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Le Bonheur & DIY Magic: Turn the Ugly Black Duck into a Gazelle N'ayez pas peur du bonheur I've been away for too long, living up the days and events that have just passed, so let me first catch up all I've been up to, the nows, & the things to come. How pleasant is it to write a blog post while having a scrumptious breakfast outside of your room's window? The few drops of rain on my macbook don't bother me, nor does the dust under my bare feet; soon it will be completely wet, & the smell of trees and sand will rise in the air -- Oh how I love that smell ♥ Happy belated Eid, Happy National Day, Happy Holidays, - Yes, that's how long I've been gone. At work, to say that it has been hectic would be an understatement - so much to deliver before end of the year, it's that busy book-closing time of the year. On the personal spectrum it has also been busy, a series of explorations and discoveries - pleasant ones for the most part. I've also been quite busy with with latest horse acquisition: Robinhood. A very pleasant boy who doesn't seem to mind jumping obstacles up to 145cm so far. My living room at home still looks like the after-effect of an atomic bomb, catalogs are still lying everywhere, I'm still decorating my château one room at a time; so far, there's the blue room, the dusty rose, the taupe, and the living room of course which -the more I look at, the more hesitation I feel towards execution of current palette- Yesterday my first order was taken, I decided I would execute plans for 1 room, observe the quality of stitching and upholstery before I give a green light for the other 2 rooms, it would be a lot easier to fix one thing that goes wrong than 10. In the meantime, I'm still contemplating the colors, fabrics, & textures at home. Mom brought over a huge piece of voile that will come in handy for the bathroom vertical windows and the servants' quarter outside, perhaps even for the extra exterior building which I intend to convert into a Gîte I've also been enjoying getting creative with things that have a chance for beauty. Let's face it, we're not surrounded by beauty all the time, in fact, not even most of the time, but nearly almost everything around us has a shot for beauty, the potential to be enhanced an look better. Those were exactly my thoughts when I eyed the black photo frame at IKEA with a giant yellow price tag AED.120 -- It looked like it would make a nice bathroom mirror, after a substantial amount of work, of course. Without hesitation, I bagged it into my trolley and headed away to the cashier. My next stop would be ACE Hardware.. I picked up the one and only plastic-specific paint can they had, the only one that seemed to work anyway, and the color was a light shade of pistache. Next, I've underlined the frame with newspaper to save my tile floor, & painted gradually, one layer at a time, occasionally pulling the paint can farther to capitalize on the original dark color of the frame and create an 'antique' effect by spraying a lighter color on top in an uneven way..      I then had Rasheed stop by a mirror-cutting shop to make a piece perfectly suited to fit the picture frame, et voilaaaa! I now have a gorgeous mirror that will hang in the washroom on the ground floor of my château in France ♥♥♥ I have to say that the final product was sooo much more than I had anticipated lol, I was so happy with the result that I went and bought another piece, recreated the same thing -though not identical- but would be happy to hang it in the gîte nonetheless The former experience encouraged me to explore, and while I was walking through HomeCenter, I couldn't help but notice a very very ugly 1-bulp sorry-excuse-for-a-chandelier which you'll see below:  Lightening struck, and in my head I could allllllmost see it perfectly beautified ♥ When I asked Serena to buy it, she gave me a hesitant second look as though she couldn't believe I had just asked her to take home something so ugly, but she did anyway. Now, think ACE hardware again -- this time, metal-specific paint, color of choice? Khaki.   