Window Shopping

There are a number of websites I like to browse to waste a little time - its a kind of window shopping; I very occasionally buy but mostly I just dream and ooh and ahh.

My current faces are www.williams-sanoma.com where I am coverting this Personal Embosser - I don't need it but I like like like it:

Sister company to Pottery Barn, I have been known to spend time browsing there too.

However, after seeing Liberty London Girls tweet that Crate and Barrel were now shipping to the UK I have spent a disproportionate amount of time here.

Particular fave are:

herb scissors

And this:

Troy Twin Sleeper

But then I'd need this too:

ottoman - storage

hmmmm wonder how much the international shipping would be........

A nice cup of tea

I love a good cup of tea, I'm personally an English Breakfast girl myself and having been brought up by a committed Tea Drinker (thanks Mum) have from a very early age appreciated a good tea.  So I was delighted when we went for afternoon tea (by we I mean Mum, me and Big Bro) to Canteen in Canary Wharf and had a lovely pot of English Breakfast - so lovely in fact that I asked the nice lady there what it was - 'Tea Pigs' she said, 'oooh where can I buy them?' said I.

'Nowhere' she said.  And with that my tea high diminished a little.  'But you should try on line', she said.  And I perked up again.

So I tootled off to Google and lo I found www.teapigs.co.uk - I was a tad excited by this and had fun rummaging around the site and dove straight in with a BIG purchase:

I ordered the Office Bundle:

In the bundle there are:

• 100 x english breakfast tea (or two big bags)
• 50 x peppermint
• 50 x darjeeling earl grey
• 15 x mao feng green tea
• 15 x superfruit

I also bought some Green Tea with Mint for the Boy.

The package came in a great box with the slogan Real Tea stamped over it and with a couple of samples of the Chamomile (yum yum - floral but not overly perfumey) and a card to pass to a friend telling them that their tea is rubbish and giving them a discount to join the real tea movement.  Also a discount on the Matcha Super Power Green Tea

Tea Pigs come in little silk biodegradable tea temples that allow the tea leaves to expand fully

Each pack has an individual design for the tea inside:

They are very passionate about using Whole Leaf Tea - this is what their website says:

Whole Leaf Tea

At teapigs we make a big thing about using real tea. By real tea, we mean whole leaf tea, whole leaf herbs and whole flowers. For us it’s a question of flavour.

What you get in a regular tea bag is smaller particles of the same product. In making it smaller the leaf has been handled, crushed and chopped.

Just as if you pick a wild flower and put it straight into water it stays fresh and the scent is released, if you pick a wild flower and break it down into tiny pieces nearly all the scent is lost – tea is just the same. 

And they all make a bloomin lovely cuppa, I leave my english breakfast bag in for about 4 mins and it's never bitter just smooth perfect lovely tea.   The earl grey is delicate - not lady grey delicate but now too powerful either, refreshing and clean.  The peppermint is divine - the leaves puff up completely and you're left with a tea than can only be improved by adding lashings of sugar and having in Morrocan style:

The Green tea is good, I find it a bit nobel to be honest but I know that it's good for me so have stuck with it.  The Superfruits is far too much like a desert for me, but KBW's daughter loved it and a colleague at work who likes fruit tea said it was perfect.  All in all a positive result.

 Even the Mum the Tea Master and KBW who would run her a very very close second agree.

TeaPigs Office Bundle is £39.90 with free P&P - that's 17p per cup of tea.  Or if you're like me and tend to stick to one type the English Breakfast tea is 19p per cup for 50 bags  (P&P is only free once you've spent over £25).

Shopping Spree

In my last post I mentioned I had bought some swimwear, well I also bought some underwear and it all arrived (bar the cherry swim suit) today - huzzah:

The underwear came in black satin pouches with red bows

and the swimwear in calico with blue bows

Swimwear first:

Okay okay I wish I had the know how to rotate them all but hey........ so on to the underwear:

All pretty but much prettier in real life than in my limited skills photos!

Countdown is progressing

In four weeks time I will be at my folks house in France for two weeks of laziness.  We are driving down this time so no need to worry about  bloomin Ryan Air's weight limits or the extra charges to take a suitcase on Easy Jet.  Just need to pack up the car and head on down.

This morning I was up early despite it being a bank holiday and logged on to Twitter only to see a new blog post by the ever stylish Mademoiselle Robot linking to a fabulous site for vintage inspired swim wear, For Luna 

So I popped off there to have a little look and ended up seriously stretching my flexible friend (using that terms ages me right?) and purchasing a few things.  I'll photograph and post when they arrive but I am very excited about having swimwear that a) fits, b) is stylish & c) meets my desire for a 1940s/50s look.  Huzzah.  Here's a taster for now:

Still at home as it's bank holiday, will head back down south this evening for work tomorrow (and the gym first thing indeed).

Today thought going to crack on with a few chores, tidy up the clothes and bags on the bed in the spare room, conquer the ironing mountain and finish potting up the baskets and pots in the garden.

Have some shopping to share with you later in the week (including two wildly different but both perfect for their intended use bags) and a lovely Shoe Tag from Fab In Your Forties to catch up with - so I should be back quite a bit.

