Introspection & Reflection...

I've surfaced today after a week in bed battling a nasty chest infection - blah!

During my time under the doona I've had plenty of time to reflect upon all sorts of things including the multiple balls that I'm trying to keep in the air that I mentioned in the last post.

I've made some rather large decisions, which may not be the best idea when you're under the influence of strong antibiotics and feeling like a giant slug, but decisions have been made....

#1 I'm extending my bloggy break indefinitely - although I know I'll miss my interactions with you tremendously, I really need to do this - thank you for understanding

#2 I'll be handing 'Post Of The Month' Club back to Laura from 'Happy Homemaker' as this is a truly fabulous feature and I'd hate to see it fizzle just because I'm having a bit of a blip

#3 I'm expecting to come back to this space at some point in the future so I'll keep my other regular posts, 'Word Of The Week', 'Vive Le Livre' and the sporadic but fabulous 'Six Senses Tours' on the shelf for now....apologies to those of you who look forward to these treasures

#4 I may pop in to visit you at your space but it will be sporadic at best

#5 I hope to be able to take more glorious photos like the one above of sunrise on our beach - true moments of serendipity are always to be treasured

To all of my longtime and loyal followers and those of you who have recently subscribed to 'Gifts Of Serendipity', I hope you'll stick around as I'm looking forward to returning filled to the brim with sparkle and verve but at the moment all of my energies must be directed towards my health, my family and of course Captain V.

Blessings to all,

And the winner is....

It's a sparkling, sunshiney Autumn day in my pocket of the world and I wish you could be here to share it!
Instead I'll send a burst of brightness your way, thanking you enthusiastically if you were one of the many wonderfully creative types who played along in my recent 'Say What?' giveaway.
You brought lots of brightness into my world with your fabulous words and writing - treasures all.

As you may be aware I'm not one for the electronic dodads when it comes to prize drawing, instead I meticulously wrote everyone's names [multiple times for some of you] onto two pages and then painstakingly cutting them out. They went into a lovely coral coloured dish that my brother gave me for my birthday and then a name was drawn out....

...I'm so thrilled that a true lover of words and writing is going to be receiving my personalised pressie.

I can't show you what it is as I'm now in the process of making it, but perhaps Ms Lizzie will post about  it on her truly sparkling blog and you'll see what I mean about it being personalised.
If you are a lover of words and literature, you really must visit Lizzie's space.

Now a special mention must go to my fabulous wordy friend Ning.
Special kudos gets fluttered your way because of your enthusiasm and creativity.
For a person whose second language is English, I was gobsmacked by the story you created using the 'words in the bubbles'.

Dear friends, I'd be thrilled if you stopped by and took the time to marvel at what Ning created.
I'll be sending a little pressie your way too Ms Ning.

Now that all the fun stuff is shared, I need to let you know that I'm taking a fortnight off from blogging Lovelies.

I'll be back in time to do our faves:
*  'Post Of The Month' Club - some pearlers last month
*  'Vive Le Livre!' - I've got some brilliant books to share already...and
*  A colour post [purple is the feature this month if you're keen to play along]

So keep your peepers peeled towards the end of the month/beginning of next month for these as I'd hate you to miss out. Don't be offended if I'm not visiting your space as much as I usually do, there are lots of balls in the air at the moment [including Captain V's 50th - yikes!] and I need my wits about me not to drop anything.

Happy day, I look forward to when next we meet,

Vive Le Livre - April

It's the first Tuesday of the month and that means we're gathering together to share the pages that we've devoured & delighted in.  My offerings this month are very slim indeed and you'll see that there was actually only one real 'livre' amongst them. I won't even attempt to offer excuses - suffice to say that I have high hopes for May and anticipate that you can boost the ranks with your own selections.

The only book in my selection "Paris Was Ours" edited by Penelope Rowlands was a special birthday gift from my ever thoughtful friend Jane.  It's a collection of anecdotes and essays with such diverse titles as " Love Without Reason", "My Bookstore High", "Parenting French Style", "Understanding Chic", "Ma Vie Boheme" and "Paris Is Gone, All Gone".
Jane and I are both unashamed Francophiles and after reading this little gem, I'm inspired more than ever to explore the cobbled streets of the 'City of Lights'.

The remainder of pages I've turned have been of the glossy variety.
'Real Living' is my one indulgence each and every month and a great source of both inspiration and fodder for dreaming.

The 'Weekend Australian' newspaper is a mainstay in our home and after scouring the headlines, the magazine is savoured.  I've taught Captain V to check that it's inside the newsprint when he hands over the clams to the newsagent, I've been disappointed on a number of occasions when he's brought a paper home sans the magazine.

Finally I've been receiving a little pressie in my mailbox each month since the start of the year via my brother and SIL.  I think they may have doubled up on a subscription and I'm now the happy recipient of regular doses of Australian "House & Garden" magazine - a lovely treat.

So that's it for me - nothing too startling I know but some months are like that right?
On my bedside table right now is Craig Silvey's "Jasper Jones" which I began on Sunday...fingers crossed that I get through this and a couple more this month!

