meal planning monday

Okay, back on track. I'm starting my meal planning on a Monday again. Makes the week work a little better I think. Last night we had the most magnificent pork loin from the Farmer's Markets. The crackling was the best-ever and the meat was succulent and delish. I served it with some cavalo nero - black tuscan cabbage cooked with some garlic sauteed in butter and olive oil and just enough chicken stock to steam it. My green-veg averse husband actually liked it, and child didn't mind it. So I'll make it again {maybe adding some pancetta to make it even more appealing...}

Tonight: Netball. Chicken curry with cashews, rice and garlic naan.

Tuesday: Osso Bucco {I bought Angus Osso Bucco at the markets - it's so deep red it's almost purple - so must cook it to do it justice. I reckon a couple of hours in a tomato and garlic-rich sauce} served with mash and baby asparagus {also from markets}

Wednesday: We're doing Duck Confit night at III Bean with our duck-loving friends again. Hopefully Alice from Baked Uprising will have a sweet treat to tickle my tastebuds at the end of the meal.

Thursday: French study: no class but my friend and I are headed off to a quiet cafe somewhere to study together. I need all the help I can get with revising! For husband and child, bolognaise pasta bake.

Friday: Baked, glazed salmon, rice and asian greens.

Saturday: Friends for dinner so shall be perusing the French cookbooks for a suitable feast.

Sunday: Roast chicken dinner with veg.

statement in my study

See this fabulous carpet with peonies swirled all over it? Well that's what's going underfoot in my study. Tres fabulous non? However, we're going for an even greater statement with the carpet in charcoal. Dark, yet divine. The walls will be white, the desk a pale french grey, chair white, bookshelves white. We've been tossing up whether to go with the safer mid-grey option, but after a weekend's deliberation we've both decided that we can cope with the statement the bolder shade offers.

I'm beside myself with excitement as I've never chosen a carpet before. I adore floorboards and had hoped to paint the boards in my study white - but after pulling up the carpet in the corner we discovered we only had boards in half the room, and masonite in the extended section.

We ducked into a carpet showroom the other day and as I was moping around the selections, I stumbled across this Signature beauty named Rosa. That's it, t'was smitten. So fingers crossed we'll be doing a spot of redecoration in the near future. Shall I be sad to say goodbye to my boring beige berber and pale veneer desk? I think not. Considering the amount of time I spend in my study, working from home, it should be our most fabulous room. Can't wait to glam it up.

yes please mr manolo

Oh, come on, how ridiculously pretty are these Manolos? I found them over at Nordstom, and if I had a lazy $850-odd dollars lying around the house cluttering it up, I think I'd buy them. But I don't, so I shan't. Oh well, a gal should dream. It's also inspired me to jazz up a pair of my strappy sandals with fabric flowers - not my Manolos - they're staying intact. But I do have a few pairs of shoes that could do with a make-over...

Yesterday my husband spent the entire day putting my tax together - bless his socks. With me dashing in and out to help find receipts and info. Luckily, this next tax year I've been more organised and have all my info collated in the one place. We'll be starting on that soon enough.

My gal and I did a spot of planting on the weekend. Some sweet peas along a bare patch of fence {late, but hopefully they'll take off}, primulas around the base of the dovecote and violas in the window boxes off the living room. I went with the cheap option of seedlings this time, rather than potted colour the time before. Hopefully they'll take off and give us a burst of colour for 1/4 the price.

Enjoy your week - hope it's productive and fun x

super-sunny sunday

I must say that it's a helluva lot easier to wake and leap out of bed when blue sky's peeking around the corner of the blinds. It's a gorgeous, glorious day today. Tragically, we'll be spending some/most/all of it putting my tax together. Eep. But I'm also planning on working my way through teetering piles of washing {seriously, that other family that keeps dumping dirty clothing in my washing basket really needs to stop...}

There will also be a section of time allocated to getting out into the wintery sunshine with my gal. A walk to the beach perhaps? How's your Sunday treating you?

i'd be a little bit naughty

If it meant wearing this Valentino number for even a moment. Honestly, could you imagine anything more divine swishing around yourself? However, I'm pretty sure that the net-a-porter "Try it and return it if it doesn't fit policy" doesn't involve shipping frocks worth upteen thousand to Aus so I can be a princess for a day.

Well, one can dream....

soggy saturday

Baby, it's cold outside. And it's threatening rain. Not enough to have netball cancelled mind, just enough to guarantee a spot of misery. Oh well, it's not netball if it's not a wintery, windy, drizzly day is it?

Thank you to all my new visitors yesterday thanks to the lovely blog love from Corinne posted over at Sharnanigans. I adore blogland's habits of spreading the love. You can discover new loves and addictions thanks to a few well-placed words.

