The Womens Room

Something for the weekend: Artists Open House, Brighton

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It's the 30th Year of the Brighton and Hove Artist Open Houses project this year, and last weekend we popped down to see some of the 250 houses and galleries on the first of four weekend openings in May. 

You know what we're like. Yes, we went to see the art, but really we are nosy cows and went to look inside everyone's houses and gardens. And what nice houses they are too, owners are incredibly patient and let whole hoards of visitors traipse through to see the art and craft work that has been carefully and lovingly displayed. All interiors have been tidied and buffed up and gardens weeded and tamed. Names of plants and sources of antique furniture were discussed enthusiastically as tea was sipped and cakes munched (they sure can bake down in Brighton and many houses were offering cakes).

We saw lots of fabulous craft work too, almost too much to mention, but if you get a chance to go to Into The Woods (8 Grantham Road) check out the lovely blankets by Woodchild and the wonderful quirky fox scarves by Mia Underwood. We also loved Sylph Baier's house, filled with her ceramics (we loved the fruit colander) and Sarah Lock's wood plates and bowls. Sylph rents out her sweet one bedroom flat, kitted out in beautiful retro style for holidays, if anyone is visiting.

The Flower Emporium had provided beautiful flowers for a few houses, which we were very taken with and quite the BEST display of kitchen merchandising (nicely displayed cakes and drinks) was at Adam Johnson's house, where we bought great cards. Altogether a great (and fabulously sunny) day out which made us want to live in Brighton.

There are three weekends left in the programme, but do check out the website as not all houses are open on all the weekends. 

Brighton and Hove House Festival, Artists Open Houses, weekends 7-29 May 2011. Houses open 11.00am to 5.00pm

www.aoh.org.net

Woodchild's woolly blankets of distinction, all made in Scotland.

Next winter, don't wear real fox, wear a knitted one from Mia Underwood (or a wolf, or swan, or badger...check the website)

Sylph Baier's lovely ceramic fruit and veg collanders.

This was the best merchandised kitchen we saw.....at Adam Johnson's house.

Aren't these lovely? Simple but fab displays from the Flower Emporium.

 

Charity watch: Kids of Kathmandu

 

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This seems a very stylish way to raise money for a worth while cause (and a little more up-market than the tea cosies, although we loved those too). The Kids of Kathmandu charity has organised a bunch of smart designers and architects from New York to design a range of children's desks, all of which are being auctioned off in a silent auction (ends May 12th so not much time to bid left).

And what gorgeous desks they are, they look beautifully made.....I'd quite like the one with the pencil holes in it, designed by Wadaly, or the double one above, by James Harmon would be fun. Sadly they are kids size, but perhaps if things go well at the auction they'll make 'em bigger too. 

The charity is Brooklyn NY based, so this is really for our US readers only and they seem a nice, committed bunch on the website. I really like the banner headline that came with the email, which said 'Support should be considered a power tool', which is a nice way to approach the whole idea of charitable giving. Check out all the desks and their makers here and the details of Kids of Kathmandu charity here. 

We love: green bikes, pink shoes, cute dogs and cakes

 

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Here's something rather lovely for what is hopefully another sunny bank holiday weekend. It feels like it might be time to dust off the cobwebs and get the bike out and we are loving this rather fabulous pea green collaboration between Kate Spade and Adeline Adeline. It's perfect for riding round the streets of London, Manhattan, Paris, Derby, Hull or where ever you happen to live. We also love the modified version of the Kate Spade classic Scout bag, which has been adapted to hook over your handle bars.

Both the bag and the bike are ridiculously expensive, but are available on the Adeline Adeline website, where there are also several other amazing bikes for sale.

Also if you happen to be in New York any time soon, check out Babycakes (as seen in the film), the natural, organic and additive free cake shop in the lower East side. I had the best (almost healthy) red velvet cupcake I have ever tasted, there last summer. 

Britain's best tea cosies: as seen at White Stuff

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I've just read Jane's post on Tea Shops and have to show you my newest hand knitted tea cosy. I bought this while at the recent visual merchandising show in London, where I met concept designer Jacquie Marsh's team, Gorgeous, who do many of the windows for White Stuff. 

