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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Celebrity Shoe Closets

Some time ago I drooled about Carrie Bradshaw's shoe closet in Sex In The City 2 and decided I had to have one too!

Well the time has finally come to get out the tools and get ready to DIY because the hallway cupboard is ready to be transformed into my very own shoe closet.

Here are some celeb shoe closets to inspire me in the designing my own.

Carrie Bradshaw

Maria Carey

Jessica Alba

Christina Aguleira

Eva Longoria

Kim Cattrall

Oh to be rich and famous with all these glorious shoe closets!

How do you store your shoes?


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[Images from here, here, here, here, here]

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Glorious Glossy Goodness

I admit it I can't get enough of home magazines ... the shiny covers, pretty layouts, pictures of other peoples homes that I swoon over and soaking up ideas I'd love to do in my place. But this little luxury can't go on forever when your paying about $7 a pop and if like me you buy one or two a month I sometimes think I'd be better off saving up and buying a gorgeous design book instead. A hardback that I can keep forever.

That was until I discovered the savings you make on a magazine subscription. I just signed myself up for another year with Real Living, plus it came with 3 issues of Australian Good Food all for $49.95. That works out to $1.25 each for the 15 magazines, compared to $7 each. That's a damn good deal if you ask me!


And because I'm just a little bit greedy I also asked for Christmas from my Kris Kringle a years subscription to Australian House and Garden so I've now got not 1, not 2, but 3 glorious glossy goodness coming to my mail box next month. You can tell I'm just a wee bit excited can't you!


Which magazine can't you resist buying as soon as it hits the shelves?

[Images and subscriptions from magshop]

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Australia Day 2011

Tomorrow the whole of Australia takes a day off to hang out with mates and family, have a bbq, drink some icy cold beer and wine, watch the fireworks, go for a swim and relish in the fact that we were born and raised here in such an amazing country.



The recent floods across QLD and beyond have really drawn out what it means to be Australian, the way strangers have helped one another, people all over are donating whatever they can money, clothes, food, and even their time to help those affected by the terrible floods disaster.

We are strong in moments of weakness and positive in times of hardship.

I'm so proud to be an Australian, to be born here and for that I should really thank Mum and Dad who love to travel the world but made sure they were back home in Perth to have little me!


Happy Australia Day everyone!


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[Images by What Katie Ate]

Monday, January 24, 2011

Point and Shoot

When: Saturday, 22 January 2011 @ 4.10pm
Where: Wedding at Araluen Botanic Park

I got dressed up, dolled up, glammed up for a friend's wedding on Saturday. (We scrub up pretty well don't you think?!). The wedding was in a park besides a huge pond and straight after the ceremony a special drink was handed around for toasting the bride a groom - a shot of galliano dropped in a cup of lemon squash. That's one way to get the party started! The reception was at a beautiful home overlooking the entire city. We danced outside under the stars and even when it started to rain that didn't stop us, it was such a hot balmy evening we needed the cool change and it felt absolutely magical. A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain"


For some more Point and Shoot, head over to Fat Mum Slim

Friday, January 21, 2011

Happy Friday


Wishing you a weekend filled with love, luck and laughter x

[Images from Photobucket here, here and here]

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Where I blog

Today I'm joining in with Chantelle's BLOGversation: Where do you blog?

The most practical place I should be blogging is in my study at the desk. But after sitting at a desk all day at work its the last thing I want to do when I come home .... SO I DON'T BLOG HERE


If I want to feel like Carrie Bradshaw I sit on my bed with the laptop and browse beautiful blog for hours ....  SO OCCASIONALLY I BLOG HERE


If my gorgeous man is making me a delicious cooked breakfast (which I get every weekend yes I know I'm spoilt!) then I'll blog on the kitchen bench .... ON WEEKENDS I BLOG HERE


But most of the time it's on the couch in front of the TV in the living room. It's comfortable and I don't feel like I'm going to miss out on anything! Sorry I don't have any photos of this newly reno-ed room yet as I'm still to find a rug, coffee table, side table, cushions and art to make it homely. But I can show you a picture of the leather goodness I sit on .... MOST OF THE TIME I BLOG HERE
Now you know Where I Blog and I'm off for a sticky beak at where YOU blog!

[Last image from here]

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Look Good in Leather

I haven't been able to get a song out of my head 'Look Good in Leather' by Cody ChesnuTT. You might have heard it if your a Triple J fan from a few years back. It's a bit cheeky but the chorus will make you laugh.

Let's set the scene and picture me sitting on my shiny new plush leather couch, glass of wine in one hand, tv remote in the other (oh yea classy baby!)

Because I look good in leather
(Don't you know I)
I look good in leather
(Everybody's lookin')
I look good in leather
(You see, my body)
Looks good in leather
(Yes I do)
Look good in leather
(Don't you know it don't you)
I look good in leather
(Tell your Mama that I)
Look good in leather
(All the girls know I)
I look good in leather
(Gotta have it my way)
I look good in leather
etc..
Yes ok so I may be a teeny bit excited about my new couches! Here's a sneak peak ... what do you think?

