Circle Of Friends Award

The lovely Annie from Birdcages and Butterflies recently gave me this award. The conditions of accepting the award are to list five things I like doing and then to pass the award on to five more bloggers I would like to know a little more about. So here goes ....

1)Pottering around charity shops, car boot sales, flea markets and generally anywhere I might find some vintage treasure (that includes the local tip where they sell things on). I seem to have developed a real aversion to proper shops and only venture in to town when I absolutely have to. There is nothing better than getting up early on a warm , sunny morning on a Sunday in the summertime and heading off to a boot sale. We always take a picnic of fresh coffee and croissants and a rug to sit on next to the car when we have finished. I usually spread out all of my finds for closer inspection.

These are some of this week's finds including a lovely Deco tea set. This wasn't cheap by charity shop standards but still a bargain for such a complete and pretty set. There's also an old BOAC fan and various bags of vintage buttons and buckles as well as some pretty china posy ornaments and a child's gondola basket that was only 10p !

2) Reading- I do love reading but seem to get very little time to do it any more. I read every night before going to sleep, it can be a novel, a reference book, magazines or the newspaper. I love curling up on the sofa with a snuggly eiderdown, a large mug of Earl Grey tea and a pile of my favourite magazines.

3) Going for walks with Josh my loveable and naughty rescue dog. He is a Bearded Collie crossed with a Border Collie and seems to enjoy herding me around the

house like one of his flock. It is so relaxing to take him out for a long walk and watch him run around so excitedly. He is great fun and makes us smile every day even though some days he can be very naughty !

4)Visiting new places- I love visiting new places both in the UK and abroad. In December I took my lovely girl on a trip to New York which was a real adventure. I love the British countryside too and especially the coast. One of my favourite places is the North Devon coast but parts of the coast in Northern Ireland are stunning too

I have had lots of holidays in Northern Ireland and there is always somewhere new

to explore. I love history and wherever I go in England I try and visit a National Trust property or site. We have been members for years and have visited some

wonderful places.

5) 'Home is where the heart is '- I love just spending time at

home with family and on my own. Life is so hectic and work so demanding the bits of time I get just to relax at home are precious. The photos are of some of the windows in my house. There is a lot of original stained glass but where there was plain glass Mr Cornerhouse had windows made to his design. He had the heart windows made for me to go in the kitchen shortly after we moved in. The colours don't show up too well on the photo but the heart is a gorgeous deep pink and the little diamonds are also shades of pink. They cast wonderful patterns around the room when the sun is shining.

Now to pass on the award, this hasn't been easy because I follow so many great blogs but I have had to narrow it down to five so here they are....

Andi- andisenglishattic

Clair-pepperpi

Bridie-vintageflair1

Wendy-Wendy House

Karen-Tilly Rose

Christmas Shopping In New York

As promised last week I am sharing some more of my New York photos . These are all of shops and cafes and a few of my purchases.

This was a lovely book I treated myself to from Barnes and Noble. It is full of wonderful pictures.

This is the inside of the famous Dylan's Candy Store.

The Christmas displays in the department stores were amazing. Unfortunately it was hard to capture the window displays because of the reflections on the glass. These were taken inside Henri Bendel. The store has beautiful Lalique windows.

This was a lovely cafe called The Magnolia Bakery. The banana pudding and red velvet cake was out of this world. It reminded me of the Hummingbird Bakery in London only with real vintage charm.

The inside was decorated with paper chains and I loved the vintage glass lights.

On the shelves were wonderful vintage toys and tins.

This was a window display in one of the many department stores.

This picture isn't great but they were vintage dolls put together with vintage tins used for their bodies. They were incredibly expensive. Interestingly some time ago a buyer from the US bought a vintage tin money box from my Etsy shop. She later sent me a picture showing me that she had used it to make one of these using it as the body for a doll all made up of vintage parts. I had never seen anything like it until I saw these which were almost identical.

This was the Cartier shop wrapped up in a red ribbon.

This was one of the wacky window displays in Anthropology.

I am afraid I just had to take this because it was so disturbing ! This was the American Girl shop, just full of dolls and accessories.

The M & M shop was enormous.

There were M & Ms in every colour including loads I had never seen in the UK. We came away with bags of pastel coloured M&Ms and a green M&M bone for Josh.

The amazing Apple building.

Polar bears in F.A.O Schwarz.

I loved all of the Muppet displays. They hand make muppet puppets here and have shelves of eyes, noses, wigs etc. You can watch them being hand made in the workshop.

We were entertained by dancers playing Christmas songs by dancing on the keys of an enormous piano.

This was a traditional New York diner. All chrome and wood inside and very retro. It was a bit like the inside of a subway car.

The breakfast we had was enormous, piles of pancakes and maple syrup, steaming cups of coffee and plates of  bacon and eggs sunny side up. The only thing I really missed was a nice cup of Earl Grey tea.

This is my vintage style apron I treated myself to from The Magnolia Bakery. I love the red ribbons on the pockets and the 1950s style fabric. It looks great hung in my kitchen with all the other splashes of red.

I know this is a bit sad but these are two tea towels I bought from Anthropology. It is a lovely shop but pretty pricey. These were cheaper than the prices in the UK branch on Regent Street and one of them was in the sale so I couldn't resist. I love the appliqued designs and pompom decorations. The only problem is they are too nice to use.

A few more pictures from 'Vintage Vavoom'.

I treated myself to a few American magazines. I love reading my favourite magazines every month Like Period Living, Homes and Antiques and Country Living so wanted to check the American equivalents. I think I prefer the UK versions but they did have some wonderful pictures.

And finally a pretty mug my lovely girl bought me as a surprise in Anthropology. Much of my time was spent in clothes shops with my lovely girl and that's where most of my money seemed to go. I didn't find a single antiques shop and there are no charity shops of course. There is a weekly flea market in Hells Kitchen but the snow stopped that unfortunately.