White Stuff Foundation, set up in 2010 does a lot of fund raising for the 67 charities it supports and for a recent set of windows, Jacquie bought over 700 hand knitted or hand crafted tea cosies on eBay ('pretty much each one was an individual purchase too'! she told me) and a similar amount of novelty tea pots, which went into all 74 of White Stuff's windows around the country.

The idea was to sell all tea cosies and tea pots from the window, when you bought one your pot/cosy got your name on it and you picked it up when the window came out. The money raised went to charity, and Jacquie told me the York store was sponsoring a para-olympian and I know my money (£5 for the tea cosy, which I thought was a bargain...don't you love the knickers?) went towards this.

Jacquie was selling off the ramainder of her tea cosies and tea pots at the show, there were all fabulous and it was difficult to select just one, but I am very pleased with my 'washing line' one. We tried to figure out a way of offering them to TWR readers, but it got too complicated as both she and I were off on hols, but maybe next time White Stuff do something similar we'll link up, as I reckon there are a lot of TWR readers who would love a novelty tea cosy like this one, particularly if they were raising money for a good cause. 

Oh, and Happy Easter all!

Technology packing: How did Captain James T Kirk cope?

 Found on lillygayleromance

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I LOVE packing for a holiday, as it allows me to put into practise the years of experience I've had moving from place to place. My dad was in the RAF, consequently my mum was always packing us up and being 'Marched Out' of one house (it's what the forces call an inventory check, terrifying stuff apparently) and 'Marched In' to another. I also went to boarding school from the age of 12 so have spent pretty much my whole life refining how to pack my own bag. 

What I really like is to edit out to the barest minimum, see how little I can get away with, even then I often take stuff I never end up using. I tend to take clothes in just two coordinating colourways (ok, so mostly boring back and white), pack multifunctioning dresses and I do nerdy stuff like decanting big bottles of cosmetics into small plastic ones with the exact calculated to the day...( thank heaven for Muiji).

So packing clothes a holiday capsule wardrobe is no probs. But what I have noticed over the last few holidays is the burgeoning amount of technology we seem to have to take with us. I'm thinking we might start needing something similar on the technology front to cope with all our hardware and wires.

This holiday there will be four laptops (plus wires) five phones (with two different wires) five cameras with five different battery chargers (and that's not counting my nice new battery operated Poloroid camera), an Ipad, a number of those small Shuffles, maybe The Kindle (altho' no one really likes it much) and of course all those headphones. 

When I suggested we might share the laptops and cut down on luggage we got into such a fight I decided it was easier to just let everyone do there own thing. The idea of doubling up on phones was met with incredulous stares. To be fair two of the teenagesons have exams when they get back so revision is being done and I am blogging and it appears ten days away from Facebook is an intolerable thought for all the teens. But still, how much easier things must have been for Captain Kirk with his minimalist technology collection of communicator for 'beaming up' and his phaser for knocking unwanted trouble on the head. 

Capsule techno-wadrobe anyone?

We loved: The Selvedge Fair

Emma Lamb

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The Selvedge Spring fair was a joy as expected and very busy (very middle-class-middle-age, but in a nice way). One of the reasons it was so good was the thorough edit done on the stall holders, everybody showing at the fair was showing work of the highest standard. There was no tat in other words, and although we are big lovers of tat in the right context, it was also fantastically inspiring to see so much high quality craft on show, it made us want to reach for our sewing and knitting needles. 

Our favourites included the wonderful Emma Lamb and her colourful and superior quality crocheted pot holders and cushions. Check out her blog and Etsy site for the full range, it was selling so fast on Saturday that my favourite cushions went while I was taking photos. We also loved the way her swing tags had little crochet flowers on and the little brand tag was hand embroidered.

Emma Lamb

For those who can't own a dog for real, Holy Smoke's hand sewn dog sculptures, made from vintage linen and full of character are the next best thing. Honestly, I nearly walked away with a whole menagerie of them, the Afghan hound was ADORABLE as were the little gothic black birds.

