opening the curtains

High Tea with Cristina Re

2012-01-29T21:45:00.000+11:00

Before I really launch into this, I feel like I need to tell you that I'm on a diet. 2012 is the 'Year of Jenny' and a part of that is loosing the post wedding weight that had crept up on me over the past 4 years. So my experience last Saturday was only heightened because of my current lack of sugar! Man, I miss sugar!

So, last Saturday was girls day out to Cristina Re's store, 'Where a Girl Goes'. I had been really wanting to visit ever since we featured Cristina and her partners apartment on The Design Files back in 2010- how gorgeous is their home?!

Girls day out was actually girls Christmas celebration that we do each year instead of gifts. So we frocked up, got ready to gossip and eat our way through a delightful high tea.

And boy did we eat!! And drink!! A never ending supply of Belgium hot chocolates, a huge variety of tea, spinach and ricotta pastries, finger sandwiches slathered in cream cheese and fresh fillings. Then came the scones, oh the scones!! Fresh, toasty warm and perfect. Buttercream cupcakes and some seriously tasty macarons (I indulged in double choc and passion choc- which was outstanding!) and glossy chocolates concluded the afternoon.

With much laughter, stationary purchasing and photos sprinkled on top- it really was a great girls day out.

Where a Girl Goes
Corner Langridge & Oxford Streets
Collingwood
Victoria
Australia 3066
Phone: 03 9495 6222

We all loved these butterfly stickers on the ceiling- I love the idea of how magical they would be in a little girls room!

the year that was 2011

2012-01-02T02:35:00.007+11:00

a few snippets of 2011 from instagram

Well, somehow it is 3am and of course what better time to look back of the past year and see how far we've come. Oh, I now see that I did that for the 2010 review too.

Despite is being an exceptionally crap year with maintaining this blog, it has been a pretty good one in all other aspects. Which I think might be why this blog has not been attended too!

2011 was...

The year that Marcus completed his studies. If I thought the first year was challenging- I was wrong. Marcus has worked unbelievably hard from March 2010 through to November 2011 without a break, studying 3 years of Bach Ed compressed into 2 years. He's continually got excellent marks and managed to juggle working part time as well as being the main person maintaining everything at our home. This year has show me just how strong our relationship is and how unwavering Marcus' commitment is. He is simply amazing and I love him to bits.
The year of The Design Files Open House. I do not know where to start with this one. The last half of 2011 has been completely consumed by TDFOH. Ginormous spreadsheets of inventory, communicating with over 70 suppliers, bump in/out, very quickly learning POS and online webstore systems and then 4 days of madness. Oh my! It was an unreal experience and I really did love it but by golly, it was a lot of work.
The year of Guest Blogging. I saw out my first full year of managing the Guest Blog on The Design Files. It has been an brilliant year on the Guest Blog! I'm a bit overwhelmed by how many outstanding guest bloggers we've had and how generous they are to spend their valuable time putting together a series exclusively for us and our wonderful readers. But where would we be without the beautiful Lucy Feagins?? What a woman!!! A motivated creative GENIUS and no one can hold her back! I love working with her and I am so grateful that she has given me the opportunity and trust to work with her too.
The year I decided. The end of last year saw me trying to figure out what was next. I knew I needed something different, I realized after 8 years in the same job that I was only there for the people who I love like family but the work I was doing wasn't something I enjoyed, it was just something I was good at. Early in 2011 I had thrown myself into a project decorating a friends house which I was loving SO MUCH and Marcus said to me "You can do this as a job. This is a real job! You know people who do this as a real job!" and I realized- I could so this as a job! *facepalm* Anyway, after much research I found that Interior Design and Decoration at RMIT was the course for me and is what I'll be doing for 2012/13. I'm not quite sure what it will lead to but I'm excited!
The year I studied and got 100%. After deciding that RMIT was what I was aiming for, I enrolled in 'Colours of Interiors 1' as a night class every Wednesday for 15 weeks. It was a great course and I learnt so much! Our teacher Ambuja Hunt was outstanding and her knowledge and experience was really motivating. I was really chuffed to have score 100% on my folio too, it made all that hard work and late nights completely worth it.
The year I juggled. I had way too many balls in the air for most of this year. Working full time, Guest Blog, waitressing a few nights a week, TDFOH and studying. Trying to fit friends, family, a lovely puppy and a handsome husband in around all that too. I felt really scattered and very unbalanced for a lot of this year and random teary breakdowns have been at an all time high! Thankfully most of those things had an end in sight and while it was hard work, I probably wouldn't change much about how I managed the above.

Looking through last years list of things I'd like to achieve in 2011, I must admit I didn't do so well! So I'll add them to the 2012 list!

read more books
become a better photographer
exercise regularly again
re-carpet the house (vaguely scheduled)
clean out the spare room and garage (scheduled)

In addition to these there are 2 other items I'm going to add

cook more
finish the interior of the house!

2012 currently has a very, VERY exciting event that my whole family is looking forward to- my brother and his girlfriend are having a baby! Yay!!! I cannot wait to meet the little Captain (which is what my mother is calling the baby boy!). I expect it will be THE highlight of 2012!

I feel like this year will still be busy but at least under control. Marcus has been employed full time at a local high school and I start at RMIT on the 6th of Feb. There is a lot to look forward to and no doubt many surprises along the way.

Wishing you and your family all the very best for 2012.

Jenny x

green and rainy

2011-08-05T17:57:00.003+10:00

There is something really nice about a rainy afternoon, especially in this little patch in our garden. The passionfruit are finally ripening and I can't wait to crack one open to see what we're dealing with- I'm really hoping there is enough pulp to make a passionfruit tart. I love the little rosemary flowers despite it being a reminder that I'm not cooking enough.

I took these photos when I got home this afternoon. I was tidying the kitchen and through the grimy kitchen windows the garden looked a bit mystical and romantic with a sprinkling of rain and the soft, setting sun.

I choo-choo-choose you!

2011-08-01T22:49:00.005+10:00

We tried to take a photo of Ferdy in a swing but that REALLY was not going to happen. So he put on his tweed coat and jumped in the train. If only we had a little hat for him...

what I'm hearing...

2011-07-28T12:24:00.004+10:00

Alexander Ebert - Truth

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

Pulp - Common People

You know the story, life is crazy busy, no time to blog here, blah blah blah. We're off to see Pulp on Friday night and I am SO excited to be finally seeing Common People performed live. Gotye and Alexander Ebert have been on repeat non-stop for the past week, it's become a bit of an obsession.

central heating

2011-06-20T18:50:00.000+10:00

Have you ever tried to photograph central heating? It is ridiculous. One plain, boring little control panel and some little vents in the ceiling trying to be invisible. That is not interesting or attractive. Absolutely no styling potential there. So instead, I pulled this image of a lovely warm room out of the files in my tumblr.

ANYWAY, the point of this is that we now have central heating. We've struggled through the past 2 winters of no heating after our 20 year old heater died and couldn't be repaired. Our lovely new heater has a little digital control panel and I've programed it to turn on and off every morning and night, Monday - Friday and Saturday - Sunday. It is absolute luxury and makes me feel like the luckiest lady in the world.

I got a bit carried away for the first few days and might have had it set tropically high. Which inspired me to list to Beck's Tropicalia non-stop. And then I fell in love with these summery sandals which made me ache for summer. But if it was summer we couldn't use our amazing new heating. So I'm embracing the winter of 2011 by sitting on the couch drinking tea under on of the unphotogenic heating vents and appreciating how fortunate we really are.

Beck - Tropicalia

Dream summer shoes- Cross Strap Sandal by Woman by Common People

a little list of lovely

2011-06-18T11:35:00.000+10:00

This week has been metal. The kind where I've worked 9-10 hours solid each at at my day job, come home and passed out of the couch for a couple of hours and then caught up on emailing/blogging/life crap until late into the night. A terrible cycle to get into and it seems like only a weekend can break it. Anyway, I've come across lots of lovely things in the past few weeks that are all randomly open on firefox tabs so I thought it was worth putting them somewhere more permanently for future reference.

Feathered Haircombs from Cat Rabbit $40 - Cute, quirky, Melbourne made and would look ace on my weird shaped head.

Polka Wool Throw $150 and Haga Cushion $95 both from Angelucci 20th Century - The Polka Throw has to be the nicest and most affordable woolen throw around town this winter! Love the Haga Cushions too- so springy and fresh.

Hand Knitted Cream Aran Armchair Slip Cover $690 - This is really not my style but I love the idea of this chair next to an open fire with a book and a giant mug of coffee with condensed milk. Winter warmer bliss!

Mathilda Bag from Orla Kiely $630ish- Ooooh, my new dream bag! I'm in need of a bigger handbag- the vintage bag I've been using has been great but it's really only the size of my wallet, phone and a tube of lip gloss! I've been admiring BIG bags and this bag is at the top of my wish list. Which is exactly where it will stay with a price like that!
My Abuela's Table by Daniella Germain - We've been so lucky to have Daniella Germain with us on the Guest Blog all this week featuring some of the delicious recipes from her brand new cook book. It's a great story of how this book came to be published and I can't wait to get myself a copy. I went to buy it on Thursday but the 3 shops I went to had already sold out. Nice one Daniella!

Liberty Tana Lawn Hello Kitty Peek-a-boo Fabric $10 - The combination of Liberty Print and Hello Kitty is an insanity I thoroughly enjoy. Lilymeru seems to be the best seller of these fabrics I've found so far. I want to buy a little bit of each fabric but I can't think of what I'd do with it. I don't trust my sewing skill enough to quilt it!

Happy weekend friends xx

ugly furniture

2011-06-10T11:30:00.000+10:00

My little brother turned 23 this week. That's weirdly old for my LITTLE brother. After his birthday dinner last night we watched some youtube videos because we are super cool. This one never fails to make laugh and I end up quoting "hey space lamp, wanna live inside my earth house?!" for weeks. It's a lot like how Portlandia has ruined birds for me.

storm

2011-06-06T01:00:00.001+10:00

I wish I was as intellectual as Tim Minchin after a couple of glasses of wine. (Or even before the wine!)

he tries

2011-06-03T00:22:00.000+10:00

I reckon the small dog really does try to understand what I'm banging on about when I talk to him. He wiggles his little head from side to side and furrows he's wrinkled old man brow.

Oh look, I've become one of those dog owners...

Realistically, I suspect this black little french bulldog will only ever understand 'walk' 'treat' and 'post office' [post office was the new word for walk until he figured that one out]. Thankfully he's cute enough to get away with being so daft.

martina and manfred are living in my house

2011-05-29T23:20:00.002+10:00

In my fantasy dreamworld I have a house in Germany in the countryside that's near a lake and it's amazing. In this fantasy dreamworld, Marcus and I are antique dealers but not like the shady bastards who used to frequent Marcus' op shop and steal stuff [I'm looking at you Philip]. We live where the is an abundance of antique and vintage furniture and we ship it off by the container load all around the globe. And we have seriously amazing taste in furniture... yes, that is an original Hans Wegner Papa Bear armchair AND MATCHING LOUNGE in our ~~fantasy~~ lounge room. Far out- we are awesome!!

