Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I would like to extend warm wishes to all of my readers and fellow bloggers for a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. I am taking the next few days off to spend with my family. I'll be back very soon. Take care over the holidays and I look forward to lots more fun together in 2008!!

xo

Anna

Joy To The World

We're all very happy little campers tonight. A little dazed and confused from so much good fortune and loving family but who would have it any other way. It is 9.30pm and the rest of my gorgeous family are fast asleep, partly as a result of a marvellous day and partly from 'sugar coma'.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas Day and from my family to yours - Merry Christmas.

And The Winner Is...

Entry 19 - Alison & Gail's Christmas

Congratulations Alison & Gail - you have won the Absolutely Beautiful Christmas competition!!! Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and also the other 2 finalists Felicity & Nancy congratulations to you too. Thank you also for all of the votes we received. It really was so wonderful to have such a big response to this special Christmas competition!!! I can't wait to see which cushion Alison & Gail select as their prize. I'll be sure to post the cushion once they have made their decision!!

Merry Christmas!!!
XO
Anna

Human League - Don't You Want Me Baby

Please tell me you know every single lyric of this song! No self-respecting teen of the 80's doesn't. Watching this video again I was amazed at the insane amount of eye-liner that must have been used during production. And I don't remember Phil Oakey wearing red lippy which he obviously is. Still an absolute ripper of a song. Enjoy.

Two More Sleeps...

Whilst browsing around blogland today I came across this beautiful Christmas image on Modern Country blog which I had to share. I have loved seeing everyone's Christmas inspiration around the world and the way in which others celebrate and prepare for Christmas in their home. We have been counting down the days in our home with Harry announcing this morning that there are only 2 more sleeps to go!! Don't forget I will be announcing the winner of my Christmas competition tomorrow night (Christmas Eve) at 8.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. Voting will close tomorrow night at 6.00pm Aust. EST so please do cast your vote for one of our finalists below.

Just Because...

Just because .... you have left over Christmas fabric, doesn't mean you have to make everyone an individual stocking to hang on the back of their chair for Christmas lunch!!

Just because .... the local Video Shop is selling off their kids videos for $3.00, doesn't mean you have to buy ALL of them!!

Just because ....you bought chocolate fudge ice cream, does not mean you have to eat it ALL in one sitting!!

(the photo of this is just too disturbing!)

A Beautiful Gesture

Recently I have been enamored by the work of illustrator and decorative designer Patricia van Essche. Introduced to me by fellow blogger and friend Ronda from the fantastic blog All The Best, Patricia has very generously painted a few of my vignettes above and also a beautiful Birthday gift - she painted me at my 30th Birthday back in October this year. Patricia has certainly had a wonderful career thus far working for 15 years in New York as a designer and design director for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein & Liz Claiborne. These days Patricia offers a wide range of design services through her business PVE Design. I am looking forward to asking her to paint a few more things for me in the new year for Black & Spiro. Thank you for these beautiful paintings Patricia - you are certainly one very talented and generous woman and I am one very lucky person to be receiving such a beautiful and thoughtful gift!!

VOTE TODAY

Today is the last day to vote for the 3 finalists in my Absolutely Beautiful Christmas Competition so please cast your vote for your favourite entry TODAY. I will be announcing the 3 finalists tonight at 8.00pm Australian Eastern Standard time. Thanks everyone who has voted so far!

The Spirit Of Christmas is...

Your husbands wallet being stolen the week before Christmas, all your accounts frozen as the prick tried to access them, and the bank refusing to reinstate as said husbands name is really Alan and the only photo I.D. he has left says his name is James!!!

Why the hell don't we keep cash under the mattress any more?

Sneak Peak - Brisbane Apartment

Here are a couple of images of an apartment I have been working on lately on the river in an inner city suburb of Brisbane. It is a lovely apartment with a very homey atmosphere - quite unlike most apartments in Brisbane which tend to usually be very modern. We have been adding a few new touches to update it. We just finished off the guest bedroom today and the formal lounge room. I am currently working on the casual lounge room which I hope to have finished end of January/early February.

Aaarrgh!

What the hell has happened to my photo header!!!!!
I can't fix it - HELP!!!

