Sequins for the winter party season

A few of my favourite sequined pieces from Shikasuki to cheer up a rainy Sunday afternoon...

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All images by Shikasuki
Prices start at £45 for tops & £85 for dresses

The wedding: any questions?

I know that I never finished my wedding recaps. Somewhere between returning from the honeymoon and trying to find a job I started to find it hard to write about the wedding. That chapter of my life seemed to have been closed when we returned from the honeymoon.

But now, almost 6 months on, I've started to think about the wedding again. I have printed a wedding photograph and put it in a photo frame. I have started to think about compiling an album from the day & another from the honeymoon.

So I thought I'd turn to you, readers longtime and readers new. What would you like to know about the wedding, the planning or the honeymoon? I will answer all questions (within reason!), so post your requests in the comments and later on in the week I will post the answers.

{Image by KT Photos}

Happy Thanksgiving

Leaves, originally uploaded by richarddigitalphotos.

22 and 21 years ago today I had the privilge of celebrating Thanksgiving with families who opened the doors of their houses and welcomed an English family through them. At not even 8 years old I wasn't fully aware of how special that was or how much those simple acts of kindness would shape my future life.

20 years later I look back at the welcome we had in California with extreme fondness. Particularly on my Mother's behalf. It is only recently that I have begun to realise what she went through for our family, for her husband. It cannot have been easy relocating a 6 year old, a 3 year old and a baby half way round the world for my Dad's job, but she did. She would be the first to admit that she gained an awful lot from the experience too, but the catalyst for the trip was to further my Dad's career.

20 years later I remember the kindness that people showed towards my family: the invitations, the blueberry muffins that appeared on our first morning in that strange rented house. And I have always sought to make our flat the place where friends, existing and new, are always welcome & to welcome new friends into my life. (which is perhaps in part why I love blogging so much & why I am always keen to meet my blogging pals in 'real life').

And so, 20 years later, Thanksgiving is still special to me. I don't celebrate it with my family (although it would be wonderful to see them) but we often have a dinner with friends. As we have been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday Husband & I are having a dinner tonight together. It may be a freebie courtesy of his work but for me it is our first married Thanksgiving celebration and I will be telling him how thankful I am that we are married and a family.

Other things that I am thankful for, aside from family, health and home, include the fact that opportunites are arising jobwise again, that I finally demonstrated willpower by NOT purchasing a heavily heavily reduced beautiful bronze leather Mulberry wallet at a sample sale & that I have learnt to be able to say no when I need to.

Small things, but big lessons.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Give Away Winner!

My sincere apologies for the delay in announcing this. This week has been manic. So, without further ado, the winner of the Dorma cushion is...


Congratulations Laura!


Please can you e-mail me with your contact details & address and I will post the cushion to you.

Thank you all for entering.

More Vintage Christmas Decorations

Aren't these beautiful? More vintage Christmas decorations from Shikasuki. They are just so gorgeous that I couldn't resist sharing them with you.

**update - they are also featured on Wee Birdy**



These are both 1960s US decorations: glass lantern style baubles with little angels and Christmas trees inside. They would look stunning both on a Christmas tree or suspended at varying heights in a window or archway.


These are Russian glass 3d pine cones in a rainbow of shades with glitter frosting. They are 1940s-50s from the Soviet era USSR and look fantastic grouped together in a bowl or vase as well as hung in the traditional fashion on a tree.

And no tree or mantelpiece is complete without an angel or fairy. These are 1940s feathered angels. Standing 8 inches tall they have porcelain heads and perfectly coiffed porcelain hair.

Prices from £3-£35. All from Shikasuki, 67 Gloucester Avenue, London, Nw1 8LD.

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As before, if you are interested in any decorations but are unable to make it to the shop yourself, e-mail me (rachel primrose hill (at) g mail (d0t) com - remove spaces) & we can arrange something for you.

Fudge By Post

Last week I received a very tasty parcel through my letterbox. A beautiful box of homemade Scilly fudge complete with stunning artwork by Cornish artist Tom Holland.

Veronica Farm Fudge is made by Issy's mother at their home in Bryher which is one of the islands which make up the Isles of Scilly. Issy is the author of the blog Cupcakes & Cornwall where she chronicles a mixture of recipes, food and cornish related things. And it was through a giveaway that she hosted that I received a pick me up parcel last week.

Veronica Farm Fudge is everything that you could hope for in fudge: rich, creamy, sweet but not sickly. In my head the Isles of Scilly are bathed in sunshine and I swore I could taste it as I ate my fudge on a cold rainy November morning in London.

And best still, the fudge is available by post, payable online. A few simple clicks and it can be winging it's sunny way to you or someone of your choosing.

To the seaside

One cold November morning a girl said goodbye to her Husband and ventured forth for a day by the seaside. It took her several hours to get there and involved a complicated route of two tubes, one train, a coach load of OAPs making a racket and a small bus.

She read a newspaper, and the Economist, on the train, wondering what had happened to the world when 20 something girls found 80 something old ladies irritating, with their mints and their laughter and their day trip anoraks. But when she got on the bus, she found her nose pressed to the window.

The fields, the light, the colours of the leaves on the trees, they were all so beautiful. Beautiful in a soothing of the soul, calming way, that London just did not have. The sun even shone, as they wound their way round the country villages, lanes and fields.

When she finally arrived at her destination, and the reason for her visit was over*, she headed straight for the sea. Realising she was becoming more like her dear old Dad than ever, she ignored the cold and the fact that she could barely stand up in the strongest gusts and started to walk in the twilight along the sea front, pausing by the sea wall to watch dogs being walked along the sand.

In the gathering dusk she walked along the beach, right to the darling little harbour at the far end, where fishing boast sat on their keels in the sand, protected from the wind by the protective arms of the harbour wall, and where tiny whitewashed fishing cottages hugged the cliff, their windows shining light like beacons into the deepening twilight.

She stood for a long time by the lifeboat station watching the white horses coursing in the channel and the lights appearing on the channel markers, their reassuring red and green twinkles providing assistance to any one who might be out there. And somewhere, over the sea, for it really was only a channel, she could see more lights. And she thought she could see, in the distant distance, the light that was her sister (until she remembered that her sister was, in fact, in Morocco).

And so, reluctantly, she turned and walked back to the town, where she paused to have some supper. And was seated at a table next to a group of women who ranged in age from mid twenties to mid fifties, who were all dressed in teal & brown. A local teachers meeting, it transpired. The french departments of all the local secondary schools, having tea and cakes, and from the sound of it, a good old moan. But pretty soon they had all left, because it was late. Only it wasn't really, it was only 5.30pm. And so she drank gingernut latte and realised that really there were very few *commodities* that you can't get in the countryside. Even Jimmy Choos can be ordered online.

All too soon it was time to get the bus, and the train and the two tubes. Back to London. Back to Husband. Back to real life.

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*If it turns out it was worth the trip, I will share...