red hot on the red carpet

Lea Michelle in Oscar de la Renta is one of my favourite Emmy red carpet looks so far. I also do adore Christina Hendricks {surprise!} but do you think I can find a photo of her fabulously lilac frock? It has feathers people - feathers! I will try, oh don't you worry, I will try.

archiles heel

I'm trying to shop on-line for a pair of sparkly, red ballet flats but my eyes just glaze over unless a shoe has a heel. I did find an amazing pair of 'blood orange' flats at Witchery - but look at the shoe that caused my heart to skip a beat. PRETTY!

We were up early to wave our child off at the school gate as she went off on her School Camp at 7.30am this morning. She was happy as she and her friend bagsed the front seat as she'd hoped so she was all smiles and blowing kisses as she drove off. I managed to avoid tears - barely. Here's hoping she has the time of her life.

lessons learned

Finally, finally, FINALLY I watched The September Issue last night. I know, I've been desperate to see it forever, but it's taken me ages to watch it. After posting the Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour dolls yesterday I felt an overwhelming urge to view the documentary, and oh my, am I glad I did.

See, I've read The Devil Wears Prada, and watched the film more than once {oh, the fashion porn!} so I had my opinions of Anna Wintour, which have undergone a rapid reversal. See, my first job on a magazine was under an editor who scared the living daylights out of me. Every day I'd go home crying and wanting to resign. It was awful. Yet wonderful. She might have been a horror to work for, but she taught me so much. She had an eye for news and what works. She was ahead of trends and expected the best from everyone who worked under her - and sometimes the best doesn't come easily. Sometimes the best has to worked, reworked, and then worked again. Sometimes it involves scratching what you've done and starting all over again.

That's what I saw in The September Issue. An editor and a fashion director who expected the best - which is why Vogue continues to be successful. In their world there's no such thing as 'good enough' - it's fabulous, or it's out. I think that's something to strive for.

You know what else I saw - women who looked fabulous at any age. While Hollywood and so many women in the public eye are kicking and screaming their way to the surgeons office to fight off old age at any cost, these women looked cared-for and refreshingly normal.

Grace Coddington was a breathtakingly beautiful young woman and is now still simply stunning. I adore her wild mane of hair and unmade-up face replete with glorious freckles. Anna Wintour has always had a distinctive look underneath the bob and the glasses - but there's more. You rarely see photos of Anna Wintour smiling, but when you do you realise how beautiful she is. Both women seem to have avoided the botox and the fillers so they look really beautiful rather than unreal.

Looking at the shoots Grace directed was humbling. There's a real art to creating fashion images that linger long after the aperture has closed and she manages to ensure that every single image is exquisite and haunting.

Luckily I've got the DVD for a weekly hire - I'll be watching it over and over to imprint it on my brain to inspire me to greater heights every day.

Uh-mazing

Hey doll-face... Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington dolls have been commissioned by Barney's New York.

Damn - I didn't realise it was possible to actually covet doll's hair.

splashing out

Am I now officially in love with pinupgirlclothing? Why yes I am. Do I keep darting back to check on luscious items of clothing even though I have a story due today? Oh, um, yes. However, did I find the world's most perfect red vintage style swimsuit which makes it all worthwhile? Yeah baby.

Now, as my knee rehabilitation process will involve swimming, water walking and water running would it not be a sensible idea to do so in the world's most smoking hot swimsuit.

Wow, nearly deafened by the chorus of "Yes'm" I just heard.

Thank you.

friday's flowers

I love a sweet-smelling full-blown rose. I'm thinking I need to gather a vase-ful for my desl/ Don't you?

flat out

So, I have a ball to attend in two weeks - and a bung knee. Bung knees and heels do not mix. Sad? Yep. Seeking options? Hell yeah. I found these red! sparkly! flats at pinupgirlclothing.com which, as you can imagine had beautiful heels I had to avert my eyes from they were so pretty.

I've also had to revise my clothing options. If I'm going flat I'm also going close to floor-length so my shoes won't be the focus of my outfit {um, yes, I realise that red! shiny! ballet flats won't exactly blend into the background - but you know what I mean...} Luckily I think I'm able to put together an outfit that once accessorised will look utterly ball-worthy. I have a fabulous black Laura Ashley skirt I bought years back that's long, full and has three layers that are bordered by a beautiful pale french grey silk. So pretty. I've also got a lovely Karen Millen Bolero - black, sparkly and bordered with, wait for it, pale french grey silk. Combined with a simple camisole, Coco Chanel-esque layers of beads, great make-up and something special with my hair and I'll be ready to go. All I need is the shoes.

