New pretty orchid

A new fancy schmancy shopping centre has opened at the end of my street :-). When I first bought the house I looked at the plans on the Council website and thought it would be a great development that would increase the value of the area. The development is two years late but better late than never.

There's a Woolworths, liquor store, a couple of cafes, sushi bar, kebab shop, pharmacy and a whole heap of other shops. I'm actually astounded at house much they've crammed in there. It's certainly more convenient and I won't complain about being able to get a decent coffee within walking distance.

Anyway, I saw this super pretty orchid just at the new Woolworths. I love orchids. They remind me of my Mum and my Grandmother on my Dad's side. It's a little brightness and prettiness in the downstairs bathroom.

Post cards from Napier

A couple of years ago, just after the flood, I won an awesome holiday to Napier, a seaside town in New Zealand. Napier was completed flattened by a massive earthquake in 1931 and the town was completely rebuilt in just two years.

The entire town was rebuilt in art deco, the style of the time and today Napier is a remarkable example of everything to do with this era from architecture to motifs and furniture.

The Napier City Council, who ran the competition, gave me a beautiful set of art deco postcards which have been patiently sitting in storage until the new house was ready. It's been over two years since I won the competition but they've finally seen the light of day.

It took me almost two hours to hang just four frames. I had a stringline set up and carefully measured the spaces in between down to the millimetre.

I then doubled the amount of recommended 3M Command picture strips, one on each side, and lined them up vertically and horizontally.

The picture perfect hanging of these down my hall was a work of art in itself (if I do say so myself) however after a day two of them fell to the ground and broke the frames. Grrrrr stupid 3M strips. They stuck to the wall OK, but had come away from the timber frames.

I conceded I'll have to actually nail hooks into the wall. Something I really didn't want to do but required if I want my awesome prints back up on the wall. I loved the reminder of our fab holiday every time I walked past.