Gift Guide Number Two: UNDER $25

In honor of the fact that this is my 125th post, I shall share with you some great gift ideas for $25 or less! Also, I love shopping so it's just plain fun for me. Enjoi (as in joi in french which means joy).

I DIE over this Fleur de Lys tea cup and saucer from Anthropologie for $10.

This would be a perfect gift for me (ahem!). A pocket mirror and its own sack from Anthropologie for $14. You can have them in any letter, not just "A."

Remember what life was like before email and people wrote real letters? I love Crane's stationary and I write my sisters all the time using it! Get back to basics. THESE are $16 for a set of 10. Lots more to choose from on the Crane's website.

How can you not adore Simon Doonan? As Diane Von Furstenburg says. "Who better than Simon to write about glamour and eccentricity? He is both!!!!" This book from Amazon or your local independent bookstore for $24.00

When I have time I really want to make this gift from Martha Stewart. It's Sugar body scrub because I love sugar and I love exfoliating! Priceless.

Here are some fun folders for the person in your life who loves organization and loves to decorate! From this great site Spoon Sisters which has fun creative gifts like this one. $ 9.95

I love cook books dedicated specially to certain desserts like cupcakes or cookies or pies.
This one from Spoon Sisters for $ 15.95.

A bright idea? Wow, that was cheesy. This candle lightbulb from Spoon Sisters again for $25.00 Kind of a cute idea for your environmentally conscious friend.

Nobody likes a moisture ring on the table! They (I) do like these coasters, though. La Mer Coasters (set of 4) for $15 from Williams Sonoma.

Only FOURTEEN DAYS left until Christmas and TWELVE DAYS until the first day Chanukah!

Alicia B.

Make yourself happy

Everybody loves to sing. Everybody! Some, the brave or talented, do it openly for us all to enjoy. Others do it in secret, mostly in the car. We all have a tune in our heads, we all want to sing. Christmas time gives us a chance to indulge this joint passion.

Carol singing began in the Middle Ages and was performed by groups holding hands and dancing in a circle. It was done for the pure indulgence of enjoyment. Even though St Francis of Assissi (the animal saint) introduced it into formal church services, it was meant to be just the bishops who sang. They got all the fun! So the secular mob took it upon themselves to sing in the streets. The poor would perform door to door in return for a reward.

Oliver Cromwell banned carol singing in the 17th century, demanding that christmas be taken seriously. Hmmm.

So this year, let yourselves go, exploit your freedom to sing. Grab some friends, form a circle, dance and sing! You will feel much better and happier for it. You could even do it for a charity, such as Shelter or The Children's Society. Whatever excuse you find, just do it and be happy. Life is beautiful.

Blossom & Bill festive greeting cards in packs of 8 available from ISAK.

Outdoor shower for a clean green me, grateful green garden

outdoor room shower from trendir.com

My first outdoor shower experience was in Hawaii. The beach with its whales and white sand stretching before me, the volcanic mountain raising behind me, thick with butterflies, birds and flowers, with NOTHING between me and nature, but droplets of warm water.
I have wanted an outdoor shower ever since.
My garden has wanted me to have an outdoor shower, ever since the water restrictions began, and the sprinkling system was banished. To see good shower water go down the drain for no good reason makes me feel silly, when things I love are dying a few meters away.

Why do I still not have that outdoor shower?

Well, I need :
A gate, and some privacy screens so that I don't distress the neighbours.
maybe I could go to the Restorer's barn in Castlemaine, and get something quirky. Or look up a metalwork craft site
A way to get the water heated outside
coiled black pipe on the roof? How would I adjust the temperature? The water heater is less than a meter from where I want the shower. Plumber?
A way to get the water collected in swales, so seep slowly, without attracting mosquitoes.

A way to get excess water into the sewer, as legally required.
A Green plumber, again.

Portable outdoor shower from a Belgian Design site.
Water the dry patches of your garden, under the stars.
No soap, of course. Maybe Soapwart plant?

If you have any inspiring outdoor shower stories or pictures, or even better, practical advice, please click on the 'comments' below, and I will be grateful.

Holiday Home Tour Part 2

Its another Holiday Open House Blog Party at A Soft Place to Land. Go link up and show off your home!

Here are some more pictures of my Holiday Home- Im not real good with the camera so know that it does look better in person! (come on over-I'll make you some tea)
I think you can click on the picture to make them larger.

Here is the front porch:


The Front Door



The Stair Case



My place settings- (Marshall's deal!!! $3 a plate!!)