A bajillion Bojesen monkeys all hanging out together

Umm, hello Chieftains Chair designed by Finn Juhl. I love everything about you. You are SO sexy. I sit in you each night and read by the fireplace.

I think we all need a Hans Wegner rocking chair in the bathroom? I certainly know I need one.

Yes. YES. Oh yes.

My dream house actually belongs to Martina and Manfred. I still remember the feeling in my stomach when I first saw it- a flutter of excitement with how wonderful it was but then the sinking feeling that is wasn't mine. But it is my fantasy house, somehow that makes me feel like I have a tiny part of it.

Go and see the full tour on Apartment Therapy- then bookmark it and look back through it about once a month and drool uncontrollably. Then we can be twinsies.

about a [grown up] boy

2011-05-26T20:30:00.000+10:00

Oh, Nicholas Hoult. How far we have come....

The little boy we fell in love with in About A Boy.

It's one of my favorite films of all time. At the moment I'm watching this and this non-stop.

a sweet booth story

2011-05-24T23:46:00.002+10:00

While we're taking about things that have made me cry recently, this short film is just... sweet. It's a nice story and even though it's only just over 11minutes long I found myself captivated by the story and shed a tear for the peculiar man and a cute little duck.

found via Much Love

in their footsteps

2011-05-24T00:29:00.001+10:00

Sunday night was a pretty exciting night amongst our family. My cousin Josh took part in a TV series called In Their Footsteps which aired on Channel 9. Josh's Grandfather and Great Grandfather both fought in Gallipoli at the same time and Josh's Dad Brian was in the Navy during the Vietnam War too.

It's hard to comment about the episode without giving too much away but it really is a fantastic historical and emotional story between the last 4 generations of the Cavalier family and their war experiences. I sobbed and laughed and truly loved watching this; seeing Josh, his beautiful wife Em, my amazing Aunt Melynda and Josh's Dad Brian all going through this unbelievable experience and learning so much about their history.

This show was made all the more emotional with Josh and Em finding out that they are expecting their first baby just before Josh left for filming. During the show the local historian made a comment about there being a long line of fractured relationships between fathers and sons in the Cavalier family [as in from 1560's to now]. I'm more than confident that Josh will be the one to break that cycle for good. That's the kinda guy he is.

If you have some time I really recommend you watch the episode. It's great TV even if you're not related to the star of the show!

what I'm hearing...

2011-05-02T18:07:00.002+10:00

Architecture in Helsinki - Contact High

The Wombats - Jump Into The Fog

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppie Feat. Jack White - Two Against One

the easter break

2011-04-27T23:23:00.005+10:00

Life was super eventful over the long weekend. I bought what I thought were flowers but might actually have been better suited to dinner? This is the problem with shopping at markets, I can never tell what on earth it is that I've just bought. They are starting to go a bit moldy in the vase so I'm guessing I got it wrong.

The small dog was either my best friend or sat around pouting at me. He is a weirdo and I am honestly beginning to think there is a teenager trapped inside that puppy. The way he rolls his eyes at me when I tell lame jokes or attempt to dance gives it all away.

Checking the passion-fruit vine for signs of ripe passion-fruits has become a daily OBSESSION! I yell at it for flowering more flowers when it should put all it's energy into ripening all that fruit! Come ON! I simply cannot wait to crack the first one open and eat it- yuuum!

I collected all the purple elastic-bands that come around the bunches of asparagus and put them on the Daniel Emma Rubberband Ball that Lucy so kindly gave me. It is really beautiful and changes completely with elastic-bands now on it- see the 2 dark patches in the top? The move when you move and the colour changes etc. I have no idea how these things happen [probably something to do with science?! Or convert and concave lenses? Let's just say science!] but I love it.

Another one of those moments when the small dog turned from being my BFF and nicely posing for photos to some kind of demon possessed teeth missing grandpa and tried to bite the lens off.

Yep, all that took up 5 days. Plus a little bit of sleeping, housework and family gatherings.

So how was your weekend?

a little bit of laundry inspiration

2011-04-25T10:20:00.001+10:00

Left: I LOVE the ironing board in a draw plus the very attractive laundry basket Right: Ceramic laundry skin is my dream sink (images from here and here)

In keeping to the theme of only completing projects to about 90% around our house, I'm now ready to move onto the laundry!! I've spent a couple of hours over the past week going through all my inspiration folders, tumblr and my favourite blogs and there have been a handful of outstanding laundries which I really loved and thought it would be worth putting all in the one place for future reference.

Left: Love the pink striped wall and the cute tiles, I think the matching washer/dryer is essential for a room like this Right: Another ceramic sink with cute tiny felt bunting (images from here and here)

Left: With the most delightful laundry sink skirt ever, I think this photo has been included in every single laundry inspiration post I've ever seen Right: LOVE the bold chinoiserie wallpaper in the laundry, although I would worry that the dryer would steam the paper right off the wall! (images from here and here)

I'll be back later in the week with some before photos and some of the items I've already got picked for this makeover. Until then, I will be trying to finish painting the rest of the house!

on a slightly more positive note

2011-04-19T00:32:00.002+10:00

Moving on from my depressing blog post last week, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It will probably been a bit gloomy and stressful up until the end of the year but then I am done. I will be a student and a blogger. Not a overworked, painfully exhausted business manager.

It is almost May, which is so close to June which is the middle of the year. Halfway through. I can do all this again once more just to make it to 2012.

In the meantime, I think this badge from Emerson Made seems highly appropriate- don't you reckon?

absent but working

2011-04-10T20:47:00.003+10:00

A hint of beauty amongst all the chaos. Flowers from Marcus.

Over the past 3 weeks I've been a bit absent. Not just here but from a lot of different things. My day job has been exceptionally crazy and stressful as we finalize a project for the State Government and my boss goes OS for 5 weeks. Cranky customers because we are much, much busier than usual makes for a tense office environment and everyone is just getting a wee bit snappy with each other. I've been working hours that are so horrible I dare not add them up.

I've been asking "why" a lot during these weeks. Why do I bother. Why am I putting all my effort into just a job. Why should I put my life on hold for a business that isn't mine. Why am I pushing my body so hard that I get sick, stop sleeping and hurt all over. I guess after 7 years work is like a family, not just a job.

I could go on and on. Today has been my first real day off in weeks, the first chance to breathe and think. The first chance in a little while to look forward to the good things. Appreciate how supportive my good husband is, how dotting the small dog is, how much I love working for Lucy and on the Guest Blog and how loving my family and friend are.

Although, I know tomorrow I will feel a lot like this...

around the webs

2011-03-19T00:29:00.004+11:00

Here is a small collection of stuff I've been digger around the web. Mostly because I'm too lazy/busy to load up my own original content but also because everything on in this list is rocking my world.

Kootoyoo Grass Green Deck Chair

Firstly, the best thing possibly ever on the internet. I LOVE THIS!!! I'm sure you already know but Kirsty is breathtakingly creative, I'm continually in awe of just how brilliant she is. I think if I ever meet her I will have an uncontrollable urge to hug her for being so, so, so inspiring- it will be probably be pretty awkward. Apologies in advance Kirst, I hope wine or gin is involved.

Jonathan Adler Glass MobileAs a JA groupie, obviously I neeeeeed one of these. Absolutely beautiful and also available in bluely/greeny tones. Seen via Cool Hunting.

The story of the last glass eye maker in Britain

The Glass Eye Maker from Tomas Leach on Vimeo.

Makes me think of the super talented Sarah Dingwall.

The First Ever Design Files Film - Greenhouse by Joost

GREENHOUSE BY JOOST from The Design Files on Vimeo.

Speaking of fantastic videos on Vimeo, if you haven't already you MUST watch the first every Design Files Film on Joost's Greenhouse. I was so disappointed that it wasn't yet open when I was in Sydney a couple of months ago but watching the video comforts me slightly. At the same time it makes me much more desperate to visit!! Nice one Lucy! xx

Globe Hoggers

So, this is where all the vintage globes ever have ended up. Delightful collection and I love the look of them all clustered together! Found via The Diversion Project.

Jeffery Campbell - Brisbane Boot

I finally bought a pair of these a couple of weeks ago after falling in love with them months and month ago. They arrive this week and they are a-FRICKING-mazing! Cannot wait to wear them out- I am amazingly tall, almost as tall as Marcus. It's awesome. Buy them here.

Note Design Studio

Love everything here, would move in tomorrow and then invite everyone around for a party. But no drinks on the furniture dudes. I know you'll understand. See on Yukkiie.

Conversations with Richard Fidler

Pretty much all I listen to in my car these days is Conversations with Richard Fidler. I'm addicted and think that they are some of the most interesting interviews I've ever come across. I also really enjoy Richard Fidler's interview style and clearly the ABC does some great research and structures the interviews very well. Download the podcasts here or on itunes.

Told you the collection of links was random! Hope you have a great weekend folks!!

greg natale iliffe house

2011-03-12T15:17:00.005+11:00

I'm a big fan of Greg Natale's work and the Iliffee house is a wonderful example how glamorous but livable his work is. The bedroom above is my favourite space in the house- the Greg Natale with Designer Rugs in Oxford, the Missoni throw, the moody painting and a pair of pendant lights. It is PERFECT!

See the rest of the Iliffe House and more of Greg Natale's work at his website here.

3 years

2011-03-01T08:00:00.002+11:00

3 years ago today, Marcus and I got dressed up and pashed on a big rock while someone took photos.

Happy Anniversary my dear. Marrying you is the best thing I've ever done, you make me happier than you could ever know.

More pashing pics here.

it's been a while

2011-02-25T09:34:00.004+11:00

Just a couple of things which make coming home from holidays easier. A much missed frenchie snoring happily and our passionfruit vine flowering.

We had an excellent time in NZ and there is a post filled with photos coming in the next few days. We became crazy camera snapping tourists so there is a fair amount of sorting and editing to be done.

For the next 2 days Marcus and I are doing some serious work around the place. Battling the waist high grass in the backyard, the horrible spider infestation around our verandah and sorting out the chaos that is our garage. It will be exhausting but it will also feel GREAT!

[Huge thanks to everyone for their kind comments on our bedhead and an extra special thanks to Ink and Spindle and Studio Home for blogging about it xxx]

the bedhead

2011-02-06T13:45:00.003+11:00

Around 6 months ago I made the following statement: "The bedhead we've been making out of an old fireplace surround is assembled, in place and almost finished. Stay tuned for an update this week."

Ahhh, I was wrong!!!

Let me start from the beginning on this one. Sometime not long after we got married in March 2008 we were playing around with ideas about bedheads and I spotted on a blog somewhere a fireplace mantel that had the middle section upholstered and was being used as a bedhead. The execution was so-so but we loved the concept and decided to do it in our own style.

So we searched around for a fireplace surround- the only requirement was kauri pine to match our treasured chest of drawers. Most of them were WAY above our budget but we finally scored one for $100 on eBay. It had originally been painted white then who knows how many other colours before being stripped back and VERY roughly varnished. Our plans were to remove the varnish, widen it slightly and add a new mantel shelf.

