colour me pretty

I'm working late tonight, mainly so I can spend some time with my gal tomorrow. But I'm in a damned fine mood. I feel as content as Mme Antoinette here with her stack of macarons. {Oh, that movie, I'm in need of a pretty-fix...}

Hey, did I tell you my news? We're off to Paris next year. Yep, Paris AND Provence. I KNOW! We'll head over in July, spend time in England with the family, then husband's catching up with a few buds to take in the Tour de France, then he and I will spend a few days in Paris. Did someone say Michelin star dining? Hell yeah! Our gal offered to stay in England with the cousins {and her aunt and uncle} while husband and I have some serious Paris moments. Bless. It'll also be the year of our 10 year wedding anniversary {and we'll be there for the 18th anniversary of when we met - I KNOW!!!!!}

Then we'll spend a week in Provence with our gal, the cousins and the sister and brother-in-law, back to the UK - and I think I may well be shopping. Then dropping.

So excited - hence burning the midnight oil and working. A gal's gotta pay for Paris somehow...

happy daze

Phew, last night was hot - damned hot. The cool change that normally kicks in when the sun goes down refused to raise even so much as a toe towards kicking in. So that meant a restless night. However, surprisingly, I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get on with the day.

One interview to do and then I'm free to climb rock walls with the gals {who, adorably, made their breakfast, and their bed, unpacked the dishwasher and are now hanging a load of washing - cuteness!}.

We're packing so much adventure into these school holidays that I'm pretty sure that even my school-loving miss isn't really missing school too much.

Best investment ever? The pool. My gal had seven swims yesterday and I had two - even tied my hair back tightly and did a few laps of fast freestyle {rather than my usual slow breaststroke}. Husband spent the day top-dressing the lawn in the courtyard {stinky much?} so it should be looking lush and green in just a few weeks time.

some kind of wonderful

More than happy for the days to keep zooming by when it brings me ever-closer to this...

summer lovin'

Hi, how's your Tuesday going? Mine's speeding along! Trying to get an abundance of work done today so I can go indoor rock climbing tomorrow with my gal and one of her bud's who's having a sleepover tonight. Fun!

How cute are these icecream popsicles I found on marthastewart.com? Let me tell you that they're being made next time we have a family with kidlets over to dinner {when I get my entertaining mojo back - oh where, oh where can it be?}

Think I need a quick swim to infuse me with enough energy to get my afternoon's work done - and to help my poor ol' body recover from a hot, sweaty, hectic game of netball last night {yep, we won 36 - 13 - not bad for old chooks!}

shiny shoes on a grey monday

Guys, I'm moving Shoe of the Week to Monday - is that okay? The theory is that we all need something pretty to propel us through the blah-ness that is the start of the week. So this week, Marc Jacobs is having a shiny moment, and oh, me likey.

Nothing's more practical than a wedge - seriously, they're virtually flats they're so comfy and sturdy. But comfort doesn't have to equate with frump. Oh, my, no. So instead, this week comfort's all about the shiny, the silver and a spot of glitz.

For you. Cos I love you.

happy mondays

Well I don't know about you, but my weekend flew by - even though I started in on Friday! Coming down with a lurgy on Saturday didn't help - it made me spend all day yesterday lolling on the couch {although I did catch up on mucho Jamie and Giada at home}.

Cake was baked: Nigella's sour cream and chocolate and, I beg of you, if you're a fan of chocolate cake, please bake this one. It seems so thick and non-liquid pouring it into the tin, but the texture and taste is exquisite. Oh, and in the KitchenAid - super easy.

Last night I was feeling up to eating, but not cooking, so as a dear friend had my gal for a sleepover hubby and I went pub-hunting for dinner. We ended up going to the newly refurbished Delany Hotel in Darby Street. Oh my.

Duck-fiend husband had confit duck, green beens, caramelised pear and potato dauphinous. To-die-for. He thinks it may have been one of the tastiest ducks he's eaten {and considering that he and a friend have been doing 'a duck lunch tour of Newcastle' for a few months now, that's a call}. I had a gorgeous hunk of steak, perfectly-dressed salad and frites. Oh, and did I mention the bernaise sauce? Oh yeah. We came home and polished off a piece of my leftover cake for pudding. Yum.

