3 Little Home Improvements That Make All The Difference: Prints, Plants & Pillows

Hi there! Happy Monday. How was your weekend?

On Saturday, we had great weather, so our friend Matt (Royal College of Art graduate, illustrator, and also part-time accountant - crazy, crazy talented!) came over for a barbecue. He gave us this card from The Printed Peanut with a sweet housewarming message inside and I loved it so much, I found a frame for it yesterday and plan to add it to my slow-growing collection of prints.

Isn't it lovely? It's from Louise Lockhart's book, Up My Street, a fold-out book containing illustrations of traditional British shop-fronts. Too sweet! I'm always inspired by Matt's creative circle - he's so tuned into the coolest art festivals and collectives in London. Recently, he sent me a list of his favorite illustrators and designers so I could peruse their work online.

Earlier that day, I dropped by Geo-Fleur's grand opening in Wood Street - a little shop that sells succulent plant hangers, gorgeous candle holders (plus hand-poured candles!), and the tiniest of cacti, amongst other, beautiful things for your home.

We walked away with this adorable little succulent and brass and leather plant hanger. I kind of love it. But! Even more exciting: Geo-Fleur is designing a bespoke terrarium filled with little succulents for us, which I'm picking up next weekend. Eeks!

I'm a plant-killer (seriously, nothing survives more than a few weeks in my hands), so I was relieved to learn that these succulents are really low maintenance and don't require too much attention or care. We're currently deciding where to hang it ... hmm ...

Yesterday, we stopped by Westfield to shop the sales and find some soft furnishings for our home. We're currently searching for the perfect area rug(s). (You know you've got a problem when you're watching Empire and you're too busy squinting at the rug in Empire HQ's foyer and wondering where they sourced it from rather than focusing on Cookie's fabulousness. I mean, #truth.)

If The White Company had a loyalty scheme, I think I'd be racking up some serious points by now, because I looked at my bank statement yesterday (don't even) and I think I shop there more often than I get coffees from Pret-a-Manger.

Anyway, we went in for a duvet cover and mattress protector ... and walked out with these too (plus a lovely, light grey robe for me):

They're the hugest, duck-feather-filled pillows ever. Ever. I've always been obsessed with the ginormous, unnecessary decorative pillows on hotel beds ... and how "finished" they make a bed look! These were a compromise because they're decorative but functional too: they serve as the perfect propping-up pillows when reading! I bit my lip at the price tag (they were in the sale, but still a little pricey for pillows), but went back to them because they were just so firm and comfy.

Now all we need is a painting to fill that space above the bed ... 

One thing I haven't had in this whole home-ownership process is patience. I've spent hours combing through interior design magazines, searching Pinterest for inspiration (I've pinned more "guides to creating the perfect gallery wall" than you could ever imagine), and religiously scrolling through the websites of every single indie-design/homeware shop I can find. I keep forgetting that finding art, homeware, and furniture takes time, and that I shouldn't be in such a rush! (I also keep forgetting that the hotels whose interior styles I so admire have a team of professional interior designers and a seemingly unlimited budget, so a rug for £3,000 is like, NBD for them ... sigh.)

So, that's it, really - three little home improvements that have made the world of difference. Also, question: how many of you make your bed EVERY SINGLE MORNING? I am the WORST at that! The worst! It's embarrassing.

Have a Flippin' Fantastic Weekend

Hey you. Have an awesome weekend. What are you up to? Did you have one of those weeks where, you woke up on Thursday and thought it was Friday? Yeah, me too.

But let me tell you what kind of Friday I've had so far:

1. I woke up to an email from Anthropologie, saying that we'd received a gift card from our friends Joe and Jodi. I kind of screamed into my pillow - I was that excited. Thank you, guys! In case you didn't know, I've been obsessed with that store since I was a teen - so glad that it travelled across the pond to London. Here are a few of the treats I recently picked up for our house at Anthro (as it's known in cultish fan circles!), if you'd like to see!

