Some Awards....

I am very grateful to have received some awards recently and just wanted to say thank you....and to pass some of them along....

From my friend Lori at http://nbwildflowers.blogspot.com/

From Liz at the wonderfully titled but-then-i-had-kids

“The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.”

Excellence, grace and persistence...yes please, I love this award!!!

I would like to pass it along to:

Meredith at countitalljoy - if there's any kind of apocalypse, put me in her shelter please!

DJ at dustjacketattic - this girl is worthy of all the awards going, she is goooooo-d!

Becky at farmgirlpaints - for being honest, inspiring and just really putting herself out there.

Torie Jayne at toriejayne - for her beautiful, inspirational, design-fabulous blog.

Melissa at reverie-daydream - a lovely place to visit whatever day of the week it is!

Thank you Sharon at mypassporttostyle

I am passing this along to :

bellamumma

inspirationinitaly

Thank you Rachel at "Inspiration in Italy"....

I am passing this along to:

thethingsidtellyou

everydayadventuresofacuriousgal

A Little Honesty...

Given to me by my friend Becky at farmgirlpaints and the lovely Anita at pillow-mint ....thank you!

Here are the rules I must follow, upon receiving this award:

1. Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2. Share "10 Honest Things" about myself.

3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4. Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Ten Honest Things About Me

1. I love the movies.....really love them.....the whole experience....from the minute I walk in to buy the tickets, to finding the right seats....and of course watching all the ads and trailers....if I miss them, I do actually feel that my experience isn't complete. I am fortunate to live 5 mins away from two great cinemas and often go most weeks, mainly with two mum-friends from school....one of us buys the tickets, one of us buys the treats (peanut M&Ms for me) and one of us buys secret ice cold G&Ts which we smuggle in....now we can't imagine how we ever went to the movies without them ;) We have been friends since our eldest children started preschool and usually it's a breathless dash to the cinema by all of us, having crossed our fingers that all our children settle down for the night promptly so we can escape....I see these girls every single day at school but just cherish our "alone" time where we can sit, chat and giggle at the same stuff.

I was a honeymoon baby and my mother discovered she was expecting me just after she and my father had moved to London from Wales for him to start a new job.....my mother had a day job in an office but in the evenings she was an usherette in the local cinema....in the days when they would show you to your seats with a torch....she is still a great movie buff and often says this was probably her favourite ever job....maybe that's where my movie-love also started....in those dark evenings in south London listening to those movie soundtracks!

2. I haven't ever had a job that I really really loved....I've had lots of jobs, in a variety of fields, that I enjoyed....but I'm still looking to find my "thing".

3. I am still searching for the perfect hairstyle....and the perfect hairstylist....enough said!

4. It has always seemed slightly odd to me that I consider myself to be very much a family person....but my relationship with my parents has often been quite complicated. My parents met when they were 14, got married 10 years later, separated another 8 years later and finally after another 20 or so years and a lot of wrangling, got divorced. They were a couple that never should have got married. My relationship with my mother can be tricky....I do know it's one that I don't want to repeat with my own daughter. I am especially close to one of my aunts (my father's sister) who always tells me that she is convinced my "normality" is in spite of and not because of my parents and that actually one night whilst out walking they found me under a raspberry bush and took me home and that's how I ended up with them!!! Sometimes it can be like having two extra children instead of parents....c'est la vie!

5. I love 70's disco music....as I write this "Ring my Bell" is playing on I-Tunes....maybe not cool to some, my son and I love a good disco dance in our kitchen....they don't write tunes like that anymore :) I do love to dance. I would add though that I don't exclusively listen to it....I nearly always have music playing but my children have a huge range of music they can already sing along to :)

6. I could be slimmer (and should be slimmer!) but I am actually pretty happy with how I look....I am a nice height and really wouldn't change a thing. I have beautiful friends who actually would consider getting "work" done, worry endlessly about their appearance (and getting older) and really don't have the self-esteem that they should have considering how gorgeous I think they are....so I am glad I am me.

7. I absolutely love TV makeover shows.....whether it's houses or people or weight loss....I do enjoy a good transformation....I could watch them every day if I let myself.....British shows or Ty Pennington on "Extreme Makeover".....it's all good!

8. I don't really like driving and didn't actually pass my driving test until I was 25. My parents didn't drive and I did grow up in London where public transport is very easy to use. I had a road rage incident around 12 years ago which shook my confidence a little and where I live now I do walk a lot since school is walking distance as are all my shops. I have never owned my own car either!

