Vintage is SO 2010...

Books, I mean. Take a look at them beauties, would ya? I was raised on my mother's milk, garri - and Harlequins.
Janet Daily, Charlotte Lamb, Violet Winspear, Betty Neals - you name 'em, we had 'em. Our house was probably better stocked than most small libraries on virtually any topic. With a father who was a voracious reader, a mother who stalked garage sales and bought any book (or anything, for that matter) on any subject and three elder sisters who must have had stock in the Harlequin franchise, I was that chick when it came to these babies.
So to discover them after decades, in mint condition, at 50 cents a piece? I could honestly just cry. Thank you so much, Rosie for remembering. And purchasing. This will jump start my 'good old book' collection that I had been meaning to start.
Je suis une bibliophile... pp

The Gifts for Less...

It would be remiss of me not to share these wonderful budget friendly yet extremely elegant and useful gifts that I found and gave out last year for Christmas.

These bone china geese measuring cups and giraffe measuring spoons are the cutest things I have ever seen. Perfect for my eldest sister who has Martha Stewart beat, in my opinion. They were so adorable that I even ordered a set for myself - and I cannot bake to save my life! Now they hold pride of place, gliding behind the windows of my kitchen cabinets. But they are so cool that I would totally move them to my living room in a heartbeat, and they are perfect for laying out nuts and candy etc for guests.Then there are these fantastic little soap/china soap dish gift sets with monogrammed initials of your choice, in yummy scents like bergamot and vanilla coconut, lilies and freesia. Everything from the gorgeous packaging (that is so 'tiny yet chic Parisian boutique find') to the china soap dish that seems more fine china dessert plate than soap dish, to the scents is do die for. You'll want one in every scent, regardless of initial. Perfect for your powder room and yet too fabulous for words, I tell you.

A tip: when in doubt give something monogrammed, for in truth who doesn't love seeing their name in print? It is really flattering and personal and always takes whatever the gift is a notch. Enter these exquisite monogrammed note cards. The perfect little boxed gift, on perfect paper, for the perfect price! All from anthropologie.

Bisous, pp

Giver of Good Gifts

I love to give nice gifts. The occasion is irrelevant - birthdays, kids birthdays, housewarming, 'just because' gifts. I just get immense pleasure from seeing the recipients face when I have given a thoughtful, 'think-out- of- the- box' gift which the person ultimately I hope, finds useful. Things that you wouldn't think of, know where to look for or realise that you totally couldn't do without. Until, of course I give it to you. Maybe even one of those things you'd like but never thought to buy for yourself. I love to give these Carolee sentiment bangles to Mom and baby daughter, I 'puffy heart' these adorable chunky little books from babystyle and I give them as gifts to almost every one year old and/toddler I know. And this 'Best Grandma' quilt for Grandma, complete with all her grand kids names? Priceless AND on sale at Lillian Vernon (how precious is that?) - and then I discovered 'Uncommon Goods.' Dude. Can you say "Prada Principal in wonderland?". It is now my one stop shop for everything and everyone, even my extremely 'hard -to- buy -for' hubby. If going green looks this fab, why ever not? Made from 100% recycled cotton, it is a 100% ME. I did however also cop a 'look for less' version at Target for 99 cents. No kidding. It's sassy red and zips into a small pencil case like thingy. Uberchic and ubercheap, which always works, right?

Anywho, I really envy good friends of mine with ANY (and I do mean any) occasion coming up. Y'all just made out like bandits.
The ever so generous PP

PS. Oh and OMG Puella now has dresses at anthropologie. I first heard of them through awesome Melissa, whom I adore and hope to morph into some day. Go to her blog NOW (she was my inspiration to use this blog as my creative outlet during my maternity leave and now it looks like I'm here to stay!) and I promise you'll be hooked. Never actually worn Puella Girl stuff, but I surfed their site and Melissa's word for it and preordered their grab bag sight unseen. It is due this June and I for one cannot wait. Will dish all about it when it comes. I promise.

Pots 'n' Pans

Your pots say a lot about you, just like a man's shoes, I think. For the longest time, my pot collection was sparse and shameful, consisting only of a few tiny pots that I had managed to hold onto during my 'spinster years', when all I needed to 'cook' was 'Top Ramen' or some other similarly uncomplicated fare. Over the years, I reluctantly added a crock pot, couple of pressure cookers and a grown up set of pots to the mix, but time and circumstance happened to them, so there I was, back at square one, using coverless pots and 'pressureless' pressure cookers. I guess that means that I am 'incomplete and lacking steam maybe?' At least as far as the 'pot analysis' thingy goes.

