Pink Mohair

Homophobics Don't Read this Post

It hit me today that I really need some "Me" time. I vowed never to be a mom who lost herself while raising her kids. You know: One of those mothers who can never find time to shower and whose leg hair is the length of Crystal Gayles head hair. Well, I was getting close this morning when I got out of the shower and the only towel available was this and the baby was sitting on the bathroom floor chewing on the toilet brush rubbing his hand around in something that looked suspiciously like reguritated formula.

Now, Dora is definitely a step up from Barney, and I did vow (and stick to it, thank you) never to have Barney in our house, that annoying purple dinosaur. So, no Barney books, balloons or toothbrushes but every once in awhile that stupid show sneaks past me. I mean, who DOESN'T want to kick Barney's ass? And truly, that song: I can't hear it with out putting in my own words: (in sickly falsetto): I love you. You love me - we're a happy fa -m - ily - Homo - sex-u - ality. I had to stop when I knew my daughter was old enough to repeat it at school. Not only would my daughter be telling her classmates that mommy says Crocs are tacky, but the school frowns on bringing up sexual orientation before kindergarten.

So, back to ME time. I dropped the kids off and momma went lipstick shopping! I must say, that new Clinique lipstick case is just the most brilliantly glamourous thing around - it's new, right, or is it that my newest lipstick is five years old? Shiny, silver bamboo case. Drop dead smashing.

I also bought a pair of black wide legged Gap Boyfriend Trousers and this srtipey t-shirt. I need to get a little handkerchief scarf so I can do the whole Picasso thing. And oh happy day, Momma is back to her pre-baby size! You may have seen the ad for Gap's Boyfriend Trouser. Well, here is a hysterical spoof on it. Not that they'd be brave enough, but I think The Gap should run this ad instead! More on momma's shopping day another time.

Kokeshi

Looking around for inspiration for Petite Casapinka I found these vintage wooden kokeshi dolls. Sweet but not cutesy, via Ebay.

And if you're one of those weirdos organized types who shops for Christmas stuff in June, you can order your Kokeshi nativity set here.

I didn't realize it at the time but I posted about Kukunest's environmentally friendly bedding a couple of weeks ago. Hey, those look like Chinese Kokeshi dolls!

Here's a toddler kokeshi tank on Etsy for a mere tenner.

Finally, this stuffed Kokeshi would be perfect on a bed in a simple MCM or Scandinavian styled kiddie room - i.e. not in a million years at Casapinka but I can appreciate the aesthetic, and maybe one day my taste will settle down enough to realize this vision.

Madeleine Mccann

As you may know, Madeleine Mccann was abducted from her holiday apartment in Portugal May 3. I'm writing this blog post because I've seen numerous nasty comments against her parents around the internet and I want to offer them support rather than criticism. They left Madeleine and her two year old twin brother and sister in the apartment while they ate dinner 150 yards away in the resort compound, a fact some people have said is child abuse. I MIGHT HAVE DONE THE SAME THING and I love my children more than life itself. When you hire a babysitter in a foreign country, you are also taking a risk and I think these parents deserve sympathy rather than bitterness.

I'm probably going to get hate mail for this, but I don't feel what they did was wrong, although the outcome was awful. Husband and I aren't so different from the Mccanns, both being hospital "Consultant Specialists" as it is known in the UK and Ireland (well, I am, and husband will be next year when he finishes his training.) During a wedding reception in Ireland, our baby was asleep in bed and we left her there for half hour shifts behind a locked door, checking back regularly. Our next door neighbor ran her other three kids to school last month while her five year old slept. She nearly had a heart attack when her daughter woke up and came over to our house and the mother was gone only fifteen minutes. They certainly aren't child abusers - they're Baptists for Pete's sake (which I think means that they are law abiding as a rule and clap their hands enthusiastically during church.) I've never heard of a child being abducted from a hotel or holiday resort. Would I do this now? Absolutely not. I don't, however, think that the Mccanns should be criticised, when they come from a country where it's commonplace to leave a baby in a stroller outside a shop to run in and grab some bread and milk. Let's have a bit of support for them rather than the distateful comments that have been cropping up everywhere. I know if they could turn back time they would give their own lives to have done things differently and I just can't imagine what they are experiencing.

