Thanksgiving wishes...

to everyone and all!.... I've been lucky enough to spend a couple of Thanksgivings In America and watch the Macy's parade which is fabulous. For me Thanksgiving is the official stat of the Holiday season... so the countdown has officially begun.
This year I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with an official Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of Seasons restaurant on the 5th floor of Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge... it seems a lot of other people had the same idea. The atmosphere was jovial and much celebrating was had.

The meal was delicious:

• Sweetcorn, chicken & bacon soup
• Roasted turkey, orange & pistachio stuffing, mash, green beans & gravy
• Maple pumpkin pie

had a lovely evening, food & service was excellent....

on the way home I got a tweet to say that Santa had arrived at macy's follwing the parade.... so even more excited now!.... happy holiday's





not your usual christmas...

is the big yellow stores tag line for Christmas.... so I thought I would share with you some of the scenes from Selfridges this Christmas...

this years windows have been designed in collaoration with Bruce Webber and this is the video shot to support the campaign....

my two favourite windows are Santa sleeping in the Stiletto and the Gingerbread Selfridges!...

Time flies.....

and its not all been fun.... been a bit MIA of late as I said goodbye to a special member of the family remembrance weekend ~ my aunts partner died suddenly  early November which has took me backwards a little. He was a lovely man, one of life's true gentlemen who will be sorely missed by his friends and family
The past couple of weeks have been a chance to catch up with family that I haven't seen for ages and spend some time with loved ones, not the circumstances that we thought but still a chance to all catch-up ..... aside from this I have caught up with loved ones and had some fun... a day at Twickenham with Brother & Nephew  (remembrance weekend) and a night seeing Lionel Richie with my sister-in-law and friends.(end of October) an afternoon surrounded by Hollywood glamour...

Swing low, sweet chariot...

rumbled across the stands of Twickenham remembrance weekend for Englands first autumn international game against Fiji. Bruv, Nephew and myself headed west to Twickenham for a spot of rugby! It was Mark & Brads first time at Twickenham so we arrived with plenty of time to see everything and soak up the atmosphere. As with every 14 year old, Brads priorities were how long it would take to get there and what was he having to eat!!!....
With a sell out crowd the atmosphere was fun and friendly from the train at Waterloo to the crowd inside the stadium.
After a belting national anthem and with military representatives from both Fiji and England the stadium came to a complete silence to honour the rememberance weekend.

Prior to kick-off the Fijian squad performed the Hacka which was fantastic to see, England standing shoulder to shoulder facing of the fijian squad.

Kick off underway it was a good 15 minutes before we saw England take the ball across the halfway line. After the slow start the try's started to accumulate.

All the new players got a chance to shine on the pitch and pick up their 1st caps. It was great to see a new fresh team starting to work together and gave us lots of hope for the future.

The Glamour of Hollywood..

a couple of weeks ago I headed over to the V&A to view the much talked about Hollywood Costume exhibition. So successful has the pre-bookings of this event ben that the V&A are having to extend their hours to meet the demand.  Having been I get why it's been so popular, as it is unlikely that you will see this volume of costumes in one setting again... spread across 3 rooms the exhibition showcases Hollywood glamour old and new. A large volume of the collection from Hollywood archives, but also a number of pieces from private collections.
As you enter the first room, you are greeted with a huge screen showcasing a montage of movie clips, featuring some of the most iconic costumes.

From the Queen, to Margaret Thatcher , Titanic, Atonement to Scarlett O'Hara no great lady is missed...



Leading men include the cast of Oceans 11 (i was a little distracted by George Clooneys tux!) to Heath & Jakes Brokeback mountain and John Travolta's Saturday night fever white suit... Every iconic piece of Hollywood history is artfully staged with a great accompanying script of influences and storeys to each piece.
The last 2 exhibits before you leave are probably 2 of the most iconic in Hollywood history Judy Garlands dress from Wizard of Oz (including Ruby Red slippers) and Marilyn Monroes white dress from The Seven Year Itch....

I thouroughly enjoyed this exhibition and will try and get to see it again (preferably when the kids are not on school break!) before it finishes in January..... a must for any movie fan.

As you are unable to take photographs inside the exhibit I have collaged a number of photo's from various press sites via google... thankyou

An evening Dancing on the Ceiling..

All Night Long!.... a few weeks ago, my sis-in-law, and 2 friends spent an evening at the O2 watching Lionel Richie. I bought it for her months ago as a birthday present and it was fun to spend some time together without Bruv & the kids.... We started the evening in the Barclay premier lounge which was nice and gave us time to chat and catch-up before heading into the gods of the O2 to see Lionel.

It's about 10 years since we last saw him and the guy just doesnt seem to age, with boundless energy he rocked out a mixed bag of oldies with some special guests.... Endless Love duet with Rebecca Ferguson which was stunning and Angel with Pixie Lott which was great.

Here's some of my favourites from the evening:

• Endless Love
• You are
• Hello
• Easy
• All Night Long
• Say You say Me

and one of my old favourites... Goodbye

great night out and a fanastic trip down memory lane!

We will Remember....

Today at the 11th hour on the 11th month we will stop, fall silent and remember..... those that gave the ultimate sacrifice and never came home to keep us safe and those that continue to risk that everyday to maintain that freedom..... thankyou just doesn't seem enough....



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's beginning to feel....

a lot like Christmas!.... I have purposely held off posting any Christmas posts until the calendar showed November as I could hear the cry of "its too early!" but when you work in retail its hard to avoid it from September onwards. Usually the Big yellow store opens its Christmas hall in July ... yes July... but we changed this, this year opening in September...

The Christmas shop has an entrance styled like a Christmas Cabin with the most gorgeous props, wooden sledges, ski's & throws leading you into a magically lit room. Along with hundreds of lights in the ceiling the room is scented with Christmas ... its doesn't get any better than that!

The room is styled into various themes catering for all ... I'm loving the sweet treats ranges, the candy cane jars are on my to buy list!

Gingerbread features heavily in this years themes from the huge Selfridges Gingerbread house in the Window (separate post to come)to the bespoke Gingerbread houses in the food hall... loving the Gingerbread tree in the foodhall too...

 the donging bells in the atrium are proving to be a huge hit, creating the magic of Christmas...

It really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in the Big Yellow Store....