My Collection of Santas


Kitchen Window (LOVE the Black and White Damask)


My "Paris" Guest Bathroom


The Dining room table (notice the Lap Top)


JOY Plates- I did myself- I'll post a DIY on these soon


Mirror in Kitchen


Dining Room (Got this angel 3 years ago Target Online it was $100 marked down to $20!!!)

O Christmas Tree

My dear IRL Friend at WeAreTHATFamily asked everyone to show off their Christmas tree. We got over zealous last year and decided to go "big" and do I mean "big" - we bought the 12 footer people- do you know how long it takes to "fluff" a 12 footer? 10 hours and 30 min. to be exact-plus or minus the stopping and starting to get the little ones food, drinks, change out the DVD's, change diapers, etc... anyway here she is- or shall I say here "he" is because "shes" dont like being LARGE.

Go Blue?

Ultra modern tub found at Trendir.

If you haven't heard yet, being "green" is out and being "blue" is in. Blue is the new green. Being BLUE is about water conservation. Apparently along with the world having bad air, we're losing water. HERE is the article. While you're busy feeling bad about the world, I have collected some pics of BLUE bathrooms to perk up the mood! What better place to have a lot of blue but the bathroom? A room that is centered around water and cleanliness and recharging yourself (take a bath) might as well be blue.

Kenneth Albert designed this amazing over the top blue tiled bathroom complete with mosaics of a fish and people! All that blue tile gives off the feeling of water.

One more reason to love Katie Ridder. This bathroom. And that light fixture. And the bouquet of contrasting orange flowers.

Drake Designs proves that you don't always have to use tiles for the blue. Jamie Drake chose dark blue Madagascar cloth on the walls which is so beautiful; picks up so much light and accentuates shadows too.

Another pic of the Drake Designs bathroom.

Patrick Gallagher designed this blue beauty (yeah I said it). I love the tiles that he chose and that they continue up into the shower.

This is pretty with simple blue accents; blue Moravian star and blue hand towel. I especially love the glass jug in the back.

Frank Roop designed this incredible little bathroom. He even used CAD to custom design this tiled mat below the tub. Impressive! The soft blue on the walls is called Borrowed Light by Farrow and Ball.

This tub looks uncomfortable but there is something about those unfinished wide planked floorboards that is so appealing. The pretty blue wall is gingham blue by Pratt & Lambert. I love the ladder as a towel rack too--so rustic.

I love how the blue frames out the rest of the space. The star lantern picks up some blue as well! I do not care for that rug however. From Domino.

I know this isn't all blue but I thought this shower curtain was so adorable/delicate/perfect that I couldn't resist. From Country Living.

Also from Country Living, isn't that a fabulous vintage claw foot tub? This whole bathroom is a tad bit forced vintage though. Sorry.

I think designing a bathroom would be so fun. It can be such a small space and you can really have some fun with it as it isn't a main space and wouldn't have too much effect on the whole of the house.

Alicia B.

Christmas Dinner Dining Table?

We all like a traditional Christmas Dinner with friends & family, a roaring log fire, merriment & laughter, served up on a grand, old, solid oak table.

However, I'm sure there are many of us who crave a slightly different approach to Christmas Dinner. Well here are our suggestions for alternative Christmas Dinner Tables. Sushi anyone?

The "Silent Whisper" will cut down on the clatter of Christmas, cheering everyone up with a little bit of peace. The high density core absorbs the impacts at the surface, keeps the sound in and releases it ever so quietly when no-one is listening.


Go industrial with Mathew Hilton's Cross Pedastool table or Styx coffee table for Classicon.


If you have to stay with some tradition then "Foxtrot" by Sarah Kay is constructed from interwoven solid oak and strikes a formidable pose for any get together.


Chairs stack, so why not tables? Thomas Heatherwick's Piggyback provides a lovely solution to those unexpected family members turning up on Christmas Day. When stacked they slide seamlessly into one.


A splash of colour is what we all need in the depths of a grey, anglo-winter and that is provided by a burst of Pallas sunshine. Pallas is a slender table to keep diners closer and encourage communication, also makes passing the gravy easier.

The N-7 is a provocative and edgy style monster, eat off it if you dare!



Babel is a table system that comprises stacks of birch disks. Christmas should involve some play.



If mediocre is not in your dictionary then Wendell Castle is for you. We would happily spend Christmas alone with one of these exquisite little beauties to dine off, but could you bring yourself to plop a plate ontop of it. No, we think it would be better to go hungry for a while...

Happy Christmas!