It’s nearly nine (du soir), and I have just poured myself a glass of vin blanc. I am exhausted. It’s been a hectic day, and I need a good night’s sleep to get me through tomorrow’s shoot. But, before I put head to pillow, would you fancy coming for a wander with me?

Since we’ve had breakfast and tea in Paris, chatting with old men about the delights of Corsica and an after lunch laze-about in the Jardin Du Luxembourg in the afternoon: now it’s time for a late night stroll in Amsterdam, through the canal district. On this wander, we might see some of Amsterdam’s funny crooked buildings, find a stylish old wooden dinghy, peek through the window of someone’s beautifully decorated home, find some cool boutiques, and stop by a canal to take in the incredible view.

So come on, let’s see what we find along the way - but mind your step, the cobblestones do tend to jump out at you every now and then in the dark…

As you all know, I spent the weekend pottering around the boat, fixing and organising, getting things done on my ‘houseboat to do’ list. One of the things that has been bugging me for a while was my desk area. I had been blu-tacing things up on the wall since I’ve been here, trying to create a moodboard of sorts, and eventually everything just kept falling off - it was not unusual to be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of papers and notes falling, creating a domino effect of falling items on the desk which, akin to my way of doing things, were all carefully balancing on top of each other (oh I hear my mother’s voice right about now, with the rolling of the eyes - she always had a strong dislike to my style of blu-tacking things to my bedroom walls and balanced things precariously on top of one another… don’t look Mum!).

And as you also know, with rentals you can’t hammer nails into walls. But this has never deterred me from claiming a space as mine and this weekend I came up with a system for getting as much of my inspiration on the wall above my desk as possible…

I used the wood trimming as my frame, and unscrewed a few of the screws just partially, wrapped some twine around them, screwed them back and tightened them to create a criss cross of strings around the window. Then I pegged all my inspiration and notes, ribbons, drawings and cards to the string…

What do you think? I am loving having everyone’s cards, gifts, and work on display. Do you recognise a few? The bird illustration card is from the wonderful Joetta when she sent me her My Heart Wanders submissions. The yellow square is a Tibetan prayer flag given to me by my aunty sue…

The artwork on the left is an abstract cityscape of New York, and is the incredible prize I won on Lynne’s blog. The competition was to name the artwork and as soon as I saw it the name “city talk” came to my mind. And I won! So here is “city talk” in the flesh, from the very fabulous New Mexican artist Sage McKee. Thank you again Lynne and Sage, I am totally in love with it. The photograph in the middle is one of David’s of which he wrote all over the back of as a card for my birthday (super sweet). The black and white print on the right is actually a poster of my Dad. He was a Judo Olympian way back when (I know, this fact has never made it easy bringing my dates home to ‘meet the parents’!) and i just love this poster of him doing Judo moves with his pal Peter Paige. The photo above that is from the Aymara catalogue and reminds me of my Mum, so beautiful. And the pic above that, well you all know, that’s of my favourite island retreat!

Above is “the desk” in situ - so you can see where it is on the boat. It is the perfect spot because from the front door in the kitchen you can’t see it which keeps the space looking clean lined, and it is not until you walk down the stairs and into the main living area that you see it to the left. It is such an inspiring space to work at now - i often glance up at it all and dream away, finding inspiration in the colours and textures, stories and memories.

I will show more things that I created this weekend, but for now, I hope you liked this snapshot.

xx

the water looks like glass this morning, i just had to show you.

oh and i nearly forgot, a song! I’ve been meaning to post about this song of Emiliana Torrini’s - click on this link, and come back to view the image above - it is very much the feeling of being on the boat (French Boy thinks I sing like Emiliana - yes please!! Although his compliments still haven’t convinced me to sing). And the sound you hear of the ropes throughout the song is just like the sounds I hear while in here on the boat - when it is a little windy the ropes make those sounds.

well, i’ve certainly been slowed down, but not stopped. i’ve been pottering around the boat for the weekend - sorting, fixing, and playing - it’s been fun. I can’t play the piano, and I can’t walk so well, but I shall soon be back to my normal vibrant self, I promise!