Spinning Around

I do realise how slack I've been on the posting lately. It is not through lack of things to write about but rather too much to boil down.

The truly depressing thing has been the distressing lack of adult Christmas functions and the overload of parties and events my bloody kids have been invited to. When did they become the cool ones with a packed social calender and we become the taxi service who are only invited as a means of getting Gidget and Moondoggie to events??? At this point I'm being extra nice to them because if they don't let us come with them we're stuffed - Thank god for my brother's wedding.

That was one event we had to be invited to (although I have my suspicions about that too as the kids got way more attention than we did). It was a fantastic night with the rain stopping just in time to make their garden a sparkling wonderland. Everyone had a ball, especially the bridal couple and festivities continued well into the dawn.

Thanks to everyone who wished me well with the reading. You'll be pleased to know I didn't stutter, stammer or fall over, although I did tear up a little in the middle which was not the best of timing. So now I have a sister-in-law on my side of the family which is great and helps swell our family functions to a grand total of 6 (plus the 2 kids).

I can't show you any snaps yet but here is the 'Circle of Love' as it was dubbed. Surfer Boy made it for them and they were married in front of it. I think we'll use it for kicking the footy through in the back yard!

We're off to an Australian/German GLUEHWEIN FEIER on Thursday so I'll let you know how it goes. (Finally a party we've been invited to!)

Good luck with pressie buying.

Toni Basil - Mickey

In 1983 Toni Basil had the biggest hit of her career and I had the perfect song to piss off my brother, Mick. I remember dancing around him singing this song when I was in 3rd form and he was in grade 6. I used to get rather sick of him telling me that his name - Michael- meant 'God-like'. Toni offered me a fitting revenge.

Arranging Things

I was at the book store yesterday picking up some last minute books for Christmas when I stumbled across this gorgeous looking book which I couldn't resist buying for myself. The illustration on the front cover was the first thing that struck my attention and the title was the thing that sealed the deal. The illustrations are beautiful. I haven't had time to read it yet but after reading the only review of the book on Amazon tonight I am afraid I may be a little disappointed. I do love the illustrations so all is not lost and I love the cover so even if it isn't a good read I am happy I purchased the book as I like looking at it sitting on my current book pile on my entrance table.

Beautiful Handmade Paper Wreaths

Beautiful handmade wreaths from etsy seller Haru. These are certainly very beautiful and are made using vintage papers, giftwrap, magazine clippings, pages removed from books etc. Some of the papers are dyed using coffee and concord grape/cranberry juice solution to achieve a coloured effect. What a beautiful gift this would make or a purchase for your own front door. All I can say is Beautiful with a capital B!!

Sneak Peak

A little sneak peak of the new slip cover I had made in pink & white houndstooth for my old sofa at home. Previously the sofa was slip covered in a pink pin stripe which you all may remember. The new fabric is certainly very bold but I love it and it makes my special 'Anna Room' a bit fun and not so serious! BTW - I highly recommend slip covered sofas as new covers can be easily made in new fabrics to give the sofa a fresh new look and then if you want to put an old cover back on again you can - so flexible and great for a girl like me who gets very tired of fabrics very quickly!!

Remember The Head Vase??

Do you remember me posting about this vintage head vase a few weeks ago? Let me refresh your memory - I was watching this head vase on Ebay a little while ago and I meant to bid for it but I completely forgot and completely missed out on it. I was so disappointed as I really wanted the vase. Some of you are probably wondering why in the world would she want that vase but that is something I cannot explain. I just love it. Well the funniest thing happened. The vase became relisted (maybe the winner withdrew??) and this time I didn't forget!! I became the lucky bidder!! It just arrived a week or so ago and I have to tell you I am thrilled!! Sometimes things are just meant to be!

New (Old) Chairs

My 2 old wing back chairs which I found at a second hand furniture shop a little while ago have just come back from my upholsterer with a fresh new look - simple black & white. I am still waiting for my sofa to arrive in my lounge room so once that is in I will show you some more pictures.

Happy Birthday Harry!!

