A Shoe Affair

Merry Christmas 2014

2014-12-25T23:32:00.002+11:00

It is an understatement to say I have neglected this blog greatly this year.

It has been a crazy year, that's for sure. If I had to describe it I would use the words - amazing, unexpected, fulfilling and eventful. As a result, I really haven't had the time to devote to this blog and while I can't say I'll be back to blogging regularly anytime soon, I still like reading everyone's blogs and catching up on the world of the internet.

People really have given me a lot to think about in recent weeks especially, and so as we round out the year (how fast has 2014 flown by?) and 2015 is fast approaching on the horizon, I thought I'd hop online to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and leave you with one of my favourite not-so-Christmasy tunes.

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

- John Lennon

Fashion Reality

2014-10-12T22:46:00.002+11:00

Over the past year or so I've been standing on the constant blogging crutch of "life has been taking some crazy turns" to excuse my tardiness in posting. Unfortunately I'm returning to that, but I'm hoping to improve that situation before the end of the year.

In the meantime, quotes such as these are awesome. This week has been a bit of a retail therapy week so hopefully I'll share some haul photos soon. But I'm holding onto fashion to get me through this week! :)

Homewares Hauls!

2014-08-30T21:00:00.004+10:00

I've been winter hibernating lately, but that hasn't stopped me from shopping up some homewares. You know you're getting old when you've stopped attending fashion sales but instead get excited about buying homewares.

I hit up the Le Creuset sale and bought a whole heap of cute cast iron stoneware which I've always wanted to buy. Clearly, it was all about picking the right colours so these are just some of the items I hauled.

I'm loving the mini cocottes in the background - the set of 3 is in french red-white-blue colours. They're quite small, but perfect for individual entree sized portions. Or baked eggs for breakfast. The red pot looks small but is reasonably sized at 14cm so I'm loving it sick. And though I have a tonne of teapots, I couldn't help but buy the turquoise-y one to leave at my desk at work as the mug-pot combo.

Seeing the words 'Special Edition' was enough to convince me, but then I opened the box to find these pearlescent finish mini cocottes and I was sold.

The same day I was naughty and decided to hit up Peters of Kensington, one of my all time favourite places. I had a voucher leftover from Christmas so I finally bit the bullet and bought me the Limoges I've been dying for. If I could pick any colour, I probably would have picked the pastel purple or pink but this was too much of a bargain to pass up - the larger breakfast cup and saucer set for just $85 with a further 15% off. Incredible!

A few weeks earlier I hit up a special staff sale on Dyson vacuum cleaners. So we went from having 1 Dyson to 3. Overnight. Ridiculous, but amazing!

And threw this picture in for good measure - the usual Catch Of the Day trap hit me when I only wanted the Logitech ipad mini cover keyboard, but to make shipping more worthwhile I chucked in some hosiery. I need new sheer black hosiery anyway so it was still worth it. If anyone is looking for a good iPad case, I cannot recommend this one enough!

And that my friends, is just some of the shopping that has been keeping me busy lately. I've actually been pretty good only spending small amounts here and there, but clearly I can't resist me a good sale!

Jimmy Liks, Potts Point

2014-07-27T10:00:00.000+10:00

After having heard people talk about Jimmy Liks in Potts Point, I recently dined there with a 50% off internet deal. Asian shared style eating is always great for group dining so I went with a table of 4 so we could try a lot of dishes.

My first impressions were that I really liked the decor - with its long tables and mood lighting I could see it being an awesome group event place, especially because set menus always work well with asian food. I'm sad to say the positive comments mostly stop there. I certainly didn't hate it, but I didn't think it was great and if it weren't for the 50% off I would probably have felt more negatively towards it.

The cuisine isn't strictly from any particular region, instead the menu reads like a 'Best of' South East Asia and Chinese influenced dishes.

