Come on a tour of Vietnam with me!

I'm getting itchy feet again .... So thought I'd take a mini tour of one of my favourite places, Hanoi Vietnam - and bring you all with me!!! ***Note: these are not professional pics - this is Vietnam through my eyes!! ***

Hope you enjoy!!

Lets begin at Hoan Kiem Lake (lake of the Restored Sword). I love the story of this lake - In the 15th century, Emporor Le Thai To was supposedly handed a magic sword by a divine tortoise living in the lake, helping him repel Chinese invaders. After the country had been liberated, the tortoise snatched back the sword and disapeared in the lake!!

This is the Rising Sun Bridge - lets all stop and take pics of each other!!


I like to visit this peaceful lake of a morning, and watch the elderly people doing tai chi. Its so serene, and such a contrast from the rest of the crazy/noisy city!






Here is Thap Rua (Tortoise Tower) - dedicated to this mythical creature! Its a three tiered tower. I think it looks very mystical!



Next stop Tran Quoc Pagoda. This is my favourite pagoda in Hanoi.
Founded in the 6th century, but relocated to present site in 17th century as the original site was prone to flooding. This area was formerly the Buddhist centre of ancient Hanoi.



The buddhas and lotus flowers are so crisp and white!



I actually have many pics of this Buddhism pagoda, but for some reason in all my pics the tower looks like it leans (just like Pisa). But I'm sure in reality it doesn't!!!!



I love to do a lot of walking when I'm in Vietnam. You can stumble across the most amazing temples, shops, beauty parlours, eateries .... etc.

So, its vitally important to allow time at the end of your day for some reflexology and manicure/pedicure. There are 100's of places to choose from, and very cheap!!

I always get a design on my toenails ....



Here are some cute ladybirds on my fingernails!! Love these :-)



Hope you have enjoyed the mini tour. I've had so much fun I'm gonna take another one next Sunday.
Hope to see you next week. ***Don't forget my lovely follower friends to enter my giveaway (see post below). Prize drawn on Wednesday***

Lantern giveaway time!

Congratulations to Patsy and myself and our little blog for having 100 dear sweet followers now! So, as promised, to celebrate we are having a giveaway to our loyal friends!!! We'd also like to thank you all for visiting us regularly and leaving your comments - we just love it (and have become quite addicted to the whole thing)!

We will be having 2 prizes :-) and the winners will be drawn randomly. The lanterns are all from our most recent shipment which arrived just after Christmas!
Plenty of choices - you can select your prize from the following. Oh, and I will post anywhere in the world!

I do apologise, the photos are not quite as I had planned, but as it has been over 30 degrees C every day lately and the humidity is very high I haven't been wanting to stand in the heat and take new pics!

A. Set of 9 20cm round lanterns (one of each colour as shown)


B. Set of 12 party lanterns in various colours


C. Set of 12 'happiness' lanterns (perfect for Chinese New Year - February 14)


D. Large cherryblossom lantern (35cm) with 1 20cm white lantern, 2 20cm red and 1 20cm black


E. Large dragonfly lantern (35cm) with 2 20cm white lanterns, 2 20cm black lanterns


My giveaway is open to anyone following the blog, and to enter just leave your selection in the comments section below - too easy!!!

All the lanterns are paper, and they all fold flat when not in use - so you can use them over and over again :-) All items from Lanternshop.

To give you all enough time to enter, we will draw the prizes on Wednesday night 3 February (Aussie time), and will post the winning details on the Thursday.

Thanks again, for making our blogging experience so enjoyable. Patsy and I have made some really great friendships with people (and animals too)!

Good luck - and lots of love to you all, Karen & Sweet Patsy xo

Happy Australia Day - drop in to my party!

Happy Australia Day my friends. Its a public holiday :-)

So, grab your Aussie cozzie,


your Aussie thongs,


And drop into my place for celebrations!!! Grab a drink from my well-stocked fridge


Bring your furry friends


And have a great day!!!! Its stinking hot again here in sunny Queensland - so don't forget your sunscreen!

Cheers!


Pics from here.

What a hot weekend!!

What a great weekend - but the heat has just been so incredibly hard to take.

Thankfully, we were lucky enough to spend most of the weekend in the pool.
Here's little Gracey (the newest member of the extended Dragonfly family), she's only 2 months old! Isn't she adorable - she's showing off her beautiful bathers! I think I'd like these in my size!! She enjoys the pool too!!



And my baby Patsy, who is definately struggling in this heat wearing her fur jacket!
At the moment, we only have one room in the house with airconditioning - my office. Unfortunately its incredibly messy :-( Here she is squeezed in amongst the mess this morning taking a well-earned nap!!

Isn't she just the cutest???

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!!
This week I'm going to photo the choices for the giveaway prize and post ASAP!

Happy Monday my friends :-) Australia Day holiday tomorrow! Yipee!

I'm inspired ... cupcakes for me and Patsy

Happy Friday everyone! Wishing you all a lovely day and fantastic weekend to follow!

Patsy and I feel like making cupcakes!! We've found the best Etsy shop that can send us all the cutie things we like :-)


Edible dogs!!


Edible bones (Patsy's favourite)


I love anything paisley - so definately must add these to the shopping cart!


I have a bit of a thing for butterflys too .....


Valentines day is nearing - I can use these for my sweetheart!


