Previous adventures around New Zealand:
Tag Archives: photography
Three Hundred & Sixty Five – Days at Home: Week 31
The first cheat in this series, but warranted inclusion! Offensively Yellow handbag…matches the walls at a local restaurant. / I have ignored Winter all together; sandals forever. And glitter everywhere. / Tea parties on the living room floor every day. It does wonders for morale. / They call sticky plasters ‘bandaidles’. I found these on the wall ‘healing the house’, they told me. / Knitting. I’m obsessed. / Thrifted: Hello hen! Hand painted chopping-board. / New colours for a new project – an exciting collaboration on the horizon. / Poor little neglected garden; still feeding us everyday. / Do you think it’s a good look for me? My stylists have been hard at work.
Three Hundred & Sixty Five – Days at Home: Week 27 + Thrifted.
The hardest button to button is probably the cutest. / Thrifted: Blue Willow platter. So handsome. / Ranunculi are my favourite + washi tape picture rails / Thrifted: Blue Willow teapot and 6 pretty cups – perfect service for a spot of tea in the watery Winter sunshine + Snapdragons & Carnations – Mabel’s choices from our fortnightly trip to the flower market. / Thrifted: glorious yellow sifter; how happy you make me. / Five Minute Fix: Hanging new curtains (also thrifted this week!) / Spot the Sausage Dog. / Mabel’s new tattoos. “This one is a fish! And this one is a spider!”. But which is which? Answer on a postcard to the usual address. / Spring is sneaking into our garden. I couldn’t be more ready.
Three Hundred & Sixty Five – Days at Home: Week 18.
Changing the water every second day and adding a hefty teaspoon to brown sugar – Old Wives Tales that really work. Gerberas in their 3rd week. / Partially-Eaten-Apple Shortcake. Made with apples from our little tree. / One of those days. / A leaf Mae fell in love with from the Magnolia tree by the back door. Autumn’s really here. / Theo’s curls. I can’t bring myself to cut them. / May? Already? How did that happen? / Little wooden clogs perfect for dancing. / Helium balloons from a photo shoot for something very exciting on the horizon… / & Things Vegans Eat: Steamed Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds. Honestly, try this for lunch someday soon. You’ll feel amazing. And there’s nothing like a virtuous lunch to justify 2 puddings.
Lest We Forget.
Reasons for Happiness: Kid-Friendly Eateries.
Really. It makes such a huge difference, dosen’t it?
Three Hundred & Sixty Five – Days at Home: Week Sixteen.
Homemade hummus made by my helpers and then wolfed on toast. / Finding my Grandmothers signature in books – I like to run my fingers over her name. She was the coolest and I miss her. / Theodore…why are all these spoons in your bed? / Oh. That’s why. Obsessed with spelling and reading. / Freesias on the mantlepiece. / So much better than the powerbill – postcards from adventures of a different kind. This one flew all the way from Wyoming. / Tiny dancer tutu legs from our nightly dance party. / Yep. This post is still my life. / These are the things you will get asked if you are Vegan: 1) BUT, WHAT ABOUT CHEESE? & 2) But…what do you eat? So I thought I might include a photo each week of something easy and Vegan that you might like to try to make for yourself. Or, for if you ever encounter this conversation in the wild, so prepared are you to answer; ‘well, actually! Vegans eat all sorts of things! For example…’.
Breakfast Shake. Throw a frozen banana (I am currently experimenting with the best way to freeze bananas. My life is very exciting, I know. Like, can you peel them first? Because freezing your mits off trying to cut the peel off post-freeze is the pits. Stay tuned!) in your blender with a cup of the mock milk of your choosing. Whizz on high and add something exciting. Here I used a heaped tablespoon of passionfruit pulp. It was delicious.
Other People’s Houses: #3
Name: Louise Sutherland / Queen Stitch
Job: Property Manager / Crafter and Blogger
Location: St Albans, Christchurch.
Describe your style: Colourful. Eclectic. Ordered. Colour is everything. I could never live in a minimalist white box (and I would only spill tea everywhere).
Favourite element of your home: My red front door. Painting it the brightest red I could find was one of the first things I did when I moved in. It was something of a personal statement. It might sound airy fairy but every time I walk through it, it reminds me of who I am, how far I’ve come and what I stand for.
Plus, y’know, red doors are so sexy!
I am inspired by: My confused and awkward Anglo-Kiwi up bringing. 1950’s and 60’s design, art, fashion and culture. The films of Wes Anderson. Travel: colours and cultures of the places I have been and those where I want to go (currently Paris, Mexico, India, Scotland and Scandinavia). Vintage, up cycling and the joy of a good rummage. Being surrounded by things that have history and a back-story.
I’ll never part with: My first Matryoshka (Russian) doll. My dad brought it back for me from Istanbul when I was 9. Apparently back then Russia still got a lot of goods through the borders into Europe, so this doll is the real deal (my dad, the history nerd, always stresses the significance of this point to me, so it is my duty as a good daughter to pass it on).
If I open the doll up I can still smell the raw wood which takes me back to the exact time and place that he gave it to me. It’s amazing. I hope I can still have a good old sniff when I am an old lady!
I am obsessed with collecting: The perfect book collection. I love unusual art and design books and those weird ones you can only find at book fairs.
I believe that you can tell a lot about a person by their books (or lack of) and I think mine reflect me pretty well (if I visit your house, I will probably judge you based on your bookshelf, sorry).
Where to from here?: I don’t quite have that figured out yet (does anyone? oh God, do YOU?). Past attempts at plans have never worked out all that well.
I figure if I keep doing what I love, being a good person and saying an enthusiastic ‘yes’ to opportunities as they arise then you can’t go too far wrong…plus, you know, the Universe, karma and cosmic intervention etc etc.
Oh and I shall also continue evolving into the lovechild of Nigella Lawson, Helena Bonham Carter and Morrissey. That would be lovely.
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Be sure and check out Louise’s blogs: Queen Stitch + Some Beardy To Love
Felt Store
Facebook Page
& Twitter!
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Three Hundred & Sixty-Five : Days at Home – Thrifted.
Vintage pillowcases are my new obsession + new plates for the wall in the kitchen.
Linking in with the Op-Shop Show-Off.
Three Hundred & Sixty Five – Days at Home: Week 15.
I’ve so enjoyed the challenge of a photo a day; and I’m still taking them! But love how they look all together, at week’s end, so they’ll be a little Sunday feature.
Bright orange Gerberas on the sideboard; I never used to care much for them, but now I love how long they last; their relentless optimism / Should probably get around to cleaning this up… / Theo vs the broccoli / My fortnightly treat – flowers for every room / Potatoes from the garden washed in the sink / Helping me write the card for their Grandmothers birthday / Theo is obsessed with the Atlas of late – we search it for places we recognise. Walk our fingers from our lonely Pacific island to Aunties in Borneo; in London; on Adventures / My little gift and name tag made for my lovely swap partner Jess as part of the recent National Bloggers Conference / Like the first day of school! Me on the morning before the conference.
Theo asked me on the way, ‘Mama? Are you going to a conference to make a new internet?’. Kind of, Bubba. Kind of.
I love being a part of this community. The spectrum of people it has introduced me to. Their humour and inclusiveness. Their personality and honesty. Their creativity and ability. And being able to transfer these connections into real life? The best.
It was also a reminder that it’s true what they say; never meet your idols. Or they just might get you lost in a part of your home town that even Google maps doesn’t want to know about, and completely confirm to you, that all the best people, the brightest and the best, think there’s nothing funnier than a good innuendo. Aye, Alex Fulton? In-your-endo.
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