I've just seen the preview for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows and think you need to go here and see it too. 
Because it was so frosty this morning I decided to be uber-productive. So after I completed a phone interview I dashed out and vacuumed and mopped the kitchen floor and the bathroom floor. So now I can smell the deliciously lavender-scented cleanliness wafting through the house and feel twice as motivated to get this story written up and sent off.
Wow, it was so freezing last night that I slept with my arms under the covers - would have put my head under there too if it were possible. Hello Winter.
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...}
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.
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...
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...}
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.
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?
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...
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.
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.
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. 
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.
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. 
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. 
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?
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.
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.
