My dear reader: I have finally created a site of my own and will no longer be creating posts here under OnSugar. I will continue posting links to my new site, which can be found at http://houseofanais.com for a while, but I hope to see you in the new site!
This Kindle book on how to use Instagram as your global travel guide is hot off the press today and it's good. Haven't started Instagramming yet? Then this book will also help to you get started. Definitely recommended!
This is the first post in my new blog location at houseofanais.com - you can find all the old posts there too, although some older posts have suffered a bit in terms of image sizing during the transfer...
Our Miss A. is in need of a new, more grown-up desk, and her old desk will be going to the twins. As she's reached the grand age of eight, a new favourite colour has emerged - blue. Currently I have a new favourite store in the UK called Made and they has have the most fabulous (modern) items on offer and I am seriously thinking that this Cornell desk in Robin Egg Blue just could be the winner for our girl.
I like the sleek design and the soft curves of the desk, yet at the same time it's not the most practical for a young girl who has a lot of stuff, but I am hoping that she would be able to keep the desk clean and manage her stuff collection, but a little help from some sort of additional storage just might be needed...
Ever feel like you want to go somewhere or do something fun, but you have no definitely plan or place in mind? Maybe just hop into your car and choose a little road that you haven't explored before.
That is exactly what we did one afternoon, and ended up seeing a collection of fascinating things and places, beautiful views and a had some nice ice creams too!
Then we spotted this - a search later confirmed that the 56ft obelisk is a memorial for a local landowner in the village of Bilsington in Kent (and right close to it there is also a 13th century church St Peter and St Paul
Pretty, old churches are everywhere, such as this St Michael & All Angels in Kingsnorth and the most charming little cottage next to it (photo below)
Mother's day is coming (in US and many European countries other than UK) and this is what my quintessentially English Mother's Day dream would be like!
A little while ago I presented the first room of the original House of Anais - the master bedroom which currently serves more or less as the twins bedroom and combined play area. And now our introduction continues: today it's all about the dining room and living room. They are separate rooms, but as the shelves are open and there is no door, the rooms sort of blend into one, which also makes the house appear larger and airier.
The style of the house is not that strictly defined - there are elements of country style with oak coloured furniture and floral patterns, yet at the same time there is a lot of modern mixed into it: especially with the lighting and those cream leather sofas. This house certainly has been done with the less-is-more-philosophy, which means that it's extremely easy to keep clean and in good order (I didn't need to do any cleaning for the pictures other than move my laptop and coffee mug from the dining table - aka my home office).
On the other hand the reason why there is so little stuff in common areas (kids rooms are filled to the hilt with toys and could be cleaned with a nice donation spree to the thrift shop, at least that's what I think) is because there isn't that much space and I simply haven't opened most of the boxes yet!
The living room is definitely the best room of the house. The shape of the room isn't perfect for it's rather narrow, but this room is all about natural lights and the views! That green, lush countryside all around: looking at it is the most calming thing I can think of (besides the sea of course). That is the everyday luxury country living gives you, and rain or shine it's still amazing.
And the garden gives you so much -more just look at the lovely bunch of flowers that our kids picked from the garden, their flower for the mom from their heart. Aww is all I can say!
Yes, I've been to Paris and in this lovely - and oh so romantic Hotel Westminster was one of the two hotels I stayed in. You can read my review of the hotel on Skimbaco Lifestyle online magazine.
The setting of the park is beautiful - forests full of bluebells this time of the year, fields - or rather they have been made to reminiscence savanna. You see Rhinos grazing under blooming English trees. Very pretty, but a bit surreal at the same time! And it was so heartwarming to see my twins for once not fighting, but enjoiyng the place together, walking hand in hand.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the manor inside the park as I am huge fan of pretty houses and gardens. One cannot visit the house (but it can be hired for functions) but parts of the garden - including a fun maze were open to the public.
