I’m enjoying the moments of quiet that have appeared in this busy week. Between shopping at the market, marathon cooking sessions and busily finishing reports before work goes on a break, a few minutes alone with a cup of tea or coffee seems to be perfection.
I’m in love with this beautifully lit up white wreath that seems to just exude a feeling of calm (I keep sneaking a look at the photo to ease myself).
Still trying to choose Christmas presents for your loved ones? Perhaps something from t2‘s collection will catch your eye. Delicious teas and moroccan tea glasses abound, all wrapped up in glimmering gold paper and luxurious velvet ribbons. Sigh.
Just a quick post today, have been busy with end of year parties and Christmas preparations, hopefully I’ll manage to post bit more regularly as the festive season continues.
I was enjoying the chance to relax and browse a few websites today and found these lovelies. How beautiful would these snowflakes look on the tree?
Available from anthropologie
The summer weather has finally hit Melbourne. We are in the middle of a string of 30 degree days (with a few thunderstorms thrown in for good measure) and I am in desperate need of a refreshing drink when I get home from work. Lately I’ve been trying some of the delicious flavoured mineral water created by Daylesford & Hepburn Springs Mineral Co.
The blood orange and pink grapefruit flavours are my favourite so far but I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the range. I love how cheery yet chic the label design is – it definitely puts a smile on my face!
Images from Daylesford & Hepburn Mineral Springs Co
Kat Macleod is seriously talented. I am a huge fan of her work, and I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of her beautiful new limited edition book, Sequins & Sequence.
The pages are illustrated with images of a girl moving dreamily through lands under the sea and on earth, where she finds gorgeous brightly coloured animals adorned with sequins and beads.
There is absolutely no way that my photos can capture the beauty of the pages that are inside the book, so I suggest getting one to hold lovingly in your own hands. At $20 a pop though, you will need to be quick to pick up one of the 1000 copies that are available (Kat is easily one of the most loved Melbourne designers)!
Illustrations from Kat Macleod’s beautiful new book Sequins & Sequence, published by And Collective / Erm Books
The first weekend in December always sends me into a bit of excitement that Christmas really is just around the corner. I’ve been tagging recipes in books that I want to try, writing down ideas for decorating the table for christmas lunch, and gathering goodies to make my own crackers.
I haven’t started any Christmas baking yet, but I have been stirring a batch of Christmas Pudding Vodka (thanks for the recipe Lorraine!) which I started a few days ago. Every time I open the jar it smells more amazing as the fruits and spices mix together, slowly overtaking the powerful vodka. I’ve started making this super early so that it is ready to make lots of drinks in the week leading up to the big event.
I also went to the Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar yesterday. It is hosted by the Swedish Church in Toorak and runs on the first weekend of December every year. I like getting in early on the first day so I don’t miss out on all the good stuff! I brought home with me a gorgeous tin of gingerbread biscuits, delicious mulled wine chocolate, a cute reindeer decoration and lovely christmas spiced tea (chocolate and tea from Swedelicious).
Is Christmas excitement building in your home yet?
Looking for something special to make your baking extra sweet? Perhaps some pretty cupcake liners or cute cookie cutters from sweet estelle are just what you are looking for. I’ve previously bought from this lovely store and everything went so successfully that I placed another order today (so hard to resist).
I adore all of Coralie Bickford-Smith’s beautifully designed books. She has recently designed some beautiful metallic art-deco inspired covers for a special F. Scott Fitzgerald collection of books. As soon as the designs hit the internet a couple of months ago I was smiling, and now that they are instore and I am almost certain that I am being given them for Christmas I am hugging myself in delight! Do you have any books on your Christmas wishlist?
I seriously love Christmas. I love giving beautifully wrapped gifts to people and seeing their eyes light up as they see what’s inside. I enjoy all the food that manages to come out for just one month every year. I enjoy decorating the house with glistening ornaments. And I love Christmas magazines because they manage to gather all the joy of the season in one place to give you many more ideas for your celebrations.
About a week ago I bought some new Christmas magazines and now that December is almost upon us I thought I would share some of my favourite images with you. I bought Australian magazines InsideOut and RealLiving, and the British LivingEtc and they are all filled with so much goodness. I’m looking forward to the rest of the Christmas issues hitting the stands!
I have always loved to sneak off for a quiet read – I remember pretending to be sick a couple of times while I was in primary school because I knew I would be sent to the library for some quiet time. I’m sure my teacher knew that I was lying however she probably figured that if I was reading books it wasn’t very harmful.
I can therefore only imagine how much time I would spend sneaking off to the reading room at Lyn Gardener’s beautiful holiday house in Daylesford. Obviously it would be better if all of the walls were completely covered in books, but I think that the wallpaper is actually quite charming.
Photos from Empire Vintage
raw sugar high 