Red? Sparkly? Yes?

totally unreal

So, reality television. It's been around for a while. So if you're keen to be a participant, chances are you've watched a bit of it and understand that you're going to become a 'character'. If not, then you're an idiot.

I've been sucked deep into the vortex that is Come Dine With Me Australia series 2 and this week I've actually been quite flabergasted by how nasty one of the characters is. Sure, they're all playing a game and putting on a show - I expect them to. But why on earth would you put on a show that leads to you becoming one of the more reviled characters in Australian television history. Bitchiness, judgement, rudeness - seriously, this woman is playing every single character to the hilt and I just can't understand why. Surely she's not naturally such a nasty piece of work...

I know that Reality Raver has been threatened with a lawsuit from the Voldemort {he who shall not be named in case he sues me too...} of the last series - despite him actually being involved in the entertainment industry and using the program as an extensive personal show-real. Unfortunately for him, Paul Robinson was already cast and there's no need for a Mr Nasty on any other soap.

The one benefit of these programs is that no matter how cranky or horrible you've been that day or that week, you can guarantee that there's a larger than life character up on screen who makes you look like Snow White!

something special

A hammock, a green, lush lawn... is there a more perfect spot to while away an afternoon? My perfect afternoon involves lying somewhere slightly shaded, but with enough warmth from the sun for comfort, with a great book and then a quick nap.

Bliss.

What's your idea of bliss?

totally camp*

How is it that one day you're pregnant and the next your baby is heading off on a three day school camping trip? Huh! Monday morning at 7.30am my gal's going to board a bus with her classmates and set off to a school camp on an island in the Hawkesbury River. How fabulous! She's beside-herself-excited and has the list of must-pack items read and re-read 95 times. She's also said things like, "ooh, I'll be having breakfast on Milson Island at this time next week..." bless her socks.

She's had overnight sleepovers - she's had multiple night sleepovers at her grandparents - but this? Wow. I'm thrilled she's getting the adventure, but I can't say I won't be biting my nails while she's gone. What an adventure - let's hope there's lashings and lashings of ginger beer!

* now THIS is officially my 1500 post. Yay me!

what's cooking wednesday

Yes, I'm doing a What's Cooking post even though, strictly speaking, I'm not really up to cooking. After getting the go-ahead from my physio to walk and completely and utterly overdoing it I had a shocker of a day yesterday. A sewer pipe broke, right underneath my favourite rose {no wonder it was so huge and always blooming...} so I had to lose my rose, and had a great big open pit in my front yard. Smelly, and I couldn't use any water. Nice. Thankfully it's fixed now, but we had 24 hours of erk.

Yesterday afternoon I drove to collect my daughter from school as I couldn't find my phone book or mobile and I really hate asking anyone for help. So I hobbled down lots of stairs {12-ish I think} and hobbled across to my car and winced as I drove along. Of course it's my right knee I've injured and when I move my ankle pain shoots up my calf and into my knee. Sigh.

I got to the school gate and got out of the car and then was just overcome with nausea and started seeing stars. When I get ill or in pain I tend to get low blood pressure and tend to faint. So luckily I had two friends who helped calm me down and offered to drive my gal home for the rest of the week.

Being incapacitated really does suck.

So as my husband's ridiculously busy at work I'm trying to work out a way to have decent meals. Luckily I've got leftover meatballs in the freezer so I can sit at a stool and make spaghetti sauce for that tonight. I'm certainly learning to grab everything I need and set it all in place before I start a task!

Here's what we'll have:

Wednesday: spaghetti and meatballs {always make double batches and freeze half!}

Thursday: Steak and salad

Friday: Salmon and salad

Saturday: hamburgers and salad

Sunday: Roast dinner

Monday: chorizo pasta bake

Tuesday: pork and cider casserole

Thank goodness the weather's warming a little and salad seems like a viable option.