Thank you everyone for your well wishes through all your emails and incredible comments - but saying thank you really doesn’t seem enough at all. Creating this blog has been one of the most inspiring, soul nurturing things I have ever done. You have all opened your arms to me and are like a wonderful, billowing silk safety net, catching me and throwing me back up into the air, allowing my wings to grow and find their strength.

I won’t get too soppy on you, but I just wanted to let you know.

So how about a song? What about one from the fresh, luscious voice of Sarah Aubrey. Click here to link to her myspace page, and listen to ‘empty room’. It’s a little melancholy, it’s a little deep, and it’s a little raw. Just the way I like it. Of course I also love her references to water and paper boats. While you are visiting her, have a listen to ‘Ha ha hey’, it’s a goodie too. Thank you to my dear friend Jo Jo for introducing me to her.

And what will we get up to this week in the (blog)house? You’ll just have to wait and see! But I can tell you this: I will be starting the sorting of all your My Heart Wanders images this week, getting them ready for the judges. No doubt I will be very tempted to show you one or two from the collection…

à demain! xx

Do you remember when I wrote about my little front door wreath? I made it for Christmas with fairy lights and all, and then I loved it so much that I wanted to keep it displayed all through the year. So I decided to make it an evolving floral sculpture for the front door (certainly inspired by my love of Tracey Deep’s work) - I let the flowers and foliage die and just add to it over the months and seasons to see how it evolves. I call it my ever-evolving wreath. Back in January I evolved it to this. Meantime the buds have long-died and cobwebs were starting to grow through it all. So I cleaned it up yesterday while I was doing the gardening and I added the dying peonies and astilbes, here it is…

What do you think? I quite like it. The colours are so muted but the different textures are so strong. And the most beautiful part of this piece is that when I open the door a few petals fall, leaving a little path of petals on the bridge for me to walk over, while some of them fall into the canal and float away…

I think I’m still very structured with the wreath though - I’d like to be much looser with it, make it into a crazy beautiful artwork. When we have our summer boat party I will add fresh foliage and blossoms to it, make it colourful and lively.

On a side note, while I was out and about yesterday I passed an interior decorating studio that was selling fabric off-cuts for next to nothing, so I bought all of these…

I couldn’t help myself. I blame ms. hyena in petticoats - she posted that she was about to start selling her incredible fabric collection online, i got so excited about it, and then went out and spotted these fabrics for sale, and bought up! oops. I will no doubt use them for upcoming shoots, so you will probably see them again somewhere down the line. I was also thinking I might re-cover my napoleon chair in one of them, maybe this one…

While I think about this, I am going to pour myself a glass of milo, my last glass in fact, as the tin is now empty. Boo hoo! I’ll savour every last spoonful (yes, it’s imperative you drink milo with a spoon).

Next Up: hmm, I have no idea, what does everyone feel like to end the week? A home tour? A cool new kids clothes range? A tag? Or is there a category you like most? You choose.

and it’s all thanks to yesterday’s outing…

Noting that it was time for me to get out, kick back a little, play with friends, and breathe a little air, I spent the day with my friend Hayley and my newest friend, her bub Elliott who is just 6 weeks old. I haven’t seen him for four weeks and I have missed him. He is the cutest little guy, such a joy to be around, and so content. The three of us went for a walk around the Jordaan (oh how I’ve missed Amsterdam!), bought a delicious salad and baguette at Small World, and took it to the park to sit in the sun. Elliott of course napped most of the time in the shade, and we had lots to catch up on. Then we walked on over to the Westergasfabriek which is an awesome centre full of art galleries and shops. We had a tea and latte at the espressofabriek which serves excellent coffee, and the tea was probably the best I have had in Amsterdam yet - served in beautiful Japanese bowls and when I asked for milk and honey the waiter was more than happy to serve it! It was such a lovely day out, and is exactly what I needed. But with all that sunshine, when French Boy came home he took one look at me and smiled and said “you’ve got colours”. That is a direct translation from French for “you are sunburnt”. And I just love it, it sounds so much better than being sunburnt doesn’t it? So today, happily, I have colours.