Okay, off to rug up and grab a double shot coffee. I'm saving it till the last minute to keep nice and warm. Brrrrrrr. Wish us luck!

phew, friday

I shall be avidly awaiting the lunar eclipse, just so this crazy week can come to an end. Seriously, hasn't it been odd? So I'm going to be checking out the sky tonight as apparently the moon will turn red - cool huh? I may need a cocktail in hand when I do so...

such a sweet weekend

Can you hear that sound? I'm pretty sure that what you can hear is thousands of sighs greeting the weekend. Aaaaaah. What does your weekend involve? Tragically mine has nothing to do with this cute-as-a-haberdashers-full-of-buttons caravan here. Seriously, if I owned that wee beauty I'd be constantly camping - although, strictly speaking, surely that'd be glamping in such a number.

My weekend involves plotting, planning, scheming and acting. Oh, and getting our tax ready {le sigh, le ugh}. There will be study designing {wait till you see the carpet we've found, you JUST WAIT}. There shall also be bathroom scheming - and a spot of garden plotting thrown in at the same time. We'll also throw in the last of the netball games before the school holidays, a birthday party and some drinking of champagne {c'mon - it's the weekend - bubbles are mandatory...} and a tad relaxation.

C'mon - you?

a day of firsts

Wow, so Australia officially has its first female Prime Minister. {And she's a redhead* - squeee}. No ballot apparently, Rudd just stepped aside. She's a brave woman stepping up to this position - let's see what it does to the political landscape.

In other news, I woke incredibly early to check out Australia play Serbia and boy, did our Socceroos redeem themselves. What a game. We won 2 - 1, but sadly didn't progress to the next stage. There was some beautiful football on that field - so good I even managed to ignore the mosquito-esque Vuvu's blowing all the way through the match.

It's a pretty good day to be an Aussie I do believe.

{* regular readers will of course be familiar with my love of red hair - that's why I'm pointing it out, because I'm doubly excited, woman + redhead = fabulous.}

playing catch-up

Phew, I'm playing middle-of-the-week catch-up today. I'm trying to get stuff together for my tax return {eek}, wash piles of dirty clothes, put away even higher piles of clean clothes, get on with some work, and start feeling more organised.

It's been one of those weeks so far. Much rushing, little achieved - or poorly achieved. We haven't eaten well this week. Monday night's chorizo and haloumi pasta was a fail. New haloumi lacked flavour and the tin of cherry tomatoes I used were bland and flavourless - it sated our hunger, but that's it. Last night was rushing around after a fabulous parent/teacher interview and I bought hamburgers from a take-away I shan't be visiting again. Erky. C'mon, if you're going to eat crappy stuff it needs to taste good doesn't it?

Tonight we're off to III Bean, where I apparently live now, for a pinot noir and duck confit night. Can't wait to see what Baked Uprising has prepared for pudding!

Right - off to hang out clothes and do another load - this day's going to be productive if it kills me.

musical motivation

Well, I've done it. 1200 words written and ready for editing. For these words I'd like to thank my muse. Pixies, you and your kick-butt music have managed to help me achieve what I thought was impossible. Thank you for Debaser, Monkey's Gone To Heaven, Wave of Mutilation and so many other pieces of musical genius.

Do you have a band that are guaranteed to help extricate annoying songs such as Sea of Love from your head when all else fails? Music that gets the house cleaner than a visit from Mr Sheen? Or tunes that get you in the mood for a fab night out?

Please share...

amazing grace

I'm having one of those days. A day where I have much to do, and a seeming inability to do it. I'm flitting from task to task and need to settle down so I decided that a spot of Grace Coddington's genius would help.

Ahhhhh, better now...

bathing beauties

We've been going through our home lately, room-by-room, working out what we'd like to do in the long-term and the short-term. Generally speaking when our house was restored they did a fabulous job - but I think the bathroom was last on the list and it's starting to show. Our bath's developed a crack, a decent-sized one. So in the short-term we'll try to repair it and use the shower, but in the long-term it means a bathroom renovation is on the cards.

We've only got a smallish bathroom, so we're limited size-wise. But what we'd love is a slipper bath to replace the nasty plastic number that's there at the moment. Luckily we can save a bit as hopefully we'll be able to keep the current white subway tiles that go from floor almost up to the ceiling on all walls - they just need a bit of regrouting in the shower.

It's only in the preliminary stages at the moment - but isn't it great to have plans?

pump up the volume

With another busy week on the horizon I thought these fully fierce Miu Miu pumps were just the thing to get off to a good start. Is there an outfit they wouldn't up the vamp factor in by about a million volts?

I have a very sore and sorry husband after he lugged tonnes of convict sandstone and soil around in the side yard over the weekend - but wow, you should see how it's looking. Still a work in progress, but aspects are looking fabulous. I'm also pretty chuffed with myself as I managed to vacuum and mop all the floors while husband and gal worked outside in the yard. So clean, so lovely...

