We are complete bookworms in this house. I would go so far as saying almost more then adult books, I adore kids books and get excited every time we get a new one. Christmas is the perfect excuse for me to go a bit over the top buying new books for Anya. Last week I shared some great activity books for kids so today I wanted to share some story books. Most of these books are suitable for around ages 4-7 years but of course can be read out loud to younger kids too. Some of them are old classics like Puss in Boots and Aesops Fables but I’ve picked new and exciting editions which bring something different. We already own some of these books and love them and the rest are on our wish list:
With our recent house move I’ve got a million decor ideas floating around in my head. There are so many things and styles I like that I know it’s going to be hard to narrow it down and choose one particular style of decor. With Anya’s room too I keep flitting from a vintage style to something more modern. Then of course there is the art for her walls. I’ve been collecting all the kids art I like on a pinterest board but when it comes down to choosing just one or two pieces for her room, I really don’t know how I will manage. My latest find are these quirky water colour style prints that I’m loving. I love their expressions and the whimsical style of the characters too. This collection is by Mrs Mighetto and you’ll find most of the range at Mokkasin. One more fab art collection to add to my ever increasing choices! How will I ever choose?!
Once in a while a new line of baby clothing comes along that literally takes my breath away. It makes me wish for another baby simply because the clothes are that beautiful. This is one of those times. Brand new from California is Rylee & Cru created and designed by Kelli Murray who is mum to Rylee and Cru and an artist/designer. I have come across Kelli’s work before and have admired her simple, understated style that really stood out for me. The same style is now on these clothes – that swan print onesie, or the bunny print one – how beautiful are they? Playful and cute for babies yet so sophisticated to appeal to parents too. All the prints are hand illustrated or painted by Kelli and the subtle colour palette makes a beautiful backdrop for these drawings. I love the off-white, grey and blush tones in the collection – in fact I love it all. If only I had a baby to put it on… sigh!
The weather’s turned freezing, we are well in to December, lights and decorations are popping up everywhere; that can only mean one thing – Christmas is coming! As I’ve been busy moving house, I haven’t really gotten in to the Christmas spirit but now I fully intend to.
With the chaos that a house move brings and moving to a home that needs complete refurbishing getting a Christmas tree isn’t going to work out this year. Anya looks forward to decorating the tree each year so I don’t want to disappoint her and besides I want to have a little festive corner so that we all feel a bit more Chrismassy. I thought instead of a real tree we can make our own alternative tree which Anya can help with. That’s my plan for the coming weekend so I’ve been collecting ideas for alternate Christmas trees which are also great if you have limited space or some of these ideas are perfect for creating a little Christmas corner in your kids rooms too. I especially love the simple washi tape Christmas tree (no. 2) which you can create so easily in any room of your home. And aren’t those brush trees (no. 7) a great idea too?
Here’s where more about each tree: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Today I say goodbye to my home of 8 years plus – by far the longest I have ever lived in any one home. Growing up I never lived in any house for more than a maximum of four years but usually less as my father had a job that was transferable. I was born in Mumbai then moved to Prague then on to Hong-Kong. After Hong-Kong it was back to Mumbai then London and next New York. After that it was back to Mumbai and then I moved on my own to London to pursue my career in advertising. I always planned to go back home to Mumbai but it never happened. At the start of my life in London I moved homes a lot. Then I got married and Richard and I bought this place a few years later and we’ve been here ever since. I still remember the moment when we picked up the keys; the sheer excitement we felt. It was our first proper home together which meant the world to us. Three years after being here Anya came along. More joy and more memories were created in this home.
Each room, each wall, each floorboard here has a story to tell. Everywhere I turn in this home it’s full of wonderful memories – from the hand drawn height chart on the kitchen wall to each and every mark on my off-white carpet (yes I was over optimistic). Many crazy fun parties have taken place here with secrets shared between friends over too much wine and many a night have Richard and I sat awake and watched the sun come up while agonising over a big decision in our lives or celebrating a positive moment. These walls have heard a lot. Perhaps the greatest memory this home holds is the birth of Anya. This is the place where we welcomed her in to the world with equal amounts of love, awe and trepidation (being first time parents). This is also the last home of mine that my father will ever have seen. But these memories are etched in to my mind and I will always have them.
I guess I needed to write this post as much like this blog, this home is so much a part of my life, my story. That living room in the top two pictures has been my home-office too. That is where this blog began and where I hit publish on my first ever post. That is the room where I conceived the idea for my new shop and packaged the very first order from. But now it’s time to move on. Our new home has everything we could want from a home but it needs a lot of work. It’s exactly the place we imagined living in so we are really lucky to have found it. Once the work is done, in a few months time, we can enjoy our new space as a family and start making new memories there – I can’t wait. As I close the door on this place I look forward with huge excitement to the change and the huge challenges ahead. But while a I do that, a small part of me will always miss this home.
Do you feel sad when you move home or is it pure excitement for you? Any tips for quick settling in to a new place?
I won’t be posting tomorrow as I’m not sure I’ll have internet but hopefully I will be back to normal posts soon. You have a wonderful weekend and see you next week.
A huge thank-you to Abigail Fahey for the beautiful photo’s she took of my home.
I have linked up to Pouting in Heels All About You and Honest Mum’s Brilliant blog posts.
