heart shaped confetti

so incredibly happy and excited tonight.

my darling best friend was proposed to ♥ 

any excuse to eat cheese

what do you know... another food related picture and post. what is with me lately!? (now also feels like an appropriate time to mention that i did end up having some chocolate cake tonight...) this saturday night is riverfire in brisbane. i've never been but i'm really excited about the possibilty of going down early with a picnic blanket, bottle of wine and various cheeses, dips, bread, dried fruit, quince paste, grapes... should i keep going? riverfire is the closing event of the brisbane festival which is on at the moment. i haven't seen much of it (despite my best intentions) however there is all kinds of cool stuff happening in our sleepy city as we speak. most of it is a little too cool and quirky for my likings (think weird art instalations)  however there are some more mainstream things on that i would happily go to and not feel too far out of my depth at, like the city of lights show! i am hoping to get there one night this week which will be fun.

my treat

ah! i love this picture!

i have such a soft spot for fresh sugary cinamon donuts.

i sometimes treat myself to one when i'm out shopping for some reason.

i think i figure i've done so much walking that i deserve it.

scrabble collection4

i think i've talked about my 'blog' folder on here before.

it fills with up with all kinds of pretty pictures who sit there

waiting patiently to be used in a post one day. sometimes

i notice themes starting to occur and suddenly i realise i have

lots of the same kind of picture! idvidual scrabble letters

that make up words on a floral or patterned background is

one such theme. here are some from my accidental collection.

my fav is 'oh darling', 'oh gosh' and of course i love the 'love' one. 

i also have far too many pictures of ice cream and icy poles...! 

p.s. i actually can't stand playing scrabble but my mum and grandma

(and most of my entirefamily) are scrabble champs. i can confidently

claim being the rummikub champion of the family though.

musk!

i have a new found (or rediscovered) love for... musk. 

non art critic

i don't know anything about art but i think this is cute! if it was under twenty dollars, consider it sold! my experience with art is very limited and includes looking through windows of galleries after they are closed and spending a day at the nvg, bypassing most hangings in favour of the ones that had some kind of gory story behind it or someone in the nude! what does that say about me...? recently kahli sent us some pictures that her preps had done. they had to do a self portrait and my goodness they were hilarious! the worse the better. i can't wait to hang my kids works of art one day... they better be funny! 

cake?

um, yum. i am currently procrastinating walking to the shops and buying ingredients to cook tonight.

maybe i'll eat cake for dinner instead. i wonder what my nutritionist and personal trainer housemate would have to say about that. i really am feeling inspired to cook something delicious tonight though.

and that brings me to

melbourne! i am very excited for my visit in late october. 

my beautiful friend romina is getting married to her andrew ♥

speaking of...

speaking of melbourne inspired cafes... i have been meaning to post about manchester press since my close friends and i had breakfast there during my last visit. kathleen had heard about it (she is very in the know when it comes to cool and different places to go for good coffee!) and so we all ventured into the city one morning to gather for coffee and of course to do the sunday paper quiz (the only time i ever do it is with these guys!). manchester press is in rankins lane and is one i'd never been too as i think its still fairly unknown. i approached the lane way from one end and my friend angus approached it from the other. we both had our heads down, following the map on our iphones, which i thought was a pretty funny sight when i looked up and spotted him doing the exact same thing as me! once we had successfully located it, i instantly loved it. it's the kind of place that makes you feel like you are... well in the know, cool and different! from memory they had lots of bagels on the menu, which i am still deciding whether or not i am a fan of. our coffee's came out with the coolest crema art though... gentlemen with curly moustaches and ladies with big bosoms! although i didn't get long with my beloved friends, it was lovely to catch up with them for an early breakfast like old times. and it was a good thing we met so early as it was quite busy by the time we left!

our queenstown coffee haunt

i just opened up my laptop bag and out fell the business card of vudu cafe & larder, a little gem we visited almost every day while in queenstown. on our first morning before skiing we both felt like a coffee and a small bite to eat as we wound our way up the mountain. we stumbled across this place completely by accident and i had to double check that i wasn't in melbourne! (i later read that the owner was inspired by melbourne cafes) it had amazing food (the muffins and savoury scones still warm from the oven), great coffee and an array interesting things to look at while you waited, like the big vintage photo of lake wakatipu, a collection of old furniture pieces, lots of souvenir spoons (i spotted all kinds of ones that made me smile and think of my grandma's) and hanging lights. oh and did i mention the display of delicious looking baked goods? doesn't that blueberry vanilla bean cupcake look divine! if you visit queenstown, please visit here.

