vegie-licious

I love my husband. Look what he did. In one weekend we went from weed-covered side-yard, to bare, ready-to-plant garden, to wee, pretty vegie garden.

Bless.

Look at my teeny little carrots, beetroot, rocket, lettuce, garlic, basil, tomatoes and corn. LOOK! Aren't they just the sweetest things ever? And yes, hubby did move all those massive convict sandstone slabs into place, oh, about two years ago... Can't rush these things. At least the soil's all nice and nourished - luckily as we have shocking clay soil here {I know, weird, we're only two blocks from the beach - I still think we should have sandy soil...}

Now I just need to get into a watering routine, and then in a month's time we're planting out the other garden bed. Fresh veg here we come!

meal planning monday*

Monday* again, so I need to plot out another week's worth of meals. Here's what we'll be eating this week:
Monday: Filet steak with sauteed mushrooms, garlic broccoli and pumpkin mash
Tuesday: Spanish chicken with a big tossed salad
Wednesday: Slow-roasted beef ribs, green salad and corn on the cob
Thursday: Salmon patties, salad and wilted greens
Friday: Lamb fillet with roasted chickpea salad
Saturday: Chicken schnitzel, mash and green beans

* So tired that I forgot to schedule this - read it tomorrow...

well hello spring!

There's an abundance of purple prettiness in my front garden at the moment. The wisteria's out in full bloom, lavender's out and saying, "hey, remember Provence..." and Irises are all out competing with each other to out-fabulous the other.

We're also FINALLY planting our vegie garden today. Hubby's painting the rest of the front fence charcoal {beautiful backdrop for all our plants} and then, this afternoon we're getting digging. Squeee!

goodness gracious

I've been bemused, and a little saddened, as I've watch a wee bit of drama erupt this week. Apparently it's becoming a bit of a thing to judge and attack. I've seen in happen on one of my favourite blogs, and I've seen it happen over Twitter.

Now, I make no secret of my love of reality tv - and one show I just love {even though I probably shouldn't} is Australia's Next Top Model. I've watched every series with glee. I was watching last week when a model bemoaned her weight gain, then had an extremely unflattering photo shoot in a coffin. I remember thinking that it looked like she just wasn't going to fit in - nothing to do with her supposed weight gain, just her sheer height and gangliness. When Alex Perry quipped that she looked like overstuffed luggage I thought it was a pretty apt simile, nothing to do with her weight - she just didn't fit.

Weirdly, nearly a week later a furore arose over the comment with Alex Perry being derided for his 'fat-hatred'. Um, really? Is this the Alex Perry who has clothing up to a size 16? Alex Perry who so beautifully dressed Robyn Lawley in the above Vogue shoot? The hatred and the vitriol he's receiving over twitter is just quite yucky to witness. It's bad enough when someone's done something worthy of derision - but this is a comment taken completely out of context and I think it's just outrageous that any person should be subjected to that. Especially a designer who clothes do tend to celebrate the female form - have a look - they're all about curves and shapes.

Sigh. Haters gotta hate.

dita's nailed it

Right up high on the People I Love list is Dita Von Teese. Glorious creature that she is. And look - now she's got nails featuring her awesome reverse french manicure for sale. Fabulous aren't they?

meal planning monday

Ahhh, Spring. Damn, I love this season. For a start, at the moment, whenever I walk out my front door I'm suffused in the most delicious scents. My wisteria's out and oh boy, does it smell amazing - and look divine. The days are getting longer too, so I can end my working day with a work on the beach. Bliss. And warmer weather means lighter meals. Hallelujah. This week: here's what's happening:

Monday: I bought some rather fabulous eye fillet at the farmer's market yesterday. I might just fire up the bbq to cook it. Alongside there shall be some simple steamed veg, maybe a wee salad.

Tuesday: Ballet class till late. Garlic roasted chicken, tomato salad and lotsa greens.

Wednesday: no more netball. Phew, back to normal {loved my girls and netball, but a bit of breathing space is fabulous}. I have some pork schnitzel from Aussie Farmers - I might pan fry them and serve them with a fennel and grapefruit salad.

Thursday: Late ballet. Again. Thai beef salad I think.

Friday: I'm in Sydney for meetings, then bringing my bestie, The Divine Ms M back up here. We're off to see a band with old uni friends. Better make some pasta to sustain us. Broccoli, poached chicken and almond oricchiette should do it.

Saturday: Would you believe I'm going out again? Nope, me neither. It's a school reunion so I'll be eating out. Gal and the hubby can have mexican in my absence.

Sunday: Roast chicken and salad - yes?

happy birthday freddie

Love me a bit of Freddie, and to celebrate his birth, here's one of my faves {followed v closely by Fat Bottomed Girls! Oooh, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love... and....}

PS: The Google Doodle to celebrate what would have been Freddie's 65th? Beyond awesome.

let the light in...

The people who renovated our house got it pretty well right - except they obviously ran out of money when it came to the bathroom. Where we've got gorgeous, original windows throughout the whole home, in the bathroom there's a nasty aluminium number {admittedly framed with timber on the exterior - but still...}

When we eventually do our bathroom up {and that's way down our list of priorities - it looks fine} I'd love to pop in a lovely big window that comes down to the bath. Now, as our back veranda will look directly into said bathroom, it'd need to be frosted, but still - imagine the light! Bliss.