Son-in-law free range duck egg $8.50

I love soft shell crab ($23) so we had to order this - it was crispy and tasty, though every asian restaurant nowadays does a decent rendition so it wasn't ground breaking.

This was my favourite dish of the day - crispy skin salmon with watermelon salad ($28). It was fresh, the salmon perfectly cooked just a bit under, with a nice mix of zesty dressing and watermelon.

Twice cooked sticky pork hock (large size for $29) - this dish was so rich and hard to eat by the end, and it wasn't because it was bad necessarily, it just felt like every other dish in terms of flavour but with a heavy fatty pork hock.

The duck was meh. And I love duck! But this was just average. Mainly because the flavour base was a sticky sweet sauce which you can see at the base of the dish. Just not how we expected crispy skin duck to be served!

Crispy skin half duck ($35)

Char grilled roti bread ($5 a piece)

So overall the problem really lies with the fact Jimmy Liks isn't the cheapest, and then everything kind of tasted the same. Every dish seemed to have the same flavour base and while at least everything wasn't overpoweringly spicy (which I hate, because it just kills any sense of taste you might have), all the sauces lacked punch. So then you just added more sauce and got overdosed on sweet MSG. When you can get such amazingly authentic, cheap asian food in Sydney, it's a pity that Jimmy Liks didn't live up to the hype for me. That said, we didn't drink cocktails with our meal but we saw others drinking what looked to be amazing concoctions, so maybe that's the trick, to get happy on alcohol?

Are you at a hipster wedding?

2014-07-20T13:32:00.002+10:00

You know I love my infographics, and with weddings being all anyone is talking about recently amongst my friends, this was to cute not to share.

Post Holiday Blues

2014-07-13T21:41:00.001+10:00

I've been neglecting this blog which is 1 part I-have-been-on-holidays and 2 parts life-has-changed-faster-than-I-have-been-able-to-keep-up. So now I'm using this winter hiberanation period to really focus on me and for once being in some semblance of stable life.

Anyway. That is all not very exciting. What is exciting is that I recently returned from holiday! My second trip to the US this year, my 4th in 4 years, but sadly likely to be my last for some time now. I think I need to give the North American continent a break from me for a while!

I'll try and post about my holiday highlights if I get around to it, but for now, here are some of my photo faves :)

Perfect white sand and pristine blue seas in Barbados. I probably should have noted above that I actually spent half my time in the Caribbean, not just the US. And it was, like my last Caribbean trip, breathtaking. And blissful. And just what I needed!

Trunk Bay in St Johns, USVI. Consistently rated amongst the top 25 beaches in the world, and I wouldn't disagree!

A rare shot you'll see with me in it. I don't generally like posting photos of myself on this blog, but this is me hanging on a boat in St Lucia.

The famous Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas. American History worthy.

Texas State Capital in Austin, Texas. I loved the architecture. I loved the patriotic scattering of the state Star on everything and anything. And I love this shot.

Laguna Beach, Orange County, CA. Teenage dream come true. I used to be obsessed with MTV's Laguna Beach, and am still a huge fan of LC. Long live MTV.

I realise all my photos look like postcard pictures I've stolen from the internet. I can assure you, everywhere was just that photographically amazing that it didn't take much to snap a postcard worthy shot, though I do like to claim some photographic skill ;) These were all shot on my beloved travel camera the NEX6 with kit zoom lens (I didn't even touch the second Sigma lens I took with me!).

And before you ask, I bought one item of clothing my whole trip! Yes, one! After enough visits to the US in as many years, I can definitely say I am probably one of the rare visitors who can abstain from shopping :)

Ebay Find - Ring Snuggies

2014-06-02T22:32:00.001+10:00

Has it really been a month since I last posted? Apparently, it has! And I'm about to head overseas for a short break so more radio silence from me unfortunately.

Anyway, onto something random I stumbled across recently which I thought I'd post about: ring snuggies. Yes, you read right, snuggies.