Holy-Smoke

It was great to meet the Blodwen ladies from Cardigan Bay in Wales, who we've admired from afar but actually got to say hello to and hear about the soothing and repairing properties of the Mamgu Organic Wild Rose Oil range...I bought some face and body oil and can confirm it smells wonderfully rose-like, I'll report back on how the tired and flakey skin on my arms and legs likes it. After some of the expensive stuff we've been trying, this seemed like a bit of a bargain for £35. 

Blodwen

But my absolute favourite item to buy was the versatile and decorative This & That note book from Mud Rabbit. This is a notebook that you never have to run out of paper with, as the pages are divided into small mini-book sections that are all individually sewn in. When you finish a section or need more pages, you just remove old ones and stitch in new ones, instructions and needles come with each purchase. They are very well priced at £45 for the large one and £32 for the smaller ones, if these were in the Liberty stationery department (and they are a natural fit) , they would easily be double that. They were launched at the show but will be on the website shortly. 

Mud Rabbit

We were revived by cups of tea from High Tea of Highgate, found another lovely shop to visit, Made in Hastings, when we next visit the seaside town and will check out Ray-Stitch and Our Patterned Hand when we need vintage buttons and threads. It was uplifting to see so many talented women doing such great things with craft, you get the feeling they just HAVE to do this, it's not about money, it's about being creative and loving what they do. You just can't keep a good sewer (and crocheter/knitter) down, we say.

If you went, which was your favourite stall?

Buy this: Super Strumps

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We met two fabulous Essex girls at Semple Secrets, writer and lecturer Syd Moore and artist Heidi Wigmore, who recently launched their tongue-in-cheek card game of Super Strumps (like Top Trumps but with boobs and attitude) at the Women of the World forum in London. The ladies were both a little tired of the stereotypical view of others on being Essex Girls, and being quite brainy they decided to explore other female stereotypes to see if there was anything that could be done to address some rather dated and cliched views on women. 

They discovered over 250 regularly used stereotypical descriptions of women (only 20 for men, interestingly) including Yummy Mummy, Fish Wife, Drama Queen, Bimbo and many others. As Syd said, stereotypes follow us around and can pigeon hole us in an annoyingly narrow way and being an Essex Girl has many qualities to celebrate, including being glamourous, sociable and sexually liberated.

So they invented Super Strumps the card game, to celebrate women, each stereo type is given a 'special power' , Career Woman can 'penetrate glass ceilings', the Grande Dame can 'summon armies', the fishwife can 'destroy with one word' and the Essex girl is 'invulnerable to cold'. Points are given for Nurture, Strength, Independence and Resourcefulness, and the idea of the game is to collect women with the highest points for each section. 

The aim of the game is to have a laugh, with much discussion and debate along the way about how much control we have over how we are perceived. But interestingly, Syd said when they invented the game, they brainstormed the point system with a huge group of women of assorted ages and it was the older role models that everyone wanted to give the highest points to. Age, experience, strength of character, independence and knowledge were all seen to be wonderful qualities that older women possessed, with the Old Biddy card getting top marks for strength, independence and resourcefulness, well above the It Girl or the Yummy Mummy. Syd thinks that today's younger women are desperate for role models from the older generation because they expect to be busy and working well into their dotage, and want good examples to look up to. 

All good stuff. Super Strumps has a website which will soon be selling the game at £7.99. Which stereotype do you think you are?

Something for the weekend: Selvedge Spring Fair

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We are VERY excited about going to the Selvedge Spring Fair today, the love child of World of Interiors crossed with the W.I (well in our vivid imaginations anyway). We're going, if you are too follow us on Twitter and come and say hello. Can there be a better way to start the Mother's Day weekend? (Oh yes, we're extending it to a weekend celebration in our houses....)