For 2 years it sat in Marcus' workshop. Ooops...

Anyway, Marcus slaved away on sanding this sucker back, much trickier than it seems thanks to all the lovely detailing. Marcus became a whizz with a dremel.

My work was to find a fabric. Have you ever had to find fabric to match every doona cover you own? Overwhelming. I started on the Ink and Spindle website and that's where I finished too. Birch in Chocolate Brown by some of the loviest ladies in town.

Then amazingly the stars aligned and somehow it all comes together. To upholster the hearth, Marcus cut a piece of ply a couple of inches wider than the space, I cut 2 layers of thick wadding the same size as the ply and then we ironed and upholster the fabric. Easy peasy. The upholstered hearth is screwed into the back of the surround.

I love it. I love the kauri pine and how each piece is a slightly different colour. I love the fabric and thankfully it goes with every doona cover we own!!

And just for people who give two hoots about project costing:

$100 - fireplace surround from eBay
$100 - Ink and Spindle Birch fabric
$25 - wadding from Spotlight
$0 - tools and consumables from Marcus' work
Total = $225

I reckon that a bargain!

[Other bits and pieces from around the bedroom - Doona from Kmart [scored for only $12!], Cushion from IKEA, Prints by Nate Duval, Sausage Dog by Jonathan Adler, Bedside tables from eBay, both lamps are thrifted, Hello Lover Wall Flag from Pony Rider, Kokeshi Doll and Brass Bunny both gifts]

Now to work out to do with this huge chunk on wall...

for kate

2011-02-05T22:32:00.000+11:00

The perfect example of my dog acting like a teenager. Check out da attitude in that snarl dude.

linky links

2011-02-03T23:21:00.003+11:00

I've finally put together a before & after on our bedhead but blogger isn't playing nicely with the images so that's another task for the weekend. Instead, here is some good stuff I've enjoyed around the internet in the past week (or so).

Vinyl Chair Makeover by Leni and Rose

Brilliant work! Take one yicky, sticky vinyl chair and reupholster with Swiss Army Blankets. Love this SO much. Visit Leni and Rose here for all the details.

Portlandia - Put A Bird On It

Originally I saw this on Design*Sponge last week and I've watched it many, many times since. Thanks! That's fantastic!

Sneak Peek - John & Vivian of Square Feet Studio

I wouldn't normally reblog content from a large design blog as I figure anyone who reads this blog would most definitely be reading the likes of Design*Sponge. Also, when I used to blog for Apartment Therapy and would read about 1,000 blogs a day, it was annoying to see the same content on every second blog. BUT when I saw this I felt like I'd seen my "grown up" home. This picture in particular- wowzers, the wallpapered ceiling!! See more here.

Marc Johns - His Eyebrows Looked Like Arms
Hehehe, there are a handful of men that immediately came to mind when I saw this drawing. I don't think I could get away with buying this for any of them. See more of Marc Johns work here.

Emily Green's New Pastel Brooches

Remember Emily Green from the Craft Hatch Guest Blog? I love her work so much that I wasn't even able to finish formatting the feature on her without buying one of her amazing brooches. She's just released a range of pastel brooches and while I didn't think it was possible, I'm even more in love with Emily Green. Buy one of everything on Emily's Etsy store here. [Also, her blog has just moooved]

Designers and Books

http://www.designersandbooks.com/

This is brilliant! When I finally get into the piles of books I currently have to read, I'll be buying the next pile thanks to this website.

Anyway, that's what I've been enjoying around the interwebs- what on your linky links list this week?

music for 2010

2011-01-26T11:45:00.001+11:00

It's Australia Day. This means very little to me other than we get a day off work and then have to spend the day avoiding bogans who suddenly appear everywhere at all costs.

The one thing Australia Day does mean to me is that it's also Triple J's Hottest 100 day. The past few years we've spent the long weekend down in Foster eating freshly baked bread and blueberries the size of tom-bowler marbles with Gippsland cream listening to the best music of the past 12 months. We haven't gone down this year as the friend whose family property it is has just flown back from OS and my little bookworm has more work than he can poke a stick at.

Anyway, here are my votes for Triple J's Hottest 100. All my favourite singles from the past year in the one place- how very nice indeed.

Ben Folds/Nick Hornby - From Above

Clare Bowditch & The New Slang - Modern Day Addiction

Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

Dead Weather, The - Blue Blood Blues

Grizzly Bear - And I Was A Boy From School {Like A Version}

Janelle Monae - Tightrope {Ft. Big Boi}

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Bang Bang Bang {Ft. Q-Tip & MNDR}

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Somebody To Love Me {Ft. Boy George & Andrew Wyatt}

Professor Green - Just Be Good To Green {Ft. Lily Allen}

Dead Weather, The - Die By The Drop

If you're interested, check out my picks from 2009.

sod off

2011-01-22T21:16:00.006+11:00

We finally bought a new DSLR. My main subject of choice is well and truly sick of it. Such a grumpy little french bulldog.

post-christmas 2010 wishlist

2011-01-05T20:46:00.002+11:00

This is a pretty naff idea but given that I was really crap a pre-Christmas blogging I think this might work out okay. Welcome to my Post-Christmas 2010 Wishlist!

Here is a list of some things I saw before Christmas during all the craziness and that I'm still really keen on after Christmas. They must be good if they are still holding onto a portion of my brain after I've sneezed most of it out over the past week with that nasty flu. That was a bit gross, sorry.

Anyway, onwards with this mediocre idea!

Jenny's Post-Christmas 2010 Wishlist!!

Missoni Leonard Towels - I am slightly obsessed with these, especially today. I bought some handtowels for a friend of ours in a similar pattern and they arrived in the mail yesterday. They are just TOO NICE! And would look so hot with our blue walled bathroom. Available from Safari Living and Top 3.

Jonathan Adler Salvador Vase - This one I actually saw a couple of days after Christmas but is still worth a mention. I love the shape of the vase and how darn cute a vase with a mustache is! Available at Outre Gallery and of course, Jonathan Ad ler.

Emerald + Ella Stocking Advent Calendar - I'm a bit of a grinch when it comes to Christmas decorations. We have one ornament and a wreath on the front door- so grinchy! This sweet advent calendar with little stockings and hats is all kinds of lovely and they are the perfect size for a Lindt ball ;) Go and buy one now from Emerald + Ella.

Little Circus Design Papercut Love Heart Earrings - Designed by the beautiful Madeleine Stamer, these earrings truly are art for your ears! A really clever and eye catching design, you can buy a pair from the Little Circus Design Shop.Walnut Rainbow Ballet Flats - These really shouldn't be on this wishlist, because I just ordered TWO pairs. I could no longer hold out! But only one pair is for me, the other is for my niece Lily for her 6th birthday in August. Yes, they do matching adult and childrens shoes- I die of the cuteness! I'm going to store my pair along with hers so on her birthday we can both wear Rainbow Birthday Ballet Flats and celebrate her birthday day. I feel like our first girly outing might be on the cards too?? You too can be the best Aunty and by your niece a pair from Walnut.

Mozi Pear Lantern - I think these are one of the best items that came out pre-Christmas. In both Apple and Pear shapes, these lanterns are much bigger than they look and are an absolute bargain at only $15. Sold out online but available at any good shops that stock Mozi- oh, and of course at any of Mozi's stores.

Sarah Dingwall's Little Houses - It's fair to say I could have filled this list with items by Sarah D. Bless her talented cotton socks. One day I'd love to have a sweet collection of these little houses hanging in a window, with the sun streaming through, casting shadows. This Little House would be a perfect way to start that collection, available at Sarah's Etsy Store.

Percy the Pug - I'd love to get a little black pug for Ferdinand to spend his day with. We would have Percy the Pug and Ferdinand the French Bulldog, one with floppy ears and one with batty ears, both with pink tongues that are too big for their mouths- ahhh, I need that! I've been keeping an eye on Pug Rescue.

Anyway, that was my Post-Christmas 2010 Wishlist!

What did you think? What's on your Post-Christmas 2010 Wishlist?

the year that was 2010

2010-12-30T02:51:00.006+11:00

Somehow it's almost 2011. Where on earth did 2010 go? More specifically, where did December go?!?!? I blinked and it was over... which is a shame. I have 12 draft blog posts about Christmas that I started and didn't get around to finishing. I'm finding this blog is really more of an impulse thing rather than a scheduled thing. I sit down and write. Then I don't come back until I feel I need to share again.

Right now it's almost 3am, I'm rugged up on the couch with an Arressted Development DVD on reeeeally quiet. I've been hit with a nasty flu thing where I can only get good sleep during the day but then I cough a fair amount of the night. So I'm wide awake in a house full of sleeping boys. I've amazingly caught up on all my emails, my google reader is at 0 and I've found myself reflecting on the past year and I thought- why not write it down?

2010 was...

The first year that Marcus studied. He is studying a bacholor of education full time by correspondence and compressing 3 years worth of study into 2 years. For as long as I can remember knowing Marcus, this is something he's wanted to do and I'm so grateful to be able to help him do it. It has been super stressful financially but it will be worth it. A part of me was nervous when he started this course because I knew it would test our relationship- and it has. But we are better off for it. Our time together now feels precious rather than entitled, we kiss longer, the little things mean more and the petty things mean nothing. It has been a good year.
The year our small dog became a big boy. Ferdinand is now 18mths old and is still the center of our house. Right now I'm looking at him- curled up on the chesterfield, nestled amongst a velour cushions and a mohair throw. That is a spoilt dog! He is the most beautiful little character and I love that little munchkin. What I love the most is seeing Marcus and Ferdy together, it melts my heart.
The year I joined The Design Files. This has been one of the most exciting parts of my year! Moving from Apartment Therapy to TDF was both scary and amazing. This transition was made easy because Lucy Feagins is fantastic!!! I cannot stress this enough! She is just brilliant, loving, exciting, generous and so beautiful. I love her! No words can truly express how thankful I am to Lucy- can't wait for an even more wonderful 2011!
The year my day job went nuts. I found myself being the business manager around the start of this year. When I first started there 7 years ago, I was a girl fresh out of high school just there to answer the phones 3 days a week and send the occasional email. It has been a bonkers year. Business is booming, I'm booking in work for 18mths time and we're employed 4 new staff members. That is huge given our team was only 6 when 2010 started!
The year I realised I cant please everyone. I can't. I don't have time or the energy and in some cases, I just don't want to. It's been interesting learning people expectations of me as well as the expectations I've placed on myself. In some cases I'm disappointed in myself for not being a better wife, daughter and friend but these are all lessons I guess.

I'm not one for new years resolutions but I thought I would make a list of things I would like to achieve at some point during 2011...

read more books
work out what I want to do in 2012 [study, babies, work or travel???]
become a better photographer
exercise regularly again
re-carpet the house
clean out the spare room and garage

Seems achievable right?? Looking forward to seeing what next years review looks like.

Wishing you and your family all the very best for 2011.

