Columbia Rd....meets Cath Kidston


Please make a drink and pull up a seat this is a long post.....


...Last Sunday we went to Columbia Road Market....we had been meaning to take our friends Sue and Kevin to Cath Kidston for ages, ever since Sue first set eyes on our decoration at home did she want us to take them there, you can't help falling in love with all those delightful pastel mixes of boho 1950's chic now can you!....so we decided to make a day of it and take in some other sites too, starting with Columbia Road flower market.

 Above is the living room, that she loves, and below is part of our dresser....


Now if you are in the 'know' this flower market is the place to 'go'....if you want cheap good quality plants, set in the East End of London, this place is a treasure trove destination that will make your heart skip a beat!....it is the perfect place to thrift, as entwined either side of the main market itself are side streets that carry an abundance of second hand nik naks, new designer goods and expensive antiques....this place is a thrifters paradise! N.B Bring Plenty of money or your sugar daddy..because you will want to Spend Spend Spend!


Columbia Road Market above and below......


The side streets were packed with people, but still you were able to amble around at your leisure...I love looking around places like this, and the fun thing is that when you take your Nikon camera with you, the general public think your making a new series of 'Deadline' but are very polite, even though they can't think for the life of them what 'C' list celebrity you are!


Check out these side stalls, look at that Fab tapestry covered chair and the eccentric Graham Nortonesque lamp shade!....Geraniums....red & white stripe and duck egg blue what more can a girl ask for!


Look at this stall - the girl that owned this, has definitely got taste!...Fred wanted to buy everything - it does look rather home from home...he didn't want me to add any pictures of him in this pic or indeed any pics as he was having a rather 'bad belly day' you know the sort....a result of too much wine the night before!....

All this wondering around looking at the beautiful plants and shops was making Kevin very very hungry and there was many places to get something lovely to eat, so Kevin ceased his opportunity....Here!

Here!

Look at those lovely Bagels.....would you of been able to resist! mines a salmon and cream cheese....please!

 and here!

This shop was along the main street, it sold vintage clothing with plenty of yummy new clothing, trinkets and jewellery....look at the fab metalwork on the front of the shop and the vintage blue and white dresses....fantabulous!...we also visited a shop called Treacle, which is a Tea & Cupcake-aholics paradise and sooooo Vintagely trendy.....another must visit place!

.....we then went back to the car, it was getting warmer by then and do you know what, I have come to a conclusion that whenever I wear my black and white floral tunic which I may add is made from Viscose! it turns out to be a warm day, you see I usually wear linen, through every season actually, I love the natural feel and the way it lets your skin breath, I wear it through the winter and summer and yet when I wear my 'Viscose' tunic (which I love! - Fred hates it!) the sun shines - sods law that, isn't it!.....anyway moving on!

We haven't had many warm days this year, just rain, rain, rain....perhaps I should order a lorry load of floral tunics!...I'd make a mint!

Next stop Spittlefields Market, this is an art and craft market and I was pleasantly surprised at the surrounding area, years ago this part of the East End was a bit of a dump, but the renovations that have taken place, well we were really surprised! theres bars and cafes, and Notting Hill style shops and hardly any graffiti, just a few Banksy's here and there which is very trendy for this day and age, you feel quite privileged to see one actually.

Years ago I used to make Re-style clothing, which is taking second hand clothing and re-styling it into something else, I used to applique lace and vintage material adornments to each garment making every piece a one off.....so I couldn't resist taking this picture (or rather making Fred take this picture!) of these wicked re-styled garments in the market....There is sooo much talent in this market - you have to visit it. Whoops I sound like I am an advocate for the British Tourist Board there, don't I!