Happy 5th Birthday my darling boy! We've had such a wonderful day. I woke to see my son's beautiful face staring at me this morning at 6.45am. He didn't see the pile of birthday presents sitting on the bottom of his bed waiting for him so we took him back into his bed and the three of us sat in his room and unwrapped his presents which mostly consisted of Pirate things - he was absolutely thrilled!! We've had a family dinner tonight to celebrate the birthday of the only grandchild on both sides so as you can imagine he is very loved and sometimes dare I say a little spoilt. A pirate boat cake completed the celebrations much to Harry's complete surprise! There certainly is something special about the innocence and happiness of a child on their birthday that hopefully I as his mother will remember forever!!

I Love Public Speaking!

My brother is getting married on the weekend and they have asked me to do a reading at the service. I'm thrilled because they had not found a reading they were happy with when I showed them one of my favourite books - Prayer For The 21st Century by John Marsden. They loved it too and have decided to use it. I'm doubly thrilled because it is short, and easy to read so hopefully will be finished before I have time to hyper-ventilate! Cross you fingers for me on Saturday.

Prayer for the Twenty First Century
John Marsden

May the road by free for the journey,
May it lead where it promised it would.
May the stars that gave ancient bearings
Be seen, still be understood.
May every aircraft fly safely,
May every traveller be found,
May sailors in crossing the ocean
Not hear the cries of the drowned.

May gardens be wild, like jungles.
May nature never be tamed,
May dangers create of us heroes,
May fears always have names.
May the mountains stand to remind us
Of what it means to be young,
May we be outlived by our daughters,
May we be outlived by our sons.

May the bombs rust away in the bunkers,
And the doomsday clock be rewound,
May the solitary scientists, working,
Remembers the holes in the ground.
May the knife remain in the holder,
May the bullet stay in the gun,
May those who live in the shadows
Be seen by those in the sun.

Christmas & Birthday Preparations

Just one beautiful picture tonight from Martha Stewart via House Martin - an arrangement of vibrant pink Christmas Cacti - so gorgeous! I have been very busy tonight preparing for a little someone's 5th Birthday tomorrow in amongst wrapping Christmas gifts, writing Christmas cards, setting the table for the 5th Birthday family dinner which we are having at home tomorrow night, preparing pancake batter for the 5 year old's breakfast, wrapping birthday presents etc. etc. etc. etc.!!

Today I Love

Look at this beautiful verandah by Mark Epstein - so peaceful and relaxing. This is my favourite image today!!

Image via Desire to Inspire.

Frangipani & Ginger Jars

I just had to show you - she has 3 cabinets full of blue and white as above! She definately has a major obsession!!

Yesterday we went to Mum & Dad's for a Christmas lunch they held for 18 people. The house looked so beautiful. My mother is a very creative woman. She filled her numerous blue and white ginger jars with fresh flowering frangipani from her garden and they looked divine!! I had to share some pictures as above. As you can see, I meant what I said last week when I said that I certainly got my addiction for blue and white from my mother! I didn't realise she had so many pieces.

Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

1983 - What a year! And what a haircut! Limahl left soon after this song and went on to record the FABULOUS Never Ending Story.

Top 5

I need some inspiration!!
I have been staring at my DVD and video collection for the past 20 minutes and can't find anything I feel like watching. Disaster!

I'd love to know your top five DVD picks....

I'll even award a prize for the best suggestion!

Happy Weekend!

I'll be wrapping my Christmas presents this weekend and just pottering around my house with my little family. It is SO hot here at the moment and our pool still isn't finished so we may even go down to my parent's house for a swim on Sunday. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!!

Oh & BTW, don't forget to check back on Sunday night as I will be posting this week's entries in the Absolutely Beautiful Christmas Competition!! Please keep the entries coming!

Image courtesy of Domino.

Plantation Style In Bali

This week I received a lovely email from Michaela with a link to her blog post on a cafe she recently visited in Bali named Cafe Bali. She said in her email "the mix of colours in an old style building reminded me of you" and she was so right - I LOVE her photos of this gorgeous old plantation style house with its mismatched furniture. In her post Michaela says "It all kinda looks like it shouldn’t go together - flowers and frills and a wall of mirrors and white tables with lace table cloths and mismatched white chairs.. but it does, it really works." What a beautiful place this looks to be - inspiration heaven! Thanks Michaela for thinking of me, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your pictures and reading about your visit to Cafe Bali!!