So I'm sure most of you would know about ring re-sizers in the form of metal bars inserted into rings to allow you to make the ring fit more snugly. The other option is petite rubber tubing that can be attached to the ring that also helps.

Well, here is the improved version of the snuggie which is actually spiral in nature so it won't fall off the ring and fits much better.

I bought these on ebay and the seller had a myriad of options from different thicknesses of the tubing (to resize by 1, 2 or more sizes) as well as different tubing widths to cater for ring bands of different thicknesses. Complicated at first, but I bought a package deal of multiple thicknesses and widths to try out and it set me back a grand total of $10 including shipping from the UK!

I'm pretty happy with it, but I've only tried it on my Georg Jensen daisy ring. I was going to try it on my newest purchase, a much more decadent diamond purchase but I thought that probably deserved a proper resize!

What random useful ebay items have you stumbled across?

Sydney Mapped

2014-05-08T17:21:00.000+10:00

I came across this recently and loved it so thought I would share for any of my Sydney readers to laugh at, just like I did.

I can't believe how true it all is!

Weddings + Bridesmaids

2014-05-02T15:14:00.000+10:00

No, don't get too excited yet, I'm not getting married. My friends, however, are all getting hitched and next year is turning out to be a mammoth wedding year! I'm going to be bridesmaid for at least one of those weddings and so I've been tasked with helping in a tonne of ways.

Being the bargain hunter that I am, I've been finding some great things online with the sales lately.

This Zimmermann dress is a cute colour in real life and great fabric, and a bargain on sale at the moment for just $196. I'm not usually one to go for Zimmermann but they are popular amongst bridesmaids, and at those kinds of prices they're definitely a good option for any fashionable bride and bridesmaid.

Now I love J Crew and they have a tonne of options. I love this grey one above, and it comes in a million different hues. At approximately A$275 it's not quite as cheap, but a lovely option though admittedly it can probably be recreated elsewhere for cheaper.

Though a lot of sizes have since sold out, this beautiful punchy pink one is just A$100 and a great vibrant pink that I'm sure is popular amongst brides.

And what about this one for the floor length styles (which I will probably be looking at more, for the particular wedding I'm attending). At A$360 on sale it is a little more pricy but considering you can literally pick any colour of the rainbow, it is around the same price as Australian stores but without the full colour range. I just love this 'wild beet' colour.

For something a bit different, this Jayson Brunsdon diffusion line dress at Myer retails for just $179 and is cute for a floral, more casual wedding. And for wearability, this could definitely be worn again after a wedding!

Have you come across any great bridesmaid appropriate dresses lately?

Easter in Sydney

2014-04-26T15:12:00.002+10:00

How was everyone's Easter? I just can't believe this crazy stretch of long weekends in a row is almost already over. No more public holidays until June and then October here in Sydney!

Anyway, Easter last week was beautiful weather and I made the most of it. Started with some lovely Thursday night drinks at Parke Davis which is below the well-known Cuban Place. I always loved hanging out at the Cuban Place because it was easy to get seats but Parke Davis has a cute cocktail menu and the novelty lights at the doorway are just my kind of thing! Please excuse all the terribly shot iphone photos ahead, I've become even lazier with photos lately.

Overall I was impressed - it wasn't overcrowded, the ambience was casual but fun and service snappy considering people were mostly ordering cocktails which are obviously labour intensive.

Over the long weekend I took the chance to go to the Easter Show which as usual was full of visiting cute as can be animals and stopping by the Country Women's Association Tea Room for some scones. Yum yum! Can you tell I love scones?

I always make a habit of seeing the cakes and crafts - some of the creativity is amazing and it's crazy to think how much time goes into all the various creations.

I took a photo of this ginormous pumpkin because well, it's just massive at (apaprently) 366kg. Plus, the day before my visit the Royals took the time to specifically look at these giant pumpkins when they did their whirlwind 1 hour visit of the Show. How do you even grow something this big?