This guy had real talent....any designers out there....I would definitely snap him up if I were you!....Next we decided to go to Cath's, as we could contain ourselves no longer, well Sue and I could contain ourselves no longer, Kev was a bit worried as to how much Sue was going to spend.....We sped off to the Kings Road, home of the Punks that used to live there in the 1980's, it is rather disheartening to see that no longer, the unusual and funky shops are there anymore, they have long gone - although if you amble along further up the road heading towards Hammersmith, there are more eclectic and quirky shops like, Noah, Graham Greener and English Eccentrics (I must just say, we were in there last week (EE) and who should be in front of us but Felicity Kendall and she looks absolutely fantastic - I wish I knew what cream she is using!) 

We hot footed it into cath's and Sue kept putting things onto the counter, she decided on a red star zipped holdall, knitting bag (she is teaching me to crochet at the moment!) a red strawberry breakfast set, oven gloves, an oil cloth table cloth and a tea towel - I feel us Cath Kidston fans should give her a round of applause for her first time, I was really proud of her, still its not that difficult is it and off course Fred and I couldn't resist a few bits too....(I'll show you in another post what we bought and how we have made use of it!)...


We couldn't resist jumping in the car and tearing round to Cath's other shop in Clarendon Cross as we were in the area, on the way round we passed a Wine Bar and as I looked round I could of sworn that Jennifer Aniston was sitting by the window, as we sped passed I mentioned the fact, so Fred drove around the block and I braced myself with the camera to take a paparazzi shot of a lifetime....finally a chance to make my fortune!....as we drove along there was a Fire engine with hunky firemen (they are always hunky aren't they!) so Sue asked me to take a picture of them.....well they were making me laugh so much, I hadn't turned the camera on and by the time I did this is the pic that I took!



No firemen in sight!.....what a shambles - I usually take fab pictures.....well we were in fits of laughter.....only for Fred to stall the car outside of the Wine Bar where I had spotted Jennifer Aniston.....imagine the scene crazy people in a car in fits of laughter only for me to take the picture as husband stalls car and then only.....


...for the flash to completely bounce off the window, which you can't see at the moment, but afterwards as I peered through the lens everyone from the cafe looks in my direction, for which we are still in fits of laughter, Fred can't start the car and it seems like an eternity before he eventually kangaroo's the car down the road......How embarrassing!....we were crying with laughter....I must just say at this point, I am never going to take up photography as a living and sorry Jennifer if you have had double vision this week!....it was Me!


We finally arrived at our final destination, where we politely bought some material for Sue to make some cushions, here I am, I have my lovely Non linen floral warm tunic on! We had a lovely day and will be repeating it again soon....of course I'll keep you posted......Luv happy 

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Go and see hAiRsPrAy.....Its sooooo FAB!


Hi guys - my mums over for the weekend and we thought that we would go and see a movie! So of we headed to the cinema to see 'Hairspray' you see I am still in love with John Travolta and I couldn't wait to see him dressed up all Eddie Murphy stylie as a woman! This film is absolutely brilliant, a real feel good movie. If you don't already, you will feel indestructible when you walk out of that movie. We were tapping our feet and clapping our hands to the beats, it really makes you feel good, a kinda soul lifting feel good experience. I laughed, I cried, I was humbled and I wanted to see it again....this movie is a real contender in the movie world.....and although I didn't fancy Johnny as a woman, he sure played a fantastic part.

It is set in the late 50's early 60's....I love that era, I found myself....loving the curtains, the fridge, the table cloth etc, etc and as for the lovely American cars! well what more can i say! soooo chic, sooo our style, How cool to of been the prop buyer for that film, what fun they must of had finding all those goodies and indeed filming it. I will definitely be going to see it again and you must too - even if its just for research into the wonderful chic and colourful world of the 1950's/60's.
.....and if you have already seen it, what did you think of it....please do let me know your thoughts! luv happy @/*_*\@ xx
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Introducing Rosie...


This is our daughter Rosie, she has just turned 14....she is the beautiful one in many of my photographs, she is so photogenic with the most amazing crystal blue eyes and pretty blond hair, she is growing up fast, too fast in fact!

