It's all about ....

Don't you just love being able to live the life of your dreams?!

To take those steps necessary to move your life forward in a direction that feels so right from the inside out?

A friend recently told me that when you feel those goosebumps it's the spirits telling you that you are on the right path... well thank you my dear friend, as we have found our path!!

Over the past few days we have made some amazing decision for our little family of 3 and we are excited to be taking hold of our dreams

Today I feel ....

This morning I met with some remarkable and very talented people - they truly inspire me with their passion and love for what they do and how they live their lives.

I feel such overwhelming pride and honour to have them in my life and am very grateful to learn from them each week as I work on making my passion my life.

Thank you beautiful souls xx


Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

https://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/details.php?gid=135&sgid=&pid=11258

Beautiful Weekend

Spending time with my family is so very important to me. We are a small family - we are 3!

I am so grateful to have such a loving, supportive husband whom I fell deeply in love with many years ago and we are very fortunate to have the most beautifully spirited little boy, who makes our hearts sing.

I was told at a young age that I was unable to have children. So I did my best to cope with this news by throwing myself into my work.

Then to find out that you are having a little baby at 34 was such a mixed feeling; one of total shock and the other a feeling of being blessed.

Dealing with the reality of being pregnant was hard to deal with at first, as in my mind this was never ever going to happen, it was made very clear that it was not a possibility... you reserve yourself to the fact that you have been given a different path to take with your life and you make the best of that path, so how do I now factor in having a baby?

Grateful for our smiling bundle of joy, I once again threw myself down this very new and ever changing path of being a mummy! A roller coaster ride like no other that I had ever been on and just when you think you have it all under control .... whooshka you are sent off down another track on new things to learn.

I wouldn't change it for a minute and I feel blessed every time I hear "Mummy" yelled from another room.

I am in love with my beautiful little family and cherish every day we have together xx

A love of shoes

I love love love shoes! Something of a vice for me as I am always on the look out for gorgeous shoes that make me smile.... yes I dream about shoes too!

Today I was looking for a little pick me up and of course went 'browsing' for shoes - what fun?!

I found these very beautiful Tabitha Simmons Blossom Polka-Dot Slingbacks that just scream style and sophistication to me... such a 'Smiley" pair of shoes, don't you think?

And of course a 'Browse' wouldn't be complete with a very nice Shiny pair of shoes just to make your heart sing... these ones are from Christian Louboutin .... the very stunning Studio 120 Peep Toes

Both pairs are available here:

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/60479

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/60229

Enjoy your afternoon with a smile xx

It's a yellow kind of day...

I am in love with the colour Yellow at the moment and it seems to be such a strong theme that keeps coming through in my designs for my new Summer Collection and is a colour that I am drawn towards at every opportunity...

Ah Yellow... the colour of happiness and enlightenment you fill me full of energy and has definitely sparked my creativity!

I found these shots on the National Geographic website - these photographers are amazing!

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Images: Yellow Umbrellas; Photographer unknown

Yellow Leaves; Photographer unknown

Yellow Car; Richardson

Our Weekend

A suspended walk-way that takes you through the trees and over the top of a stunning rainforest.



The views were breathtaking!

It was the most beautiful day and such a wonderful way to spend time together!

Beautiful Magnolia

We are eagerly awaiting for our magnolia tree to flower again this year, the buds have started so not too long now ... this photo is from last year.

Walks

I love to go for a walk and meander through the parks or along the lake.

Photographs: The Sculpture Garden, The Lake, The Farmers Markets - all photos by me

Ah Julia!

I am so in love with Julia Child at the moment and am having a wonderful time reading her book "My Life in France"

Her story coupled with my passion for cooking and trying new recipes has been quite an adventure as I have tried out a few of Julia's recipes on my family ... which thankfully they have enjoyed!

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I find Julia Child such an inspiration and have loved reading about her fearless journey in achieving her goals ... never once was she deterred by the rejections that her book received, she and Simca continued to forge ahead and see their dreams become a reality... such pioneering women!

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My own writing has really started to flow and I thank Julia for giving me the confidence to step right outside my comfort zone and channel my inner passion and allow my 'little girl' dream of being a writer and author to come to the forefront ...

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Thank you Julia in more ways than one you are an inspiration xx

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Photograph: Julia Child at Le Cordon Bleu; photographer unknown

Where to start?

To search for missing pieces in a puzzle is so much harder than I had imagined. Being from a time and place where information is always on hand via the push of a button ... where does one start when the information you seek goes back to WWII?

Looking for family, names, documents that I know disappeared all those years ago when the places I need to see, visit and learn about were burnt to the ground in a time when people did such horrible to things to other people ....

A whole part of my family were there one minute and gone the next ... I have always wanted to find out more about my Grandfather's family to fill in the blanks, to find out if any way possible that someone in his family managed to escape from the horrible things that happened to them.

The question was always one of hope that maybe, just maybe one of them had been able to get out of their family home before the tragedy took place?

I feel an overwhelming need to look, to investigate, to do my best to find out if any of my Grandfather's family survived. We did try many years ago, however kept running into brick walls or dead ends.

Lately, it's been playing on my mind so much and the urge to do this has really been strong that I can no longer resist, so I've made a start and with head and heart endeavour to find out what I can about his family, my family, our family xx

Photograph: Images of Mariacka Street in Gdansk, Poland http://www.world-city-photos.org/free_photos/

A Journey, A Story ....

Looking for a missing link and trying to find a piece of me that has been missing for a very long time.

A part of my family, a part of my history and a part of me ...

How will I find it, where will I start?

So many places to look and so much of the information is missing....

Perhaps if I start backwards I might be able to fit all the pieces together and perhaps I might even find the ones that are missing?

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Photos:

Snow Covered Cottage, Poland - Photographer unknown

Palace on the Water Royal Lazienkowski, Warsaw Poland - Photographer unknown