Happy Anniversary William & Kate!

I can't quite believe it is a whole YEAR since William and Kate got married!  Anyway congratulations to them on their first anniversary, they seem so happy together!

Photo: Hello Magazine
Out and about last Thursday.

Photo: Hello Magazine
The Balcony Kiss - such a happy day!

One of the official Hugo Burnand Portraits.

More Dior!

As you know I recently bought a Christian Dior scarf, anyway I did see some others that caught my eye.  So a few weeks ago I went back to CD in Harrods and came home with......

Pretty summer colours.

The full design: "Dance of The Swans"
but it does not 

photograph too well as it is so busy!

Images of bejewelled swans.

Jewels combined with animal print - perfect!

Some more detail.

Pretty bows and more jewels.

Christian Dior Logo.

Tied around and secured with medium scarf
ring.  The contrasting hem shows well too.

Bow Knot with medium scarf ring.

Slip knot with ring - photo with

no flash so you can see

the warmth of the colours better.

Friendship Knot.

And a trusty cowboy.

I am really impressed with Dior so far - OK this silk is not as heavy as Hermes or my Dior Anslem Reyle but then for summer it is nice to have a lighter weight. I was also impressed with Dior's customer service in Harrods - after my first purchase I got an email thanking me for my visit! 

This scarf is a 65-70cm and quite a saving on H prices too, so I think going forward I will be looking at other brands more closely as Hermes are getting a little out of reach price wise.

The Queen's Birthday Gun Salute

I have just got back from a great weekend in London which happened to coincide with HM Queen Elizabeth II's 86th birthday. Yesterday at 12 noon sharp in Hyde Park the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery were there to fire the Queen's 21 gun birthday salute.  It was an amazing sight.  I got there just in time to see - and hear - it all!  

The sign advising of the event on the Parade Ground.

First the smoke appears.

Then an almighty boom when the shell fires!

The horses were kept several hundred 
metres back from the firing line - they hardly 

flinched at the noise!

After the gun salute was fired the horses all galloped up to the guns to hook them up and take them back to barracks - the thunder of hooves was amazing to hear - I did video it but I haven't been able to download the video just yet.  But now I know what the famous Charge of the Light Brigade may have sounded like.

The King's Troop were accompanied by their Band and the music they played was really good.  The final piece was one called Arnhem and it was lovely.  After the salute was over the crowds followed the Band to the exit at Hyde Park and they were given a round of applause.  Then they packed up ready to go home.

This jolly musician happily posed for me.

This was the Officer conducting the 

Band - it was his final performance :-(

I managed to snap his medals....
Left: Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal
Right: Long Service Good Conduct Medal.

... and this beautifully embroidered little pack 

on his back sash.  No idea of the technical term.
Update  - Apparently it is a cartridge holder.

The Band packs up.

Time to pose with a tourist who 

borrowed the fur hat LOL!

Then to my delight the horses caught up 

with the Band and I was able to get some really

good close ups! 

Here the Officer leading his men (and women)
on a HUGE bay horse.

Some of the horses pulling the gun carriages
have no riders.

Another Officer with his white plumed hat.

One of the guns and carriage.

The riders bringing up the rear.

Fabulous detail on the uniform - very like 
Hermes' Brandebourgs.  I'm a sucker for this 
type of braiding too!

Brandebourgs 70cm.

Finally the Police Mounted Escort made sure 

the  KTRHA exited the park safely.   At least 

this horse was properly kitted out for the rain 

too with his rider's huge coat train!

I hope you enjoyed this slightly different post, but I was so thrilled to see this and it is one of those ceremonial events that Britain does so well.

Tattoos!

Not my usual purchase at all, but after reading British Beauty Blogger's recent post about the Christian Louboutin Pop Up Shop in Selfridges, London, I decided to have a look at the tattoos that CL were doing - just because they were £5 so a very affordable little piece of a big designer label!

There were 4 different designs - a bit weird some of them if you ask me but I liked the CL logo best.

So I got the tattoos but the best - in my case - was yet to come....I adore fancy carrier bags so can you imagine how thrilled I was to be given this bag???!!!!

As 2012 is the 20th anniversary of Christian Louboutin the carrier bag has been dressed for the occasion!

  

Even the invoice card wrapper is amazing- the writing is embossed in like a rose gold shiny writing.  Tres chic!

And the sticky label used to secure the bag is even  a red sole shape LOL!  I peeled it off carefully to keep.

Anyway me loving posh bags as I do of course I had to have another bag so I went back a few weeks later to buy just one more set - only that time the small bags had run out.  The SA was so apologetic that she had to give me a large bag - NO PROBLEM for me!!!!!!!  I was in seventh bag heaven - silly isn't it?!  So here is the big bag and she even gave me an extra for my CL loving sister!

The pop up shop was due to close the next day so it is gone now, but it was fun while it lasted!

The latest news is that there will be a retrospective exhibition of CL shoes at the London Design Museum 01 May - 09 July 2012.  If it is anything like the Manolo Blahnik retro a few years ago, where all the shoes on exhibit were MY size too(!) it will be great! Details here

hopefully I can make it there and get some piccies to share.

A Scarf Change

Anyone who visits Harrods will know that next door to Hermes is Christian Dior.  I wandered over after a H visit and there I found some very pretty scarves....so here is my first foray in the world of Christian Dior scarves:-

 A really lovely box wrapped with ribbon..... 

Inside is a SS12 version of the limited edition Anselm Reyle scarf.  This one is a 70cm x 70cm - one of my favourite sizes.  As soon as I saw this lovely fresh combination of cerise and bluey-purple I had to have it!

This particular scarf is the same price as a Hermes 70cm, but Dior do sell others for slightly less - although the silk is not as heavy as this one is - this AR is comparable to Hermes 70cm for sure.

The camouflage pattern.

Cowboy.

Bow knot with medium scarf ring.

Slip knot with medium scarf ring.

And my current favourite way to wear a scarf - 

keeps my neck nice and warm!

I enjoyed playing with this scarf and I am really very happy with my first CD scarf and it is not going to be my last......

London Lunch

After the seeing the chocolatier's windows in the previous post, my walk carried on along the road to the Berkeley Hotel, where, after my last delicious lunch at Marcus Wareing's restaurant, I had to go back for more LOL!  This time I took my Mum along for her birthday treat.  

Pickled egg dip with pork scratchings - yum!

Speciality caramelised butter (right)

The specially made gluten free bread rolls
for my Mum!  The pastry chef even 
emailed me the recipe when we asked for it!

The restaurant's Friday tradition

Fish & Chip Soup - as good as ever!

Ballotine of duck and fois gras - delish!

Poussin 3 ways with turnips and
spinach - mmmmm!

Pre dessert of meringue yoghurt with
fruit and crumble.

Mum's gluten free chocolate and rhubarb
dessert with granita.
It was very rich - too much really!!

My egg custard tart with blood orange, yoghurt 

and granita.  The custard tart is the famous tart 

as made for the Queen in a competition 

by Marcus.

A birthday surprise - apple layers with jelly.

Some Columbian Chocolate ganache to finish.

Truffles to take home.