And my favourite part? I was a total kid and went and visited the 'pat a chick' stand where I got to play with a day old chick. So cute. So fluffy. I wanted to take one home!

I think I'll give the Easter Show a rest for a few years as it starts to get a little repetitive going year after year, but I was glad to enjoy a lovely day out to hold onto the last of the warmer weather!

Life in Photos: March 2014

2014-04-06T16:22:00.003+10:00

It's already April with Easter around the corner, and Summer officially over and I'm sitting at home on a dreary Sunday seeing the rain just literally fall all day long. But I love the guilt-free feeling of staying indoors when the weather is crapola and what better time to catch up with some reading and blogging!

So March was actually quiet for me, but I still managed to do some fun things to enjoy the last of the beautiful Sydney Summer.

I had one last beach trip - and the ice cream boat stopped by!

Have any other Sydneysiders noticed the beautiful colurful sunsets we've been getting lately? I took a walk after work a few weeks back and this was my view - I'm sad that daylight savings is over now because the days will start getting shorter and shorter!

Case in point - beautiful colourful sunset! Again, excuse my dodgy iPhone photos. I've been lazy to upload my actual photos recently!

Recently I went to Larder at Woolloomooloo - it's a pop-up as part of Otto restaurant and we got a 50% off deal which was amazing value. Not only that, the prices at Larder are actually really reasonable to begin with, especially given you get an amazing view over the water while you enjoy your meal. This was the prosciutto starter to share and it was fabulous!

Last weekend was beautiful. I went to see Alain de Botton speak at the Opera House which was really entertaining.

Our seats were side view but right by the stage so we were amazingly close, even though we coudln't see Alain front on. He's a really engaging speaker which made the time fly by!

And since the weather was so beautiful I couldn't help but head down to the Rocks to my favourite tea and scones place - The Tea Cosy. I love it there. Their scones are amazingly fluffy and their tea is also fabulous. The only downer was that one of my scones had hair in it - as in it was baked into the scone and I try as I might I just couldn't get the hair out. They apologetically rectified the situation and gave me a replacement plus one extra though others were expecting I should get my money back and a fresh scone. But I still love it there!

And this week I tried out the hard-to-get-a-reservation at Riley St Garage. The food was fab, the decor is amazing, and the menu is just so easy to order from. They have a set menu for $68 which had a huge selection of food and I definitely am keeping that on my agenda for any group/special occasion meals in the future. This is a blurry/badly shot photo of their miso salmon and truffle mash which were both hearty and flavourful.

What should I do now that it is Autumn and the days are getting shorter?

Pop Up Hotel - Memories from Glastonbury 2013!

2014-03-30T21:22:00.000+11:00

This time last year, I was getting excited for Glastonbury 2013, and now I see twitter and social media is full of similarly excited people for this year's festival in 3 months time!

I've been terrible over the past 6 months with trying to post about all the fun things I've been doing and amazing places I've been travelling to, but now seemed time to post about my memories from staying at The Pop-Up Hotel during the festival. I'll post about Glastonbury another time!

Seeing as I was travelling from Sydney, I didn't want the hassle of bringing all my camping gear and supplies for the 5 day festival. If it had been Sydney, I totally would have had everything I needed but hardly wanted to buy it all again! Plus, Glastonbury is renowned for getting washed out with rain so glamping totally seemed worth the money. The Pop-Up Hotel brings uber fabulous accommodation to festivals and events around the UK and they often get profiled in magazines for their beautiful offering. Here's my experience from staying with them!

This was the view on the bus to the festival - beautiful Summer skies.

We got in late on the Thursday evening and got picked up from the bus drop off point. It was nice and easy and we got shown to our tent for the weekend which had gorgeous plush quilting and covers set upon air mattresses that were so comfy - I had a perfect night's sleep every night!

Because we arrived at night, seeing the view of our little tent village with blue skies on the first 'official' day of the festival was so awesome!