choosing tilly

my brother matt is trying to decide what breed of dog to buy at the moment. he is tossing up between a border collie and a ridgeback. we grew up with our beautiful border collie dog tilly and i don't know how there could even be any contest. but if i was in any doubt, all it would take is for me to watch this home video. it's of us picking tilly out from her litter as a puppy. how adorable is it when matt gets knocked over by two of them. his little giggle just makes my heart burst with love. my other favourite bits... matt pulling tilly onto the back seat of the car, alyce looking like a little boy, seeing our matching black and white cat fluffy who was also just a kitten at the time, throwing the ball for tilly only for her to run in the opposite direction, my style (rocking the leggings and gumboots!), dad sounding exactly the same as he does now, my quick wave at the bus stop (i was shocked at my no fuss attitude!) and seeing the beautiful house that we grew up in again. it holds so many beautiful, happy memories and i am so grateful that our visiting cousins captured these special moments and places in our lives on film forever. i had tears rolling down my face when they first showed me in sydney last year and i still tear up at hearing matt's voice and seeing alyce's little waddle. it's a shame i'm not as young and as cute as matt and bub, but then again... i could never top them. ♥

anything better?

wrapping and baking

i got a little bit creative tonight! first i needed to wrap a present but i had nothing in the house what so ever, which is very unlike me. so i had no choice but to improvise. i spotted last weekend's newspaper and decided to take the cartoon section out and use this! then i tied the package up with some twine that the girls at work saved for me off something the other day. the gift looked gorgeous, even more so after i slipped the cards pink envelope under the twine. it matched in perfectly with the bright colours of the cartoons. all up, it probably took me two minutes! who needs expensive wrapping paper with ideas like this? not long after, i was onto my next task. i promised to do some baking for a fundraiser tomorrow at work so i made two trays of shortbread, all in the shape of an aeroplane! i bought the cookie cutter from a montville gift shop the other weekend when i was there with beth. admittedly, once they were done they resembled very big jet planes but they still tasted lovely which is what matters most in my books!

now

and now for coral and mint together!

bucket full of strawbs

on my bucket list this summer: strawberry picking!

minty fresh and pretty peach

on the weekend i got to indulge in some serious retail therapy at my aunties two shops in noosa, goddess and wardrobe. i bought a stunning dress covered in colourful patterns which i plan on wearing to a special birthday lunch tomorrow. i also bought a mint green top and a peachy, coral top. both gorgeous summer items that i adore and am looking forward to wearing lots. these colour palettes are a perfect match.

chocolate and coincidences

my love of choc orange continues! this picture reminded me of my blogging brain food tonight... two pieces of thin dark chocolate with orange and almond pieces. ah, heaven! i also had a green tea with jasmine and pear which was lovely. i am house (and cat!) sitting at ash and john's again this weekend and so must not eat all of their chocolate while i'm here! i love their place. it inspires me to own my own home and have the freedom to paint walls, hang art and scatter as many cushions as i like! oh, and of course i could have my very own little kitty! now, back tracking a little bit here but i have a story about one of my favourite forms of choc orange... jaffas! i think i've spoken about them on my blog before and how they always remind me of my childhood. mum would save us some each time she went to the movies and i still think that is so thoughtful and sweet. when we were in new zealand we went into a cute chocolate shop and i learned that dark chocolate orange balls are actually from new zealand! well they were claiming them anyway! naturally i got a little bag of very large choc orange balls, even eating some on the plane home very early in the morning! every year in dunedin lots of jaffas are raced down baldwin street, which is the world's steepest street. i only learned this fun fact tonight and funnily enough... we walked up and down that very street when we were in dunedin for a couple of hours before our flight and i had the chocolates in my bag at the time! it might sound silly but i just love little coincidences like this, even more so when you find out after the fact!

white wine sangria

speaking of delicious looking things that i would like to make...

doesn't this white wine sangria look refreshing and summery?

here is the recipe in case you'd like to try it out too! enjoy.

creative candles

isn't this idea clever and gorgeous? you take different coloured long candles, chop them up and melt them back together again to make extra long and extra pretty ones! i think that's how you do it anyway, i can't remember what blog i found these pictures on to check! i might try it for naomi's birthday!

p.s. how beautiful and yum does this cake look? perhaps i should attempt this too...!

planning on potting

i'm going to go to bunnings and pot 

some pretty flowers one weekend soon!

inspired

a little bit of blog inspiration found its way to me tonight.

i choose to do some personal ones about some things i've

 been up to lately as opposed to other peoples pictures and quotes.

still to come... new zealand, kahli's abode, other bits and pieces

and maybe even a little about the new man in my life... maybe.

red stamp crazy

is everyone loving the app red stamp?

i'm kind of obsessed by it at the moment

and wish i could spend my days sitting

around making cute little messages to

send to friends and family. if you don't 

have it... i think you should download it!

here are some i have made or received.