Bye Bye Lady

This morning one of my fabulous friends has flown to the top of the 'top end' of Australia, Darwin to begin a new life adventure. I'm so incredibly proud of her taking this huge leap of faith to start somewhere new but god damn, not happy she is leaving me!!! Nahhh, only kidding Lady, I'll survive - I've booked a couple of extra sessions of therapy to get through this dark time.... We shared a house just prior to me buying my place and we had a ball, we developed a stupid accent we would talk to each other in, and still do to this day. Crazy? yes. Fun? definitely. Stay safe precious girl and I know we will keep in touch, and in the words of ee cummings, "I carry your heart with me" xxxx Have a good weekend all. Me? - Lunch with some precious girlfriends tomorrow at The Lane (yipee) and then a baby shower on the Sunday. You? Photo from Mr Costello (what a surprise!) x

format still not working - SORRRRYYY!!

me, Me, ME!

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw that little old me had been tagged by none other than the women who first got me addicted to this blogging thing - Paige over at I Heart You. So here I go! 10 Years Ago - 1998 and I was 19 dragging my arse through my second year of my commerce degree and commencing the first year of my law degree. I ended up doing law by default - having received very good marks in my last year of school it was suggested I accept a reserved place in law - never wanting to be a lawyer, I did enjoy studying it - just not the additional HECS that accompanied it now I'm out in the working world paying it off! I worked at RM Williams as a retail assistant which I loved and still have the most dear friends as a result. This year Grandpa Brown died very suddenly and there probably isn't a day that doesn't go past that I don't think of him. 8 Years Ago - I was 21, having completed my commerce degree majoring in accounting I still had two and a bit years left at uni to complete my law degree. I left RM Williams and commenced work with the accounting firm I am still with today. Every weekend, and I repeat EVERY weekend of this year was spent at a 21st, I had two weekend in the whole year that I didn't have a 21st on - it was so much fun and I still love pulling out my old photo albums to reminisce, I think I took photos at every single one of them. 6 years ago - I was 23. I had just spent some time back at my old boarding school working as a 'junior mistress' while also studying full time and working full time at the accounting firm. It was while working in the boarding house I met Holly (Ruby's mum!!), Lucy and Emma. I had a bit too much on my plate so I left the boarding house and moved in with Miss Emmy into the most gorgeous little cottage in North Adelaide where we read magazines, danced to westlife, ate the best low fat butter chicken (seriously!) made by Emma and cemented a friendship I know will last a life time. It was also during this time that I was diagnosed with major depression. Something that I thought I would not share in the blogging world as me and my big mouth tends to share it with everyone and everything and maybe it was about time to shut up about it. But, it is part of me, will always be part of me and so is my little 'bloggy-blog' now- so there it is! - It was a very difficult year, I lost best friends and a boyfriend, sat medical supplementary exams to finish my law degree, I spent time in hospital and sometimes wondered if it was all really worth it. But with the incredible support of my family and true friends, medication and medical professionals ,99.9999999% of the time I'm feeling pretty darn good these days! - Depression can affect any and everybody and sometimes nothing needs to be 'wrong' to be struck by this debilitating illness. That is what happened to me, I had everything in the world to be happy for, and still do, and lucky for me like I said, these days I'm doing pretty well! 2 years ago - eeks, 27 and this was going to be my year. Always been a fan of 27 but never quite sure why. Well, it wasn't an earth shattering year but I did manage to purchase the little place I live in right now and for that I am very proud. Still working at the same firm, I was working away through my CPA for which I finally now have! I spent Christmas in Noosa with the "Smith" side of the family and look forward to spending it with them again this year as it has now become a tradition every two years for our family to travel to QLD to spend Christmas with mum's side of the family. Five Yummy Things: 1. Passionfruit Moo Yoghurt (the hint of honey gets me every time!) 2. Dove Peppermint Chocolate - incorporating the gooey peppermint and peppermint crisps? genius! 3. Apple Crisp with king island double cream (apple crisp recipe from an American friend of ours - it rocks!) 4. Good coffee- and South Australia's "Cibo" does it for me everytime. 5. Wine. Anything from a big, bold shiraz to a delicious pinot gris - yum!! Five songs I know by heart: I am hopeless, HOPELESS with song lyrics, I think I know the words, but they are my own made up words, so I don't think I could technically say I know any off by heart except for "Tequila" (not even sure if that is actual name of song and no idea who sung it) which must have been big in 1992 as I remember singing it word for word at our Year 8 camp over and over again! Five places I would like to escape to: 1. New York - was supposed to escape there for my 30th but not happening now, but it will happen, eventually! 2. Clare Valley in the winter 3. London - to see friends far away 4. Melbourne - A fantastic city where some of my beautiful friends reside. 5. Tuscany - something tells me I would like lil ol' Tuscany. Five things I would never wear: 1. Anything that is midriff baring - have you heard of the term "muffin top"?.... 2. My year 7 prom dress 3. Fingerless gloves 4. Anything that incorporate PVC panels, leather and studs 5. Leather pants Five favourite TV shows: (and I'm bending the rules, shows no longer on TV are incl. deal, OK!) 1. Sex and the City 2. Will and Grace 3. McLeods Daughters (pre Clare and Tess leaving) 4. Press Gang (remember!?!? - that awesome English series, I started a 'newspaper' in year 7 inspired entirely by Press Gang, I was the editor (of course...bossy me..) if only there was a real life Spike.... 5. Idol and So You Think You Can Dance (once they are down to the finalists) Five things I enjoy doing: 1. Drinking and eating with good friends 2. Reading - novels, blogs, magazines - just wish there was more time! 3. Spending time with Miss Ruby, THE best god daughter in the world. 4. Shopping - shoes, clothes, home wares, toilet paper, lettuce - you name it, i love shopping for it! 5. Wrapping and giving gifts - nothing better. Five favourite toys: 1. My Laptop - I seriously wouldn't and don't (when its possessed by some deathly virus) cope without it. 2. Hairdryer and Straightener (they come as a team as far as I'm concerned) - My hair isn't curly, or straight - its stuck in the middle - without these two I'd have to shave my head, seriously. 3. Camera - I think it is in the genes, my late grandfather loved taking photos, as does my dad - nothing is safe if I have my camera with me! 4. Iron and Ironing Board - don't laugh, everything must be ironed (except sheets and underwear). 5. Ipod - I love music, it's nice to be able to take it with me everywhere I go (don't confuse this with the 'eyepod' which a function manager at the place we recently held a staff function told me we could bring if we wanted to play music....what the?!) Thanks darling Paige for the tag! I'm going to chicken out and not tag, its too difficult to choose - but if you would like to play along, please do! - let me know in the comments so i can come and read your answers to the survey on your blog! xx

