Best Bar None

Vintage dralon tub chair (Car boot sale), Edwardian Indian rug (eBay)

Ever since I was a kid I've longed for a wooden globe drinks cabinet. Along with Jean Varon frocks and pineapple ice buckets to me they are the very epitome of 1960's cocktail party chic. 

I spotted a vintage beauty in our local branch of Banardos' charity shop a while ago but, as I'm often accused of bringing home tat, I thought I'd run it by Jon first before splashing out. Surprisingly he was all for it and offered to pop into town and buy it but returned home empty-handed claiming that it had already been sold.

What do you know? The sneaky little monkey had actually bought it and squirreled it away in Gilbert (our VW camper) since September.

Best Christmas present ever? I'll let our friends decide at tomorrow nights' New Years' Eve party once it's stocked with tasty alcoholic delights.

Vintage Dollyrockers maxi (eBay), Cobalt suede boots (TopShop), Jewellery (India)

What on earth am I going to wear?

Hi Honey, I'm Home!

 
Namaste! We arrived back home on Christmas night and the last few days has been a whirlwind of visiting friends and catching up on gossip. We've been battling jet lag (waking at 4am...aargh!) by having a post-holiday blitz on clutter and a much needed spring clean ready for the New Year's Eve bash we drunkenly offered to host when we were out on Boxing Day.

The water pipe in the bathroom decided to explode yesterday which meant a mercy dash to B&Q for spares. Looks like we'll be re-decorating in the next few weeks.

Goa was as wonderful, as always. Three weeks with no internet, no shopping, wearing no shoes, having no news....perfection. What did we do other than lie on the sand catching a few rays?

Admired the view from our room.

  Went on long walks

Got blessed by the priest.

Celebrated my birthday - thanks for the well-wishes. It's a shame both my Dad and brother forgot. 

 Hung out with the beautiful people.

Attended our friends' baby's christening. Welcome to the world, Presley Fernandes.

Hitched a lift in a local fisherman's boat for some early morning dolphin spotting.

Watched the sunset.

It's tradition for us that on the last night in Goa we climb up the cliff to the tiny Shiva shrine on the border of the jungle, share a kiss and a small bottle of rum and watch the sun set over the Arabian Sea one last time.

I was back on-line on Boxing Day looking for a return trip in March, I've found a couple of potential flights but haven't booked just yet.

Vintage chiffon tunic (Courtesy of the fabulous Kitty, who also sent me the maxi dress I wore almost every day), Cut-off Levi's (jumble sale), Devore maxi coat (My friend, Janne), Peacock feather pendant and silver earrings (Birthday pressies), Suede boots (car boot sale)

Hope you've all had a wonderfully festive time, I'm gradually catching up with all I've missed in Blogland, I think I've read all the blogs I follow but haven't got my brain in gear for commenting just yet. Thanks for sticking around.

Cheers My Dears!

Cheers to all my lovely friends in Blogland! I'm just finishing off the last of the red wine whilst I wait for the waiter from our favourite Indian restaurant to trudge through the snow and deliver our takeaway. I'm bare-faced this evening, don't be scared.

Vintage Dollyrockers kaftan (eBay), Silver jewellery (India)

Jon's just surprised me with an early birthday present:

Gasp! I've wanted a Twiggy head forever, I'm so excited!

 

See you in three weeks (unless I find an internet connection sooner).

Miss you already, have fun!

Sorted!

Vintage skirt (Antique shop £3) Vest (Car boot 50p) Silk scarf (Charity shop £1)

I've finally packed my bag, touched up my roots and I'm almost ready for Friday. We've invited a friend with a huge appetite for tea tonight so he can help eat up the contents of the fridge and I'll spend tomorrow applying my eyelash extensions and painting my toe nails (and watching trashy tv).

 I just hope this snow's going to stop falling and the airport will be open on Friday. It hasn't stopped all day, there's a bus stuck at the end of the road and children going past the gates on sledges, which isn't a great sign.

Here's our travel toiletries and first aid supplies

This is my reading pile. This won't last three weeks but there's a book exchange in the village so I can trade the finished ones in.

My jewellery and hair accessories. I like bags that can be hung up, our guest house room's not the biggest so these help keep clutter to a minimum and if we decide to travel around we don't need to keep repacking. This bag is a leather Oscar De La Renta one which was 10p from a jumble sale. Our toiletries go in a similar one.

What am I taking? Four maxi dresses......

Two vintage maxi skirts, two pairs of cotton harem pants (bought in India and replaced when they fall apart) two pairs of leather sandals, a leather money belt...

My trusty denim waistcoat (usually worn with just a bikini top underneath), two embroidered and mirrored Lamani tops, two vests....