After two scorchers the sky's grey and is threatening rain - which is fine, I'm up with all my washing. I'm also sitting glued at my desk, frantically calling around to find interview subjects for a very difficult story I'm working on. If I can do this one, I can do anything.

Enjoy your monday!

lazy sundays

Damn, I'm having a lazy day today. I was stricken with some weird virus thing yesterday - probably just all the pent up craziness of December/Jan bursting out of my system.

So today I'm listening to my body and resting it. If only my kitty-cat could be bothered to strum a ukulele to lull me to sleep. Lazy critter...

d-lightful

Getting a little vitamin D can boost your mood. So go on, it's a gorgeous day out there - get out and enjoy it!

happy weekend

It was the rather fabulous Mr Bowie's birthday yesterday. Sigh, does that man have beautiful bone structure or what? So this weekend, I'm going to chill, and do what Bowie would do.

That'd have to be something cool right?

pretty impatient

So there I was, casually browsing "what's new" on net-a-porter when these leapt out and took up residence in my retina. Seriously, would you expect me to save these till next week's shoe of the week?

Of course not. So now, for your viewing pleasure, what are quite possibly the perfect pair of pumps. Silver, python, peep-toed and scarlet-soled. Oh Mr Louboutin, you'd do anything to weave your way back into my heart wouldn't you just?

friday fabulosity

Guys, it's another week coming to an end - looks like twenty ten will be moving with the same alarming speed at 2009...

My gal's at a playdate with a buddy today, so I'm hunkering down to get three days work completed in one. Last night we had a crowd for dinner - the largest group I'd cooked for {I'm still doing baby-steps - entertaining one family at a time}. Last night we had father- and mother-in-law, sister- and brother-in-law, two nieces and a friend of the British who was visiting from the UK. A bbq, roasted potato salad and green salad and lots of baguettes filled everyone before finishing off with a lemon delicious pudding and lashings of vanilla bean ice cream. Mmmmm.

Tomorrow night we're off to another sister-in-law's for bbq - with the whole family attending. I'm making a massive dish of potatoes dauphinous and a big chocolate cake for all the girls with December/January birthdays to share {I'm thinking Nigella's chocolate sour cream cake - what do you think?}

But now I'm going to brew myself another coffee and sit down and work, work, work, work, work. Might do some whistling while I'm at it too...

zombies make funny

If you want to laugh, and don't mind a bit of zombie humour, then go here. The last part in particular is so cute and giggleable. Go on.

red hot

There's always a time for a pair of lipstick red heels. These Marni pretties look like the ideal pair to wear while off lunching with the gals.

It's raining again today, sigh. I shouldn't complain as I managed to get all my washing done - except the two sets of sheets I washed last night... Oh well, I'll string up a line under cover somewhere.

Hey, I'm thinking of something radical. Not replacing my broken clothes dryer. Realistically I only use it in emergencies - and maybe I don't even need it then. I think I'll wait and see...

soap stars

I'm a fan of reality tv - and a huge fan of cooking programs, which is why I'm rather keen on some Top Chef action.

However, the other night I had a revelation of the non-culinary kind. See, at the end of a shift the chefs were scrubbing down the stainless steel bench tops with soapy water, then polishing it with a dry cloth.

Genius.

I have a stainless steel bbq {monster that it is}, stainless steel dishwasher and ss oven and cooktop. All of which have driven me crazy in the search for a polished and clean surface. In the olden days when I had a cleaner she swore by a $7 bottle of specialised stuff, but I felt it left streaks and never really satisfied me in the cleaning stakes.

So tonight I squirted some dishwashing liquid into a bowl of hot water, grabbed a cloth and an old linen tea towel and set to work on the bbq. Within a few minutes it was shiny and cleaner than it's ever been - and I swear I spent less time on it than I would with the specialised cleaner.

Soap and water, you rock.

food fight

I've mentioned before that I've lost my cooking mojo. What with the whirl of December zooming by, Christmas, birthday parties, activities... I got out of my regular weekly meal planning and into a daily buying tizz. Of course this has two side-effects.

