I've been thoroughly spoilt lately, a trip to the US, followed by a wonderful family Christmas (which was topped off for us as a family with the arrival home of my sister Rachel from New Zealand), then on the 28th December Mr PL and I flew out to check on the progress of our almost complete holiday home in Cyprus.
On Christmas Eve I finally opened my magnificent parcel from the Christmas swap entitled 'A Cosy Night in', organised by two lovely ladies;
Lesley and
Mel. I could hardly contain myself when I unwrapped my brown parcel and saw all this loveliness contained within....so generous and so beautifully wrapped.
I was more than happy with just the wrapping believe me, but look at what my parcel contained...an abundance of gorgeous gifts, just for me, made even more special by the amount of thought that had gone into each and every one of them. I especially love the heart that Lesley had made, I hung it straight on the tree and will be re-hung each and every year. Thank you
Lesley, not just for my wonderful gifts but for the special friendship that we've developed over the past 6 months via the wonderful world of blog.
Like I'd mentioned above, I was spoilt....Mr PL excelled himself with not only a new (much needed) laptop for me but a stunning Lynn Adler Moss Green handbag from my all time favourite girlie boutique in Bath (
Mee Boutique), a Sewing Machine, Cath Kidston Sewing box (You know the one, the lovely cottage sewing box), a wonderful collection of books but most of all the beautiful, beautiful framed picture from one of my favourite online stores;
Belle and Boo.
I have coveted this picture for such a long time as it is the spitting image of Imogen. I have a scarf exactly the same and when Imogen wraps it around her, you'd think that talented Mandy Sutcliffe had painted it especially for me. If you haven't been fortunate to view her beautiful work please go and take a peek, I can assure you you won't be disappointed.
Following Christmas, Mr PL and I found ourselves in Cyprus, child free for the very first time in 4.5 years!! This was made possible by the generosity and kindness of my sister Rachel whom her nieces were delighted to see again, 'Super Nanny' Michelle, who my daughters adore as she plays beauty salons and delights them no end with hair and make-up sessions, oh and not to mention trips to London on big red buses, (Imogen is still rather disappointed that she didn't see the Queen; Michelle if you're reading this, please make little note to self to organise for future trips)!!! Auntie Sue and of course Nana, all of whom did a magnificent job of looking after the girliewigs for Mr PL and myself to not only spend some much needed quality time together but to get lots of final bits and pieces done on the villa in the knowledge that out children were very happy and content back at home...
It was great to see the work in progress on our home that hopefully will provide many, many happy memories in the sun for our family.
We still managed to fit in a few trips to our favourite golf club where we like to sit on the terrace and admire the views....we of course were the only mad Brits to be sitting outside on a cold day and boy was it cold!....
The villa is almost finished now and my favourite time of the entire trip was when we were out on our upper terrace as the sun was setting, the workmen had all finished for the day and we gazed out at our fabulous view listening to the sound of the waves breaking...... The beach is a 2 minute walk away from our home.
We have a villa that sits directly behind these bungalows. We chose this particular plot not just for the views but because it has a lovely big garden for the children to play in and just gives us that little bit more space. Obviously it's not all finished yet, but it should be over the next few months....hopefully!
The blogger within me and of course my obsession with pretty trees meant I still couldn't resist taking a few random pictures! The first of these was an olive tree on the side of the road with this rather charming homemade ladder propped up against it..
And secondly this pretty little orange tree at the front of our hotel. I can't wait to plant an orange and lemon tree in our garden out there. Our girls will be able to pick oranges to freshly squeeze and enjoy with our breakfasts eaten out on the terrace looking over the sea...Obviously there's the small point of all the fruit they produce falling off the trees and rotting in the sun until we are next there to collect it all, but hey, that's a small point...shan't let it ruin my dream............
All that's now left for me to do is to wish you all a
'Happy New Year' and may 2009 be a year full of good health, happiness and fun, oh, and not forgetting many hours of dreaming, coveting and laughing here in Blogland. x
Firstly I must apologise that I haven't been around for a while. Having such a long break from blogging over the Christmas period made me realise how much time I was spending at the computer. Being fortunate enough to still have my two little ladies at home with me I realised how precious this time is and I don't want them to remember these pre-school years as mummy sat at the computer drooling over Cath Kidston fabric and granny squares!!!!
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