The park has a couple of routes to enjoy - walking loops and a safari ride (but be prepared to queue about an half and hour for the latter).Some of the pros of the park are the large enclosures for the animals, but it als becomes a con as it's hard to find many of them. The facilities are also good, and there are a few strategically positions playgrounds also, where kids can play and parents can recharge their batteries with a cup of coffee or food. 
I asked our kids what they thought of the place and the feedback was good. The favourite animals were all different kind of monkeys, the playgrounds and the ice cream! There were no complaints despite us walking around some two good hours (but they all fell asleep in the car so it was good exercise clearly for them) and mom got to enjoy some gardens and pretty scenery too. So a great day (weather-wise also) and we'll be back later on this summer as we now have annual passes.
Oh the feeling of a beach - the sound of waves crashing, often chorus of seagulls on the background, wind, sun... And the water of course: I love the sea in shades of turquoise and green, light blue - not so much when it's grey and angry.
Today we had the first sight of the year of a British beach. It wasn't very warm and the water was low (but the colour was lovely), although the tide starting turning and we got to admire the waves crashing and creeping up the shore. But it was still a great experience and made the mind so serene. That was our first beach walk of the spring in New Romney, Kent and we loved it!
Ok so where's the water..?
Beach so clean and pretty
We love beachcombing, but there were just too many sea shells everywhere!
Tide's rising
And it wasn't train spotting but house spotting that made me pick this beach. I just had to see this beautiful tower, which actually is a private home (with a lot of stairs if I may add)
Funky or plain silly, I haven't quite decided yet. Maybe not the most stylish look, but having little kids running around the house I could see how this would be really useful when having a little summer party. Wino2Go definitely has potential to become of this summer's hits with families who have small children!
National Trust is relaunching today, May 2nd, their "50 Things to do Before you are 11 3/4 -booklet" for children. Our kids (and especially Miss A. who already has turned eight) have been working hard on their old booklets and loved doing so - and I can reveal that the new book will be even more fun as we've had a sneak peak on it.
This new booklet, titled, "My Adventure Scrapbook" has had 15 new fun activities added to it, it contains better instructions on how to complete tasks, and there is more space to record the tasks. Also the rewards stickers are nicer, and more importantly I hope that they will distribute them with instructions to all properties as we had sometimes hard time collecting those completion stickers when we were out and about in different NT properties.
I also like the new regional summary sheets they have done: this sheets tells you all the National Trust properties in your area and what tasks you can complete there: either independently or by joining their organised events. And since this is the digital age, the National Trust also has a website where one can log all adventures as well as unlock additional secret challenges.
That said, I certainly hope that more parents will find out about this fun programme and encourage their kids to join in with the fun: discover these fabulous properties, learn about the history of the places, complete some fun tasks and while doing and as an additional benefit they'll spend more time outdoors too. I think it's obvious from previous posts that I am a huge fan of National Trust and other historic houses and gardens, and very happy that my children seem to share the same joy of exploring them! Now are you ready to introduce this fun programme to your children or someone you know?
Our little Miss C. got cracking with task no 41 - Plant it, grow it, eat it. Let's hope we'll have something to eat in a couple of months time!
First batch of seeds planted and time to water them. Guess who was enjoying this task tremendously. And tomorrow is the turn for Mr H. to plant some peas in his garden area...
Happy May Day everyone! Traditionally in Northern Europe this is a huge party time, but I have sort of skipped it this year. However, I did take ten minutes to prepare my own celebratory May Day lunch (which is rare nowadays) and it was a delicious one.
So here's my tip for a quick and tasty spring lunch: fried garlic shrimp with rucola, feta and tomato salad. Enjoyed of course with a glass of light red wine and sparkling water. When complemented with sunshine and Colombian coffee and biscotti, it makes the mind and body very happy. A perfect lunch even if enjoyed alone!
Looking back a couple of weeks to my trip to Paris - oh there was so much to see and enjoy. Artists on streets, fabulous galleries - even some metro station entrances were such cool creations of art. Beauty was everywhere for us to admire and we certainly did!
