black, white and a hit of pink

Am LOVING Michelle Williams at the BAFTAs. She always rocks a classic look with an elfin twist. And those scarlet lips - oh my.

J'adore Tilda Swinton. This is as classic as I've ever seen her look - but she makes it work. Such a glorious shoulder line on this frock {is that a term? Should be}

Oh yes please Viola - this candy pink looks just fabulous on the red carpet - and on her.

And, of course, Mr Firth and his lovely wife Lydia. I do love a man in a good suit and I swear that this man wears a tux like no other.

Ah, award season - is there a better time of the year? I think not.

meal-planning monday

I've stocked up on my essentials now. Phew. So those pretty storage jars above are now filled with the requisite sugar, flour, coffee, pasta and tea. I feel better now. I also feel organised and ready for the week ahead. Here's what's happening:

Monday: my gal's home sick from school today. Poor little floss. I've got some chicken breast in the fridge, so I think I'll make chicken pies for dinner.

Tuesday: I know it's valentines day, but really, we don't do anything soppy to celebrate. Instead, we're having hubby's parents over for a sleepover. They've got a busy couple of days in Newcastle this week, so to save them driving back and forth I thought they should spend a night here in the guest room. I'll make shepherd's pie for dinner - easy, and it's my father-in-law's fave.

Wednesday: I bought some lemongrass and chilli prawns from Aussie Farmers this week. We'll have them with some asian greens and ramen noodles for dinner tonight.

Thursday: Ballet's back {well, officially it's back on Tuesday - but that was a busy day to describe} so we'll have pork sausages {again from Aussie Farmers} with mash, peas and crushed carrots.

Friday: I have a photo exhibition opening to attend {oooh la la}. One of the speakers from TEDxNewy, Conor Ashleigh, has an exhibition opening at the library and I'm keen to check out his work. He's a young lad who's intensely inspirational with a beautiful eye and a desire to tell stories that normally remain untold. Can't wait. We'll have homemade pizza either before, or after. I need to check twitter for opening times.

Saturday: I didn't get around to a bbq last weekend, so I'll do it this weekend. Steaks, bernaise, salad.

Sunday: We had a red wine and pepper marinated beef roast last week. This week it's back to roast chicken I think.

pantry essentials

We had flash flooding here yesterday afternoon. It was incredible. My daughter and her friend were on their way home from school on the bus and the sky looked a threatening shade of grey/green. I texted my gal to ask if she wanted me to pick her up from the bus stop and she said 'only if it's raining'. Two minutes later there was a crack of thunder, so I grabbed my keys and ran to the door.

By the time I reached the bus stop in the car two blocks later it started bucketing, and bucketing, and hailing! I couldn't see 30cm in front of me. Luckily the girls were waiting in the newsagent, nice and dry. By the time I picked them up and drove home I couldn't park the car - the roads had flooded knee deep with water and I couldn't park and open the doors, so we went to Coles and luckily the rains stopped.

But it got me worried as it rained heavily again in the night. I'm not ready for another flood {as if you're ever ready, but hear me out}. My pantry is bare. When we had the last flood I easily had enough food to last us for a week. This time, I'd be lucky to scrape up a meal. I need to do a real shop as I'm out of all the essentials: no cereal, no sugar, no flour, no pasta. I'm staple-free.

My gal loves baking, and I love that she can look up a recipe and whip up pretty much anything from the pantry. I always have a good array of baking ingredients. But now I'm out of caster sugar, out of vanilla paste and have no flour.

I need to get to the shops. Oh, and I also need a pretty piece of vintage lace to put up in my pantry window - prettiness!

dita von teese for target

Why yes, I may have startled the staff at my local Target when I squealed and applauded upon seeing the gorgeous Dita decking out the store.





 Meow.




So much prettiness to choose from - and our local store only had limited stock - which is fine, I just wanted a set.




And this was my set - pretty blue and black. So gorgeous.