Now one of the big reasons I booked with Pop-Up was because for the same price as some of the other off site accommodations, we were assured amazing bathrooms and facilities. How else is a girl meant to look stylishly Kate Moss like at the world's most famous music festival?

Now I was too busy having a good time to really take the time to take proper photos so these will have to suffice, but seriously, upon seeing the facilities we knew it was money worth spent. Yes, we weren't on festival campsites but the 1km or so walk back to our little highly secured village for a hot shower, flushing toilets and mirrored basins was awesome.

Even the showers had beautiful decor - and not only that, we had powerpoints for hairdryers and hair straighteners!

And how can you forget beautiful soaps and handcreams by the basins?

These were the more premium tents, which we got a look into occasionally because everyone tended to leave their tents open to let the breezy air through. People were friendly and everyone was there to have a good time, so we never felt unsafe leaving around iPhones to charge or expensive designer wellies (think Burberry and Hunter everywhere!).

On many a night we would come out and see people hanging out near this bonfire/firepit.

Anyone care for a beauty makeover? Well there were facilities for that too!

Every tent came with a gorgeous deck chair!

And now if I was less lazy and had a tripod, I would've been able to capture this much better but my favourite thing (besides the Pop-Up hotel cupcakes we got!) was seeing the tents all lit up every night. It was breathtaking!

Excuse the noise and slight blur to this, but seriously, how amazing is this? I was in love every night!

So now my problem is, I can't see myself ever attending a music festival and not glamping! How can I go back?

Wordless Wednesday

2014-03-26T01:30:00.000+11:00

Holiday Dreaming...take me here please!

Alila Villas, Bali

Jumeirah Dhevanafushi, Maldives

The Long Room, Trinity Dining Room, Dublin

All images thanks to Conde Nast Traveller

My H&M Australia Picks

2014-03-16T14:15:00.002+11:00

April 5. Unless you've been living under a rock you would know that date is the day H&M lands in Australia.

If you haven't already noticed from my blog posts, I love H&M. People are always a bit shocked given the presence of high end designer wears in my wardrobe - they think I'd be more of a Topshop or Zara kind of girl. No, no! It's all about choosing the right thing at H&M. The base prices are definitely cheaper, but if you venture into the mid end ranges they're great quality, great designs and happen to fit me perfectly. Plus, they have the most amazing sales. Part of their business strategy involves ensuring stock doesn't sit on shelves for more than a set number of weeks. After that, they have to put those items on sale and thus there is a never-ending sales rack in H&M. Love!

My favourite H&M items are amazing blazers (no more than US$60, and often cheaper), great work dresses (including a black crepe back dress I bought in Morocco for the equivalent of 7 euros) and a beautiful coat from Hong Kong that was worn by Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl.

Anyway, enough of my H&M rave. I'm patiently waiting for Australian online shopping to launch. In the meantime, these are the items I am loving:

Premium 100% Wool Felt Hat - $24.95: I am totally getting this when it's available to buy online!

Sweatshirt Skirt $49.95 - I love the colour of this. I need to see the fabric to see if its worth the price but I can see this being very wearable all seasons of the year! Remember my comment above about choosing wisely at H&M? Fabric is such a big indicator and so this could be a definite hit or definite miss. We will have to wait and see! But gorgeous cut and colour.

Double Breasted Coat $39.95 - This coat is 51% wool, uber cute, seems to have the signature Swedish well-cut design that fits me like a glove and is under $40. I mean really, what more can you ask for? Pity I have a tonne of other coats already that are similar, including a Zara one that I bought when I lived in the US and even on sale it was $80. You get the price differential already, yes?

Figure fit coat $89.95 - I want this. It is gorgeous. So elegant. A bit more pricy, but again its 60% wool but looks more light weight and perfect for our mild Australian winters.

Sleepwear Set $27.95 - OK so it may be polyester, but its super cute and looks comfy and still quite luxe despite being chain store. And really, Peter Alexander quality is not that much better usually but much pricier!