Now, whinging over - what's cooking at your place?

look at your man, now look at me

The geniuses behind the Old Spice ads won an Emmy - as they damned well should. Seriously, those ads = brilliance. Did you see their series of Twitter/YouTube responses? No? Well by jingo by crikey go Google them. I spent far-too much time when they were live going through them and nearly chocking on my own saliva laughing hysterically and simultaneously being in awe of the quick-witted script-writers {oh, and yes, drooling at Mr Old Spice himself, c'mon, I'm human}.

My faves? The Alyssa Milanos... Gold.

le luscious

You know what'd look great with the shoes below? Christina Hendricks.

How utterly delicious does she look at the Creative Emmys!

let's pretend...

There was no way on earth I could possibly have posted a shoe of the week yesterday - but today let's pretend that there is a high heel in my foreseeable future...

If there is, please let it be something as Fabulous as these Alexander McQueen numbers I found over at net-a-porter. I do love a cherry red shoe - and look, cuteness, wee lil skulls!

Yesterday I overdid it knee-wise. My physio told me I was allowed to walk without crutches and I decided to become all inspired by The Proclaimers {'and I will walk 500 miles, and I will walk 500 more...'}. So last night involved swelling, ice and elevation. Le sigh.

I'm going to try to take it easy today. I've got my fitball pumped up and under my desk to elevate my leg and I'm going to keep walking to an absolute minimum. Luckily I've got lots of work to keep me chained to my desk!

monday {no moaning required}

I've just returned from the physio and the good news is that I'm not a hypochondriac. The bad news is that I have torn cartliage and probably have snapped my ACL - a rather important ligament whose job seems to be to hold the top half of your leg and the bottom half together. The physios were talking operations, I'm thinking slow recovery.

The other good news is that I can walk, with just one crutch now just in case. I'm also allowed to ride my bike when the weather clears {mainly because I put my left foot down, rather than my right}.

It's the same injury my husband suffered with a few years back so I know what to expect. Considering that he had the operation and doesn't have 100 per cent use of his knee I'm erring on the 'do what you can to recover and strengthen side'. I won't play netball again - but I was ready to give up playing anyway. Cycling's perfect - as is swimming - so it just means rethinking what I'm capable of doing and finding something new.

How was your weeekend?

almost spring

Can't you just smell spring in the air? Blossoms are bursting out on bare branches, new growth is showing itself throughout the garden and there's a decidedly warm breath to the air.

Bliss.

sunny saturday

Morning all. We're off to vote in a tic - I'm hoping there's a cake stall selling pretties such as these - ooooooh.

Enjoy your Saturday lovelies xx

drawing the line

My first election in which I was eligible to vote I just voted for the party my dad voted for. One mark, above the line and I was outta there. However, pretty soon I realised that I could have more power. While my single vote may not elect a party - voting below the line was the clearest message I could send saying "I like YOU the least". Oh, the fun I had choosing who I'd put last on my senate sheet. For years Mr Fred Nile got the tick. Then Pauline Hanson came along and I had to decide "Who's the least worst?" I did a bit of sleuthing, checked out a few of the party's How To Vote cards and walked out knowing that when the numbers were added up my least-liked pollies were getting a message.

That's why I was dumbfounded when I heard Mark Latham was advocating a Donkey Vote - leaving the papers blank to "Show 'em". Um, show 'em what exactly? That you don't care who runs our country? That you don't care who's in senate that can pass or block important policy? That you can't be arsed finding a political party or independent you believe will best represent you in parliament?

This matters. I want to know that my vote can send people who have similar opinions to my own to hold a position of power. Wendy from Family First? Um, she's in the "Hell No" pile. I've seen a few of her opinions retweeted on Twitter and at first giggled thinking she was a faux twit. Nope, she's just a twit in the oldest sense of the word. Scarily there are some ignorant, obstinate people out there who can hold more power than an entire political party. If my placing them at 99 on the senate sheet can help stop that then yay, the political process has power.

Now, I'll be standing on crutches filling out my how-to-vote cards tomorrow. It won't be comfortable, but I've found a site that helps. https://www.belowtheline.org.au/ is a site where you can sit back in front of your computer, go through your options and print out your very-own How To Vote card that you can take into the polling booth and copy while you're standing there. Much less time consuming than trying to work out who's the best and worst of a very bad bunch.

