cult of celebrity

You know one of the things I liked best about the Oscars? The fact that it's filled with real celebrities - people who are famous for a reason. When I was growing up people had a reason for appearing on the covers of magazines - because they had a talent which made them famous. David Cassidy - star of The Partridge Family and singer. Easy. Celebrity.

But now, now we have Kardassians who are now famous because they have their own reality show, but they only got that reality show because of Kim's, um, xxx-capades. And Lara Bingle, why is someone who had a line in a tourist campaign being presented as Aussie's-own royalty? I care not one naught for her or her cricket-playing beau. Yes, what happened to her recently is pretty damned awful, but, well, maybe it's karmic... Tragically I reckon it'll just serve to make her more famous so that maybe she'll soon have Day-Of-The-Week Astin Martins. If she gets a television series out of this I'm seriously ditching the plasma.

I don't want to celebrate Reality Stars - I want real stars. And while we're at it bring back the HUGE, all-colour, life-sized posters. Bless - how cute were the 70s?

afternoon delights

I think I'm suffering a little post-Oscars-funk today. I'm still excited that a female director took out the Best Director category for the first time ever on International Women's Day {go girl power!} and the Oscar-wrap-up over at Lainey Gossip was superb. But I think that the fact that the Award Season has wrapped for another year is indicative of how quickly time is zooming by.

It's the final week of Celebrity MasterChef on Lifestyle Food, and oh, I'm utterly addicted. The final three are all mighty talented chefs but my fave is just a creative freak {meaning freak in a good way of course}. Last night they created a high tea at a Michelin Starred London restaurant and then afterwards were required to be inspired and create a trio of desserts.

My fave, Steve, created a plate inspired by childhood lolly shop favourites - including a pepper sherbet served in a torn brown paper bag. Raspberry lollypops on Vanilla pod sticks, wine jellys {including a basil jelly that had the judges in raptures} and an amazing banana marshmallow creation highlighted his inventiveness, playfulness and extraordinary grasp of culinary creativeness. While I'm happy for any of the three to win, I'm hoping that this exceptional talent prevails. And that he opens a restaurant in time for me to visit next year!

frock treatment

C'mon, who doesn't love Colin?
Cameron has for once, totally and utterly nailed it. The frock, the hair, the make-up - she's the total package and probably wins my best-dressed-gal award.
My love for RDJ isn't a silent one, and when I saw him in this glorious bow tie I did little squealy jumps of joy. And his presentation with Tina Fey was a moment of serious brilliance.
As Gabourey said, if dresses are porn this one's the money shot. She looks fabulous and I am now more than a little in love with her.
I can't imagine ever choosing to put these colours together, but Rachel looks utterly enchanting in this. When I saw it on-screen my hand did one of those little flutterly gestures toward my throat. Yep, I love it that much.
Helen Mirren can you just stop with the always looking so damned freaking amazing. How perfect is this dress - and she's standing with Captain Von Trapp - dammit all.
Meryl Streep pops out of the red carpet in this spectacularly draped white number. Although is that purse eating her fingers? Late-breaking news - apparently Project Runway's Chris March designed Meryl's frock. LOVE!
Tina Fey's frock looked spectacular when she walked out on stage - here it looks more leapard-printesque than I would normally care for {unless your surname's Collins - then you have carte blanche to rock it roots to tips...}. Plus, she and RDJ provided one of my favourite moments on-stage {aside from Neil Patrick Harris and the Botox and Nicole pairing in the opening number - ha!}
Molly's just as pretty in purple as she was in pink proving my point that redheads and colour are two of the nicest kind. She also got rather teary in the John Hughes tribute - so we're practically twins {I sobbed - c'mon, Molly and Ferris!}

Blogger's not letting me write below Sandy - but I do love her. This dress was marvelously pretty under the stage lights and I love how she loves her husband, and he right back at her {obviously I've had to retrospectively edit this. I did love her gorgeous words to her husband - but him? Erk}.

red carpet pretty

Yes, I'm busy, but not to busy to check out red carpet looks. Obviously I'm still fond of the pale, blush pink shades... Have been checking out the fug girls live blogging and am v looking forward to Sandra Bullock {in a good way} and Diane Kruger {who apparently has had a 'Oh, honey, no moment}.

heavy petting

I look at these buttery soft shoes from Burberry Prorsum and I just want to stroke them from now till my dying days. Oh, so, silky smooth. I'm pretty sure that you'd feel like your feet were being enfolded in the caress of the most wispy cloud when stepping out in these.

