Black and White

I have to say ... I find it fairly easy to work with colour ... I like adding colour into my home and I love how a colour can help give a room a feel or emotional story.

What I do find is that working with black and white can be a lot more difficult. You have to use different tones of white and I do struggle with that. Get it wrong and black and white can look cold, stark and totally unfriendly. Get it right and it looks amazing.

This house gets it right in every way .... its warm, elegant and yet really simple. Personally, I think you have to be really talented and brave to pull a look this complicated off ... well done!

Holiday Bucket List

So the other day I started naming some on the things I wanted on my holiday bucket list. Some of them are straight forward and easy, others I'm going to have to wait and find a situation that fits.

I thought today I would add a few more;

- MEET THE MONA LISA

Obviously an easy one ... however not unchallenging, dragging my darling husband around the Louvre and trying to keep his interest is going to be a huge challenge. I may even have to resort to blackmail.

- BECOME BREATHLESS OVER THE PAST

This one is a bit more ambiguous. I want to find something over there that just takes my breath away. Something that pulls me back hundreds of years and gives me goose bumps.

- FIND A QUIET MOMENT IN VERSAILLES

Again, for one of the busiest tourist spots in Europe I'm guessing its going to be rather interesting trying to find "quiet" in a sea of crazy.

- LOOK GLAMOROUS IN PARIS

I think this is something every girl aspires to. I want to look Parisian Chic in Paris. Obviously big glasses and perfect hair are a must but is it possible to not look like a tourist in the most fashionable city in the world?

Oh Dear

So one of my lovely bloggy friends Annette messaged me last night and asked how I could go away for 3 weeks while I was building ... how would I cope with not knowing whats going on?

Good Question Annette .... I don't really know if I can. Firstly and this is even worse ... it's six weeks not three, and secondly I am almost positive that I am partially insane ... however if  I don't have a holiday soon I would be totally insane.

I am trusting my builder, they have done fairly well so far however as I say this my stomach tightens up slightly. I do have a back up plan .... my parents, they have built numerous times and have promised faithfully to watch over my baby while I'm away. While I can guarantee that they won't be quite so lovingly overprotective as I am I am pretty sure it will all go smoothly.

Hey what is the worst that can happen .... (Picture me giggling uncomfortably at this point.)

A great example of this is my latest little obsession, one tiny little air con duct they have squeezed into a space way to small. Apparently even though the below picture looks rather silly apparently air flow wont be affected. How on earth will air flow not be affected ??? The beam is cutting the silly metal tube thingy in half??? So what do you think? Should I trust my builder and air con people in this or what?

Im Back!

Yes yes, I'm no longer bed ridden ... however I have to say maybe I should have stayed in bed .... 380 unread emails and a to do list as long as my arm are such a pleasant way to return to work I cant even begin to imagine what its going to be like after six weeks.

However after dragging my very sorry self out of bed on Sunday I found out I had alot of progress on  the house. Render has well and truly started which is very exciting .... and so without further ado ... my house semi clothed...

Still In Bed

I have three things to say at the moment as I languish in bed feeling quite sad and sorry for myself!

Firstly - Day time TV even foxtel gets old rather quickly after 5 days stuck using it as your only form of entertainment

Secondly - Its perfectly possible to eat too many Calipo's causing major acid reflux when lying down

Thirdly - Doctors are sanctimonious asses telling you to just bare it and then spouting nonsense about how there is nothing they can do ... why am I paying them $75 dollars, they didn't even rub my back ....

I do realise that I'm being rather .... feisty however I feel its perfectly justified ... if I don't have unlimited entertainment through foxtel or my Calipo's then what do I have ... a horrid cold and a bed that I am getting quite sick of.

Hope to have a more positive outlook tomorrow!

XOX

Miss V

Bedridden

I don't know about you but when I'm stuck in bed sick and feeling sorry for myself there are a few traditions that just seem to make me feel better.

The first one is obviously a fresh set of sheets and PJ's. There is nothing that is going to make you feel better than sliding into bed in a lovely set of PJ's and a crisp cool set of sheets.

The second is icy poles. Even if I don't have a sore throat for me icy poles just have to be eaten in copious amounts in order to make me feel better

Finally is movie choices. ... obviously feel good movies but there is one movie I will watch every single time I get sick ... Pride and Prejudice. Lucky for me there are now two versions to choose from ... my old favorite BBC TV series version which will keep me entertained all day and now the new movie version. Also lucky for me I have had 3 days in bed and have had plenty of time to watch both.

So here are the houses from both movies / TV series. (Movie first)

Longbourn - I think the movie gives it more of a storybook quality to it ... the little house flanked by two trees however the TV series house is possibly my favorite of the two.

Netherfield - I love the first house, its very grand and over the top and of course perfectly suitable for a gentleman with Five Thousand Pounds a year!

Rosings - two totally different houses that look almost identical. Jane Austin was very clear in how Rosings should look if these two are anything to show by it.

Pemberley - Again very similar in feel these two and yet another reason I should have married Mr Darcy!

Finally let me just say I adore all of these houses and would die to own one ... well obviously not possible even with a very large lotto win but hey .... a girl can dream right?

Oh yes - and although a rather political statement Colin Firth is my prefered Mr Darcy anyday....

A Revelation

Ok so revelation is possibly a bit strong but yesterday one of my lovely engineers gave me two Oyster cards to use while I'm away. Now here is where it gets a bit sappy and I'm sorry but it made me realise ....

I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY!

How exciting is it to have a lovely big holiday only days (22 days but who is counting) away!

So it made me start thinking ... Europe is big and I really should create a bucket list. Not a normal type of bucket list .... climb the Eiffel tower etc however I am planning to do that but a more ambiguous one where I have to find ways to achieve it. I can think of a couple straight away but will be racking my brains over the weekend to try and crystallise my ideas.

So here are a few I have thought of.

1) Try and stick under the 20kg weight limit - I am the queen of excess baggage so this one was will be a big challenge.

2) Do something truly naughty ... again something that can be translated so many different ways but we will see

3) Find the best ice cream in Europe and eat till I'm sick - seems easy but I'm guessing to find the "best" shop I will be tasting a fair bit of ice cream!

Stay tuned for a more complete list!