Family stories: It's in the genes

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As I get older I am conscious that the storytellers in my family are all dying off. Aunts, grandparents and even parents are disappearing at an alarming rate and if I'm not careful all the wonderful memories that make up the tales of their youth, our family history, will be lost forever. It should be compulsory to make anyone over a certain age...60? 70? record every detail about their childhood for a family history. It's never been easier, they could all talk into the iPhone voice memo gadget or into a dictaphone, God know's, the old ones love to talk...they just need a bit of a prod and they're off, given a regular supply of sherry/whisky my lot could go on for hours. 

Once those storytellers are gone, that's it. Before he died, my uncle Fred was the best storyteller in our family, he used to spin fantastically exaggerated yarns around his brothers and sisters, including my dad, which had my sister and I spellbound. It was the best way to pass on family history, however inaccurate and glamourised. If only the iPhone was around then to record him.

I now pester the remaining oldies for every scrap of information on their childhoods and slowly, each time they come to visit, they bring a story or a bit of family history with them. Last time my aunt and my dad (her brother) came up, they brought two old coat hangers and amazed me with the information that my great grandfather, J H Beaton, used to own a couple of clothes shops in Somerset. He was a tailor, and the photo above shows the clothes hangers -the only remaining souvenirs - from the stores. The fact that they fold up is pretty neat.

So perhaps the love of clothes and sewing is in the genes? The older I get, the more I want to know, who knows what what else they haven't told me yet? Time to crack the family whip..... 

We love: BOOM

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Remember a while ago I wrote about how my GBF and I would love to create a retirement home for gay men and women. Well it seems someone else has had the same idea and our fantasy is to become a reality. The only problem is, it's in Palm Springs and you have to be gay, lesbian or trans gender to live there, which kind of rules us out on a number of levels, but nonetheless we love the thinking behind it.

A team of ten established and up and coming architecture firms are working together to create BOOM, a LGBT retirement village which will challenge the traditonal pre-conceived notions of how older people should live.

The project is being developed online with architecture firm HWKN and design company Bruce Mau, who are co-ordinating a community of future residents through a site created specially for iPhones and iPads. The unconventional early adopters will help drive the design of the physical space and shape how the community will develop. They will also have a chance to get to know each other online, before they move in. 

So far plans include a climbing wall, clubhouse and roof top disco and of course stunning architecture.

BOOM is due to open in 2012. Any architects out there fancy developing a UK version?

Reality mannequins: do we really want them?

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Last week I spent a lot of time looking at the future of store design and display at Euroshop, a once-every-three-year show held in Dusseldorf, Germany, about all things retail. It's exhausting but fascinating, especially if you are mad about retail as we are and I was there with the trend forecasting agency Stylus.com.

I came across many wonderful things, but none made me laugh quite as much as The Ugly's collection of mannequins from Dutch mannequin supplier Hans Boodt. When I asked about them, the spokesperson said 'we're not all perfect, not everyone looks like a supermodel, these are more of a reflection of reality'. Apparently the mannequins -which I might add are beautifully made -have sold to a few retailers already.

Now, I whole heartedly support the idea of more realistic mannequins, if you've been following the comments on our post on Fashion Week Models you'll know we're not keen on showing unsuitable role models for women of any age. But seeing what reality actually means in solid fibreglass (including underwear) is not as pretty as I'd have hoped. What do you think? 

We love: the Idler Academy

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It seems shops are no longer just about buying stuff, we can also drink coffee, eat cakes and even learn something. We love The School of Life and are glad to see this has inspired a new retail and learning concept, The Idler Academy.

Founded by Tom Hodgkinson and Victoria Hull The Idler Academy of 'Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment', is a bookshop, café and school, which aims to  to 'combine the atmosphere of cultivated leisure that distinguished Plato’s Academy with the lively conviviality of the 18th century coffeehouse, and add a good dose of the 1950s grammar school'.

Sounds interesting! It opened last week in London's Westbourne Grove and will offer courses in academic and practical subjects, from Latin to embroidery,book-keeping to ukulele, life-drawing to herb growing, will sell old and new books, pencils, exercise books and protractor sets, packs of playing cards, old-fashioned games and serve delicious coffee and cakes. We will definitely be popping along to take a look and may even take up calligraphy!

