UNKNOWN YANKEE TERRITORY

As I prepare to leave home for an extended trip around the south, I’m feeling a little sad about being away from my home and friends for a few months. I’ve planned this trip for a long time now and I am excited about going but those sad feelings keep popping up.

I tell myself that I can cut the trip short if I get too homesick. It’s kinda like a mind game I play where I tell myself things to make it easier to leave home. I want to go but yet I wish I were back already. The weather here is so perfect for the beach and it calls out to me, distracting me from my planned journey.

Grand Isle State Park - May 2011

Grand Isle - September 2011

When I was younger, these feelings would never have been felt. I just wish I could have traveled more before reaching the age of retirement. I’m happy being at home now. It wasn’t always like that. However, now I’m fortunate to have a comfortable home with no one to cause any drama in my life. I’m in a pleasant daily routine and keep busy intellectually and with my hobbies as well. I’ve always wanted to travel... just not alone.

So, I leave in 4 days and the coach is ready to go. I’m really trying to concentrate on what I will be seeing and learning on this trip. I will be visiting some historic sites and attending some festivals and immersing myself in my own culture. That may sound strange but it is possible to have lived your life in a state that you are totally unfamiliar with. We have a saying down here in south Louisiana that anything north of Baton Rouge is Yankee territory... and you know what that means.

So I’m going to venture out into unknown Yankee territory and hope that they are friendly towards a Creole Lady traveling alone.

Inspired by my upcoming trip around my home state, I’ve decided to make a list of reasons why I live in south Louisiana. I’ll add to the list every day and we’ll see how many I can come up with by the end of my trip.  I'll place it at the bottom of my blog.  I've posted the first 5 and they are in no particular order.

I live in Acadiana

I live in Terrebonne Parish.

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Etsy treasury: comfy cushions & pretty pillows.

Etsy is the best place, in my opinion, to search for wonderful handmade items for the home. Since Jonathan and I moved into our new home at the end of last year I have seen a whole host of things that would look perfect here. I have a particular crush on cushions and after purchasing my Pug pillow (Earl) I'm always on the look out for quirky, individual additions to buy for our new place.

I have put together a selection of my favourites below of which I'm sure there will be one that takes your fancy, there's a good mixture of styles and materials.

Top: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Bottom: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Top: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Bottom: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Which one of my picks do you like the best? I have a soft spot for the Pug cushions of course but I love the Ctrl, Alt, Del set. They would look great in a study. Also don't get me started on the crochet French Bulldog and Penguin. How adorable can a cushion be?!

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DIY: vintage playing card framed picture.

When I spotted some vintage playing cards in an Etsy store called Peony & Thistle I knew I wanted them and would have to turn them into something awesome, so I decided to make a framed picture to hang in our study.

The cards arrived really quickly and beautifully wrapped and the best part is they were only £2.00. I then purchased a wooden frame from Ikea which was a few pounds (I can't remember exactly how much but Ikea are brilliant for frames - they're so cheap and come in all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes!) I got a pack of card for 30p and I already had some double sided sticky tape which would be perfect for this project. I decided to use cream card for my picture because it fits in with our study better but you could pick any colour you like. WH Smith sell packs of card in all sorts of colours including pretty pastel colours.

Lily: my shadow little helper

The rest is easy: stick a little bit of double sided tape to the back of each playing card, work out where you want to position them, unpeel the tape and stick them down. Voila! You have a homemade picture which cost less than £10, looks awesome, and if you hunt hard enough you can spell out pretty much anything you like.

Just be sure that you're positioning the cards straight and evenly, as double sided sticky tape is strong stuff. I measured the distances at the top and bottom with a tape measure just to be sure.

Happy DIY-ing!

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Conran Bath & Body range.

Recently I was sent some items from Conran Bath & Body to review and I swiftly popped the hand wash and hand cream that I received in our downstairs loo (glamourous I know). I thought it would be nice to have something a little more upmarket in there as we had friends coming over that very evening.

Well, the scent of the hand wash and hand cream went down a storm and every time somebody emerged from the bathroom in question they would mention it. I can indeed confirm the scent is heavenly! It's very musky and definitely unisex. Perfect for your fellas mitts too. The official blurb is "rich intoxicating Oudh wood infused  hand wash/lotion, with essential oils of fresh pepper, spicy nutmeg and sweet cardamom". < Yum!

The duo I received c/o Conran Bath & Body

My hands are extraordinarly dry at the moment but the Conran hand cream sinks in well and leaves my hands feeling moisturised, however at times I do need something a little stronger to make my hands super soft. Damn the cold weather!

The scent is truly wonderful and I would definitely purchase the hand wash again once this one runs out, however the bottles are a decent size and I imagine they are going to last quite a while which is brilliant.

Conran products can be purchased from a variety of different shops (as listed here) including John Lewis and lookfantastic.com to name just two. Prices are a little higher than run-of-the-mill hand washes/lotions but if you like to keep a nice set in your guest bathroom, such as Molton Brown, then you should definitely give these a whirl.

Let me know what you think!

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#marchphotoaday - Instagram.

Pinch punch, first of the month and all that jazz! I wanted to take part in February's "photo a day" challenge via Instagram but I slightly missed the boat but alas! I have found the list for March and I'm going to give it a whirl.

My last picture in February - cute little Lily

If you want to take part, here's the list and here's a link to my Instagram account - I'm @lilyloveslola on there. I'll also be posting my photos to my Twitter account. Today's photo was "up" so I took a picture of the sky on my way home from work as it was looking particularly pretty. I needed something to cheer me up along the M1 on the long drive home and it did the trick.

Tomorrow is "fruit" which should be easy peasy :) If you're also taking part, happy snapping!

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