I had also sent Serena & Co. to brush through the lighting shops of Abu Dhabi in search for chandelier beads and crystals, luckily, she found a couple of shops that were willing to sell. I bought 500 pieces of the small beads, and several larger pieces (the larger pieces from Dubai) -- I made strands of beads to beautify the basic bland and boring metal frame, & added the final pieces -- the outcome? Spectacularly pleasant experience, and prettyyyyyyful mini-chandelier that will go into the small laundry area of the château by the kitchen. I ♥ it! Have a prettyful rest of the day x Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, La Dolce Vita, Music, Pony Tales, Videos $11 in my moola box | link | email this post The Diving Bell & the Butterfly  Please, please, please read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at your earliest convenience, for it will make you "fall back in love with life" -- Read it in in French if you can, or in English & if you really, really don't have the time to read, watch the movie. Now that I've completed both, I'll take my after-thoughts to bed, and ponder upon the endlessss possibilities out there. Meanwhile, I wish you a blissfully pleasant night - a bientot! Labels: Books, TV and Movies, Videos $7 in my moola box | link | email this post   About my previous post, well, apparently pooches don't need visas, but Tantra can't go anyway. Her Rabies vaccination was given to her when she first came into the UAE & for her to travel, she would have to take another one 30-days before her travel date. I also found out that Etihad does not allow pets as excess baggage, & instead, they're treated as cargo - seriously! How vicious! So I suppose Tantroti would have to stay with the other two musketeers in the meantime. On a different note, I'm developing this combination of extreme curiosity & thirst for knowledge and acquisition of antique silver pieces, particularly flatware -- Ideally, I'd like to build a whimsical and complete mix of sterling silverware that makes up a full set of both old and new pieces, ..this pursuit in itself could take a lifetime, but alas, I'll get started and see how far I'll get. My action-plan is to start by educating myself on the different makers, their brands, era/period of craftsmanship, and the unique markings adopted by silversmiths over the past two centuries or so. My search yielded pretty interesting results that fired up my fascination, I never knew the knowledge around silver was more than skin-deep. Still, not sure where and when silver utensils were first used in history, I've taken a deeper dive into the different silver hallmarks through out history. During my antique shopping adventures scattered over the past few months, I've seen many items that have small little stamps with shapes that have nearly faded away -to see them, you'd have to be carrying a magnifier in your pocket, coupled with a list/guide of celebrated hallmarks of silver. On utensils, these hallmarks often stamped on the back side and give information on: + The material/alloy the piece was made of (silver, gold, a mix of both) + The maker/craftsman who made it + The time/period the piece was made in + The city/region where it was made + Paris/Departments Silver Hallmarks +  From 1798 to 1809  From 1809 to 1819  From 1819 to 1838 + Some English Silver Hallmarks +   source: Jackson's Hallmarks Additional resources: + Full list of French hallmarks of silver from 1797 to present. + Pattern index + Miller's: Silver & Sheffield Plate Marks: Pocket Fact File  + Jackson's Hallmarks  Before I go and on a completely different note; I'm loving enrique's new song <3 Does his double-chin look more attractive than usual? or is it just me? lol -- & Ciara's voice is absolutely charming <3 <3 Enjoy! Labels: Deco, Domestic Goddess, Music, Videos $8 in my moola box | link | email this post The Gold Hammer I love lol! $3 in my moola box | link | email this post Don't Stop Rolling     OMG? SERIOUSLY? I missed youuuuuuuuuuu! Terribly sorry about the down-time but it wasn't in my hands. I keep running into these glitches with my host for using up bandwidth for visitor's traffic and I never get an alert informing me of reaching the blog's quota. Alas, I'm officially on the look out for a dedicated server to host banoota.net, 10 (going on 11) years now of shared hosting, it's about time, non? To update you on the past week, well, here goes: + Did the small window bring in flying objects? Or a brighter light? - Non, pas de tout. Nada. Nothing at all. But, I'm still keeping a positive vibe, ..it will happen, it will happen.. it will. + Highlight of the week? - Lamya, Yaz, & Hamda being in Abu Dhabi (yep! All the way from Dubai x) The three of us went for a couple of rounds of 9mm Pistol Shooting at Caracal shooting range, and indulged in Vascos' chocolate souffle <3 + Anything else? - Yes, cooked mexican rice in my mimi-cocottes sans water (seriously! I didn't use a single drop of water) I've emptied a large tomatoe, stuffed it with the rice, and cooked it on mid-low temperature for a couple of hours, the rice was cooked with the natural evaporated juice of the tomatoe. I love experimenting with food. Today on my playlist, Chaka Khan's through the fire, listen to it now now noww (forget the hair lol) ..and this: $5 in my moola box | link | email this post JJ On The List Janis Joplin on today's playlist <3 $1 in my moola box | link | email this post Basking