mirrormirror - Part 88

La fin

September 15, 2008 By Paola 6 Comments

For about twelve short but glorious weeks of the year – from the end of June to the middle of September – Seattle is the best place to be on earth.

For the last couple of weeks we’ve been enjoying the most glorious Indian summer, temperatures in the mid-to-high 70s (around 25 degrees) and cloudless clear blue skies. This weekend was another such but with added poignancy. The slight chill on the breeze in the morning and the leaves starting to turn red round the edges told their own story. The weather is supposed to turn colder by next weekend, so this weekend was full of small goodbyes.

The last sandcastles on the beach

The last lunch by the sea

The last strawberry lemonade The last margaritas on the deck

The last popsicle princesses

The last vestigial sunset through the trees

The last chance to watch the lights come on over Seattle and the sun glinting off the downtown buildings

The last chance to watch the moonlight on the water

The last chance to have a candlelit dinner with friends

It was also the last chance for some crazy drunken dancing under the stars but I’ve decided to spare you the photos

Mrs Thomas’s Book of Household Management

September 13, 2008 By Paola 15 Comments

This is hands down the grossest thing I’ve ever posted, so those of you of a delicate constitution please look away now. This handy household tip is intended only for those of you who are plagued by fruit flies as I currently am. (Is it just a Seattle thing?)

Take one small bowl. Put a piece of overripe fruit in the bottom (they are appear to be very partial to pineapple). Cover with clingfilm and pierce several small holes in the top. Ha ha! The flies are clever enough to work out how to get into the bowl, but too stupid to work out how to get out.

God, this blog spoils you lot sometimes.

Stem

September 11, 2008 By Paola 4 Comments

I want to be Orla Kiely – design one (possibly two) iconic fabric designs, and create a whole global empire.

It can’t be that hard surely?

All available from Heal’s in the UK. God, I miss Heal’s.

The Naked Chef

September 10, 2008 By Paola

I never quite worked out why Jamie Oliver was called the Naked Chef in the early days. I do, however, have all of his Naked Chef cookbooks and they are some of the most oft-referred-to cookbooks on my shelves.

Yesterday was the Husband’s birthday, so I decided to bust out Jamie’s ‘Party Cake’ from the Return of the Naked Chef.

Fortunately I was ably assisted by my very own almost-naked chef – much the best way to be when it’s a hot day and chocolate icing is on the menu – who helped with the baking and was in charge of design and decoration.

At this stage it looked almost healthy

At this stage it looked almost classy

OK, so scratch the classy bit

Oh well, everything looks better by candlelight

Back

September 9, 2008 By Paola

this is why I haven’t been blogging

I can’t believe how long it is since I’ve blogged. I’m not sure what happened, but we’ve just been trying to make the most of the summer here in Seattle and my blogging mojo just seemed to get left on a beach somewhere. And funnily enough this is a busy time of year for mirrormirror what with all the pre-Christmas ordering and PR to work on.

Thank you so much for all your kind and concerned comments and emails – I’m sorry I just abandoned you without a word – and I’m touched (and somewhat astonished) that people have been missing my somewhat random musings.

But anyway, just to get things back on track.

Things I’ve been doing over the last month in no particular order.

– Loafing about on beaches (including another trip to Cannon Beach, still the most photogenic place on earth)

– Travelling on ferries

– Eating Dancing Deer chocolate brownies (perfect for picnics).

– Watching the Olympics (we managed to get a live stream of the BBC’s coverage to make up for the godawful coverage provided by NBC. You have to feel sorry for Americans sometimes.)

– Getting really stuck into Project Runway. And Project Rungay. Leanne is my hot, hot favourite. I just wish I’d found my way to her Etsy store before she got famous.

– Finally watching Season One of the The Tudors and realising it is much better than I thought it would be. And what a lustbunny Charles Brandon is.

– Researching my family tree. And finding out that I come from a long line of Londoners and craftspeople.

– Making aubergine (eggplant) and pistachio salad over and over again. It is SO good.

– Eating pistachio icecream. I like pistachios.

– Getting into a new school routine. The Minx is finally now going to school four days a week, although they are much shorter days, with more commuting. But finally it feels like I have time to focus on stuff.

– Photographing new stuff for the shop.

Things I have NOT been doing.

