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2 Lovely Spaces

Just a random post to say how much I love these 2 spaces.  The kitchen belongs to Andy Newcom and was featured in this month's Lonny which went live earlier this week.  The other image I found on Stuart Membery's blog and is the work of Sig Bergamin as featured on the front cover of the April issue of Elle Decor.  I'm in-love with Sig's room and I'm sure my mother will be too...blue and white gets her every time!  I think the thing I like so  much about Sig's room is that it is blue and white with a difference.  The Suzani throw and the mismatched artwork adds a different element which I love.  It doesn't look too contrived which is how blue and white can sometimes look in my opinion.  It's sort of like it's been shaken and stirred.  That's my kind of blue and white!!xx

PS.  I would like to send my well-wishes and thoughts and prayers to all of our friends in Japan. 
xx Anna

The Family Gift Coordinator

I seem to be the go-to-person in my family for gifts which probably is quite obvious considering I have a shop full of things to give.  Today my brother Nick rang me pleading me to help him with a last minute gift which he needed for today.  I was up to my armpits in emails, quotes, fabrics and paperwork but I dropped everything immediately for his arrival.  I whipped out a few things in the shop and then he decided on a beautiful Sally Campbell quilt which I wrapped for him.  Usually it's a much longer and arduous task which requires me to pull the shop entirely to pieces.  If only I had someone in my life who would organise these sorts of things for me like I do for them!  He left grateful for my help.  I couldn't stop thinking that it was like a drive-through gift service!  Let's hope she likes the quilt!!!

maybe everything that happens to us has a purpose.

Fa.bian

when i met M, i got this feeling of inevitability. something was going to happen, i could feel it. this is, by the way, an incredibly optimistic outlook for someone like me. i'd been alone for so long i was sure that romance just wasn't on the cards for me.

my life at the time was really hectic. i was doing my finals at college, holding down a part time job as a writer at an advertising agency, playing in a band, and hosting a radio show on the weekends. i was single and fiercely independent. when M joined the agency as a designer, we didn't talk much, and one of my friends took a shine to him, so i just got on with my life and let them get on with theirs. a new boss joined the agency too, and began talking to me a lot. he was married and had a child, and i thought he was just being friendly. then he started texting me during non-working hours, and i became nervous. he bought me a brand new phone, and started telling me how much i reminded him of his ex - his last serious relationship before he married his wife. apparently we even share the same birthday. i played dumb to his thinly veiled advances, and wished that it wasn't just 40 year old married men that were attracted to me.

unable to shake him off (he was my boss, after all), i felt guilty and stressed out the whole time. i drank too much as a result at the office christmas party, and at one point i stupidly dropped the drink i was holding. luckily the glass didn't break, and M swooped in, picked it up and took it away. stunned, i thanked him, and we started talking. the whole night turned right around. we had so much in common, and the connection between us was vibrant. the next day we went on our first date.

suddenly college was over and i had left my band (too much drama!), so the only things happening in my life were my jobs and M. we saw each other every day because we worked together, and my (our) boss started to notice. he grew jealous and agitated, and yelled at us frequently in front of others, but i didn't care. i was so happy with M that i didn't mind if my boss dropped a grand piano on my head.

in the end, though, it was M that dropped the grand piano. he had been acting strangely after only a month of being together, and we spoke about it one evening. for the first time he opened up about his ex and how badly it had ended with her. he told me that when he met me he thought he was over her, but lately she had been creeping back into his thoughts. i didn't want to overreact, even though i thought my head was going to explode. i told him to give it some time, and that we should slow everything down. we would hang out with friends instead of being alone together. a month later, things were worse. they had actually been discussing getting back together. it was no longer just thoughts of her - he was clearly still in love with her. i bailed immediately. it was painful, and i felt like i was wasting away. seeing him at work was difficult, and the smell of him in particular drove me crazy. it took me back to lying in his arms, with his soft voice so close to my ear.

the ache of being apart was excruciating, but i knew the situation no longer really involved me. this was between M and his ex, and if they were meant to be together i didn't want to get in the way of that. i was just a gap-filler for the holidays.

