Hello! Where has the last week gone? Well I finally got back to Toronto from London, and then a couple of days later my suitcase arrived (it was enjoying an extended vacation in Amsterdam). And now I'm back at work, trying not to get too snowed under by shopping for prezzies and writing Christmas cards.

London was definitely fun, and it's always inspiring to check out all the Holiday windows in all the stores. This year they were all over the taste scale, from good lawd that's awful to how fantastic! Here are my faves - First up like start with purposefully tacky and over-the-top at Harvey Nichols. Their windows were awash with tinsel in every colour possible, and this tree, standing outside of the front entrance look crazy/cool and bedraggled all at the same time. Thoughts? At fashion-forward Dover Street Market the windows had a graphic doodled/graffiti vibe, and yep, that's a giant white plaster elephant in the window. Next let's go cool, modern and white at The Conran Shop, who created a white-painted pathway and forest of trees out of wood, and then threw in zillions of mini white ceramic mushrooms to finish it off. At Selfridges (where I worked in my - ahem - younger days), part of the store was filled with massive mirror balls that delicately rose and fell, shooting sparkles everywhere. And finally, just for the sheer fun and wit of it, Mulberry filled one of their Bond Street windows with gold handbag helium balloons and topped it off with a humungous gold bag in the other. It looked fun and fantastic and was literally stopping shoppers in their tracks. [Image #6: Blink London]