Yo There,
Well for various reasons, and time flying by, I seem to have lost 5 weeks of blogging and I'm damned if I can remember all the stuff that's kept me so busy!
I know I spent a good 2 weeks creating a spare bedroom unlike any other spare bedroom I've ever had - and this all because mummy and her friend, Joyce, came for a 2-week visit and we wanted to make sure they enjoy lying in and relaxing.
So my friend Karen and I decided to create a majlis made with 23 saris to form a sort-of tent. Needless to say none of it came easy - even when we thought we had it down to a T. Once we started putting the saris up, we realised that all the chiffon was so transparent, that all the colours were getting lost! So down it all goes, out we go into town and returned with 62 metres of black taffetta which we proceeded to nail to the walls. We then started hanging the saris again - and it worked a treat. Good, clever, artistic Karen decided to paint a mural too which she did really beautifully though we are still to put in the camel's arse through the doorway :-)
The room was ready just in time and mummy and Joyce arrived on the 18th November when we duly went to pick them up in Dubai. I don't think there's any reason to go into how we spent the days - shop, shop and more shopping till they shopped some more and we dropped !! I think they had a good time though they weren't particularly keen on the 7-hour journey back home.
In the meantime, my Christmas tree has finally gone up - photos will be posted soon - and my beloved ornaments and crystal stars are finally hanging proudly from my gorgeous wrought iron tree. I couldn't use a normal tree cos the weight of the ornaments kept pulling the branches down and I broke a couple before I decided it HAS TO GO. I searched high and low for a dead tree - those of you in Malta know what I usually have in the hallway - but can yhou find a dead tree around here? Can you hell!
Let's see what else happened - we have been given a gorgeous, lovely, little ring-necked parakeet called Chilli who - as always - has fallen in love with Pete and kisses in what sounds like a video game scream! He goes on anyone and everyone and I even took him out in the car this morning because he just loves being with people. He has bonded quite well with Pepper though Pepper still doesn't know quite what to do with himself. So our family which was supposed to remain small, seems to be growing very slowly but surely - we will only be 100% happy when we have Smooch here.
This week was very, very exciting for me - I was talking to a friend of mine who is the Executive Housekeeper for the biggest, poshest, loveliest hotel in the UAE and she said they were hosting the President and all the Heads of the Emirates to celebrate 35 years of independence. In the middle of the discussion, she said wouldn't it be wonderful if I could create something in crystal to put on the table and we played about with some ideas till we came up with the UAE flag. Keep in mind this was 4 days before the banquet and anniversary! I came home still chewing on the idea and realised I didn't even have the 4 colours in stock and I haven't yet met the agents for Swarovski here. Anyway, took the bull by the horn and called the agents in Dubai who were delighted to oblige and who couriered 12,000 crystals to me by 7 o'clock that same night.
In the meantime, I had decided to start beading a small flag as a sample to see how the stitch I had in mind would work and by 9 o'clock I had a sample ready. So I called my friend who asked me to go immediately with it so that we could show it to Mr Massoud, the General Manager of the Emirates Palace. He loved the idea, loved the sample but immediately said that it can't be done - the time was too short ! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I came home, went to bed, woke up and was at my desk at 8 a.m. and beaded non-stop (I promise non-stop) till 1 a.m. - that is 17 hours on the Wednesday. On Thursday again was at my desk at 8 a.m. - mummy & Joyce were leaving at 3:30 in the morning of Friday so we all had to stay up anyway. A couple of our friends took them out for us since it was their last day and I couldn't move out of the room even! So I beaded ............ and beaded ....... and beaded. Kissed them off goodbye at 3:15 Friday morning, came back to my desk and continued beading till 5 a.m.
Finally, 43 hours out of beading later - my wonderful, crystal UAE flag was done. Pete called to ask what time we should deliver it to the hotel - remember this was the day BEFORE the actual celebration and we were asked to go for lunch when we presented the flag to Mr Massoud and my good friend Charmaine. They loved it and said they would be sure to put it either next to the 40 foot cake or on the President's table..... WOW !
In actual fact, the biggest surprise and honour of all came yesterday when I was told that the flag had been put in a beautiful presentation box and presented to HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates as a gift from the Emirates Palace Hotel....... and it was made by little me :-)
Well for various reasons, and time flying by, I seem to have lost 5 weeks of blogging and I'm damned if I can remember all the stuff that's kept me so busy!