-Jenny xx

ps. If you haven't ready- buy a Design Files Neighbourhood Calendar!!! It will make 2011 so much more enjoyable!

diggin' these veggies

2010-12-05T21:30:00.001+11:00

Goodness me, this is AMAZING!! I do love a good lolly buffet and got to enjoy an very tasty one at Mr & Mrs Clarke's wedding a few months ago. But this fruit and veggie buffet looks unbelievably delicious and it is as beautiful as it is healthy! I love the little treats- fruit shish kabobs, watermelon and caprese salads and I especially love the presentations of the veggie sticks and dips [*cough* which I will be copying! *cough*]. And of course the use of artichokes and brussels sprouts is possibly the sweetest thing I've seen all day. The brains behind this beauty is Esther Kim of My Bride Story one of the loveliest wedding blogs around.
found via Sweet Designs

off to markit

2010-12-02T22:20:00.001+11:00

hello crappy rushed photo of lovely things

Somehow it's Thursday. Not entirely sure where the week has gone but I'm excited how close we are to the weekend and dreading how much I need to do before then. I'm even more excited that yesterday I finally got a new work PC after mine died on Friday, talk about timing...

So the weekend was a busy one. We went to Christmas in the Studio on Saturday which you should read about and admire the pretty pictures on Sarah D's Tumblr. Then I annoyingly had to work until 3:30am that night but still decided to head off to MARKit the next day anyway. Despite feeling a bit blurry eyed and it being a quite chilly day, it was a very enjoyable market. It had a really good vibe- it felt very positive and friendly, similar to that at Finders Keepers, which was nice as normally I find design markets a bit snobby.

I bought a couple of little goodies pictured above- a teatowel from the Ink & Spindle ladies [I FINALLY got to meet Teegs in real life too! Probably the highlight of the day, much like meeting Lara was the highlight of Finders Keepers!], another one of lovely Dawn's recipe teatowels for a friends birthday and a toothy mobile from Beci Orpin who is just so ace [as is her new website].

I think that's it for me and markets this year, the rest of the Christmas shopping will now be done online!

sleepy heads

2010-11-26T22:27:00.014+11:00

Our house is full of exhaustion this week. Marcus has started his summer session for uni and has a major assignment due every week between now and mid-Feb [he's completely bonkers and doing 4 subjects at a time so he can complete the course in 2 years instead of the intended 3]. Things are incredibly busy for me at my day job and I'm working late nights and during the weekend and of course blogging, emails and sourcing are filling the remaining waking hours- good thing I REALLY love the people and the work I do. And then there is life stuff. Housework, repainting, never ending renovations, family, friends and things like markets, movies and shopping that are the nice things that fit in around the really big chunks of work and study. Poor Ferdinand is experiencing warm weather for the first time [he was still a puppy dog last summer] and the heat has worn him out and he is sleeping around the clock.

I'm in the process of repainting our bedroom the most marvelous shade of gray. It's deep and rich and it's a delight to wake up to. I regret not doing it MONTHS ago when we first agreed to do it. And it actually makes the room look bigger- bonus! Hopefully next week I'll have some good old before and after pictures to show. For now, here are some of my favorite bedrooms that have been stored away in my Tumblr for future inspiration.

craft vic by colour

2010-11-25T16:00:00.001+11:00

I've become a bit of a Craft Vic groupie since they did such a great week of Guest Blogging for us over on The Design Files. Not only were their posts really interesting and pretty to look at, Pip Carrol and team, who put the guest blog together, formatted and edited each post beautifully making my job about 20 times more enjoyable. AND the Craft Hatch market on that weekend was a real treat to visit- crammed full of the next big local design stars.

Anyway, Craft Vic have just released their Christmas catalog and I'm smitten- with everything about and in these images! To quote them "We've created four unique pages that reflect the palettes from our past Coloured Christmas events - Yellow, Blue, Green and Red", check them out...

You can buy all the lovely items photographed through Craft Vic Online Shop or visit them in real life at 31 Flinders Lane [downstairs], Melbourne, Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm

The next Craft Hatch Market is this Sunday as part of Bikefest- find out more info here.

what I'm hearing....

2010-11-25T08:14:00.003+11:00

Beck - Gamma Ray

Mark Ronson - Lose It

Kurt Elling - Nature Boy

neighbourhood calendar

2010-11-16T16:04:00.003+11:00

Unless you’ve been living under some kind of blog rock, you’ll no doubt be aware that the Feags has curated this flipping brilliant Neighbourhood Calendar AND it launches at Lamington Drive Gallery on Thursday. I’ll be there, mostly eating Lamingtons, and hopefully meeting some of those wonderful people who were involved in this grand production and maybe even some lovely twitter peeps?

First ever printed thing by The Design Files, I think is pretty darn exciting and I hope all of my family and friends do too [coz they’re all getting one for Christmas, shhhh…!]

glass baubles for christmas

2010-11-05T22:36:00.005+11:00

For the past couple of Christmases I've been on the look out for clear glass baubles. For about 6 of those 24 months I could remember why. After a while I had COMPLETELY forgotten why I wanted clear glass baubles but I was still on the look out anyway. At last years Spotlight Christmas sale I bought a truck load of clear glass baubles because one day I knew I would remember why on earth I wanted them but until then they would sit awaiting my inspiration/memory to kick in. They were really, really cheap too!

Today I was reading through the Twitter and Pip mentioned that she had just finished working on her great crochet Christmas baubles tutorial [which is so clever!] and my mind wandered back to the hundred or so glass baubles in the garage and chuckled to myself about how rubbish my memory can be sometimes. THEN, I remembered. I remembered why I wanted glass baubles. It was for these really cute terrarium ornaments on design*sponge.

Now that I've remembered, will I find the time to make the damn things?! I hope so.

marcus wont let me paint anything black...

2010-11-04T22:13:00.003+11:00

... but if he did, I think I would do something like this. That sure is one sexy ceiling!!

via The Diversion Project

ferdinand for the long weekend

2010-10-31T14:22:00.001+11:00

Currently we're in Foster for the long weekend and we're planning on doing what we always do. Not a whole lot except eat, drink, laugh and sleep. For me, it's heaven on earth.

Here are some recent photos of Ferdinand. It very much reflects whats been happening around our place for the past couple of weeks.

the perfect earrings

2010-10-29T09:11:00.009+11:00

These babies became mine when we visited Craft Hatch market last weekend. Pip Carrol of Craft Vic did such a great job putting together a Craft Hatch Guest Blog all week that by Friday I was REALLY excited to go and see some of the wonderful products and people in real life. The lovely Sarah D had a stall there too- double reason to go!

Back to the earrings. They are by Muntedkowhai and the lady behind the big name is Puiyi Tiffany Pang. She is seriously cute, just like her work. A lot of her designs are really delicately crafted crochet/lace pieces mixed with metals and vintage buttons. Stunning but quite delicate. A bit too delicate for not so delicate me! However, these earring are PERFECTION! I tend to wear stud earring during the day as the combination of glasses, necklace and drop earrings tends to be too much! But these earrings have a kind of casual weekend, cruising on my yacht, go with anything vibe. Dress up, dress down- so far there is nothing they haven't gone perfectly with [was that a double negative?...] and I get at least one complement every time I wear them!

So the moral of the story is: buy them now! They are wonderful! And a bargain at $35. They come in Grey, Raspe berry and Blue knots. Buy them and then tell me I was right- they are the perfect earrings! It will be an experience that we'll all enjoy :)

ps. Craft Hatch was crammed full of brilliance! And heaps of designers that I hadn't seen before. While it's small [about 15 stall holders?] I think this is where the next big stars are hiding!

pps. Puiyi has a really cute blog here too!

marcos davidson

2010-10-27T18:27:00.007+11:00

At the last Melbourne Design Market we went to [you know, before it got crap from most the store holders were SHOPS, not designers- sigh...] Marcus bought one of these Punchy Beat rings from Marcos Davidson. I'd seen Marcos' work around, mostly thanks to his close association with Nicholos Jones but that was the first time I'd seen his work in real life. It's pretty darn impressive and some of the most unique jewelery I've ever seen.

Anyway, I can't quite remember what lead me there but I found myself looking through his website and I've found the ring that I'd like. I figgured it's only fair that if Marcus has one, I have one too ;)

This is the one I've chosen...

Cascade Array - Ring of 20ct Palladium, set with x14 gems of varying size {3 of which reside at the bottom}, Diamonds & Sapphires $4,000

Oh yes!! Now when I say I've chosen, I'm not actually getting it. We don't have a lazy $4k sitting around to spend on nice rings! But it's nice to admire pretty things.

Other pretty pretty things from Marcos that are on my "if I had a billion dollars I'd totally buy..." list:

50 Diamond Dome Ring of 20ct yellow Gold, set with x50- 2.5mm "D"colour,Brilliant cut round Diamonds. $7,000

Solonge Allsort Ring of Palladium set with Ruby & Diamond {80 points} upon Bakelite lozenge, Gems are not blind set {Open thru to the back} Forged ring Bezel set. $6,000

Ahhh, to dream. I love love love unique handmade jewellery. I really do think franchised jewellery stores are evil and that Pandora charms are from the Devil! Did you know that Marcus & I designed and had our wedding rings made? My wedding band spells Butler in braille out of diamonds and rubys. A bit bonkers but very us I think. But that's a post for another day...

the truth

2010-10-22T08:13:00.006+11:00

I love really enjoy taking pics of Ferdy and Marcus. Neither of them seem to enjoy it. While it's nice to get a good photo of them looking exceptionally handsome, it's photos like these which reflect what happens in our day to day lives that I love the most.

The top photo makes my heart swell with love. Ferdy looking SO excited with his bat ears all flat knowing that that Marcus is about to pat him and maybe even flip him over to scratch his tummy. And then is the second photo Ferdy beaming with happiness that everything he'd hoped for had come true.

This weekend I'm looking forward to cuddling both those boys and getting some rest as well as celebrating this lady's birthday.

stuff and nonsense and plates

2010-10-20T23:10:00.000+11:00

Some of Lucy King's Me Old China jewellery- more on that later...

I checked in with Statcounter for the first time in months and was surprised to see that there are a whole heap of people regularly checking in over here despite nothing happening in.... ages. Add one night and day of blogging guilt and I'm here.

I don't deliberately ignore this blog, just sometimes I don't feel like I have anything blog worthy to say. Much like on twitter but the thing I like about twitter is if you say something stupid or boring is kinda disappears into the other millions of tweets that happen each second. Also, most the picture I want to use in a blog post are on my iPhone and I'm yet to master how to blog on my phone properly- any tips?

Mostly, I just feel a bit blogged out. Not blogged out as in I'm completely exhausted and over blogging but more that I'm putting my best blogging time and energy into the Guest Blog over on The Design Files. That is the blogging that gives me thrills and makes me feel good and warm inside- seeing people getting excited about local design stuff. This week we've got the sweet Lucy King on the guest blog with a redesign roundup. When I first started with TDF I had this vague idea of how something like that could work and the name that kept popping to mind was Lucy King thanks to her crafty jewelery and her garden. Lucy has done a really brilliant job on putting it together and it ended up 100 times better that I'd pictured in my head. Meanwhile, how freaking cute are the plates with holes cut out of them?! Anyway, I promise I'll be back here within the week. I might even have figured out how to blog crap from my iPhone.

what's for dinner? chicken pita pockets!

