Go Mariners!

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Apologies for poor quality phone pic

So we are now officially Seattleites.

This afternoon we all went (with one of the Minx’s friends from nursery and his family) to see the Seattle Mariners – our first ever baseball match.

I can’t pretend that I understood everything that was going on, but that didn’t stop it being the most tremendous fun.  Torrential rain having returned to Seattle with a vengeance this weekend, Safeco Field was also by the far the best place to be in all Seattle, as it has a retractable roof.

The Minx had a whale of a time cheering along with everyone else though her appreciation of the finer points of the game was a tad sketchy, and it was just a grand family day out – and a huge contrast with the aggressively macho atmosphere of football matches in the UK.

Just so you can all orientate yourselves a bit, here’s a picture I took earlier this year from the Space Needle, with Mt Rainier in the background and Safeco Field to the far right (the stadium to the left is the NFL stadium).

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Another Secret Update

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Some more nice online mentions. 

I am apparently an Alpha Mummy. It’s very nice to be up on a national newspaper’s website, even though I had to draw their attention to the blog myself.  Likewise a lovely link to the Matryoschka teatowels on the ever fabulous sfgirlbybay.  

It’s probably because I’m British but I always feel awkward indulging in shameless self-promotion – but I need to learn to do it more often it seems.

The teatowels have also been mentioned on House to Home.  We sent some out to be photographed by Ideal Home earlier on this year, so I think it’s as a result of that. Don’t think they’re in the magazine though as we would have been getting a flurry of orders for this product if it had been.

Now I really need the Universe to start focusing a bit more on the orders side of things as it’s been slacking a bit in that direction this week.

By the way, if anyone sees a mention of ‘mirrormirror‘ in the Press or online could you let me know?  Our PR company used to keep an eye on such things but now that we no longer use them I’m finding it very difficult to keep up.

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T-Shirts

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If I were taller and didn’t have such enormous ‘bloggers’ boobs’, I would definitely be buying one of these from House of Holland (in fact, I might still have to get one or two to wear in bed –  but they’re massively sold out now of course). 

Or else I may just buy Little Doodles’ fabulous version, if she ever adds it to her Etsy shop. (She’s on a bit of a bird kick at the moment, which is a shame because I much prefer her fashion and interiors stuff.  But that’s mostly because I’m phobic about birds, so ignore me).

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More Florence Broadhurst

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One of the things I like best about blogging are the great emails that come in from all over the world.

Yesterday I was thrilled to find Helen O’Neill, the author of Florence Broadhurst – Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives in my inbox.

I read the book a couple of months back and enjoyed it very much.  I think anyone with an interest in design would love it. 

It is stunningly produced, with a wonderful cover and lots of gorgeous colour plates featuring Broadhurst’s iconic designs inside.

Broadhurst herself is an absolutely fascinating and ultimately inspirational character. She was a ruthless businessowman, a PR genius and an entrepreneur to her (no doubt colourfully varnished) fingertips, at a time when female entrepreneurs were very few and far between. Had she been living today, I’ve no doubt she would be at the head of huge business empire placing Florence Broadhurst designs on everything from stationery to rugs. She was also a true eccentric, travelled widely – again at a time when most women were expected to stay at home and mind the baby – and had an interestingly ambiguous take on morality. I loved her.

My one gripe with the book is that it tries too hard to create drama and controversy – Florence’s life is fascinating enough in and of itself – but I think that much of this impression stems from the publisher’s overhyping. But the so-called scandals and mysteries of her life felt a bit overegged. See here for a very interesting conversation about the book.

But I digress.  Helen wrote to thank me for mentioning the book on the blog and then went on to reveal that the book still doesn’t have a UK publisher.  I find this completely extraordinary, given what a super book it is and particularly when one walks round Waterstone’s and sees the drivel which does get published nowadays.  UK publishers you must be mad!

Helen seemed to think that some UK blog mentions might help, so I’m very happy to oblige. She’d like her mother who lives in the UK to be able to walk into a shop and see Florence on the shelves. UK publishers, how can you be so cruel?

Sadly, I’m not entirely sure that many any UK publishers read this blog. (Well, they certainly won’t any more – Ed).

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Handwritten?

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I’ve been looking for a good excuse to get some gorgeous Moo mini-cards for a long time, and it occurs to me that they would make really cute mirrormirror gift tags if I got them made up using product images and tied them with ribbon.

The only problem is that they’re rather small (only half the size of a conventional business card) and we hand-write every gift message, so there’s going to be a limit to how many words we can fit on each card.

However, if we printed the message, we’d be able to fit a whole lot more on.  But is a printed message too impersonal? What do you prefer when giving and receiving gifts online? Has anyone seen any great gift tag ideas they’d like to share?

 

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We bought bedlinen for the Minx yesterday. She is THRILLED.  I will post a picture later in the week, together with a definitive guide to the differences between US and UK bedlinen etiquette. I know you can’t wait.

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Two Countries Separated by a Common Language – Part I

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Or, what is the American for duvet?

Up until now I have been an extremely cruel mother and confined my little, exceedingly wriggly, girl to a Grobag sleeping bag and cot (quite a big one as it has potential to be converted to a toddler bed).

The extent of my cruelty was brought home to me when we were staying at the very new and very swish Hotel du Vin in Cambridge and the Minx’s cot came equipped with a zoo-print toddler duvet.  Never have you seen a more delighted girl.  And never have you seen a more shamefaced mummy, when on the next few nights, the Minx proceeded to unzip herself from her Grobag and wear it ‘like a duvet’. 

So a toddler duvet must be procured, and it is yet one more thing where I don’t have a clue where to begin here in the US. 

I was quite young when the so-called ‘continental quilt’ took the UK by storm and became the very thing for the well-dressed bed.  Somewhere along the line we adopted the French word ‘duvet’ and now I think there is hardly a bed in the UK where they aren’t used.  After all, who would want to go to all the trouble of fussing with sheets and blankets?

The Americans, that’s who.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but from experience of staying in US hotels and from searching for duvets online just now, it would seem that most Americans are still in thrall to traditional bedding with sheets and blankets and quilts and things called shams. 

Do you guys know what duvets are?  Are ‘down comforters’ the same thing?  Is this a toddler duvet? Can you suggest anywhere where I might get a funky toddler duvet cover in pink and green which is not as wishy-washy as the Pottery Barn ones (we  – by which I mean I, because the Minx would probably love one – would also prefer not to go the Dora the Explorer duvet route either).  Any advice on American bedding etiquette would be much appreciated, because I really have no idea where to begin.

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