Five on Friday

Posted in Five on Friday by A Spoonful of Style

{Some of you may remember that I was lusting after the Narsissist eye palette by Nars a few weeks ago. Alas it was not to be – I had planned to buy it with my Space NK vouchers but as the eye palette was exclusive to Selfridges here in the UK, I didn’t feel I could justify the £55. So instead I bought the Narsissist cheek palette which was stocked by Space NK and comes with a blusher, highlighter and bronzer.}

{I’m loving my coffee table books at the moment. They make great home accents and I like to flick through them for inspiration. My most recent additions are the Alexa Chung book ‘It’ and a beautiful Chanel book filled with images to drool over.}

The best laid plans as they say…

This week hasn’t turned out quite how I wanted. On Monday Casper came home with a sore ear and he hasn’t been back at school all week. We went to the doctor who diagnosed a viral ear infection so antibiotics wouldn’t help, all we can do is try and reduce the pain with Nurofen and Calpol. It’s not too bad during the day but at night it is very painful as the fluid in ear builds up and he has trouble sleeping. So pretty much everything has been cancelled this week – from playdates and after school activities to my hair appointment and lunch date. While I hate to see him suffer, it has been really nice having him at home. With three children it’s not always easy to find one-to-one time, especially with the boys as they are at school all day. He has had to amuse himself with Lego and the iPad while I’ve been working but we have also had time for nice chats, board games and baking.

Hopefully his ear will improve as we head into weekend. The weather is set to be lovely – with temperatures of 17 degrees forecast for Sunday! – so I’m looking forward to sitting out in the garden with a cup of coffee to soak up some rays.

Hope you have a fab weekend! X

{The clear-out at my parents’ house continues and this week I saved a silk clutch, that my dad bought in Japan for my mum in the late 70s, from going off to the charity shop. It’s not my usual style but I think it will look good with a cream summer dress or just jeans and a simple tee, with gold heels and jewellery.}

{Cameron looked great in his Sherlock Holmes costume for World Book Day yesterday and I’m happy to report that my Burberry returned home unscathed.}

{It’s been a busy week but I managed to take a few minutes out to read the interview with SJP in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar. And of course, you can’t have a proper break without coffee and chocolate biscuits!}

6Mar2014

World Book Day – My Recommendations

Posted in Daily Musings by A Spoonful of Style

As anyone with school age children will no doubt be aware, today is World Book Day. My eldest scooted off to school this morning dressed as Sherlock Holmes in my old Burberry mac (under strict instructions not to leave it behind on the football pitch at break time!) as well as a deerstalker hat, pipe and magnifying glass hastily ordered from Amazon on Express Delivery a couple of days ago.

As a working (albeit part time) and blogging mum of three, I haven’t got much time to read books and when I do get a chance to pick one up I usually go for lighter stuff that you can dip in and out of without losing the thread. I have vowed that I will immerse myself in the classics when the kids are older and I can actually read more than a few pages without being interrupted. Like most people, I read quite a few of them at school but some, like Anna Karenina and Atonement for instance, are still on my list and there are others that I think I would enjoy rereading without having to analyse the content in an essay.

Anyway, I had a hunt around the house this morning (as we only have two bookshelves it didn’t take long!) and for what it’s worth, here are my recommendations for a good read.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

This was the most recent book I read. Set in the 1920s it tells the story of Cora Carlisle who has been hired to act as the chaperone for a 15-year-old Louise Brook as they journey from Kansas to New York city. It soon becomes clear that Cora is hiding secrets of her own, including the real reason why she longs to visit New York so much…

Front Row by Jerry Oppenheimer

If you’re into fashion, Vogue powerhouse Anna Wintour hardly needs an introduction. However, while everyone is familiar with her sleek bob and huge sunglasses, the woman behind them remains an enigma. Based on scores of interviews, this unauthorised biography chronicles Anna’s climb to the top of the magazine world exposing how she artfully reinvented herself along the way.

Elvis has left the building by Tania Kindersley

I read this book when it was first published in 2001 and as I picked it off the shelf today I decided that it is definitely due a re-read. Weaved around the art world, it’s a funny and poignant story about a heartbroken girl coming to terms with the end of a nine year relationship and gradually taking her revenge.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This is probably the book that I most associate with my teenage years. I studied Sylvia Plath at school and was fascinated by both her poetry and personal life. First published in 1963, the book is as relevant today as it was then, and provides a haunting insight into the reality of mental illness.

Faithfull by Marianne Faithfull and David Dalton

A memoir by the original rock chick which recounts her days in the swinging 60s including her much publicised relationship with Mick Jagger, her descent into heroin addiction and subsequent recovery. A brutally honest autobiography, the book also serves as a captivating cultural history of London’s music scene.