And because I can't help myself, a few other cute items that I would need to see in real life to know for sure. But uber cute overload!

And I haven't even got to the Homewares yet - I fell in love with the homewares store and collection when I went to Sweden. It was my guilty pleasure. I love that they will be bringing it to Oz!

The prices on the Australian website are actually decent too - shocking, I know! But we will have to see if the same can be said for the full range once it hits stores. I'm a little disappointed that some of my favourite items (work out wear, swimwear and the full work wear range) aren't available but I am patiently waiting!

What are your favourite items?

Le Petit Prince

2014-03-09T08:00:00.000+11:00

Lately, I've been all about the immensely meaningful words of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince). Seriously, practically every page has a beautiful quote. Here's one of my favourites:

I might share more in the coming weeks :)

Oscars: Winning Dresses through the Ages

2014-03-03T22:13:00.001+11:00

I love me a good infographic, and if you haven't seen this then you need to. Amazing!

Life in Photos: February 2014

2014-03-02T18:44:00.001+11:00

How is it already March? With February being a short month and being hectic (it is my birthday month after all!) I didn't get the chance to get back to blogging. Well here you can see some of what I got up to :)

I got some beautiful long stemmed roses for Valentines Day - but my favourite has to be Morgan the monkey that accompanied the gift.

I went to Canberra for a wedding - I literally ended up going to Canberra twice in the same month after not having visited for literally a decade! Anyway, we decided to visit Old Parliament House which was actually quite cool and interesting. An awesome piece of Australian history.

A straight view into the House of Representatives at Old Parliament House. How beautiful is beautifully aged wood?

On the suggestion of some canberra based friends, we visited Brod Burger, apparently a Canberra institution for amazing burgers. These were seriously huge! Tasty definitely, but the most amazing burger ever? Probably not. But definitely a cute place to check out.

I finally visited Vapiano which opened in Sydney late last year. I'd been in Brisbane a few years back and used to eat there a fair bit when I lived in the US. I'm glad its finally opened in Sydney because we definitely need that kind of eating space - easy for big groups, perfect for fussy eaters who can eat what they want, easy to get a table, and just good tasty pasta. Yum yum!

I never really get presents for my birthday, but this year I was spoilt with a small but decadent gift - amazing Godiva truffles. Some of my favourite! I'm still trying to eat my way through the box, but how beautiful is it just to look at?

I regularly brunch at Bitton cafe in Alexandria as its always easy to get a table and the food is reasonably priced and awesome. This was my omelette the other day - perfect Sunday morning brunch.

This is a terrible photo, but one of my birthday meals was at Waitan a newer Asian restaurant that is well known for its extremely expensive fitout. It is really relaxing dining there and the food is reasonable quality, albeit on the higher end of pricing. That said, the peking duck is actually quite well priced for the two courses, however not really traditional Peking Duck as much as it is roast duck. Still, good, clean tasting food with attentive service and a beautiful decor.

So as usual it turns out most of what I did in February was eat! Hmm...as a result I need to get back onto the treadmill!

Celebrity Chefs and their last meal

2014-02-24T21:42:00.001+11:00

I think this is an uber cute video of Celebrity chefs telling about what they would choose for their last meal.

What would you choose?

My list is far too long!
- Pavlova/Eton Mess
- Gordon Ramsay's white chocolate dipped strawberry sorbet
- Dark chocolate - especially Gerard Mulot's dark chocolate tart from Paris
- Pierre Herme macarons (rose, mogador and salted caramel for sure!)
- Lobster anything (pasta, mornay, you name it!)
- My favourite cocktail from one of my favourite NYC bars

OK maybe I should stop! But can you tell I like dessert?

