Schedule

I have so many post ideas that the schedule is actually done for the next month despite a high weekly post count. I think meditation is my blog caffeine! But for now, the coming week because a lady never reveals all her secrets;

• I’m thinking it’s time to go from five to seven workouts a week because I’m eating like a horse lately. Here is a special, I won’t even try it with the kids, sweet & spicy dinner.
• I didn’t necessary get myself a birthday gift but does not mean I completely passed up the winter sales. Let me show you my first love..
• My baby boy is not a baby anymore having turned three in February. And so here’s a little sneak of his room update to celebrate.
• Urban green post one, two and three are not a trilogy. Here’s a little bit more lush in my living, plants and comfort wise.
• Funny but I rarely make it to the city despite still being only twenty minutes away but when I do go I enjoy myself, see for yourself..

The pictures are of my garden, almost ready for spring. Finally seating in the form of extremely budget-friendly stools that give me the industrial look of Tolix. Plus the color is a good match for the slate tabletop. Total score. A little soft lighting and I finally finished the slate in the grass bed because mud heaps and three year old boys just don’t go. I’m ready for the promised spring weather this week. Even my trees are ready to blossom. Cheers!

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Doing it for the (cool) kids

I  love cool products and funky designs, not only for me but for my mini-me’s as well. To that end I’m always on the looking for the cool new products. These are my latest finds..

TOG makes the coolest products and the castable desk is no exception (check out the Os Hen bench). I am in dire need of storage for all my son's birthday gifts and toys, especially the painful if stepped on Lego's, so how fun are the storage bags with cool print? Love the bambi stool from EO Denmark, then prepare to love the ice cream and balloon mirrors just as much! Graphically cool, letters, numbers and symbols, this is the block set for the uber cool kid, big and little alike. I'm desperate for Luona in my home and now they have taken it outdoors, the playhouses are the best looking minimal ones, in like ever.. To round it off the perfect piece of art to complete the kids art wall, Mr Eric (the entire collection is droolworthy but this fav) from Mrs Mighetto. 

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Green-fingered cable girl

This post is a combination of two things that were bugging me about my living room. Firstly the cables running down the wall behind the television. I have yet to decide what the permanent fix will be and if to put the media boxes in the storage unit as originally intended. I keep thinking about some sort of extra wall, maybe in plywood and running down the top, front and bottom of the cupboards but that is a major project I’m just not ready to tackle. But since I just about screamed every time those suckers ended up in a photo, I needed a quick fix. Bam, posters. 

Framed posters that hide the majority of the cables. I was a bit hesitant, thinking they might be too distracting when watching telly but luckily that proved a non-issue. The rest of the cables are obscured by issue number two..planting.

Green, living things, I need plants in my space. See here and here. Since the untimely death of my bird of paradise there is just the one little orchid and weekly bouquet in my living space. Not enough to make an impact, especially with the higher ceilings. I had moved the plants pots from hidden behind the blinds to the media cupboard weeks earlier but finally got around to filling them and with staghorn ferns. This plant was the first one I bought for my first grown-up joint apartment and it so it’s back in my first grown-up single space. 

But that was not enough because I wanted to make more of the height, so stretching down to meet the ferns are two delicate glass hanging pots containing an equally delicate flower and offset by a single wall candle holder which twinkles of the glass at nighttime highlighting the beauty of the flame lilies.

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But first a selfie

In celebration of feeling good I decided to do a post I might take down in a flash as a light sheen of sweat is gathering on my brow at this very moment (and the reason the pics are a whopping 6% in size). Pictures of me, or better put of my outfits. I love getting dressed in the morning except for the actual being awake. My outfit speaks for me before I enter the room. I might be a shrinking violet in voice and so I need that non-verbal communication. 

The pictures are early, early morning before the sun is up and taken with my phone, so forgive the gritty. A ritual for me every morning because I trust the photographic evidence more than the mirror. The picture I look at later because mornings are manic with two kids, of which one is too little to dress himself, and being far from a morning person. I can then decide if it’s a keeper or needs adjusting, for that day or a next time. But enough talk, this is what I wore in random February pics, because even the winter barely factors in.

1: Degrade sweater by studioRUIG, jeans by Samsoe & Samsoe and shoes by Alexander Wang.
2: Zipped top by Karen Millen, skirt by Aaiko and trainers from Zara.
3: Sweater old, jeans Acne and Hello Kitty Vans.
4: Zipped top by Ann-Sofie Back, skirt from Other Stories, Jacket by Iro, shoes Sam Edelman and bag Alexander Wang.
5: What was I thinking, it's too cold look, top with side slits and jeans from Zara, ballerinas from Steve Madden, vest from Comptoir des Cottoniers and bag by Alexander Wang.
6: Top way old, skirt HM, shoes Margiela for H&M.
7: Bamboo shirt, Mango leather trousers and Zara trainers.
8: Cashmere beanie from Cos, gigantic snood from studioRuig, sweater and jeans from Acne, bag by Alexander Wang and studded converse by Unickz.
9: Sweater from look 3, Zara jacquard trousers and Margiela for H&M shoes.

Looking at the pics February was all about the comfort, with for me a low heel ratio and few skirts, with no dresses. Humh, we'll see if it sticks in March. BTW the poster is from SB Studio. I adore their tongue-in-cheek and just could not resist.

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A timely dessert

My kitchen is the offspring of my old one, meaning half the size. I will be tackling that soon as procrastination slowly rubs off but back to my weekend day treat. I felt like making a treat but something a bit more grown-cup and no (cup)cakes as I had enough of those last week at my son’s birthday party. 

I looked in my fridge (a miracle in and of itself), saw I still had an almost full packet of thyme from last week and a plan formed. Since weekends are just as packed as weekdays something simple enough to make but with impact to make Saturday Sunday Monday feel decadent despite just lazing about with the kids. Thrown in the fact that it mustn't be too rich as to make me too groggy to run after the kids. 

I went with puff pastry layers sandwiched, stacked and rolled together with rich pats of creamy butter between the layers. The top sandwich layer is butter and milk-washed and sprinkled with thyme I dipped in sugar and baked till crystallised for extra effect and taste. But what’s between the layers? A lightly sweetened mix of mascarpone and sour cream and folded through with beaten double cream. More leaves of crystallised thyme and a quick set in the fridge and the filling is heavenly. Like eating a cloud. But no no no, we are not there yet!

On top of the angel pastries are pears. And by pears I means pears sauteed and caramelised in thyme infused butter with brown sugar and muscat. Decorated with a few more sprigs of sugared thyme and the reduced pear syrup and dessert is right on time..

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Schedule

• Back to baking with a sweet treat with a savoury twist because why choose one when you can have the best of both worlds?
• In celebration of being light, something I have never done and might never do again, a mini lookbook of what I wear, because every day is a celebration, so get up, dress up and show (em) up..
• I promised more lush and so here it is, contained in a mini-update of my space. Why? Because I can and I like it!
• Cool kids need cool spaces and cool spaces need cool products. Here are a couple to kick it off.

 The picture is of my dining vignette. I switched out the grey for white. It’s a mash-up of classics with a fun twist..check out the double and minature tree vases!

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