2010-10-05T21:26:00.016+11:00

Last weeks The Design Files Guest Blogger Dawn Tan got me back in the kitchen and cooking properly with her cute and delicious illustrations. This year has kept me outta the kitchen with how crazy busy we've been and we've easily eaten out or on the run 2 or 3 nights a week all year. Not great. I'd like to cook more and better so I thought a good way to keep me accountable to that is introducing a food element into this blog. Maybe?!

I want it to be easy and low fuss so instead of stressing about the quality of images, I've decided that I'm just going to point and shoot! No cropping, no filters, no adjusting colour levels and no apologizing for the lighting- it gets dark when I actually start cooking!

So here is what I cooked tonight. I made this a lot last summer as it's quick, easy, tasty and refreshing.

Chicken Pita Pockets!

First we turn the oven onto 200 degrees. Then we make the marinade/sauce for the chicken. I just kinda slosh it all in but here are the rough measurements. Technical hey?!

2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of honey [I used leatherwood and 1 tbs was a bit too strong!]
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Sprinkling of origano
2 big cloves of garlic
Slop of olive oil

Close up of all those ingredients. Smells yum!

Pop a couple of skinless chicken breast in and let them absorb the goodness while you prepare the following steps.

Dice up half a cucumber.

See if this is one of the many veggies [or is it a fruit?!] that Ferdinand will eat! My little vegetarian ate a couple of bits and sucked on a couple more.

Mix some tarziki dip in with the cucumber until evenly coated. Cover and put in the fridge.

Place the chicken on a tray with baking paper with half the sauce/marinade and bake for about 30 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the chicken and add the rest of the sauce.

Halve a couple of pita pockets and peal apart and heat in the oven for 4 minutes.

Ta-da! Sure, they don't look amazing but they sure are very tasty! And quite easy really.
Bon Appétit!

my dream house is for sale

2010-10-03T22:42:00.010+11:00

You know that house that is your dream house? Not the one you've made in your head, with bits and pieces of things you've seen but the one that you slow down whenever you have to drive past it just to see if its as amazing as you remember. You know, that dream house.

I was doing my daily search through the real estate websites a couple of hours ago and at the top of the page was MY DREAM HOUSE. I jumped. I yelled. I started blabbing away like a chimp on crack. I finally get to see what the inside of my dream house looks like- and I love every little bit of her.

The windows are all really old glass and sooooo pretty.Have you ever see such lovely timber door frames? What a ceiling!The bedroom appears to be of a similar size of our current house. We may need more furniture...Over 100 keys to different cupboards, doors and windows. These are kept in the servants quarters.The driveway ocean view.

I know right?! It is as grand as I had hoped. Absolutely beautiful with so so much character. The link is here while it lasts and offers start over $6million. Amusingly that is more than first division in Tattslotto last night!

[I also feel I should note that if ANYONE goes anywhere near that beautiful timber with a can of white paint I will write a very unhappy "thumbs down" to the local paper!]

how to sell a magazine

2010-09-30T10:33:00.003+10:00

Print Is Not Dead from Anthology Magazine on Vimeo.

Maybe Australian shelter mags should take note of this insanely cute commercial? THIS is how to sell magazines- I came SO close to subscribing except I knew Marcus would kill me for signing up to another mag. See more of Anthology Magazine here.

how my garden grows

2010-09-15T19:20:00.000+10:00

Just some little snaps of whats happening in the garden at the moment. Our garden is still recovering from the insanely hot summer we had- almost everything curled up and died. Except for the weeds of course. Come on warmer spring weather, I wanna see my tulips!

where i'm at

2010-09-14T06:30:00.001+10:00

Yep, that's me. And this is what I've been secretly doing over the past few weeks!! In a rather interesting twist of fate I'm now blogging for the SUPER AMAZING Lucy Feagins. This lady is beyond brilliant and I'm loving getting to know her and how she runs The Design Files. Genuine passion, excitement and a love for all things local, Lucy is honestly one of the most inspriring people I have ever met. I feel especailly lucky to have Lucy welcome me with such open arms and hope that I can help make her life a bit easier and keep the guest blog growing with genius Australian tallent. Thanks Lucy x

this week was...

2010-09-07T14:12:00.004+10:00

...full.

The good:

Blogging! I've been blogging somewhere else. It's not been about me or my words at all which is very nice. It's been all about amazingly talented people and it will continue to be like that. It's still a bit of a secret but it wont be next Monday. I'm very excited- next week is going to be AMAZING.
Teaching! Marcus is now known as "Student Teacher Marcus". He completed his first week of teaching placement last week, just observing the classes and it mostly went well. Except for the kid that need 3 stitches after misusing a chisel. This week he is teaching the classes and went off to school with a lunch box full of chocolates. He say they're an important part of his lesson, I say they're bribery.
Detox! I'm detoxing up a storm and it's going great! I'm really enjoying how it's challenging my ideas and routines with food.

My favorite photo that made it into my tumblr this week. I feel like I need more colour in my day at the moment!!

The bad:

Time! We are so time poor at the moment. It's hard because everything we're doing we love but we're making an effort to keep 1 day in the weekend mostly free so we can breathe.
Sleep! Neither of us are sleeping well due to everything that is going on. And our doona is too heavy and keeps falling off the end of the bed.

This week is going to be insanely busy but equally exciting in most areas of our lives. Work, blogging, study and home are all go go go! I hope to get out into the garden and get some photos of whats happening out there- blooming everywhere!

new zealand brain

2010-08-28T21:51:00.003+10:00

I've got New Zealand on the brain. In 3 weeks one of our amazing friends who now lives in New Zealand is getting married and for a few different reasons we aren't able to go. On the bright side, we're planning on going over in January next year which I'm really excited about as I've never, ever been overseas [insert Tasmania joke here]. So in a weird kinda grieving and excited way, here are some lovely New Zealandy things.

Bold & Noble Desire to Inspire

Clever Bastards

lint is a shells best friend

2010-08-25T10:31:00.002+10:00

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

I've watched this every day since Sunday- the quirky cuteness kills me! Found via Ryan Marshell on Twitter.

this week was...

2010-08-23T21:28:00.004+10:00

...umm, 3 weeks?

The good stuff:

House! The spare room is as sorted as it can be for the moment and we picked up an oak desk we bought on eBay for an absolute steal. The space is now Marcus' study. Not our coffee table- how nice! We also sold a pair of lounges that had been stacked just inside the entrance for about 6 weeks and have narrowed down our paint choices for repainting. British Paints have an amazing selection of gray paints- they're a more pure gray than any others we've looked at. No undertones of blue or brown just gray- lovely!
Work! While it's been insanely busy and I've been working back late most nights which would be annoying if things weren't a bit exciting and if we weren't achieving so much.
Technology! I finally bought a new laptop after my old one had its screen died and Marcus was sick of me stealing his. Also, my iPhone4 arrived- my first apple product ever!!
Party! We went along to the Outre Shag Party at the Walsh Street House a couple of weeks ago. It was a great night and we got to meet the lovey Kylie from Flying Ducks and her husband John who were visiting from Brisbane as well as some other cool peeps too. See some of Kylie's photos from the night here.
Movie! Scott Pilgrim vs The World was fantastic! I loved every second of it and desperately want to watch it again.
Election! Both Marcus and I worked in a poling place on Saturday with my Dad and brother. It's always a fun day and being involved makes the election just that bit more interesting- not that this one need more excitement!
Blogging! I finished up with Apartment Therapy this week. After 2 and a bit years of being the Australian based blogger I've hung up my hat and was really happy to end with this before and after feature of one of Scott Weston's projects. I loved my time with AT and learnt so much along the way.

Scott Weston's home bathrooms from his house tour here. I must get more pink into our house!!!

The bad stuff:

Busy! The past few weeks have just been too busy. As much as its disappointing at times, this period of our lives is helping us learn the important lesson of "you can't always do everything". There are just not enough hours in the day and its not worth running ourselves down.
Chemicals! Out of pure desperation and frustration, I used chemical cleaning products in the shower. Annoyingly they worked freaking fantastically. Having converted to enviro friendly cleaners almost 2 years ago, it was a bit disappointing and felt a bit like taking a step backwards. Note to future self: the prettiness of white grout doesn't outweigh the amount of work involved in keeping them clean. Grey looks just as good!
Study! Marcus has heaps of work to do which is keeping him super busy. Last week he had 4 assignments due! I miss spending time with him.
Car Accident! I was the first on the scene to a car accident the other day. The lady was okay but it really freaked me out seeing how quickly and easily a car could crash, flip and bounce around like that. The fact the driver had the exact same car as me but in blue only made it worse!
Shoulder! I've strained my shoulder most likely from too much typing and not enough stretching. It's quite painful but thankfully I have the most amazing osteopath.
August Break! Um, yeah. I completely flaked out on this one. Disappointing for sure.

This week is a bit exciting for a handful of reasons. I'm starting a very structure detox to help get another part of my life in order- whenever I get too busy eating well and exercise is the first thing to go out the window. I've got a couple of RDO's which I'm going to use to catch up on sleep and odd jobs around the house. I hope we can use some of the weekend to get into the garden- it's very over grown and with all our bulbs about to flower, I'd love to be able to tidy it up a bit so we can enjoy all the lovely tulips without the weeds!

what I'm hearing....

2010-08-20T09:26:00.006+10:00

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl - Bang Bang Bang

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home

Karen Souza - Wake Up and Make Love With Me

To be honest, I don't really love Wake Up and Make Love With Me it's just that I hear it all the time at work! It's one of those songs that the tune just get stuck in my head and I keep finding myself singing the inapropriate lyrics while cooking or doing washing. I'd pay big money to see Rich Fulcher as Ellenor the Whore doing a cover of it though...

narwhale - the august break

2010-08-05T21:18:00.003+10:00

Looking at the younger Dingwall sister today. Kim's so cool she had to shave her head just to be free of some of the coolness. Kim, Marcus is still going to print this on canvas- he's just waiting for the right time to ask the boss so its all for frees. See Krimberly Dingus Tumblr here- she's freaking amazing. Truly. I promise. Day 5 of The August Break.

rings - the august break

2010-08-04T20:07:00.001+10:00

Flameworked borosilicate glass rings by our amazing friend Sarah J. Dingwall. If we had the money, I would buy 1 one everything she creates. Play at her tumblr here. Day 4 of The August Break.

nylex - the august break

2010-08-04T12:34:00.004+10:00

Nylex Clock print from Make Me Iconic. A gift for Marcus from some lovely friends. It's now the main feature in our lounge room. Day 3 of The August Break.

tripod - the august break

2010-08-02T20:50:00.005+10:00

Marcus found this ex-military cedar and brass tripod in a puddle today while picking up some scrap timber for work. He asked the guy who's property it was could he have it and did he have anymore. The guy said Marcus could have it and he had about 20 more but he burnt them all. It was the easiest way to collect the brass for scrap. Tear. We plan to use it as a lamp base. Day 2 of The August Break.

this week was...

