This week- Figs, Christmas Preparations, & Eating, & Eating some more

It's been another busy week. School Holidays started on Wednesday for my children, so my time has been somewhat taken up with the constant snack making and tidying up since then- our house pretty much looked like someone had broken in and ransacked it within around 10 minutes of them starting holidays. Seriously. If someone had looked in the window of the playroom intending to burgle us, they would have thought we'd already been worked over.

In between the mayhem of ending school festivities, I've written out 28 thank you notes for my surprise party gifts, and done the Christmas cards as well. I've used up two boxes of these Smythson note cards that I bought when we were in London earlier this year.

And I was very excited to pick some figs from our ancient fig tree that grows down in the back wilds of the garden, near the old well. I was not so excited to look out the window around a week ago and see a flock of vicious Rosellas (parrots for foreign readers) helping themselves to the almost ripe figs. That explains what happened to the figs last year - they just disappeared. After stringing a million damaged Children's DVD's in the tree, as recommended by all gardening experts, it seems that it has not really deterred them. So save for netting the tree (which I can't be bothered doing frankly), it looks like the birds will be eating the majority of them, and we'll be getting a few that they've missed. Here they are. They were slightly disappointing - not quite ripe enough, as the birds take them before they're fully ripe.

Via

I also had to do an emergency run into Mecca Cosmetica to get a refill for my face powder, and they gave me a free sample of Diptyque's Philosykos perfume. It's supposed to smell like a Fig orchard in summer, and it does - earthy and delicious.  

I finished off making a superhero cape for my youngest's Christmas present. I used this free online pattern a few years ago while I was pregnant with him to make them for the older two, and of the three, he is the one that loves dress ups and pretending to be flying around and has been asking for his own for the past year. I actually find presents for him quite difficult - I really feel like my children have more than enough toys, and I'm trying to really cut back at Christmas time, but unfortunately we have large families who love to give gifts to our children and are very generous. This equals Christmas overload. I know that S. will love this cape, so it seems like a good compromise. He's still getting his scooter from Santa, and some books, and a couple of little bits and pieces like a puzzle, so it's not like he's suffering.



And I've been out almost constantly this weekend. Wore this to lunch today at The Grace - it's my new Hermes scarf as a top. I studied Maitai's website and after a bit of tricky knotting, this is what I managed to achieve.

And this is a sequinned Alice + Olivia top that I wore yesterday. It puts me off buying further sequinned clothes as it's quite painful to wear - very scratchy under the arms. Aside from that I'm always a bit borderline on whether it makes me look like a Richmond Football Club supporter, or alternatively as if I'm channeling a bumble bee, neither of which are good options. But overall I decided the sparkles won, so this was for drinks last night.

Hope you all had a great week.