5Mar2014

Recipe: Daim Biscuits

Posted in Food & Recipes by A Spoonful of Style

You can’t beat a good biscuit – together with a nice cup of tea (or glass of milk for the kiddos) it can turn a bad day into a bearable one with the first bite. The children and I first made these biscuits over half term and then Casper and I whipped up another batch this week when he was off school with an ear infection. I honestly think that just the delicious smell wafting through the kitchen did him as much good as all the spoonfuls of Calpol put together! If you don’t believe me, try them for yourself, quick and easy to make, they are the perfect mix of soft and crunchy – what’s not to love?

Daim biscuits:

(makes around 20-30 biscuits)
100 g butter (at room temperature)
80g caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp golden syrup
150 g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 regular Daim bars (crushed into small pieces with a pestle and mortar)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into a dough. Divide in two pieces and roll into two long sausage shapes. Place them on a tray covered in baking parchment and flatten with your fingers. Bake in the oven at 175 C, for 12-15 minutes. Take out the tray and cut the biscuits diagonally before they have cooled.

Enjoy! X

5Mar2014

Interior Inspiration: Mad for Marble

Posted in Interior by A Spoonful of Style

A beautiful material that has been used since ancient times, marble is in my opinion the most elegant of stones – smooth and cool to the touch, it simply oozes luxury when incorporated into an interior design scheme. My other half has rejected my suggestion of a marble countertop for our kitchen on the grounds that it is too showy, expensive and impractical and I probably have to agree on the last point. Because of its tendency to stain and scratch, marble countertops in kitchens and bathrooms is not always the most practical choice. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t indulge in a few choice marble accessories around the house.

{A classic tulip dining table or a marble top coffee table like these ones by House Doctor and Asplund would be lovely but, failing that, any of these accessories would fit nicely into our home as well. Marble trays by Hay, chopping board by House Doctor, kitchen utensil holder from Crate & Barrel and marble candlestick by Menu at Royal Design}.

4Mar2014

Currently Coveting #18: Stripes for Spring

Posted in Currently Coveting by A Spoonful of Style

Stride into spring wearing classic, crisp Breton stripes. Teamed with skinny jeans, colourful flats and a touch of sparkly jewellery, it is the perfect outfit for channeling that particularly French brand of effortless daytime style. Did you know that the Breton stripe has been a sartorial staple of chic Parisians since 1917 when Coco Chanel famously transformed a fisherman’s top into the iconic piece?

{Skinny jeans by Current/Elliott at Asos; Amelie Sparkle Bracelet by Stella & Dot; Colorblock Breton Stripe Cashmere Sweater by Vince; Ballet pumps from H&M}

Here is some more inspiration from my Pinterest board, appropriately entitled ‘Stripes for Spring’!

2Mar2014

Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!

Posted in Fashion by A Spoonful of Style

I finally made it to the Isabella Blow retrospective at Somerset House, on the penultimate day of the exhibition. Entitled Fashion Galore! it certainly lived up its name – spread over dozens of rooms on two floors, it was a real feast for the eye with one creation more spectacular than the next. As one would expect, Alexander McQueen was everywhere: from pieces she bought from his graduation show at Central St Martins in 1992 to his famously controversial ‘Highland Rape’ collection in 1995 and video footage of the 2008 “La Dame Bleue” show that the designer dedicated to Issy after her death in 2007. Among the more than 100 pieces on display were also a number of designs by Hussein Chalayan and Julien Macdonald.

And the hats! What can I say – Isabella was as famous for her headgear as for her blood red pout and each ensemble in the exhibition was complemented by the most fantastical and outrageous Philip Treacy creations. How about a hat adorned with a ship made entirely out of black feathers or another one with cut-out mouths on long sticks jutting out from every angle?

There was also a room filled with images of the many models that Issy discovered, from Stella Tenant and Honor Fraser to Plum Sykes, although strangely I didn’t see any pictures of Sophie Dahl, who was one of her most famous protegees.

I never met Isabella Blow but I have friends who did, and they say she was just as amazing and eccentric in real life as interviews and photographs of her would suggest. However, while her life and work at The Sunday Times Style magazine and Tatler, seemed glamorous on the outside, she battled inner demons. I have read the biography written by her husband Detmar Blow after her suicide in 2007 and it bears out reports that her depression was rooted in a difficult early life and a sense of abandonment by her parents.

While there is some mention of Issy’s personal life (mainly in the form of newspaper articles) this retrospective was very firmly focused on her fashion legacy. My friend and I spent a good couple of hours looking at the outfits (and marvelling at how whippet thin Issy must have been to fit into them!) and watching video footage of interviews with her and McQueen catwalk shows.