A road less travelled, aka the back road lead us to a little National Trust property called Old Soar Manor in Plaxtol, Kent (UK). There isn't that much to see in terms of size - just a few rooms and no gardens at all, but there is more historic value than anything else. This fortified manor house is over 700 years old and was established as a knight's dwelling around 1290 - so much history hidden away there!
Oddly enough (to me at least) this house is attached to another house which is in normal use. Sometimes its hard to comprehend how these places have been constructed over time together even thought there at least hasn't been a lack of space out in the open. Old Soar Manor ia free to enter and a perfetc pit-stop: it won't take long to discover, but dark interiors and uneven surfaces and low ceilings makes it a lot of fun for the children also. And there is always the 50 things to do -booklet activities to try to such as jumping in leaves and throwing them around...
Today I feel rich - as I got my pockets full of...Trump gold - golden chocolate bars that is (courtesy of the fabulous Trump hotels in Toronto and Chicago, I should add...). They might not be rich in value, but certainly in the calorie count - and yes, this chocolate lover adds that they are also very tasty.
So chocolate-y dreams is what my merry Friday is made of - and why not of dreams of fab hotels too as I always dream of my next great travel destination. I just might have to book a room from them in my next trip so I can get some more of these golden treasures... Anyway, happy curious Friday everyone - may your mind also be filled with happy thoughts and dreams today!
Some of us are lucky in terms of having a lovely estate to go to for walks almost in the back garden. Today I had a walk in the grounds of the lovely Knole Park with a friend, enjoying the scenery, deers grazing peacefully, birds singing - it was so beautiful, especially when the sun came up too. To make it even better we had a lovely cream tea in the tea room garden afterwards, and a quick walk around the Knole House, which is a National Trust property in Sevenoaks, Kent (I've written before about Sevenoaks too, and here's the link to that post).
The house wasn't open yet, so I took a look at the exteriors and enjoyed the pretty little details - and there are so many starting from something so very mundane as the gutters (that just were so elaborate). Sometimes it's so easy to forget to enjoy the little things in life and just look at the big picture but this morning it was all about "them pretty little details". My favourite parts of the Knole House include the lights, gutters (yes!), doors, windows, courtyards, statues, those cute towers... just pretty much every detail one can spot!
Today, I've been inspired by this beautiful over-sized oak dining table. The home in question belongs to Terence Conran, and a version of the table can be actually bought from the Conran Shop. Since we are a relatively large family I'd love to get something like this so that we could sit down at once while we have friends visiting.
I also love those floor-to-ceiling sash windows that bring so much light into the room. And the open kitchen design with the old-fashioned way of pots and pans hanging on top of the island and on walls is a lovely contrast to the otherwise a bit more contemporary kitchen design. This setup manages to make the large table appear much smaller and the open space in general cozy despite the relatively high ceilings.
Ever got late to your destination and thought you missed a day of sightseeing and exploring the city? Think again, as some places actually might have amazing views at nighttime. One of those places definitely is Alcalá de Henares, a historic Spanish town of 200 000 people in the outskirts of Madrid.
It is so special that the old town as a whole has been designated as an Unesco World Heritage site. And at night time you get to enjoy a more romantic tour of cobbled streets, carefully restored churches (which there are so many), majestic university buildings, even peek into nicely lit restaurants (both historic with hundreds of years of history and trendy modern ones) - all that while enjoying the well-positioned lighting accentuating towers, old decorative doors, fountains and more...
Alcalá is known as the birthplace for the famous writer Miguel de Cervantes and Catherine of Aragon, who became the wife King Henry VIII of England (just think of the movie The other Boleyn, as Anne Boleyn was the mistress of Henry the VIII) to name a couple. If you look carefully you can also see other famous inhabitants - residing on top of the bell towers and churches. Those are the famous white storks of Alcalá (which are now protected and thus increasing in count thankfully).