[Image from Bay Leather Republic]

Monday, January 17, 2011

Point and Shoot

When: Sunday, 16 January 2011 @ 5.55pm
Where: My backyard

It was clear blue skys and hot sunny weather this weekend and Pete and I spent it just kicking around at home, not a paint brush in sight, just relaxing! We had a good excuse, our gorgeous new couches were delivered so we set them up in our newly painted living room and then didn't want to get off them. They're super comfy, dark chocolate almost black in colour, and smell of delicious new leather. I made sure my butt sat on every inch of them at some point! 

So it was a pretty slothy weekend for me but sometimes you just need those ones to relax and recharge.
How did you spend your weekend?

I'm playing Fat Mum Slim's Point and Shoot, if you'd like to see more you can check it out here.


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Rogan Josh on the Stovetop

Not to be deterred from my death by slowcooker disasters I've had to date, I decided to give the Women's Weekly Slowcookers book another go. This time I choose a recipe to cook on the stove top, instead of the electric slow cooker. The oven is unusable at the moment due to an incident with the cauliflower cheese bake being dropped all through it, yes cheesy creamy sauce + hot oven plate = not good! So stove top cooking it is!

The ingredients list might look daunting but its mainly spices so don't be alarmed. It was easy to make and smelt delicious and fragrant while it was cooking away. Enjoy!

Rogan Josh
(From The Australian Women's Weekly Slow Cooking Book)

Serves: 4
Prep & Cook time: 2 1/2 hrs
Serve Rogan Josh with warmed naan bread and cucumber raita

2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1kg boned leg of lamb, trimmed, cut into 3cm pieces
20g butter
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 medium brown onions, sliced thinly
4cm piece fresh ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup beef stock
425g canned crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
3/4 cup yogurt
3/4 cup roasted slivered almonds
1 fresh long red chilli, sliced thinly

Cucumber Raita
1 cup Greek-style yogurt
1 Lebanese cucumber seeded, chopped finely
1 tbs finely chopped mint

1. Combine cardamom, cumin and coriander in medium bowl, add lamb, toss lamb to coat in spice mixture.


2. Heat butter and half the oil in large deep saucepan; cook lamb in batches, until browned all over. Remove from pan.


3. Heat remaining oil in same pan; cook onion, ginger, garlic, paprika and cayenne over low heat, stirring, until onion softens.


4. Return lamb to pan with stock, un-drained tomatoes, bay leaves and cinnamon. Add yogurt, 1 tbs at a time, stirring well between each addition; bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, about 1 1/2 hrs until lamb is tender.


5. Meanwhile, make cucumber raita.

6. Sprinkle lamb with nuts and chilli off the heat; serve with raita.


P.S. I added potatoes to mine, peeled and chopped when I added the tomatoes as I thought it needed some veggies
P.P.S. I didn't have naan bread so I served it on bed of rice with poppadoms on the side

Friday, January 14, 2011

My Wish For The Queensland Flood Victims

My thoughts are with the Queenslanders experiencing devastating floods this week. 

Thankfully the water is finally receding. Floods have now hit other parts of our country New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Carnarvon in my State is still recovering from the floods that hit them just before Christmas.


I've travelled to all of these States and have been to some of the places now underwater and cannot imagine what it must be like for everyone living there.

My wish for all is that they can salvage if not their homes then their spirit to build and hope and dream again

Just imagine what it would be like to lose everything you scrimped and saved and worked so hard for. The impact this will have on small businesses and farmers losing their crops and cattle after battling drought for so long. It really is devastating. Most insurance wont cover 'Acts of God' like this so every bit we can do will help.

I'm not going to the movies this weekend, I'm not going out for a meal, I'm not buying any new clothes, I'm donating instead. 

That's all it takes people, please go here to donate.


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[Image from here]

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Hello Media Wall

It started off innocently enough, I headed to Bunnings to grab a few paint swatches and went home and stuck them on the wall. Then confusion set in. I love all of them. Oh hang on I don't like any of them. Maybe they'll look different in daylight. Now I can't remember which one I liked. Maybe I won't bother feature walls aren't really in anyway. C'mon live a little Miss designer-wanabe. Hmmmm sound familiar?!


As you can see above I made a decision in the end, and picked Top Shot (top left) and bought a tester pot and painted it on the wall. The contrasting colour that's going on the rest of the walls is Mountain Peak (2nd from top on right) which is a really light grey. I want a straight out dark grey to balance with the light grey, but all these greys seem to have a purple or blue tinge to them, or in Top Shots case magenta thrown in. So I went back and bought another tester pot this time asking them not to put in the magenta, and instead use the same amount of black as the magenta would have been.