I had a look at my Google Analytics site and I have many readers in Spain, Portugal and North Africa, one place where Madeleine may have been smuggled. There was a possible sighting of her at a petrol station in Marrakesh. Keep a sharp lookout for her folks - you just never know what the power of the blog might return and let's think positive thoughts for her parents that they maintain their faith and the strength to continue their search for her. Wealthy, poor, black, Asian, white, their needs to be more accountability for those who deal in trafficking children and paedophilia.

Kiddo Toys for the Office

I bought these wooden nesting boxes for junior so he would gnaw on something besides the electric cord and the cat litter. Well, I quickly realized that they would look wonderful and happy as containers in my pink studio. Although the graphics are upside down if they are used this way, they are cheerful and perfect for paintbrushes, pens, scissors etc. Only $24 at Target, by the French company Janod. They might be a tad too colorful for my pink studio but they make me so happy to look at them, how can that be wrong?

Diane von Furstenberg

Diane von Fursteberg's website is full of wearable clothes that aren't priced out of the ballpark. I've always loved the ease of a dress. Throw it on, dab some lipstick, pull back the hair and you're already in under five minutes. The graphic green and white print of this Diane von Furstenberg is pure summer cocktail hour. I'd wear it with enormous hoop earrings.

It's not coat season but this is so Palm Beach for the gals who eschew Lily Pulitzer baby pink whales (not that there's anything wrong with pink, mind you.) Forget that it's too hot - I still adore it.

Morpheus

Husband after 40 hours of being awake: I'm off to the arms of Murphy now.
Pink: Who?
H: You know - Murphy. The God of sleep.
P: That's Morpheus. Mopheus was the God of sleep.
H: Maybe where you grew up but in Ireland it's Murphy.

He wasn't joking, either.

Predicatbility

A very predictable move would be to buy this toleware sculpture because it's, well, five feet tall and fuchsia. A girl has to maintain an aura of mystery, however, and pass on something so utterly predictable. Apologies for the multiple photos but I've just worked a night shift and am too damned lazy to photoshop it down, plus it's just so grand when seen from every angle, isn't it?

Miss Lacy

Not a big fan of cherry or stainless, I will make an exception for lacy stainless on which I may perch and delicately sip my mint julep.I mean, doesn't it look comfortable enough to give one the most perfect Emily Post inspired posture? I don't care, I'd be happy to just pet it every hour or two. Designed by Phillipe Starck (via MocoLoco.)

New Zealand Art

Cath Sheard is an artist who lives in Patea, New Zealand. I found her in my usual bizarre way. This time I was looking for a painting of Mount Egmont, located in Taranaki, New Zealand. Now, I almost don't even want to tell you about the most beautiful part of NZ because the world might just discover it. Everyone goes to Rotorua and the South Island but Taranaki is the jewel of NZ. At sixteen, I begged my dad to let me be an exchange student, having decided at the age of nine that it was my destiny. I filled in all of the applications and was matched to a tiny little town in NZ called Opunake. There, I had the most adventure filled, awe inspiring year, where I figured out life and really morphed into the person I am today.

Every day, I would wake up to look at the emerald green Tasman (the same beach seen above at night) Sea which was set to the background of coordinating velvet couches in our living room. During my walk to school, with the Tasman Sea behind me I faced the most magestic mountain I have ever seen. It's true that everyone thought I was a giant dork because as we would drive the forty-five minutes to have my braces tightened every month, I would gawk and carry on about the scenery. Not what a teenager who doesn't want the crap beaten out of her should do, but Oh Boy can exhange students get away with a lot and still be cool. To make a long story short, I wanted a painting of Mount Egmont.

I commissioned a painting from Cath but I needed it to be from the Opunake side, rather thant the Patea side. Well, what did this wonderful woman do? She traveled to Opunake and took some photographs and painted me the most wonderful painting (which I will post at Casapinka when I've decided where to hang it.)

Each painting of hers has a story which changes the way in which one sees it, so read her descriptions (the rainstorm that filled the crater of Ruapehu (green and purple painting), Italy from the air (second painting.) Go and see for yourself at her Etsy Store and she also does a painitng a day which she displays on her blog.

New Plymouth hospital has openings for ER physicians; husband, wouldn't a NZ Casapinka be fun? Just for a year or two?

Happy Mother's Day

I know that I'm lucky and blessed, but sometimes a girl just wants to lie in bed on Mother's Day and save the milk bath for later than 7am. We now call this innocent looking baby HODAD: Hands of Death and Destruction.