mi casa

A little peek inside my new Chiswick residency!

 I can't tell you how good, and grown up, it feels to live in an an actual house again. After years of living in tiny Korean studio apartments and my room in my parent's home, to have so much delicious living space is kinda rocking my world right now.

I'm slowly adding twigs and feathers to my new nest. My bedroom is a work in progress, I've had a blissful few days re-watching Girls season 1 + 2 on the laptop while slowly unpacking and decorating. I'll be doing an IKEA run tomorrow to pick up some furnishings and doo dads to bring it all together and make it my own. All these months of pinning home decor will finally be put to good use as I'm full of ideas!

Hey! Did you vote for Stars in Jars to win the Free People UK Guest Blogger competition yet?

I was overjoyed to be selected for the final three and I sure would appreciate your vote!

2 seconds of your time por favor!

the record collector

Ever since I was a little girl my Dad has visited record stores, fairs, flea markets and festivals collecting records and music memorabilia.

Americana has always been the cornerstone of my memory and sense of home...even in leafy suburban South London where I grew up.

In every house we've ever owned my dad has had what we all call his 'music room'~ a room where he proudly displays his thousands of records, vinyl, tapes and concert merchandise.

That's Willie Nelson's cowboy hat above which my dad caught when he threw it into the crowd at a show in the eighties.

Some of my earliest and most cherished memories are of flipping through row upon row of dusty vinyl stacked in boxes in our local mom n' pop new and used record shop near where I grew up. I'm sure that store is probably long gone by now.

To me there's no one cooler than my old man. With his music room and hippy heart and clock in the shape of his favourite state in all of America.

God bless 'im!

x

may flower

Hallo again friends!

I'm back from adventuring through my old haunts in London these past six days... and my Thirtieth birthday turned out to be my best yet! 

I have tons of photos of my trip to sift through before I start posting my escapades, but I can say that after such a long period away from my home city I kind of saw it anew, as if for the first time... and it sure made me swoon.

The weather was flirting with Spring, April cherry blossoms were putting on a show, the Tube smelt the same and there were plenty of fly by the wind opportunities for doing something completely random...like going to the circus!

The trip was a great salve for my ache for a change in scenery, and not only that, I feel a move back to the big smoke coming on!

But more on that later ^.~

I have returned to Ireland to welcome a fresh new month, sun spots on my bedroom wall, a half-grown pup, birthday card making and lots and lots of planning and scheming for my future....

{craft feather c/o Wholeport}

Oh how short, sweet escapes can do wonders for ones soul!

home.

Waking up to nothing but the sound of birdsong and wind rolling over the fields and against the windows.

Rolling up the blinds to uncover not the usual sprawl of 15-story apartment buildings and traffic noise, but green grass, blue sky and sun and snow in soft battle with each other. 

After 28 hours of travel and 17 hours of straight sleep... I am finally home.

Open fire, fully-stocked kitchen, loving family-filled home.

I've found myself lingering in my bedroom these past couple of days and trying to get to know it all over again...

 opening drawers, rearranging shelves, leafing through old journals and creating a brand new writing space.

It's funny how brand new everything can feel after just a year away, how you can open your wardrobe only to feel the clothes inside it must belong to some other girl and you could't possibly have picked out these things!

It goes to show how much a person can grow, tastes change and styles evolve as we grow older. I ended up taking a trash bag to my room and purging it of a lot of the things that felt like they belonged to an 'old' version of me.

At the same time it was a delight to peek inside old tins and boxes and uncover forgotten treasures...trinkets gathered from across the world, a vintage plate filled with my Grandmother's jewelry, letters from high school friends...

It's still slowly sinking in that I'm back here,

but it's a good feeling, 

and there's definitely no place like it.

the sunday slowdown

There's nothing a little tea and a sweet letter can't fix.

I love the peace and the quiet of a Sunday,

the way it bookends the week with a little pocket of solitude and wind-down time.

