So, you know how Baz Luhrman's working on a remake of The Great Gatsby? Well, excitedly, he's cast Carey Mulligan as Daisy. Perfection.
Hey, do you like a good mag? May I suggest this one? Sure, I may have written the odd article or two in it, but I'm not really biased - it's a fab mag.
After a six-year hiatus Tom Ford has returned to designing women's wear. 
Are you a planner or do you prefer spontaneity? I used to adore being spontaneous, until I realised it also meant disorganised, messy, stressed and unreliable {for me}. So over the years I've established a series of plans to help me try to streamline my life.
I don't know what it is about Mondays, but I do believe that reading this poster I found over at Gala Darling will chase your Monday blues away...
Are you starting to feel all festive? I know I am. Not so much as the people around the corner who put their Christmas Tree up two weeks ago {I know!} - but still, festive.
Fabulous with a capital F. A. B. U. L. O. U. S. {underlined, exclamation point, 64 point type}
My favourite flower is currently in season. It's brief, it's fleeting, it's beautiful.
♥ Today I'm grateful that I can walk out my back door into this. Oh yes.
Squeeeeeee! Look at the cute kids at the London Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1. Excuse me: Emma Watson: undoubtedly the most gorgeous thing to ever live? I was just over at Lainey Gossip reading all about Harry Potter and co. Lainey's possibly even a bigger Harry Potter fan than I am {she's been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!} and she says that the cast are just so deliciously unaffected by their fame, enthusiastic and just so sweet. Disney could take notes on how to raise child stars couldn't they? Obviously there's also a world of difference between LA and London...
Oh, this I need to see. I love Michelle Williams. LOVE. And Ryan Gosling? With what looks like scruffy hair and some kind of beardy growth, whew...
I love this shot of my wee lassie in a garden down in the Southern Highlands. I'm pretty sure she was about six here - and very into striking a pose - bless her socks.
I'm well and truly sick of being sick, but according to those who've already fallen prey to this bug I can expect a few more days of it.
The Rachel Zoe Project was back on air last night, and oh, I missed my couture porn. The fashion was seriously to die for - especially in this Demi Moore shoot for Harper's. {The Louboutins!} And the Taylor intrigue - oooooooooh. She was always such a brat that I'm pleased to see she's getting her comeuppance {I've managed to use that word twice today - gee it's a word I love...} - nastiness never prevails, not even on Survivor {hear that Naonka?}.
After a day of only white toast and vegemite I'm finally ready to think about food. Here's what's going down in our kitchen this week:
I'm unwell. I seem to have succumbed to some kind of a bug that's determined to refuse to allow me to eat or feel vaguely human. 
One of the things I love the most about where I live would be these beautiful ocean baths. There's the big baths {apparently the largest ocean baths in the Southern Hemisphere} and the baby baths {still pretty damned big} - and it's their birthday. Woo hoo.
Unless Jessica Alba is wearing one of Mr Pearl's fabulous corsets I find it very hard to believe that her waist is just marginally wider than her thigh.
Monday? Really? Already? Wow, that weekend went by mighty quickly. Let's ease into the week with a seriously fierce pair of Jimmy Choo's shall we?
Oh, we have blue, blue skies today and these make me so happy. Yesterday's gardening was a great success, despite the drizzles. My dear husband spent the whole day pruning the lilly pillies and guess what we found? A dove nesting on three cute little eggs in the midst of the trees {that one didn't get so much of a prune...}. Bless!
Shhhh, don't tell anyone but we currently have sunshine. I know! So we're about to dash into the garden to do some work while the sun shines. Hubby needs to prune the outrageous growth on the lilly pillies around the pool and I'll take bags of the trimmings to the green waste site to get mulched up. Then I'd like to weed the front gardens, after all that rain surely the weeds will almost leap into my hands...
Oh, c'mon, where's Spring? It's 15 degrees at the moment, a cold 15 degrees. It poured rain all night and it's all grey and soggy-looking again today. 
For my gal's ballet concert this year she has to supply one costume: a 30s-orphanage-esque outfit for a performance of Annie. So straight after school yesterday we hit the Salvos. And paydirt. We found the most divine gunmetal grey dress, that when accessorised with torn stockings and falling down socks will look perfect - but will also look fab afterwards accessorised with tights and cute beads. For $5! Then, in the same section we found a gorgeous Industrie sunfrock, white with stripes of pink and orange - again $5. Standing at the register waiting to pay my head swiveled around behind me until my little eye happened to spy - a set of Boules! In a box! Pristine!!