TTFN xx

A Few New Shoes

I am working at home today, and popped into town at lunchtime to pay a cheque into the bank and passed by The Shoe Room, in Pontefract and thought I would pop in.  A little browse turned into three pairs of shoes:

So pair number one, £49 - a little kitsch but perfect for me:

But then I saw these (you may see a theme) - originally £57 but she knocked them down to £42 as there was a jewel fallen off one of them:

And then I was just about to leave and then I saw these......they were the most expensive at £70 but are just perfect:

Not sure what happened to that last pic - but lovely aren't they.


I think they will see me through the summer, as they all work with work dresses, jeans and maxi dresses.  Then also make me taller and stand straight so look slimmer - perfect.

New Plates for a New Place

I know I'm going on about it but I have never had a place that has been entirely mine.  I have lived on my own for shortish periods but in other peoples homes.  So I had a 9 month period on my own at my parents place in Yorkshire where they came back every other weekend or so but it was never my place.  This time I am renting something that only I will live in and I will be in on my own.

I went shopping today for things for my new place and it was the start of the sale at House of Fraser so I got some fab things.

I bought crockery, cutlery, glasses (wine, champagne & tumblers), kitchen essentials (peeler, bottle opener etc) some knives (reduced by 50%), linens and bedding all in in the sale.

The best bargain were the sheets reduced from £120 to £30 yep that's right I will be sleeping on 500 thread count egyptian cotton sheets - lovely.

I also bought some really girly crockery (since when has this been called tablewear?)  it's Denby by Monsoon and was all 20% off, I got the dinner plates:

And these salad plates:

and these bowls:

They are pretty and nothing we would ever have at home so it lets me have something girly and lovely.  The dinner plates were £8 but I got 20% off so £6.40 isn't bad.

I then went to the supermarket (actually to get an easter egg for The Boy but they didn't have the one he wanted in) and bought some cleaning supplies and other basics.

Just need some food and I will be set to go.  Looking forward to it.

My other shoes of choice

I am having a bit of a trainer moment; I love my trainers and spend a lot of time in them when not at work.  The Boy also really likes trainers so it's something we agree on.  Anyway the point is that in the last few weeks I have managed to get hold of a few limited edition collaboration pairs and am happy happy.


The first are some Nike Air Pegasus '89 Berlin Edition:

via limitedhype.com

Made to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall and the launch of the Pegasus, this Quickstrike release is packed full of detailing to celebrate the event including cement effect swoosh to represent the concrete of the Wall, contrast coloured ‘Berlin’ & ‘1989′ lace jewels, and Berlin ‘89 embroidered heel detail.

They don't have them in The Boys size without having to pay ridiculous delivery charges so he's a little bit jealous.

And then (oh dear and then) I was getting the boy these Adidas Consortium Crooked Tongues London:

City Series pieces like the adidas London have a place in the Brit shoe-psyche, and with such a bare-bones, slender and simple design - unlined red suede with leather 3-Stripes, blank heel and lacestays, there's a sense that the shoe's purpose is lost if it gets too fussy or bolstered. Inverting the colours so it's predominantly black water-resistant fabric and red suede 3-Stripes and heeltab that retains the original slouchy shape. Paying homage to the Soho area where Crooked Tongues is based, steeped in sleazy history, and tweaked for wet weather use, given the country's climate, a long raincoat theme down to a check lining seems appropriate. The traditional dimpled tongue is mixed with another local tradition, the British pint, while a semi translucent sole captures those perpetual puddles at street level. Gold lettering and branded lacetips captures more of the best of British that this makeup brings. 

via crookedtongues.com

Whilst looking I found these, Adidas Consortium Paris with Colette

Always expect the unexpected from Colette and Consortium - this Paris interpretation is no exception as once again, the Parisian retail experience give a cult design a look that confidently walks the line between simplicity and the avant-garde. Originally incorporating French flag blue, white and red in its early incarnations, for Colette's redux, a white leather upper and branded tongue are accompanied by three types of dot pattern within the white 3-Stripes - one red, one blue, and one mixing both. The blue heeltab is accompanied by the recognisable wordless Colette logo on the rear, and more conventional gold lettering reveals both collaborator and shoe name. Red and blue top metal eyelets reinforce the colour picks, while the innocuous looking white mid and outsole conceals the final surprise - a transparent section of hexagons, that reveals a matching pattern beneath. More Gallic flair that rewards close inspection without alienating those adverse to excessive fuss.

via crookedtongues.com

Pretty aren't they?  I have some other limited edition collaborations but think that these may be my favourite to date.

So, whilst I love my heels and FM shoes my trainers rock pretty good too.

Rags to Bitches

I was in Manchester today for a meeting and had a little bit of time afterwards to pop into one of my absolute favourite shops - Rags to Bitches.

Located in the Northern Quarter on Tib Sheet (next to a really chi chi florist)  Rags to Bitches is a treasure trove of vintage clothing, jewellery and accessories.  They have some lovely vintage pieces, along side locally sourced and made jewellery.  Some own line vintage inspired dresses in fantastic jewel  colours along with some re-imagined pieces.

I particularly liked the accessories

And treated myself to a couple of brooches and this cute little bag

They also run dress making, sewing and clothes customising classes -  they have an online shop but it's quite limited.  See the link above.

Very successful shopping and a great boutique for a treat or a browse.