Christmas Sephora Haul

2014-02-16T15:56:00.000+11:00

Around Thanksgiving time Sephora had some great discounts - 10 and 15% off deals for those in the higher level of their Beauty Insider loyalty scheme which I have somehow spent enough to qualify for! Anyway, I made the most of having a US mailing address and got my paws on a huge haul. It meant that I saved myself 15% on items I would've purchased when I visited the US during Christmas anyway. The downside was that I wasn't able to enjoy picking them all out at the Sephora store but that was probably a good way to save myself some money!

Oh and when you order online you get a tonne of samples! That whole bottom row is samples in fact :)

So these were the things I needed: Stila concealer and Sephora brand liquid eyeliner which has become my daily staple and at <$10 is amazing quality for a liquid eyeliner.

And here were the extra things I bought because, well, I felt silly wasting a perfectly good 15% off discount voucher!

Urban Decay Basics Palette - this is awesomely sized, being smaller than my iPhone 5! The colours are a matte which is great for me, but a little too...'dusty' for my liking. The fallout is a little craptastic as well which I knew already from the many reviews I read on MUA but nevermind, it was cheap at under $30.

I love me some good NARS - and when I saw my beloved orgasm/laguna duo comes in a mini travel size I couldn't help myself. I mean, when you travel it is just perfectly sized! Plus I love the travel size items at Sephora purely because I never use a full bottle anyway so the travel size is the perfect volume for me. This is their famous tinted moisturiser I thought I would try out.

Beauty Blenders are all the craze so why not try it for myself? So far I like it, but sponges just waste product in my opinion. They soak up so much that is just unnecessary. So in that sense I prefer my Real Techniques brushes, but I do like the even complexion you get from using this. And the solid cleanser I thought I'd try for all my make up brushes to motivate me to clean them more often!

And finally, I chucked in this Deborah Lippmann nailpolish gift pack because it was cute and I thought it was about time I try her nailpolishes. I've known about her for years but never bit the bullet to buy her polishes. Well can I say I am suitably impressed and wish I had bought her creme polishes earlier! They're so opaque after even just one coat and they're quite impressive pop colours. This is She Bop and glitter Happy Birthday which I've been using this week and they're quite fun and cutesy. If a little Barbie. But there is nothing wrong with that!

The beauty of music

2014-02-12T17:45:00.000+11:00

I noticed this video has been doing the rounds of facebook, but its just so awesome I couldn't help but share.

The Tea Cosy, Sydney

2014-02-08T11:00:00.000+11:00

I love scones and so I had been meaning to go to The Tea Cosy at The Rocks for ages. Late last year I finally made it there and I'm so glad I did. I love the little place and the scones are amazing!

It is often considered the best scones in Sydney (which is of course a big call) and for the price I was definitely not disappointed. From memory it was $12.50 but that bought you two scones and tea (hot or iced) of your choice, and there are hot water urns to top up your teapot.

Excuse the slightly badly composed photos - I was trying out one of my newer Sigma prime lenses so the photos are amazingly sharp but I got a bit caught up in focusing and didn't compose properly.

The scones were fluffy, warm and flavoursome. You could also choose the type of scones you wanted - traditional, sultana and other options - as well as the jams you wanted to accompany your scones - orange, traditional strawberry and raspberry to name just a few.

Oh and did I mention, the teapots come in the cutest little hand knitted tea cosies. How can you not love it?

I'll definitely be back, and if you're from Sydney but haven't been you should definitely stop by!

Charleston, South Carolina

2014-02-04T18:43:00.000+11:00

Over the Christmas break I found myself in Charleston, South Carolina for a wedding. Charleston is a quintessentially cute, Southern little town with such a lovely colonial town vibe. It's recently been appearing on the 'new cool cities to visit' lists regularly, and I've since heard it is the second most popular place to get married in the US behind only Vegas (for obvious reasons).

The wedding I went to was seriously breathtaking. The best wedding I've ever been to, but I knew that would happen because the bride is the uber bride who has been planning this wedding since the day I met her (long before she even was engaged).

Here are some pics I wanted to share with you of the beautiful place that is Charleston!