2. I went to work and realized that the hem of my skirt had come apart. My lovely friend and co-worker, Natalie (AKA Perfect Natalie from this post), offered to emergency-fix it for me as I stood and sipped a cup of tea from her desk.

3. Lauren of The Lifestyle Diaries named me as her Follow Friday pick on Instagram. Too sweet, and too kind!

This weekend, I'm:

1. Shopping for succulents (I'm a walking cliché!).

2. Hunting down a slim vanity/console table for all my make-up and accessories (I have a LOT!). Suggestions most welcomed! Thinking of this one, maybe.

3. Buying ALL the art frames in IKEA.

Have a great one, and I'll see you next week! xo

God's Own Junkyard: A Neon Wonderland

Last weekend, John and I went exploring and ticked off one of the places on my "must-see" list in London: God's Own Junkyard. I've read about this legendary establishment in dozens of magazines and blogs and wanted to see it in all its neon glory for myself!

Isn't it wonderful?

Originally owned by the late neon sign designer and collector Chris Bracey, the shop is now run by his family. It houses a collection which includes neon backdrops that Chris had been commissioned to make for Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and four Batman films - which is pretty incredible!

As if the shop couldn't be any cooler (throngs of hipsters were sipping gin cocktails at the gin palace next door), the Rolling Scones Café (the. best. name. ever.) is tucked away in the back and in the outdoor courtyard, where I nearly ran into a woman carrying a tiered cake-stand filled with scones and jam. Probably the coolest place to have afternoon tea in London. Sign me up, please (pun intended)!

There's such a sense of happiness when you step into a neon wonderland like God's Own Junkyard, with the fluorescent signs hanging just above your head. We marvelled at all the choices, before John proposed picking one for our new home, as a "treat".

"Where would we put it?" I asked dubiously, while he started getting ahead of himself and talking about motion sensor switches (I mean, honestly ...).

Here was his pick:

A retro sign for the lido (a term I'd never heard of until I moved to the UK) that he fell in love with at first glance.

As for me?

Thrills. All the thrills.

If choosing neon signs is a reflection of your personality, well, then our choices had me and John down to a T. His was all about the calm, cool, and collected vibe and mine's all attention-seeking bright lights (literally), colorful bulbs, and ... thrills. How can you not love this flashy arrow?!

Have you been to God's Own Junkyard? Which sign would you choose?

Yvonne & Guite's Delightful Canelés (The Lesser-Known French Pastry!)

The first time my French co-worker brought in a batch of her freshly baked canelés, I peered into her cake tin with some confusion. "What are they?" I asked. "Canelés!" she pronounced, in her beautiful, perfect French accent. "They're from the Bordeaux region, near where I'm from," she explained.

And while it might be some time before the sweet canelé rises to the level of popularity its French, pastel-pastry cousin, the macaron, commands, there's no doubt about it: canelés are the new madeleines, y'all, and Yvonne & Guite have perfected this delicious French pastry with their beautifully simple, traditional recipe.

When I tried a canelé for the first time, was love at first bite: a soft, pillowy baked custard center surrounded by a glazed, caramelized crust, the canelé has more depth than madeleines and financiers and the sweet little crown-like shape is irresistible. Unlike other canelé makers in London who feature a variety of different flavors, Yvonne & Guite focus on making traditional canelés using milk, eggs, sugar, flour, butter, vanilla, and rum.

I love the founder, Caroline's, inspiring story: originally from Vendée, France, Caroline began a career in asset management in Paris, then London, before turning her eye to her own business after being unsatisfied with the canelé recipes she found in recipe books. Convinced that canelés could give cupcakes and macarons a run for their money, she set off to develop the perfect recipe with a French pastry chef and ... et voila.

I sampled some of Caroline's fresh canelés with a hot cup of tea for breakfast (sorry not sorry! I'm not one of those bloggers who has a green smoothie every morning, unfortunately) and found myself back in canelé heaven: the perfectly glazed outer crust gave way to a ever-so-slightly chewy and subtle vanilla-flavored center.