We live in a democracy where we have the ability to vote and have our votes counted equally. Let's take advantage of this shall we?

PS: I customised my How To Vote in 15 minutes - and that included time spent pulling up a new window to google unfamiliar parties such as Senator On-Line and Building Australia. I made a PDF and printed it and it's ready to go - looks just like the real senate paper. Now I have that song "I've got the power!' in my head...

guess who?

Unless you sneakily spied her name on the cover is there any way you'd guess this was Marion Cotillard on the cover of the Septembre issue of French Vogue? Eyebrows huh - who'd've thought they were so defining.

I do love this cover though...

friday fleurs

Here are my birthday hyacinths, now gone, but not forgotten. I do love a scented flower, and if they've got pretty blooms much the better. I noticed that our jasmine's now starting to bloom so I'll have to ask my gal to pick me a stem or two to place in a little jug beside my bed - dreams are always sweeter when they're scented with home-grown flowers.

My gal and I are off to a friend's house this afternoon for a mums and kids catch-up. She has the perfect outdoor entertaining backyard with a big veranda, pool and massive yard for kids to play in. She's also the perfect host so it shall be buckets of fun. I'll only have the one champers - can barely negotiate stairs and crutches when I'm not tiddly {ps: the french word for tiddly - pompette - "Je suis un peu pompette" sounds much nicer than "I'm a little sozzled" does it not?}.

Hubby and the gal are going to finish off painting the hall and the vestibule area outside the study - and they'll probably go for a bike ride or 70. They went out last night to buy a bike pump and came home with a new bike for a certain young miss. She needed it. We worked out that she was 17cm too tall for her other bike. Five foot tall at the age of 10 - with her legs taking up around 4 feet of that height... So she's now got a pretty pale green adult-sized bike. Chuffed? Oh yes indeedy.

Enjoy your friday. I'm going to spend the day writing. I have a footstool under my desk to elevate my leg and I'm ready to go. Speak to you soon.

dr google

At best, I'm a suggestible hypochondriac. When I read about a symptom, I will then tend to experience it. So you can imagine what Dr Google's like for me. While I'm waiting till 9am Monday to have my knee injury officially diagnosed, I've been calling on good ol' Dr Google to help me sate my curiosity. Bad move.

Because no two injuries or symptoms are exactly alike I could have anything from a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament that may well require reconstructive surgery to a simple cartliage tear or strain that just requires rest.

A sensible person would stop googling phrases such as "Knee popping sound".

Oh, to be a sensible person...

magical moments

Some times it's really important to make the effort. Last night I slowly hobbled out of my house to take my daughter and niece to see a play. An amazing play. A beautiful play. And a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

A theatre company from Verona were in Australia and for two nights they were performing Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince at the local Italian football club. For $15 you got a meal, dessert and a play. Bargain. Two men took to the little stage: parents sitting at the tables sated after finishing fine bowls of pasta, kids perched on the floor in front of the stage. Simply by cutting pieces of paper into a series of shapes these two men drew us into this beautiful tale. A tale of friendship, good deeds, sacrifice, hardship and the ultimate happy ending. In a mix of English and Italian, with much humour and enthusiasm we were all taken away and ensconced in this beautiful story.

I may have had to negotiate many damned tricky stairs on my crutches to get there - but to see the look of delight on my daughter and my niece's face was worth it. And, not-so-secretly, it was totally worth it for this big kid too. I might be walking on crutches - but I will be off them soon and back to normal. I might never play netball again, but I've had years of playing fun behind me - and years of coaching to look forward to.

Walking in someone else's shoes, or in my case, in crutches really makes you consider the hardships so many people undergo daily. My grandfather was involved in a serious motorbike accident when he was 18 or 19. It smashed his knee severely and he spent the rest of his life using a cane or crutches to get around. Every. Day. He lived to his 80s so that's 60 years of never rising easily from a chair, and awkwardly negotiating steep, narrow stairs that are barely wide enough for a foot, let along a foot and two crutches. My pain can be dulled by nurofen, he lived with pain every day. But he still lived a full life. He used to go out the front of his house, dive in the lake a swim a mile every day before breakfast until the last few years of his life. He drove his ute around town with his beloved dog Missy in the back, he went away on shooting trips with his friends and he laughed. A lot.

