a gift for Buffy...or the kindness of people you haven't yet met

A few weeks ago after I posted a picture of the vampire slayer with her infamous red luggage tag hanging around her neck, Rachael of the beautiful blog A Room for Everyone emailed and said she could stand it no longer and was buying Buffy a new tag. I said "Really? You really want to do that? She's a horrible cat you know!" or words to that effect.
But sure enough, this wonderful, generous, kind hearted blogging friend did just that! And it's Buffy bling...and I love it to bits! And just quietly I think the slayer does too :)

Here she is modelling her gorgeous new tag (and of course I had to go and get her a new collar befitting of the glamour, as the other one was decidedly tatty)

And Rachael also included a lovely, gorgeously wrapped and very thoughtful gift for me...

...a beautiful handmade notebook which will be put to very good use. Oh yes it certainly will.
So thank you Rachael...your kindness and generosity has overwhelmed me.
And thank-you...all of you...for the most wonderful 10 months of blogging friendship. I continue to be amazed by your genuine interest in others, your care and concern when things go pear shaped, your willingness to support and nurture ideas or dreams. The things you write, make, bake and create are a constant source of inspiration...I want to be just like all of you when I grow up :)
I'm going to walk away from the computer for a little while now while I'm in Newcastle with my parents, but I'll see you sometime in the New Year. So I'll let Ben's wonderful graphic say...

Love to you and yours from me and mine. And if you're travelling...stay safe xx

top ten pictures from the week ~22.12.10 (the last for the year)

Wow. I've been doing these posts for quite a few months now...

some weeks it's hard...

some, like this one....super easy!

I started these posts so I didn't have to think much about what to say...at least on one day of the week

they are just a collection of images that take my fancy...

for one reason or another.

But they've become a bit of a townhouse tradition now I think...

...and I like that. Plus the fact that I now know exactly where my inspiration file is!

But you won't find a single Christmassy image...because I'm a tiny bit perverse....

so this next one is the closest you'll get from me, in all its stunning simplicity :)

There'll be one more post tomorrow or Friday before I head off on my road trip to Newcastle to spend Christmas with my parents. 

Then I'll probably take a little break...but who knows? Certainly not me!

So till then...I hope you get some inspiration from these as well.
images, in order of appearance are from: pretty haute mess; a punch of color; an indian summer; bohemian shoebox; desire to inspire; gingerella; belle maison; the decorista (2); chasing satellites; brabourne farm

a frou-frou christmas wreath...and wishes for Jane!

I'm not decorating this year for two reasons: I just had the living room painted and I'm enjoying its pristineness (yes of course that's a word!) and we're all heading off to various places for Christmas and goodness knows what the vampire slayer would do with a tree while we weren't here :)
So a wreath on the front door will have to do...

made from these...

a wreath loaned by my friend Chris (I have one the same...we bought them at Ikea years ago...but I only have a vague idea where I've stashed mine), three feather boas from Homebase and a hot pink peacock decoration from Big W.

It did look like the great chicken massacre of 2010 had taken place on the dining table while I was in the process of putting this together though! There's something a bit perverse about a feather wreath at Christmas don't you think...probably why I like it!

But in a more traditional vein, the peace clay tags I made a week or so ago found a home on this mirror.
Sorry about the less than brilliant photos, but today, all I've been thinking about is Jane's operation...wishing, hoping, praying that it all goes brilliantly well. 

And yes indeed, there will be moon wishing going on tonight in Canberra.

shadow shot sunday...a chandelier peek

I rarely post on the weekend, but yesterday it was a must in order to give my support to Jane...who will be in my thoughts tomorrow as she heads in to surgery.

...and last night, while I was lying on the sofa on a night in by myself (recovering from the indulgences of the night before!)...I looked up at my newly installed old chandeliers...and thought of Shadow Shot Sunday run by Tracy at Hey Harriet. So I did what any self respecting blogger would do...leapt up and got the camera! To capture a serendipitous shadow :)
Here's the link to some more shadows....pop on over for a visit.

And I'll be doing a post on the living room makeover soon...unfortunately the crappy weather has returned so photo ops are rare :( But I'm now on holidays so I'm sure there'll be an opportunity sooner rather than later :)

with thoughts of Jane...

Many of you will know by now that the awesome Jane from My Pear Tree House is fighting a big battle. The post she wrote [here] is one of the most brave and beautifully written pieces I've had the privilege to read. But of course it's more than that...Jane's post epitomises her grace, her sense of self, her care for others and her willingness to let us in on this...such a private battle. 

