candle lit dinner..

Don't forget it's Earth Hour tonight!!

We'll be marking the occasion with a romantic candlelit bbq,  just the three of us... What will you be doing? Check out the Earth Hour site here for more info and fun ways to participate.

And forget the hour, why not make a whole evening of it. After all everyone looks better by candlelight!!

three thrifty finds..

Inspired by all the beautiful brights I saw on the Anthropologie site, I snapped up a couple of cheerful items this week to chase away the rainy day (or should I say rainy month) blues!

All on the cheap though, I'm trying to be good..

One soft cotton boyfriend cardi in rasberry red, for keeping the bump cosy this Autumn,  $19 from MIX at Coles (yes, as in the Supermarket).

A set of vintage billiard balls  just for a bit of fun,

$2 from the Aid for the Blind Store, Wynnum 

A luxe new cushion cover in jaffa orange velvet, perfect for story time or a little 

r & r with a couple of new mags. $16 from Ikea.

Feeling brighter already, a wee bit of retail therapy always does the trick. Hey and the rain has stopped too! Hurray!!

Have a great weekend! xx

for the road - pea, feta & mint muffins

Aaah what a lovely week!! We've just returned from several lazy days spent on the Tweed Coast, swimming, reading and eating..

Even better, this beautiful part of the world is practically on our doorstep (an hour and a half drive away). Still, like my Mother and my Nanna used to, I baked some road trip munchies to take along just in case...

Peas with fresh mint is one of my favourite things, add a little crumbled feta and you have a very yummy combination indeed!  I used Stephanie Alexander's failsafe muffin mix recipe as a base, all too easy..

• 2/3 cup of peas (I normally use frozen but fresh would be lovely if you have them)
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped mint
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 3/4 cup of grape seed or light olive oil
• 220g of self raising flour (I like to use half wholemeal for this recipe, for added texture)
• generous pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a 12 muffin tin.
2. Mix all wet ingredients together in a bowl.
3. In another larger bowl sift the flour and salt.
4. Add wet mixture to flour and mix until combined.
5. Spoon batter into muffin tray until 2/3s full and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top.
6. Remove from oven and allow to stand in tray for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool.

Perfect for a little snack on the road, washed down with a lemon iced tea...

Have a lovely weekend and to those who hail from the Emerald Isle, Happy St Patricks Day!

El xx

ps. Here's a sunny little tune for my Dad, who no doubt will be enjoying a couple of favourite Van albums today..

I heart Anthropologie!!

It's officially Autumn here but the weather doesn't seem to know that... Today it's bright blue skies and 31 degrees!

Our mailbox is stuffed full of catalogues advertising black and grey winter coats, scarves and flannel sheets and yet here I am sipping an ice tea and drooling over Anthropologie's Spring Collection..  

Sooo much colour, sooo much gorgeousness!! Maybe we can just skip Autumn/Winter this year..

Hope your weekend is bright and breezy too!! xx

M is for Monogram

We reached a small but important milestone recently, Thom started daycare.. 

Aside from mentally preparing for my little one venturing out into the world for the first time, sans me or his dad, I had a list of stuff to organise in preparation. 

He had a little kit to pull together, for which I sewed this little bag and then everything had to be labelled..  Scribbling initials everywhere with a permanent marker is the easiest solution, but far from the prettiest. 

Luckily I already had a bunch of simple iron-on letters left over from some forgotten project, so that took care of Thom's new bag.
It also got me looking for ideas for more inspired ways to identify your stuff..

Who could forget the bespoke L.V. luggage featured in Wes Anderson's

The Darjeeling Limited

or posh Goyard..! I snapped these beauties stacked outside their historic

Rue Saint-Honore store.

A monogrammed stamp of ones very own would be pretty special. I love the deco feel

of this one, found here on Etsy.

Or maybe a pretty monogrammed pendant like this one, in case of amnesia..?

On another Typographic note.., a friend sent me a clip of this young and super talented Brooklyn artist's work (in motion) . Her name in Dana and she works exclusively in chalk. 

Click here to see Dana in action, chalking up this whimsical mural at the Ace Hotel in NYC..

I'm in love with Dana's style..  She also created this gorgeous series of alphabet paperweights for West Elm.. You can check out more of Dana's work on her website.