I can't wait to find out what you've been reading and how you've been "Vivre Le Livr'ing" in April.

For those who are looking for some new bloggy inspiration, you couldn't do better than to read the selections in this month's "Post Of The Month" Club - feel free to add your own in too!

If you're a new visitor to this space, you may also like to join in some wordy fun and go in the draw for a lovely prize in my "Say What?" giveaway.

Until next we meet, happy page turning!

Post Of The Month Club & A Silver Montage

Happy day, it's time for the "Post Of The Month" Club and our chance to see what everyone has nominated as their favourite post for April.

But before you scoot off and link in your favourite post, I have to thank all of you who've added the most amazing entries into my "Giveaway" - you've truly impressed me with each and every one. 

If you haven't got your name in the hat yet, there's still time so be sure to take a peek before you leave.

In other news, for those who've been regular readers this year, you may know I've been having all sorts of bother with my laptop USB ports. It seems it doesn't want to recognise any additional devices, which means that uploading photos has been a 'no go' scenario = very frustrating!

I've resorted to using Captain V's laptop and emailing all the photos to myself so that I can scrape my way into entering Emily's "Collecting Colours" silver gallery this month. Here are the results...

If you'd like to participate, it's lots of fun. Each month Emily has nominated a colour to use as the focus for a montage of items collected from our everyday lives.

Silver was an easy one for me as it's a common accent colour in my home and even though I always thought I was more of a gold kind of gal, from the kitchen to the laundry and everywhere in between, silver objects are in abundance.  Amongst my favourites is a tea and coffee set which Mum informed me was probably my maternal Great Grandmother's. 

Two other sentimentally special pieces are the silver framed photo of my maternal Grandparent's wedding day and the Koolaman Designs necklace {see the last photo below] which has all of my Grandparents' names stamped onto it.

The cross above is a bit of a cheat as it's a sample that I made for an primary school art class last week. 

It's actually two layers of aluminium [or as some of you would say aluminum] foil covering a cardboard base and etched with a ballpoint pen....I liked the look of it and so it ended up in the mix.  

Along with my butterfly biscuit cutter, everyday cutlery, stationery items, my most worn jewellery, Australian coins, dragonfly plug, silver and white striped feather [well it's silvery grey], a place card holder..there's a silver winged dove that hangs on the inspiration board in my office. Lot's of lovely silver.

This is the first time I've added anything into Emily's gallery and had so much fun I'm already getting items together for next month's purple theme!

Now of course we have something special that happens here on the the last day of the month - that's right, it's time for "Post Of The Month" club!

This is where we get together to share our favourite posts and connect with friends from all over the globe, promoting our fabulous blogs as we go - hooray!

If you haven't played along with this linky, it's super easy and a great way for you to connect with fabulous bloggers from every inch of this great big, wonderful world.  You simply have to....

1. Find your favourite post - grab its URL and follow the steps in the Linky below to add it to the list

2. Once you've added your own post, please be sure to visit two other blogs and leave a comment

3. If you're one of my great 'Sparklers' you will already have the logo in your sidebar - thanks!

If you'd like to help get the word out and boost the visibility of the Linky [thereby giving you more opportunities to be discovered] pop a note on a post letting your readers know about it with a link to this post, or grab the "Post Of The Month" button from my sidebar and pop it into your post or onto your own sidebar.

I can't wait to see what you've all been up to this month and look forward to reading not only your posts but your comments too.

Happy day!

"Say What?" Giveaway Part Two...

Finally 'Part Two' of the "Word of the Week" giveaway is here!

I had so much fun reading through your words and comments and can't wait to see what you do next.

There was such a terrific range of words [some real, some imaginative] and I'm thrilled to bits with the effort that everyone put into not only adding their own, but also taking the time to read through other people's selections.

I know that lots of my readers are 'wordy' types and hope that you enjoy the next part of the giveaway.

Here's how you can earn bonus entry points.....

1. Select a line of words from one of the lists below

2. Write the page number of the list so that I can easily check your selection

3. Create a sentence using the words on that line, putting them in "inverted commas" so that they pop out

Here's an example:

1.  When the detective enquired about the cause of the crack in the "celadon" vase, it came as no surprise that Emelio tried to "squirrel" his way out of any blame using his "rakish" charm.

I've mixed up most of your entries and you can choose a line that includes one of your 'favourites' or go out on a limb and select words nominated by someone else.

You may enter as many times as you like [ie: write as many sentences as you like] but please be sure to send them as separate comments.

If you share this part of the giveaway on FB, Twitter, Google+ or your blog, let me know in a separate comment for one extra entry for each.

Every comment in this part of the giveaway receives TWO ENTRIES into 'the hat' - yep, that's double rewards for your extra effort!

I will be keeping this open until  Wednesday 9th May {12 PM AEST} and announcing the winner on Friday 11th.

I hope you enjoy playing with these fabulous words as much as I have and can't wait to read your entries.

So without further ado, here are the lists....