spring fling

How do I love Spring, let me count the ways...

♥ The flowers

♥ The delicate warmth

♥ The promise

♥ The subtle change in the light

♥ The longer days

♥ The chance to change the menu

♥ Flirty frocks

You? ♥

this'll be interesting

Found over at Dlisted.com is this ad that Modern Family took out in Variety. Why yes, that would be the Modern Family who won an Emmy for Best Comedy...

Apparently the local court's already signed off stating that any cast member of Modern Family will not be charged with public nudity. Bets on who'll actually birthday-suit-up?

get OUT

I have no coffee beans and as such am finding it difficult to concentrate on my work at hand and instead find myself re-watching the Emmy's opening {obsessive? moi?} and YouTubing Jon Hamm {obsessive! moi!}

Then I thought I'd best check out net-a-porter for some shoes I can't wear - and found these. Because, really, if you're going to look at shoes you can't wear why look at shoes with a measly 4 inch heel? No, why not go all the way and get sweaty and messy with six-inch Louboutin's that are so gobsmackingly gorgeous there's no need to say "I die" because, obviously, you're already dead.

Delirious? Um, yep, think so...

direct delivery

I'm very excited. Not only have I started off my morning in the best possible way {re-watching the opening Emmy scene - damn, that's happy-inducing} but yesterday I ordered groceries on-line. Bliss. Why didn't I think of this before as I'm house-bound? Who knows...

So today there will be fresh fruit and veg, meats {including free-range pork belly for my gal's welcome home dinner!} and yoghurt. Can. Not. Wait.

I think the worst part of being house-bound is the sheer boredom. Boredom of seeing nobody, but boredom of eating the same damned foods. Dinners have been simple so there's no leftovers for lunch, and my shopping lists for my husband have also been simple so he can quickly dash into Coles on his way home from work. I can't possibly eat another ham sandwich - toasted, pan fried or any way.

Husband has a work lunch so today I'm going back on the crutches in search of Sushi. Hopefully I'll find a nice, close park near the sushi store. My damned knee keeps swelling when I walk on it, so I'm still trying to keep my weigh off it. I'm seeing a surgeon on Friday re: reconstruction of the ligament I tore. I have fingers and toes crossed that I can just do rehabilitation as the recovery from the operation is six to 10 weeks which just seems unbearably long.

In good news it's warming up and my pool's starting to look mighty inviting. I'm looking forward to the swimming to build up the muscles to strengthen my knee - and for the cold water to help reduce the swelling. Bring it on.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's an Emmy's opening I need to watch again...

be still my heart...

Love Jon Hamm? Love Glee? Love Tina Fey? Prepare to fall deeper and harder after watching the opening of the Emmys.

PS: You may not have noticed {ha!} but I thought the Emmy's this year were a damned fine spectacle. The red carpet rocked and Jimmy Fallon presented perfectly. What more can a gal ask for?

feeling a little skittish?

Love Modern Family? Check out this Emmy's skit. Gold.

oh MAN

Generally I don't care for men's looks on the red carpet - unless they're wearing Tom Ford. Or happen to be Jon Hamm.

Thumbs up indeed.

funny and fabulous

I think Tina Fey is just gorgeous and hilarious and, until today, has never found a dress sufficiently fabulous. Oscar de la Renta for the win. This - is fabulous.

sleuthing success

Whew, finally. Now, I've found three* shots - woo hoo. Christina Hendricks is just so... sigh... In my eyes she can do no wrong. Adore this shade of mauve with her glorious hair and skin. And just a touch of feathers - damn, I do love feathers...

*{yes, I've finished with the postings of more shots. But I just ad to include that last shot as it showed the stupendous detail on the bodice of this dress. Zac Posen, allow me to kiss your feet...}

red hot on the red carpet

Lea Michelle in Oscar de la Renta is one of my favourite Emmy red carpet looks so far. I also do adore Christina Hendricks {surprise!} but do you think I can find a photo of her fabulously lilac frock? It has feathers people - feathers! I will try, oh don't you worry, I will try.

archiles heel

I'm trying to shop on-line for a pair of sparkly, red ballet flats but my eyes just glaze over unless a shoe has a heel. I did find an amazing pair of 'blood orange' flats at Witchery - but look at the shoe that caused my heart to skip a beat. PRETTY!