My dodgy shots don't really show the finer details, but these are beautifully constructed with the eye for detail you'd expect from Ms Von Teese. So reasonably priced too - this beautiful bra is only $39.99. I love the sizing too. They're pretty true to size, I grabbed my size straight off and this set fitted beautifully. The leopard print not so much, I would have had to go up a size - but I didn't want to redress and go find it.

Run, quickly to your nearest Target store. Unless Miss Tallulah Porkchop's got in before you.

whoops, missed my blog's birthday, again

I'm a slack blogger.

I forgot my blog's birthday.

Again.

I forget every year.

Sorry blog.

Love YOU!

Here, have a cocktail xx

here comes the sun

There is sunshine here today. Boy, do I love the sunshine after a few days of rain. It warms my heart. I couldn't find my camera to take a photo of the sun here, so I thought I'd share a pic from Provence {it's always a good time for pics of Provence}. This here's the Gorges de Verdun. So stunning. Quite possibly the most naturally beautiful thing I've ever seen. That verdant green water - stunning. Swimming in it? Sublime. Meandering around on a paddle boat? Fabulous.

Speaking of fabulous, we had netball grading yesterday and I got to catch up with my lovely girls. Bless. And so many lovely mums over the years, including one who reads my blog {*waves*}. She had the loveliest things to say, which really made my heart sing. As you've probably guessed by now, I'm a pretty happy and optimistic person, so if I get a chance to make just one person happier, then I'm happier.

day 7: say how much you love

So, it's day seven of the Love 29 Days, 29 Ways challenge. Today's challenge is Say how much you love. Sound easy doesn't it? But, like all things, the simplest things can be the toughest.

How often do you really take the time to tell people how much you appreciate them? How much they mean to you? How much you love them? Chances are, like me, you think you do it more often than you actually do it.

And how nice is it to feel loved and appreciated? Damned nice.

So today it's time for me to step up and express myself. Love is all you need.

Cute card from here.

book marked

I squealed today when I received a wee package from the Ukraine.

It was via etsy. Want to know what was inside this very cute box?

These very cute legs!

They're now living inside my current bedtime book {which I am LOVING btw}.

Things that are cuter than a wee little wicked witch of the west bookmark?

Um, yep, that'd be nothing.

Want one? Go here: it's 25% off for the month of February so don't forget to type in the code word when prompted.

My life is better with this in it.

meal planning monday

Okay, so we're into week two of High School - can you believe it? It's gone well. My gal's loving it, just loving it. She's getting on top of being organised and happily trots off to catch the bus. Bless. We've already had homework - eep! But, again, we're just trying to keep on top of it. So, this week, here's the plan:

Monday: there's a butterflied leg of lamb in the fridge that needs cooking. I think I'll serve it with a salad if this lovely weather holds up.

Tuesday: The pub around the corner has a paella special tonight, I think we need to go out to celebrate this whole High School scenario don't you?

Wednesday: My gal has netball grading. I'm stepping back this year and not coaching {gasp}. Instead, my 16-year-old co-coach from last year is stepping up as coach and I'll be manager to help her out. That was the plan with mentoring a young coach, to give them confidence to coach on their own. It worked! I'll do the same with another young coach next year. Oh, dinner? Garlic prawns and salad.

Thursday: We haven't had homemade burgers in 100 years. So let's. Chicken burgers I think. Yum.

Friday: Salmon on the bbq as a treat for my gal who just adores salmon. Served with garlic-wilted spinach leaves.

Saturday: Steak with homemade bernaise sauce and duck-fat roasted potatoes.

Sunday: Roast pork with all the trimmings. Mmmmm.

And that's it. What's on your plates this week?

oh what a night

All frocked up and ready for MadMen, Masterpieces and Martinis. Here's my hairpiece, created from $3.50 worth of net, two bobbypins and a floral hair clip. Do you know how long I've wanted to wear one of these little veil numbers? Too long. You'll never get me out of it now.