He cooked a mean stew, and always had a spoonful of honey in his tea from an enormous bucket that was kept on the kitchen bench. He lit the open fire every day and toasted bread on a long, home-made toasting fork. He smoked a pipe or rolled a cigarette and sat in the same chair in the corner - the one with the best view down the hill and over the lake.

I miss him. His advice still rings in my head. He taught me about financial responsibility and about what's important in life. He called me "Iddles" or "Uncumfoodles" and my daughter "The Perfect Baby". I still have two treasured photos of four generations of my family: my daughter, me, my dad and my Poppa.

He was my Happy Prince.

tea time?

I'm loving this whole having-people-do-things-for-you-while-you-just-lie-on-a-couch-scenario. So far my in-laws have washed and remade my daughter's bed, mopped the kitchen floor, tidied kitchen cupboards, watered the garden and made me cups of tea. AND there are two meals ready to go in the fridge. I love these people.

Now, I was just going through my iPhone photos and found this close-up I promised of my violet tea cup - pretty isn't it? It's one of a matching pair that resides on the wee bookcase in my study and I heart it so.

You know what else I heart? Clean hair. Yep, managed to stand on one leg long enough to wash my hair which was so desperately in need of a wash it'd almost merged into one giant dreadlock - or, my greatest fear - undergone felting {a weird condition where girls with long hair can just wake up one morning and their hair has all fused together, felt-like, into a dreadlock - used to be the condition I feared most after spontaneous combustion... yep, used to watch far too many of those "Freaky But True" TV shows...}.

just lolling around

So, I'm just lolling around with my knee elevated - but not looking anywhere near as glamorous as this. Sadly there are no tasty morsels within arm's reach either. My in-laws are coming down today to help attend to my needs as I lie with bags of frozen peas clamped around my knee - bless their socks. Husband has meetings in Sydney so I needed to organise school pick ups {thank you lovely friends} and so many other tasks.

I'm already bored of course. Even with Foxtel there's only so much television you can watch - and watching lifestyle food is torturous when you're hungry and can't get yourself anything to eat {well, I've yet to work out a way of walking with crutches and carrying a plate or a cup... I did clasp a bottle of water under my chin yesterday after filling it at the water filter in the fridge}.

Enough of my moaning. Tell me what exciting things you're up to. Geez, I can't even post a What We're Eating This Week post - because I wouldn't have a clue!

oh harry!

New shots released today. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

ouch

Well, typical, it had to happen sometime...

So, there I was last night, playing netball when my knee seemed to do this strange moving sideways thing, made a couple of pops and took me down. Today it's the size of a basketball and I can't walk on it - making the chances of torn ligaments seem pretty damned likely.

Hubby's off to get me some crutches and today will involve lying on a couch with bags of frozen peas under my knee and on top of it. {just edited this - jeez, I'd written lying on a coach with peas under and on top of it - the coach... I blame some kind of knee-injury-induced psychosis...}

Le sigh.

Who'd have thought my netball career would come to such a dramatic end? At least I've still got my coaching...

cherry bomb

It's a two-shoe day today. The pretty red shoes by Isabel Marant are there for Beth - because it's her birthday. They're the perfect shade of cherry red, with a bow and a rather sexay curve! Elegant, fun and gorgeous - just like she is. And the crazy Lanvin python and mongolian fur numbers? Well, they're just there because they're freakin' fabulous. I would wear those for hilarity's sake as they'd make me, with my long, curly black hair, look somewhat double-ended!

Enjoy your monday my lovelies - I'm off to check out a few blogs and then send off a few story ideas. Oh yes, it's that time of the month... Eek. Wish me luck!

slowly does it sunday

I've discovered that if you drink pretty consistently from 12.30 to 10pm your Sunday morning moves at a very, very slow speed... My catch-up with my old uni paper alumni was fabulous. Lunch and a few beers at the Beach Hotel was perfect - the sky was blue, the ocean magnificent - the ideal spot to chat and enjoy the view. Lunch turned into drinks, which then turned into a meal at the rather lovely Kitchen on Darby Street. A rare steak with bernaise sauce and frites was my way of soaking up just a smidgen of the alcohol. Then it was off to another pub before I had to retire - leaving three die-hard party people on their merry way to yet another pub...

