A most beautiful Parisian appartment!

Here's a real treat!! Look what I found featured on decor8 blog today!

Here is one of the most beautiful display of paper lanterns I've ever seen!! Thankyou to Elodie for allowing me to share these great design ideas on my blog! Elodie is a designer/interior architect and photographer living in a very small appartment in Paris! Visit La Mechante to see all the pictures, and to read all about this wonderful lady and her fabulous blog!!


If you'd like lanterns like these to decorate your place - click here!

Giveaway to a lucky follower!!!!

Look what Patsy, my hard-working assistant has got!!
Its a beautiful beaded hand-made bracelet, made in the north of Vietnam. As it doesn't fit her, we've decided we'll use this for our monthly giveaway!!


Entry is automatic for all followers of our blog, and will be randomly drawn next Tuesday 3 November, after we celebrate Melbourne Cup (the biggest horse race in Australia)!! Good luck!! Will post anywhere in the world!!

Pagodas - Vietnam

Cholon District Saigon - Phuoc An Hoi Qua Pagoda, and Quan Am Pagoda.

Here's a few pics of a couple of beautiful pagodas I visited recently. Such serene and tranquil places, only metres away from the busy and noisy streets!

I'm having a lovely peaceful Sunday today, and it has taken my mind back to this wonderful place .....

Chinatown Lanterns - Manhattan!!!

Image from http://moontree.wordpress.com

Isn't this a great pic! The red lanterns are stunning. I'd love to see this display in real life ......

My lovely friend Ingrid Inkala Images is fully aware of my lantern obsession, and emailed this pic to me - thanks!!

I'm looking forward to Chinese New Year - its a bit of a double celebration next time - it falls on Valentines Day!!!

Lanternshop news: *Loads of Vietnamese Silk Lanterns on their way - new colours and sizes!
* More designs/shapes/colours in the Chinese paper lanterns - some with LED battery lights!
* 3 new designs in the popular wedding parasols. I'll let you know as soon as they arrive!!!

We all need friends ....

This is a wonderful little story sent to me by my Dad, that I wanted to share with you all. It will definately make you feel uplifted and put a smile on your faces.

The orangutan (Suryia) was in a rescue mission, depressed and not doing well. Along came the dog (Roscoe), who stayed with Suryia night and day until he was well again - now they are inseparable!!

They live together at Tigers Sanctuary, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Do any of my blogging friends in the States know of this place????

They like to swim together ....

And share many laughs!!!

Such a beautiful friendship :-) I love it!!

Dragonfly Kimono

Custest dragonfly kimono I found at the Market in Saigon! and guess who it fits perfectly .......

My little Patsy!!!

Doesn't my hardworking assistant look soooooo cute and adorable?????!

She has decided this will be her mid-season jacket, especially needed after a haircut!

What a lovely smile she has!

This was definately one of my 'best-buys' in Vietnam!!

Sneakie Peakie!

Hello! I'm back in Brisbane now, feeling rather exhausted! The trip was wonderful, and I even managed to have a few days of holidays this time - what a luxury!

Here's a little sneakie peakie of one of the new colours coming soon in the Vietnamese Silk Lanterns. This one is the silver! (the picture doesn't really do it justice, but I only have the tiniest little piece of silk at the moment). In a few weeks the shipment will be here, featuring all the current interiors decorating 'trend' colours popular in Europe this season - silver, grey, black - and many other new colours, not seen in Australia before!! I can't wait!
Also, many more colours, sizes and shapes suitable for nurseries, childrens bedrooms, and weddings - so exciting!! And of course, all of the popular styles and colours returning!

Unfriendly scales! ... a continuation of my feeding frenzy

I had a most interesting (and horrifying) experience on my recent overnight trip to the Mekong Delta in Southern Vietnam.

As you can see from my earlier posts - I have been having a lovely time eating the wonderful foods here (mainly healthy too!).

The hotel that I stayed in had scales in the room (beside the lounge), so out of curiosity I thought I'd check if I'd gained any weight. Before I continue, I must point out that according to Australian height/weight guidelines, I'm well within the healthy weight range, even a little on the low side!! And I'm sure those of you who know me would agree with this!!

So imagine my horror when I jumped on these scales. My weight was a tiny bit up (no problem), but clearly written on the scales is the recommended weight for your height - and according to Vietnamese scales, I'm very overweight!!! What a shock!!! (I'm actually 5kg over the maximum recommended weight for my height)! How can this be?????

Time to head out for coffee and cake, and put this experience behind me!!

Hairdressing - Saigon style!!

Here's a whole new take on mobile hairdressing!! - Haircut alfresco!

Vietnamese Food

Hello again! I'm back in Ho Chi Minh City after 2 days in the Mekong Delta, where I continued on my feeding frenzy! Here's some pics of some of the things I've been enjoying!
Coconut salad with shrimp and pork (above),
Pancakes with shrimp below (my favourite so far)..... but still a couple of days to go!


And look at this! The bananas in Saigon are small, but I found these cutest ever little mini bananas in the river towns. Aren't they adorable!!!!

And the very nice dragon fruit!

Feeling hungry?????

Out n about in Vietnam

Having a lovely time!! Spent the day wandering around this incredibly busy city of millions of motorbikes, cars, trucks, bicycles, cyclos, food push-carts and people.
It really is an amazing and chaotic place, but amongst it all are so many beautiful parks like the one above, which are incredibly serene.
Everything is lush and green, and so well cared for.

Below, is a lovely little cafe where we stopped for lunch.

Oooh, and look what I found!! Silk lanterns inside the famous Post office building, which is pictured below. What a surprise!

Here's my mum negotiating price of postcards with the street vendor! My lucky mum won the golden ticket and got to accompany me this time!! Well, I think she's lucky anyway!!

Bye for now!!

Hello from Vietnam!

Hello my friends - greetings from Saigon!! I'm having a very lovely time - shopping, massage, manicure, pedicure - all in one and a half days!!
Going to trade fair tomorrow to start doing some serious business!!!
I'm in a lovely hotel, with views of the river (see above) - its a bit hazy so photo not so clear.


I was out and about today and saw the strangest thing! The man on the ladder is doing repairs to the crazy amout of electrical wires wrapped around the pole, with insane numbers of cars, buses and bikes whizzing by. So brave!! I don't think there are OH&S (occupational health and safety) guidelines here!!
Planning to organise some new and exciting lantern deals tomorrow!!!

Bon Voyage!

image courtesy of flickr

I'm leaving my beloved Brisbane tonight - heading to Vietnam! Not sure if I'll be blogging while I'm away - see what happens.
Will miss you all .........
Back on 13th October.
I'm loving the beautiful parasol - I'll be searching for some nice parasols - they seem to be very popular for weddings right now!!
Cheers!!!!

Dragonfly giveaway

As you all know, I'm a huge lover of anything dragonfly! My blog friend Val is an amazing artist who paints lovely dragonfly (and many other designs) pieces. I have a beautiful dragonfly necklace from her ebay shop which I love to bits, and wear often.

I thought I'd mention here new giveaway on my blog, as many of you, my dragonfly friends would love her work too! Click here for the link! Have a good browse through her blog too to see more of her great work!

Below is an example of one of her art pieces. So lovely!!



Nearly time for me to be in Vietnam. I'm a little worried as a typhoon has just passed through, and there is some serious flooding in some areas. Things around the world seem a little crazy right now - hope things all settle soon and everyone is well!

Any last minute requests for silk lanterns for your weddings or parties this season??? Let me know asap!