Keeping it classy. Don't you want to come and stay here?
Why yes, those are handmade chenille pillowcases.
Everything is op-shopped here except the lamp, which is from Target and the quilt on the wall, which is vintage but was acquired from Ebay.
I've had this gorgeous Meicaxan suzani from Table Tonic for months now. It's been lurking in the cupboard, collecting dust and calling to me to get around to sewing borders on it so it would be large enough to use as a bedspread on our king sized monster.
I do think it looks extra gorgeous on the bed. Look at those colours.
Inspiration for the custom bedspread came from the Table Tonic blog. One of my faves.
(Tutorial from the Purl bee - here)
I'm old enough to remember the trend for friendship bracelets last time they were around but somehow making them was a skill that passed me by. Maybe that's why I've become fixated on the of making one now. Not for friendship though, just for my own greedy wrist.
Hi!
No, the title of this post isn't the start of a lame joke, it's this 1970s government recruitment brochure Husband sent me.
Don't you want to join them in 70s Canberra? Maybe just for an afternoon.
I'm sure I can type more than 50 words per minute, just not on a typewriter. Would I still get a bonus?
Don't you think Ian looks dreamy?
Are they wearing matching nightgowns on this page? I hope so.
If you weren't keen on Ian perhaps you prefer this unidentified man with truly excellent moustache and sidies?
In fact all the men in this brochure have amazing do's. Men's hair is so dull these days.
Did she buy those shoes at the Canberra mall? I want some of those.
Is that Ian again in the top left shot holding a beverage? It's hard to know, but if so then the drink seems to have made him a lot less shy.
This pudding is one of the first things I ever learnt to cook and I never stopped.
It has everything a go-to chocolate recipe needs:
- Ingredients you generally have in the house
- Forgiving measurements
- It begs to be eaten cold the next day.
It's got me through some hard times.
Before I left home at 17 to start uni, I scoured my mother's recipes to fill a book with scrawled instructions to ward of starvation. In twenty-twelve fashion I'm now going to post the recipe here so it will be easier to find on my iPad when I want to cook it.
Plus, then you can cook it too. And you really should.
Emergency chocolate pudding
1. Preheat over to 180 degrees celsius
2. Mix flour, baking powder, cocoa (2 tbsp) and white sugar.
Learning to make this as a lazy, hungry uni student I developed bad baking habits. Namely, I mix the ingredients in the same dish I am going to bake the pudding in to minimise the washing up. I wouldn't think of doing this with any other recipe now but I still do it here.
3. Add milk and melted butter to dry ingredients and mix to make a batter.
4. Mix brown sugar and extra coccoa together in a separate bowl (sadly I never found a way to avoid dirtying another bowl for this step) and sprinkle over the batter.
5. Use the back of a dessert spoon and pour boiling water (or just hot water from your tap if you are lazy) over the dish.
It will look like a dirty mud puddle. Do not be discouraged.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or thereabouts.
This is what you will get. An island of fluffy chocolate cake with a crispy top, floating on a bubbling lava bed of thick chocolate sauce. Don't worry about those blackened burnt looking bits on the top. They are extra crispy and delicious.
Eat it with cream, or ice cream. Or just a glass of milk.
And I wasn't kidding about the cold the next day thing. Sometimes I make it with this in mind.
Husband was not sold on these chairs when I bought them on Ebay.
And not when I sweetly asked him to pick me up yet another can of pink spray paint while he was at Bunnings.
Another can? Really?
What can I say? It was hard to get good coverage. Eventually he became resigned to the idea.
I think they look super sweet. A cheery splash of colour in the kitchen.
Once painted I made new slip covers for the old cushions with this outdoor fabric from Fabric Traders.
Dinah, my fat, white feline likes these chairs a lot. Can you spy her?
Rag & Bone Moto boots. Yes, no, maybe? Every year I spend all winter looking for the perfect boots but never making a decision. I end up buying a pair from Target that I wear for six months and then get rid of because they are not wearing well and the sole is going funny.
I am determined not to do that this year.
The Rag & Bone boots are exy. I can't deny it. I could get a lot of Target footwear for that price. But they are gorgeous, aren't they?
They also come in a very dark brown which I think could be rather wonderful. Black is so safe. But then again, black is so safe.
In a milder way, I'm also a fan of these.
And these.
I find it very difficult to be definitive.
Yay, it's Autumn! My enthusiasm for the changing of the seasons is represented by this scarf rainbow I found in DJs. Wouldn't it be nice to have this in your wardrobe to select from every morning?
I went to Chermy (the mall) with my sister so she could kiss Baby and I could eat sushi train.
We both bought one of these silver chain harness arrangements in the Sportsgirl sale. They were $5 and neither of us could quite work out what to do with them in the store so we took them home for further research.
Turns out it's kind of a belt and kind of a necklace. it's a beltlace. I quite like it. Under a blazer I think it could be totally wearable.
I also sorted out Baby's winter wardrobe.
Dressing up Baby is pretty much my favourite hobby. As he is the fruit of my womb however I'm certain he'll assert his own sartorial sense very early on. So I'm enjoying dressing up my little doll while it lasts.
It's perishingly hot here today. This is my very on-trend sheer sleeveless blouse from Cotton On with a polka dot Gorman skirt. These blouses are in every single shop I've been in for the past few weeks. Trends like this make me hate them a little even as I partake.
I also gave my new Oroton bag its first outing. Isn't it nice?
Here is is again.
I had to exchange my other (previously new) Oroton bag when the handles started to split after only a month of duty. The staff at Oroton are lovely and so helpful with things like that and now I have a new tote that I think I like even more than the first one.
Here is the old bag. It was beautiful but I think the new one is more pleasingly slouchy.
I made this delicious looking fig cake with hazelnuts and honey recently.
Then I selflessly gave it away to warm the house of friends who had just moved and didn't get to taste a crumb. It's my mission to bake another one this weekend.
