This month I like...

♥ flowers beds in complete bloom everywhere in our local park, something like a magical carpet
♥ feeling much better after a horrible few days with tonsilitis
♥ spotting birds in the trees outside my windows and out and about
♥ baking a couple of new recipes
♥ browsing stationery over at Paperchase. I know it could be called an obsession but there's nothing I can do about it. Every time I step foot in this shop I see a little something I like. Last time it was that desk organiser from the Woodland collection. Well, it does seem like the essential item to lead a more organised life, doesn't it?
♥ watching some old-school Ally MacBeal on DVD - the perfect no-brainer before going to bed

pink

♪ the Stone Roses ~ Waterfall ♪

This week has been all about pink so far. Baby has new PJs with the most adorable collar and bodysuits full of my favourite matriochkas. My devoted husband has decided to bring home some flowers for Valentine's night - to my confused look, as we never do anything to mark the occasion. Beautiful flowers though, I am really enjoying them. And I was made up with the tasty meal he cooked for us this weekend too.

Rosy things:

* started a  mini sewing project for upcoming birthdays

* made my first carrot and walnut cake and it was yummy

* getting baby to sleep with the Stone roses - she is one cool chick already!

* watching a bit of ice skating on catch-up TV and re-reading Marie Antoinette's biography

* the return of the sewing bee

Less rosy things:

* being sick during your one and only week of holidays

* your baby girl being sick and waking up in floods of tears with toothache

Hopefully we'll be better before the week is over. I blame the lack of cold weather. Still, it's not too late for a big snow system to hit us. Fingers crossed.

snow where are you?

Wet and windy February. Whilst the south of the country is literally drowning under all the rain, here we are, miserable, wet and windy but not properly cold like a good old winter should feel like. Snow, I miss you. Last year it was snowing on the day Baby was born. We were waiting to be seen at the maternity ward very early one Monday morning as day was just breaking and it snowed. Later that morning before I lost my mind track of time in the delivery room, I remember looking outside and seeing yet more snow falling down.
As Baby's birthday approaches I realise I am feeling increasingly nostalgic of those last  few weeks of pregnancy and early days of motherhood. I miss the anticipation of it all - even though it drove me mad at the time, the laziness, and touching my tummy to feel her kicking back at me. And the cold, crisp air charged with the impending snow.
Man, I really wish for some snow before winter's over.
In the meantime I have found some comfort in finishing all the nitty-gritty hand quilting of my last baby quilt. What a great feeling when it finally comes together! I also made a new bias in a lovely black sakura-style fabric I bought with Atina Alga years ago. And we've taken the habit of going out for breakfast at the weekend. Lazy days, hibernation, and comfort foods. Just that darn snow missing...

still winter days

Yesterday on the radio many people were phoning in and saying how happy they were that January was finally over. It's true that it's a pretty long month, and for those who made resolutions it can be a bit depressing. The incessant rain just doesn't help to make things any better.
Still, if you look on the bright side, you might say it's great to come home and have a hot cup of cocoa. You get to snuggle up on the sofa under all your quilts and later in bed with a hot water bottle. You get to bake hearty comfort food without any complex, and January is also a good excuse to snap up some sales in the shops. Being the capricorn that I am, I got a bargain or two on a recent shopping trip. Well...recent shopping trip...ummm. All is relative now with Baby. "Recent" goes back to the first few days of the month about three weeks ago, as for "shopping trip" it is more like an hour zooming from one place to the other in the local shopping centre.
Luckily the days are getting much longer already and there is hope that soon I'll be able to venture out with my pram and Baby in tow at the end of the working day. Till then, back to comforting things. Enjoy hibernation while it lasts!

yellow

Looking back over the pictures I took in the last week, it's funny to see how yellow is the common denominator (Sewing Bee book included!). Funny too that a colleague of mine brought me a gold-dusted cheese from her local farmers' market, but I didn't get a picture of that!
Anyway it's been a funny old week altogether. I turned another year in the lowest of the low-key ways but managed to catch up at the weekend with a romantic meal in town (sans Baby, which turns out is always weird now). I had great plans for us to have a superb birthday cake, something terribly calorific a-la-Nigella, but never got round to actually doing anything. Had enough calories in my Friday night meal for a whole week anyway, so it's probably just as well.
Instead we made the most of the nice weather and took a couple of long walks (say, isn't it supposed to be the middle of winter...where is the snow, by the way?). I stuck to my plan and sewed a little bit more - I love the satisfaction of taking my patchwork pins out one by one and turning the quilt on its back to see the little alcoves appearing.
We marvelled at how amazing our baby is: she has developped the start of her own language to the rhythm of na-na-na da-da-da, she cuddles us in the evening when she is all tired after her bedtime stories, she loves playing peek-a-boo, fruity yogurts and dragging her cuddly toy along into all her daily adventures. She is simply a star. Our daughter.