Royal Tour - Day 2

Still in Singapore - Will and Kate's first stop of the day was at the park, Gardens By The Bay, where the public had a chance to meet the couple.  

(Kate wore a broderie anglaise full skirted suit by Alexander McQueen)
They then spent time at the Rolls Royce aircraft engine factory where Will made a speech.

After a quick change the couple visited a residential area, Queenstown, that was named after Queen Elizabeth and again spent time meeting the public.

 

Then it was on to the Rainbow Centre - a school and community center for children with special needs.
Kate spent time with children in an art therapy class while Will took part in a PE class.
 (Kate wore a skirt and top by Singaporean label RAOUL)
They are off to a reception this evening so I'll see you again soon...

Princess Watch - State Dinner

As I write this, Will and Kate are attending a state dinner given by the President of Singapore at his formal residence.  Kate looks absolutely stunning in a purple and cream dress by famous Singaporean designer Prabal Gurung.

2nd Royal Tour

Today The Duke and Duchess began their second Royal Tour as representatives of the Queen in this Jubilee year.  The South-East Asia Tour began in Singapore with Will and Kate touching down this afternoon our time.

Their first official engagement was at the National Orchid Garden at the Botanic Gardens where  they had an orchid named in their honour.

This was also a special moment for William as his Mum had an orchid named after her but tragically died before seeing it.  He was able to view the orchid today for the first time.

This tour will last 9 days and will include Malaysia, The Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.  Brace yourself for another onslaught of 'Princess Watch'.

Kate is wearing - Jenny Packham designed dress specifically made for the occasion and featuring orchids on the fabric.

In the Garden

The last few days have been glorious in Melbourne, so feeling thoroughly sick of dusty boxes I decided to tackle the disaster that is the front garden.

 before

There was much pruning, chopping, yanking and even a small amount of swearing - but by the end of the morning I had cleared one whole bed!

Out came the old Rosemary bushes that were really too woody to stay and luckily the iceberg roses had survived quite well and are even sprouting lovely new greenery after a drastic pruning a couple of weeks ago.  I am still mourning my gorgeous lush grass but with a bit of luck it will regenerate slowly.  It has given me a chance to even out the front lawn which is a good thing so one day we'll level the front and the driveway so we have a nice even surface.

It's not much in the scheme of things but it gave me a lot of satisfaction to neaten up at least one area of the garden.

We're In

We are finally back in!  It has been an epic adventure which some days didn't ever look like ending, but now looking back it also went by in the blink of an eye.  I realised how long it had been when the kids were less than thrilled to get back home.  At the ages of 8 and 10 a year is a long time and the prospect of leaving the lovely clean, neat house in Port Melbourne to move back in to a dusty, partially completed house that is full of packing boxes was not greeted which much enthusiasm. 
I can't really blame them although their forced cheer did little to alleviate the sheer drudgery of moving.  

I finally completed the cleaning of the Port Melbourne house on the weekend so can now concerntrate fully on our place - although how the hell we fitted soooo much stuff in a home half the size is completely beyond me.  Especailly considering a lot of culling was done when we moved and is still going on as we open box upon box of stuff we really could do without.

So far I have managed to partially set up the kids rooms (although Gidget did most of hers - and Moondoggie did nothing!) and the kitchen is functioning nicely.  I figure if I can keep a couple of areas in some semblance of order than I will not go completely mental.  

Yesterday we even managed to hang a couple of pictures which has made it seem much more like home.  The Ladies have found a new home in the kitchen, very pleased to be out of the hallway and where the action is.

There is still a shelf to go up under the Ladies which should happen in the next couple of days but essentially the kitchen is completed. 

 

Every so often Surfer Boy and I look at each other and grin like loons  - finally we are back home where we belong.

Miley Doing Country....

Book Group!

The Land Of Stories - The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

Alex and Conner Bailey’s world is about to change.

When the twins’ grandmother gives them a treasured fairy tale book, they have no idea they’re about to enter a land beyond all imagining: the Land of Stories, where fairy tales are real. But as Alex and Conner soon discover, the stories they know so well haven’t ended in this magical land—Goldilocks is a wanted fugitive, Red Riding Hood has her own kingdom, and Queen Cinderella is about to become a mother!
The twins want to get back home. But with the legendary Evil Queen hot on their trail, will they ever find the way?

I heard  about this book many months ago in an interview that Chris Colfer gave to the ladies at The View.  I'm not usually a fan of The View but I am a fan of Chris Colfer's and when he mentioned he was writing a book my ears pricked up.  The fact that it was for kids made me even more intrigued.  Chris is an amazing man who has made such an impact in his short life - He was an openly gay teen and as a result was severely bullied at school.  He wrote and acted in productions at school and when he auditioned for GLEE they created the role of Kurt Hummel specially for Chris, scrapping another planned character.  Chris has gone on to write movie scripts and star in short films, he has won a Golden Globe for his performance as Kurt and has been nominated for 2 Emmy awards.  Last year he was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World!  While all this was happening Chris had time to write this book.

