White Pod

Chaz and I have been planning my 30th birthday party for about five years now. We still haven't ever made an actual decision about what we want to do or even where we want to go. It's still over a year away but we happily wile away many an hour going over every possibility. Moroccan Riads, beach villas in Bali or Cape Town being the ideas that we keep coming back to.

Given the choice I will always choose sun over snow but yesterday has left me maybe thinking otherwise. I came across the eco skiing resort, Whitepod in the small Swiss village of Les Cerniers. It's a tiny private resort that is built each season from scratch using totally ecologically friendly materials and only has 15 'pods'. There is one main hang out area that can fit 80 people (perfect for the party) and then come ski time, you have 7kms of your own pistes and private lifts.

www.whitepod.com

www.thesnowcollection.com

Pretty as a Pansy

After the Cub arrived life was a million times easier if I was wearing some kind of top with buttons down the front. Easy access. (for feeding).

The first few weeks were spent in a daze, lolling around in one of Chaz's tartan numbers but after a while I got sick of looking like a small trucker and was desperate for something slightly more feminine. Living in France you would imagine it would be an easy task to pop out and find something pretty but in reality ended up shipping over (pretty hideous) bits and pieces from the UK. Being in a permanent state of exhaustion with blurred vision meant that my choices weren't what I'd usually go for. A particularly hideous sparkly tartan one from Uniqlo keeps popping up in my memory...

So this time, I'm going to be better prepared. I'm very excited about my first find, this silk pansy print shirt from Warehouse. On the Warehouse website it tells me it's silk - not ideal with a new cherub - but on the asos.com site it's claiming to be polyester so I'm going to believe the latter so I can tick off the pretty and practical boxes on my mental check list and not feel guilty about splashing out on something I'm not going to be able to wear for another six months.

Pansy sensation £55 available from

www.asos.com

and

www.warehouse.co.uk

Whilst on the Subject

While we are on the subject of our dear friend Isabel Marant, please can she stop it with her new jewel collection. I was doing so well abstaining from buying anything for myself - things that the baby can use too (shawls) obviously don't count as shopping for me.

But now she's thrown lots of tassely, beady, pompom numbers into the mix, I don't think I can restrain myself a second longer.

Actually. Now that I'm thinking of it, a twinkly pompom-ed creation would be perfect for keeping a newborn cherub entertained, no?

This one's even in the sale...

All jewels available from netaporter.com and matchesfashion.com

Isabel Marant + Willow

When Isabel Marant brought out her heeled trainers last year I went into meltdown trying to work out how to get my hands on them. Thanks to some crafty calling and a quick tripette back to France (I honestly was going anyway), they were mine.

I've got deja-vu all over again all over again but this time they are actually made for me. The proof is in the title..

Introducing Isabel Marant's WILLOW sneaker...

Wildfox Spring Summer 2012

She was 16

She fell in love with a cowboy

She had a palamino pony

they lived for adventure

He broke her heart

she went West

She broke the law...

www.ilovewildfox.com

Gypsy River

It's not the first time I've wished I lived nearer Australia. My new Aussie find is Gypsy River. A Melbourne based company set up by traveller and curator Kerrie Nelson that sells gorgeous vintage hippy bits and pieces from around all the World. I'm particularly enamoured by the huge faded floor cushions and her vintage laptop cases.

Floor Cushions

Indian tribal jewels

Moroccan wedding blankets

visionary Indian bags

Laptop cases

www.gypsyriver.com.au

Back to School

I've been trying to restrain myself and not buy anything in the sales. It'd been going very well until last night when I opened an email from Jo Gordon luring me in with her gorgeous bargain scarves. I've had my eye on them for months and have been proud of my restraint up til now. Chaz is going back to work tomorrow and I've got that horrible going back to school feeling. This is just a little cheer me up.... the equivalent of a new pencil case.

My new 'pencil case'

tempting....

www.jogordon.com

Happy New Year!

Normally I would have made a long list of New Years resolutions by now. But this year, for the first time ever, I haven't come up with one single thing I want to resolve come tomorrow morning. I know that the next few months with a new tiny baby are not going to be the best time to be banning myself from treats; So trying to do a hardcore detox or running fifty miles by 6am every morning is beyond pointless

If anything, I'm going to try and do less this year. Slow down and stop trying to cram a million different things into my day. Stop planning. Maybe I could even learn to meditate...

I hope you have the happiest 2012

xxx