My absolute favourite thing to gift kids is books – any kind of book from story books, to picture books to activity books. Christmas gifts for Anya would not be complete without at least one book included but usually I give her many more. If you’re crazy for kids books too then you’ll love today’s round-up of gifts. I’ve chosen a range of the best kids activity books out there from drawing books to puzzles to colouring books. These activity books are for a range of ages mostly from around 4 to 8 years but even younger kids can get stuck in with your help. Here’s the selection:
Giving and receiving little gifts at Christmas is just as exciting as the big ones. The little gifts can be stocking fillers or some can even be wrapped up and placed under the tree. Also they’re great for when you have to give many gifts and don’t want to spend crazy amounts on each one. I have rounded up some of the sweetest little gifts or stocking fillers around and here is the selection:
There is something so special about cashmere. I don’t know if it’s the softness or the feel against your skin, but it is truly gorgeous stuff. Recently I discovered Italian Cashmirino who create beautiful cashmere classics for babies and kids. Anya and I visited their flagship store at the stunning Burlington Arcade in London and the clothes were really quite special.
Maria, who is the owner and designer has a very distinct and classic style. All the clothes are timeless which makes them perfect to hand down from one sibling to another and even one generation to the next. And for a change, there is loads for the boys too – maybe even more for boys than girls. What I especially loved though was the baby collection. Soft doesn’t even begin to describe it. And the styles and colours seriously made me broody! If you want to indulge in a bit of cashmere for your baby or kids, Cashmirino is the place to check out.
During our visit, while I browsed the clothes, Anya was given something a lot more fun to do. She was offered the chance to design her very own cashmere jumper which she jumped at! Cashmirino are running a fun competition where your kids can design a jumper and the winning design will be made in to a real Cashmirino jumper as part of their next Winter collection. Anya was the first child to take part and she had great fun creating a design which you can see in the picture above (apologies for the quality of the pics – all iphone pics) . And as a thank you for taking part, the lovely designer Maria gifted her with a pair of the softest striped gloves – lucky Anya! All kids are welcome to take part so if you’d like to join in just visit the Burlington Arcade, London store where your kids will be given a jumper template and coloured pens to get busy with while you can have a browse. Maria will personally choose a winner and if you win, your jumper will be made for real. How great will that be? There’s also a little treat for each child that takes part.
It’s that time of year when many of us start thinking of new year resolutions. I never make formal lists or even scribble down my resolutions but I do think of a few things in my head. Recently I’ve been thinking that I’m not having enough family time even at the weekends as we are crazy busy with a house move, work and everything else. So one of my top priorities for next year is more quality family time.
One way to ensure that we switch off and really have quality time together is to go away somewhere for the weekend which I want to do a lot more of next year. But in the past whenever I’ve thought of getting away, I always think of going abroad. It never occurs to me to get away within the UK which is so much more do-able even at short notice. A little while ago we wanted to get away and of course I started thinking Berlin, Paris or Venice. But as we had only a couple of free days and couldn’t manage a trip to the continent I almost gave up on the idea of going anywhere when I remembered reading about some wonderful UK breaks over at my my friend Honest Mum’s blog. That inspired me to think closer to home and after a quick search I thought about visiting Woburn. It’s not too far from London, has a lovely safari park which I knew Anya would love and some great places to eat which Richard and I would love.
We only managed an overnight stay in the end but that was fine. We got there and had a quick but delicious lunch at The Black Horse. We would have preferred a slightly more relaxed lunch but someone was desperate to get to the safari park! So off to the park we went. And it was fun; really fun for all three of us. The park has a mixture of animals most of whom roam freely within very large enclosures that you drive through. You have to stay in your car for obvious safety reasons but it was still so fun to see animals like tigers, bears and lions up close. No photo’s of these as of course we couldn’t put our car windows down to snap any. The highlight for me was definitely seeing the big cats which I love. But for Anya it was the drive around the monkey area. The monkeys jump on your car and sit there for ages which was really exciting for her.
The next morning we headed to Woburn Abbey and the surrounding gardens which are stunning. We walked around the place enjoying the gardens and the beautiful architecture. Anya got to run around, climb on rocks and just enjoy being outdoors as kids do.
After visiting Woburn I knew that next year I would make a conscious effort to get away within the UK more often. Just quick weekend trips that really allow you to spend quality family time together away from the stresses of everyday life and you get to enjoy the wonderful sites that England has to offer. With inexpensive hotels like Travelodge dotted around the country and so many wonderful places to see, eat at and relax, there really is no excuse not to. This short trip really opened my eyes to getting away within the UK and having a burst of pure family time without any distractions. I can’t wait to get away again and would love some recommendations on where to go as a family? Where have you been that you think is a must go to within the UK?
This post is brought to you in partnership with Travelodge. All ideas, words and images are my own. Thank you for supporting my work with partners that support this blog.
Yesterday I shared my favourite Christmas clothes for girls from our shop so today it’s the turn of the boys. Do you gift your boys clothes? I don’t know if boys get as excited about clothes as girls but if they do, I’ve picked out some fabulous pieces that they will enjoy wearing. Our boys collection is a bit smaller than the girls one but each piece is hand-picked and slightly unusual. And we have some very cool pieces that are big on comfort and style like the strapped trousers as well as the geometric dot trousers. So here are my Christmas gift picks for the boys and don’t forget that there is 20% of everything in the shop till Monday 1st December. Just use code THANKS02:
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