we're still friends, and we still swap music, books and tv shows, but i can't go out with our friends - or anyone for that matter - at the moment because it still stings. i had never met anyone like him before, and the levels we connected on were numerous. it was hard for me to accept that he threw it away for an old relationship that he'd always described as a 'disaster'.

i'm still not sure what to make of it all. do i just go about my day like nothing ever happened? probably. it makes the whole thing seem rather pointless, though it definitely helped me get out of that awkward situation with my boss. maybe everything that happens to us has a purpose. or maybe nothing does. maybe it's all just a succession of random events. all i know is, three months ago, something inside me was shaken awake for the first time, and now it's going back to sleep.

The S.A. Crowd & Home on Sunday

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I must apologise as I didn't get a chance to post before I left for Adelaide a few days ago.  I am working on a house in Dulwich which is such a beautiful area in lovely Adelaide.  Whilst visiting I had the absolute pleasure of catching up with The S.A. Crowd - Kimberlee from Brown Button, Emma from White & Wander, Kate from Polka Dot Pantry, Pippa from Tres Dodgeois and Alex from French Navy Stationery.  What a lovely group of positive, happy, inspiring, funny, encouraging and creative girls.  We had a fantastic dinner at Sparrow Kitchen & Bar on Friday night and then went out and hit the Antique shops on Saturday together.  I was amazed by Adelaide's history, wonderful food, pretty tree-lined streets, old stone houses and fantastic Antique shops.  It really is a place worth visiting and I can't wait to head back down there mid-year to catch up with the girls again.

After such a busy few days away, today I loved being at home.  I spent the day with my boys pottering around the house and the garden.  We recently put in a kitchen garden or Potager as the French call them.  Our lettuce is growing beautifully.  I picked one today to make a salad with tonight along with our tomatoes which just seem to be sprouting up everywhere in our garden.  Although all of this rain we've had has done some horrible things to our state, our garden is just so green and full of flowers which I have been picking and placing in vases in the house.  There really isn't anything which makes me happier than arranging flowers from my own garden to place around our house...simple pleasures!!

xx
Anna

where my heart should go

unknown

maybe this is love after all.

lauryn holmquist

i've fallen in love. at least i feel like so.
he gives me no heart attacks. no butterflies when we meet.

but i long for every hug, for every touch, for every do you need a hand?

we've gone to school together for a year now and found each other instantly. we've got so much in common. and he is so genuine, honest, caring; but knows my borders and never minimizes or overprotects me. so when he says i know you that well, i can't help but feel loved. and watching him listen to me and deeply engage in our conversations - how can i not feel clever? and when i see the way he looks at me, how can i help but feel anything else than beautiful?

he does not have eyes like the sky, nor thick curly hair to run one's fingers through. his breath is actually quite bad, i hate the fact that he uses the xD-smiley and he is much better off without that beanie he insists on wearing.
i don't know if i'm in love, because i can see his flaws. i believe i might not be, because i don't lay awake in bed night after night. i've never loved anybody because of how they treated me; but then again i've never loved anyone the way i love him.

but perhaps, stopping here wouldn't be that bad after all. in that very phase where something is just emerging in our chests, where there's something abstract in the air. where both know it shouldn't have ended already, might just be the perfect spot to do so. so that expectations may grow, so that temptation may flow.

yet it feels so good when he leans in closely, closely, when i'm sad; oh and the way he says my name. and it feels so good being the first one he calls when he needs help.
as i grope for the light switch he says nevermind and puts a warm hand on my back; he'd rather guide me through the dark than let me walk alone in the yellow light. it may be quiet but in our heads we talk, and a hand on a back easily becomes an arm around a waist. i feel safe with him, and being close to him is what i always find myself pursuing.

i can't be just your friend anymore. even though a part of me dislikes the thought of our lips meeting, our bodies connecting, our friendship transforming, my biggest security being completely tossed around - there is no denying. my knees are not weak, my pulse is steady and i will stay independent, but i ask you to keep me as yours, if i can have you in return.

we found each other instantly, cookie. we should probably stick around.
maybe this is love after all.