Good Things...

First up - my mum is coming to town (that's her in the photo up there)!  I am so very excited, I can't possibly express how much!  Not only do I get to spend some quality time with my Mum, who is pretty damn cool, but I also get to show her around my new 'hood - take her to our favourite pretty spots and my favourite shops and our regular restaurants!  Oh my gosh it's going to be SO MUCH FUN!  She arrives Thursday: HOORAY!  (I may burst with excitement before then though.)

The photo of my Mum was taken in a seriously crazy flea shop just off Cat Street (aka Lascar Row), on Hong Kong Island.  And speaking of Hong Kong...

...the husband and I just spent a weekend there, the first time we've visited since we moved.  It was great fun to be traveling in a city we knew so well.  We got to see some old friends and go to some of our most favourite restaurants in the world (and perhaps I may have done a teeny tiny bit of shopping).  We stayed in a pretty cool hotel called East.  It's new and sleek with great service and great value - it's a little way away from the normal tourists haunts but it was really rather lovely.  I took a heap of photos so I might do a blog post on it one day.  

The weekend reminded me that Hong Kong is seriously one of my absolute favourite cities in all the world. Aside from the harbour, which is quite spectacular, there is the wonderful mix of old and new and that Blade Runner feel it gets on a misty evening and the constant unexpected finds (like the natural beauty of the South side of the island; or the crafty shops in the 'burbs).  All the cliches are true - it's bustling, vibrant, constantly 'on'.  And it's so very (and proudly) Cantonese, and yet still a true world city (in fact, after 6 months in Korea, Hong Kong feels like a veritable cultural melting pot!).

This is a very small selection of Uniqlo's Heattech range which I am currently obsessed with.  I've been gearing up for winter and it's been the perfect solution.  I can't seem to go within 10 meters of a Uniqlo store without buying something from the Heatech collection.  So far I've got full sets of thermals for the whole family, leggings, neck warmers, gloves and (yes!) leg warmers.  I am actually really looking forward to the super cold weather now.  Seriously.

We did a quick trip to Seoraksan National Park with the boys when they were here and oh my gosh is it beautiful (even in the rain)!  I'm going to take my Mum there for a night too, so more photos and information to come.  In the meantime, have a look at some of these images of Seoraksan on Flickr - so gorgeous, right?

And last, but definitely not least, I've fallen in love with the gorgeously soft and sweet photos over at life through the lens.  Beautiful, yes?