A Post Christmas and Almost New Year Post about Nothing in Particular

Well I felt it high time I snapped out of my post Christmas stupor to fire up the computer and wish everyone a jolly old New Years Eve!

Firstly though I must tell you how thoroughly delicious I find these little blue bags. Entering a Swarovski store fills me with delight, not least the superb lighting Mr S uses in his businesses because all merchandise glistens and every bauble shines like all get out. This gift was from Mr red roses for my birthday. Having a birthday in December is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. Waiting all year for pressies is murder.

One of the reasons I love crystal is walking into a vision like this on a sunny morning. The rays bounce off and create gorgeous sparkles around my living room. A fascination with crystal started when I first saw the film  Pollyanna starring a young Hayley Mills. There's a scene where she is tinkling the crystal shards of a delicate lamp and the shimmers bounce all around the room. Mesmerizing.
Any body else out there who remembers the film Pollyanna?

The perfect card for little old me

A post Christmas tradition in my family as I grew up was to totally chill out and specifically...do as little as possible. My father owned his own business and rarely managed a yearly holiday so the break between Christmas and New Year was to recuperate and ponder the year past and the new year rapidly approaching. Old habits die hard so the last week has seen me being something of a lazy cow and consuming my own weight in Pavlova during Christmas festivities and lashings of cranberry sauce. I'm addicted to anything cranberry and let me tell you, avocado brie cheese and a cranberry sauce combo is to die for.

My darling son recently installed Instagram on my phone. Hellooo I'm hooked thank you very much and can now understand why every man and his dog is Instagraming their photos.
Here's Bing and bubbles doing a duet on Chrissy day while my lovely family prepared our feast. It's also tradition for me to swan around singing along with Bing. I'm allowed half an hour for this indulgence before the mob shut me down...

Being semi-comatose also involves watching dodgy old TV shows like the British series the Darling Buds of May. Truly I adore the Larkin family and the shenanigans they get involved in. I especially love how Ma Larkin can conjure up enough food for an army in her country kitchen. Here's Mariette the daughter aka Catherine Zeta Jones rocking a fabbo leopard ensemble in the early nineties. Leopard print is timeless.

So 2012 is fast approaching and will bring more renovations to the red roses hacienda. Recently friends  reminded us of the massive undertaking we embarked on in February '11 (a stinking hot summer it was too) and mostly completed in three months. As time goes by we forget the enormous amount of hard work and sweat we poured into bringing this twenty year old house up to speed.
The latest completed project was to replace the front entrance walkway and pretty yet functional lights were installed. My whimsical interpretation.... a runway for the fairies who live in my garden!

As per usual the Pooch will be around and supervising from a comfortable position as we commence exciting new additions to our humble home.

Wishing everyone a fabulicious start to 2012 and happy days ahead!!!!

Annie xx