Planning Ahead

Just an idea........

Morning After Thrill

Surefire Hangover Remedies

Bartender, Make It a Double
Our favorite hair-of-the-dog remedy is a variation on the bloody Mary: Swap vodka for a light beer (we prefer Corona) and you have a bloody beer. Keep the vodka and add an egg, it’s a red eye. (Visine optional.)

On the Rocks
You prefer your poison over ice, but when you wake up feeling like a ship that hit an iceberg, take a cold plunge. Whether it’s in Lake Tahoe or on Ocean Beach, the shock to your system will refresh your senses. Down a gallon of water infused with Emergen-C and you’ll be riding the waves in no time.

Garnishes
Pizza and Mexican with a side of fries? Yum. But what you should be blending in your tummy is a banana shake. A potassium-rich smoothie will hydrate your body and coat your stomach faster than you can reach for the Pepto. Plus, the magnesium alleviates that throbbing headache.

Shaken, Not Stirred
After a nap, head to the gym or, if you’re feeling ballsy, aBikram yoga class. Sweating out the booze and stimulating your circulation is a surefire detox. You may spend the 90-minute class plotting our death, but we promise you’ll thank us afterward.

Cheers!

(from Daily Candy San Francisco)

Holiday Eating

small acorns  provided this smile....

No problem with holiday 'eatathons' around here, loving her sandles too!

That's Christmas!

Tummy full?



































Kinda bedraggled?





































We know the feeling...... time to recover for New Year Celebrations!

Santa at the end of his rounds!

PHUKET: In an exclusive, impromptu interview with the Phuket Gazette earlier this morning, Santa Clause – spotted arriving at a Phuket beach by long-tail boat on the last of his deliveries to the island’s good boys and girls – said he plans to take some time out here.

Mr Clause said he had been thrown off his sleigh and dumped in the sea when his reindeer became "disorientated" on the approach to Patong Beach. Fortunately, a local fisherman had plucked him from the water and taken him inland so he could finish his work.

“The reindeer were distracted by the bright lights and cacophony of beer-bar music and someone screaming ‘tonight, tonight’, over and over again at 90 decibels,” said Khun Santa.

“I need a break, and I’ve heard there’s lots to do here,” he said.

“I want to try out these wonderful jet-ski things and have a nice long body massage," he said.

Mr Clause volunteered that he might invest in some land and seek part-time employment as an Elvis impersonator if he can get a work permit. He admitted that his deliveries earlier today had been conducted without such a permit, and confided that he had no visa since he'd landed in Thailand near Koh Kaew where  there were no Immigration facilities.

As for his reasons for wishing to hang out in Phuket for awhile, he said he was simply stressed out.

“I can’t keep up with the pace anymore. They don’t make toys like they used to, and everyone is emailing and texting me non-stop with their Christmas lists now,” he complained.

“The X Station 6 is coming out next year and we have to test every one of them before delivery. Since Grand Theft Auto came out, the elves have been slacking and are now rather aggressive,” he said.

Asked which resort he’d be staying at, Mr Clause said he was perfectly happy camping out under the stars on the beach.

But anyone hoping to see this currently illegal alien is going to have difficulty spotting him.

“I’m going to shave off my beard and put on shorts, a muscle top, sandals and socks to blend in with the other tourists around Patong,” he said.

Asked what gifts most Phuketians had been given this year, Mr Clause mumbled something about a bad Internet connection out of Thailand and not knowing for sure what everyone wanted. Pressed for further details on this, he said nothing, smiled, opened an old cloth bag and handed this reporter a stack of discount coupons for tailor shops and tuk-tuk rides.

Numbed, I watched in silence as the kind old man wandered off in quest of a beach chair.

Courtesy of the Phuket Gazette

Smile it's Christmas Day!

Here's our plan this year laze and walk on the beach after opening and brunch....heavenly!
Hoping your day wherever you are is wonderful too. Merry Christmas to all.

AND TO ALL A VERY......

From us all here in Phuket!

Merry Christmas To All

May the Season bring you all Love, Peace and Happiness

Balloons for the Holidays will make you smile!

Our main shopping mall here in  Phuket, Central Festival decorated for Christmas with balloons this past weekend. It is colourful and fun with a mix of a tropical fish motif edged with traditional Christmas icons. I am not sure about the giant octopus Santa but?Surfing the net I discovered a throughly sophisticated take with balloons. Shanghai Tang's Holiday Catalogue is the best balloon colour and design of the moment! The NYC design agency chandelier creative are the fabulous group behind this gorgeous spread. The colours are brilliant! Note how their catalogue will last through ALL the holiday seasons through to Chinese New Year which of course is much bigger around in Phuket and surrounds then our Western Christmas and New Year.