images from the fantastic thussfarrell Effing Blogger has stuffed up the formatting on this one - sorry its so hard to read! x

Where it's at.....

I've said it before - I often retreat to Jen's flicker set to chill out, I'm a bit exhausted at the moment so her 'defaced' set summed it up for me. See more here. xx

*Blushing*

I have been very tardy in thanking these brilliant women for the blog awards they have recently bestowed upon me! - Brown Button has been really good for me, so the fact that others have enjoyed it also is beyond amazing. These chicks are cool and so are their blogs, so check them out, stat! xxFrom Sara over at Cricket Family. Living with her real life "brady bunch" this Australian writer is living at Lords (yes, the cricket ground- she lives at the cricket ground - how cool!!) where her husband is the Chief Executive and Secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club. We have a dinner and drinks date when i eventually get myself over to London, and fingers crossed I might even be able to babysit her new little boy, Jack. Sara has also just started a new blog: Freedom of Speech From Callie Grayson over at Grayson: a different shade of grey. Well what can I say - she is the sweetest and always leaves lovely comments on my blog. She is an interior designer hailing from Chicago and shares some beautiful posts - make sure you go and check out the christmas wreath post - to die for! From the fabulous Shill over Shill. She is incredibly creative and makes the most beautiful hair accessories. Little Miss Ruby is even getting some! - She is nuts about bows (someone after my own heart - I'm a little nuts, and I love bows as well!)

Too much fun...

"Tasty Debris" by ThussFarrell design. "Thuss" sound familar? It is Thuss as in the fabulous Rebecca Thuss. A colaboration between her and her husband is producing the most kick arse inspiring "stuff". Check out more here.

Yum!

Sent with love and colour x

Remember how good these were? - well, she now has an etsy shop and you can buy your own postcard version to send to special friends. I think I'm going to get some to frame and hang - now just to decide which colour, maybe just one of each will do......

Dooby Day!