 She has always loved to try on my make-up from an early age...I have images of her in my head, clomping around in Nanny Bridget's high heeled shoes, a feather bower and bright pink lipstick....she hasn't changed much, and because I have never told her off for wearing make-up she has developed a passion for it....she is a young aspiring makeup artist and will soon be studying Hairdressing. We have taken her out of school and home educate her, we really didn't like the morals that were being set for her within a state school and they used to tell us (as indeed with all schools) that she was a slow learner!



This is a collage of a stamp, that Rosie has made from re-cycled used stamps.


Since she has been away from all those hormones and peer pressures, she no longer worries what other people think of her and has become her own personality, she is kind hearted, never swears and does mean impressions! In september she will be attending college for one day a week to study for 3 GCSE's and is also going to be taking a hairdressing course.....There really are choices out there you know! you do not have to send your children to school - you can give them a far better education at home....


We have learnt many many things together and with access to the internet there is so much out there to learn....she has learnt how to use photoshop and has how to draw fashion models and textile designing, we have had a fun time and despite what the teachers used to say, she has definitely proved them wrong - I suppose its all the one to one - but we are all having a lovely time at home learning and being all together and just recently she has been training for the Duke of Edinburgh Award, that's what got us started on the Camping malarkey!

She also has the most amazing singing voice, kinda Joss Stone meets Christina Aguilera and she is making a CD as part of the award....I am so proud of her and love her to bits.




We recently celebrated her birthday and what with the cup cake phenomenom....that is spreading rapidly at the moment, Fred decided to make Rosie a cupcake tower for her birthday Cake....which turned out rather lovely.....We spent the day in London and the highlight was visiting the Mac makeup counter at Harrods with her friend Lauren, they both had their make-up put on by the professional make-up artists there and we took in a few sites on the way home.



A good time was had by all!...Happy 14th Birthday Rosie, You are a wonderful daughter and I love you to bits. xx


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A Decorating Tip!

This is a little decorating tip that we have managed to get away with for a long time now! You see the wonderful blue vintage tiles that we have in our fire place, well we only actually have 3 of them...we bought them at an antique fair and new it would take forever to find anymore, so we took them to our local photocopying shop and had them colour photographed on photographic paper, we cut them out and stuck them with double sided tape around the fire place....don't they look good!


All of our friends are astounded when we tell them that they are actually paper and one of my mums friends once said 'weren't you lucky to get another house with the same tiled fire surround'!!!
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How Cool - I've been tagged!




Hi girls, I have been tagged by Rubyred (thanks ;p) so now I have to list 8 things about myself and then tag another 8 of my wonderful new blogging pals, so here goes :-

1. Fred and I are both only children and we met on a TV blind date show, run by London Weekend Television, with Michael Aspel and Danny Baker, held at 'The Hippodrome' back in 1986...and although he wasn't the partner they matched me up with, we started dating and 'The Sun' run an article on us called 'Happy Rejects'!!!....we got married in 1987 and have been together ever since.

2. I can't swim! I never learnt as a child although my dad did try hard to teach me, I developed my mums fears, and then when I was 16, I was on holiday in Spain and a guy run up behind me and pushed me into the deep end of the pool! I nearly drowned and cut my leg severely and was rushed to hospital. So after that I formed a worse fear and have never learnt since!

3. I have a sweet tooth....my favourites are the cappuccino chocolates in Thornton's....and we have a Thornton's in our outlet centre, just at the end of our road...which is not very good for my waistline or my teeth!

4. I like staying up late! you see I never get time to myself anymore. Fred is at home all the time, due to his Ehler Danlos and we home educate our daughter britt, so during the day its all natter natter....so I like time to myself when everyone else is asleep. (blogging time!)

5. I say the most stupid things without thinking, when I am in a large crowd and there is a moment of silence!...I have tried to give this terrible habit up, but I forget!.....I have been known to say 'do you think Nelson ever sunbathed' and 'How much is an L reg caravan' and the crowd has roared with laughter - I often have to say 'I knew that!' and 'I was only joking!'

