Biggest post ever! And the once-a-year sale :)

 

 Hello chic friends!

Gosh, today's post is so jam-packed I don't know where to start. Shall I begin with what we did on the weekend?

This is my husband Paul and I at the Robbie Williams concert. Robbie played at a local winery - how lucky are we to live ten minutes down the road! We got there really early to get a good spot, and there was a little waiting around... six hours... until he started. But it was the most beautiful sunny day, plenty of sunscreen on, and other acts played before him.

We met lovely people around us and had a chat. We also had yummy gluten-free pasta for an early dinner from one of the food caravans. And a couple of glasses of bubbles plus LOTS of water. I went through a 1.5 litre by myself and refilled it again.

And Robbie was a superstar! What a show. Laser lights, fabulous visuals while he sung, and he can sing. What a voice. He promo-ed his Netflix documentary quite a lot :) Oh, do you have a Netflix show Robbie? But it was all good fun.

And I went to bed soooo late for me (midnight) and had to have a little sleep-in the next day. There were a lot of very happy people with many drinks and I'm glad I wasn't one of them!

Moderation seems so dull at the time but you are very happy about it the next day :)

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And in home news, our outdoor area is now complete! It has been a long journey which we began a couple of years ago by dreaming about a resort-style patio that we could use year round.

 

 

 

 

One day out at lunch at a local restaurant, I saw they had this metal structure over their outdoor area with pull-down clear sides. There was a small plaque with the name of the company who'd made it and they were also local so... I rung them to come around and do us a quote.

 

 

We also took the opportunity to paint our house and have outdoor tiling laid. Our previous patio was concrete with small stones in it which hurt your feet. There was also a large crack the whole width of the patio from the earth moving over time since it had been laid twenty years ago.

 

 

It was lucky everything took so long to come into place as it gave us time to save up along the way, which was my goal (not to go into debt for our plans). And the final, finishing touch, we had our new outdoor furniture delivered a few weeks ago.

 

 

Thank you for all your solid advice - I chose dark cushions for our outdoor sofas!

 

 

We wanted to make a rule of 'no pets on the outdoor sofas' as they drop hair, but you can see how well that went...

 

 

 

 

Oh well :)

 

 

Sweet Daphne's leg scar from when she injured herself earlier in the year.
She is as good as new now :)

 

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My friend Tanya came around for lunch the other day, and we dined outside on the new patio area. We try and meet once a month, alternating at each other's house.

But we do something a bit different in that the person who is coming to lunch brings the lunch, and we always have sushi :)
 

 

 

I made a sweet for afters, a delicious Lemon Bar recipe from the Starbucks website.

I don't bake a lot, just when I have people around (which actually has been quite a lot lately!) And I love that home-baking is completely customisable. I can use gluten-free flour (I am celiac), and I also lower the sugar a little.

Here is the recipe here if you want to take a peek:

https://athome.starbucks.com/recipe/lemon-bars

I learned new things such as 'what is a quarter sheet' (amazingly I had one and I have hardly any baking gear) and translated the quantities and oven setting.

It's always lovely to catch up with a friend!

 

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And finally, to end this post on a fun note, I'm thrilled to share with you that today is the first day of my BIG ONCE A YEAR BOOK SALE!

 

 

 

Once a year, in November, I hold a book sale and this year is no exception.

For a short time all of my Kindle books are only $3.99 (many are priced up to $9.99 usually), and my paperbacks are reduced as well, around 40% off for my longer books and the smaller books have a dollar or two off.

It's time to stock up on any titles you might not have and really set yourself up to be a chic success coming into 2024!

You can find all sale books here on Amazon, on Kindle and in print.

And for an Amazon alternative you can download all of my titles in eBook format from my eStore here.

My books are on various topics, but all come under the umbrella of living a beautiful life without spending a ton of money. They are a blend of cultivating a fabulous mindset, and of elevating your daily life and surroundings with luxurious touches. Plus, everything has to be fun and easy, because why would you want to do it any other way?

I hope you enjoy the sale, and if you have any friends that you think might like my books, please share this post with them!

xx Fiona

PS. My Amazon links are affiliate, which means I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thank you if you choose to use my links!

Here are a few of my 20+ book titles available :)