I'm feeling very fashion after yesterday's Alice In Wonderland screening. At one stage my daughter leaned over to her bestie and stage-whispered about Alice "I just LOVE her clothes" and I nearly screamed out "OH MY GOD - ME TOO!" because they were just fabulous.

I've just finished out writing my to-do list and was wondering if I should put in sections for "breathe" and "sleep". Busy times at the moment - LOVE IT. Tonight's my netball team's semi final and if we win we have to play in the grand final immediately afterwards. Eek! Shan't be walking tomorrow I imagine. I'll just park myself in my chair and try to place everything I need within easy reach.

Enjoy your Monday - and let me know what you thought of Alice. Go on, go see it now!

loved it

So freakin' fantastic that I could just walk back in and see it again. Tim Burton's created a fantastical world and the characters were all so perfectly crafted it was an utter pleasure to view. I'm in love with Crispin Glover again - oh, I've missed him... Alan Rickman's voice, oh, does it get any sexier? Johnny - perfection. Anne, so glorious. Helena - just right for the role... Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum showcased Matt Lucas's talents in the most delightful way.

Funny, freaky and utterly fabulous - this film was totally worth waiting for.

nice nibbles

Hi, I'm back! We've had a busy weekend, filled with tasty treats - so I thought I'd share some of the recipes with you.

On friday we went to a friend's house so the girls could swim, and we could sip champagne. I wanted to take some nibblies, but my cupboard was nearly bare. However, scraping around can help devise the most delicious combinations. I did find a chorizo, a tin of chickpeas, a few french eshallots and a lime. So I sauteed the diced eshallots, then added diced chorizo and let it all brown. Next I drained a tin a chickpeas and added that to the pan. I let it all cook through, added salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime.

While this cooked, I threw a few pieces of pita bread onto an oven tray, drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled salt flakes over the top.

I piled the chickpeas and chorizo into a bowl, cut the crispy pita bread into chards and it was rather yummy. In fact, my 10-year-old was its most devoted fan.

Last night I went to a fabulous dinner party and took along red wine and thyme caramelised shallot, goat cheese and walnut tarts. I sliced the shallots thinly {6 largish french shallots} and slowly cooked them in butter and olive oil till transluscent {15 mins...}. Then I poured in some red wine, added a few sprigs of thyme and a spoonful of brown sugar. 10 minutes later it was beautiful.

I bought little tart cases from The Essential Ingredient and placed a dollop of the shallots in the bottom. I topped this with a dollop of goat cheese and then placed a walnut half of top of this {I'd cooked the walnuts in a little butter, some dried thyme and a little salt and sugar}. These little bites were rather nice with Violette Cocktails and champagne...

And your weekend? How was it? Tell me all...

food mood

I'm really in the foodie mood at the moment. Dead-off eating mind, but really into looking at it. Since my migraine episode last week my appetite's gone off somewhere - not sure where - but I wish it'd come back. When it comes to choosing meals I just feel a bit, meh. Luckily tonight we're out to dinner. Hopefully some duck confit or pork belly will entice me and then ravish my tastebuds into a state of excitement again.

I'm also cooking up some canapes on the weekend for a dinner - and you know I love me some little food. I'm thinking caramelised shallot, goat cheese and walnut tarts will go down well. A nice, rich caramelised shallot with thyme and red wine, the perfect smooth goat cheese and a toasted walnut in a shortcrust case makes for the perfect mouthful don't you think?

My current televisual obsession is MasterChef: The Professionals. Oh, it's good. Last night's episode was brilliant. The two chefs each prepared two final dishes that had both dishes in raptures and I couldn't possibly work out how they'd choose between the two of them to make it through to the semis. They didn't - they both went through. Woo hoooo! Some of the flavour combinations I've been watching on these shows have come ever-so-close to kicking my appetite back into gear. {And got me craving peas - I know! - pea veloute... mmmmm}

So, happy Friday, hope you have something fabulous planned - or plan on doing absolutely nothing. Whatever it is, enjoy!

you had to be there

I found this over at icanhazcheezburger giggled, and had to share. Obviously a touching homage to one of my favourite cartoons...

bathing beauty

Le wow. Have you ever seen a more glorious bathtub - in a bathroom that's apparently the size of my house! I'm unable to wake up this morning. My eyes are refusing to stay open and my bed is calling my name. I think I'll shower and wash my hair - that always works. And maybe have another coffee. I have bucketloads of work to get through today - and those articles aren't going to write themselves {lazy}.

if they're good enough for coco

I would love a camellia hedge. Coco Chanel adored camellias - so, obviously, I have to follow in her utterly exquisite shoes. Unfortunately the damned things grow so slowly I'd be in my dotage before they stopped being flowers on sticks and became the dense beauty you see above you. They do say that good things are worth waiting for though...

love a list

This week I've been the Queen of Faff. I've had so much to do that I honestly couldn't work out where to start. I don't know if it's residual migraine hangover, but I've been seriously scatterbrained and that just won't do.