How cute is this window box? We snapped it at an open garden a few years ago and it's what I'd like to include on our shed when we build it. How adorable is the triple-toned glass panelled window?

Off to the Farmer's Markets shortly. Hopefully a chicken golzeme will help me recuperate sufficiently to go for a bike ride this afternoon. Surely if it's combined with a coke zero it'll do the trick. Enjoy your Sunday.

woweeee it's the weekend

Today I'm going to be sitting on the veranda of an Art Deco hotel overlooking a beach. There will be eating, there will be drinking, and there will be chatting. Thankfully it's an utterly glorious day - fingers and toes crossed that we'll see a few whales or dolphins on the horizon. How amazing would that be?

Now, the icecream last night was amazing. Rich, creamy, vanilla-infused and blissful. I'm officially even deeper in love with my KitchenAid - I can't believe I've waited so many years to have one in my life.

Enjoy your weekend x

ooooooh yeah

This here's the french vanilla ice-cream churning in the KitchenAid. 15 minutes of churning and it was done. Now it's in the freezer awaiting its imminent demise...

friday's flowers

Admittedly my last post did feature one very pretty freesia in the image - but I've been saving these lilacs, peonies and roses especially for today. Oh, I wish I lived in the Southern Highlands, or Tasmania, where the climate is ripe for peonies and lilacs. As I don't I'll just have to content myself with holidays during their blooming period. Sounds reasonable doesn't it?

fantastically friday

Hands up if you can believe it's friday... yep, me neither. Excuse me, but where does the week go? I've had a busy morning. My in-laws popped in for a cup of tea and to check out my study {ooohs and aahs were appropriately metered out} and I made up my vanilla custard for my ice-cream. Oh yes, we'll be having fresh French Vanilla Ice-Cream churned in my KitchenAid after dinner tonight.

My gal has a friend staying for a sleepover tonight and I reckon I'll get some serious brownie points for serving fresh ice-cream. So much so that the main course will barely matter.

It's an absolutely beautiful day today. The sky's blue, there's no wind, and my garden's looking fit to burst with spring's promise. I have lanky stalks and white buds on the primula's that are circling the dovecote, my violas have their pretty faces dancing in the sun, the roses are covered in new red shoots - and the jasmine has me squealing in delight at the promise of its sweetly scented display.

Did I tell you that this weekend I'm catching up with my buddies from the Uni Newspaper days? 20 years on we've arranged a catch-up and I can't wait. Funnily enough we've all gone on to work in the media - nice as that was the aim. I'm sure there'll be some hilarious reminiscing going on. If you hear laughter carried down the ocean from Merewether you'll know who's to blame...

testing, testing

Okay, fingers and toes crossed that this post works. I'm just back from a lovely girly lunch to celebrate my birthday - hurrah! I'd written two posts this morning that vanished in a sea of HTML and then crashed Safari so hopefully this'll work.

Now, guess how much my Sushi-lovin' gal would adore these Hello Kitty morsels? Cuteness incorporated or what?

technical glitch

Okay, I'm not sure why - but blogger's refusing to allow me to post pics today.

I'll be back with a regular post as soon as some form of normality's restored!

oh pulease

So, as you may have heard, it's my birthday today... and, as such, I'd decided not to work but to potter. As part of this pottering I thought I'd treat myself to a movie. I know! In the middle of the day!! Well, you can imagine my delight when I spied the name John Corbett {aka: Chris in the morning, aka: Aiden from SATC, aka: Tara's husband in United States of Tara aka: yum} so I settle in to watch I Hate Valentines Day.

I lasted 35 minutes. Now, as much as I love John Corbett, apparently you can double that love and turn it into loathe and you start to get an idea how I felt about Nia Vardalos's character. Damn. That wide-eyed ingenue look works rather well when you're actually a wide-eyed ingenue but I was having trouble accepting it from a grown-woman.

Erk.

Did anyone make it further into the film that I did? Was I just in a mood? Did my advanced age leave me with little or no regard for coy glances and hair flicks that belonged in the swimwear shoot for Australia's Next Top Model {btw: how GOOD is this series becoming...}.

I'm normally pretty forgiving of characters in films. Books I may well fling across the room in frustration {Lady Chatterley's Lover I am referring to you...} but films, I guess because I know they'll be over with soon I give 'em two, three, four, five chances.

