Things that make me smile and don't render me a snivelly mess ...

..... 'cos, you know, lots of stuff does make me a snivelly mess at the mo, so anything that makes me go 'oooh, pretty' or 'oooh, shiny' can only be a good thing! Clearly anyone that knows me knows that Zinfandel Rose tops my list of 'items that can be depended upon to turn Ruth's frown upside down'. I'm the first to admit that I may have a slight dependency issue when it comes to the old Zinfandel, I feel I owe it a debt of gratitude, after all, we almost gave our 'surprise!' baby Leni-lu the middle name Zinfandel in honour of it's part in her creation ... so, clearly Zinfandel makes my list of things that make me smile this week. Good work old friend.

Next up in my 'smile-a-thon' is this;

an amazing piece of art work that I commissioned from my old friend Sandie (view her blog at http://sandiegardinerartandillustration.co.uk/website/Blog/Entries/2012/1/9_VIP.html ) I wanted something personal and lovely for my God daughter's christening present. She and Leni are a tag team of chaos and carnage, we nicknamed them Idi and Lenin when they were babies, and they're a formidable team that make us laugh and pull our hair out in equal measure - being 18 months, their grasp of sharing is sketchy to say the least and they can be hilariously screechy to each other! It's got elements of Edie's Mum and I's friendship all over it - the teapot Sandie included in the piece is my leaky old Emma Bridgewater teapot that we've put the world to rights round too many times to count,  old NZ stamps, the girl's names and Summer 2010 which was our golden time as I recall, both girls were tiny babies, we were on maternity leave, lots of long lazy mornings with cups of tea whilst we breastfed the girls and ate good cake ... happy days of coven meetings. Anyway, I had 2 canvasses made of the print and gave one to Edie and one is currently somewhere on the sea sailing it's way to our new life in the Southern Hemisphere (or it may be the Northern hemisphere, to be fair I can never remember which is which) 

And now, the moment everyone's been waiting for, the answer to the 'what the feckity feck is Ruth going to do without EBay?' question. I'll tell you what shall I? That's right www.trademe.co.nz that's what. A-mazing. I've already sucked Kris into my way of thinking and the boys now have bikes and scooters waiting for them in NZ, Leni has a travel cot and a high chair and I'm under strict orders NOT TO SCOUT IT OUT AGAIN as Kris (apparently) has better things to do with his time than drive round picking up my Trademe bargains. Spoilsport. It's still making my 'smile'list mind!!

Nextly, and maybe most shallow-ly, comes Chanel's Paradoxal nail varnish. It rocks my world right now, especially when covered with a layer of OPI silver shatter varnish. It's the most expensive way of making it look like you've trapped your fingers in a car door ever. Fact. Being back at Mum's means I have access to a nail varnish collection that rivals most supermodel's. 

So, lastly, my Rieker boots. I never thought I'd veer away from my beloved UGGS but *whispers lest her old faithfuls should hear her* these boots make my life better, so much better. They are warm, and chunky, and keep my feet warm and dry *swoon* sorry UGGS, I still love you but these boots look less like a baked potato than you do and have a certain German cool-ness ( I hate to buy into cultural stereotypes but they're pretty solid, functional boots that would probably walk the black forest for years before giving you a blister)  that you're missing. 

Here endeth this week's love list!