Now to the book - it is one of those books that are a delight to own just for the joy of looking at it.  It is stunning and makes you want to dive into what promises to be a magical tale.
The story is indeed delightful, well written and full of all the things that make up a classic fairy tale.  The human characters have a depth to them that makes you care about what happens to them and the relationship between the siblings is warm and often hilarious.  Many of the characters they meet along the way are known to us already and it is fun to see what these old friends (and foes) are up to now. 

It is the perfect book to read aloud to younger kids, exciting, fun, magical but not too scary.  Older kids (7 up) will also love reading it themselves although I'm tipping they'll also love hearing it read aloud - I'm about to test this on my own kids so I'll let you know their thoughts.

Here is what Chris had to say about the book.... 

Princess Watch - Paralympics

Will and Kate attended the cycling and the goalball together and Kate continued on to the swimming later in the day.

Princess Watch - Paralympics

Kate and Will attended the opening ceremony of the Paralympics ..... I particularly loved these two shots - this is what happens when every moment is photographed.

Kate wore her pale gold coat by Mikklesen which we have seen on numerous other occasions - once more Kate wants the attention firmly on the athletes rather than her fashion choices.

Moondoggie

On the weekend I drove to Surfer Boy's office to pick him up and look at what greeted me when I pulled up - who is that street urchin?

 

I think Moondoggie is getting  more and more like his father every day.  I remember the days when S.B. would climb anything and everything in site. 

Spy Headquarters

 

The renovation has been going on for so long in the short lives of my children that the novelty of visiting has completely worn off.  The standard refrain at out place is 'Ooooh we don't have to go to the house do we?'

On Sunday we got the same reaction but this time instead of wandering around asking when we were leaving they DISCOVERED A CUBBY!!!

 

I was called from inside and told to find them, I followed the giggles and was most surprised to hear their chuckles coming from the ceiling of the shed.  It turns our Surfer Boy has built himself a mezzanine for storage and there I found my kids.  

When I went back later they were sitting there swinging their legs and discussing their new HQ.

  

By the end of our visit they had rigged up a rope system to get up there and had decorated with various objects from the first load of boxes we'd brought over.
Unfortunately by that time I was too tired to contemplate getting up there to take photos so you'll just have to use your imaginations.  The whole house is like a magical cubby for me so I was so glad they had found their own - looks like S.B. will have to find another storage spot until the novelty has worn off.

Moondoggie's Room

We are heading slowly but surely to the time when I can get my 'Martha Stewart' on and start decorating. I have had serious withdrawals as there is not much to get creative about when you are squatting in someone else's home.

Moondoggie will have his very own room and I have realised that he has absolutely no furniture to go in it.  The kids always shared and the built in beds will of course stay in Gidget's room.  I think somewhere in the mess of stored furniture there is an old bed head that belonged to Surfer Boy so until we get around to building him his ideal bed that will have to suffice.  I'm  keeping my fingers crossed that there will be something we can re-purpose as clothing storage..  poor Moondoggie - me thinks it will be a while until his room is 'a joy to behold'.

I have secretly fallen in love with this wallpaper though - I have visions of it on one of the walls of his room but I don't think it is all that practical when he is already 8 and may grow out of it - do pre-teens like robot wallpaper??

 

It is from Dutch design label STUDIO DITTE who also make this wonderful car version as well.

 

It may be safer, and cheaper to just add some colour.  I think Gidget is hankering after a yellow wall in her room so maybe we'll see if Moondoggie would like one too.  It's going to be a slow work in progress but that's OK - we're getting used to that!

Princess Watch - Closing Ceremony

It's a sad day - no more waking up to see what Kate was doing - no more Team GB outfits, no more Kate and Will PDA - oh and of course no more sport!
The closing ceremony was great fun with my highlights being these two...

 

One Direction

 

The Spice Girls

And of course these two.....

 Harry, standing in for The Queen (big responsibility for Harry) and Kate.

Harry, Will and Kate are ambassadors for the Para-Olympics so with a bit of luck I'll be able to continue to bore you with Princess Watch sooner rather than later. 

What Kate is wearing - her Whistles dress (last seen at the Jubilee concert)

Matilda

Princess Watch

 

Never fear - I haven't forgotton Kate.  She had been at so many Olympic events in the last 2 days that I thought I'd spare you and just give you the highlights.  She attended the Aths, Handball, Gymnastics, amongst others and the photo below is from the Sailing which she attended with Princess Anne.  At all these events she wore variations of the GB official gear.  Just another instance of Kate trying to keep the limelight where it should be.

She's Free

The first thing I noticed today was the lack of a builders fence around the property. It's amazing how naked the house looks, but she now almost looks like her old self - minus a few plants and grass and with the addition of much mud. Only a matter of days now.. fingers crossed.

Good Time!!

I want to have a weekend away with friends, and a slushy machine!!

Red Leather, Yellow Leather

It's funny what you notice when you start to collect images. If anyone had asked me if I liked leather I would have said an emphatic 'NO'.  Leather conjures up visions of 'Natuzzi' couches in various shades of chrome and black/grey - hot summer days means your legs stick to it and layers of skin rips free every time you shift position - cushions slide off it's slippery surface.
Turns out I need to eat my words as when I looked through my furniture file I discovered many a leather item.

  

 

It turns out I do indeed like leather - as long as it is saddle brown and shabby! Who knew?