It's a lovely alternative to cake, if you wanted to serve it for afternoon tea. As I was placing them on my mini cake stand, I also had visions of a tower of canelés, which would work beautifully well for birthdays or weddings!

I've been meaning to buy canelé baking molds to try making them myself, but might just end up bulk-buying from Yvonne & Guite instead. Oops.

Have you ever tried a canelé? What did you think?

Thank you, Yvonne & Guite for my beautiful box of canelés! Want your own box? Right now, Yvonne & Guite's distributor, Bonativo.co.uk, are offering £5 off canelé orders with the code YVONNE5. To keep up with Yvonne & Guite's delicious news, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. All opinions are my own.

Have A Star-Spangled Weekend

Happy Friday. What are your plans for this weekend?

It's the Fourth of July in the US tomorrow, so my family and friends will be enjoying a long weekend, filled with barbecues and fireworks, no doubt. I'm heading to a friend's wedding, so won't be able to celebrate much, but I'm hoping to get a BBQ going at our house on Sunday, maybe! (Note: by "I'm hoping", I mean "I'm hoping that John will set up a barbecue and cook everything to perfection while I work on my tan ...")

Tonight, I'm meeting up with fellow bloggers Angie (SilverSpoon London), Polly (Follow Your Sunshine), Lauren (The Lifestyle Diaries), and Andrea (Andrea's Passions) for a sushi-filled evening at OKA - exciting! Our reservation isn't until 8:30 pm (um, excuse me, that's my bedtime - *stifles yawn*) so I might indulge in a little homeware retail therapy beforehand. I mean, what?

Whatever it is that you're doing this weekend, I hope you have a sunshine-filled, relaxing one.

xo

Curating Artwork For Our New Home

One of the things I absolutely could not wait to do when we walked into our new home was to hang art on walls. We only allowed ourselves to put one or two things up (with these ingenious hooks) in our rental properties for fear of marking the walls - this meant a lot of wistful gazing at artwork in street fairs and boutiques and murmurs of, "When we have our own house."

And now that we finally do? I can't decide what to put where!

It also means that I'm in the market for a lot of new art (we have a lot of walls to cover!), so I've been trawling Pinterest and Etsy like nobody's business. A lot of my favorite sellers and artists are in the US, but most of them ship to the UK.

It's always been my dream to put framed artwork up - not only in bedrooms and the living room - but in communal areas like hallways, stairwells, and little random nooks and crannies. Even bathrooms. The ability to curate a beautiful gallery wall of all my favorite prints is the ultimate goal.

Here are some of my favorite picks from Etsy that have recently caught my eye:

For the kitchen:

I mean, this is my life mantra anyway, but I loved this funny, irreverent print from Watersounds and thought it'd be perfect for the kitchen. So much truth.

For the entrance, where we leave our keys:

 I'd love to put this sweet illustration by Blancucha right above the new shoerack we bought - where we grab our keys in the morning. I love the busy commuters rushing about, which is SO London! I think this will be my next purchase.

For the bathroom:

 
I love whales and I come from a place (the Pacific Northwest) where whale watching is very common! I wanted to have a oceanic (but not nautical - there's a difference!) theme for one of the bathrooms, and would love to see how this watercolor print from CactusClub would look in there.

For the hallway:

It's important to me that people know where I'm from and this beautiful watercolor blueprint from SummitRidge in Colorado really caught my eye. It's so simple, but it also a great reminder of a city that I miss (even though I'm actually from a town just a few miles south of it!).

We also bought an old map of Leicester (where John's from) which I'm really looking forward to framing and displaying.

For our bedroom:

I fell head-over-heels in love with this lovely print, which I bought from artist CarolinaBuzio yesterday! It's on its way over to me from Berlin and I can't wait to show you what it looks like once I have it framed and up on the wall.

What do you think? Do you have a lot of artwork in your home, whether you rent or have your own place? Who are some of your favorite artists and illustrators, and where do you like to buy your art? I'd love some ideas!