Firstly, the hassle. Deciding what to cook on the day sucks. It's taxing, it's stressful and never as effective as if you'd planned.

Secondly, it's damned expensive. Whether it's a frantic dash to the supermarket, or quickly ducking in to buy the world's most expensive head of garlic {at $5 this one had better be damned good} this is an expensive way to eat.

So today I was uninspired till I watched Nigella whip up lemon and garlic chicken. Yum. So I walked up to the organic shop to buy two unwaxed lemons and that gold-plated head of garlic. Next, I walked in the opposite direction to the butcher - where they had no free-range chicken, and only breasts or thighs with no skin. Pointless. This recipe calls for slow roasting and crispy skin - seriously there's no point to chicken without crispy skin {except for poached - that I'll allow}. Then I pondered the meat cabinet for, oh, I reckon a good 15 minutes...

Ditherer.

Now I'm slow roasting an easy carve leg of lamb that's studded with slivers of the world's most expensive garlic and slivers of anchovies. I'll serve it on a salad and bedazzle it with some pomegranite seeds.

Next step is formulating a meal plan for tomorrow on. Which shall, of course, include Nigella's crispy-skin chicken.

and breathe

I'm surrounded by silence today. My husband's returned to work, and our gal is at her grandparents after a sleepover last night.

I've got loads of work to get through, so I'm planning on ploughing through it as quickly as possible. I do also need to vacuum and mop the floors. Parties, cake making, lots of swimming and entertaining have left a patina, quite a thick patina {or maybe that's just crushed up potato chips...}

My thoughts are with one very special person today. I know that bad things do happen to good people, but seriously, how much are some people meant to take? I normally try to look on the bright side, but why are there so many horrid people out there who get through life okay, while those who try and deserve so much just experience blow after blow?

We're on the opposite sides of the world, so I can't do anything except send love - lots and lots of it. xxx

blue sky dreaming

Oh my word, today we awoke to pristine blue skies. Real Aussie summer shades of azure. I felt my mood rise instantly. Isn't everything more achievable on a lovely day? It probably helped that I had a great night's sleep on my fresh, crisp sheets...

We've got the cousins all day again today. Bliss. We had a lovely bbq dinner last night on the back veranda, the girls played red rover cross over and what's the time Mr Wolf in the front garden, and swam of course. Bedtime they all bunked down in my gal's room and even the last recalcitrant child {who needed a drink, lost her toy...} was asleep by 9.30pm.

Breakfast is now complete and Hello Kitty colouring pages have been printed out. The girls will gather on the back veranda to colour and afterwards we'll all go for a swim.

I'm feeling recharged and ready to get into the new year. After the hectic nature of Christmas and New Year I was all entertained out - but a few days of rest, walking every day and eating food to nourish my body have rejuvenated me.

Time to send out a few dinner invitations I think. After all, I've got my Mastering the Art of French Cooking to work through - and a KitchenAid that's just begging to make some puddings.

oh-so-crisp

It didn't rain today and by the afternoon blue sky had broken through the ever-present clouds. So tonight I've got freshly laundered sheets all crisp and white to go on my bed.

Pretty sure that sweet dreams will follow...

sleepover club

In a few hours my sister-in-law will be dropping off our two nieces so we can babysit while she and her hubby enjoy an overnight stay in a beach resort down south. Guess how excited my daughter is at the prospect of well-over 24 hours with her cousins? Yes, very doesn't do her excitement justice.

So I'm going to attempt to squish in a little work before they get here. And then, this week I promise to get onto some lovely, lovely, lovely awards I've been given - and to give them out to some spesh peeps!

Enjoy your monday, hope it's productive. I know ours is going to be filled with giggles galore!

awash

Okay, am now so completely and utterly over this rain. C'mon! I've got a ridiculous amount of washing to do, and now my dryer's decided to cark it on me. Normally I'm a dry in the fresh air and sunshine kinda gal - but there's been none of that and even hanging clothes under cover isn't working as the air's so damp.

Sigh.

Do you think that these Marc Jacobs wellingtons would ease my woes somewhat?