2010-08-01T21:40:00.001+10:00

...celebrated!

The good stuff:

Marcus' 30th! It was his birthday on Friday and we celebrated for most of the weekend. Friday we had a family dinner at the local fancy Chinese restaurant and Saturday we did friends dinner at D.O.C. The highlight was how big a fuss the Italian waiters at D.O.C made about it being Marcus' birthday- the lights went down, music turned up loud and waiters came skipping out with sparklers stuck in dessert and presented them to Marcus. The whole restaurant was cheering along and once the sparklers had burnt out the waiters then ran away with the desserts. We were slightly confused and all joked about them eating them out the back when they ran out with dessert all over their face and presented Marcus with the empty plates! It was very funny and added a special touch to the night. Marcus had a great time and received some lovely presents from our generous friends and family.

sparkle tits

Work! We're crazy busy but the Boss is working hard and focusing on the future of the vision of the business. During the past week I've been thinking back to when I first started working there 6 years ago and at the time I thought I was so busy and so stressed- I wish I could go back in time and enjoy how casual and easy life really was!!
Reading! I've very much enjoyed just stopping and reading this past week. Even if it's just for 5 or 10 minutes in between doing other things, I've noticed how much of a difference it makes to my mental state.

The bad stuff:

Missing prints! A pair of prints I bought on Etsy a couple of months ago appear to have gone missing in the post. Hopefully they turn up as I love them and they have now sold out. Thankfully the seller is being especially nice about it but it's just a shame how these things turn out sometimes.
Tax! Turns out I've been taxed incorrectly for my part time job over the past 6 months which meant that I owed almost $800. Boo.

I've signed up to The August Break in an attempt to get into the habit of regularly posting here. A photo a day for a month should hopefully do it! I'm also setting myself a goal of going to the gym 5 times a week and eating less processed foods- look forward to reporting back on how I go :)

batty boy - the august break

2010-08-01T18:57:00.000+10:00

What Ferdinand would look like if he had "normal" ears - Day 1 of The August Break

happy 30th to you!

2010-07-30T08:00:00.003+10:00

Marcus at his bucks night - hawtness!

Dear Marcus,

Today you are 30! I know you're not too pleased about it and are pretending that it's just another birthday. A handful of things have made you feel old in the past few weeks, like realizing your nose hairs have now merged into your mustache. But you should remember that good things happen when as you get older. 5 years ago almost to this day, I became your girlfriend and we very awkwardly started to date. As you got older, we got less awkward and became each others best friend. As you got older, I got older too and you were no longer creepy and dating a teenager. Then we got a bit older, we got engaged, bought a house and got married. See, getting older is really fun! And as we continue to get older, we'll do more fun things. We'll travel the world and see amazing sights, we'll have babies together and open our home to babies that need love and many other things that I'm sure we could never plan this far in advance for. We'll do it all together, I promise.

I like that you are older. You are so full of wisdom and discernment that is well beyond your 30 years. You're at the point where you are working out what you really want to do as a career and working so hard to get there. You are becoming less terrified of having a baby and you even get excited by the idea occasionally [still can't believe you watched a documentary on child birth by yourself this week- big steps!]. You are unbelievably supportive of me, our friends and family. I think you are pretty darn amazing.

I hope that you have a very special time as we celebrate you this weekend and know that you are loved.

With love,
wife lady.

What are you doing? Why are you in a cabinet? Never mind... love you!

this week was...

2010-07-26T08:52:00.006+10:00

...all about work!

The good stuff:

Work! The huge project we were working on was finally completed on Thursday- phew!!! It took so much time and effort to get it done and I was tired and a bit grumpy for most of the week. Marcus was amazingly lovely and even came into the office one night to help me.
Blogging! I've been playing around with the layout of this blog a bit, trying to move it away from a stock standard blogger template. Amusingly, the hardest part was choosing which shade of gray for the background. I also added a column on the left with my Dream Shopping List which was very much inspired by Lucy at The Design Files and her Need/Want list. Except half the items on my list is 99% not likely to actually make it into our home without a Tattslotto win!!
Cider! Over the weekend I fell madly in love with Rekorderlig Pear Cider. It is the best cider I've ever tasted with a crisp, light, musky pear flavor. Find it at Dan Murphy's. Do it today, I promise you'll thank me.
Bedhead! The bedhead we've been making out of an old fireplace surround is assembled, in place and almost finished. Stay tuned for an update this week.

[Amazing Rekorderlig Pear Cider and my favourite photo that made it's way into my Tumblr this week.]

The bad stuff:

Work! Huge project sucked up my whole week and all of my energy. Thankfully [and touch wood] I didn't get too run down or sick.
Technology! Why it chose this week to turn against me I'll never know! I guess it's just one of those things- sigh.

This week is going to be a great one- Marcus turns 30 (!) on Friday and we have a weekend full of celebrations ahead. Friends, family, food, wine and presents! I hope he was the superfantastic time that he deserves.

how i got my simon doonan

2010-07-23T14:35:00.003+10:00

left: Simon Doonan & Jonathon Adler. right: young and older Simon Doonan in Beautiful People

During our week off we watched season 1 and 2 of Beautiful People. We'd caught a couple of episodes when it was on poor people telly and thought it was hilarious! [I'm into anything that has Olivia Colman in it too.] Of course we loved both seasons and fell in love with Simon Doonan and his quirky family. The series is based on a booked called The Beautiful People by Simon Doonan and Marcus found that the real Simon Doonan is the creative director of Barneys. "Huh, that's vaguely rings some bells..." I thought but I just couldn't place it. It bugged me for a few days so I Googled and suddenly everything fell into place. Simon Doonan who the charactor Simon Doonan in Beautiful People is based on is THE Simon Doonan that is married to the magnificent Jonathon Adler. THE Simon Doonan who lives in this amazing apartment in Palm Beach that was featured in Jan/Feb issues of Inside Out that I so desperately fell in love with. Simon Doonan! It all makes sense now right?!

Anyway, since Google served me so well in joining those dots I kept on looking. Turns out Simon Doonan has written a few books and a couple of them a few weeks ago on my feeling-guilty-that-I-haven't-read-a-book-in-6-months shopping spree. They both arrived this week and hopefully I'll get a chance to start one over the weekend.

Simon Doonan and Jonathon Adler's Florida Home

this week was...

2010-07-18T20:07:00.003+10:00

...exhausting!

The good stuff:

Scott Weston! We met him and he was lovely and interesting. Read me babble on here about it if you're interested.
Reading! I'm sooooo into books right now [insert posh/daaaarling hand motion]. Truly, this reading a bit every day thing for enjoyment has been great and I will keep it up. All of these books have started arriving one by one- we're enjoying guessing what will be next each time we pick up the mail.
Work! There have been good and bad elements to this week. We'll cover the bad later but the good at my day job was that we're all getting a lot done and working nicely as the well oiled team we are. The worst of it will be over by the end of next week- I'm looking forward to doing nothing but sleep.
Getting stuff done! I'm always surprised with how good I feel when things happen around our house. Just small stuff this week- planning out some shelves for books in our bedroom, Marcus cleaned out and organized the garage and we acquired a 2nd set of pigeon holes that we will use in the office. Small things that are part of the big picture.

[my favorite photo that made it into my tumblr this week. I've been dreaming of the right shade of pink that I would want to paint a kitchen in the future. For about 3 months I've had a shade in mind but could never find the right paint chip etc and then this photo appeared on Desire To Inspire- perfection!]

The bad stuff:

Work! My day job has truly been bonkers as we've been working on a humongous project. I'm not one to get stressed out but I do feel the pressure build up inside and it often releases itself in the form of tears. About anything and everything this weekend- I cut my finger while dicing some potatoes yesterday and from my reaction I'm pretty sure Marcus was expecting me to be missing a hand rather than the paper cut I presented!
Other work! It has been a strange week at my casual hospitality job. One of the guys who I work with suddenly snapped and at me at had a go at me for "picking on him" and "ganging up on him". I honestly have no idea where that came from or what it was in relation to and he wasn't really willing to explain what he meant. All I could do was apologize if he took anything I said the wrong way and assure him that I certainly wasn't doing it deliberately. It was weird and I still don't understand what is going on there.
Health! Still didn't do great getting back on track with healthy eating and exercise, a couple of nights baked potato was all we had for dinner- terrible, I know. But I got to they gym a couple of times and ate lots of soup from the freezer so while it wasn't great it was better than last week. Here's to next week being every better again!

I guess that's it really. With so much work I guess my life is looking a bit dull. Hopefully next week I'll have something more interesting to report?....

state of design 2010

2010-07-16T21:03:00.011+10:00

Today we spent the day at taking part in a few of the main events of State Of Design. We've done this every year for the past 6 years [admittedly a couple of those years I was using my time to woo Marcus- it worked!]. We wandered around Design and Decorate/Furnitex which, with the exception of a couple of stalls, it really was craptacular. But there were a couple of highlights which made it all worth it. First was the Handsome Prints display where we spent ages walking around looking at really beautiful fabric and wallpaper. The samples were suspended in double sided laser cut frames and slowly spun around with the air movement- every time you looked at this display as a whole it was different.

[image from Shaynna Blaze]

The other good part was the Vivid display crammed full of design students work. This is always fun because Marcus did the same course that all the students did. Lots of interest pieces and it's nice to see the course getting a higher amount of student actually completing the course- when Marcus did it 170ish students started the course but only 6 others graduated with Marcus!

Next we went and saw 5 Best Design Decisions as part of the Furnitex Seminars. It was brilliant! The discussion was hosted by Wendy Moore [the editor of Home Beautiful] and featured Kirsti Simpson from Hassel, Dylan Farrell from Thomas Hamel Design and Scott Weston of Scott Weston Architecture Design. Kirsti, Dylan and Scott all shared their 5 best design decisions from their career and it was very interesting given they are all from very different design firms.

[image from Hassel]

Kirsti Simpson of Hassel presented first which mostly covered the redesign of their office building as well as a handful of their corporate projects. What I found most interesting about Kirsti's presentation was the small glimpse into how they work with such a large team who cover every possible aspect of a project. When I started thinking about it from a project management point of view it would be an enormous job to pull together that many resources, their ideas and budgets all for one project that flowed like one project and met the clients brief. I got very excited by the idea of doing that job!

