WTF Friday: Versace Fall 2013

 

I’ve finally got my head back into the blogging game and have much to share with you next week. However, I couldn’t let this Friday go past without a quick WTF?

Today, we are going to be discussing lacy underwear for men.  As shown in Versace’s Fall 2013 Menswear collection.

 

versacemenswearfall2013

 

By which I mean you will have to discuss it because I am rendered utterly speechless.

 

versacemenswearfall2013-2 versacemenswearfall2013-3
versacemenswearfall2013-4 versacemenswearfall2014-5

 

I do appreciate, though, that Donatella, in keeping with couture tradition, added a more bridal look at the end of the show.

 

versacemenswearfall2013-6

 

   
Share

A New Year, A New Kitchen

 

I haven’t been blogging regularly for a while and nobody’s currently reading this blog, so hopefully I can get away with slipping this in without anyone noticing.

WARNING:  I guarantee you will see nothing uglier on the Internet today than the following pictures.  Get the eye bleach ready just in case.

Finally, this year we will be remodelling our upstairs kitchen.  Our house has many fine features – a great location, a fabulous roof deck and spectacular views among them, but it is not blessed in its kitchens.

I say kitchens, because we have two of them, one upstairs and and one downstairs.  The downstairs one is very tiny and in need of extensive remodelling, so we tend to mostly use the upstairs kitchen.  Yes, the pictures you are about to see are of our nicest kitchen.

Ready?

uglykitchen-2

 

Aren’t those burnt orange walls and green laminate countertops just GORGEOUS?

 

uglykitchen-5

 

I bet you’re jealous of those fabulously inconvenient shelves.

 

uglykitchen

 

You too, can revel in the lack of storage space.  Now do you understand why you never see any ‘in progress’ shots on my recipes?

It gets worse in the other direction.

 

uglykitchen-6

 

uglykitchen-8

 

What about that LOVELY panelled ceiling?

The. fridge. will. go.

 

uglykitchen-9

 

I am so embarrassed that we’ve been in this house for six years and done nothing about this hideosity.

We are on a tightish budget, so we can spend more on the downstairs kitchen, so it’s going to be Ikea or similar all the way up here, keeping most of the existing appliances and the existing layout intact.  We already have half a ton of Ikea kitchen stacked up in our basement, bought in the recent sale, and the contractor is due to start at the beginning of February.

Wish us luck! I’ll be asking for lots of our opinions along the way. At the very least we know whatever we end up with can’t possibly be worse than this.

   
Share

Hanging Gingerbread Cookies

 

It’s still sort of Christmas round these parts.  The Minx doesn’t go back to school until Monday and we keep the tree up until January 6th as is traditional in the UK.

 

gingerbreadcookies-4

 

So I wanted to share one of the most fun things we did this Christmas, which was make gingerbread cookies for the tree.

 

gingerbreadcookies-7

 

I wanted to do something to pull together the hodgepodge of ornaments and decorations we’ve gathered together over the years, so I decorated them as simply as possible with white frosting and assorted pinkish ribbons from my ribbon box.

 

gingerbreadcookies

 

The very cool thing about them is that you’re always prepared for unexpected kid guests, of which there seem to be very many over the holiday period.  Kids seem to love being able to choose their own cookie from the tree.

 

gingerbreadcookies-5 gingerbreadcookies-3

 

If you want to make some next year I can highly recommend this recipe which made easy and extremely tasty cookies.

I used this recipe for basic royal icing using egg whites but halved the amount (ie. 1 egg white to 1.5 cups of sugar). You really don’t need much icing for these babies.

I then pushed a little sugar ball into the cookie dough before baking, which could be pushed out at the end and left a little hole for hanging without the need to do dangerous things with skewers.  This worked fantastically for the heart and star-shaped cookies, but I think next time I need to find a way of creating slightly smaller holes for my gingerbread girls and boys, so they don’t all look like that have frontal lobotomies.

 

gingerbreadcookies-6

 

As you can see, my icing skills leave an awful lot to be desired, but they were hugely fun to do and I think they have a certain, er, rustic charm. 

I think this is the start of a new Christmas tradition anyway, though I bet I’ll be cursing these come December-time. Did you guys start any new traditions this holiday?

   
Share

Walking in a Winter Wonderland in Whistler

 

whistlercanada (12 of 19)

 

Good morning dear hearts and a happy new year to you all.  I am BACK.  Thank you so much for all your good wishes and butt repair tips here, on Facebook and via email.  This thing has been a complete BITCH but I’ve got it down to mild sciatica in the morning and a sort of bruised feeling in my bum at all other times, so definitely making progress. I can also sit which is a Christmas miracle in and of itself. 

 

whistlercanada (1 of 19)

 

In case others think they might have the same problem I’ll be writing a post in the near future about all the treatments I did and how they did or did not help.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season in the meantime.  We made our annual trek to Whistler, wherein I pack the Husband and the Minx off skiing and then take myself off on snowy walks with my camera and my thoughts. This year we had plenty of snow and plenty of sunshine and it was quite breathtakingly beautiful.

 

whistlercanada (4 of 19)

 

whistlercanada (18 of 19)

 

whistlercanada (16 of 19) whistlercanada (11 of 19)

 

One thing I did in Whistler was to read This Year I Will… which is full of tips and tricks for actually sticking to New Year’s resolutions.  One tip that is resonating hugely with me at the moment is to concentrate the mind and give the year a title.

So for me this year is going to be The Year of Getting Organised, The Year of Photography, and The Year of Getting Fit.  I like the idea of not making specific resolutions, but instead choosing areas of focus and attention.  That way I can accommodate my butterfly mind by doing lots of different things in a certain category and not have to beat myself up if I fail to keep specific resolutions.

 

whistlercanada (9 of 19)

whistlercanada (17 of 19)

whistlercanada (19 of 19)

 

Have you made any resolutions for 2013?  What will be your areas of focus?  Do you think I’ll actually manage to tidy my desk this year?

   
Share