Luck               You know it's your lucky week when: 1) You find your favorite coat on 40% off 2) You've found the antique edwardian corset you've been searching for, ..for oh-so-long 3) You go through a 3-hour technical aerospace meeting AND enjoy it (okay,that's a qualifier for geek) 4) Your best friend calls you to tell you she's coming for a sleep over 5) You find yourself in show-jumping heaven 6) Discover that the purse you've been wanting for 5 months is only 160km away 7) Get your favorite board game tailored around your favorite subjects, objects, and places around the globe ;p 8) The universe sends you a Grand Prix dressage rider to train your horse, served on a platter of gold <3 Anyway, I was searching for Jason Mraz's video "Lucky" for this post on youtube when I discovered that just about every link of the official release has been taken off of the website for copyright reasons, & instead found these.. enjoy x Original: Cover: How good is that cover? I'm wondering why he chose the girl's part of the song though. Very cute smile nonetheless ;p More: Lotsssss of love coming your way you gorgeous people, g'night x $4 in my moola box | link | email this post The Playlist I'm updating my ipod playlist, a bit for the morning, another bit for dressing up, ..a bit for walking cold wet streets, a bit for treeless parks, ..and finally, a bit of nostalgia. If you have any more recommendations, please fire away before tomorrow ;p enjoy the music, & x for now + Brother Louie by Modern Talking + Carrapicho, Bate Forte Tambor + Iván Noble, Bienbenito + Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine from motion picture of Twilight + Lambada by Kaoma + Katy Perry, Hot 'n cold + Kylie Minogue, Wow! + Fadel Shakel, Rouh + Angham, Kul Man'arab + Dancing, by Elisa + Meshta' Kteer by Wael Kfouri + In A Manner of Speaking by Nouvelle Vague + Dance with Me by Nouvella Vague $5 in my moola box | link | email this post Random, ..So Random  Omg? Did you see the new Gmail Themes? SO CUTE! They should introduce automatic rotation of themes sometime, I love the fact that those guys are so brilliantly colorful & relaxed! I *heart heart heart* google! Last Week: Received my ponies' Massage Horse Blanket order & Finally took one of my paintings to the framers, that piece of canvas has been tucked away hidden somewhere in my studio for months. For some reason, I never developed full confidence in it's 'displayability', {is there even such word?}, spontaneously though, I thought I'd take a chance & have it stretched for display.. it's now hanging in the guest bedroom, a huge painting as you can see.. 2x2 meters, & it was my first attempt at acrylics instead of oils. I was pleased with the result though, even though hanging it was a pain in the neck, it put me in the mood for mOre painting; which I haven't been in the mood to do for ages.        This Week: Gave IB a     Yesterday: Drooooooling over Bill Blass' ruffled flamenco backless top <3 I love! I love! I love!... & I want! -- Would love to re-create a piece like that to wear as a tank top collar in the summer, perhaps a little forward thinking, but I couldn't help picture skipping my way out of Sprinkles with a red velvet cupcake -- *the longest siiiiigh everrrrrr* I can't even begin to tell how much I miss the air of LA ;( Also yesterday resumed my pilates with my trainer after a week's halt. It felt great, & for some reason, after an hour I still didn't want to stop. The great thing about pilates is that whatever exercises I decide to do {core focus vs arms/legs focus} it's all bound to make my riding better. I've already noticed that my balance on the horse now stems more from the core strength as opposed to 'just' balance.. but I find myself curious to go & try riding, just bareback and see how pilates adds to my balance there? -- I've been SO curious about it that I dreamt of it last night.   Today: Designing an Eid dress pour my sister {her being a mother of three, & I being the mother of none but 2 gorgeous ponies & 2 adorable chihuahuas, she's outsourced that bit to me this year}, also contemplating the expansion of my family of little adOrable cutenesses; eye-ing a mini toy poodle this time. I've been wanting one since I saw the über cute ones in a pet store on Madison NY this summer, SO CUTE.. & can you imagine them with the poodle grooming? lol -- Later on I'm hoping to go riding outdoors sans selle if I find a pony to borrow, Um.. I don't think it would be wise to ride IB bareback outdoors now, & the weather is simply too beautiful to ride indoors this time of the year, non? I'll leave you with this cute video ;p Labels: Fashion, Pilates Heroine, Pony Tales, Videos $12 in my moola box | link | email this post |
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