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photo a day - week 4

Missed another day this week.. but thats ok!

Day 21 - What You Do // Day 23 - Sun // Day 24 - Stripes // Day 25 - Landscape // Day 26 - Together // Day 27 - Sun

In other news, the rest of this week is going to be crazy - I'm in full moving-out mode and all I can think about is cleaning, packing and decorating the new house! We're just waiting for a few things to be sorted out and then we should be moving next week!!

I'm also off to Sydney on Thursday with my boyfriends band who are playing a show that night.. we'll be landing very early in the morning and leaving later the next day - talk about a whirlwind trip!

mint, lavender and white

First of all - to Kate who commented on my last post - I am SO sorry but I somehow managed to delete your lovely comment before I even finished reading it.. got a little click happy and blogger wont allow me to retrieve it :( Thank you so much for the comment though!!!

Today is Australia Day here (or "Straya Day" if you prefer). We are not really doing anything, just hanging out, listening to the Triple J Hottest 100 and as soon as my sister gets here we shall have some drinks!




We did leave the house momentarily to go and swap over a shirt that my boyfriend got for his birthday. I'm wearing a gorgeous mint lace dress from Forever New (on super duper sale!), secondhand fur-collared cardigan, bag and belt, boots from Target and I can't recall where the tights are from.

I also trialled a new 40's/50's hair style - just a couple of victory roll type things but I really liked the effect, and I'm slowly getting better at this type of style. The secret for my hair is definitely teasing and lots of hair-spray!!

Tonight my boyfriend's band is playing at a club in the city, so I will be there dancing and/or singing along!

collections - night dresses



I thought I'd share one of my collections - I am obsessed with pretty, lacy night-dresses. I'm not a vintage pro yet so I'm not sure if any of these are real vintage (although the white and blue ones both came with a suspiciously 50's/60's looking tags attached), but vintage or not I just love how nice they make me feel whether I'm wearing them or just looking at them!


I love the pretty pastel colours that most of these dresses come in - so perfect for relaxing in at home.


These two are my current favourites (and newest), you can't really tell in this photo but the white one has little embroidered flowers and also a scalloped neckline. The blue is so dreamy with its lace, chiffon and big puffy sleeves.

I love wearing these around the house on weekends or after work - sure beats the usual boring top and shorts/tracksuit pants combo. I just need to sort myself out with some pretty warm things for winter and I'll be comfy and stylish all year round!

baby blue, cats and scallops



Something I wore to work today. The dress and belt are secondhand, the jacket is ASOS, deer brooch from eBay, the necklace was a present from my friend Katie for my birthday and I have no idea where these boots came from!

Seriously though, this necklace has a cat and a fish on it. So awesome!


We're gearing up towards moving house soon which is super exciting! I can't wait to have a bigger space to get some decorating done in and lots of space for craft projects!!

photo a day - week 3

Kind of amazed I'm still sticking with this!
This week I had a few photos that I kind of left to the last second and then panicked and rushed it so I'm not super happy with them.. It's really hard to be creative like this when you basically do the same thing every day. But I guess thats part of the point of doing the challenge - stepping outside the box and really noticing your surroundings.

Can I also just say I am SO happy with my hair there in that photo.. I had been researching and trialling the rolled fringe for the entire week and they kept failing, then I finally sorted it out just in time to wear it out to my boyfriends gig! I found the most straight forward instructions on how to do a rolled fringe (with no hair rat or anything) here.

Day 14 - Something Yellow // Day 15 - An Ordinary Moment // Day 16 - Two Things // Day 17 - Ready // Day 18 - Shadow // Day 19 - Delicious // Day 20 - Something You Saw

Once again, if you'd like to play along check it out here!

prints-mash and sunflower







 Oh hi! So yesterday I said I wanted to post some more outfits - here is the one I wore yesterday for a casual frolic at my local creek. So efficient, I know.

The cardigan, dress and bag are all secondhand, socks are from Target and shoes are Wittner. I am obsessed with the cardigan, I actually wear it most days at the moment (annoying habit I have - find a cardigan or jacket that I love and wear only that for ever until I find another one I love more). It was $4 at the Savers boxing day sale and it's DKNY and in almost perfect condition!

I also found a lonely sunflower which I am going to attempt to dry & press to put in a scrapbook.. I've never really successfully pressed any flowers so we'll see how that goes!

adventures in cooking: more pizza!!

So I think I may have already mentioned how much I love pizza... But just in case I wasn't clear enough, it's kind of an obsession.

Yesterday all I wanted in the whole world was a pizza, so I whipped one up with a few ingredients i had lying around. 