9. I love old musicals.....Doris Day, Gene Kelly...."High Society", "Singin' in the Rain", "The Wizard of Oz"....happy times.

10. I really love ice cream, probably more than I should....I don't eat it every day.....but I do really LOVE it! My favourite brand is probably Ben & Jerry's although the best ice cream I ever tasted was creme caramel at a gelateria next to the Trevi Fountain in Rome and blackberry and apple in St Davids in Wales where it is homemade by an Italian man who moved to Wales years ago.

I'm not going to pass this on to anyone in particular, but if you would like to help yourself to the award - and you could use a little honesty - then please do help yourself :)

PS I am guest blogging at then i got to thinking.... if you want to stop by today :)

Any Colour....As Long As It's Black....

Love this style of shoe.....and this design is just fabulous!!

Love this....

Is there anything NOT stylish in this photo?

The beautiful Kate Beckinsale (and her equally beautiful co-star Gabriel Macht) in Jil Sander this week....

Diane Kruger....this dress is so gorgeous....

Halle Berry in black and gold Marchesa....

The lovely Jennifer Aniston....

I don't really like black on children (unless it's Halloween)....but this outfit is just too cute!

Isn't this just gorgeous?

Nicole Kidman for Chanel No. 5....

I love this dress....

Tres chic, n'est-ce pas?!

Such an elegant outfit.....and a shoe collection to die for....

The most famous LBD ever?

How sophisticated does this look.....wonderful!

Beautiful Marilyn Monroe....

From my inspirational friend Jackie at home....thank you so much!

From Nicolette Renee at simplycolette....thank you, you lovely girl :)

Super Comments Blog Award....

Thank you to the beautiful and fabulous Christina from Fashions Most Wanted for the Super Comment Blog Award....

 

1. Why do you blog?
To express myself and to share the things and people that I enjoy, love and admire....
To give myself a little voice in this big old world....
I blog because I love the feeling of creating something beautiful - and the fact that others read it is the most amazing bonus :)
And really.....because I just love doing it, simple as that!

2. What are your three best memories?
 

* I am the eldest grandchild and have always felt a special connection with all my grandparents. I was born in Wales but we moved to London when I was 6 years old. We left behind a very close family who lived literally minutes from us....it must have hard for my parents, particularly my mother who had three children under the age of 6. My parents separated and then divorced when I was 8....and every summer I would be sent on the train to Wales to spend 5 or 6 weeks with my mother's parents....I absolutely loved every minute of it!

My nanny was quiet and kind and my grampy was the nicest man in the whole world and I loved being with him, he was so much fun......they would take me to the beach and the funfair and let me stay there until it seemed we were the last people on the beach....they'd take me to the market in town and I'd hide behind Gramps while he bought fresh cockles at the seafood stall (even now the smell of them makes me think of him!)....I'd do the crossword with my Nanny - although I'm sure she probably fed me the answers! Gramps would walk down to the village at night for a pint of beer...and I'd be allowed to stay up and he'd bring us back hot chips!

It was just a really lovely time and I felt very very loved and really special....those summers were definitely some of the happiest days of my childhood and I really feel that they helped shape the person I am today. I think that the benefit of the love and security of a grandparent can offer is immeasurable, I know I was very lucky.

* I spent my second year at Uni studying in France. One Friday night it seemed like a very good idea to go to the south of France....we ran back to our various halls of residence....grabbed a handful of essentials and jumped into a friend's car. Eight hours later, after he drove through the night, we woke up in Cannes. One guy and four girls.....with just 4 hairdryers, lots of suncream, way too many pairs of knickers and probably not very many French francs between them = fabulous!! We went to Cannes, Juan les Pins, Nice and Monte Carlo, sitting on the old rattly train that used to run along that route with the train doors open and our legs dangling out! (I take that same train now on the same route with my children and now the train is a double decker TGV train!)  I am still very good friends with two of those girls now and we still say it was of our best week-ends ever....and it was probably then that my love affair with the French Riviera started. Oh for the spontaneity of those days!!

....so many good memories here....

* My first trip to New York City. We have very good family friends in NYC and when I first dated my husband we would visit once or twice a year.....on our very first trip, we spent 2 weeks there, it was probably one of our best holidays ever....I love the city and I watched my husband fall in love with it too....it was autumn, NYC was beautiful, we explored the city all day long and shopped til he dropped....wonderful!