The Idler Academy
81 Westbourne Park Road
London W2 5QH

0845 250 1281  

See this: Susan Hiller at Tate Britain

Part of Susan Hiller's From the Freud Museum 1992-7

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I'm not great at conceptual art, I prefer art where I can see and appreciate the skill and workmanship. I understand this is currently a very old fashioned thing to say (M.A.D is currently studying art and it's all about the' journey' and how you got there, rather than the end piece) but that's the way it is. Apparently my appreciation of art is a bit too 'decorative' to be serious....I know, I know, don't get me started, but the art world, a bit like fashion, has its own weird ways of seeing life, so we are happy to go along with the flow.

Susan Hiller, currently at Tate Britain, is right up my street. An American artist who has spent the last 30 years in Britain, her work -which is quite decorative I think- is grounded in anthropology, psychoanalysis, memory, illusion and the collection of 'unimportant materials' like postcards and wallpaper.  I first saw her work From The Freud Museum 1992-7 in Tate Modern years ago and knew IMMEDIATELY I saw the collection of beautiful boxes curated with odd-ball items that she would be a favourite artist for life. Seeing the boxes made me realise there was a point to having silly collections of buttons, abacus, old buckles, jelly moulds, ribbons, hand mirrors, postcards and biscuit cutters at home. It was just all about the curated display, with meaning.

Not long after I saw the work in the Tate, I got a display table in the kitchen to satisfy my creative need to show stuff, I'm a frustrated visual merchandiser at heart and although most people think the table is a weird mis-use of a kitchen surface, it now has a constantly changing displays of 'stuff' on it, artfully placed that causes much hilarity/discussion/puzzlement, but keeps me jolly happy.

Anyway, back to Ms Hiller, who's work is definitely worth visiting, particularly if you are a collector/displayer. Her exhibition is on until May 15th at the Tate Britain and is worth a visit for the boxes alone, but I also loved Dedicated to the Unknown Artist, a huge collection of seaside postcards depicting rough waves. 

The curator of the exhibition will be giving a talk on Hiller's work on March 25th, where I hope to find out how those beautiful boxes are made.

Another box featured in  From the Freud Museum, 1992-7 by Susan Hiller

Happy 18th Birthday Max!

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Today's post is entirely about celebrating my nephew Max. He was born 18 years ago to my sister Sandy and her husband Paul; their first child. He turned out to have Down's Syndrome, which frightened the life out of all of us, as no one was expecting it. His first few years were chaotic and somewhat nightmarish for Sandy and Paul as they came to understand what having a child that didn't quite fit what everyone else held as 'normal' was like. Mostly it was -still is- very hard work for them. 

Max however, would say his life was terrific, being a constantly up beat, busy, engaging and joyous teenager. He has had a string of girlfriends, featured in a number of TV programmes and a block buster film (Notes On A Scandal), is a huge fan of the London theatre (exclusively musicals) and a stalwart performer at Chicken Shed, the all inclusive North London theatre group. He is a natural entertainer and is always the focus of any room he is in. In short, he's an astonishing, talented lad.

Anyone who has a child with any sort of disability will know how tough the landscape can be for both the child and its family. we daren't even THINK about what happens when the council who fund Max's education, social and pastoral needs start to slice into his allowances over the coming year, as we know they will, despite what Converse-Cam says.

When you dream of having a family, you picture perfect children, right up to the moment you are told there's a problem, and our pre-pregnancy planning rarely accommodates problems like Down's or Cystic Fibrosis or other issues. When this all goes pear-shaped, as it did for Sandy and Paul, it turns out that mostly, it's you and him against the rest of the world, give or take a few friends and family members. My sister, her husband and their second son Charlie make me very proud that I'm part of their family, they are extraordinary individuals who have fought every step of the way to make Max's life a fantastic one. They are inspiring in a way that should humble most of us and I sometimes wonder if some divine intervention resulted in Max getting them as parents (and brother) BECAUSE they are so incredible at it, crack-pot as that sounds. 