A few photos I'd like to share from my darling god daughter's 1st birthday celebrations. I stayed the night before busy cooking and attempting to decorate cupcakes..... Ruby dooby woke me nice and early so I saw no better time to open her present..... Hmmm, not sure if the Happy Feet DVD was a hit - what do you think? (BTW- Happy Feet 2 goes into production in October - hip, hip horray!) Rubes reading her new book "This little piggy went to Prada" to her mum, she's very bright you see.... Party dress on? CHECK! - Ruby's grandmother made her beautiful birthday dress - complete with beautiful bow on the back - Shill, it would have seriously rocked your roundabout!! What?! - do I have something on my face? No, no, haven't had a couple of cupcakes at all.... My inner Martha wasn't exactly shining when I completed decorating these cakes at 1am the night (well technically the morning...) before..... And finally - the little ones birthday cake - a lady bird for the little lady. There were plenty of polka dots, and we even managed to make some of these, just didn't take any shots of them -oops!. She had a beautiful day, played in the bubbles pumping out of the bubble machine (have made a note I might need one of those for my 30th next year) and ate way too much cake. I think she takes after her godmother when it comes to her love of cake! x

Happy Monday!

Sneak peak of Miss Ruby's first birthday celebrations - weekend was crazy hectic and hence no time to prepare posts! - Promise to be back soon!! xx

Party Time!

Image - You are my Fave sent me in the direction of this fabulous party on the Nesting Blog when I requested some help for 'polka party' inspiration.

Ruby's 1st birthday party and her family's house warming party as they now reside in the hills this weekend. Thank you again for all your 'polka dot' ideas! With a bit of luck I won't enjoy too much wine and take some half decent photos of the day to share next week. Whatever you are doing this weekend, make sure it's fun! xx

WOOOO HOOOO!

......it's Friday! And what better way to end the week than with a glimpse of Mary Monrose English home. Mary has her own fashion accessories business - Johnny Loves Rosie (the flowers in the glass jar by the leather chair are from her own collection And um, unfortunately a 'glimpse' of her house is all we are going to get. Ripped from the pages of Living Etc's March 2005 issue - I only took one page, and there were more...... but this is all I kept. What can I say, I was young and naive three years ago - please enjoy what I managed to save - I certainly do every time I see these glorious images. And if for some reason, you have this issue lying around the house, please, please share the rest of this article with your fellow bloggers, because everyone else shouldn't be denied due to my juvenile foolishness!!! xxx

Local Talent

Poh Ling Yeow migrated from Malaysia with her family when she was nine to South Australia. I heart her paintings. Asian with an Australian influence - not something that I would normally be drawn to, but if I was lucky enough to have one of these in my home I'd wake up smiling every day! - Oh, and we have something in common besides both living in Adelaide, she shops at my supermarket, I saw her there last week coming out of the pasta aisle, and the other day I saw Khaw Liew - there as well, he was in the dairy section - The Norwood IGA Supermarket is where its at!

Too good to be true.....

A calorie free cupcake. That is right, not one single ounce of fat or sugar....... because it is made of plaster. Genius and ooohhh so cute - although I think I'd have to put them up high when I had Ruby around, I can just see her trying to sink her one and a half teeth into one of these pretties. You can buy them at this etsy shop. Brought to my attention by a fantastic blog, Wee Birdy (check out the wonderful 'week of tea' posts) , that I found a while ago via one of my favourite blogs, Cricket Family.

Copenhagen, not just good icecream....

Beautifully placed baskets. floor to ceiling mosaic tiles, cactus in weathered pots......bliss! LOVE the potted tree. Love. oh the kitchen. the kitchen! Bringing the outdoors in, I don't have a garden, but maybe I can incorporate some of the outdoors indoors as Lars Kristensen has here. This apartment is in Copenhagen, hmmmmm, can you tell?!? - A departure from my usual love of all things colourful - the french antique mirrors, rustic Swiss baskets, English Sofas and Scandinavian timber pieces has got me all gooey inside. It is this place that had me thinking, I need plants, indoors, now. Keeping them alive? hmmm, knowing me, that might be a challenge. But after seeing this home, I'm willing to take that challenge on! Again.....2006 has done it again - it seriously was Home Beautiful magazine's year! - These images come from the November issue.

Cute Cotton

Stumbled across NZ's Wallace Cotton. Father Christmas, don't be surprised if some of their sweet stuff ends up on my Christmas list......just saying and all.

Waiting patiently.....

for my latest issue of Domino Magazine to arrive. I know it takes a little longer to get to me in Australia from the USA, but having a little sneak peak on their website has me very much looking forward to reading about Jenna Lyons home. She works for J.Crew. Not jealous. at. all. Would just be nice if we had one of their stores here please!!!! x