Orla Kiely Autumn 07

I love love love Orla Kiely. Seeing the new pieces for fall and winter gave me a slight feeling of sadness that I won't have a fall here. Even though I haven't been in school for about 8 years, I always connect September with school and new beginnings. I loved the crispness in the morning air, the excitment of new notebooks, and wearing wool tights and fun coats. Ah well, I won't complain...especially come January when I'm thankfully not wearing layers of sweaters and dealing with static-y hair...

Colorful Treats

Some inspriring foods from Marie Clair Idees. To tie you over until lunch time...

Breakfast of Champions

I jumped out of bed ready for another day of unpacking. I'm so ready, nothing can stop me, not cardboard, not dust, nor piles of paper. A mildew-y rag however... I was sitting at the table last night and smelled something reeaally bad... and so I'm thinking, is it the cardboard? the fridge? Me?!?! I had left a wet rag in a bucket in a cabinet by the sink, and eee yuckers, it's bad. I immediatly threw it into the stairwell, but now i'm still left with it's stench. gross...

Reunited and it Feels So Good....

I've made my way through the living room...assembled tables and chairs. Opened boxes of sleeping bags, bike pumps, wet suits, remote control helicopters ( guess who's), tennis racquets, all things that I can't find a home for... Now I'm getting to the good stuff. Always a home for these! my favorite Cath Kidston mug, my little bowls from Anthropologie, my apple pie candle. Also, my pretty pretty jewelry box and a, um, half finished project.



Hurray for boxes!!

La Lovely

My colleague that had sent me the link to Laduree was so inspired by the site that he made these macaroons. They are filled with rose jelly butter cream. The photo that he sent is amazing in itself. Why am I so far away!!! He would make the most amazing, delicious cakes, tarts, and cookies.

(Thinh, I hope you don't mind me singing your praise!)

Yuck

So the movers finally arrived at 6:30 last night. 7 sweaty Russian men carrying boxes up to our 4 story walk up shouting numbers at me so I can check the box off the inventory list. "Oh just throw it in that room over there..." And then it was over...and I was left with everything "thrown in that room over there" sweet. I have quite a lot to do today. Which not only means unpacking everything and finding a home for it, but also breaking down dusty boxes that have been in transit for 3 months. Yuckers...

Sunny Colors

While I was home I picked up this lover-ly apron (for my ever growing collection), some yummy plastic jewlery from Forever 21, and some embroidery supplies. Perfectness.
Our boat shipment arrives today. Somewhere between 3-5, which means they should get here at 6. seriously. I'm very excited to have all of our things arrive (hopefully in tact...) It will feel like Christmas!
For now, i'm sitting in the sunny kitchen trying to learn all of the Jewish Holidays and planning a weekend Tel Aviv trip.

Flowers for Fun

I've decided that the flowers at our wedding will be hydrangeas. I absolutely love them and re-fell in love with them after seeing a piece on them in the September issue of British Country Living. They are all over the cape, and it's amazing to see such different ranges of colors, size, and flowers. My toes are twiddling with sheer delight.

Inspiring Treats

A past colleague of mine emailed me a link to Laduree. So lovely to look at... or drool over...

Back from Eilat!

I'm back in Israel! I flew into Tel Aviv at 6 in the morning on Friday. Erik picked me up and we drove straight down to Eilat, about a 4 1/2 hour drive. It was such an amazing trip driving through the Negev Desert.



All different shades of brown as far as you can see. We went to Club Med for a work trip of Erik's. It was incredible to look across the Red Sea and see Jordan, Saudi Arabia further down, and then Egypt below us.



I've always been somewhat against all-inclusive places like this. Not just for the cheesy factor, but also the idea of being stuck at one place...with all the same people. But I have to say it was pretty convenient to be able to use everything they had; the snorkels, windsurfers, archery, mini golf, trapeeze.



It was also nice not have to worry about paying for food and drink. Although, there is the fear of eating too much... which then may make you feel like a sausage in a wet suit. Plan ahead...

On saturday we went to Dolphin Reef. It's a reserve with 7 dolphins and lots of protected coral.



You can snorkel or scuba dive with the dolphins. I had never scuba-ed before and actually had no intention of ever trying. I find snorkeling hard enough... it's the whole idea of breathing through a tube... and a little bit of claustrophobia thrown in too. However, I was somehow convinced to try... first off, it started to go bad when I put my wet suit on and seriously felt like a sausage crammed into a casing.... I looked that good. ahem. So then I met with my instructor and told him that I was a little nervous.... he had no idea what he was getting himself into.... In the 25 minutes we were given, I managed to go about 20 feet out, and perhaps 4 inches deep.... I freaked out. I'd be under for about one minute and then totally panic and have to come up. So much for swimming with the dolphins... erik did though, and we got a movie of it too. One of the dolphins actually hit his face with it's flipper, snort. ah well... next time, I'll stick with the snorkel (or as they call it here "shnorkel").

When we got back to the hotel, I needed to make up for my lame-ness by doing something brave. So I did the flying trapeeze.



It looks so easy from down below, but once you climb up and see how high you are... it's a little frightening. but it did it... there may have been a lot of screaming, but i did it.



On our last day we went to an aquarium with an underwater observatory.


It was great fun.








All in all it was a great mini vacation. I'm hoping to tempt some people out to visit... you can scuba with dolphins! (or chicken out and snorkel...I won't tell)