A whole lotta organising

It's starting to sink in that we have a fair bit to do between now and the end of August. Only 54 days left before we depart on our adventure! Turtle & Mu are on holiday for the next fortnight - we have lots planned starting with an expedition to the cable car this afternoon. Not quite as glam as the SF cable cars but pretty good for our little city. I wonder what kind of house we'll be living in? I seem to be obsessed with interiors at present and found these wonderful images from Storage: Get Organized by Terence Conran. It's often all in the detail and by having the bits and pieces we've collected over the years around us we will be able to make our as yet unknown new home a home.

Feeling a bit blue...

It's been a bit of a blue day. Perhaps it's the cold, grey, wet weather.... Dropped Turtle and Mu at Spanish and pottered about in the local bookstore. I found a lovely book Grace Kelly: A Life in Pictures by Pierre-Henri Verlhac. To quote Publishers Weekly "Kelly's radiance, both on-screen and off transcends the pages".

I also found the magical This is for you by Rob Ryan. A romantic and touching story of thoughts and dreams. Each page has been cut out of paper using a scalpel, sprayed and photographed. He has an etsy shop where you can buy his amazing work, plus a great blog.

Back to get the boys and home to find an invite to a Simon Ogden exhibition opening at Bowen Galleries. Simon uses the colour and patterning of 'found' materials to make wonderful collage compositions, like Minevois Flower (2006-2007).

Images from Amazon, Rob Ryan, and Bowen Galleries

One or two beautiful things...

...I'm loving right now. Simple Song a gorgeous blog over on typepad. Pop on over to have a peek.

Anni B Sweet a beautiful voice from Madrid. Her song Motorway is fab, and she has just released an album Start Restart Undo.

Bob Wolfenson a Brazilian photographer - just love this image of Camilla Finn.

Images from Simple Song, Anni B Sweet and Bob Wolfenson.

Monday, Monday...

A quiet day spent catching up on the weekend. My hyacinth bulbs have finally dried out and become ugly and beautiful at the same time. And the first sign of a distant spring - my daphne have just started to bloom...

A lovely start to the weekend...

Hooray I was able to nip out to the lovely Kiri's yoga class this morning. Kiri teaches traditional ashtanga yoga and I always leave her classes feeling refreshed and with a skip in my step! Below is a random selection of books I've on the go......I stumbled across a 1958 book of Paul Klee prints - one of my favourites is Individualized Measurement of Strata (1930). Just love those colours!

Last night I read The Allure of Women by Francois Baudot. Francois describes allure as a mixture of distinction and grace, authority and gentleness, a singularity.... An interesting book and a beautiful collection of photographs of past and present alluring beauties.

A pretty book I treated myself to earlier this year is Beauty in Bloom by the gorgeous Natalie Bloom. Full of lovely inspiration and beautiful illustrations......

R gave me Eat Pray Love earlier this year. Elizabeth Gilbert had spoken at the TED conference and R thought I'd enjoy the book.  I can relate to Ms Gilbert on many levels.  Update - whilst there were moments of insight in the book, there were also many moments when I felt like "get over yourself woman!". Plus the way she has totally sold out to mass-marketing, goes against the whole concept...

I'm also enjoying Things I wish my Mother had told me - Lessons in grace and elegance. Full of lots of simple, practical and lovely ideas and thoughts.... for example 'You can't change most people. Don't expect them to give what they are unable to give.' 

Have a happy weekend!

A day of beauty and sadness...

I'm loving my camellias from the lovely Jeanie at Next Stop Earth, Newtown. The buds are bursting into lush dark pink blooms. My own tiny white camellia has been flowering outside Turtle's window.....

Farrah Fawcett's death is sad - she has had such a brave battle - and under all that hair she was stunningly beautiful.

And now we hear that Michael Jackson has died - ! So many of his songs remind me of my childhood - he was so talented. So many great songs. Earth Song is just heartbreakingly beautiful.

Lovely inspiration....

I discovered Flora by Nick Knight when rambling through the library on Tuesday. Nick, a fashion photographer, shows his love for the pressed flower collection from the Natural History Museum of London. So delicately beautiful....