Whatever, he's reached 18 and today will be a manic, loud, crazy celebration of his life so far, with everyone who loves him coming to his lunchtime party. He LOVES parties and has been directing the planning of this one for about the last twelve months, I suspect Sandy and Paul will be quietly pleased when everyone has eaten all the food and gone home.

Max will be full of it today, just like any other 18 year old on his birthday and will be looking forward to more shows to go and see (if you ever need an analysis of any West End musical, he's your critic), more Friday night youth clubs to host and more boy bands to learn the dance routines and music of. He's a great example of living life to the full. Happy Birthday Max! 

 

We love dogs: but are not so sure about Doggie Moms!

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Visiting New York last summer I was surprised at how dog mania had taken over the city in the same way it has in Tokyo. There were dogs everywhere, very cute but often quite badly behaved, as they seemed to be treated like furry humans .

We British seem to have more of an old fashioned, down to earth attitude to our dogs, but since owning my own dog I have noticed (and can be guilty of) more and more people treating their dogs more like extended family members.

When researching the concept of 'humanising' pets for a feature I'm writing for the day job, I spoke to my oldest (in friendship terms - not age) and dearest friend The Real Housewife of New York, who happens to be a dog owner and live in NYC. She has written about this before and agrees that perhaps the whole 'pet parenting' is a little out of control.

She drew my attention to a new TV series Doggy Moms, which debuted in the US last week. The show follows a group of New York women whose lives revolve around their four legged 'furry children' as they take them on doggie dates, to birthday parties, weddings, meet-ups, pageants, fashion shows, costume contests and fundraisers etc etc!! It looks so wrong yet so so compelling that I know I would be completely addicted if I lived in New York.

It makes me realise that we British dog owners have absolutely nothing to worry about!
Anyway must dash - I have to choose todays 'fur baby' outfit!

We love: the vintage box bag for bicycles

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A bit of retro bicycle glamour here from The Bicycle Muse. The box bag first appeared in the mid 70s when Raleigh brought out its Shopper Bike, but now it has been given a gentle make over and it returns to grace the more modern machine. It has been made in two colours, white or plaid (red or green) and has quality leather straps to hold everything in place. it's available from March  for £44.99 from cyclechic.com

More Valentines ideas

Gosh anyone would think we were romantic or something!!

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These E-Valentines cards on the rather lovely Kate Spade website make the ideal cheap, (make that free) last minute Valentines surprise, if you forget to buy a card or can only find hideous, schmaltzy monstrosities in your local shop.

The rest of the site is nice too, especially the things we love section.

We love : Liberty's new stationery department

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We may have mentioned before how much we LOVE all things stationery connected. Liberty opened its new stationery department yesterday and TWR (along with our mate Francesca) were the first visitors (Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was there too, but we were there first). Oh my, how we loved it. 

If you like notebooks, decorative Sellotape, cards or sticky labels, make a detour soon. It was almost impossible to choose a notebook, there were so many lovely ones (gold or metallic blue leather! Pantone! Even one specifically for bloggers!), but I finally decided on the Liberty printed floral exercise books, which have just been launched, at £8.95 each. There are also matching pencil cases. Francesca bought a box of decorative cards from the lovely American brand Rifle Paper and the wonderfully direct OMFG notebook for work. 

At the front of the department (which is on the ground floor) there is a Love Wall, made of cut paper, where you can leave a Valentine message and while we were there, Liberty's resident creative doodler, Max, was busy drawing little pictures all over the furniture and walls to give the place even more of a scribbly feel. 

TWR will be back, I fear many times. which might be expensive, as this is not a cheap place. But it is stationery geek heaven, so we don't care.

Reason's why being older is a good thing

Photo from the Little Flower School blog

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I have just finished Nora Ephron's I Remember Nothing, and close to the end, she comments that "Looking back, it seems to me that I was clueless until I was about fifty years old". This rang true with me, I feel there are many things I've only just got the hang of, and being older DOES have benefits, one of which is knowing stuff. I thought it might be good to highlight a few things that are good about being a bit older.

