A tiny lost village... full of surprises

Most of my childhood holidays were spent in this Andalusian tiny village which doesn´t even appear in some maps... My mother is from there and my grandparents and a big part of my family still live there today. For a foreigner who does not know the "real" Spain, visiting this village is a surreal experience... Everyone knows each other (there are less than 200 inhabitants after all!).

During the winter, the harvest of the olive trees takes place. The whole village is busy picking up olives and taking them to the factories, where some of the best extra virgin olive oil in the world is produced. In May, they all celebrate the popular fiestas, where people spend all day outdoors, enjoying free food and drinks, and dancing the night away in the village square to the sound of local bands... During the hot summers - sometimes temperatures reach over 42 degrees! - the streets are empty during the day. The locals, most of them in their 70s, don´t venture out of their cool stone houses until the evening, when it´s a bit, just a bit, cooler outside. Then they go for long walks, chat to each other in the central square, or sit outside their houses, having dinner and watching telly through the window... I still remember when I was a little child, it was so hot inside the houses that some people would sleep on mattresses outside their houses... there was not danger of traffic, as you could count with the fingers of one hand the number of cars in the village... things are a bit more developped nowadays, but there is still a flavour of the old Spain...

Now that I am in Spain looking at the new collections for Nectarina , I usually visit my grandparents there... It´s funny how after such long periods away in England, people still come out of their houses to give me a warm welcome, to kiss me and the girls and to ask about things... It´s like time has never passed... The other day this lady came to say hello and she gave me and my daughter these cute flower rings which she had knitted out of cotton. They were so beautiful and perfect, my daughter was delighted... I thought they would be perfect for Nectarina, it´s the kind of thing British little girls would love for its bright colours and originality... So I asked the lady if she would knit a few, many more to take home with me... It took her for surprise, and she didn´t know what to answer... She has been making them for fun so far, giving them away to friends... But making them in large quantity for money... It took me a while to convince her, but she finally agreed... and today I am going over to pick them up... I am not sure what to expect, but I hope they are as beautiful as the first ones we saw... I will let you know! And better of all, you will hopefully see them on our website soon!

Back to blogging... from Spain!

About time that I got back to blogging... it´s been a few months, but in my own defence, I have given birth and taken my "maternity leave" from all the social marketing in between... But back to work now... and back to really hard work on www.nectarina.co.uk, which to be honest, has been a bit forgotten for a while too...

I am currently in Spain choosing next year´s summer collection. It amazes me how year after year the designs get prettier and prettier... the colours more vibrant, the styles more sassy, but always keeping it elegant and stylish... in truly Spanish style... I´ve choosen lots of pinks, greys, lilacs... lots of ruffles, flowers, bows... very happy and very Andalusian... That´s what we want to bring to the UK, the light and spirit of this wonderful corner of Spain...

And for those who want to have a real taste of Andalusia, there is still a lot of summer to be enjoyed... Do like Michelle Obama and visit one of the most beautiful cities in Spain, Granada, with its intricate cobbled streets, moorish tea houses, ancient caves where flamenco is sang every night, and, of course, the Alhambra, one of the most emblematic palaces in the whole world. Shop for leather crafts and moorish antiques in one of the many little shops which surround the impressive cathedral or indulge in one of the many restaurants and tapas bars, where delicious tapas still are as they should be, free! Granada is the perfect destination for a long weekend away... and if you are looking for a place to stay, I can recommend a wonderful family hotel run by one of my best friends, the Hotel Cerro del Sol www.hotelcerrodelsol.com . The hotel is ideally situated, only 10min from the city centre, 40min from the coast and 30min from the wonderful mountains of Sierra Nevada. And with lots of tempting promotions all year round, you will sure find one to suit your budget.

I have to leave you for today. There is so much one-finger typing one can do with a baby in the other arm... :-)

School Time

Fall is almost here, and so is our Fall Collection. Part of it, anyway. We have beautiful dresses once again, teamed up with lovely and warm cardigans and cosy, elegant coats...

It's amazing how we can go from Summer to almost Winter in one day...

The day is cold and grey outside. The house feels quiet and empty. The Beauty is finally going to school. Just two mornings a week, but it feels like she is away for much longer... I think I am taking it worse than she is... She has taken to school like fish to water. Mummy on the contrary is feeling down and nostalgic... I can't believe my little daughter is growing so fast...