Why don't I live in London near an H&M store where I could buy me some of the Lanvin for H&M?
Okay, well as discussed yesterday, this week's meal planning is involving something different. Yep, now with more veg. Last night I started off the week with a couscous, roasted veg and chickpea salad {thanks Joanna!} served alongside our lamb steaks. Hello, did someone say delicious... Here's what we're eating this week:
Honestly, how good are you at the five a day thing? You know, five serves of veg, and two of fruit? Do you manage it? I'm always struggling to find new and improved ways to boost our fruit and veg intake - but am always pushing the vege-phobes in my family to consume what I've prepared.
Last night I finally fell prey to my curiosity and watched Dating In The Dark. Have you seen it? The premise is that six singles, three guys, three girls, hole up in a mansion and only get to meet each other in complete darkness. They chat, they flirt, they kiss, they snuggle - in the dark. There's a psychological profiler who assesses each character and ultimately they get matched up with someone and they can finally 'see' each other.
Here are a few of my favourite things from last night's Halloween. First of all, the houses that got into the decorating - including my number one pick with graves, ghosts, scaredy cats, massive spiders and webs. It's also the house that had the guy in the freaky mask and costume leap out in a spooky manner. He was really into it, not surprising as he was originally from Colarado {and apparently delighted that we're now doing Halloween down under!}. The goth couple around the corner had the coolest lollies {body parts, coffins, brain poppers...} and I love these wee ghosties in the frangipani. At the bottom are my cupcakes - black icing and wee ghosties floating in the night sky. Went down a treat they did.
After the somewhat frustrating and annoying nature of the last few weeks I'm determined to start this one off well. And what better way to start off a Monday than with a pair of lipstick red Ferragamo heels?
Creepy, spooky, and a little bit kooky, I must say that I'm glad Halloween's coming to Aus. It's a good reason to dress up and get together with friends over ghoulish cupcakes. We're off to a party at a friends' where the whole street gets involved. Plenty of kids, and plenty of keen doors to knock on to fill up those little jack'o'lantern lolly pots.
Oh, the excitement when you uncover a gem. I'd heard a wee bit of buzz about this new-ish place in Newcastle, East End Enoteca and had it in the back of my mind as a dining option. So when I heard that foodie friends were coming up from Sydney and Melbourne, well, I knew Newcastle had to turn it up a notch. 
Well, Sarah Blasko was a revelation last night - what. a. voice. We saw her a few years ago in an inner-city pub and she was amazing, but in concert in a beautiful theatre? Well, the acoustics and atmosphere only served to enhance her angelic voice and mesmerising performance.
Feathers! Shiny corsets! Marion Cotillard! Am loving on this shot from the new Dior Campaign Lady Grey featuring the divine Ms Marion.
Well, I don't know what's in the stars, the air or even the earth's core but whew, these past few weeks have been challenging. Here I was, juggling away, I had a few daggers, a couple of flaming torches, a chainsaw and even a couple of those squishy balls made from birdseed-filled-balloons when suddenly whole new dimensions were added to the mix and that's it, it all came tumbling down.
Sorry for my tardiness - I seemed to have some 24 hour virus thing that was thankfully resolved with a nap until lunchtime {I swear my body puts these things on just to force me to sleep...}
Big drive to the big smoke for a meeting today. Regular blogging shall resume on my return!
A cold, rainy, blustery monday deserves a pretty pair of shoes. So here I present to you these Giuseppe Zannoti numbers - all tied up with a big bow. I can't imagine a prettier pair of party shoes - can you?
Typical. We have the English nieces over today and it's bucketing down. My plans of plenty of swimming, followed by fish and chips at the beach, followed by swimming have been washed out. Eep! What to do? Perhaps a bit of play, a little crafty stuff then we'll close the blinds, rent a DVD, pop some corn and have a movie experience at home. I'll also let them stay in their jammies all day - that's always fun!
As you can probably guess by my late posting, the mother's night went well. Really well. The change of venue went down a treat, there was plenty of yummy food circulating, the people who spoke were really well received, and everyone frocked up and looked fabulous. There was even dancing thanks to my iPhone {seriously, anything those things can't do? I made up a party list of songs on its iPod and we had music through the night}. 