Seriously, you can do that with pizza, it's just so fantastic.

So just because things have been pretty quiet around these parts (I really want to post some outfit photos but honestly the lighting in my apartment SUCKS and I'm still working on having enough guts to take my tripod and camera outside for photos..) here are some pictures of the pizza I made.


Sweet potato, sausage and feta.. mmmmmm...


I already had a ball of dough made from this recipe in my freezer so I de-frosted it and threw on some tomato paste, sliced sweet potato (I didn't cook this first, but if you want to you could for like 5 mins just to soften it up a bit more), cooked & sliced sausages and both danish feta and cheddar cheese.

Yum!

photo a day - week 2


Still participating in the Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day Challenge! This week I missed Day 10 (One O'Clock).. oops.. but I managed to get every other day in.

Still only using my iphone.. maybe next week I will start with a different camera, although to be honest it is so easy to use my phone as I have it with me all the time.

Something I have noticed while doing this challenge is that I am very awkward about taking pictures in public places. For some reason I feel awkward and strange just busting out my phone and taking pictures of a leaf or whatever somewhere that strangers can see.

So this week I have tried to get myself out of my comfort zone and force myself to just go with it - for photo #1 I had to crouch in the middle of a road to get the shot, which was a bit weird, #3 was taken while waiting for a tram on Sydney Rd and #4 was outside of my block of flats which is not incredibly public but I'm always paranoid the neighbours are watching!

Day 7 - Street // Day 8 - Something beginning with 'T' // Day 9 - Paper // Day 11 - Water // Day 12 - Surpise // Day 13 - Circle

a sleepy, dreamy kind of day

Today is a very Melbourne kind of day - grey skies, cool temperatures (at least compared to what we've been having the last few days) - it makes you want to curl up under a comfy blanket and alternate napping with reading books and eating comfort food.

I'm not feeling particularly motivated to do anything much - however all this talk of moving houses has got me thinking about and looking at our current home and the things I do actually like about it (there aren't many if I'm honest).

So here are a few snapshots of the room I've confined myself to today; the bedroom.



I'm going to miss these plain white walls.





Now if anyone needs me I'll be in bed, reading and hanging out with this little cutie.

fantasy world & Disney girls




Wow life has been madness this week!
This is an outfit I wore on Monday to work. Everything I'm wearing is secondhand! The shoes I bought for only 60c and became one of my favourite pairs.. A fact that is plain to see:


They've sadly started to fall apart :( So I'm going to have to either cut my losses or find a good (and cheap) shoe-fixer.. any suggestions?

Some good news from this week now - I viewed a house on Monday in a nice quiet area for my boyfriend and I to prospectively move in to with my sister and cousin.. we applied on Tuesday and got the call from the estate agent on Thursday to say that we got it! We signed the lease yesterday and move in on the 30th!!! This is such good news as we will be living in a huge 3 bedroom house with an extra large room on the back with big big windows (much better for photo taking than my current set up in our little kitchen!) AND it has a huge backyard!!!
Needless to say my sister and I can't wait to start decorating! We have so many ideas, however the house has some challenging details (mental wallpaper and carpet!) so it will be fun to see how we can make it work!

In other happy news, my boyfriend and I adopted another kitty

Her name is Disney and she is about 7 weeks old :) Apollo is not a fan of her at all, but we're expecting that once she grows up a bit and he gets used to her being here (and we're in a bigger place where they can get away from each other if need be) then they will be good buddies!
She's such an energetic, sweet little thing and loves cuddles!

photo a day

This year, one of my goals was to participate in the Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day challenge.
I've been wanting to start this for a while - I like how it forces you to look around you and be creative in order to follow the themes.

I've only been using my phone at the moment and uploading through Instagram, however I'd really like to branch out and use a few of my other cameras.. I'm thinking of maybe rotating them each month!

I thought I'd share my first week of Photo a Day - I'm pretty pleased I've gotten this far but there's a long way to go! I'm hoping to keep this up for the whole year, so wish me luck!


Day 1 - Today // Day 2 - Something New // Day 3 - Heart // Day 4 - The view from here // 
Day 5 - Movement // Day 6 - Mine

If you want to join in, check out the Photo a Day rules and list on Fat Mum Slim!

(p)inspiration - diy



Some images from my 'DIY' Pinterest board that I'm feeling especially inspired by at the moment. I have so many images pinned on this board, I'd really love to actually get some of the projects happening!




Handkerchief Curtain -  I love the idea of using vintage handkerchiefs sewn together as curtains - it would make such lovely soft light in a room. Katie from Skunkboy has done something similar which also looks adorable.

