All things bright & beautiful

Whilst downloading my holiday pics this morning I realised how many gorgeous blooms were out whilst we were home. Just look at the colours in these lovely flowers - aren't they divine!

I wanted to share with you some pics from our trip, but rather than bombard you with millions of photos and a blow-by-blow account, I thought that over the next couple of days I would post a few snippets of the special moments we had instead. That doesn't mean that every moment wasn't special, but these ones stand out in particular!

(oh, and cause I am late for work (!) I will have to start tomorrow!)

The weekend's here (already)

I can't believe how fast the weeks have been going by lately - it feels as though one minute you are dragging yourself out of bed to face the week on a Monday morning and no sooner have you done that, you are walking out the office door on Friday afternoon! Unfortunately the weekends seem to be moving at the same speed:(

This weekend will be no exception, cause we are so darn busy it's not funny. Today we are helping a friend of ours out at the Food & Wine Fair that's on in Hong Kong. He owns a gorgeous little boutique wine store selling Margaret River wines in our favourite street (St Francis St in Wanchai), and tomorrow we crazily agreed to join a group of friends on an adventure day! This apparently involves a ride on the black mamba (whatever that is, but apparently it's fast), kayaking, snorkel ling (didn't anyone tell James the water is going to be chilly at this time of the year), some beach-going (this, I can handle), and finishing up with a seafood lunch on a remote little island somewhere in Hong Kong. The worst bit is we have to be at the pier at 8.30am, and it will take us an hour to get there! The things we do!

Thankfully I have a little 'me' time set aside for this morning cause Will has gone into the office for a couple of hours. Think I might get cracking on making some more Chrippy cards, and perhaps some little handmade gifts (can't tell ya what they are cause ya might just be getting one for Chrissy this year!), oh, and if I have time, I might soak in the tub for a while and lather myself up with some new products I purchased yesterday from Crabtree & Evelyn. I know most people think that C&E is a little grandma'ish, but they have some divine products that I just adore - my favourites being the La Source range (yum!), and the India Hicks range, which I just can't get enough of - especially their hand wash and divine bath salts. Go on, spoil yourself, you know you want to!

The new products I bought come from 'The Noel Collection' and the fragrance is Pomegranate, Citron & Mistletoe - how Christmassy! I couldn't stop at just the body wash, so I also bought the body cream, hand wash, and hand lotion (oh, and a gorgeous set of red Christmassy candles)! Boy I hope Will isn't reading this...

Anyhow, I had better be off otherwise there will be no 'me' time left! Before I do, I must say happy birthday to my adorable nanna who celebrated her birthday last Thursday, to Emily who turned 40 on the same day, and to my sister-in-law Kathy, who is celebrating her birthday today! Hope you all have/had a wonderful birthday!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ciao Bella's
xox

Image via Paper Pony - Flickr

Weekend Flowers

I always love to fill the house with flowers for the weekend, but this weekend I went where I hadn't dare go before (as far as flowers are concerned that is)!

I have often looked at these bright (I dare say "artificially" so) flowers in the market and thought how awful and fake they look. For some reason, I felt different this past Friday and wondered how the bright colours would go all mixed together... well, I have to report - I was impressed!

Living in Hong Kong we are blessed to have a huge variety of flowers available in the markets at super affordable prices. That's right boys, there is NO excuse in Hong Kong not to treat your gal to flowers every week! As a point of comparison, a dozen roses in Hong Kong would set you back about $15Aus (and that's for long stem - gorgeous colours). Not bad hey!

The flowers must have set the mood for the long weekend, cause it certainly was bright & cheery! I will definitely be purchasing these little beauties again.