How about you? Does your loving or loathing of a character influence your viewing or reading?

what's cooking wednesday

Things are slowing down now. Netball's finished {well, until Twilight Netball starts next month} so that's making my meal planning a little different. Here's what we're eating this week:

Tonight: Well, it's my birthday so we're off to Bistro Tartine. French yumminess shall be consumed - and washed down with French bubbles...

Thursday: French lessons: I didn't make a chicken curry last week, so I'll make it this week. Complete with rice and garlic naan.

Friday: My gal's been begging for salmon so salmon it is. Served with lemon roasted potatoes and garlic greens. For dessert - well I'm glad you asked. My freezer has been rearranged and now the KitchenAid ice cream bowl is freezing in preparation for some vanilla bean icecream. Oh yes.

Saturday: I'm catching up with my old alumni from the Uni Newspaper - so it's only the boy and the girl at home. They can create home-made pizza.

Sunday: Toasty roasty. Last week I bought a divine pork rib roast and roasted it on a bed of rhubarb. This week I might aim for Saltbush Lamb.

Monday: Early game of netball. Chorizo pasta bake and salad.

Tuesday: Ballet: pork and cider casserole with greens.

What's on your plates this week?

oh, i'm dying!

I'm loving this photoshoot that's appearing in the US Harpers. Rachel Zoe in "I Die" - a series of photographs with designers {such as the delish Marc Jacobs} enacting her demise.

Love! {and seriously, Marc Jacobs in a skirt? I die!}

happy birthday to me!

See this very beautiful Black Beauty of a bike? Well it's MINE! Oh yes, my birthday's been celebrated with this gorgeously retro-styled critter. Squeeeee! Can you just SEE a baguette propped in that basket?

Oh, and you know that KitchenAid ice cream maker I posted of yesterday? Also mine! And some pretty new netball trainers - white, silver and purple {bound to make me run faster}. There's also a rather delightful hurricane lamp with grey roses around the base - I'll have to take a shot of it so you can check out its full glory.

An omlette and a bol of coffee later I'm sated - and planning on pottering around enjoying the day. Dinner tonight? Bistro Tartine naturally. Enjoy your day!

neverending story

Okay, time to knuckle down. I currently have the world's cleanest and tidiest study - but every other room in the house looks dreadful. I still have so many boxes of "stuff" and piles of "things" that need to go "somewhere".

Oh my.

I'm determined not to spend my birthday {one more sleep - hurrah!} in a hovel so I'm going to put in a two-hour stretch and blitz through the house from bedroom to kitchen. The recyling bin's empty thanks to yesterday's collection, the boot's ready to be filled with more boxes of books for the Salvos and anything else that's left will be housed - but only if it's totally and utterly deserving of a place in my home.

Okay, ready? Set? Go!

ice, ice baby

In Essential Ingredient yesterday I spied the most covetous object - an icecream making attachment for my KitchenAid. Yep, it's a bowl that you freeze and then you churn the icecream in your KitchenAid. Guess how much I want/need it...

You can guarantee that every dinner party will end with fresh icecream or sorbet. Oooh limoncello and blood orange sorbet. Or lavender and vanilla. Rose petal icecream...

Oh, the possibilities...

bookshelf bliss

Sometimes bigger isn't better. While I adore my massive bookshelf with the ladder, this wee number also holds a place in my heart. My step-father built it for me years ago, and with a coat of paint it fits in beautifully in the study. The pigeon holes are the perfect size for books and also a few knicknacks such as my pretty violette cups - probably totally deserving a close-up of their own.

Now, I know you're keen to check out my desk, but as I don't have a blind and I'm relying on my iPhone for pics it's hard to get a good shot as the desk has a massive window behind it. Perhaps if I shot it at night? I'll try and see what I can come up with.

Anticipation makes everything better don't you think?

oooooh, i absolutely adore the plaza

Excuse me for a moment while I contain myself... I've just found out that Betsey Johnson has designed the Eloise suite in the New York Plaza hotel. Squeeeeeeee! I know one gal who'd just die to spend a night there. It's pricey, but like Eloise, she'd just say "Charge it please".

monday, monday

I'm off to canteen duty this morning - in a pair of shoes that aren't anywhere near as fierce as these Bottega Veneta beauties. After a weekend that just whirled by I'm not surprised that this morning seems to be following suit.