This day of the week keeps me sane and centered.

I dance to a slower melody.

Today I checked the mailbox and found the sweetest snail mail from a dear friend who knew exactly what I needed to lift me out of a little mood rut.

I made myself a hot cup of British tea to remind me of home, set out fresh roses and set aside an hour to slow sip, read over fond memories and just be.

I'm forever blessed to realize I have friendships that have survived time and distance and prolonged absence.

Swoony, cozy, cups of tea-filled Sundays are where it's at.

^^

a sponsored post: DIY cupid's arrows

The happiest of Valentine's Days to all of you gorgeous people ♥ 

The old lady who lives inside me who loves to stitch and sew and make things with little glass beads rocked a little faster back n forth in her rocking chair when the lovely people at online craft supply store Wholeport offered to send me a parcel of goodies to craft with ^^

Among other pretty little doo-dads they sent me this lovely packet of masking stickers~ this is basically the sticker version of the Japanese washi tape that has been taking the crafting world by storm.

I've been wanting to use washi tape in a DIY post for a while now and the love-heart decoration on these gave me the inspiration to make these sweet-as-can-be Valentine's cupid arrows to give to your sweetheart on Valentine's day.

Behold the materials:
~ feathers (I searched high and low for craft feathers but they are apparently a rarity in Korea , so I made do with this feather printable)
~ washi tape/decorative sticker strips from Wholeport
~ bamboo sticks
~ craft wood chips (I sifted through untill I found some that resembled the shape of arrow heads)

Step 1:

Take a strip of decorative tape and carefully wrap it around one end of your bamboo stick. Repeat until you have an assortment of decorated sticks.

Step 2:

Gather together a sprig of  3 or 4 feathers.

Or in my case if you are using the feather printable, cut out a bunch of feathers.

Step 3:

Use invisible tape to attach your feathers to the decorated end of your bamboo stick.

Step 4:

Using a glue gun apply a small amount of hot glue to the bare end of your bamboo stick and attach your wood chip.

And you are DONE!

You can give your Valentine an arrow along with their card or, like me, use them as a wall decoration!

Lemon squeezy.

A special thank you to the wonderful folks at Wholeport craft suppliers for sponsoring this post. 

Check their site out for cute and extremely affordable crafting treats~ I have my eye on their beautiful selection of beads and feathers ^^

we call it home

Hey folks!

Tonight I thought I'd take you for a quick walk around the little apartment Dallas and I share together out here in South Korea.

One of the perks of the school contracts for foreign teachers is that your apartment comes with the job rent-free.

I know, right?

It can be a gamble though and we have known people who have been stung with a really tiny and/or dirty and old places to live in.

Dallas and I were lucky enough to pull the long straw with this apartment~ it's in a nice new building and although small, it has a split level with room upstairs for bedding even though we don't use the upstairs at all.

This is our first time living together so we've really enjoyed nesting and leaving our own little impressions all over the place.

We live and sleep in the downstairs area, using the bed as a sofa too.

The Life Aquatic poster was a gift Dallas got for his birthday and the two smaller pictures are pages from a Himalayan Mask coloring book Dallas bought when we were travelling in India which I colored in and framed.

The little nook under our stairs is where we stash our little dinner stroke crafting table.

We eat all our meals off this table Asian-style sitting on the floor.

I also have a little floor garden of succulents and a large plant we inherited with the apartment.

The steps make a great showcase for ornaments and tea lights.

I love the way the late afternoon sun slants in through the blinds casting orange shapes on the wall.

Mini bathroom.

And lastly our little pocket of kitchen. 

It can be a challenge trying to create a meal in such a limited space but we've gotten used to it now.

We hung the tapestry over the upstairs balcony, I think it gives a great pop of color to the room ^^

I hope you enjoyed the room tour!

 It's definitely come to feel like home to us these last 8 months.

Happy Sunday!

x