An hour and a half gives you a lovely tour of the old town, but to experience the city well I'd recommend coming first at daytime so you can visit the churches, old university buildings and museums, and then adding on top the totally different night tour. And since we are in Spain some tapas-hopping from one places to another is always a great experience. But where to stay then? The natural answer would be inside the old town of course. Spanish government owns a number of old, beautifully restored hotels called Paradores around the county, and there is one in Alcalá also: the Parador of Alcalá de Henares - Convent of Santo Tomás and Hosteria del Estudiante. So next time in Madrid think of adding a day in Alcalá, and maybe another one to the mountains to tour some of the palaces there while enjoying a cooler climate and amazing views down to surrounding valleys.
[And if you are interested in seeing many of the same sights of Alcalá at daytime visit my Instagram account at: http://instagram.com/houseofanais ]
Oh la la - French people know the art of dressing chic, the streets are lined with beautiful historic buildings with matching shades - and even the gardens of Paris are uber-chic and colour-coordinated. A little stroll in Tuilliers towards Louvre reveals that everything in Paris is just so well planned and beautiful. The mind truly rests with the beauty of the surroundings...Paris toujours is how I feel today!
Fun house hunting - does that exist? Yes, it does, but sadly it applies normally to situations when you aren't really house hunting, but rather browsing and looking for cool houses in nice locations. I've been looking lately inspiration and possible new home site and come across this lovely and inspiration collection from an old historic abbey to towers straight out of Persian fairy tales. Which one would you prefer to live in?
This one looks like from 1001 nights
A real beauty with lovely grounds
A great mansion with plenty of outbuildings
Oh so romantic style!
Pretty in white
A more rustic style with rose gardens around it
This one looks like from a fairytale
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Most people dream about adventures, but never go on making them reality. My friend Katja from Skimbaco Lifestyle follows her motto of living life to the fullest every day in her life. Last year she and her family moved to Sweden for two years and they have embraced the Northern life with lots of gusto - having also spared some time to visit this year only Italy, France, Iceland and Finland to name a few places. And tomorrow I will get to embark on the adventure of a lifetime with her in France. I am so excited!
I love French wines, French food, old castles, sightseeing - and of course Paris. I like to explore the "unknown" to me. But it didn't even know that one could experience it all and more all at once - on board of a river barge! We'll have our rendez-vous in Paris (and we haven't actually seen each other for over 20 years, which is when we moved out of out little Western Finnish town) and embark on this journey in Burgundy on board of all-inclusive L'Impressioniste. Oh, I've been watching the videos of GoBarging, reading all about their wine tastings, cheese selections, touring Dijon and exploring the ancient abbey.
I admit that in my 20s that luxurious wine tasting and barging trip probably might not have qualified into my top 10 adventure list, as in my first Parisian trip I was more interested in finding the grave of Jim Hendrix in the pere Lachaise cemetery and flea markets than the perfect coffee shop or castle to visit. But those things have been ticked on my bucket list and new cool things have been added to my endless list...
So here I am, sitting at home looking at the spring rain in English countryside, sipping my red wine accompanied by some delicious savories from Spain as I just returned from Madrid last night. I am so ready to go France and the only thing I wish for now is sunny weathe,r as most of the Europe has been suffering from cold and rainy days this year.
Oh, and I am ticking something else from my bucket list too - I am travelling this time with the Eurostar train, and will be crossing the English Channel underneath the sea. Way wicked, I think. And who knows, maybe Moulin Rouge has some spare tickets left and I get to cross a third item from by bucket list - the most famous cabaret in the world.
L'aventure française - here we come (and yes my Californian and European wine and culinary enthusiast friends, I will tell you all about it when I am back)!
Simple yet effective is how I would describe this design. No gimmicks here - it's all about colour in five, not fifty, gradually changing shades of pink. I love they way these closet doors just lighten up the room and take it to another level from plain white and modern decor and add lots of warmth to the room. As I often say: little things make a big difference!
Of course the doors are not the only thing I like about this room: I have always fancied the round Saarinen Tulip table and the Ant chairs - and white airy spaces in general. This rooms just puts it all so well together that I'd give it two thumbs up.
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