So this morning I sat down and typed up a to-do list, dyed my hair so my white roots sodded off, hung out the towels that had festered in the machine for a few days {after re-washing} and set to striking off things on the list.

And it's worked. So far I've got more done in the past few hours than I did in the last two days. I do love me a list...

red carpet countdown

It's nearly time for the holy grail of red carpet shenanigans - the Oscars. Be still, oh heart of mine. Please let there be fabulous on the day. With purple the colour de jour I'm expecting it to rein supreme, but for me, I'd love to see someone rocking this silver jersey Halston number. Allow your eyes to feast upon perfection.

I love jersey, and it's a fabric I never see enough of in the stalls. Maybe I need to ramp up my sewing skills this winter...

good shopping karma

You know my theory about good op-shopping don't you? The secret is to drop off bags of really good quality items to donate, wander around not looking for anything in particular, and, before you know it, something fabulous will appear.

I'd gone through my bookshelves and had three massive green bags filled with books. My first thought was to sell them at a second-hand book store {where I virtually exchange as I head out with almost as many as I've taken in} but then I realised that the Salvos could do with the money more than me.

So off I trotted, on a soggy monday afternoon, dropped off my books and proceeded to wander through and find gold.

See that pretty green and pink fabric up the top? That's a rather fabulous cotton bedspread that now resides on the daybed in our living room. Eventually the plan is to buy a new foam cushion for the coach and I'll ask my mum to cover it in this pretty floral. It's delicious and only cost $5.

The second is a beautiful white cushion cover, with the most perfect white cotton crochet edging. It set me back $1.

Finally we have a regular pillow case with the prettiest embroidery. I'm going to chop a little off the top to make a typical square cushion. 50 cents. Seriously.

My aim is to have a pile of pretty mis-matched pillows scattered on the daybed - and the only way to happen upon mis-matched is via chance. You can't go out shopping for it.

Now, I've still got a massive box or two of books here - including a couple of old Donna Hay cookbooks I no longer want. Surely they'll generate some lovely karma indeed!

let's blame the white rabbit...

So, I'm a day late posting my shoe of the week. Sorry! To make up for it will you accept my offering of these utterly exquisite Oscar de la Renta. For you.

on the shelf

Know what I need? Shelving. I've been dwelling on it for sometime now and think it's time to act. I'm going to file away some images of what I need then draw up some plans and then move into action. Don't you think that anything would be possible with a room like this one?

Mainly because of how perfect the leadlight window is in this picture. I adore leadlight and always gaze admiringly when I spy it in a home. My mum and step-dad create gorgeous leadlights - and have made some amazing pieces for the mudbrick home they're building. I think leadlight's just the most amazing way to sneak a little colour into a home - and let's face it, a little colour's always appreciated.

wet, wet, wet

Hi, sorry I'm late! I woke to a soggy morning after a torrential downpour last night and I've been on Canteen duty at school all morning. I had a deliciously lazy day yesterday where I did absolutely NOTHING. I even had an afternoon nap - bliss. So now I'm all recharged and ready for a productive week.

You?

bag lady

Kaz over at thetruthaboutmummy tagged me - curious to check out the contents of my handbag. Coincidentally this coincided with my desire to clean out said handbag so here you have it!

As you can see I have a scary amount of lip gloss, lip stick and lip balm. Ten in fact. They're generally summer shades, except my gorgeous YSL glossy red and guerlain sparkly red slick. Mmmmm. I've also keep some Clinique City Block Sheer in there in case I need a foundation look in a hurry, one bare minerals id shadow in a deep smoky blue - and two eye shadow brushes for some reason. There's also a daytime mascara just in case.

Perfume: Coco Mademoiselle. Mmm.

A Chanel eye shadow palette in a pretty pink and green.

Address book and pen.