We were up early to wave our child off at the school gate as she went off on her School Camp at 7.30am this morning. She was happy as she and her friend bagsed the front seat as she'd hoped so she was all smiles and blowing kisses as she drove off. I managed to avoid tears - barely. Here's hoping she has the time of her life.

lessons learned

Finally, finally, FINALLY I watched The September Issue last night. I know, I've been desperate to see it forever, but it's taken me ages to watch it. After posting the Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour dolls yesterday I felt an overwhelming urge to view the documentary, and oh my, am I glad I did.

See, I've read The Devil Wears Prada, and watched the film more than once {oh, the fashion porn!} so I had my opinions of Anna Wintour, which have undergone a rapid reversal. See, my first job on a magazine was under an editor who scared the living daylights out of me. Every day I'd go home crying and wanting to resign. It was awful. Yet wonderful. She might have been a horror to work for, but she taught me so much. She had an eye for news and what works. She was ahead of trends and expected the best from everyone who worked under her - and sometimes the best doesn't come easily. Sometimes the best has to worked, reworked, and then worked again. Sometimes it involves scratching what you've done and starting all over again.

That's what I saw in The September Issue. An editor and a fashion director who expected the best - which is why Vogue continues to be successful. In their world there's no such thing as 'good enough' - it's fabulous, or it's out. I think that's something to strive for.

You know what else I saw - women who looked fabulous at any age. While Hollywood and so many women in the public eye are kicking and screaming their way to the surgeons office to fight off old age at any cost, these women looked cared-for and refreshingly normal.

Grace Coddington was a breathtakingly beautiful young woman and is now still simply stunning. I adore her wild mane of hair and unmade-up face replete with glorious freckles. Anna Wintour has always had a distinctive look underneath the bob and the glasses - but there's more. You rarely see photos of Anna Wintour smiling, but when you do you realise how beautiful she is. Both women seem to have avoided the botox and the fillers so they look really beautiful rather than unreal.

Looking at the shoots Grace directed was humbling. There's a real art to creating fashion images that linger long after the aperture has closed and she manages to ensure that every single image is exquisite and haunting.

Luckily I've got the DVD for a weekly hire - I'll be watching it over and over to imprint it on my brain to inspire me to greater heights every day.

Uh-mazing

Hey doll-face... Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington dolls have been commissioned by Barney's New York.

Damn - I didn't realise it was possible to actually covet doll's hair.

splashing out

Am I now officially in love with pinupgirlclothing? Why yes I am. Do I keep darting back to check on luscious items of clothing even though I have a story due today? Oh, um, yes. However, did I find the world's most perfect red vintage style swimsuit which makes it all worthwhile? Yeah baby.

Now, as my knee rehabilitation process will involve swimming, water walking and water running would it not be a sensible idea to do so in the world's most smoking hot swimsuit.

Wow, nearly deafened by the chorus of "Yes'm" I just heard.

Thank you.

friday's flowers

I love a sweet-smelling full-blown rose. I'm thinking I need to gather a vase-ful for my desl/ Don't you?

flat out

So, I have a ball to attend in two weeks - and a bung knee. Bung knees and heels do not mix. Sad? Yep. Seeking options? Hell yeah. I found these red! sparkly! flats at pinupgirlclothing.com which, as you can imagine had beautiful heels I had to avert my eyes from they were so pretty.

I've also had to revise my clothing options. If I'm going flat I'm also going close to floor-length so my shoes won't be the focus of my outfit {um, yes, I realise that red! shiny! ballet flats won't exactly blend into the background - but you know what I mean...} Luckily I think I'm able to put together an outfit that once accessorised will look utterly ball-worthy. I have a fabulous black Laura Ashley skirt I bought years back that's long, full and has three layers that are bordered by a beautiful pale french grey silk. So pretty. I've also got a lovely Karen Millen Bolero - black, sparkly and bordered with, wait for it, pale french grey silk. Combined with a simple camisole, Coco Chanel-esque layers of beads, great make-up and something special with my hair and I'll be ready to go. All I need is the shoes.