A Xmas tree with Asian Appeal

Headed out to the Laguna Resort area today to see if there
is any decorations along this idea. The big resorts usually do a wonderful job of decorating with a tropical twist.

One of the largest Christmas trees in the world floating on a lagoon in Rio. Is is 85 metres high! The fireworks display that accompanies the tree would certainly appeal to the Asians love of this type of entertainment. Images from Onlysuper.com

Remember when Christmas took forever to come?!

Remember when December seemed almost as long as the whole year? Here are a couple of amusing pictures from when it was like that for our family.

Christmas 1963 - new slips for the sisters, fancy underwear was a treat in those days!

Much later.... 1990 son, Fraser looking rather curious but, daughter Michelle obviously inspired!

He's off working and she's off surfing this Christmas.

A True Towering Evergreen

A giant Christmas tree made from 1000 Heineken bottles created in the centre of Shanghai. I am wondering if darling daughter #2 has had a moment to
walk by?
(Pictures courtesy of  chine-informations)

Christmas Smile

Friends at Christmas

Today as I was posting I discovered in my file a Christmas picture. I had picked it to inspire a friend I stayed with in London, thinking it matched her living room. Funny thing just as I noted the picture, a Xmas card arrived from the family, picturing her beautiful glowing darlings. She is well organized!

I wonder what her tree looks like?  ( I'm sorry I am not sure where I nabbed this picture)

Christmas Ornaments

One of the lovely things about Christmas decorating for me is rediscovering the ornaments and remembering who, where and why? The memories are lovely ones of children, friends and travel.

The big golden ball hand painted in the style of Miro is the remainder of  a trio purchased in Krakow, Poland one year traveling with a great and dear decorator friend. Unfortunately darling twin boys  of eleven managed to finish off the other two, so this one is very special now!

My six little white dogs purchased in Paris  during a Christmas house exchange in the City of Lights five years ago.  It looks like Paris may have a lovely white Xmas this year, pure magic!

This little fellow should be about twenty-five about now. When the children were young I tried to purchase an ornament or two each year for them to have later when they were settled. Each married

daughter have their little collection however this belongs to eldest son Dave. He's off searching for surf this Christmas.

Little antique styled houses, wooden painted ornaments come from  the the years in Victoria B.C.,

when we lived in a big tudor styled house. I used to spend a week decorating with boughs and trees.

The gorgeous blue glass ball in the centre was a gift  from my next door neighbour who off on a conference in Colorado brought 4 back for me. This was the super mum era when we had small children, full time jobs and DID Christmas! I still remember the scratches and rashes on our arms from tying cedar boughs and holly on our stairways. These fabulous sky blue decorations were picked to go with our dining room that had a gorgeous big fireplace with blue surround. I have treasured them now for over twenty five years....how did that happen? Golden tassels and garlands of beads come from the era of Christmases at the ski area. I used to hand them from the chandelier. The Christmas decorating years in Phuket seem to have lightened the decoration colour pallet considerably..... it must be the weather!

This year I have two small trees, one white, one traditional green, they are both heavily loaded with decorations as my big faux tree died after  almost ten full years of service. This technique of decorating hides the 'mummified' look the tree has at the beginning when lighting wires seem to be everywhere.

This hand embroidered ornament was made for my eldest daughter by her god mother over thirty years ago. There is a set of six and I really can't imagine the time and work she put into them. Sadly we have lost touch over the years as we all traveled and moved around the globe. We went to design school together and it would be great fun to catch up.

These darling handmade hobby horses I have had over thirty years too, made by a friend and neighbour from our early married years in Banff, Alberta I wonder if Pat still has hers?

I Here is the first faux tree we ever purchased being in the tropics. Ten years of fine service. Above is last year, which looks great if you are not too close...below is the tree's first year.

Next one MUST have lights attached!

Seven Days to go....Christmas Decorating in the Nick of Time!

From this.....

A Perfect Combination of Warm and Cold

A quick break from our wonderful tropical weather.... London for eleven days! Beautiful blue skies, a city all decorated for Christmas, visiting old friends and popping back on the plane just before the snow flakes started, it was a treat!