My gorgeous Cath Kidston phone {and Cath Kidston emery board, and lip balm... love her!}

Sunglasses {Colette Dinnigan three Christmases ago - still fabulous}

Car and house keys on a Tiffany keyring {30th birthday pressie - still going strong - thanks Bella Mumma!} A spare pink Eiffel Tower keyring in case I have to take a key off {you know, for the mechanic or something...}

A tape measure {for when you're out shopping and spy a piece of furniture!}

Mints - of course! And a pack of pretty tissues. And spare hairbands - in my gal's school colours - just in case! Wallet - a big Oroton one, sensible black after years of red. Think I'd like a bright one next time - this one hides inside my black handbags! Blotting papers - a saviour in this humidity!

What's missing is handcream and a notepad - obviously they've been transferred to another bag. I love Jurlique rose or lavender handcream - deliciously moisturising but not sticky.

Want to play? Let me know, I'd love to sticky inside your bag!

joyeux anniversaire

Just wanting to send out birthday wishes to the Divine Ms M. Hope this day is utterly fabulous and can't wait to have a girly night in celebration next week!

being yourself

You know I love Helena Bonham Carter. I adore how she's got such a strong sense of personal style and doesn't even nod in the direction of following the Hollywood ideal. Here she is at a screening for Alice in Wonderland {yes, I have been remarkably quiet on that front haven't I? Don't worry - I've been internally squeeling with anticipation}.

I think we all need to take a leaf out of Helena's book. She dresses in a way that obviously makes her happy and, aside from stopping us from being naked, shouldn't that be what fashion is about? Bugger sensibility - let's embrace fabulousness. I vow to always ensure that at least one item on my person will make me grin broadly. I'm going to raid my dress-up box and make-sure that at least one drool-worthy item makes it out the door every day.

Let's have fun!

back in a tic...

So, in Paris there will be an auction of garments actually designed by Coco Chanel.

Chanel really do know how to clear out their closet in style...

fabulously friday

So here we are, the weekend already. You got plans? I'm headed off with my gal to the school disco tonight where a friend and I will be sitting at the door collecting the money. Fun! Then tomorrow night we're off to friends for dinner, where apparently duck is on the menu which makes me sooooooo happy.

We might squish in a bit of gardening and getting stuff done around the house in between social engagements... I think I need to bring a few real flowers into the house too. I'm loving this pretty image of this floral-infused kitchen nook. Imagine the baking that must go down in such a glorious room.

Today I've got two articles to finish and send off so I'd best get cracking. Enjoy your Friday - particularly if you're off to see George Michael {cos I'm not jealous, oh no...}

be prepared

I find it very, very, very difficult to believe that it's already Thursday. But it is. Seriously. I'm not even on nodding acquaintance with organised this week. My French homework isn't complete, {and my lessons are tonight!} the garden needs watering, I haven't planned dinner for tonight and it seems as though there's a pile of to-dos with my name on it. So I'm going to separate the 'urgent' from the 'essential' and work my way though.

I'm sure it'd all be much easier if I'd sat down to a pretty Cath Kidston breakfast table like this one... Maybe I'll just pretend I did - think that'll work?

adorably edible

Hello prettiness! I've been feeling generally blah today. My migraine has subsided but has left me with a lingering nausea and general urkiness. So I needed to see something pretty to cheer me up. How happy would you be if you were a pastry chef at Laduree? Can you imagine the joy of creating little lovelies such as this? I have no idea how you'd attempt to eat it - either delicately with a cake fork or just dive in and expect a buttercream goatee...

My frustration at my illness is also compounded as I've also spent the past couple of days leaving messages and sending emails with no response. I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a canyon shouting "Is anyone out there?" but without even an echo in reply. The responses will come though, I'm now just having to insist on training myself not to expect a response to an email. I can't help myself - if I receive an email I respond, even if it's just a "Thanks!" to show that it's arrived. But, as I now acknowledge, plenty of people don't. And that's okay, that's their choice. I just have to trust in the reliability of mine and their server and believe that it's okay, that it's arrived as expected and that they'll get back to me if needed.

And move on.

And find a pretty cake like this to gaze adoringly at...

bed time

I thought I'd give you a pic of a pretty bedroom today mainly because I'm spending so much time in mine. I went to bed at 8.30 last night thanks to a migraine, and today it's decided that it hasn't spent enough time tormenting me so I'm going to back to bed to make it sod off.

How cute is that side table?

pork in my belly

Those of you who love pork {you know who you are} will have to sigh in rapture with me over this. It's a slowly roasted loin of pork served with apple chutney.