Edible hearts :-) All items and pics from here

I'll be posting the pics for my giveaway soon. There are 99 lovely people following, so when I get to 100 I'm going to giveaway some of the paper lanterns from my new shipment (and I will post anywhere in the world)!!! Stay tuned :-)

I changed my background yesterday! I really like the glittery heart, and the soft watery blues. What do you all think?

Origami Tea Bag

Yes, I'm supposed to be working on my tax receipts all morning ... yawn ... but instead I've been blog-surfing, and having a very enjoyable time!!! :-) (big smile)

Anyway, look what I've found!! I just think this is the greatest thing ever (well the greatest thing I've seen so far in 2010)!!

Designed by a very talented Russian lady Nathalia Ponomareva - what a genius!

As you all know I have a HUGE love of tea, and also anything with an oriental design.

This origami crane tea bag combines everything that I'm into - so cooool. I don't think these are in production yet, as I can't find anywhere to buy them. (I've spent about half an hour looking so far). But if anyone out there in blog-land has seen them for sale anywhere, pleeeeeeeeease let me know!



Image from monoscope.com

Now that this is out of my system, perhaps I can get stuck into some work ..... or perhaps I can blog-surf some more. Maybe I'll just pour myself a delicious tea (blackcurrant and peach is on the menu for today) and see what happens! :-)

Have a great day everyone - hope you enjoy this little find as much as I have!

Laughter therapy :-)

Sunday morning - DAY OFF!!! Yay. I even have the house to myself for the morning. Double YAY!! Can the weekend get any better????!!!
I gave myself an early mark yesterday, and met up with my girlfriends for a little 'laughter therapy'. We had a lovely lunch, then went to the cinema.

If you haven't already seen it - I highly recommend 'Its Complicated'. It was very funny :-)



I was also very excited to see the party scenes featuring some beautiful white lanterns (just like mine at Lanternshop!!!).

Hoping you are all having a great weekend too, and can manage some time for yourselves to relax!!!

Tuesday Tea Party - Coffee and chocolates for you all!

Hello my dear friends,
Welcome to Tuesday tea party. I'm very sorry I'm quite late, but as you know I've been rather busy (see my earlier post below)!!!

I haven't had time to do fruit sculptures or Vietnamese platters like I have in the past for you, sadly.

Instead, I'm serving two of my favourite things - delicious coffee and fine chocolates!

Please enjoy :-)






Visit Plumed Pen to see who else is participating this week!

Have a lovely day :-)



Photos from www.coffeeroastery.com.au and www.flickr.com/photos/territu

I've been working so hard .....

Hello all! Hope you have had an enjoyable weekend!
I've spent the last 4 days solid updating the websites with the new stock, and typing, typing, typing, and I'm feeling tired and worn out! It's 10pm Sunday night and I've only just finished :-(

Then I checked my emails, and came across the funniest picture from my friend - and I decided I must put this one on my blog!

Maybe I'm just tired and delirious - but I couldn't stop laughing at this! Hope you all enjoy it too!!




This is just how I feel right now!!!


I'll be putting up the pics for my next giveaway next week ..... stay tuned!

Cheers :-)

New goodies just in time for Chinese New Year!

Hello my dear friends! Chinese New Year is nearly upon us! February 14th 2010 (wow - coincides with Valentines Day) - Double Celebrations!!

The shipment has finally been unpacked - and here's a little sneak peak of some of the goodies! (still uploading some things on website - its taking ages).

Just in time - I have received the new 'happiness' lanterns. Perfect for New Year festivities!!



Some new colours in the very popular 20cm lantern - we now have purple, black and baby pink!



A brand new dragonfly lantern in black and white!



Party lanterns!



More designs in the wedding parasols!



All paper and silk lanterns are available at lanternshop ! Great news - the prices are all now cheaper with the new shipment as my order was so huge and the Australian Dollar favourable right now!

I must apologise for not visiting you all this week - it has been so busy here and we haven't even had time to scratch ourselves! But, I promise I have set aside a few hours today to come and see you all and see what sort of fun you've all been up to! I've missed you all!

Wishing everyone a very happy weekend :-)

A hard days work ....

We are soooooo tired! What a long, long day of sorting through the delivery.
Luckily Patsy was a big help. Here she is inspecting the carton!



Over 10,000 items have arrived - yipeeeeee!!
I'm so excited to see some of the new colours in the lanterns - black and purple. Also a new dragonfly design and so much more.
When the weather improves (its still been pouring in Brisbane everyday) we will be outdoors taking new photos! Hoping everything is on the website by Wednesday night!

What a great way to start the new year :-)

Happy New Year!

Gotta get myself one of these dragonfly outfits for next new years eve!!!



I wonder if they make this one in my size?



And of course, this one for little Patsy!!



Hope you all had a fabulous time! Wishing you all a very happy and sucessful 2010!

I had a very quiet new years eve this time around. Mr Dragonfly was unexpectedly in hospital the last few days (home now though thankfully), and we had a very early night!

I've had such an enjoyable last few months reading your blogs, and also reading your lovely comments on my blog, and look forward to a fun and exciting year of sharing in 2010. I'm hoping to get around to visiting all your blogs really soon. I've missed you all as I've been busy playing nursey!!

Next year I will party .... and I will definately need one of those fab costumes pictured!!!

Cheers :-)