3. If you had to change your name, what would it be?
I love my name now and would never change it.....you don't meet that many Simones....altho funnily enough another mother in my daughter's class (and now a good friend of mine) is also called Simone!
 
When I was younger though, about 8 probably, I can remember being on the top deck of a red London double decker bus and telling everyone that from now on they should call me Barbara....no idea why whatsoever....thankfully they probably ignored me  :)
 
 
4. Name five things you couldn't live without?
I do like beautiful things but I'm not a materialistic person....so this is quite hard for me....lots of things I would miss if I didn't have them....hmmmm....
 
* My children and husband
* My friends
* Books**
* Holidays....essential for one's sanity, for family quality time and just for a little reflection...worth waiting for definitely
* Music.....I have music on all the time when I am home, I listen to everything.... 
 

** I stayed up til 1.45am on Saturday night reading "The Help" and finished it yesterday afternoon....I loved it and would definitely recommend it, what a great read!
 
3. Name the four best books you've read?
 
Impossible to name just four, I just can't do it!!
 

This was the most amazing read about a world that I quickly realised I knew nothing about, it really stayed with me for a long time after I had finished it - and is one of the few books I have read that really made me cry, defiinitely one of the best books, if not the best book, I have read in recent years.

 
4. What do you love best about yourself?
I am good and loyal friend and once I become your friend, you are unlikely to be able to get rid of me.
I stand up for people and am not afraid to voice my opinions.
I laugh easily and often....I'm a good audience!

5. What is the best movie ever made?
Impossible to choose one.....I go to the cinema a regularly and have seen so many. Movies that I have loved, enjoyed, cried at and been just amazed - and could watch over and over again - include:
Singin' in the Rain, Gone with the Wind, Sleepless in Seattle, Big, It's A Wonderful Life, Schindler's List, Atonement, West Side Story, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Man who would be King, The Godfather, Some Like It Hot, White Christmas, The Wizard of Oz, Brief Encounter, High Society....

7. If you had a "Freaky Friday" experience, who would you change places with?
Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, Vanessa Paradis just to be able to spend a summer in France with the delicious Johnny Depp, Patrick Dempsey's wife....and Tom Ford, the most stylish and well-groomed man in the world.

Thank you for asking me to do this Christina!

I have many wonderful commenters so I am passing this award on to anyone who feels they would like to accept it!

Happy Monday!

A Bit of This and A Bit of That....and a lovely Giveaway!!

Isn't this the most gorgeous image? (I blame the super-hot weather in London right now for putting me in summer hols mode!) I'm dedicating this image to my lovely friend Melissa over here....not sure if it's Greece or not but those bright colours and that beautifully blue sky are sure making me think of it!

I have received a couple of lovely awards this last week....

...thank you to the lovely Trish at Pink Preppy Lilly Lover

for this....

....and to Liz at Le Passion For Fashion

for....

 

I have to tell you seven things about myself, that I haven't already shared....I shall give it some thought and share and also pass these awards on next week  :)

My newest blog advertisers are the lovely people at All Tea Towels. I did a feature on them and a Giveaway with them earlier this year which was a lot of fun....I will be featuring some of their lovely linens and other items next week. Do take a look for yourself though....

a huge variety of designs, great quality, international shipping (and free UK delivery) and excellent customer service....

In the meantime....my latest Giveaway will be one of their lovely strawberry print aprons....

...perfect for this Wimbledon fortnight!

I am also giving away one of these gorgeous notebooks from Mimi Charmante ....

....plus a couple of other summery items that I think you may like!

To win, you just need to follow my blog and just leave me a comment....I will draw the winner this Friday July 2....good luck!

And finally....

....over fifteen years ago, I left a very good job in London to go to work in the US for nine months over the summer....the job I left is actually still the best paid job I have ever had! Looking back sometimes I am amazed that I took that step....but it was 100% one of the best things I ever did....I knew at the time that if I didn't do it then, I never would - and I was right. It was the first time I had ever flown alone, my first time in the US and the first time I had ever been away alone and that far away for that long. It was a huge learning curve but I had a fabulous time, grew so much and my confidence soared....plus I got to live in NYC for a few months....it was one of the best decisions I ever made, I was a changed person when I returned.

I didn't really have any responsibilities then....no children or mortgage or relationship....so in some ways it was easier to go....but I can still remember my Dad watching me walk down to the departure lounge and knowing that it was some kind of turning point in my life....

....sometimes you just have to ask yourself what's the worst that can happen and just do it....

Happy Wednesday!