Did you have a good weekend? Delight me with tales of your adventures - pretty please!

film fest

I noticed last night that SBS are holding some kind of French Film Season, so I forced myself to stay up waaaaaay past my bedtime to view La Vie en Rose for the second time. The first viewing is a harrowing adventure - Edith's life took tragic to whole new depths. But oh, the love story between Edith and the married boxer Marcel was just amazing. Looking at this shot of the real couple you realise just how astonishing the casting of this film was. To see the intensely beautiful Marion Cottilard play the extraordinarily aging Piaf was dumbfounding - and oh, did they cast the right sexy kind of beast to play Marcel...

This film will make you hug your children tight, so thankful will you be for their childhood, and it's a film that will stay with you long after the final credits role. Emotional, harrowing, breathtaking and raw, La Vie on Rose doesn't depict a rosy life for the little sparrow - but it does reveal an extraordinary one.

what a day

Well, my girls played beautifully for their last game of the season - they didn't win score-wise, but they really won team-wise. This bunch of girls are just all so beautiful. Their passion and enthusiasm is contagious - I've adored coaching them.

We just had a fabulous party down by the beach with the girls giggling, playing and racing around. If I'm lucky enough to coach them next year I'm going to organise a party at the start of the year too.

The parents gave me a beautiful present - a gift voucher at Essential Ingredient - woo hoo! Oh I'll have fun spending that - and the girls all wrote on a card which was just gorgeous. One of my girls came up to me at the party and handed me a card she'd designed and written which just made me so teary. She told me she loved my positivity and hoped that when she grew up she'd be like me. Higher praise? There is none.

I love the girls I coach. My aim is to make them the best netballer, the best team player and the most self-assured person possible. Some of the skills I'm teaching don't improve their game - but they strengthen their body to avoid injury and when they're older these skills will really come into play. My girls mightn't win every game - but they come off knowing they've done their best and that next week they'll do even better.

What more could you ask for?

time saving tip

Lately I've been feeling bogged down in time-wasting stuff and I've just done the most liberating thing to help save myself. Now, I get a lot of emails, up to 100 is normal, but up to 200 is not unknown. Per day. Checking them, replying, deleting, filing them just takes up time. So here's what I just did - I unsubscribed to about 15 different sites that regularly send me updates - that I really don't use. And oh, the feeling of clicking "Un-subscribe" was just utterly amazing.

I might only receive those emails once or twice a week, but I always feel obligated to read through them just-in-case. Well, now they're not there I needn't worry - out of sight, completely and utterly out of my mind.

friday's flowers

I love Redoute's botanical etchings. His roses always sing out to me. I've got a few vintage prints that are awaiting a hanging either side of my desk with the window separating them - they'll cheer me up no end.

Apparently Napleon's Josephine learned to draw under Redoute's tutelage. Imagine...

phew, friday

Going anywhere fun or doing anything interesting this weekend? My weekend's busy. Tonight we're putting up pictures in the study and bringing in the rest of the books to fill the shelves - squeeeee. Tomorrow morning it's our last game of netball, so we're having a 'party' at the beach afterwards to celebrate the season. My gal's then going to a Mad Hatters birthday party in the afternoon {oh yeah, party central round here...}. We've bought her a hot pink glitter top hat that we're decorating with a pale pink and silver marabou boa and some pale pink fabric roses. She'll be wearing her red pettiskirt to the party so it shall all be totally fabulous. Also found a fabulous pressie in the Disney range at Diva {yep, they had Alice In Wonderland jewels - guess how much I wanted them for myself?}.

Sunday? Who knows. Farmers Markets naturally - I don't feel like it's a weekend without them. Perhaps some baking with my gal - muffins or cupcakes to freeze for the week's school lunches. And lotsa coffee.

You?

girly girly girl

Here's a peek inside my wardrobe. I reorganised it yesterday and thought it was quite amusing that I have, oh, around 100 dresses, 50 skirts and one pair of jeans.

As you can see, I'm also fond of a wrap dress, black and white stripes, green and florals.

i want to ride my bicycle

I'm in love... I think I'll be needing one of these for my birthday - complete with a basket for baguettes at the front.