Sounds about four thousand times yummier than the plain old ham sandwich I had for lunch.

Is it nearly autumn yet? Honestly if I have to cook one more meal with salad I think I'll die of boredom... I'm keen for slow cooking. I want to bring out my le crueset and create something rich and flavoursome... Actually the sky is looking rather grey and ominous outside {that'd be because I finally hung out the beach towels I've been wanting to wash for a week}.

I'm itching to cook up something with garlic, with wine, with herbs...

sew sew

Oh, how I wish I could sew with confidence. I'm not a natural seamstress. My mum sews magnificently and so whenever anything got tough {zippers, button holes, circular seems...} I'd hand any projects over to her.

But now I have a task. A task I've put off for the last two weeks but can no longer ignore. I need to sew the ribbons onto my daughter's ballet slippers. Eek. And my mum's in Melbourne and I can hardly ask her to fly up to do the job.

Now, while you'd think that hand sewing would be easier, you'd be wrong. My stitches are huge, clumsy and the ribbons would be off before the first pirouette. So instead, I've got the machine out, the ribbons are waiting and I'm going to have a coffee for strength and sew those ribbons on for my pretty ballerina.

mile high club

When it comes to Robbie Williams what's not to love?

i see red

You know how I love a red carpet - and these are a few of my favourite looks from the BAFTAs. First of all, let me say how in love I am with Gabourey Sidibe. She's rocking that gorgeous champagne frock and boy, does she give good interview. Saoirse Ronan looks so pretty and age-appropriate in this delicately-ruffled frock that I can almost forgive her Atonement {she was great, film made me cranky!}.

Audrey Tatou carried off a candy-pink frock with scarlet accessories. Yep, it's pouffy - but she can do pouffy - she's French and she's teeny. Joely Richardson's gown was such a breathtaking shade of blue that I still nearly burst into tears just looking at it. So tremendously elegant.

Tom Ford? Well, he's Tom Ford, hence no wrong can be done.

Kate Winslet looked fab as always. The cutouts in her Stella McCartney dress actually worked for me, and I loved her long, loose curls.

Now, bring on the Oscars!

oh my

Triple perfection here on the red carpet in Venice.

My desire to view A Single Man is fast reaching obsessive levels...

ma vie en roses

I do love a pretty rose, and a pretty pink rose, on a pearl chain - with ribbons would have to steal my heart. This Lanvin necklace set my heart-a-flutter when I spied it over at net-a-porter, so I had to share...

perfectly pretty

Despite the fact that her clothing sizes are out of whack, and that since moving production off-shore the quality tends to be less than it used to be, I've swooningly fallen in love with the new Alannah Hill collection. Seriously, how beautiful is this image? From the candy floss pink hair, the bed of blowsy roses, the combo of purple and red, those gloves, those frills, those lips, that headpiece...

Excuse me while I sit in a corner and have a total smitten-fashion moment...

i shoe, i shoe, i shoe

If I were getting married {like, say, Kellyansapansa} I would use the event as an excuse to buy myself a damned fine pair of shoes. Like, say, these. I'd love to see a pair of scarlet shoes paired with a wedding frock - but the next best option would be scarlet soles...

We organised our wedding in six weeks. We already had our house, and our daughter, and just wanted to commit to each other. So we had a very small wedding with just our parents and our daughter, then, a month later we had the big reception party at our house. It was bucketloads of fun and I'd do it all again... in these shoes...

ice, ice, baby

The girls and I have had quite a lovely weekend so far. Yesterday we went to a pool party that a new mum at school put on for some of the girls in the class - such a good idea to introduce yourself in this way. The girls swam and a few mums sat and chatted over a glass of bubbles - ah, good times.

Last night we watched Coraline - a gorgeous film, but damned scary! My gal's inherited my wussy gene - I don't do scary films, or books, although I devoured them when I was a teen. The girls sat hugging each other on the couch and I had to read them a book about kittens to help them go to sleep!

Today we've just made herbe omelettes for breakfast and the girls are off ice skating later this morning. We haven't watched ANY of the Olympics so far - damned if I'm paying extra for my pay TV subscription and double-damned if I'm going to stay up late to watch the over-exposed Eddie McGuire on free-to-air. It'll be interesting to see if the screening of the winter olympics has inspired many mini-ice-skaters today. I'll be staying off the ice this time and may well take along the book I'm reading to skim in-between waves, nods and spontaneous bursts of applause...

You?