My dream come true!

I've always been into girly things, and my two major interests (after wine) have long been makeup (or general primping) and cooking. I've also always loved vintage style and shabby chic. I have a compulsion for painting all furniture white, I own pink Bakelite canisters, and I was watching Mad Men way before most people had even heard of it. (I'm not trying to sound like an early-adopting hipster here - I have evidence. Notice there are no comments? It really was just me back then!)

On the other hand, Noodle Arms - who turns 12 next month - has been a scene kid for several years, with hair hanging in the face, red or black hoodie with the sleeves dragged down over the hands, fluoro jeans, and Chuck Taylors. In fact she's worn pretty much nothing but Chuck Taylors on her feet since she was six. She sneered at anything girly or "old". I wrote the other day about how she's taken an interest in what she called "beauty", and since spending the Christmas holidays with her Grandma, she's mad keen on cooking as well. She made us pancakes for breakfast for the last two Sundays, complete with fresh fruit and home-made sauce/syrup, and she made brownies for me to take to work the other day.  Now she tells me she wants an apron and a cake stand for her birthday, and not just any old apron and cake stand. Pacifically* she wants this cake stand, and this apron:





She found it on Etsy at this shop. It's exactly the kind of thing I like (not to mention the pink fridge behind it, which is a lot like the Smeg fridge I have been coveting for many, many years. And the cake stand is just the kind of thing I would buy too.

She's been reading my Shabby Chic books, and wearing her new perfumes (The Garden Bath Chocolate Passion and Demeter Waffle). Now she's talking about doing the op shop rounds for "old lady tea cups". I can't tell you how much this has thrilled me!

*I am aware that pacifically is not the correct word. I was being ironical**.
**I am also aware that ironical is not a word.