Felt Billy Balls (Craspedia) - Craspedia is everywhere at the moment! These Aussie/NZ natives give a gorgeous pop of colour, but who wants to actually grow a live plant when you can make flowers that will live forever! This is actually something I should be attempting shortly (once the supplies are delivered), only I don't have the patience to follow the tutorial for those pictured, so I will be trying out my own method.

Cat Teepee - I can't even explain how badly I want one of these for Apollo! Unfortunately I don't have the funds to be spending $88 on a cat house, so I'm thinking of attempting one of my own. There are a few tutorials out there so it shouldn't be too difficult!

Bottle Cap Wind Chime - Recycling rules! I love wind chimes! That's pretty much all the reason I need to make one of these to hang out on my balcony!

Paint your Washing Machine - So many home appliances are very blah. Unless you can spend big bucks on fancy brand-name appliances, you generally have a choice between white, white, or stainless. So this tutorial rules in a big way. Imagine a floral washing machine!!!

Ice-Cream Pillow Case - Equal parts beautiful and quirky. I'm so inspired by this to paint my own (possibly food related) pillow cases!



I'm hoping to get a few of these things ticked off my "to make" list soon - Maybe I need to start a DIY challenge?

white, floral and my cat



What I wore (yesterday). I had a pretty busy day, house hunting with my sister and visiting some friends whose house I ended up staying at until midnight!
The T shirt is secondhand from ages ago, the belt is a vintage Scouts belt (I couldn't get any good detail shots - the lighting in my kitchen was terrible!), the skirt I made and the shoes are Windsor Smith clogs - my favourite summer shoes!!

Now for no good reason at all, here are some photos of my cat Apollo helping me water my herb garden! He loves water so will always come running when he hears me watering plants or turning a tap on so he can drink the running water and wet his head a bit!





adventures in cooking: "gourmet" pizza buns


I love pizza.
Like, I really, really love pizza.
I could probably eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and not get sick of it.
But I loathe bringing slices of pizza to work with me for lunch. It's just not a very portable food, which is very sad.

So one day when I was thinking about how I could possibly bring pizza to work safely without it getting all smooshed and soggy on the way (yes, I think about this a lot, with various foods) I remembered back in high school how our canteen used to sell these truly horrendous things called "Pizza Rounders". They were essentially a round bun with a "pizza" (read - horribly processed "meat" sludge with flavouring) filling.
And I thought to myself - I could do that! But better!!

And so I did.







My first experiment with Pizza Buns I just tried my usual go-to topping of ham, pineapple and cheese, which was awesomely delicious, but I thought I could do more with it.

So now I present to you my new adventure in Pizza Bun flavours; 
mushroom, tomato and basil - cauliflower and garlic - roasted sweet potato, onion and spinach


 

"Gourmet" Pizza Buns
Makes 8

*Disclaimer - I am a very sloppy chef. I guesstimate basically all of my measurements, temperatures and cooking times, so if the below doesn't work for you, I'm truly sorry. I've tried my hardest to give some-what precise amounts etc, I just never really had the patience for following instructions to the tee!

Ingredients:

- For the pizza dough I like this recipe for 100% whole-wheat dough, however I switch the sugar for either honey or Stevia, depending what I have on hand.
- Mushroom, tomato & basil - 1 cup diced mushroom, 1/2 cup tomato, 1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped basil, 1/2 - 1 cup cheese (whatever you have - I just used tasty)
- Cauliflower & garlic - 1 cup diced cauliflower, 1 TBS minced garlic ( I use the stuff in the jar because I'm lazy), 1/2 cup cheese
- Sweet potato, onion and spinach - 1 cup diced sweet potato, 1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup shredded or finely chopped spinach, 1/2 cup cheese

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C

2. Make your pizza dough as per the directions in the link above. While your dough is rising you can start preparing your fillings.

3. For the cauliflower or sweet potato, I toss them in a bowl with oil and some salt and pepper, then spread out on a tray lined with baking paper and put them in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, or until softened and just golden.

Mushroom/onion goes into a small pot with some oil or butter until softened.

4. Put the cooked ingredients into a bowl and then add the raw ingredients and cheese (does cheese count as raw?). Mix together.

5. Once your dough has risen and you've punched the crap out of it as per the dough recipe, portion it out into about 8 or so even balls. I'm honestly really terrible at measuring these things so the amount of buns my recipe makes varies from batch to batch.

6. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough balls out one at a time into flat circles. Make them as big or small as you want, just remember that you need to be able to put the filling in and close it up.

