I am suffering a bit today, achy and stiff. Yesterday morning I painted the front of the house, cleared out more cupboards and now can barely walk for some reason! Ugg these few days off are tough! Today the decking arrives something I am super nervous about because I have never been a lover of decking but this particular one changed my mind. It looks like vintage oak, never needs power washing, doesn’t stain or scratch and I think is guaranteed for a while. To be able to walk outside in bare feet and not always put shoes on hurrah, cannot wait! To get rid of those darn pebbles will be so much easier for us all including the M’s who will be able to belt down the garden and bark at the squirrels. Not that that is a plus mind, and I’m putting out of my head the job of bagging up and dragging out of the house all the pebbles, but that is for another day.
Lets talk splurges shall we, not a regular kind of design post but hey its my vacation (funny vacation) but there you go. I get asked quite a lot what I spend money on and I’m not talking boring stuff like bills and mortgages – I’m talking treats so in no particular order:
Abel&Cole: Organic produce delivered to my door every Thursday from seasonal veg boxes to unpasteurized milk from a single herd in Jersey! Love and now I’m eating way more veggies than meat my food bills have reduced big time.
Almond milk smoothie for breakfast: This is to die for. Take one cup of chilled almond milk, pop into a blender with a tablespoon of almond butter, one date and a frozen banana and whizz up. Delish, although now I have usurped with bulletproof coffee so this is for weekends, or lunch if I am super busy.
Staff:Not butlers and drivers and make up artists (wish) but my lovely cleaner Irene who comes twice a week, and often times bakes me home made bread. The other week she brought me a bread tin which she had ordered in from Germany (it was a special size) along with a sourdough starter. Incredible hey and the house sparkles and zings after she has given it her magical twice a week touch!
Magazines: Real Living, Vogue Living, Livingetc, Elle Dec, Italian Elle Décor, Kinfolk, Inside Out, American Elle Décor, Cereal shall I go on! Nothing better than snuggling down on the sofa with a good mag and a single estate coffee.
Flowers: Obviously I LOVE my faux’s but on my desk and on my dining table I have real ones either from the yard (although its mostly foliage out there) so weekly trips to Columbia road flower market each Sunday are a must.
Breakfast at Towpath: I love this café, its on the canal not far from us and on the weekend, often times Sunday after Columbia we breakfast outside along the canal. The M’s bark at the ducks and any dog in sight (although now I have gotten them naughty collars which helps a bit) and I sip a flat white and eat homemade granola with seasonal fruit, right now rhubarb and yogurt. Delish!
Garden things: I could spend a fortune on the garden and I’m on a mission to make it more jungle-y than ever now I have the cabin. All the pebbles are coming up as just explained and a path will run down the middle and I want to grow ferns or grass either side (inspired by the high line in NYC). Then I want to sit in my cabin, light a fire and sip something nice and maybe listen to some jazz. Super indulgent no?
That reality is a while off yet, there is a quite a bit of back breaking work to undertake before we are at the listening and sipping stage but you’ve got to have dreams right?
Have a lovely day