Oh, and I'll have that bath too. x

super dooper saturday

Oh my, it's a bit of a whopper of a day for us today. To start - my girls are in the GRAND FINAL. Yep, the netball team I've lovingly been coaching for three years has made it to the top. Eep! Bless their socks, they've won and lost with grace this year - taking to the court with enthusiasm every single game. And leaving the court with a smile on their face. I hope their smiles are mega-wide today. We've made some red and white cheerleader pom poms and I'll be waving them around like crazy today.

Immediately afterwards {actually, kinda during} my gal has to dash to ballet to do her first-ever classical exam. She'll leave before the last quarter to get their on-time - luckily her dad's the ballet-bun person in the family {seriously, eight years on and I still can't get the damned thing to stay put for a whole lesson!}

Then, that afternoon it's a catch-up at the club that sponsors our netball club - drinkies and nibblies for all the players. Bless.

And is that all? Nope. I'm catching up with a fab friend who was in Paris at the same time as us - but our conflicting schedules didn't allow us to have champagne in Paris. So we'll have some champagne and cheese here while sighing over Paris together and plotting our next trip... Then, we're headed off to meet some more friends at Bar Petite. More champagne? Probably.

Sunday's father's day, so not tooooooo much champers on Saturday night. Breakfast in bed for the hubby, then pressies and a bit of a relax. We'll be needing it I think.

How's your weekend panning out?

i want candy*

*{and her hair}

flowers for friday

While I can usually admire orchids from afar, they've never been one of my faves. I think I've always been jealous of their high-maintenance perfection. But on such a glorious spring day I needed a pop of fabulous colour to celebrate, and, really, can you believe these gorgeous colours?

Taken en-masse at the Hampton Court Flower Show. Oh yes, just gorgeous.

i wanna be kate spade's friend....

Oh, I really shouldn't have followed Kate Spade on twitter. I was already besotted with the woman and the most recent series of instagam shots have me longing to be her bestie.

Look. Cocktails! For me?

beauty lust-haves

I'm a sucker for Chanel eyeshadow, and this gorgeous, slick, glittery grey is no exception. I haven't splurged on a new eye colour for yonks. But this little pretty may well need to come home and live in my make-up bag.

I'm still utterly besotted with my new YSL Parisienne Extreme parfum I purchased in Paris, but when I run out of current Tom Ford {Black Orchid - the ultimate nighttime scent} then I may be persuaded to track this down. Hello - gorgeous!

i've said it before...

The best thing about being a celeb would have to be getting to play dress-ups all the time.

And don'tcha just love how SJP seems to enjoy it too? {Wonder if Matthew Broderick got to play the Big Bad Wolf when they got home?}

wee french yoghurt pots

In France you don't have to eat yoghurt from a nasty plastic tub. Oh no, in France they have the most delicious yoghurt in lovely glass jars. I know - glass jars! So this time, I made sure I washed a few and brought them home. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them {aside from popping in a votive candle...}

But here's what I can do. When I popped outside earlier to grab the mail I noticed two of my Pierre de Ronsard roses had gotten a bit damaged while hubby was tying them back. No problem, I snipped them off, brought them in and put them straight into a yoghurt pot.

Perfection.

Now all I have to do is clean my desk to make a more appropriate home for them  {please ignore that weird, crumby thing in the corner of my photo - focus on the roses and the yoghurt pot instead. Thanks}

it's all about contrast

Don't you just love a bit of contrast? I adore the way this lavender pops against this pale green shutter, which co-ordinates just beautifully with the stone wall.

I think I need to bring a little bit of Provence back to my spot in Merewether...

meal planning monday

Okay, getting organised again. Honestly, if I don't meal-plan my whole week seems to fall apart, so here we go.

Tonight: I couldn't be bothered leaving the house so we had a 'pantry meal' of potato, capsicum and chorizo tortilla. Served with a simple green salad. Yum.
Tuesday: The gal and I are taking her cousin to see the Verona Theatre Group's version of Pinocchio and getting a rather fabbo Italian meal with it. Last year this company came out and performed The Little Prince. Half in Italian, half in English - I was fully in tears. Bless.
Wednesday: I think I have to make a risotto as there is some kick-ass home-made chicken stock in my fridge that's begging to be used. Lemon chicken and haloumi risotto you think?
Thursday: My gal's last ballet lesson before her ballet exam on Saturday {why yes, it IS right after her netball grand final... BIG weekend} Best make her happy and make up a Shephard's pie for dinner.
Friday: Now, chances are that I've invited friends for dinner tonight. If so, there will be duck confit, potatoes and green beans. If not, well, why not have duck confit...
Saturday: There's a celebration at the local club for the end of the netball year. Nibbles will be available - so I'll have a curry at home in the slow cooker ready for our return.
Sunday: Roast beef. Yep, with plenty of veg - am LOVING roasted carrots and beetroot alongside my meat. You?

how many?

People, a moment please: this is, wait for it - my 2000st blog post. I KNOW!

I never realised, when I started this blog for a bit of fun a few years back, that I'd still be blogging 2000 posts later. I also had no idea that I'd form such incredible friendships, and discover so many fabulous aussie blogs.

So, woo hoo, here's to 2000 - and the next 2000. Thanks for sticking around x

flowers for friday

Later on I'll be popping out to buy some daffodils for Daffodil Day. But, until I have their pretty yellow faces popping over a pale blue jug, I'll have to fill this space with some provencal lavender.

le bol

A bowl of coffee, in a pretty bol purchased in Menerbes in Provence, my sweet new mousemat {purchased at Typo at Charlestown... doesn't have the same ring... but still - pretty!} and you have the perfect combination for a good morning's work.

Thanks Gourmet Girlfriend for a timely reminder that a big bowl of coffee is sometimes all you need.