Two bikinis, two kaftan tops and my flamingo beach dress plus a handful of silk scarves for my hair.

Jon's padlocked the bags so there's no chance of me sneaking in anything extra.
Have a lovely evening, I'm going to be eating for England.

Easily Distracted

I know, I know, I know...I should be packing my bags for Goa but things keep getting in the way of the task in hand such as heavy snow, exciting parcels and friends dropping by.

These pretty packages arrived in a parcel

from the divine Calamity Jem this morning.

My oldest pal, Liz brought these round. It's giraffe print paper but it looks strangely like bacon in the photo.

 
We've been friends for thirty-nine years, how scary is that? Liz is in the middle.

The fabulous Christina phoned last night and I was literally shrieking with excitement. I don't think I stopped tittering the whole time we were on the phone. She's just as warm, witty and funny as I knew she'd be and I cannot wait to meet her in the New Year.

And I managed a virtual chat with my beloved twin Helga first thing this morning!

Christina's blog post today featuring beautiful green things and a photograph of Farrah Fawcett reminded me of this 1970's Devonshire Lady jumpsuit I bought in a charity shop recently. I was so excited to come across one of these, I owned a grey one with a Charlies' Angels motif when I was about 10. Well worth the £3 price tag for the nostalgia value alone.

Don't worry I've got thermal undies, woollen tights and thick knitted socks on underneath and of course, my favourite hat in the entire world.

 This is what the bed's currently looking like except there's now a couple of contented cats curled up in amongst it all. 

Vintage jumpsuit (Sue Ryder charity shop), Leather boots (TopShop sale 2005), Sheepskin hat (Courtesy of the wonderful Christina)

I'm only in Goa for three weeks this time but hopefully staying for longer in March. If I'd known the weather would be so bad I wouldn't be coming back half as soon.

The Big Chill

The UK's in the grip of the coldest November for years and it's un-freaking-believably vile, some parts of our area went down to -17 last night. We've only had a dusting of snow so far but if the BBC is to be believed it's set to reach us Midlanders tomorrow. Nothing but nothing's going to stop me getting to the airport on Friday even if it means hiring a team of huskies and a sledge to drag us up the M6.

This is the only kind of Big Chill I like:

The blissed out arts festival held in the Herefordshire countryside every August. Twenty-four hour drinking, dancing, hedonism and frivolity is far more my style.

Vintage Richard Draper of Glastonbury coat (£9.99), Shift dress (Made by me out of a 1950's jumble sale curtain), Tods' python boots (car boot sale £7), Vintage hat (jumble sale 20p)

Never mind, I got to open some early birthday presents at the weekend. It's my birthday a week today and as I've only got a 15kg baggage allowance I haven't enough room to take them with me.

My lovely friend Cheryl bought me this gorgeous bird print dress and a yellow leather bag she had custom made in Tunisia.

Turquoise Lancome eyeshadow and some deliciously blingy TopShop jewellery. I'm so spoilt.

I bought this vintage sheepskin coat from Banardos a couple of weeks ago. My home town is known for having the highest number of overweight adults in the UK, not good news for the NHS but great for little old me who has hardly any competition for smaller sizes in the local charity shops.

Four days and counting. I really have to go and pack my bag.

Be My Guest

I'm much too hungover to put any photos of myself up today so I thought you might like a little peek around our house. The hippies enamel sign on the wall outside the front door was from a boot sale but there's loads of them on eBay.

I never thought any house of mine would have boring old white walls but this "Aged White" makes a perfect backdrop for the gypsy chandelier and the retro prints.

I made the cushion covers from vintage silk scarves.

The coffee table is made from a Rajasthani antique door

 

The hallway. I can't resist a Union Jack if I spot one at a car boot sale.

An Ikea-free zone.

I love Portmerion's 1960's Greek Key printed ceramics, some of these were my parent's. The oak shelf was a boot sale find.

We're restoring an ancient Rayburn to fit in this gap.

When we've found the perfect table this will be the dining room one day.

My haven

Have I mentioned both the bathroom and the soon-to-be dining room are haunted? We've both seen a black cat that vanishes into thin air and several items have flown across the room and hit me. A young man took his own life in the house back in the 1920's.

My beloved Cole and Son flamingo wallpaper (eBay, naturally).

Isn't our 1960's ceramic towel holder a cutie?

My jewellery archive dressing table.

I've spent most of today in here. When will I ever learn?

One of my sewing shelves, with added kitsch.

The wall of misery.

What a beauty! Some of our friends think she's awful, how dare they?

Our wallpapered staircase. Have I mentioned my obsession with wallpaper? 

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow, strictly no alcohol for me tonight.