Red? Sparkly? Yes?

totally unreal

So, reality television. It's been around for a while. So if you're keen to be a participant, chances are you've watched a bit of it and understand that you're going to become a 'character'. If not, then you're an idiot.

I've been sucked deep into the vortex that is Come Dine With Me Australia series 2 and this week I've actually been quite flabergasted by how nasty one of the characters is. Sure, they're all playing a game and putting on a show - I expect them to. But why on earth would you put on a show that leads to you becoming one of the more reviled characters in Australian television history. Bitchiness, judgement, rudeness - seriously, this woman is playing every single character to the hilt and I just can't understand why. Surely she's not naturally such a nasty piece of work...

I know that Reality Raver has been threatened with a lawsuit from the Voldemort {he who shall not be named in case he sues me too...} of the last series - despite him actually being involved in the entertainment industry and using the program as an extensive personal show-real. Unfortunately for him, Paul Robinson was already cast and there's no need for a Mr Nasty on any other soap.

The one benefit of these programs is that no matter how cranky or horrible you've been that day or that week, you can guarantee that there's a larger than life character up on screen who makes you look like Snow White!

something special

A hammock, a green, lush lawn... is there a more perfect spot to while away an afternoon? My perfect afternoon involves lying somewhere slightly shaded, but with enough warmth from the sun for comfort, with a great book and then a quick nap.

Bliss.

What's your idea of bliss?

totally camp*

How is it that one day you're pregnant and the next your baby is heading off on a three day school camping trip? Huh! Monday morning at 7.30am my gal's going to board a bus with her classmates and set off to a school camp on an island in the Hawkesbury River. How fabulous! She's beside-herself-excited and has the list of must-pack items read and re-read 95 times. She's also said things like, "ooh, I'll be having breakfast on Milson Island at this time next week..." bless her socks.

She's had overnight sleepovers - she's had multiple night sleepovers at her grandparents - but this? Wow. I'm thrilled she's getting the adventure, but I can't say I won't be biting my nails while she's gone. What an adventure - let's hope there's lashings and lashings of ginger beer!

* now THIS is officially my 1500 post. Yay me!

what's cooking wednesday

Yes, I'm doing a What's Cooking post even though, strictly speaking, I'm not really up to cooking. After getting the go-ahead from my physio to walk and completely and utterly overdoing it I had a shocker of a day yesterday. A sewer pipe broke, right underneath my favourite rose {no wonder it was so huge and always blooming...} so I had to lose my rose, and had a great big open pit in my front yard. Smelly, and I couldn't use any water. Nice. Thankfully it's fixed now, but we had 24 hours of erk.

Yesterday afternoon I drove to collect my daughter from school as I couldn't find my phone book or mobile and I really hate asking anyone for help. So I hobbled down lots of stairs {12-ish I think} and hobbled across to my car and winced as I drove along. Of course it's my right knee I've injured and when I move my ankle pain shoots up my calf and into my knee. Sigh.

I got to the school gate and got out of the car and then was just overcome with nausea and started seeing stars. When I get ill or in pain I tend to get low blood pressure and tend to faint. So luckily I had two friends who helped calm me down and offered to drive my gal home for the rest of the week.

Being incapacitated really does suck.

So as my husband's ridiculously busy at work I'm trying to work out a way to have decent meals. Luckily I've got leftover meatballs in the freezer so I can sit at a stool and make spaghetti sauce for that tonight. I'm certainly learning to grab everything I need and set it all in place before I start a task!

Here's what we'll have:

Wednesday: spaghetti and meatballs {always make double batches and freeze half!}

Thursday: Steak and salad

Friday: Salmon and salad

Saturday: hamburgers and salad

Sunday: Roast dinner

Monday: chorizo pasta bake

Tuesday: pork and cider casserole

Thank goodness the weather's warming a little and salad seems like a viable option.

Now, whinging over - what's cooking at your place?