nov, 9th - a thousand days....

day 1000 / 99:

Limi is a thousand days old. back in the Summer before Claya was born, i asked her a few questions about her favourite things.....we were thinking of doing this every now and then so that one day she can look back and see how her tastes and world changed....(long may yellow last as her favourite colour!)

my movie skills need a bit of work but here's an extract from her answers......those text questions hide at least a little of my sing-song voice......

nov, 8th - fernandez and wells....

day 999 / 98:

we were surprised to find that the lovely Fernandez and Wells has taken over a space at Somerset House.  on this visit, we didn't have chance to linger but perhaps i can ditch the kids for a morning and pay Tim Walker, Fernandez and Wells my undivided attention next time around....

it's so exciting to see that London's attractions are starting to also take care when it comes to their cafes as well as their buildings. after years of stale scones and bland filter coffee, we now have this favourite in Hyde Park, this one in St James' park, this one at the National Gallery and now F&W at Somerset House. this city just gets better and better.

nov, 7th - tim walker at somerset house....

day 998 / 97:

on a rainy day in London, we went to see the Tim Walker exhibition at Somerset House. (thanks to this lady for the hot tip!) i love the magical/fantastical scenarios that he creates in his photographs.....they always make me think that he has documented behind the scenes of Alice in Wonderland and captured characters and parts of the story that never made it into the book.....

for a toddler, the props that are part of the exhibition, are fascinating: giant snails climbing up the walls; a prop plane crashed into a room; bugs playing musical instruments; a huge skeleton and an even bigger doll. it's definitely worth visiting and if you go in a couple of weeks time, you could combine it with a skate on the ice rink.....they were busy putting it up when we visited....it's the original and still our favourite place to skate.

nov, 6th - conversations with a two year old....

day 997 / 96:

Limi: 'Claya is so cute, she's like......a lollipop.'

and Claya adores her sister too, Limi can make her giggle uncontrollably.

nov, 5th - cross blanket....

day 996 / 95:

i kept on seeing this blanket pop up on stylish blogs that i read and after discovering the story behind their production, i decided to buy one for each of the girls. the designer is Pia Wallén, a Swede, who uses traditional techniques to create beautiful pieces (many with this Crux pattern).

the original Crux blanket was made using the wool from their very own sheep farm in Sweden. only one hundred blankets are made each year. in 2011, they launched the Cross blanket, with the same design, using ecological cotton from Peru. again, these blankets are made in small production runs to ensure that the blanket never becomes a mass market item.

they are beautifully soft, carefully made, reversible depending on whether you're having an off-white on black day or a black on off-white day and hopefully something that the girls can keep forever.

i bought mine from story north who were fantastic. they contacted me to let me know that i had bought the last one in stock and would need to wait for the second one to arrive. obviously i am not the only one who's been blog-brain-washed....

p.s. in other news, Claya has discovered her feet!!

p.p.s when Limi draws people, they now have bodies and crazy hair!

p.p.p.s. and finally, father christmas, if you're reading, i'm certain that the adult size blanket will fit down our chimney.....

oct, 31st - halloween....

day 991 / 90:

so, what's the verdict? i think that this may become one of my new favourite holidays.

happy halloween!

oct, 30th - pumpkins, ghosts and skeletons....

day 990 / 89:

halloween is still a bit of a novelty in our house. neither A. nor i experienced halloween in Australia and South Africa, growing up.....so we're playing catch-up on the traditions. there's been plenty of preparation over the last couple of days....i guess that's the great thing about having kids, you get to absorb yourself in these holidays in a way that would seem odd otherwise....

this year, there were many firsts.......i carved my first pumpkins (with Limi's help and exclamations of 'we're carving pumpkins'...'we're carving pumpkins'.....!) and we roasted the seeds for Limi to try.....i also had to do my first school-bake....so, i went for gingerbread ghosts fashioned from my Christmas angel cookie-cutter (probably a first for these two holidays to collide)....and after desperately wanting to make all Limi's and Claya's costumes from scratch, i've realised that after the debacle on Limi first year {see day 258} i can probably only manage to customise something. so this year, we're combining two celebrations and they are dressing up as Day of the Dead/ Halloween. 