And indulging in the decor mags at Magnetix I came across the May 2009 issue of Elle Decoration which featured Martin Bourne's NY apartment. I just love his desk and pale blue wall.....

And lastly Michi Girl's Kat MacLeod image from yesterday was as pretty as ever...

Must rush - am trying a new recipe - baked penne - yum!

The great cookie caper....

My weekly bake-a-thon is still going strong. Although the last batch of cup cakes weren't a roaring success. Mu & Turtle stayed up late decorating the last batch of cookies - yum!

Gotta rush - boys have started Spanish after school on Tuesdays and it's a mad dash across town to get there in time!

Hooray it's Friday!

What a busy week! The decision has been made - we're relocating half way around the world to Portland, Oregon in August! How exciting - there's so much to do and sort out. R will be away for most of the coming months - so Turtle, Mu & me will be packing and planning alone. I hope we find somewhere lovely to live - I will miss our sea views. Hopefully we find somewhere with lots of character and a lovely vibe. So very exciting! Here's some lovely desks and inspiration boards from Martha Stewart Living.

And as it's Friday - that means riding - yippee!

Image from The Equestrian Corner.

Monday - it's grey & cold...

A good day to curl up with a book but I am keeping to my word about baking, and whilst I'm at it I also plan to make soup - today is definitely a soupy day. Mother's Day yesterday and I was thoroughly spoiled by my boys with a voucher for some serious pampering at East Day Spa, and two gorgeous cushions from Madder & Rouge. I feel so lucky to have three such silly, crazy, wonderful people in my life. Check out Helena Christensen's New York home as featured on The Selby via Paris Vogue.

Books, books, books....

As always on our recent trip we found some great books. Given the state of NZ's dollar, and the 'weighty' issue of luggage on planes we did our best to limit our purchases - but we did bring home....

Birds by Jeffrey Fisher an Australian artist living in Paris. Jeffrey's bird illustrations are so gorgeous - we're tempted to have several framed!

Blackstock's Collections by Gregory L. Blackstock, an autistic and artistic savant from Seattle, Washington who creates visual lists of everything from wasps to hats to emergency vehicles to cabbages. The detail and information in each illustration is astounding - what a wonderful and extraordinary mind he must have!

Vintage French Interiors by Sebastien Siraudeau. A wonderfully inspiring book showcasing antique shops and flea markets in France.

And for our two unruly boys - How to Speak Politely and Why by Munro Leaf. A fantastic children's classic (from a series) that shows good manners and that treating others how you would like to be treated is timeless. Munro Leaf is also responsible for the fabulous book The Story of Ferdinand - a childhood favourite.

It's raining....

A very wet grey winter day today. Less than a week ago we were experiencing Portland's pretty spring. Days like today it's nice to have pretty things to help cheer the gloom up - like these Kate Spade bangles.....

Turtle and I made cupcakes after school yesterday - yum! (photo by Turtle)

At this time of year I always feel like cocooning - and have decided to try and bake at least once a week. Although I'm off for coffee with S this morning to talk about some work - so may not have yards of spare time soon. Off horse riding this afternoon - hooray. I've not been for over a month!

Changes may be afoot...

Changes may be afoot for us - we may be leaving our lovely house to travel afar in search of new adventures..... I will miss my study...

And the memories....

We hope to know more early next week. R is very excited, Mu is on the fence, and Turtle and me are excited, but also a little sad..

Back home

We're back from the most amazing trip!

Five weeks in the States - Portland Oregon (to be exact) with a few side trips. It's so good to be home and once again surrounded by our bits and pieces. Here's a random selection of images from our trip.....

A wind swept northern Californian coast...

An old school bus nestled amongst blossom on the Redwood Highway

A beauty from the de Young Museum in San Francisco

Turtle & Mu investigating fake poo at the Oregon Zoo - boys!

Chinatown San Francisco - so many things to explore...

Wouldn't you love this as your entrance? We stayed near Nob Hill / Russian Hill in San Fran.  I spent many a morning wandering past the most beautiful front gates and doors.

We arrived in Portland at the same time as Spring - there was blossom everywhere....

We saw and did so much - a lot seems a distant memory. Changes could be afoot for us - watch this space....