Anyone for cocktails? Fabulous cocktails were created by staff from Silo. Delicious. And tres cute canapes like devilled eggs and pigs in blankets were brought around by gorgeous waitresses garbed in fabulous 50s gear, cute tatts and hair in stunning victory rolls and other creations.

Men in sharp suits and women with fab cleavage? Why yes, we did supply a few of those...

Inside my purse, a sneaky peek at the rather gorgeous ticket.

Mad Men eps projected onto a wall of the Art Gallery and played on a loop? Could anything BE more fabulous? I think not.

My grandma's original 50s evening clutch. Barely fitted my iPhone and lippy - but still, fabulous!

One of my favoured "hold your phone above your head and snap a shot - blurry, but gives you an idea of the crowd. Lots of sharp suits and fab frocks, including some gorgeous vintage numbers.

A Sterling Cooper Martini - hello lover.

More chatting before heading upstairs to actually look at the art and listen to Steve Abbot {The Sandman} do a bit of a comedy routine, and Kamahl talk about, well, being Kamahl really - still fabulous after all these years. That man doesn't age.

And to top off a perfect night we soaked up the cocktails with tapas as Divinos on Darby Street. Yum. Best tapas I've had in Newcastle and a rather sensational room too. 

Best part of the night? Organising more catch-ups with this very special group of friends. Seven years after getting together when our kids were all in kinder we're still lucky to maintain the friendship. It's one of those rare groups where everyone gets along, all the women, all the men, all the men and the women AND all the kids. Seriously, how rare is that? And how much is it something to be treasured?

friday, no flowers, just martinis

Sorry again, busy again.

Hey, guess what I'm doing tonight? Going to a Madmen and Martinis cocktail party - hello.

So, last night, at 7.15pm I rushed out to Spotlight to buy myself some netting to make some kind of cocktail-esque hair piece. As you do when you're craft-challenged. Luckily I found an online tutorial that shows how to make one using some netting, a few tricky squishes and a couple of bobby pins - my kind of craft.

Shall take photos later to post over the weekend.

Have a fabulous friday and a wonderful weekend. x

sharing the love ♥

Here's a little something that I'm doing over at my day job this month. I edit a pregnancy website, and, as pregnancy is such a special time  - thought we'd celebrate the month of february by making it all about love.

It started off yesterday with me sharing something I love. It's teeny, but it's fabulous. Ready? Clean sheet day. Yep, I do love clean sheet day with a passion.

Today, I showed someone I love. Wanna see?

Aww, it's me and my hubby 18 years ago. It's a black and white shot that's been instagramed, but you can kinda see the purple streaks in my hair {only thing that's changed about my hair in 20 years...} And look at my hubby's hair - bless. We looked like negative-image twins back in the day.

Tomorrow is be someone you love. I need that. Things have been a bit stressful of late. Need to chill and remind myself to be good to myself.

As for number 6, love your bump... well, it's been a while. Instead I'll just change it to love your bod - who couldn't do with a bit of body love?

Do you want to join in? You can share pics, comments, blog posts, tweets {#Love29Days} - or just do it. It's all about sharing the love - what's not to love about that?

meal planning, um, wednesday

I've been absent haven't I? Seriously absent - sorry about that. The gal's first day of high school {massive success - she loves it and I'm sure will thrive: and she got French as a subject - bon!}, a work meeting yesterday in Sydney and just stuff have all combined to make me remiss.

My apologies.

OOoooooh, guess what? I've got a new fridge! A super-dooper, stainless steel, two door with water and ice-making piece of magnificence. I LOVE IT. We need a bigger fridge because of meal planning. If I did the French shop and cook day-by-day thing I could have had the Smeg of my dreams, but I need the space. AS-IF I could have a shelf of duck fat in a Smeg!