**edited 4 July 2011- some content removed by request***

[image from SWAD]

Scott Weston. He is my design hero and when I first started blogging for Apartment Therapy he was the first "someone" who was really nice to me and was more than happy to open his home to us. Seeing him interacting today with other designers and admires, his kindness and honesty really radiated through and I think that some of his success is reflected on those qualities. The rest of his success is purely because of his talent!! His presentation was full of passion as he walked us through his 5 best design decisions. What I enjoyed most about Scott's presentation was the little extra details of his projects that I've admired over and over again that you can't tell from the pictures. Things that are hidden away behind cupboard doors and bedside table drawers, Scott really loves adding those elements of surprise into his design journey. After the session I very awkwardly introduced myself said 'hello' and embarrassingly I was more nervous talking to him that I was Jack White!! All moisture in my mouth disappeared and my brain turned to cotton-wool. Eventually I figured out how to think again and we had a nice chat about his work, blogging, his stay in Melbourne as well as how the seminar went. It was a pleasure to meet Scott and if we ever win Tattslotto I know exactly who I'd want to design and build our house on a sunny hilltop in Mt Martha.

After that we headed over to Design Made Trade [and everything else which was in Royal Exhibition Building] which was interesting but not as exciting as previous years. However, there was a more interesting mix of stalls and we happily spent a bit over an hour taking it all in.

I wish we were able to do more events over the weekend, especially in Melbourne Open House but we had a great day today and look forward to fitting more in next year.

this week was...

2010-07-11T12:22:00.011+10:00

The good stuff:

Blogging! Got my mojo back and it's been a good week. A post here and 2 successful posts over on AT, it all feels encouraging.
Ferdinand! He turned 1 on Wednesday. Can't believe it's been a year since I got the call from Gail his breeder to say he had been born and he was ours. The past year has been lovely with him. As I type this he is acting as a nice warm headrest lying on the back of the couch watching the neighbors paint their window frames.

Family! We had 2 family dinners this week, one for Marcus' Mum's birthday and another just because with my parents. It was nice just chatting over food, catching up on what everyone had been doing and learning how to play Dominos!
Lily! My 4 year old niece is hilarious. So very witting, cheeky and as cute as a button.

The Bad Stuff:

Broken Hand! After an x-ray it turns out the base of my middle finger is fractured. Thankfully it's in a good place for easy healing as it's well supported by my wrist bones and it doesn't need to be plastered, just bandaged.
Work! It was as bad as I had expected after being away for a week while we were so busy. But I felt good about the amount of work I achieved and left confident on Friday that by that time next week I would be fully caught up again.
Eating & Exercise! Ugh, I feel like all I've eaten is crap all week mostly because I haven't been able to cook well. Left overs from the freezer, subway and way too many apples isn't really the healthy eating plan I've been aiming for. Also had to cancel my personal training and didn't make it at all to the gym at all. Blurgh.

book eyes

2010-07-10T00:23:00.001+10:00

Something I'm genuinely trying to do every single day is read a book. Even if it's just 5 minutes before turning out the light. It all started after reflecting on the image above and realizing I haven't really picked up a book since January. I felt so ashamed that it had been almost 6 months that I sat down an read this book in 3 days.

Growing up I was a huge reader. My parents locked away our TV during school terms so that it was a school holiday treat and in any spare time I had, I read. During and for a year after high school I worked at our local library and was constantly reading anything that I could get my hands on. So how have could I have gone 6 months without reading a book? Blogs, magazines and TV. Such amazing distractions which require very little thought.

So I went shopping. Thank heavens for Booko and it's ability to find the cheapest books for us Australians who are constantly slugged with unreasonable shipping fees. It's amazing for all of Marcus' text books too.

On my to read list is:
Eccentric Glamour by Simon Doonan
The Beautiful People by Simon Doonan
Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk
An Eames Primer by Eames Demetrios
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

In the next week or so I'll compile posts reasoning my latest obsession with Simon Doonan and Bret Easton Ellis. But for now, I'm getting into bed with a glass of wine to continue reading this.

this week was...

2010-07-04T20:25:00.011+10:00

A regular (ha!) weekly (haha!) post I aim to commit to which is very much inspired by the lovely Louise of Table Tonic and her Week In Review posts. You know when you see a post on blog that makes you feel like you're chatting with that blogger in real life? I get that from reading Louise's weekly review.

Anyhoo, down to business:

The Good Stuff:

A week off! The past week Marcus and I have been at home on holidays together. It's been ace. We've got stuff done around home [more on that next], spent time talking, cooking, cuddling with the puppy and to use a rubbish word, "re-connecting". With how busy we've been over the past 4 months it was nice to actually stop and enjoy each others company.
Getting stuff done! Home reno's have come to a grinding halt since study and 2nd jobs filled our time so it was nice to tick some items off the list. The biggest thing was installing the new back door- from the brown aluminum to white glossy timber, it's a very nice change!

Friends! We got to have dinner with our amazing friends Whi te y a nd McAsia [more affectionately known as James and Stef!] and see their house that they're ripping the center out of. We also had our beautiful friend Freda around for dinner too. To say she is having a hard time is an understatement but it was good that we were able to have some good laughs and wine.

Ferdinand! Because he's my baby and just so lovely.

The Bad Stuff:

Broken hand! I might have broken my hand last night- x-ray tomorrow to confirm it. Annoyingly it was because I'm a bit of a klutz, I banged it on a corner of a table because I was too busy talking and not paying enough attention to where I was walking. Sigh.
Work! With my day job spinning out of control with a huge project that we're working on, my break has had an undercurrent of worry and dread about what's happening while I'm gone and what I'll be returning to.
Blogging! Ugh, where to start? Other than being disappointed with my absence here, I'm equally annoyed that I've turned this into a place of just pretty pictures and nice music. My aim was to make this an honest, genuine space that I could share who I really am and not just another generic toneless blogger. I started a tumblr feed to address the pretty picture issue. Another side to that is how disappointed I am with a handful of my AT posts from the past couple of months. Not sure what's quite going on there- is it the readers, am I not communicating correctly, am I becoming too narrow-minded, should I take the comments to heart? Regardless, after a 2 week blogging break I'm feeling better.

Well that's been this week. Fingers crossed that my hand get's back to it's usual self and we all have an ace week this week!

what's been getting me through the weeks

2010-06-13T11:55:00.006+10:00

CW Stoneking covering The White Stripes - 7 Nation Army

Janel Monáe - Tightrope

Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

pilgrim's pretty home

2010-05-09T21:31:00.003+10:00

It's been Australian House Tour central over on AT-LA the past few weeks. Pilgrim Lee of Draw! Pilgrim opened her incredible home to us and it freaking knocked my socks off! An amazing collection of vintage furniture, furnishings and art in some of the most brilliant colours you'd ever see. My favorite part of Pilgrim's tour was how much of her furniture had previously belonged to family members and she had had reupholstered to fit into her home. Like the amazing blue velour chesterfield pictured above- I'm in couch love! See the full tour here and be sure to visit draw! pilgrim here.

touring in armadale

2010-04-28T11:59:00.005+10:00

Apologies for being MIA, last week was a killer 70hr work week- ouch! There is oh so much to catch up on so lets start at the beginning- Jane's Armadale Pear Tree House. I've already expressed how much I love house tours but actually photographing them is a whole new kind of love. Arriving at Jane's home was fantastic, seeing the orginal part of the home, walking along the crazy paving to the side of the house which opens into the new extension. Jane's home is full of so many interesting details that on a whole create an amazing, welcoming space. I was genunily impressed how well she had intergrated everything that comes along with having children into her home so easily, something that isn't often done well. My other hightlights were the conversation pit and the freaking huge skirting boards in the orginal part of the house- wow. Thanks for having us Jane, I'm completely in love with your home. Visit Jane's blog here.

a yellowtrace house tour

2010-04-12T19:07:00.005+10:00

Super beautiful grown up bedroom- dreamy.

One of my favorite things about working for Apartment Therapy is doing house tours. They're insanely personal and it takes this blogging thing to a whole new level. I really love getting to know the participants, discovering their homes through the photos and their write up as well as reading all the positive and excited comments from readers. Over the weekend I published the house tour of Dana of Yellowtrace. If this blog isn't already on your blogroll, add it right now- this blog is my tip for 2010. Dana's husband did an amazing job of the photographs that required no editing which I can't begin to express how awesome that is! My favorite part of the whole tour was this snippet from Dana's questionnaire "Our home is work in progress and it very much responds to the way we live, who we are as individuals and as a couple." That is exactly how a home should be!! I feel like that's something that is really lost on people who just want their home to have a certain look or own particular brands of furniture. Thankfully Dana's home is full of personality, style and unique bits and pieces. Visit Dana's Yellowtrace Apartment here.

how can we do more to help?

2010-04-01T21:41:00.002+11:00

Via: Online Schools
I'm asking that as a real question, not rhetorical.

crazy

2010-04-01T09:29:00.004+11:00

Katie Noonan covering Crazy by Gnarls Barkley- love.

what's been going on

2010-03-20T09:21:00.005+11:00

It's been a while since I popped up over here. Life has been insanely busy and I've barely had time to scratch myself let alone write a blog. Marcus has started uni which was a bit of a shock to his system given that he hasn't studied for almost 10 years, he's doing everything by distance ed and cramming 3 years into 2. I've started a new casual job down at Moonah Links golf course which is an amazing venue and the people are exceptionally lovely. So between those two big changes we're scrambling for time to do house work, see family and friends as well as spend time together. Oh yeah, someone found his barking voice too.

istanbul was constantinople

2010-03-07T13:21:00.001+11:00

Ayazpasa Apartment in Istanbul. Beautiful.

amazingness on crack!

2010-03-03T12:13:00.007+11:00

That's how ace this video by OK GO is! Watch the whole thing, it's brilliant and so is the song.

2 years

2010-03-01T14:34:00.007+11:00

2 years ago today Marcus and I got married. I love this photo and we really have been laughing ever since. It was amazing to marry the man who I'd had a stupidly large crush on since I was 13. I didn't think it would ever happen because he was 5 years older than me which was sooo old! But it happened and it was amazing but no where near as amazing as our life together.

I love you Marcus.

More cheesy photos here.

white floors and moss walls

2010-02-20T22:48:00.003+11:00

Check it out! New floors in the kitchen and dining room- no more awful torn brown vinyl or scumming old carpet! Yay!! We had to pull off all the skirting boards and plinths so the edges are looking a bit ugly. Our house is a complete shambles with the stove outside and the fridge, dining table, meat safe and card file all crammed into the living room. Here is a close up of the boards:It's still Home Hacks month over at Apartment Therapy. My latest Home Hack was How To Make Moss Graffiti, super easy and effective. Initially it was establishing itself really well but I think some of the hotter days we've had recently have fried it a bit. Will keep painting the moss mixture and keeping it moist until it's very nicely established. Check out the Home Hacks page if you haven't visited yet- I can guarantee you'll learn something ;)

happy?