I know I spent a good 2 weeks creating a spare bedroom unlike any other spare bedroom I've ever had - and this all because mummy and her friend, Joyce, came for a 2-week visit and we wanted to make sure they enjoy lying in and relaxing.
So my friend Karen and I decided to create a majlis made with 23 saris to form a sort-of tent. Needless to say none of it came easy - even when we thought we had it down to a T. Once we started putting the saris up, we realised that all the chiffon was so transparent, that all the colours were getting lost! So down it all goes, out we go into town and returned with 62 metres of black taffetta which we proceeded to nail to the walls. We then started hanging the saris again - and it worked a treat. Good, clever, artistic Karen decided to paint a mural too which she did really beautifully though we are still to put in the camel's arse through the doorway :-)
The room was ready just in time and mummy and Joyce arrived on the 18th November when we duly went to pick them up in Dubai. I don't think there's any reason to go into how we spent the days - shop, shop and more shopping till they shopped some more and we dropped !! I think they had a good time though they weren't particularly keen on the 7-hour journey back home.
In the meantime, my Christmas tree has finally gone up - photos will be posted soon - and my beloved ornaments and crystal stars are finally hanging proudly from my gorgeous wrought iron tree. I couldn't use a normal tree cos the weight of the ornaments kept pulling the branches down and I broke a couple before I decided it HAS TO GO. I searched high and low for a dead tree - those of you in Malta know what I usually have in the hallway - but can yhou find a dead tree around here? Can you hell!
Let's see what else happened - we have been given a gorgeous, lovely, little ring-necked parakeet called Chilli who - as always - has fallen in love with Pete and kisses in what sounds like a video game scream! He goes on anyone and everyone and I even took him out in the car this morning because he just loves being with people. He has bonded quite well with Pepper though Pepper still doesn't know quite what to do with himself. So our family which was supposed to remain small, seems to be growing very slowly but surely - we will only be 100% happy when we have Smooch here.
This week was very, very exciting for me - I was talking to a friend of mine who is the Executive Housekeeper for the biggest, poshest, loveliest hotel in the UAE and she said they were hosting the President and all the Heads of the Emirates to celebrate 35 years of independence. In the middle of the discussion, she said wouldn't it be wonderful if I could create something in crystal to put on the table and we played about with some ideas till we came up with the UAE flag. Keep in mind this was 4 days before the banquet and anniversary! I came home still chewing on the idea and realised I didn't even have the 4 colours in stock and I haven't yet met the agents for Swarovski here. Anyway, took the bull by the horn and called the agents in Dubai who were delighted to oblige and who couriered 12,000 crystals to me by 7 o'clock that same night.
In the meantime, I had decided to start beading a small flag as a sample to see how the stitch I had in mind would work and by 9 o'clock I had a sample ready. So I called my friend who asked me to go immediately with it so that we could show it to Mr Massoud, the General Manager of the Emirates Palace. He loved the idea, loved the sample but immediately said that it can't be done - the time was too short ! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I came home, went to bed, woke up and was at my desk at 8 a.m. and beaded non-stop (I promise non-stop) till 1 a.m. - that is 17 hours on the Wednesday. On Thursday again was at my desk at 8 a.m. - mummy & Joyce were leaving at 3:30 in the morning of Friday so we all had to stay up anyway. A couple of our friends took them out for us since it was their last day and I couldn't move out of the room even! So I beaded ............ and beaded ....... and beaded. Kissed them off goodbye at 3:15 Friday morning, came back to my desk and continued beading till 5 a.m.
Finally, 43 hours out of beading later - my wonderful, crystal UAE flag was done. Pete called to ask what time we should deliver it to the hotel - remember this was the day BEFORE the actual celebration and we were asked to go for lunch when we presented the flag to Mr Massoud and my good friend Charmaine. They loved it and said they would be sure to put it either next to the 40 foot cake or on the President's table..... WOW !
In actual fact, the biggest surprise and honour of all came yesterday when I was told that the flag had been put in a beautiful presentation box and presented to HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates as a gift from the Emirates Palace Hotel....... and it was made by little me :-)
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