Anywhoodle, here's what we're eating for the remainder of the week:
Tonight: hmmmm, it's cold, it's rainy, it's my gal's third day of high school... beef bourginon avec greens and roasted potatoes.
Thursday: I have to go help out at netball registration so it's a late dinner. Chicken schnitzel perhaps with a salad.
Friday: We're off to the Art Gallery for Masterpieces, MadMen and Martinis {hello!}. We're frockin' up a la Joan Hollaway and suiting up like Don Draper to sip martinis and nibble on 60s style canapes. There shall be a need for real sustenance afterwoods. Might convince the posse to converge on a pub - is The Oriental ready for such an oddly-dressed group? {It sure was back in my Uni days...}
Saturday: I need to do a leg of lamb on the bbq. Please allow the weather to actually be summery.
Sunday: Roast something or other from the Farmers Markets. Mmmmm.

And that's it. Sorry, it's a short week. We had spaghetti bolognaise last night cooked by hubby as I didn't get home till late. Monday was a quickie of burritos. So, what's on your plates this week?

sweet sunday and adios school holidays

Wow, it's the final day of the school holidays - eep! And tomorrow my gal starts high school - double eep! So today will be spent lazing around the pool {and hopefully washing out the last of the hot pink dip-dye on the ends of her hair so I don't have to cut it off}.

I've got a washing line full of random pillowcases today. After yesterday's linen closet revamp thanks to yesterday's post, I realised that every time I threw out old sheets when they tore I kept the pillowcases. So there are 16 pillowcases on the line {can anyone say Hoarder} and two sheet sets that are also going to the Salvos. I realised that yes, you can have too many spare sets of sheets. Should I need to bed down an extra 10 people I could always ask them to bring a sleeping bag couldn't I?

Enjoy your Sunday and wish me luck for tomorrow. I'll be the one with the brave face, who'll be sobbing in the car on the way home after the drop-off!

best ideas ever

Browsing Pinterest this morning I saw this fabulous idea - storing sheet sets inside their pillow cases - genius! It's an idea I've heard before, but seeing it in action has inspired me to enter my black hole linen closet and do this.

The blog this originated on has some other fab ideas too. Go here to check it out. This daft scott's lass isn't so daft - love her work!

flowers for friday

I'm feeling discombobulated today - because I kept thinking yesterday that it was Saturday... So I thought I'd throw us a little garden party to help get through the last working day of the week.

My gal's off to get her new Going To High School haircut today. To celebrate the transition between primary school and high school we dip-dyed her hair hot pink on the ends {so cute!} and that's getting cut off today

Bless her socks, she's very excited about going to high school: looking forward to the challenges and making new friends. Wow, does time zoom by...

Happy friday everyone.

j'adore dior

Positively parfait non?

meal planning monday

Okay, last week of the school holidays - can you believe it? Eep! Okay, to take my mind off it - here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: We didn't manage to have steaks on the bbq on the weekend, so that's what we'll be having tonight. With salad greens.

Tuesday: Jamie's Salmon and Prawn bake was also a no-go last Friday night {we had takeaway fish&chips instead} so that's on the menu tonight.

Wednesday: We're off to our in-laws for the night.

Thursday: I spent a bit of time browsing through my many cookbooks on the weekend. Shall make Nigella's poached chicken with puy lentils tonight. My gal loves poached chicken and puy lentils so win-win there.

Friday: I think we need a duck night. Tonight shall be duck night.

Saturday: Out to dinner to celebrate our gal starting high school in a few short days!

Sunday: Seven hour leg of lamb with roasted veg.

You? What's on your mealplan?

ooh, saturday? really?

I'm finding it very difficult to believe that it's Saturday night already. Seriously?

So to help give me some breathing space, thought I'd best jazz up my blog with some crimson fleurs. Couldn't you just imagine squealing with delight every time you entered such a fabulous conservatory?

{and ps: check out the pompoms on the cushions - cuteness incorporated!}

flowers for friday

Something pink and pretty for your Friday.

tom ford nail polish

I swear that everything this man does is little short of perfection. My Tom Ford lippy I bought in Paris is undoubtedly my fave of all time, so don't you think I need some of his nail polish as well? I'm thinking that orange on the bottom row, second from the left.

