy. This is why I love blogging 🙂
Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
I read this book while away with work at the golf Open in Deal. My godfather died during the week I was away, hence it’s taken me a while to publish the posts I wrote while I was down there.
It’s a while since I’ve read a book that’s made me smile, cry and laugh out loud. Which sounds like a cliché, but although these emotions often go through my head when reading a good book, it’s rare they escape as a snort of laughter, a smile I can feel or tears running down my face.
I’ve been meaning to read this since it came out, but it was such a favourite at the library and with book groups that it was never on the shelf for me to borrow! (I always think the highest accolade a book can have is to be forever borrowed by people, and incredibly worn from all the eager readers who have devoured its pages.)
I won’t spoil the plot for you, but suffice to say I’m also a massive fan of letters as a storytelling device. (Well, I love letters anyway – I wish my generation wrote more of them.) One of my all-time favourite books is 84 Charing Cross Road, and this is in a not dissimilar vein, of strangers finding each other and becoming great, lifelong friends through letters. (edited before posting to add that I send as many letters as I can, but I have already experienced the joy of making friends with people I have never met in person, through the wonder of Twitter. Perhaps that’s the 21st century equivalent?)
The exchange of letters, between various wonderfully-imagined characters who I dearly hope are based on real people, takes us to Guernsey just after the Second World War.
There are heartbreaking moments and moments of total joy – I urge you to go and read this book, if you haven’t already!
Sunday evening thoughts
Sunday evenings are my time – after a busy week and usually an even busier weekend, I always try to spend a couple of hours reading, pottering and planning for the week ahead. I cross all the things I’ve achieved off my to-do list, add some more, write cards for any birthdays/anniversaries coming up in the next week (ok, I don’t do that yet, it’s one of those things I perpetually intend to do, lol) and generally prepare myself for the week ahead.
This week I’m struggling more than normal to get back into work mode, because I’ve had four days in a row off and I’m just not functioning in office mode. However, I have finished my Curious Christmas box to send, and am off to see Louise this weekend for a vintage tea party and much girlie fun. I also have another parcel swap to plan and create, which is muchly exciting, so I shall keep smiling over the next couple of weeks! I’ve also managed to make stuff this weekend, so my state of mind is more balanced – it’s amazing how much crafting helps me stay calm!
Here’s a quick this weekend i am mostly… roundup!
Reading: Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan, The Secret of Happy Ever After by Lucy Dillon and Chances by Freya North
Writing: this blog post, lists of things I’d like to stock in my shop one day, cards for people
Drinking: pepsi max, squash, rose wine
Listening: smash hits radio from the TV, sandi thom on youtube, adele and dj fresh in the car
Buying: things for the curiosity project, vintage pyrex, books, beautiful notebooks
Enjoying: four straight days off work, seeing annie, making stuff, scanning my books into library thing, planning for next weekend’s vintage tea party and the Christmas party the week after
Loving: driving with the roof down even though it’s nearly December, late night texts, my bauble wreath, crisp clean sheets, that Christmassy feeling
Have a fabulous week! 🙂 xx
A ‘staycation’ with Annie :)
Anna and I had planned to go away for a few days in September, then October, and kept getting thwarted. November arrived, the time was booked off work, but neither of us had the money (or the energy) to go away away. So we decided to crash at my flat for a few days, do some shopping, make stuff, watch DVDs, eat lots… generally have an extended relaxing weekend 🙂
We wrote to Santa while looking at Christmas decorations:
Saw a helicopter tree I desperately want to buy for my parents:
Fell in love with some tree shaped sparkly lights: 
Found some flashing tits for Anna *gigglesnort*:
And I made a wreath. Here’s me pretending it’s a halo (sure. but I can pretend!) 
We visited Sudbury and had a lovely wander round all the shops there, and I also bought some vintage Pyrex bowls (squee!), some books and chocolate from the Cadburys factory shop. Can’t be bad. Was gorgeous to see her, fab to have four days in a row off work and when I go back I shall feel refreshed and hopefully at least a little bit enthusiastic! 😀
You can follow lovely Annie on Twitter – twitter.com/AnnaZEV
Christmas Wreaths
I know, I know, it’s only November, but I have SO much going on in December, I have to start my Christmas decorations early or I won’t get any up! I also spend the actual Christmas period at my parents’, so I like to enjoy as much of the Christmas spirit at home as possible before I go 🙂
I spent quite a lot of time last weekend, in between searching for presents and party dresses, trying to find a wreath. This, from BHS, was about the closest I found to what I was looking for, but I very much wanted some pink and purple in mine, to match the colour scheme (pffft – the attempted colour scheme, that should be) in my flat!
There were also a few of this type around:
None of them took my fancy, so when Anna and I were out on Thursday, I bought a pack of baubles from Asda and some contrasting snowflake tinsel from the 99p shop (oh yes, super high end, that’s me!). Got home, dug out the florist’s wire I bought two years ago (I knew it’d come in handy one day!) and over a few dvds and lots of chatting, I made this (please excuse the cheesy pic of me):
I’m really quite proud! :D
NOTD – silver, blue and black crackle
Quick NOTD – I’ve been off work the last couple of days and was able to paint my nails in front of a DVD while chatting to Anna – perfection 😀
Silver – Rimmel Lasting Finish in 239 Your Majesty (this is one of my favourite polishes ever for a quick shimmer)
Blue – NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in 140B Empire State Blue
Black – Barry M Nail Paint Instant Effects in Black Magic
Base and top coat – OPI Start to Finish
Brief updates and a proper domain
Having a particularly crazy few weeks at the day job, so please excuse the lack of regular posts. On the plus side, I have finally pulled myself together and transferred my domain over here. So duckingfabulous.co.uk actually refers to all my posts and works properly, rather than just pointing here in a hopeful sort of way. I am ridiculously proud of this, as I worked it out without any guidance at all. *grin*
I’m still hunting for the perfect tablet, so I can blog on the move… no luck yet though. Tempted to hold out for the Kindle Fire, but I like both the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the HTC Flyer very much – guess I’ll see what prices do after Christmas.
Have been nesting a bit, got lots of candles out and am trying to light them in the evenings to make my living room feel cosier. I need a saddle for the ijoyride, it looks too much like a bit of gym equipment in my living room, but I use it little enough as it is – if it moves to the studio I’ll never use it!
Tomorrow’s last day at work for a few days, I have Thursday and Friday off and Anna’s coming down to visit 🙂 Very excited, although feeling a bit guilty – we were going to be going away, but I’m so broke we’re using my flat as a base and doing stuff from there instead. I hope she isn’t disappointed! (although she’s one of the people in the world I could spend a week in a shed with and still have fun!)
Emotions a bit up and down for all sorts of reasons… exhaustion not helping. So on that note, I shall quit waffling and go to bed. Have remembered to take my SD card out of the laptop and put it back in the camera at least, so might even manage some photos later this week!
xx
Testing
Apologies subscribers – just testing to see if this works now I’ve mapped the domain name 🙂
I'm Carla, a quirky thirtysomething with a penchant for unicorns and glitter. I believe in magic and make-believe, and the gorgeous rebellion of making your life absolutely your own. And I'm a proud multipod!
I am a photographer and catalyst for small business owners, and a real life mermaid. I photograph people as they truly are, help women see and step into their brightest and best selves, add a sprinkling of magic to the mundane, and am a happy ambassador for stationery and slow living.
Proud to be both girly and geeky, when I’m not writing, photographing or daydreaming, you can find me dancing burlesque, riding my bicycle Bluebell, growing herbs and collecting typewriters.