Procrastinating

Firstly may I say thank you to everyones lovely comments concerning my upcoming trip to New York. I appreciate the excitement you feel for me and it is lovely to be able to share this news with you. Now the most pressing thing on my mind, of course, is packing. I have my wardrobe and shoes mostly sorted but am in a dilemma about whether to pack boots. Would this be overkill for October? I am taking super comfortable Merrill walking shoes, a low heeled mary jane for dining out and am also debating whether to pack a pair of sandals. Will it be warm enough for sandals during fall in NY?? I stalk the weather reports and read trip advisers for recommendations but am getting mixed signals about what the weather can do during October. I have decided to take my light wool coat just in case. Any suggestions would be appreciated as I'm trying to stick to my usual three pairs of shoes limit. While I sat this morning in my pretty room deliberating world peace and which shoes to take I snapped some instagram photos and wasted time playing with filters because isn't this just the best thing to do when procrastinating? And writing blog posts when I should be actioning all sorts of jobs and errands!! Annie xx

Am I the only one having trouble with the new blogger interface layout? My draft is written with appropriate spacing then preview and published post is bunched together plus I can only enable the large size photo and I prefer the extra-large option plus the photo is no longer displayed in the draft, only codes? :-(

Counting the Days until....!!!!!

Oh yeah we are leaving for New York in less than two weeks!! I am excited about this trip for many reasons...I have never been to the east coast of America, NY has been on my list of must see cities and it is Mr red roses and my 30th wedding anniversary. I know, that achievement is a miracle in itself! We have our plans all mapped out and it will be thoroughly wonderful and I dare say I will be hootin and hollerin just like the sailor boys (from one of my favourite musicals by the way). Photos will be taken with gay abandon which I shall be Instagraming like nobodies business. Free wi-fi in the hotel and hot spots will be utilized I assure you. Lots of action is happening at the house before we fly away so the remainder of this year makes for hectic times. Fun Fun Fun! *Apologies for the scrunched up post, the clip may have altered something or this new fangled blogger interface might be playing tricks on me? Annie xx

The Art of Pottering About

Saturday morning is one of my favourite times to cruise through my home..pottering about.
I adore rearranging, sorting, plumping up cushions, flower arranging, admiring my surroundings and snapping photos.
I can spend an incredible amount of time pottering about my home and seeing the beauty in everyday things. Even a glance through a window screen from our upper storey to the blue sky and towering trees.

Might be classed as wasting time to some folk but I argue it is good for the soul.
Enjoy your weekend and spend time just pottering about, you will benefit .. I promise.

Annie xx

Screens are common in Australia for keeping out flies, mosquitoes, birds, snakes, lizards, spiders, beetles and any other pesky fauna which would like to invade a household.

Back to Basics

Instagram collage 

A new blog layout...again.

I have reverted back to basics with my blog. Simple and no nonsense.

This blogging caper has reaffirmed what I always knew about myself..I like to keep it simple.

Simple doesn't hurt my head!

Annie xx

The Things We Do

I took this self portrait photo for Instagram showcasing my locks. Why?
No reason at all, just felt like fluffing around.
Mr red roses watched me then proclaimed 'geez you're a worry'.
He makes me laugh and he has a point!






Click on my Instagram follow button over on the sidebar to see my gallery of photos if you feel inclined.
I do have a lot of fun on Instagram.

Annie xx

Tuesday and Instagram

Happy Tuesday all.

For some unknown reason to me my Instagram photos are not loading on my sidebar and while it's probably easily rectified I shall put on my lazy hat and wait for my IT literate son to sort out the glitch. 

Meanwhile if you click on the newly installed 'followgram' link on the sidebar all my photos are displayed. As I have mentioned before I am having the time of my life with Instagram taking visuals of fanciful things and just recently discovered a free app called Frametastic and now my addiction knows no bounds!

I shall leave you with a serene shot of the most divinely scented candle and the most vibrant red nail polish my nails will be sporting by days end.

What girl doesn't enjoy having gifts bestowed on her...I Love It!

Thanks A-M & FF 

Pink Slippers and Rumination

Rumination

1. To turn a matter over and over in the mind.

2. To chew cud.

How in the devil's name is this word and it's meaning associated with a photo of pretty pink slippers you ask?

My gorgeous new slippers are the perfect foot attire when sitting in my rocking chair to Ruminate. Mr red roses informs me I ruminate a lot. Maybe chewing some cud might be beneficial although I'll keep that up my sleeve for desperate times.

