happy halloween

This year for halloween I embraced my inner hillbilly and loved every second of wearing pink foam rollers in public. I continued my politically incorrect, trailer trash ensemble with a house dress from vinnies, false teeth and later on - a beer in one hand, a baby in the other.  J, rocking the mullet wig, was my hillbilly partner in crime.

a bit camp

You either love camping or you hate it.  The dirt, the tent, the random people, the early mornings, the smell of the ocean, sitting by the fire, the stars, the silence, the solitude - everything about it appeals to me. I love the fact I can go swimming and count that as my shower for the day and not have to worry about a hair dryer even though my hair looks crazy and I love waking up ridiculously early because well, what else are you supposed to do when the sun is shining directly into your tent and the kids in the next campsite are up and running around?  

The only exception to this is perhaps camping in the rain, which admittedly is a miserable experience but luckily for us the weather this weekend was perfect - warm during the day and cool at night.  It was a last minute camping trip down the coast and from the moment I collapsed into my collapsible camping chair I was in heaven.  I wore my daggy fleece jacket that still smells of mosquito coils, swapped contact lenses for glasses, drank instant coffee, slept on an inflatable mattress that deflated during the night and discovered the largest sting ray I've ever set eyes on.  How could anyone not enjoy that?

birthday wishes...

Happy belated birthday, Mel! I couldn't resist this photo, it's one of my favorites. Here's to an exciting, fun-filled and crazy year ahead...x

grand design

Darling Harbour was transformed into an overwhelmingly pink, renovator's paradise this past weekend as Grand Designs Live Australia launched their first show in Sydney.  It was a good show but I was too busy wandering around to take photos...here are the few I managed to snap - for some reason I was really into these stacked Habitus magazines, go figure.

lexi's baby shower

I've been a crafting lunatic of late, wielding a glue gun and can of spray paint with wild abandon. I concocted fabric bunting, paper pinwheels, white flower vases and party favour aprons - somebody had to stop me, I was on a roll. This crazed madness was for a good cause as I was happily co-hosting my friend Alexia's tea party baby shower. I was in party planning heaven and no doily, cake stand or wicker basket was safe - my collection of party props was growing faster than I could manage but luckily on the day we found a place for everything. The day itself was perfect, the sun was shining, the flowers were in bloom, food a plenty and Lexi looked gorgeous. I drank my fair share of tea, left with a belly full of tea sandwiches and most importantly the mum to be had a great time - party perfection. Thanks also goes to my co-host and partner in crime, Mel, the true hostess with the mostess. 

p.s - in other baby news, I'm really, really excited to share the my sister is expecting her first bub early next year and we couldn't be happier!

on trend

Last week I went to check out the designLIVE seminar, hosted by the ISCD, and once again was impressed with the event they put on.  As always the room was packed, this time filling up the Museum of Sydney and offering a line-up of speakers that included stylist Emma Elizabeth Coffey, editor of Real Living Magazine, Deb Bibby, textile designer, Julie Paterson from Cloth and Prue Royle from the ISCD.

I heard Emma talk about her overseas experience at some of the Milan trade shows, Deb share the original Real Living mission statement that was created over a few glasses of wine and heard Julie talk about how her mother influenced her path to becoming a textile designer.  It was interesting, inspiring and I loved every minute of it (nerd!).  Luckily for me Sydney has been hosting some pretty amazing design events lately and since I've got an exciting design project that I've been working on for my day job, it's been great getting to embrace all these opportunities...

let the sun shine

I don't think I stopped moving this entire weekend.  It was action packed and we took every opportunity to enjoy the great weather with good friends.  Friday night J and I decided to grab some drinks & dinner in Manly and on Saturday took the ferry into the city to do some shopping before meeting up with Jack & Ness to enjoy more food and drinks at the Skiff Club (and a bit of World Cup watching).  Sunday the sun was shining for Alexia's baby shower and everything went off without a hitch.  It was a beautiful afternoon - photos to follow...

designLIVE

I'm heading to the Museum of Sydney tomorrow to check out designLIVE, hosted by the ISCD...anyone else going?

pearl beach

A little weekend getaway to the Central Coast. There were 10 of us in a big, beautiful house surrounded by bush.  It was the kind of house that you couldn't help but relax in (and secretly pretend that you own, even if just for the weekend).  The days were filled with way too much food, cold beers, homemade birthday cake, a trip to the beach, boardgames (trapped!), reading on the porch, laughing til it hurt and even a few wild turkeys running around. It was the perfect escape...