tomorrow i'll show you the results and you can grade us on how we're doing for halloween novices.

oct, 29th - h&m supports unicef....

day 989 / 88:

i am absolutely blown away by the kids collection that h&m did in support of unicef.....the clothes, the branding, this film and the causes that they are supporting: children in the cotton growing community in  Tamil Nadu, India and children in the garment making community in Dhaka, Banglabesh, all make this an incredible campaign. i couldn't resist half the collection....especially the dress-up pieces...and when it all arrived, I was especially impressed by the superb quality.

hopefully i'll get to capture more of the collection but this dress has to be my favourite non-dress-up item.

p.s. we've been following the news closely and i hope everyone is keeping safe in the US and other areas affected by the hurricane.

oct, 28th - ballet....

day 988 / 87:

Limi has started ballet. i was keen for her to start tap instead {after this groundwork - see day 503} but they will only take them from five. dance classes bring back so many memories of my own childhood. i started ballet and tap at five and i'm sure that i was already convinced that i was as graceful as a swan. now, i get to see it from my mum's perspective who was probably thinking more along the lines of 'as graceful as a foal in rollerskates'. honestly, Limi's ballet class has become the highlight of my week (i have to hide my giggling behind my scarf.....is it bad to say that i've actually had tears rolling down my face?). the only swan in this class, is the teacher, who was a prima ballerina for the London Royal Ballet and makes walking across the room look like an extract from Swan Lake. the rest are a dozen mini rhinos in trainers with the laces tied together. 

i was anti putting Limi into ballet this young but the structure of these classes is so brilliant that i decided to go ahead. the classes all follow a make believe story and the ballet positions are taught via the storyline e.g. going on a picnic and eating a long sandwich (second position of the arms). wonderfully, they are also accompanied by a live pianist. i did wonder what Limi would make of the teacher's sing-song voice and the girliness of it all.....but she is just as captivated as the other eleven girls. my favourite moments have been when the girls are asked (and guided) into a line and within a few steps the line disintegrates into a rugby scrum or; they were pretending to be graceful reindeer prancing across the room but resembled those stomping rhino instead or; when they were telling the story of Cinderella and hopping across the room on one booted foot (which is just a cruel thing to ask two year olds to do). and usually what tips me over the edge, is the curtsey at the end of each lesson where every girl resembles twisted spaghetti and at least one falls over in a tangled mess.

but they are completely oblivious to what they look like from our perspective (which is brilliant), they get to dress up in tutus/ wings/ whatever takes their fancy every week, take part in some fantastical adventure and try and imitate extreme elegance (and i'm sure in their heads, completely nail it)....so i'm not surprised that Limi is always excited on 'ballet days'.

i haven't had my camera to hand so i've captured it via Instagram (i've recently become hooked on this again). so, if you want to follow the ballet days and more mundane moments of our days, then you can find me here.

and in case you are experiencing any start-of-week blues, then this will cheer you up. it's not Limi's class (but it closely resembles it)......

oct, 25th - jamie....

day 985 / 84:

we met some friends for lunch at one of Jamie Oliver's new British restaurants (his ventures seem to be springing up fast and furiously around town). i do love his ethos of fresh, simple and good ingredients and use his cookbooks (well, let's be honest, used to use his cookbooks pre-small-kids) but i'm not the hugest fan of chain restaurants (unless it's this small chain). but, given the all-things-British year that we're having, this restaurant felt quite apt. his design team have certainly done a god job on making you feel like you've stepped into a Famous Five annual.....

we did love the fresh lemonade, snack of homemade fish fingers and as for A.'s pork and stilton pizza......it was worth travelling for.