Beautiful things

I found a blog after my own heart... dedicated to beautiful things. Called, Absolutely Beautiful Things it is truly inspiring. Can't stop surfing the site! What lovely colours - so bold and daring. Wish I knew how to put colours like that together.





Most of these pictures are from the blogger's shop Black and Spiro.

Thanks to her I am now not only inspired to redo my bookshelves and bookcases, but have an idea how I can do it.

Right now I have too many books on my shelves to be able to add any decorative stuff to them. But with ideas from her blog I now have an idea where I can move some of my books to make space on the shelves.

Hope to get started tomorrow.

Love.

Inspirational Ideas for Kids Rooms

um is away and I am kind of housebound for some weeks.

As a result I have found time to browse the net again looking for inspirational ideas for decorating, paper craft, entertaining and just being creative. I just love the plethora of ideas that are just lying around on the world wide web and what I love even more are the people who so freely share their ideas and inspiration with the rest of us. Today I have decided to add such inspiration to my blog too...

I love how each picture I see set off a set of chemical reactions in my head and lead me to my own creative set of ideas. For a start, here are some kids room decorating ideas to absolutely drool over...

Unfortunately I didn't record the blog I took this from. My kids' playroom was inspired by this picture. Am still thinking of ways to keep everything really neat. We have two blue bucket pails from Ikea, a square table almost like the one in the picture but only one chair at the moment. 

We have instead two large stools that also double up as storage boxes. Our room's theme is red, blue and yellow. Lots of white furniture. We also have shelves and shelves of books which I sometimes wish I did not have so many of. I have a problem letting go of books. So there's basically a fairly large kids book library in the playroom.

Will add a picture once I am truly satisfied with the room.

\

Oh, how I love everything to be organised!

And pretty!

Hope to use this as a base to design kids bedroom when they are older....

Or this....

My favourite mommy & party hosting blogs

1. http://www.thoughtfullysimple.com/

Find simple table setting ideas, esp for the outdoors here

2. http://www.simpleseleta.com/

An ex interior designers shares her creativity and that of others

3. http://alphamom.com/

Crafts with a difference just calling out with every click

4. http://www.mommytracked.com/downloads?page=1

Found some incredibly helpful downloads here to keep me organised

5. http://www.hwtm.com/everyday_celebrations
Hostess with the mostess... love her party planning ideas and themes

Organising craft ribbon

Found a great article on how to organise and store craft ribbon here... http://www.ehow.com/how_4581474_organize-store-craft-ribbon.html
Best suggestion by far.

Expressions

Here are some of my latest pieces. All of these have been sold except for the cow which I gave away as a gift.

Handbook 2010

Once in a while I receive a text certainly worth passing on...

HANDBOOK 2010

Health:


1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.

5. Make time to pray.

6. Play more games.

7. Read more books than you did in 2009.

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

9. Sleep for 7 hours.

10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.



Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey= is all about.

12. Don't have negative thoughts or of things you cannot control. Instead= invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.

14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner ofhis/her mistake= s of the past. That will ruin your present.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are= simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra clas= s,but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.



Society:

25. Call your family often.

26. Each day give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything.

28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.= Stay in touch.



Life:

32. Do the right thing.

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

34. GOD heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

37. The best is yet to come.

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Your Innermost is always happy. So, be happy.



Last but not the least:

40. Forward this to everyone you care about, I just did.

Doing away with plastic bags

My husband and I went to Maldives for our honeymoon and on our last day there, we visited its capital, Male. My most vivid memory of the city, if you can call it that, was not its architecture or food or shops, but how everyone who was returning from the market, carried their fish wrapped up in paper.

Although some people may consider them a little "behind", I thought they were a whole lot more progressive that we can ever hope to be. Green after all, is the way to go. And the Maldivians know all too well how plastic bags can damage the environment, particularly sea water resources - which is an important source of their income through tourism, and fisheries.

One of my earliest posts on this blog was about how I had started using reusable canvas bags to do my grocery shopping. At that time, supermarkets like The Village Grocer, TMC and Cold Storage were beginning to sell canvas bags at their check out counters but the take up was minimal. I hardly saw anyone else using the bags to shop, except for the odd Bangsar expatriate.
Then I found that my friend Brenda was carrying a cotton tote shopping bag with her WHEREVER she went and that made me feel guilty, but really all I had were the supermarket canvas bags which were way too bulky, and ugly to carry around on a shopping spree.

Things have changed a lot since then. Today, there are specially made reusable bags for shopping that come in all sorts of shapes with pretty, patterned designs. They are light and easily folded into the size of a small purse - and fits perfectly into even the smallest of handbags. There are string bags, tote bags, and light canvas bags in the loveliest of colours.

I don't know who is orchestrating things at the macro level, but things seem to be moving in the right direction. The new bags have appeared at a time when supermarkets and pharmacy's like Watsons and Guardian have jumped on the bandwagon that IKEA started, to declare "no plastic bag" days. This not only requires customers to consider buying reusable bags, but forces awareness on the ignorant, and reality on the indifferent.

For those of us who are more conscious about the baby steps that one can take for the environmental cause, they can go a step further. For instance, during Christmas I bought and gave away a few reusable bags as gifts. My little way of setting people off in the right direction. I also talked my sister in law into getting one for herself.

Hopefully, more people will begin to see the light and play their part to reduce the impact of global warming.

Get your own pretty, reusable shopping bag:

1. Mid Valley - stall at LG floor, Centre Court, between the food court and Tony Romas. She sells all sorts of bags. Its wrapped up in a little purse. RM29.90 ea.

2. Mid Valley - Tiny shop at one of the entrances to Carrefour. Its a small corner shop that also sells flip flops and other types of bags. RM15.00 ea.

3. Bangsar Village - not sure which shop yet. Will find out. RM49.90 ea. Supposed to be extra hardy - able to carry heavier loads. Unisex designs.

4. Guardian Pharmacy