For starters...

i need to have a cocktail party

Just so I can hang one of these on my front door.

Cuteness!

meal planning

Sorry, I got carried away with the Golden Globes yesterday and forgot to post this. Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Tonight: Spaghetti with homemade pesto. I have a stack of basil growing in the vegie garden, best use it up. I've also got some leftover chicken from last night's Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, so I'll shred that up and toss it through too. Perhaps with a little crispy pancetta too.

Wednesday: The Divine Ms M is staying with us this week, and we're off to the movies tonight. So I'll make an early dinner of dukkah-crusted lamb fillet with a beetroot and feta salad.

Thursday: I'm off to a meeting in Sydney, so will have Mexican ingredients ready for my gal to whip up.

Friday: Jamie Oliver's salmon and prawn tray bake from his 30 minute meals is an essential. With salsa-verde potatoes and a spinach and mint salad. Yum.

Saturday: Steak and salad - bbq night.

Sunday: Roast. Last week we had pork belly, so it's probably time for chicken again do you think?

Ps: where's January going? My gal's due to start high school soon - eeek! We've got everything ready - uniform, shoes {yes - we finally found lace up shoes that weren't clunky and ugly. After 7 years of Mary Janes the girls have to wear lace-up shoes in high school - erk}

Enjoy your week - what's on your menu?

golden globes frock love

Okay, you could have knocked me down with a feather when I realised that I liked what Nicole Kidman's wearing. And I do. Actually, I think I love it. It's so flattering, gives her curves and the gold adds oomph to the pale colour. Love her hair colour too - and the face isn't looking as frozen as usual.

Such a dramatic look for Angelina. LOVE the make-up {want that lippy!} and that slash of red is perfect on the frock. But damn, girl, please eat something.

Work with what you've got. This deceptively simple frock is many shades of fabulous. Love.

The image doesn't do this justice. A SPECTACULAR shade of green with a feathered shot of fabulosity. This was by far and away my fave look.

I also LOVED Sofia Vergara {who doesn't?} but couldn't find a shot of her smoking up the red carpet in Vera Wang. Kristen Wig is looking glorious as a brunette in peach, and oh, Heidi Klum wins the prize for best accessory with her fabulous turquoise neck piece. Reece Witherspoon also looked rather fabulous with messy, long hair and a deep red frock.

There's not enough Ricky in this Golden Globe coverage for my liking, but hey I'll take what I can get.

oooh, it's saturday {sigh}

I've got a bit of a thing for green. I find it soothing, relaxing and very, very fresh. Our bedroom's green, the original colour from when we bought the house, and we've painted our living room in a colour very similar to this one. I think it'd work well in our kitchen too. Hubby wasn't too sure how well it'd go with the grey benchtops, but I think it works. Don't you?

Busy day today. I'm out to dig up the vegie gardens and add lots of manure ready for autumn planting. I'm also working on the inside of the house to get it back into shape for the working week. Then, tonight, we're off to visit our friends who went spent a week with in Provence. One couple, who live in Sweden, are out in Oz, so we're all catching up to reminisce, and hopefully plan the next trip... I'm saving my pennies as we speak.

flowers for friday

Can't you just breathe in the prettiness with these gorgeous white fleurs and pretty palest of pale blue bottles? This image just about sums up serenity - which I could do with a spot of about now... I'm feeling a little blue, my English in-laws are flying back home tomorrow after a fabulous month. Last night there were tears from my gal who asked "Why can't they live closer?" Makes me want to save harder and get back over there again sooner...

On the bright side, we did have a wonderful month with them. Caught up many times, shared giggles and great conversation. The girls all adore each other, little Miss R was permanently attached to my gal at the family farewell last night, so that's something to be thankful for.

They mightn't be in our neighbourhood, but they're in our hearts, that's what matters isn't it?

school holiday awesome

This.

This needs to be done.

a bit of pretty

One thing I love about immersing myself in Pintrest is stumbling upon little bits of fabulous.

Like this.