I ate at the popular and hipster restaurant Husk that has all the Southern specialties such as this - pumpkin pie! We also had pigs ears lettuce wraps which were AMAZING!

This is an unfortunately badly shot photo of the building in which Husk is in - I was not my usual self this trip and really didn't take many photos, and didn't make an effort in most cases. I was just all about having a good time and soaking it all in!

Sunday brunch is, as always, a huge thing in the US, but in a religious southern town like Charleston, it is Halls Chophouse for 'Sunday Gospel Brunch'. I wish I had bothered to take a photo of the live, grand piano playing, soul crooner who sat in the corner entertaining us for the day. And for a bit of Southern hospitality, this was my complimentary glass of bubbly, after the restaurant owners started chatting to us!

And now for the wedding - at a beautiful plantation overlooking the river. Despite being in the middle of winter, it was a sunny warm Winters day which was absolutely amazing.

I do slightly regret having such a good time that I didn't stop to properly take photos of the sunset. But this is seriously how amazing it is - the following photo was taken with no filter on an iPhone. Is it not spectacular?

Southern food at the wedding - mac & cheese and chicken & waffles!

Beautiful beautiful florals - all painstakingly done by an amazing florist.

And for a sense of the main street - this was the high end shopping strip where you could literally get any designer item you wanted!

I love me a good holiday, and this was definitely one!

SJP Shoes

2014-01-30T17:00:00.000+11:00

A lovely fashionable friend of mine alerted me to the announcement of sjp - Sarah Jessica Parker's new shoe line to be released on 28th February. She had an exclusive reveal with a series of photos where she shows the shoes to Gayle King and here are some of the images. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of some of the shoes for the price point (we're talking $400 USD) but I do love some of the imagery.

This pair is actually uber cute, but I can't see any of the collection being anything particularly new. It all feels quite derivative of some of SJPs favourite designers (think Manolo). Her collection also includes the trenchcoat being worn here and comes in navy too.

The pair on the right has her 'signature' grosgrain ribbon - I have a pair of Dior shoes which are quite similar!

And is this not the most beautiful shot? I wish I had a living room that looked like this! And came with a closet full of shoes ;)

What do you think of the new collection?

Images thanks to O magazine.

New Louboutins!

2014-01-26T18:26:00.001+11:00

Late last year I found out that I was getting a bonus at work, to my surprise! I didn't think I would be eligible since I had only just started working there. It also coincided with the start of the Christian Louboutin sale so what better place to drop some cash, right?

The 40% off sale at Louboutin turned out to be great for me because they had a) classic styles and b) items in my size! I am the most common shoe size too so that shocked me.

So here I present my newest babies:

I couldn't resist these grenadine pink Simple 70s - one of my all time favourite Louboutin styles and 70s are so comfortable. Personally 85 are my holy grail, but they're so hard to find that I in fact have never been able to get my hands on a pair. Can you believe the day after I bought these bright pink ones, I went to Bondi Junction where they had just sold the same pair in classic red in my size! =o In any case, I have a pair of red peeptoes so these are probably a better fit for my collection. I happened to wear these last night and they're super bright and fun!

These were a little more pricey but as soon as I put them on I was in love. The platform and T bar style of these Lagoulas are so comfortable I practically felt like I was walking on air. I couldn't believe it! And these come in black too, but the red are just something a little special. I've since discovered these have been worn (in black mostly) on the red carpet by a tonne of celebrities including Cate Blanchett. I feel I am in good company :)

What is your newest Louboutin purchase?

2014!

2014-01-19T14:23:00.002+11:00

Well I know I'm a bit late with this post, but hello, 2014! I have been back from overseas for a little over a week, and within that time I already had an impromptu interstate work trip which threw a spanner in the works of trying to settle back into normal life.

That said, I will be trying as hard as possible to get back into posting. That's not a promise, because life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things my way, but hope everyone enjoyed a great Christmas and New Year!