You can say NO to parties. When you're in your 20s and 30s, you go to everything assuming if you are not there something amazing will happen and you will miss out. It rarely does, which you only learn with age. The sofa, telly, the fire and a glass of wine at home wins every time.

And no to dinner parties. it always seems such a nice idea to be invited/invite others, but rarely is. As your host does a 'my-life-is-better-than-everyone-elses-and-my-children-have-just-got-into-Oxford' entrance with the Heston-style main course, in your heart you wish you were at home watching Strictly. We know who our friends are now, they know we can cook and we all prefer the pub anyway.

You know Tweezerman are the best tweezers, no question.

We forget stuff and it's fine. We have been around a long time and we have learnt a great deal, there's a HUGE amount in our brains so of course we're going to forget things sometimes, there's a lot to sift through. Younger people don't have so much in their heads so can't help but remember more quickly. 

You know the best things in life are the small ones. My moments of pure joy come from watching my son concentrate on mending his beloved bike, opening the back door on a sunny morning, all sitting down for supper together, laughing on the phone with my sister, holding my husband's hand while watching Spring Watch, doing 'half moon' in yoga on a Tuesday and not falling over. You learn with age that the best things in life are rarely the ones that cost the most money or have been hyped to the hills (that SO goes for New Year's Eve).

Knowing it'll be alright in the end. I'm talking about the little stuff here. Not everything works out, but when you are worrying about whether your children will be damaged forever because they don't eat vegetables, or if your teenager will ever understand the word 'tidy' or 'revision', age teaches you that mostly, everything will be ok. Although, of course, we still worry.....

You understand you are not 17, or will be again. Instead you acknowledge that although your head still thinks you are a good 15 years younger than you are, nothing can actually reverse the ageing process. Yes you can still look fabulous, but not by looking younger, just by looking good. People who learn this one save themselves a fortune on surgery. Patti Smith ROCKS and she doesn't even wear make up.

Understanding tired. When you are younger you sometimes have days when everything seems to go wrong, you get weepy and cross and you stomp about thinking the world has it in for you. When you get older, you realise it's because you are tired.

(The same could also be said of the Moon cycle thingy.....)

You realise you don't have to buy everything you like the look of. This has taken me a long time to learn but now I know it, I am so much happier. Just because it's lovely, be it clothes, furniture or junky things in flea markets, it doesn't mean you have to own it. Also...

There's always another dress around the corner. Age teaches you that there is no point fretting about NOT being able to buy a dress/whatever, for whatever reason, as there is always another lovely one coming up soonish. There is no shortage of nice product in this world.

(The same can also be said of this month's super food, don't worry if you're not eating goji berries, there'll be another miracle food along shortly).

You learn all that matters is your health, friends and family. You are not going to go to your grave wishing you'd spent more time on that report/worksheet/powerpoint presentation/feature, which only really becomes clear when you get older and time gets shorter. Age gives you a bit of perspective on this, you usually FULLY learn this when someone you love dies on you early. 

Tea cures most problems. There are still some sceptics on this, but as you get older, you learn that a cup of tea will ease the pain of most things, particularly if it is served with a digestive biscuit.

Do you have anything you have learnt with age? 

We love: The Saipua blog

We have moved to a new site. Do come and visit us! www.thewomensroomblog.com

Gosh we are chatty today, you have THREE blogposts this chilly London Friday, this is the second and there's a tea time treat coming up at 4.00pm too!

This one is a quickie, I've just been researching calling cards and discovered this beautiful blog from the New York (Brooklyn, to be precise) florist and soap maker Saipau. The photos are so lovely they will cheer your day up if you are feeling a little winter-blue-ish. Great for colour inspiration too. The team behind the shop are of Finnish extraction and the store/production base sounds like our sort of place. Any of our New York friends know this store?

PS we're having something of a Scandinavian moment here at TWR, what with Hel Yes! and Saipau and the Norwegian Skin Science anti ageing range of beauty products Jane and I are testing (and loving, more on this when we've finished our tests!) Stylish people.

 ps, just found this lovely blog too that Sarah from Saipua seems to be involved in, SO distracting! Don't look if you are supposed to be working.