6. As I am getting older, I am developing a fear of Escalators, they do not make them like they used to, I have decided! They used to have a long flat bit to step on before the initial 'free fall' but now most of them just go straight down with only one step to step on! so usually when we go to our local shopping centre, I hover at the top with a long crowd behind me! and get all giddy and then back away - isn't it terrible!

7. I am always humming! my nan used to hum, so I definitely get this from her, she also used to play the mouth organ! oh how I miss her! she was always so jolly....she used to pass me sweets under the table, when my mum wasn't looking!....I wonder whether this is the reason why I want a Hummer jeep!.....ONLY JOKING!

8. I am sure that I have been here before, because I find the I am quite knowledgeable on alot of subjects, that I didn't know that I knew, do you get my drift!....Like I definitely think that I have been a hairdresser in another life, because I seem to know alot about it, although the techniques that I talk about, wouldn't of been around back then....still whatever subject I talk about in depth...I always say that I have been it! in another life! Strange! I had my fortune told once by a lady called Rita, that used to run my local launderette (she ironed shirts to perfection!) and she told me that Fred and I were soul mates and that I had lived 8 lives before this one!....funny how I had to write 8 things about myself!

Thanks Rubyred for tagging me - I have really enjoyed it and I could go on, but I have to get up early tomorrow and look at the time! luv Happy @/*-*\@ xx
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Thankyou.

I have just got to say what a lovely gals all of you are, I know I havn't said thanks or written to you all personally - I wished I had the time too, because you folks are so lovely.....Fred and I look forward to the evenings when we sit there side by side on the couch with our feet on the poofee and laptops on our laps....we read all of your lovely comments, and it is a true pleasure. Its great, as well checking out all your lovely Etsy shops, there are soooo many talented gals out there, so creative and interesting, it really has opened up our world, to realise that you lot are out there, we really do appreciate you kind comments - having your own blog is like having your own magazine column isn't it!....its so much fun!

....And I really have to thank Yvestown, for writing the first blog about Fred's World, Thankyou Yvonne, Your blog is the reason we got into all of this, Fred found you when he was searching for Cath Kidston, and found you blog so interesting and told me about the way your husband hurry's you around....thats just like Fred and me! we are soo glad that we have found you and indeed all of you......it has been and will continue to be the greatest pleasure talking and keeping in touch with you all - Luv happy @/*-*\@ xx
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We miss you - Princess Diana Concert

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Hi Gals - We went to the Diana concert a few Sundays ago and I must say we had a brilliant and tearful time...I don't know whether any of you watched it, but I have got to say the atmosphere was most moving - Princess Diana was such a lovely lady and so kind to everyone that she met. It was such a tragedy...for us all to of lost her at such a young age...I have included this video into my blog, you really must view it. My kids were so excited that P Diddy was going to be singing and to be honest I wasn't really that bothered about him (not knowing or listening to his music at all) but when he came out and started singing, dedicating his rendition of 'Every breath you take' to Diana and the Princes, there wasn't a dry eye in the stadium!

Everyone was standing up with their hands in the air...and the Gospel choir behind, well! need I say more! (I love Gospel) this was my highlight of the whole concert....I will never forget it, I had tears streaming down my cheeks, as did everyone, and the things that he said, well, they were lovely. We have watched it again since and it still makes me tearful.

The whole event was stunning! with tributes and film....and it was so cool to see the Royal Princes dancing and enjoying themselves....do please take the time to watch this video, P Diddy ROCKS!!.......


Love Happy x
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Where is the sun!

After watching the LIVE EARTH concert the other day....it got me thinking.....Just look at the weather that we have had lately.....