Above is both samples painted side by side, the one the left is Top Shot and the one on the right is Top Shot minus the magenta - Can you notice the difference in colour? It's very slight but you can see the purple tinge has gone which is just what I was looking for. Now back to Bunnings for the 3rd time in a day (lucky its only a 15 minute drive!) to get a few more litres and get painting ....

Above you can see the other walls painted Mountain Peak and me actually doing some work! A little bit scared and a little bit excited about how it will turn out. I'm not really into feature walls so much but this alcove is where the tv cabinet and tv will go so it was crying out for some definition and being that its 2011 I'm getting on trend and calling it The Media Wall.

Hello Media Wall!

Now I can say the living room is finally finished. The walls all painted (you can read all about the never ending prep work here), ceiling lifted and floorboards finished (you see read about the grueling hours of prep work here) they were sealed with a coat of Tung Oil to make them gleam like a mirror and we had to vacate the house for 24 hours to let them set before we could walk on them, now we're waiting a whole week before we move any furniture in just to be sure they are set hard and won't scratch easily. We've been shacked up in our makeshift dining room for about 8 weeks so cannot wait to sit back on our new couches in our new living room this weekend.

Just to remind you what it looked like BEFORE


And now the AFTER


What do you think of feature walls behind the tv?
Would you go dark or light?

Monday, January 10, 2011

Point and Shoot

When: Sunday, 9 January 2011 @ 8.22pm
Where: My Kitchen

Sunday was my last day of holidays so I had a leisurely day at home, cooked a nice meal and enjoyed a few glasses of wine. How cool is our fridge by the way, you push on the flap and it opens for you to grab your wine or beer without having to open the fridge door. Thumbs up for that invention Samsung!

The rest of the weekend was spent with equal amounts of work and play. We sealed the floorboards in the living room and hallway (more on that 'after' to come) and because the smell was so strong and the floors take 12 hours to set before you can walk on them we decided to spend the night at Pete's sisters house where we entertained ourselves by making my winning cocktail recipe Res Ipsa Loquitur. We went to a friends 30th Surprise Party but got there late so  missed the surpriseeeeeeee opps! We went furniture shopping and found our leather couches (also more on that to come).

How was your weekend?
You can join in with Fat Mum Slim's Point and Shoot here

Sunday, January 9, 2011

All good things



All good things must come to an end, just like the Christmas holidays. Yes I'm back to work on Monday .... back to office work, back to city commuting, back to shopping temptations on my break, back to sushi for lunch, back to reality!

I've had a mix of play and work this holidays, but it  never seems long enough. Just one more week ... please!

Is anyone else back to work this week? I'll feel better knowing I'm not alone!

[Image from here]

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Master Bedroom: Boring to Better Party

I'm so glad I found Savvy Southern Style's blog recently. The very clever Kim is hosting a Boring to Better party today so I thought I'd show off my Master Bedroom redo which was one of my top projects of 2010.

I really enjoy these linky parties its a great way to interact with fellow bloggers and I've picked up some great ideas from others that I want to try out. My favourites list is growing longer and longer by the day!

Without further ado here is my boring to better Master Bedroom ....

BORING


BETTER


See the full reveal of my Master Bedroom HERE


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[Images my own]

Living Room is Prepped

I've been a bit quiet on the living room progress but I have been working at it bit by bit. We've done quite a bit since filling in the hole left by the old air conditioner, you can read more about that little fiasco here.

We took down our timber blinds so they didn't get dusty or paint splattered and up when the trendy renos blinds ... newspaper. Not exactly the look I was going for our kerb appeal but there's not much you can do about it!


We spent 11 hours sanding and filled the gaps in the floorboards (these give my blog it's name Jarrah Jungle so got to look after those babies!)


We've filled in all the holes in the walls with filler and sanded it back smooth. The suede effect paint on the 2 feature walls had to be sanded back as well otherwise you'd see the texture through the new paint colour.


The paint wasn't peeling in this room so we just went along the skirting and ceiling with a tube of gap filler to give it a smooth, sealed finish.


We painted on a smelly oil based sealer/binder paint onto the suede effect walls, skirting boards and ceiling edge, basically anywhere we'd taken it back to bare plaster as it needs an oil base to penetrate the plaster so the paint will stick.


The ceiling was lifted and you can read about that mammoth job here, then it got a light sand and 2 coats of ceiling white. We've been using Nipon ceiling white and just went back to Bunnings to get another tub and they've stopped stocking it. Thanks for the warning guys! Luckily we managed to grab the very last one so the 2nd coat will match. Lucky!


And that's where we are at right now, just about ready to paint the walls. All the walls in the house are being painted Mountain Peak, British Paints colour but we have it tinted in Dulux.  I want a feature wall behind the tv as there's the perfect alcove for it, so I might have to ask for some advice on that soon.

The prep takes the looooooooooooooooongest time doesn't it?
But we are getting there!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Recipe Swap Party

My paella is joining in with Remodelaholic's recipe link party albeit a little late ... blame it on the holiday season, or the wine, or both!

For some inspiration of what to cook for dinner check out some more delicious recipes here.