happy leap year day!

Such a funny thing a leap year, and quite impressive that no matter where you are in the world or what culture you belong too, everyone inserts an extra day (or month if you are Chinese!) to ensure the calendar year stays in synch with the seasons.

Obviously the most important part of today is that (hopefully) all over the world women will be asking men to marry them! I love the fact as part of the tradition the men are not allowed to say no.

What will you be doing to celebrate leap year day?

Vintage leap year postcard found here.

floating away

Aren't these whimsical and pretty? With what seems like all of my friends having babies, I thought these adorable balloon lights would be perfect for a child's bedroom. The best part? To turn the lights on you pull the string from the balloon.

Seen via The Design Ark

india

Oh India, weren't you fabulous? 

I can't begin to describe our trip to India, it was full of amazing food, historical adventure and was an inspiring colourful cacophony of sights, sounds and smells. We had only two weeks to travel so tried to fit a lot into a short period of time, spending our first week in Rajasthan, traveling by bus and train to visit five ancient cities before flying to Kerala for some rest and relaxation on the beach!

We started with two days in Delhi to bring in the New Year, before traveling by train to Agra visiting the majestic Taj Mahal. From there we traveled by train Jaipur spending a day ogling its gigantic red fort and took a side trip to Amber where we visited an absolutely stunning sandstone fort built into a mountain. Amazing! We took a (loooooong) overnight train to Jodhpur, the blue city before a final bus to the beautiful city of Udaipur, famed for it's clear lakes and floating palaces.

We then flew to Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala. We traveled up the coast to Allepey where we spent two days and a night on a spectacular houseboat (staff of two just for us) and finished our trip in a luxurious heritage home before flying back to Delhi en route to London.

The people were so friendly, the food was spectacular (and so cheap!) and I will definitely be back to visit other parts of the country. 

Pictures after the jump.

palomarie

Happy Monday friends!

I'm always on the look out for unique jewellery and the S/S 2012 collection from Palomarie is simply stunning! Hand crafted from raw material, with their interesting pieces and clean lines, there isn't a piece in the collection I don't already covet. I am especially impressed by the hand pieces, I've seen these only a few times before and think I'll finally add one to my collection. I can't wait to see how it looks!

Found via the fabulous Miss Moss and avaliable online here

tip top tip

My husband is a hoarder. It's a problem...and one I am (slowly) learning to live with. I found however, this cute way of storing the plastic bags that have started to take over our kitchen cupboard. Simply stash them in an empty tissue box and voila! they are easy to retrieve as well as being tidily stashed away.

Thank you Sous Style for this tip top tip.

cheese on toast

Awesome. Need I say more?

Found here

oh so pretty

Something pretty to start the day, this stunning art deco ring by Yves Saint Laurent surprisingly doesn't break the bank!

YSL Arty Oval Ring available here.