Well I don't know if the whether is ok with you folks....but we are having some seriously unusual whether here at the moment, this was the view from our veranda, the other day and really the pics do not do this thunderstorm justice!....This time last year, we were away in Norfolk and was sunbathing on the beach, this year, we'll look at it! a total wash out. We had some nice weather at the beginning of April, 3 weeks worth in fact! but that was it! I do believe that was our summer.


This storm was terrrible, we had a thunder bolt just above our island, that made Max jump off of the settee and into my arms like a scene from Scooby doo!....This is Max looking very very frightened. Bless him.


This was about 10.30pm the other evening....How weird!....I definitely think global warming has something to do with this. Years ago, it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter! not anymore, there has been a drastic change....I think its about time to all do something about it, even if its just a little something like putting your washing on the line instead of in the tumle dryer! We have been told here that we cannot have a washing line because it will spoil the nice view for people coming over to our island, but I have let my garden grow a little higher and Fred fitted me a rotary line in the garden the other day - How rebellious is that! its so lovely hanging washing on the line again, the smell of the freshly washed linen is adorable....I am making changes and that is good, I don't know whether its a little too late, but if everyone makes small changes that will surely have a staggering effect! ....what do you think? @/*_*\@ xx

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Time Wasting!

Hello - I have been busy changing my blog around and havn't actually written anything - what do you all think of the colours? I love all of these colour tones.....I have put the clock here, partly because of the fact that I love this style of clock and that I always feel that I am being rushed.....I should be starting work, but I have loved tinkering around on my blog! doesn't it become contagious!
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I love Camping!!

Hi guy's well look at me - anyone who knows me will definitely not believe that I have been camping!! Fred has been on at me for years, to get me to go - but I have never given in, partly due to the fact of having to go to the 'bathroom' in the middle of the night! I do like my comforts. But one day we happened to be passing our local camping supermarket and we found ourselves inside - the appeal of the enamel crockery was too much and I was beginning to like the idea of it. Plus the other sunday, we were wondering where to go for the day, when Rosie asked if we could put up our Cath kidston tent, we both looked at Fred, he has been saving this tent for about 2 years now,(he thought if he left it in the wrapping - it would be worth money one day!) it was still in the cellophane in the cupboard and no-one had dare ask, until now!....and to our surprise he said yes...anyway after about an hour the tent was erected (in the Lounge!) and we were all lying inside it including max!..there is something sooo cosy about being inside a tent...something of a new found discovery for me.

Well that was it really - we sorted out the whole house, including the garage and found a multitude of saleable items and sold them at our local bootsale, we raised enough money to buy the tent and some accessories, the rest we took from indoors....and in order to make sure that I really enjoyed myself, Fred bought me a extra high blow up mattress, it was soooo cosy...it was absolutely divine zipping myself up in my pod bedroom, reading all day long...I have decided that I love camping, its so relaxing. We had wind, We had rain, but our tent was absolutely fantastic, tents these days are so clever in design and they have plenty of storage - I said to fred I could do an advert for our Coleman Galileo, We can't wait to go camping again. I have added 'Simply Hike' website on my 'happy shopping' section, so that you too, can check out our tent - if you are thinking of buying one - I would definitely recommend it! Do check out our pictures....


This is our Father's Day morning breakfast...How fab is that tent!...and red spots - we love red spots...and theres the fabulous enamel set that we originally bought in the camping shop.
....another view, my pod was in the middle, I have fond memories of curling up with my book! we also had an electric hook-up so I was able to listen to my Roberts radio too!
This is me (sorry about the hair!) I had just washed up! oh and look at that fab granny blanket, Fred went to a 'too early for me!' bootsale on the Sunday morning and brought it for £2.50!
This is my beautiful daughter Rosie, who I have yet to introduce you too (she is lovely!) with my favourite Cath Kidston bag!
...another view of the kitchen and freds bed right by the door ( he's always hot!)...and can you see our lovely eiderdown, we bought that in our favourite shop in Rye...if you have any questions about camping - please do drop me a line, the Campsite we went to was in Whitstable....luv happy xx

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