I wish Jane every bit of whatever it takes to get better. And I'm sending a Buddha image out in the hope that there is some serenity and tranquility to be gained by looking at it...and that before too long, the raindrops that look like tears will actually be tears of joy over a battle fought and won.
Please pop over to Jane's blog and give her your support if you haven't already had a chance to do that.
Bless.

we have a winner...and I have white walls

Wow, the painters finished a day early and I spent most of last night putting things back in their place...or changing it up just a little bit. These white walls take a bit of getting used to but I am thrilled! Once I get the the big square hole in the carpet repaired where the fireplace was pulled out I'll be one happy little vegemite! I promise to show you some pictures next week once the chandeliers go up (that's today) and I'm satisfied that I can take some decent photos.  But enough about me...what about you?

Thank you to everyone who entered my little giveaway. 

I'm very pleased to announce that the winner is Ange from Chair Up...

a Kiwi girl living on the Gold Coast...and an awesomely good upholsterer. Now there's a combination for you.  Fling me an email Ange, and let me know your address and I'll pop your things in the post just as soon as the chandeliers are up! For those of you disappointed not to win a knitted dishcloth, I'll be making some more over the holidays...which start at the end of today...yippee :)

last chance to enter the giveaway...and a potential Christmas wreath

Hi everyone. I'll be finding a winner for the totally tranquil bag of gifts later tonight so if you haven't entered, please do...there's vicious competition for those dishcloths :)

My energy is completely sapped at the moment...perhaps it's the smell of paint fumes from the emerging 'almost all white' living room! Only two days to go before I can move my things back in...this is the study at the moment...hmmm. Do you like my irises though? I painted that...well, copied it from a picture in a magazine...but still :)

I am finding myself a bit short of festive cheer and a bit sad that there'll be no decorating here this year what with painters, electricians and a trip north to visit my parents...but I think I can manage a wreath on the door...something like this...

source

I have some bits and pieces that may include a white feather boa and a hot pink peacock...stay tuned!

top ten pictures from the week ~14.12.10 (and a mad cat)

OK. The madness of the vampire slayer is no longer in dispute. Nothing was going to dislodge her from her place...not even a posse of painters chucking drop sheets around with gay abandon. That cat is positively certifiable.

The house is in a complete state of mayhem. 

...all the bits and pieces of my living room are now shoved in various places in my bedroom or study.

In fact if one more thing has to go into the study I think I may be stuck in here forever...

...and the chandeliers, which were supposed to go up today but didn't...

...are currently on my bed! So amidst all of this madness, I didn't quite collect the required 10 pictures. Sorry about that. But here's a before of my living room at the end of day 1...the tiles are where the fireplace was and they should be coming out today...

Sorry it's not beautiful...yet! And there will be a full before and after once it's all done.

Please don't forget to enter my giveaway :)

I'll be drawing it on Thursday evening if I can find my way out from under the chandeliers!!

a totally tranquil giveaway...

I know it's getting perilously close to the holidays and I should have done this a week ago...but...you know how it is! Well, the disorganised among you (welcome to my world) probably do.
There's a giveaway here this week for two reasons:

1. Mostly, to thank you for your friendship, your humour, your care...your all-round awesomeness, and
2. secondly, to tell you that my friend Chris (the chandelier fairy) and I have opened an etsy shop called Totally Tranquil (well I think we have...hoping that I have pushed all the right buttons and filled in all the correct forms!)

So, the giveaway is stuff we've made and a bit of a taste of what might be coming...provided I get my act together sufficiently to list some things! Full of ideas we are...it's the execution that might be slightly problematic. 

Chris and I both love to make things; we sew, we paint and I do needlework. She's been leading a life of leisure this year and I've had one day off a week...supposedly to make stuff. But again, you know how it is...not as much achieved as I'd hoped.  When I said I'd like to do a giveaway to thank everyone for the year you and I have had together (Chris isn't a blogger btw), she generously gave me the red linen tote she'd just made (and already wrapped!) for someone else and said...here you go, this is suitably festive! The woman is a bag making queen :) And she made this very cool apron as well...very difficult to photograph aprons without a model I've discovered!

In a little nod to some of the things I've been doing lately, I've provided the gift tags (2 sets), a tapestry bookmark and yes....you guessed it, not one, but two knitted dishcloths. Come on...you know you want one!!

So just leave a comment. I don't mind if you're a follower or not (see last Friday's post and all your fabulous comments about the perils of following and unfollowing...I loved reading them all) and if you wanted to let others know about it that would be great and I'd throw your name in the hat again.

The random generator will get cranked up on Thursday evening Australian daytime savings time so I can put these in the post on Friday with the faint hope that it might reach you by Christmas. I know that overseas readers haven't got a snowball's chance in you-know-where of getting anything by then, but it's only one set of the tags that you might need to put away until next year if you win!

Here's the link to the shop...I've only had the chance to list a few things so far...a small matter of the painters arriving today and the living room and kitchen needing to be packed up! 

And the banner was made by my very clever son Ben...in lieu of rent...that kid's got it good!