Tea at the Santo Maura

A friend and I stopped by at the gorgeous Hotel Santo Mauro today for a nice cup of Earl Gray. I'd heard of this swish former palace on C/Zurbano before but had never seen it in person. Gorgeous!

Bath-4-2

Isn't this bath for two, by Thun and Rodriguez, just lovely? One of my gripes with my apartment is that it doesn't even have a bath for one, let alone for two... and there's little I love more on a Friday evening, after a long week at work, than to put on some soothing music, pick up a magazine and have a hot bath. So relaxing. But alas, with no bath, the sofa and a bar of chocolate have to suffice. What's your favourite way of winding down at the end of the week?

I'm talking to you 3b

This mat made me laugh, it really could have been made for me. And as for 3b, there is no 3b, but these sentiments could apply to pretty much the entire population of my Madrid neighbourhood, Lavapies...
From the Onion Store

A cheery song for back to school

I've been back at work for a couple for weeks now and the dreaded sindrome post vacacional so common in Spain as we tend to get THE WHOLE MONTH OF AUGUST OFF seems to be lifting a little :-) Although I left school more years ago than I care to remember, September for me is still when the 'real year' begins rather than January, and is a good opportunity to sneakily start working on those dreaded New Year's resolutions and get a little head start. Anyway, thought I'd share my cheery mood with this song I like from Florence and the Machine. And yes indeed, for now at least, it would seem like the dog days are over.

Celebitchy plastic surgery - have they or haven't they?

About 2 years ago I did a little post on this topic, and suprisingly (or not) it turned out to be one of the most- read items on my blog (according to google :-)) despite not drawing many comments. Anyway, here's another batch. What's the verdict? Have they gone under the knife/or are they simply wearing better, ahem, make up?

Blake Lively

Danni Minogue

Elsa Pataky

Jennifer Garner

Jordan aka Katie Price (ok, this it a trick question)

Kate Winslet

Salma Hayek

And again...

It's easy to sneer at those who've had work done...but, honestly, would you really never, ever, have anything done if you knew it would look natural, had the cash, and there would be no complications? Impossible guarantees of course but I know I personally couldn't promise to NEVER have anything done if it was really getting me down. Deeta Von Teese, who is famously open about her surgery seems to think these procedures are just a more extreme form of make up. Hmm, not sure about that, you're unlikely to kill yourself using make up - then again I did once almost poke my out trying to apply eyeliner while driving (I'm such a bad driver that the possibility of multitasking is a complete no-no).

Autumnal inspiration

I know it’s a bit early for this, but as I seem to be in such a hibernating sort of mood this September, I thought I’d do a post to provide a bit of autumnal inspiration. In this old post from Apartment Therapy they talk about the best autumn rituals; the readers mention cosy socks and a good book curled up on the sofa, hot bubble baths (I’m so mad that my apartment only has a shower), drinking cocoa and snuggling up with kittens, pumpkin pie scented candles and more.

And here are a few things which might be catching my fancy as October comes in :-)

Autumnal jewellery, like this delicate leaf necklace from Etsy seller BeadinBabe, made from a real leaf plated in silver.

Another thing on my mind is the prospect of taking up knitting again, bored of making scarves but daunted by jumpers, how about a snuggly blanket for the sofa? I found the lovely free pattern pictured below on the Rowan wool site and wonder if I could manage it? By the way, if you want to buy wool in Madrid, try the wonderfully retro Lanas Gato Negro near Plaza Mayor where they sell wool by the hank rather than by ball!

Another thing I'm looking forward to is making bacon and butternut squash soup topped with a little yoghurt and parsley. I found this recipe years ago and have made it ever since. Delicous. The only thing that always puts me off is the painful task of peeling the squash. But my colleague R has recently informed me that there's not need to peel it at all. Did you know that? I certainly didn't. She says that if you chop it up then boil or roast it, the skin can easily be pulled off afterwards. What a good idea.

For a bit of autumnal decadence, I'm really taken with this gold Morroccan pouffe from Graham&Green. It's kind of pricey and I really wish that I'd picked one up in Marrakech earlier this year where they cost the equivalent of about 30 euros.

Regular readers of this blog may be familiar with my love of all things fragrant and the French brand L'Occitane. The other day I came accross this gorgeous smelling cinnamon scented candle which reminds me of autumn, baking and all things wholesome.

Well, that's enough autumn for today. It's late summer in Madrid and I guess I should go out and enjoy it. A glass of white wine on a terraza, hopefully followed by the latest offering from Woody Allen.

What are your favourite things about Autumn?

Blablabla - my temporary state as a couch potato

This is kind of a post for post's sake. I don't have much interesting to report I'm afraid but my sister Sayda has been hassling me about my sporadic posts lately and has guilted me into writing even though I have nothing that special to share. Fact is, since returning from Bali, all I want to do is curl up at home with a good book/my favourite series - at the moment Masterchef and Top Chef reruns - which while pretty meaningless at least provide me with the motivation to walk up the hill to my local market for some fresh produce to make a nice meal - like the pan fried perch I did today. It's like I'm slipping into winter mode even though it's still 26 degrees out there. Before the summer I was all about forcing myself to go out and have fun, whereas the past few weeks I seem to get a disproportionate amount of satisfaction from just eating a ripe peach or lighting an insence stick on my tiny balcony and noting how it rids the air of all the smells of boiled lentils with chunks of lard that my neighbours seem to cook first thing on a saturday morning... I really am miss boring, and secretly feel pleased when plans to go out fall through. Not like me at all! I promise myself that I will get out there again; I'll be back at yoga, back at French, and running, and writing a novel, and setting up an online business and God knows what. But for now, for the next couple of weeks, I'm happy just to take it easy. I can see now that I was doing too much before the summer, as I think I mentioned in a previous post, my self-diagnosed superwoman syndrome was perhaps causing me a bit of anxiety, so maybe that's where this need to do nothing (apart from my physio which I can't give up) comes from. Or maybe it's just laziness or a sympton of what the Spanish call syndrome post vacacional? Whatever it is, I'm quite enjoying it :-)