Today I'm working this morning, then dashing out to Bibina - this massive food warehouse home of absolutely every foodstuff you can dream of. Last time I was there I bought Violette Syrup {$3 a bottle less than at Essential Ingredient}, violet food colour, murray river pink salt and a few other bibs and bobs. This time I'm going to venture into both the cheese room and the chocolate room. Yum.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend.

a gardener's life

Busy morning this morning. Netball game followed by lunch with my in-laws and now we're doing a spot of gardening. Darling husband is out shifting sandstone blocks in the side yard and I'm watering the trees in the backyard and then plan on getting a bit stinky by adding manure to the roses.

The day is utterly glorious - it's a shame not to enjoy it.

on a sunny saturday

It's a sunny winter's day here in Newcastle, chilly, but with enough warmth from the sun to allow it to feel pleasant. In two hours I'm being collected in a taxi by two fabulous friends and we're headed off to a bar on Newcastle's sparkly harbour foreshore. There, we'll catch up with a few more year 5 mums for cocktails and champagne before eating a meal and coming home. Sounds lovely doesn't it?

In case you're wondering why on earth I've included a picture of nailpolish here - it's because this is the exact colour that's going to be adorning my nails this afternoon. I'm also wearing a fiery red frock, so I'm obviously not in wallflower mode.

Hope you're enjoying your sunny saturday.

woo hoooo weekend!

Phew, a busy week shall be bookended by another busy weekend. I don't know about you, but long weekends tend to throw my working week into turmoil. I feel like I've been frantically chasing butterflies this week - so it's time to slow down. Soon.

This afternoon it's school report day. Can't wait to see what my gal's teacher has to share with us. Then we're going to dash off to Westfield {eek!} to buy a birthday present for the sleepover party my gal's attending tonight. I have to pick her up at 9am for a netball game - and then we've got another game on Sunday {no lolling around for breakfast in bed!}. My husband's parents are coming down to watch her play on Sunday and are then coming back here for brunch. Still haven't contemplated food options - should probably get onto that shouldn't I?

Saturday night we'll be watching Australia redeem themselves in the World Cup. We will, won't we? I'm also going out for 'mother's drinks' with some lovely lasses from school. Drinks in a harbourside bar sure sounds like a fine way to spend an early Saturday afternoon.

There'll also be the obligatory gardening and housecleaning. Sigh. Can't these things ever start to look after themselves?

How about you? Plans?

somebody who?

A few months back I blogged about how I made myself snap out of my "I should" phase and move into "I will". I've worked out I've got another pet peeve - the phrases "people should..." or "somebody should..."

You're only responsible for your own actions. If you see a dangerous piece of footpath, rather than muttering "somebody should fix this..." then you call the council and start the action yourself. See rubbish on the beach? Pick it up and put it in a bin. Of course people shouldn't litter, and yes, things should be maintained so they're not dangerous, but stuff happens.

I think it's dangerous to be a "people should..." person. All the anger and bitterness builds up inside so that even when "someone does" do something, you're too busy tutting and about-timing to take the time and appreciate it.

I don't want to be a "somebody should" person - I want to be an "I'll do it" person. Much better non?

wizarding wow

I think I need to step away from Twitter at the moment. See, I follow Lainey, from LaineyGossip and at the moment she's deep inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and every single tweet is turning me a deeper shade of green. Currently I'm such a dark shade of emerald that in certain light I appear black.

Check out her rundown here. And tell me, when are we going?

PS: This pic, with all the Weasleys in their titian-haired perfection? Making my life.

baked delight

As you have probably guessed, I'm a huge fan of cooking. There's nothing I like better than coming up with a delicious meal. What I'm particularly fond of is coming up with something creative. I can do this with savoury foods, but baked goods elude me. Probably because I don't have the background knowledge to help guide me. I have made pastry, but not often enough to be able to do so without a recipe. And there's no way I'd be game enough to experiment - it's just outside my comfort zone. So imagine my joy at finding someone who loves to experiment with baking. Now, first of all go here to see a creative baking genius at work.

Then, no matter where you live, make plans to come here to Newcastle and visit a few of the cafés clever enough to stock her creations {III Bean, Lotus and Suspension}. I had the sour cherry and pistachio tart today after my cassoulet at lunch {mmmm} and it was a revelation. The cassoulet was rich, sensuous and every mouthful was a delight - but I knew that if this tart was on offer I'd have to give it a go. I expected it to taste delicious but this went beyond delicious. It was the perfect balance of flavours and textures - and looked gorgeous. It's a very clever person who can balance flavours so well. I'm in love and think I may have to return for another bite tomorrow...