The clothes on show were loaned to Somerset House by Issy’s friend and fellow style icon Daphne Guinness who bought the entire collection in 2010 to stop it being auctioned off at Christie’s. The question on our minds as we left the retrospective, which finished yesterday after a four-month run, was: what will happen to the clothes now? These are pieces that were acquired by someone who intended to wear them and enjoy them (as was evident by the scuffed Givenchy shoes and the McQueen coat complete with cigarette burns) so it would be a great shame if they were now left to languish in a storage room somewhere…

28Feb2014

Five on Friday

Posted in Five on Friday by A Spoonful of Style

I went on a spending spree at Space NK and used up the vouchers I got for Christmas and my birthday last autumn. Love that shop! I will do a separate post on the things I bought next week.

I started putting together a kitchen inspiration folder ahead of our planned renovation later this year. Between that and my Pinterest board I don’t think I’ll be stuck for ideas.

This jewellery tree was on sale for only £10 in a local boutique. Having some of my favourite pieces on display on top of my dresser will hopefully encourage me to accessorize more.

Honestly, I am not a shopaholic but I had forgotten about these Unisa boots that I bought just before Christmas. Now that I’ve found them, I can’t stop wearing them as they are so comfortable. They remind me of my favourite pair of boots that I had at school.

I’m also somewhat obsessed with my Star sweater from Hunky Dory (another Sale buy) – accessorized here with my ten-year-old son’s beanie, which I keep stealing – much to his embarrassment I should add (I just tell him it’s pay back for all those toddler tantrums he used to throw in the middle of the supermarket to embarrass me!)

Happy Friday everyone! I hope the weekend is all you want it to be – and more! X

27Feb2014

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

My parents have put their house on the market and, as they’re downsizing, kindly invited me over this week to go through some boxes they had found lurking in the deepest, darkest corners of their loft. I spent quite a few hours wading through more than two decades of memories, from the newspapers published on the day I was born to my university dissertation. I won’t keep all of it of course, for one we haven’t got the storage space and also I don’t think it’s that interesting to anyone apart from me. But it was fun to relive old memories.

What made me laugh the most were the little books that my friend and I wrote (and illustrated) ourselves back in Sweden when we decided to start our own library – we can’t have been older than eight or nine. For someone who had a very harmonious and well-adjusted childhood, I sure managed to come up with some dark, disturbing plot lines…

I found some old photos of me as a toddler and as a teenager with my beloved grandmother.

We bought Clemmie a dolls house for Christmas without knowing that, tucked away in my parents’ loft, was a box of all my old dolls house furniture (the house itself has been disposed of along the way). We brought it all back home and she loves playing with it so we could have saved ourselves a bit of money! There is tons more, including bedroom, bathroom and three (??) kitchen sets – I only photographed a few pieces as I wanted to show you the sauna – so very Swedish!

Clemmie also took a shine to my old teddies which are now propped up on her bed next to the Maileg bunnies. Considering they have been in storage for such a long time they are rather well preserved although I have warned her to be gentle with them as, in Teddy years ,they are old age pensioners.

I also found some copies of The Face, dating back to 1996. It must be the same year (or maybe the year after..) I saw both The Prodigy and Oasis live at Glastonbury. I wonder if my children will be impressed?

There are still many more boxes to go through (having had the luxury of lots of storage space, my parents haven’t cleared anything out since we left Sweden!) but I hope to whittle down what I keep to two box files at the most. Wish me luck!

26Feb2014

Linked In

Posted in Linked In by A Spoonful of Style

1.In the end, happiness is what we all strive for. Here are ten habits that will make us happier

2. Save up to 30% on Shopbop with the code BIGEVENT14 (Valid until tomorrow). I love this Juicy Couture necklace

3. Make your own original headboard with this DIY guide

4. Put a spring in your step and drool over the latest styles just in at Selfridges from Isabel Marant, Nicholas Kirkwood, Acne and Tods

5. A new book with helpful strategies to help kids cope with sensory overload in today’s hectic world

6. Pancake Day is just around the corner: here is a foolproof recipe for perfect pancakes

25Feb2014

Interior Inspiration: A Walk-in-Closet on a Budget

Posted in Interior by A Spoonful of Style

A walk-in-closet is high up on my wishlist when we finally get around to doing our house extension. I’m not a massive hoarder but I’ve still got more clothes and shoes than I can comfortably fit into our existing wardrobe (and I’m already taking up almost half of my husband’s side…) As soon as I saw these pictures on the fabulous Stylizimo blog I was smitten. It is definitely the kind of space that I would like, and the best thing of all is that most of it comes from Ikea so it wouldn’t cost the earth to replicate.