MoonDoggie

Looking at this West Bend coffee urn from the 70s makes me happy and I don't even drink coffee!
There's one for sale on ebay if you're keen.

Living in England makes tiki collecting difficult (and even more expensive) but I guess that's part of the fun. I thought I'd post about some mugs I would like to have in my (admittedly small) collection.

Drinky via Ooga-Mooga!

My most coveted mug is 'Drinky'. Look! He's got his very own tiki mug, complete with drink umbrella - why wouldn't I want this? I think I first saw Drinky in Jay Strongman's 'TIKI MUGS' book and knew I had to make him mine. I'm yet to make this happen...

Designed by Squid and produced by Tiki Farm from 2001, Drinky is classed as retired which will make finding my very own that much harder.

Original 1952 caption reads: "As Jernquist puts a finishing touch on one of the last dots, his neighbors (foreground) gaze in wonder at his multicolored home"

Now THAT takes commitment!

I saw this house on pinterest and went in search of the its original source - the 14 April, 1952 edition of LIFE magazine.

The brief article reads:

SPOTTED HOUSE

A man who likes to be different comes up with a polka-dot home

When people up New England way set out to paint a house, they generally stick to tidy white and plant hollyhock out front to keep it as New Englandy as possible. But not Emery Jernquist. When he bought his house at Warwick, R.I. it was cream-colored. He painted it gray. It was nice but it didn't seem to have much zip. He considered painting it plain black but thought this might look a little too somber.

Then came Jernquist's inspiration. He and his family painted the house black, then decorated its walls and white chimney with bright-colored polka dots - and it looked just fine. At first people were skeptical but, as he answered their questions politely, Jernquist conducted a private poll and came up with a confident statistic. Seventy-two percent of the critics, he says, like the dots just as much as he does.

Would you polka-dot your house?

While casually browsing Pinterest, I found a picture which made me 'laugh out loud' literally.

I don't really know what to say except that look on the kid's face is priceless!

I clicked through and saw that it was pinned from the blog 'Inspiring Pretty' which featured a load more somewhat menacing Easter photographs. I was in tears with laughter. Most seem to have been taken from the Awkward Family Photos website which is well worth a visit - one of my favourite sites. Do yourself a favour and check them out!

I see the Billy bookcase from ikea is now available with an orange backing... I like this a lot.

I'm still being slack at posting. Sorry to anyone who misses me. I guess I just have so much on my plate at the moment. Well, actually, in reality I have less on my plate because I've been trying to get myself fit and healthy after a long period of inactivity.

I was actually googling for motivation and inspiration when I saw this pic and it reminded me of my little blog so I decided to share.

Soon that lady in the picture will be me!

To be honest though, I'm not too bothered about the appreciative males. I'd rather they were women jealous of how good I look in my funky new wardrobe. Oh yeah!

I am big into genealogy. It ties in with my love for history. I'm not so much one for collecting names - I'm more into finding out about how people lived. Researching how my ancestors lived gives it that little bit more meaning for me.

But these customised family tree 'posters' by My Tree and Me, make me want to display my collection of names. There are various styles and colour schemes which offer an alternative from the usual 'tree' format.

I miss my little blog and am determined to devote some attention to it.
Until then...
Have a very TIKI Christmas!

As a big Tintin fan in my youth, I was overjoyed to see this familiar rocket adorning the front page of spotify.
Tintin fans should recognise it but those unfamiliar with the graphic novels should swoon over its mid century, space age curves. I'm sure it would look wonderful in my home!

The rocket features in two of the novels from the 1950s - Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon.

There seem to be 3 sizes to choose from - I just need to find a reasonable price for one. :)

Further to my Tea for Two post yesterday, I want a really cool teapot to go with my really cool tea infuser. I have a couple vintage coffee pots but they're not quite what I'm after.

These new ones from Mod Cloth caught my eye:

Not sure why I can't ever find really cool mod teapots like this one of Jenn Ski's:

There are some nice sets in H is for Home's shop:

And there are some right up my alley on Wooden Donkey's flickr stream but I can't repost the photos and it appears their shop site is down. Please say you haven't closed the store, Wooden Donkey!

I have been a bad, bad blogger... *hangs head in shame*

So to get back in the swing of things I'm just gonna try to post stuff, even if it seems really random.
For instance, I was in a tea shop today - I mean a shop that sells tea, not a cafe - and I wanted to buy some of the flavoured teas. I was reminded that I'd actually need a tea pot (since it comes in leaf form not in bags).

AHA! - I thought - I have a vintage coffee pot that could suffice, despite it being a little big. But then I'd also need a tea strainer which I don't have. A tea infuser was then suggested, which I very nearly bought before realising that I was sure I'd seen some cooler tea infusers somewhere on 't' interwebs'.

Enter the yellow submarine...

However, I'm not sure about how being made of plastic would affect the tea so I may get this adorable robot instead...

Suggestions welcome :)

How adorable is this chair? The jade green cushion is perfect for me and it would match my planters (which you can see in my home a couple of posts ago). If only I had the space for it.

It is currently available on the habitat website at half price (£100). There is also a matching table (seen in the pic below) but unfortunately the chair higher backed chair is nowhere to be seen.

Sale ends Sunday by the way.

I've been eyeing this little beauty off for a while - an octopus to hold all your shower time bits and bobs!

At the moment my most used bottles (such as shampoo, conditioner, etc) sit on the bath edge (shower/bath combo) and it doesn't take long for the water to pool under the bases and start to mould- yuk! With this baby (from Pa Design), hopefully that problem will be eliminated.

Apparently the 'tentacles' adapt to any type of bottle and now I've finally found a UK stockist, I'm in!

UK people can get one here - US people have a few more options.

I realise a Jubilee post is quite delayed at this point but I was thinking that I've been in my new flat for nearly a year now and I still haven't posted those pics I promised.

Every time the mood struck me, it just wasn't tidy enough for my liking. However, I managed to take a few photos after I decorated for our Jubilee celebrations and thought I may as well post those. At least they might tide you over until I post some 'normal' shots...