But alas, not anymore. A 'sister friend' sent me a gorgeous set of pots from the U.K, where she resides. Drastic I know, but she needed to get a point across. So shiny and new in their cream colored exterior and non stick interior, cast iron glory. So fabulous... so me! She says she hopes this will unleash my inner domestic goddess. Well, hope springs eternal, as they say. I love you Inybooboo - but those pots are WAY too pretty to cook in. Maybe on your next visit???:)

smooches, the newly domesticated pp (Ha!)

Butt Cream and Return of the Nanny

I was on here extolling the virtues of the crabtree and evelyn baby cream in my last post, right? So I have been slathering Monkeyboy in it, literally like from head to toe. and his rash just seemed to miraculously dry up and disappear. Well, I decided to actually read the packaging and I find to my dismay that the instructions say to apply as needed to help prevent' diaper rash'. Yes people. Yours truly has been smothering her baby in 'butt cream', fine and shishi poopoo as it may be. I find this hysterically funny and I'm like, no one wonder it worked so fabulously. MB's face had no clue what hit it! lol. Hey, whatever works right?

Houston, we have a nanny! Yah Man. She's from Jamaica, so excuse me if I lapse into 'patois' now and again. I have this annoying habit of absorbing new accents, mannerisms etc, that 'tickle my fancy'. It's just a thing that I do, but I get over it pretty quickly. Ms. Carmen and fabulous and cool and all good beans and gravy except for one minor detail. Numero Uno Son hates her guts. Now I know it's just a two year old acting out, cos he misses his "Aunt Wida", but he sure does say the meanest things. Like, "Go away!". "Don't touch me/it/my arm!". Just beastly, I tell you. My heart goes out to her and I pray every night that she's still there when I wake up, because I would have packed my bags and quit by now if I were her.

Well, gotta go do the nursing thing. We'll dialog later,
pp

No gym until I'm skinny...

Ridiculous, I know. But after two kids and just 5 weeks in this post partum body, I am dealing with body issues which I never knew I had, and trust me, it ain't pretty. My hubby and I have a gym membership which neither of us have used in a year - at least, I had an excuse - I was pregnant for most of that time and was running about 3 miles a day for awhile too - and the money is being deducted from our account, regardless of whether we haul our butts in there or not. So what better incentive to go, right? I get up bright and early and shower and fish out gym clothes that actually fit - no mean feat, I assure thee. I get to the front door and turn right back around. It's too cold, I'm too late for the class, is my membership still active? All lame excuses. Code for "I'm too fat", plus do I really want to join a strip tease exercise class with lithe skinny 20 something year olds with perfect bodies? Any class would be hard enough, but strip tease class? I mean, even if I were fit and trim and didn't have this jelly belly, I would feel ridiculous. Then there's the issue of my grimy workout clothes. So fast forward to me ordering hip (but not too hip - don't want to appear old and desperate), age appropriate, clothes THAT FIT on the Internet. By the time they get here, I would have shed at least another 5 pounds, right? In shape for getting in shape. Gotta love me. :)

Best Baby Gifts Ever

Second kids, if they are the same sex as the first one usually get a raw deal, you know? I bought almost nothing new for monkeyboy, and as for clothes, fuhgetaboutit. But fortunately, I have great people in my life who love me and he got his fair share of cute, adorable stuff. Love you all. Really. But I am a sucker for books, always have been, always will be. Maybe growing up with an academician as a Dad and teacher for a mother, reading was priority. A treat was going to the bookstore on Saturday and picking out any book of your very own. Then we would all lie in our various beds, devour the books and swap with each other. As we all had pretty diverse tastes, I read the whole gamut, from Nick Carters, to Barbara Cartlands to Enid Blytons at a pretty young age. But Nigerian TV sucked, so holding out for age appropriate material never crossed my mind. But I digress. So I got these gorgeous books, titled 'On the night you were born', and "On the Day you were born' respectively, (among many that this person so generously bequeathed to monkeyboy) that are already favorites of Number one son and I'm sure will be for monkeyboy too, in time.

I have also fallen in love with crabtree and evelyn's super gentle and super adorable baby wash and creams. They work so well for monkeyboys sensitive skin and the packaging is SO cute - it's like reading a bedtime story everyday, just looking at it. He broke out in a rash, I think from Johnson and Johnson's and these seem to be calming the rash and working so well. My dear friend gifted this to us courtesy of she and her business Packaged Panache. She makes the most gorgeous gift packages for ANY occasion you can imagine. Yes, she doth rock. lol.