Tell People How Fabulous They Are.

I have a friend who will go out of her way to tell someone if they have nice eyes, or freckles or a tattoo. I love it when she interrupts a conversation they might be having with someone else. You can see the subject a little bewildered but chuffed and other person kind of wondering why there wasn't something worth noting about them.

US$9 from Heidi Burton

via Lushlee.

Circular & Cashless Monopoly. Yes or No?

In my opinion board games are highly under-rated in the days of electronica.

Circular, cashless Monopoly wil be out later this year. I love the board design, but with a calculator system at the centre, there's no way to steal money from the bank anymore.....I am torn, yes or no?

Little Pinwheel & Chalk n Cheese

Her name should be Maude with a lovely hat like that.

From the Chalk n Cheese winter range via Little Pinwheel. Be sure to check out LPs blog.

Machotailpipe: Looks Crazy, Can't Wait.

It's like Willy Wonka, Clockwork Orange and Edward Scissorhands with skateboards (and acid). He he! Looks crazy, can't wait.

A Ferry Ride On Pittwater

Guideposts For Growing Up

This book via lmnop is 'dedicated to parents and children celebrating their shared experience'.

Things like thumb-sucking. Of which I did partake up to a very late age. I'm talking over 12 years here. Apparently I was born sucking my thumb. Somehow I managed to avoid buck teeth, though that and being told I'd suck my thumb clean off where just two of many reasons I was told I should stop over those years. I even had that horrible tasting stuff to stop biting nails painted on a few times. But old habits die hard and it was with age I grew out of mine. It always intrigued me why adults, from family to strangers, found it so necessary to warn me of the evils of my habit. It's not like I was sucking on a crack pipe.

My son sucks his two fingers (all the time!) and I love that it provides him with the same comfort my thumb gave me.

Scalextric Madness (& The Font)

I really can't wait to get V one of these when he's old enough.

Photo from here

Scalextric Font from Emerge Studio.

A$225 from The Good Store

My Daughter On Exhibit At The MCA!

Have some fun with Photofunia.

The people dressed in winter clothing should have given it away, but when I posted this on Facebook there were quite a few people who were fooled.

Stitch Postcard

It's like Follow The Line Around The World. The Stitch Postcard by Leihener, Seng & Valder. GBP2.15 from here.

High Five From New York City

How-To: Shadow Animals

via here

Tie Your Hair In A Bow

It's not too Minnie Mouse at all, but very lovely indeed. By Jessica Marie.

via Three Thousand

Say Anything (All-Time Best Movies Category)

There are so many hilarious and heart-felt videos on YouTube about Say Anything.

This remake of the tailer with kids is weird bt funny (boy-Lloyd is still wearing a trench!)

Fjällräven Kånken Backpack

I feel like going on a bushwalk all of a sudden.

Fjällrävenn the eponymous Swedish outdoor retailer has been making the Kånken backpack for over 30 years. First introduced in 1978, as a functional piece that allows your hands to be free- the backpack has been embraced the world over. Changing little over the years, the functional Kånken backpack comes in a variety of colors and is made of the durable Vinylon F - an almost unbeatable material that creates a waterproof surface without coating that can wear over time and is also quite light.

US$80 from Steven Alan

Keep's Kids Ramos & Guerra Shoes

These are the most adorable pair of kids shoes I've seen in a while. Some of the adult ones aren't bad either. By Keep.

Guerra (top) and Ramos (bottom) both from US$35.

Bands Stripped Bare: La Blogotheque's 'The Take-Away Shows'

I am giddy at discovering La Blogoteque's The Take-Away Shows (many thanks Angela at See Saw Designs). Here's the concept:

Every week, we invite an artist or a band to play in the streets, in a bar, a park, or even in a flat or in an elevator, and we film the whole session. Of course, what makes the beauty of it is all the little incidents, hesitations, and crazy stuff happening unexpectingly. Besides, we do not edit the videos so they look perfectly flawless, instead we keep the raw sound of the surroundings. Our goal is to try and capture instants, film the music just like it happens, without preparation, without tricks. Spontaneity is the keyword.

Check out Phoenix on a Paris bus tour and Bon Iver at a pocket party below.

Be sure the visit the site for more impromptu loveliness of what bands-stripped-bare sound like, including some more of my favs:

Noah & The Whale on Le Metro
Lykke Li in San Francisco
REM in a silo
Vampire Weekend in north Paris
The Shins in Montmartre

Grizzly Bear in a bathroom

and so many more.

Breakfast At Palm Beach

Inspired by the long-awaited return of the sun and this post, today we bought round trip tickets on the ferry that goes to Mackerel Beach. First up a coffee and some breakfast.

Fjällhus Residence from PS Arkitektur

The Mountain Lodge is a modern take of a traditional alpine cottage in the region of Bruksvallarna in northern Sweden.

The exterior's reduced and stern architecture lends its appearance from the simple barn-like architecture in the north of Sweden. The interior is modern and white. Plywood walls and ceilings combined with wooden floorboards add warmth. One side of the lodge consists of large panoramic windows towards the winter mountain landscape or the greenness of the summer. Ecological concerns have been important in choice of materials and construction methods - the lodge is very energy efficient and is built with natural materials. The construction consists of a wooden framework and prefabricated wall and roof elements.

The Lodge is sold in two different sizes (85sqm and 100sqm) as complete set of construction drawings. Five houses have been produced to date.

From Stockholm firm pS Arkitectur.

A Holiday House At Mackerel Beach

The weather this Christmas has been pretty dismal for usual Sydney summer standards. Lots of cloud since Christmas Eve with on-and-off downpours and drizzle. It would be so lovely to go on a local getaway once the sun decides to appear, and I think I've found the perfect destination.

(Great) Mackerel Beach is a road, shop and, dare I say, wi-fi-free hideaway on the shores of Sydney's Pittwater within the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Accessed only by water, people staying in one of the few homes in this hamlet use wheelbarrows to cart their supplies from boat or ferry.

Pics by Hotze Eisma.

Mackerel is also home to the James-Roberston house.

Lorenzo Petrantoni

Lorezo Petrantoni is based in Milan, Italy and has worked featured on the cover of Newsweek and Wired.

Gorgeous

Check Out These Pants.....

First, the pants....then how about everything else!

pic from Jak & Jill

Educational Mugs

Choose from:

+Weights & Measures

+ Periodic Table

+ Solar System

+ Human Skeleton

+ Fahrenheit & Celsius

+ Countries of the Word

+ Geometry

GBP8.95 from Pedlars.

Mrs Skona Main Street Market Tote Bags

Made by Reva from Skona Life these upcycled totes are perfect for some Main Street shopping.