Merry Christmas

Hope all bloggers and blog readers had a happy day!

 

Tricky-woo

Men are hard to buy for.  I have no idea what to get Will for Christmas.  I would love to hear any readers' suggestions for great men's presents.  And it's not just Will.  I find my brother and father equally tricky.

We have some friends coming for dinner tonight to celebrate Will's birthday (which was on Monday).  Our best man, or Big Tom, as he's known in our house, also had a birthday recently.  He's a keen surfer, so when I spied this book in a bookstore, the choice for his gift was easy.

Here are some of the images from the book.  Look at all those great cars.

Tom recently built a beach house at our favourite seaside town of Flinders, so I think this will be a nice addition to his bookshelf.

Tom likes to ride long boards, so he will appreciate the many great images in this book.

Including the ones of the pretty, bikini-clad girls, no doubt.  (Clearly melanoma wasn't a concept people bothered with back then - everyone is so tanned.)

Hard to beat

We've just returned from 5 days in Tasmania on beautiful Three Hummock Island.  The weather was on our side and we enjoyed blissful time on the beaches.

Six adults and 9 children headed over Bass Strait in two light planes.  The children had a ball with beach cricket, fishing, penguin spotting and boating on the agenda.  Our three boys are always the ones wearing matching swimming shorts.

There aren't many beaches in the world that are this pretty.  What makes the ones here so special though, is that there was not another living soul on the beach - we had it all to ourselves.

The children paddled in the many sand pools, climbed over the granite boulders and explored.

We got a great view of the beach from the plane as we flew out.  The arrow points to where the above photos were taken.

New camera

I've been toying with the idea of getting an SLR camera for a while.  And then I saw the beautiful images that have been appearing on Megan's blog of late. My mind was made up after that.

I have no idea what I'm doing.  For now it's on the auto setting.  A camera course is high on my list of things to do for 2010.

Subjects willing and unwilling have been roped in to practice on.

Playing with the settings brings mixed results.

That is the beauty of digital cameras though - the very handy delete function.

Oh, and as an aside, Adelaide is sporting very weird hair these days. 

Her long dark hair on top looks like a bad toupee or the worst combover ever.  She has much fairer hair growing slowly at the sides, to match her eyebrows.  I think she'll need a haircut or something - probably too late to do anything about it before Christmas.  Thank goodness I have a varied supply of pretty hairclips. 

Advent calendar activity

Over at Fancy Elastic I found a pdf page of Christmas themed drawings for the children to colour in.

I had my boys totally captivated for more than an hour.  The little note inside their advent calendar asked them to bring out the coloured pencils.  They sat at the dining table and happily coloured a page each last night.

Good, wholesome fun.

Repurposed

I hang on to all Will's old business shirts.  They usually go in the elbows.

By the time I'm allowed to cut them up they've been washed a hundred times and the fabric is lovely and soft.

This one I put to good use last night and made a little dress with flutter sleeves.  There was even enough fabric for a matching pair of bloomers.

Baby Shoes

I didn't do a lot of shopping in Hong Kong, despite it being a shopper's mecca.  I did, however, fall in love with the most exquisite pair of baby shoes I've ever seen.

If they were in any other colour I could probably have resisted them.  But they were in the most perfect shade of steely blue, the only pair like it in the store, and the perfect size for Adelaide next winter.

They are seriously divine, and far too good for any child to actually walk in, so they will be perfect for her pre-walking stage.   At all other times, they will look adorable sitting on an armoir shelf in the Townmouse studio.

I have a few scraps of this sky coloured cashmere left.  Enough to put together a little matching pram coat.

The shoes were definitely a purchase more for me, than for Adelaide. 

Perhaps they'll be too good for her to wear at all. 
 

Over all too soon

Hong Kong was lovely.  Lovely because we slept in, ate lazy breakfasts, wandered around the city with no fixed address in mind, enjoyed the fabulous view of the harbour from the bathtub, and revelled in days without deadlines.

That's the best thing about holidays - having nowhere to be, nothing to do at a certain time and falling into days that just find their natural rhythm.

On Saturday night we caught up with friends who live in Hong Kong.  They took us to the China Club - a fabulous place by David Tang, the man behind Shanghai Tang.

I LOVED this place.  It had wonderful old-world charm.  We started with champagne on the rooftop while fireworks played out across the harbour, and then enjoyed dinner in the room pictured above.

The walls were covered in a wonderful collection of contemporary art, and we also got a glimpse into the divine library, which is used for private functions.

It was definitely a highlight of the weekend.

As was high tea at the Peninsula Hotel - something that several friends had suggested as a 'must do'.  I confess to loving the odd scone, so was happy to take part in this ritual.  I love a country that knows how to brew a good pot of tea!

Photos from flickr.

Summertime treat

It's a lovely summer's day here.  We've been making frozen berry yoghurt popsicles.

These are the scrapings from the bottom of the ice-cream maker.  Such a lovely colour.

Blend 250 grams of raspberries.  In a separate bowl, whip 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Slowly add 2 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar until glossy.  Add 250 grams plain yoghurt, then the raspberry puree.  Pour into popsicle moulds (or mix in an ice-cream machine first for a lighter texture).

Romantic getaway for three?

This week Will and I are heading up to Hong Kong for a weekend getaway.  We are looking forward to a few days of relaxing and quiet time together.

We're staying in a too-cool-for-school hotel that is quite well located from what I can make out.  Friends have given me a few tips on where to go and what to do, plus I've picked up a Luxe guide to the city.  I haven't been to Hong Kong since I was 16.  After a frantic November when Townmouse kept me very busy (and earned me some travel money), I'm looking forward to a little down time.

Oh, and did I mention baby Adelaide is coming too?  (I'd miss her too much anyway if we left her behind.) 

If anyone has anything crafty they'd like me to seek out and blog about, or some generally great shopping tips, just say the word.  I love a mission.

Photo from here.