– Following my eating plan

– Exercising

– Gardening

– House stuff

– Reading and commenting on other blogs (except for Project Rungay and er, PerezHilton). Sorry fellow bloggers.

Normal blog service will now be resumed…

Daily Candy Sold

August 6, 2008 By Paola 10 Comments

Right at the top of the list of ‘brilliant business ideas I wish I’d thought of’ is Daily Candy which has apparently just been sold for $125 million. Not bad for a company that employs just 55 people and relies principally on the archaic delivery method of email.

A brilliantly simple idea, brilliantly executed, and whoever decided to have the emails illustrated by the fabulous Sujean Rim deserves genius points. I do hope Sujean is getting a big cut of that $125 million.

One of my dearest ambitions for ‘mirrormirror‘ is to get it into Daily Candy. Which probably means I need to pull my finger out and focus more on developing it as I have been sorely neglecting my baby of late.

Separated At Birth

August 5, 2008 By Paola 11 Comments

I was amused to note from the recent Elle Deco feature that Englishman Simon Doonan, who is the Creative Director of Barneys New York and Jonathan Adler’s partner (and therefore, we must suppose, an International Design Guru of Some Standing) exhibits a very similar taste in clothes to the Minx.

Creative Director Barneys New York My daughter

Those Summer Nights

August 5, 2008 By Paola 4 Comments

Come twilight, on a crisp clear day full of sunshine such as today, I love sitting on the roofdeck and watching the setting sun bounce off the downtown buildings while the lights come on in the streets below.

An hour or so later, the whole scene looks like this.

Just playing with the ‘bulb’ setting on my camera.

Serendipity, Rings and Termites

August 5, 2008 By Paola 4 Comments

Writing a blog is a bit like throwing stones into a pond – you throw something out there, but are never quite sure what is going to come rippling back to you.

When I wrote about my new coffee table back in the Spring, what came rippling back was a lot of rude comments about my furniture placement 🙂 and a very nice email from MaryT enquiring whether my old coffee table was for sale.

So MaryT came round one afternoon with her husband DaveS and an envelope of used notes. It transpired that said MaryT is the temporary editor of the ever fabulous Shelterrific and we have since become friends, which is altogether the best reason for starting a blog.

DaveS is also hugely talented and Mary recently sent through photos of Dave’s beautiful resin rings, which showcase interesting found objects such as beach glass, shells or fossils, or, if you prefer, real gemstones which seem to hover over your finger. These rings are all unique and handmade – hand cast, hand coloured and hand polished – and I’m somewhat regretting that the ruby red one below has been sold.

Mary also writes a personal blog Straight From the Container which today featured horrific pictures of her termite infestation problem (houses shouldn’t be made of wood, it just ain’t natural), so please do all hurry along to Dave’s Etsy shop and buy lots of things, so they can afford to sort out the problem.

Come Into My Garden – July

August 4, 2008 By Paola 2 Comments

This month has been all about the flowerbed at the front of the garden, which is the only place that gets any sun when the cherry tree is in leaf.

It started off looking like this at the beginning of the month, with nary a flower in sight after one of the coldest and wettest Junes anyone could remember.

And ended up looking somewhat parched and bedraggled after five weeks of soaring temps and hardly any rain.

In between it’s been all about the lilies, the oak-leaf hydrangeas and the lavender, with the echinaceas coming through in the last week or so.

I’ve been so pleased with the lilies in particular. I’ve been nervous about adding stuff to the designer’s original base scheme, but these have been fabulous, have fit perfectly into the colour scheme and have provided loads of colour and interest when there wasn’t much else going on.

I paired the orange rose in the raised bed we made with a hot pink salvia.

This lily Chambertin is named after one of my favourite wines.

Being the organised person I am, I can’t find the bit of paper with the name of these chocolate-throated lilies, nor for the hot pink ones at the back of the bed.

Somewhat amazing to remember that this time last year the garden looked like THIS.

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The last sandcastles on the beach

The last lunch by the sea

The last strawberry lemonade The last margaritas on the deck

The last popsicle princesses

The last vestigial sunset through the trees

The last chance to watch the lights come on over Seattle and the sun glinting off the downtown buildings

The last chance to watch the moonlight on the water

The last chance to have a candlelit dinner with friends

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