What a lovely weekend...

For doing the gardening!

After I'd been out on Friday at a wonderful friend's Hen Do, come home on Saturday and slept to recover... Sunday was a glorious day. Perfect for clearing all the spring germs out of the house, all the windows open, washing on the line - glorious!

Also gave me the opportunity to do some much needed work with my other half in the garden. A few hours after we started we had a beautifully mown lawn, with nice trimmed edges nonetheless! I also planted up some of my seedlings - courgettes, aubergines, peppers, green beans, tomatoes and a few other bits. Everything is looking much revived in bigger pots and plenty of sunshine. It's made me feel all summery and happy seeing everything starting to grow in the garden.

So... on this note I have been looking at lovely things for my garden - here's a selection of some of the bits and bobs I've been looking at.

An Eglu Cube - however much everyone tells me I'm mad (especially my parents), I would dearly love to have my own chickens. They're such lovely creatures, and you really can't beat a fresh egg for breakfast in the morning.

Now the weather's picking up and we can sit in the garden for longer at night without catching a chill - we need some lovely light. I've been looking at lanterns but a lot of them seem to hang from trees. Alas, we have no trees in our back garden, but I did find this beauty: A Frank Lloyd Wright design - stunningly modern - I love it!

I'm also loving Wind Spinners at the moment. They're so pretty and hypnotic - I've seen them in a lot of garden centres over the past 12 months and the number of times I've been tempted is untrue! This simple but beautiful one is from Amazon:

Something I should tell you...

My obsession for all things pretty, and all things intriguing is extremely personal. There may be things that are not to people's tastes. That's what I love about collecting / drooling over things...
I love looking at other people's collections of *stuff* too.

On Saturday I ventured to the Manchester Gallery, on Moseley Street. Details here. I love it. I've always have, I always will.

My favourite room is the Gallery of Craft and Design. There are some truly beautiful collections.

The 3 highlights for me were:

* The display of colour... a selection of glassware, all arranged by colour - it was just so incredibly beautiful and really pleased my eye! (Although it's really made me want to organise everything in my house by colour!)

* The gorgeous man's coat from the 17th or 18th century (I can't remember which). It was stunning, and is now the wallpaper for my phone!! So intricately embroidered. It makes me wish I was born in a different century (although I'd never have been able to afford anything like that - I would be a poor servant girl!)

* The collection of teapots - from my first post, you may have guessed that I like tea! Nothing better than looking at a fabulous collection of teapots!

In a seperate bit of the museum there is also a display of buttons - and now I want a box full of buttons! So, to curb my spending, I thought I'd show you 3 of my favourite buttons that I've seen on internet in my searches today. (Click the images for the websites).

Mad Hatter's Tea Party...

So, my love of tea and all things pretty has had me looking at teacups and saucers lately. Not the most interesting of things you may think, but there are a lot of wonderful things out there.

How about this one?
Nice and simple - but so cute












Can be found here: White Porcelain



These lovely and 'vintage-y'. I love the classic style, and the fruit and the flowers make things seem so summery. I can imagine cream tea in a summer house on a lovely warm day.























Find it here: Not on the High Street

And my final one for tonight...
If you know me, I love all things Paris. Well, this Paris Street Tea Cup byEstherCoombs on Etsy has really caught my eye! It just seems that little bit different and romantic.

















And this beauty can be found here: EstherCoombs' Etsy Page
I'd thoroughly recommend checking out some of the seller's other things on etsy - some beautiful things!


If anyone has any more inspiring designs, let me know! I'm always on the hunt for shiny things to obsess over!



And finally... Friday night... I shall be mostly curled up on the sofa with the new book I'm reading! :)

Hello

Well - my first proper blog... What do I do first?!

I've taken inspiration from the Guardian Website, and the "6 of the best" thing that always intrigues me. See here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/sixofthebest
I'm planning something similar - but on the things I obsess on over the internet!

If anyone has any suggestions - let me know! Otherwise, I'll be back here shortly!