2010-02-20T18:31:00.004+11:00

There have been a couple of big decisions made in our house this week. It's funny how something as simple as "are you happy?" can be such a hard question to answer. Especially when you don't know exactly what you want other than change. After some time of listening to my heart and my head, I think I'm heading in the right direction. Fingers crossed.
image via

all tongue

2010-02-15T20:59:00.006+11:00

Dopey, sleepy puppy with a tongue bigger than his mouth. Love this silly sausage to bits.

home hacks

2010-02-11T08:00:00.002+11:00

On of our freshly reupholstered dining chair

Have you been reading Apartment Therapy this month? If you're not, you should be! It's Home Hacks month and we're sharing lots of clever projects to do around your home. Marcus and I have been doing stuff- we aged brass using a nifty solution he bought online, I cleaned the paint our textured bathroom windows and we reupholstered 7 dining chairs. The dining chairs took ages, spent a few hours on Saturday, Sunday and Monday doing them which I suppose is okay for 7 chairs and 2 people who had never reupholstered before! Anyway, I'm really enjoying Home Hacks month and leaning interesting stuff from all the other AT writers too. So far I think the best have been Emily's posts on how to select the best fruit and veges, she's very clever with food.

grieving

2010-02-07T19:04:00.003+11:00

On Thursday night the husband of a good friend of mine died after an impressive battle with cancer. We all knew it was coming but it was still shocking when it actually happened. Initially I felt so sad for my friend and my heart really ached for her and her [adult] children but it didn't really effect me emotionally. After about 3 hours I turned into a crumbled, sobbing, aching heap. It was like something clicked and it suddenly occurred to me that she has lost the most significant person in her life.

So I stepped away from my biggest time waster, the internet, and spent the weekend with people. While Scott pointed out that the internet is people too, I do wonder if am I placing too much value on people I've never met? There are a handful that I consider real friends but what about all those people who I know and love outside of the screen? I spent the weekend appreciating my family, some of our friends but mostly Marcus. Enjoying our time together, working on things together and talking together. Because he's still here and I going to appreciate the socks off him.

chair whore

2010-02-07T15:18:00.000+11:00

Chair Whore is my new daily pleasure. A huge variety of beautiful chairs from all around the world updated a few times daily. I'm not sure why but whenever I read this blog I start singing this song in my head every.single.time.

michel gondry

2010-02-03T21:11:00.008+11:00

Perfect example of Michel Gondry brilliance. If you don't already own the Directors Series on Michel Gondry, go and buy it now. He is amazingly talented.

what i'm hearing

2010-02-02T19:12:00.012+11:00

The Bird and The Bee - My Love

Kurt Elling - My Foolish Heart

Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime

I love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Whenever I watch it I'm torn as to what I would do if the plot of that movie was possible. While I'd love to forget a particularly hurtful ex, I learnt so much and made mistakes that I'd never want to make again. Either way, I'd never want to forget about Beck.

artichoke flowers

2010-01-31T18:01:00.005+11:00

Over winter we planted a few artichoke plants in the vege patch, mostly to see what would happen. After a bit of a slow start they ended up growing almost as tall as me! Annoyingly, when the artichokes were ready to be eaten we were without a kitchen so my dad and Marcus' chef friend did very well out of the harvest. We left a few to flower and here they are. So beautiful and smell just like running through a field dandelions.

boiling hot kettle

2010-01-29T19:24:00.006+11:00

It's not often that I see an appliance which is so hot it makes me audibly swear. The Sunbeam Designer Series Glass Kettle did that for me today. Features include fast boil concealed element, sensor touch button operation and holds 1.3L. Our favorite feature is the German made Schott Duran glass vessel, a recognizable name from all scientific labs thanks to their quality laboratory glassware [turns out I did learn something in Biology class!]. The kettle is very reasonably prices at $139.95 and insanely good looking for a generally dull kitchen. So... anyone want to buy a 2nd hand, lightly used Breville kettle? All reasonable offers considered.

berries for breakfast

2010-01-26T22:52:00.018+11:00

We made the Australia Day weekend a long one and spent the weekend down at a friends farm in Foster. We do this a few times a year and it is honestly the most soothing place I've ever experienced. Time means nothing. Food, wine, talking and laughing are the main events. The farm is just under 100 acres, has a 120 year old orchard filled with apples, pears and plumbs and had previously been a cattle farm. The most recent owner spent the past 20 years revegetating the land with native trees, cutting in paths throughout the property and established 3 huge dams that flow into each other off a nearby river. The main part of the house was built in the 1880's and has been extended every 20 years so understandably it's a curious shape. My favorite part of the house is the kitchen. The floor slopes down the hill a bit but it has the most magnificent view.The rolling hills of the farm in one direction, the ocean in the other. Drinking tea and looking out at this makes me want to give everything else up and constantly enjoy this peace.

Cooking in this kitchen is also a dream. Old timber benchtops, plaid cupboard curtains, ceramic sink, brass tap and 2 stoves lead to english muffins, pumpkin bread, pastas, salads, moroccan lamb, sausage rolls, berries with cream and more cheese and bikkies than you can poke a stick at being prepared and eaten over the weekend. The farm is about 2 minutes away from the most amazing blueberry farm so a range of local berries were on the menu for breakfast and desert.A bit further down the road is Maria's Junk Emporium which is honestly amazing. So much interesting crap in piles around the yard and shipping containers full of furniture. Maria is rough as guts, has a mouth on her like a sailor and successfully freaked out one of the guys by calling him "lover boy".
We took the poopa with us too. He always has a nice time with so many people who are willing to play with him but we were restricted to keeping him inside as it's snake season and they were making their presence know. Ferdy instead spent his time moving around the house trying to catch the best sunlight, regardless of how awkward the spot was.Marcus so bravely found a snake skin and brought it back to the house. Compared to the snakes that were spotted over the weekend, this skin is tiny.Finally, any spare time that was found was spent on archery. The whole weekend really was like being at camp in primary school except for the soft cheeses and no lights out rule. Looking forward to doing it all again on Cup weekend.

weekend

2010-01-17T12:58:00.018+11:00

This weekend so far has be a quite and homely one.

I did some stewing to make my variation of this recipe in an attempt to drink up some of the cheap champagne left over from New Years. Also works as an excellent substitute as vermouth in a gin martini.I did some baking. Upside-down caramel pineapple cake from Stephanie Alexander's Cooking Companion. Super yummy and because we bought the pineapple from the market it still had its top which Marcus planted.I also played with this guy. He's pretty funny.I chopped up a whole pile of beetroot to make these super tasty vege burgers. Love eating them in a wrap with a pile of rocket and a blob of sour cream. My hands still look like I'm guilty of murder.We went down to Boneo Market yesterday which was insanely busy but bought some huge basil plants for $4 each. For some reason Marcus is unable to grow sweet basil even though the rest of our garden is overflowing with about 30 other herbs. Last night and this afternoon will be sorting out all our tax paperwork which is very ugly so no photo.

Tonight is all about risotto.

music for 2009

2010-01-14T07:33:00.005+11:00

I know it's 2010 now but it's nice to look back over the past years musical highlights and with Australia Day is just around the corner I've been thinking hard about my top 10 singles for Triple J's Hottest 100. We're spending Australia Day down at a friends farm is Foster, 100 aches of native bush, dams and wildlife. Here are my votes for 2009:

The Basics - With This Ship
Bon Iver - For Emma
Daniel Merriweather - Change
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
La Roux - In For The Kill
Philadelphia Grand Jury - I'm Gonna Kill You
Regina Spektor - Laughing With
Vampire Weekend - Horchata
The Whitest Boy Alive - Intentions
The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo

Voting closes this Sunday, be sure to visit Triple J to make your musical vote count.

Something that doesn't usually happen is when my favorite videos of the year are also all in my hottest 100 votes. My favorite video clips of 2009:

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

Regina Spektor - Laughing With

The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo

Not many gigs to speak of in the past year which reflects our changing lifestyle. We used to go to 1 or 2 gigs a weekend but now we garden, renovate and be domestic. Possibly nicer just not as interesting!

hot and wordy

2010-01-11T17:36:00.009+11:00

Currently is 43 degrees here [that's 110 degrees farenheit]. I went outside just before for about 10 minutes and I don't think I've ever felt such an intense, still heat. I'm hiding back inside in front of the air-conditioner! I've been pottering around home stewing, drying and freezing trays of fruit we bought at a bargain price from the market with Marcus as well as doing some cleaning out. Making the most of our last days of holidays together.

These holidays have included a lot of reading. First up was the Jack West Jr series by Matthew Reilly. I had read the first 2 in the series and decided to re-read them as the third book was released just before Christmas. I'm normally not a fan of these style of adventure books but Matthew Reilly writing style completely sucks me in. Maybe it's his lovable characters or the short, punchy chapters that make it impossible to put the book down or the themes of the books are so unbelievable and believable at the same time- whatever it is I really enjoy them.

Currently, I'm reading Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation. Did you ever see the TV series that aired on SBS a few years ago? It was hilarious and after I stumbled across the book at a discount bookstore, I did some searching and found that the DVD had been released. Anyway, it challenges the way most of us think about sex and reproduction in the animal kingdom, the evolution of sex and how powerful it is in everyday life. Very funny and informative, although I'd suggest seeing the TV series first.
Have you read anything good over summer?

kitchen flooring

2010-01-06T18:11:00.010+11:00

Flooring inspiration:
The final part of our kitchen renovation is flooring. Our dream would have been to rip up the 80's vinyl and find amazing timber boards but all we found was the uneven concrete slab. So off to the flooring shop we went! We didn't like our chances of finding a limewash floating floor that looked decent but we were happily surprised.
Please forgive us for the awful flooring situation we currently have going on! We came across a few different similar looking floating floors however we really like this one because it's darker at the seams. We were also looking at Ikea's Markland Flooring but we suspect it will look too glarey with all the light we get on that side of the house. What do you reckon? Any other suggestions to achieve a similar look?

life with ferdinand

2010-01-06T09:31:00.011+11:00

When we first brought Ferdinand home we were surprised with how noisy his breathing and snoring was. It was a bit shocking that all that noise could constantly come from one little puppy!

Now I barely notice it. Unless he has fallen asleep on me. Then I notice it. I really notice it.

our [unfinished] kitchen renovation

2010-01-04T09:13:00.014+11:00

This is our kitchen 8 weeks ago.

Don't you just love the orange timber cabinets?! To touch, they felt similar to sandpaper and caught every bit of dust or spilt food. And the elevated stove/oven? Aimed at disabled and elderly folks, it did make using the oven easy but took away precious, precious bench space and made the cupboards underneath hard to reach. In between the stove and the sink there were cupboards that to access anything in there you had to crawl into the cupboard just to reach! We lived with this for almost 2 years and in the end I was so glad to see Marcus take to it with a destruction crowbar!!

This is our kitchen today.
Once it's all finished I'll do an in-depth post on all the gritty details and take some better photos. Basically the cabinetry is Ikea Farkum Nexus in Black/Brown with Ice Snow CaesarStone Benchtops, powdercoated pressed tin splashback and integrated dishwasher. And we're REALLY happy with it. There are still a few things to do, the major one is new flooring which we haven't decided on yet but it will hopefully be installed by the end of February.

It's wonderful to have a practical, pretty kitchen that does everything that we want.

the first peek

2010-01-03T21:06:00.002+11:00

Closing the curtains is something I'm really good at. Keeping people I'm uncertain about at arms length and not letting them too far into my life. Over the past 3 years reading blogs has become a highlight of my daily routine and it has inspired me to be more open about who I really am, what I love and at times, what I struggle with.

So to you, I'm opening the curtains.