Travel Link-Up: 5 Reasons Why I'm The Anti-Traveller

This month's travel link-up theme is "Your Travel Personality" so I have a confession to make: I am the anti-traveller. Which is both a surprising and embarrassing admission to make in the face of my recent "highly commended" recognition at the UK Blog Awards' Travel category.

The mere words, "Let's plan a holiday!" sends chills down my spine. From the moment we begin to plan to the minute we step off the plane, I'm in constant panic mode. Case in point: Sri Lanka. For weeks before our departure, I obsessed over vaccinations, dengue fever, malaria, road conditions, the quality of food, visas, and more. Of course, as soon as we stepped off the plane, I took one look at the palm trees, felt the sun on my skin, and said, "I could stay here for the rest of our trip and be happy!" Then, on the cab ride to our first hotel: "I could be in this car for the rest of our trip and I'd be happy!" Then, at the actual hotel: "I could ..." You get the idea.

I'm fine when I'm there. It's just everything that comes before it that's the problem.

My biggest issues with travel planning?

1. Finding dates that work for both of us

I really don't know why this is so difficult. We both have 25+ days per year to take as vacation, but I think at the back of my mind is this concept of "saving". If you're an expat, then you'll probably know what I mean: saving up enough holiday to go "home" at least 1-2 times (if that). I'm always paranoid that I won't have enough days "saved" up for Christmas or a summer visit.

2. Booking the flights

I kind of just close my eyes and/or do something in the other room while John does this. I make helpful suggestions like, "That airline sounds so sketchy" and Google the last time they crashed. I make a face when he suggests an early flight to save a few hundred pounds. Then I see the cost of the flights and I make this gasping noise at the back of my throat before John rolls his eyes and clicks "Proceed to payment".

3. Planning our itinerary

I trawl through travel blogs and review forums, I read guide after guide, and I print out a map. I trace a plausible route with my finger, get frustrated after 5 minutes of doing so because I've realized that the driving distances are farther apart then I'd originally thought, and flop on the couch with my arm thrown over my face, while John patiently arranges possibilities into in a detailed spreadsheet.

4. Booking our accommodation

This. Is. The. Worst. I check all my favorite sites first (i-escape, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, SLH) before focusing on the minutiae of every negative review. "Oh, I found a great place!" I'll yell to John from the laptop. "Oh wait ... this says that the pool is like a feeding frenzy for mosquitos after 4 pm. Nevermind. Oh! I found another place! This one looks even better. Oh wait ..."

5. Preparing for our trip

I basically carry around a mini Boots pharmacy with me for the duration of our trip. Need bug spray? Got it. Rehydration sachets? Got it. Antacid? Yup, have it. Antihistamines? Duh. I also obsessively buy cash in whatever currency we need the day before our trip - just in case we can't get cash out at the airport for some reason (happened to both of us in Thailand, when our banks - despite us telling them beforehand that we were travelling - decided that we were definitely fraudsters trying to withdraw money from Thailand. Sigh.

John always jokes that if it wasn't for him, our holidays would be limited to destinations as far-flung as, oh, the Isles of Scilly or maybe Guernsey. I'm a stressy, anxious, panicky, irritable traveller. I don't do well in airports and I freak out when I have to fumble for my passport.

You have to understand that my childhood travel experiences were very sanitized and - dare I say - limited. Sure, we travelled to Hong Kong at least once a year to visit relatives, but it was scheduled, predictable, and familiar. We were shuttled from point A to B, accompanied by my parents, from shopping mall to restaurant to market. "Explore" wasn't in our vocabulary. In fact, when I go to Hong Kong later this year with John, it'll be the first time I won't be there with my parents for every second of our trip. It will be strange and unfamiliar all over again.

Travelling with John has definitely expanded my travel personality (and sometimes even pushed it past its comfort zone!): I'm now more adventurous, spontaneous (I've totally embraced not booking all of our accommodation until we're there - game changer), and eager to explore.

What's your travel personality? Are you cool, calm, and collected, or panicked and anxious like me?

This post is part of July's Travel Link-Up series. Be sure to check out the other posts in this month's link-up, hosted by Emma, Kelly, Rebecca, and Catherine.