I will have much more time to spend on the business, though, and hopefully make our website even better.... Easier to navigate, with more pictures, more descriptions... And talking about pictures, we took some pictures of our winter coats last Saturday, and we decided to take them in South Kensington... I love London's streets, with big white houses... I think they look so elegant... perfect to showcase our beautiful coats... We thought we would photograph the coats over jeans, just to show mums that they are not too formal, they can be worn everyday too... with pretty dresses or with jeans, they look stunning either way...

And after the photografic session, it was the Natural History Museum http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ for our little Beauty, who had a great time. She loved the dinosaurs, especially the shop :-). A perfect ending for a lovely day... I think it was the last of the summer days, though! The Christmas countdown starts now! :-)

Home again...

I am back from Spain, after spending a week at 39 degrees... not used to the heat anymore... I met with representatives for our two dress suppliers and I ordered our Summer 2010 collection... The dresses were sooo gorgeous... I think I overdid it a bit and I ordered far more models that I was planning to... Have lots of explaining to do to my partner :-)
But I am really happy with my choices... I also ordered a few more boys' outfits, matching the girls' dresses... those with twins are going to love them... And cute knitted pants and swimsuits...
Everything very colourful and classy... I can't wait to receive them...
What we do have now is part of our Winter collection, which should be available on the website in the next few weeks...
The Beauty did her fair part of modelling in the beautiful old streets of Baeza, my hometown... She now knows what's expected from her and she is finally starting to pose and smile for the camera... Still hard work chasing after her, specially when she decides to follow stray cats...
I've got a very busy time ahead, doing the inventory, uploading everything to the website, and chasing our other suppliers, who is late again this year delivering the winter collection...
I will try to do as much as I can before going on holiday next Friday! Can't wait to get away again! :-) Proper holiday this time...

Back to work!

Been a bit lazy with blog lately, but I have been concentrating on our Twitter account and working on the Summer Sale. I have also had some exciting news - I am expecting my second baby! Very tired, so I haven't been too active in the past few weeks...

But enough with the excuses now... I promise to keep updating our blog with news about our lovely Nectarina.... Winter collection on the way, and lots of work to come, all very exciting...

If you also want to follow us on Twitter, here we are!

http://twitter.com/nectarinadress

Summer is here!

For those who haven't visited our website lately (what are you waiting for!!??), our gorgeous summer collection is now out! We are delivery the cutest girl dresses this season, as promised! They are all refreshing and summery, and girly as always.... From the must have summer nauticals (Noemi, Allegra, Marina, Regata), to pink and girly (Ariadna, Beatriz, Daisy) and simply beautiful and original, like our golden "Azahar", a touch of Andalusian beauty for your little girl's wardrobe.

All our dresses exceed in quality and style. And of course, exclusivity! Some of our beautiful numbers are very limited editions, so grab them quick before they are gone!

Together with our beautiful dresses we are bringing you the ever popular summer cardigan. Light, soft and warm. To last year's popular design (at the fantastic price of £16.99) we are adding a new design in our three basic colours: white, pink and red. Perfect for combining with all our dresses...

With regard to our pretty shoes - our ever so popular red, white and pink Mary Janes are of course back, and now in bigger sizes! Up to size 26! And we have introduced a very cute new design (pink shoe with buckle) and very fashionable and practical leather sandals.

And what's to come in the next few days? The cutest hair accesories, as worn by our model - pretty hair bows in pink, blue, red or white, hair bands, hair clips... very soon with you! Keep checking!

And our last novelty for this summer - Nectarina Swimwear! With fantastic colours and designs, our lovely Spanish swimwear for girls will surely be a hit! Coming soon!

I told you it had been a pretty busy few weeks... But our beautiful Summer 2009 collection is finally out, and we are sure you will love all of it.

Let us know what you think! x

www.nectarina.co.uk
Exclusive wear for special girls!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Nectarina has been very busy these days getting ready for the New Summer collection. They will be available to buy on www.nectarina.co.uk in the next few weeks. How exciting! We are very pleased to have added bigger sizes for both dresses and shoes after popular demand... The designs are fresh and summery, very in line with our timeless style... Girly but not too frilly, lovely florals, sky blues, and of course, pretty pinks...
Hopefully we will get some nice weather to go with our beautiful dresses! :-)
Otherwise there is always the lovely cardigan, which can be so versatile... We have added some new models to our range this year, and will also be available very soon!
Finally, we are still working hard on bringing you those lovely Spanish hair accesories which go so well with our dresses, and cute summer hats too! Keep checking our website for news, or why not subscribe to our newsletter? Or join our Facebook online store? http://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwnectarinacouk/15873080870?sid=0b1d7d29cc35038f4bcac5006e905224&ref=s
You will be the first to know when our gorgeous products are available!
Happy waiting!