7. Put your filling in and close the bun up. I usually bring two of the sides in and overlap slightly, squishing them into each other a bit so that they seal, and then get the other two sides and do basically the same thing. Then poke some holes in the non-folded side with a fork so they don't explode.

8. Put your buns on a baking paper lined tray, folded side down, and bake for 10 minutes or until golden on top.


Voila! 

They are truly delicious and best of all you can take them with you as a lunch or snack without the toppings falling off everywhere!

2013 in a jar

This is something I've been excited about doing for at least the last two months.. I found this on Pinterest (search "memory jar", there's heaps!) and thought it was such a cute and simple idea for keeping track of all the fun things you did or thought of throughout the year.

Also, Kate from Scathingly Brilliant wrote about her memory jar from last year along with a couple of tips and some thoughts about it all, if you needed any further convincing that this is an awesome idea.

I can't wait to open it up at the end of the year and remember all of the amazing things that have happened, and I'm thinking that a few of the little slips of memory will be a fantastic accompaniment to some of the photos I will put into a scrapbook for this year.




red, white and blue polka dots



My work outfit today. This dress I got at the Savers boxing day sale (50% off clothing, yes please!), the belt was bought secondhand too and the shoes are from Golden Ponies.

I felt quite proper and just a tad Joan Holloway-esque.. if I only had the figure to go with it!

resolutions and new beginnings


Hi.
So this is an introductory post as well as being a bit of what this blog is going to be about. I had this blog over on Wordpress but it wasn't really doing it for me, so in the spirit of all things new, I've decided to jump ship over to blogger and hopefully the change of scenery will get my writing-cogs turning once more!

So hi! Hello! Hope everyone has had a fantastic new years and is ready for an exciting 2013. I know I am! I have so much going on this year its kind of mad, but also terribly exciting!!

I've been thinking about what my resolutions were going to be for the last few weeks and have finally settled on them (I'm a bit of an over-achiever when it comes to making goals and resolutions, so I had to edit the list a wee bit), and I really wanted to share them someplace that I could come back to and check up and also someplace that made me feel accountable! So here they are, for the world to see, my New Years resolutions in picture format, with a bit of explanation/clarification:



I'll be the first to admit I have a HUGE shopping addiction. It's ghastly. I have something like over 60 dresses alone in my wardrobe. While I do like to think I try and limit the amount of chain-store shopping I do in favour of buying secondhand or making my own, it's still pretty bad.
So this is my first resolution - if I want something I will try and make it myself as much as possible, and buy secondhand where ever else.




My partner and I are going on an overseas trip at the end of this year (eep!!), so obviously saving money is a big focus for us throughout the year. We've already saved quite a bit but it's mainly just sticking to our current spending habits and seeing if there are any areas we can cut back on so that we get the most out of our holiday!



Again something we started working on last year that I want to continue with - doing more! It's so easy to just stay home every night with your loved one (and cat!), but I really want to force us to get out of the house and see friends and make some memories. We're certainly not going to remember all of the nights we sat at home watching TV when we're older so I want to make this year count!



My camera collection is now up to six and I'm sort of drowning in photos. Mostly Polaroids - I love the fact that they are instant, but what to do with them once you've taken them?! I'd love to try and find some creative and visually appealing ways of organising and displaying all of my photos. I'm thinking scrap booking, frames etc. I currently have a whole bunch of them strung up on some twine garlands with pegs, and I just love standing for ages staring at them all!



Another fun fact about me - my memory is shocking. Like, really, really bad. Someone will do the old "remember last week when we..." and I'll just stare at them blank faced. So photos for me are fantastic because if I have just one photo of a day or event then it will usually trigger my brain and it will all come back to me. That aside, I just really love taking photos! I'm hoping to acquire some more cameras this year and I'm so excited to learn more about photography (I'm still a bit of a newbie).



Last year my partner and I started trying to eat healthy. It's not that we were eating terribly before, but we just made a conscious decision to think about what we eat and try and change our diets and lifestyle for the better. I've not been to the gym for a few weeks over the Christmas/new years period (oops), but I'm actually quite excited to get back there. I've also been enjoying cooking and challenging myself more when it comes to thinking up things to make (pictured above are some pizza buns I made which I was SO excited about because pizza is the best food ever and they're PORTABLE!!!!!!!), so I'd like to continue with that.



The reason I'm here! I've had a few blogs in the past where I've either started them with absolutely no direction and they've fizzled out, or life has just gotten in the way and I've had no time. This is I think my biggest and most important resolution to me as I love writing and sharing my ideas and thoughts, and blogging used to be such a huuge part of my life that I've missed it sorely. So here we go - fingers crossed that this one sticks!

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