For several weeks (probably more) I have toyed with the direction of this blog and how I need to proceed. Often I have wavered with throwing in the towel like all bloggers who are finding their own unique path and not because I run dry of ideas but dithering over HOW often do I want/need to post. The direction I'm journeying along has become apparent to me and herein lies a dilemma. My creative side is nudging me to be more prolific with posting with emphasis on a photo to convey my thoughts because I'm no wordsmith. Sure I can string a sentence together but if I'm honest I find composing time consuming and laborious and I truly admire bloggers who write so eloquently (and probably don't do a gazillion drafts with endless checks in the process).

Changing to a different format like Tumblr was considered but my kids and a couple of wise fellow blog friends advised I can still mould my blogger blog into what I desire and I ran the risk of losing my connection with my blog readers which didn't appeal.

A part of my blog journey has been to answer all comments because I appreciate and value the effort my readers take to do this. There are literally thousands of blogs circulating so to capture the dear folk who stop by RRC astounds me. The rapport I've built up with many of you since commencing the blog last August has brought me untold joy and I certainly don't wish to lose this camaraderie.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if I step up my input into this blog I may not have time to answer comments as frequently, sometimes not at all? Also I want/need to find time to follow and comment on my favourite blogs which is important to moi. Truly there just isn't enough hours in a day and I suppose we each need to discover what works best for ourselves.

Even as I waffle here about this issue I'm feeling overly dramatic but I would be sad if any reader felt I had lost interest in what they had to say. Far from it, I read every comment twice before publishing and again after publishing. Your words make my day!

Finding the quirky angle or beauty in a photograph brings me a silly amount of joy and I'm revelling in this. Who knew! 

The Instagram app on my iPhone has become addictive due to the fact it is quick, easy, followers can easily leave a comment or push the Like button. Instant gratification which has lead me to question the merits of blogging for me personally. So much so I find I'm taking photos that could be displayed to perhaps better effect on this blog. I'm no photographer as such..heck my hand-me-down SLR is still on auto, I don't use any whizz bang features or tricks and I still haven't learnt how to crop. *Note to self...Read the Manual Annie.

Finding something to snap helps me focus on the beauty in my life and surroundings plus it's also a great stress reliever and stress is front and centre in my life at the moment. My husbands workplace is going through very turbulent times and I have a health condition I need to get my head around. 

I do feel like I'm waffling now so I hope you get what I'm saying. Basically I'm going to attempt to bombard you with more frequent succinct posts which hopefully are entertaining.

Well that's the plan! I live in hope.

Now if all this talk of Instagram wets your appetite please don't ask me how to set it up to link to your blog from your smart phone because I took the lazy easy option and asked my incredibly smart son to install it! However you can visit here where Beth has written a post on how to set up the gadget-thingamy-whatsit.

For those not familiar with the workings of my Instagram sidebar just place the cursor over a photo and a brief description appears then click on the picture for an enlarged vision. Each day I usually place a couple of pictures of whatever takes my fancy. 

Fun fun fun!

Righto then I'm off to boil the jug for a cuppa and contemplate reorganising my wardrobe. A far bit of cajoling is happening to get my daughter on board to do the deed for me!

Take care one and all...

Annie xx

Wednesday Wanderings

Would you like to be transported to this beautiful location? 

Langford Island is situated opposite Hayman Island in the Whitsundays North Queensland. 

One glorious day during a sailing trip around the Whitsundays a couple of years ago, the members of our sailing crew went for a leisurely amble along this beach and a refreshing dip in the ocean.

Mr red roses and I are packing our bags to venture north to take to the seas and sail around the islands once again. Sea air, salt water and the wind in my hair is the purest tonic.

Packing for a sailing trip is dead easy. Shorts, T-shirts, hat, togs, beach towel, a book and not much else. No make-up or hair dryer for a week and truly bad hair is normal.

Bliss.

If I could live blog from the boat I would but power supply is precious and internet connection less than reliable so I shall share photos upon my return.
You may have noticed on my sidebar the new addition of Instagram photos. Sharing photos on Twitter is a pleasurable pastime of mine and today my son helped me add this feature to the blog. I hope you enjoy my snaps of life displayed over there. He also updated other technology gizmos for me and so tonight as I write this post my brain is spinning and is suffering overload!

This time last year if you had told me I would be writing a blog, tweeting and even using an iPhone I would have shouted 'No way Jose'! But there you have it....never too old to learn.

Be good.

Annie xx 

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