I Believe In Pink

I have previously blogged about my love of white interiors with a touch of pink here.

And my love of this colour scheme seems to remain in tact, as I've noticed a common theme in many of my inspiration boards over on Pinterest.

In my past two homes, the colour scheme has been white, black/charcoal and red. So a transition to pink is not unexpected. I like the femineity of pops of pink in a room. And as a single girl, I don't think there's any reason why I couldn't decorate my next place with pink accents. I think a touch of pink could be truely glamerous.

From front doors to book cases, a touch of pink can really brighten a space. And the best part about some of these ideas is that it's easily altered if I decide to redo my colour scheme.

I can't wait til I have my own space to dress up. So many ideas.......



xx

 Images sourced here; here; here; here; here; here; here; here; and here

Gryffindor!

Yes I'm a Harry Potter fan.

Yes this picture made me laugh

From here

Sometimes it's the simplest things that bring a smile to your day.

xx

Fun With Frames

I've noticed I have a thing for frames.

Perhaps I've always known but been afraid to admit it "out loud"?

It became particularly apparent today as I walked through my completely empty house and noticed how many nails remain in the walls.

The new owners are either going to have to embrace hanging pictures like I did / where I did; or take a trip to Bunnings to buy a truck load of hole-filling putty.

Anyway, with the recent discovery of my love of frames, I thought I'd revist my Pinterest boards to see if there's a frame-trend there too and so I bring to you a little post about frames.

Coz that's how I roll.

Love a grouping of 3 frames

Framed inspiration board

Black and White cluster on a bold coloured wall



Collection of similar prints in simple shiny frames



Over a console table - always a winner

Making use of dead space in a hallway



Cluster AND framed blackboard = Brilliant idea





A window frame 'frame'



And finally... A door 'framed'. Love it.

xx

Get Well Soon

Sending myself some virtual 'Get Well Soon' flowers in the hope that they'll a) Cheer me up; and b) Chase away this awful bug that's taken my voice.

These are my new favourite flowers  -  Ranunculus.

Just beautiful.

xx

Less Thinking

I'm a thinker.

I'm an over-thinker.

An over-analyser.

The girl who has a plan, a back up plan and also a plan incase the back up plan fails too.

I understand the excitement that comes from spontenaity and the unknown, but I like to know what to expect next. I like the control. I justify my constant need to control by saying that 'it's in my nature', part of my personality, my DNA. It's what makes me Me.

But the truth is, there have been times in the past 6 months when I have had absolutely no control over my situation and when I'm not sitting around dwelling on it I've had fun. I have realised that the world hasn't ended; the sky hasn't fallen. I have adjusted.

And then.. every so often, I have a weekend like the one just gone. Where I've lingered on a thought for a little too long and all of a sudden my controlling nature surfaces and I begin to panic about.. well.. everything.

I panic about my future. About my right now. About my life; my goals; my direction. And about my failures.

I panic about where I'll live. How I'll afford it. About making the wrong choice. Or not making any decisions at all.

It's all very overwhelming.

But I have to take a deep breath and remember :

Because I know that everything will be OK. Eventually.

And the over-thinking doesn't make thing easier. So I shouldn't waste my time.

xx

Image found here

The Cupcake Lady

I went to my very first cupcake decorating course during the week.

Until now, my cupcake making and decorating has been entirely self-taught, but I thought it was about time I learnt some actual skills from someone who knows what they're talking about!

Enter The Cupcake Lady.

The workshop I attended was Working with Fondant, which I've never done before. I waltzed in thinking 'surely it's not all the different to playing with play dough?'

Well... kind of.

We were each given 8 plain cupcakes and taught how to prep them for fondant with a buttercream base and shown how to roll out the fondant to create the surface on which the designs would be created.

Five hours later I smelt like a cupcake and had produced 8 little works of art.

The Cupcake Lady had 6 designs for each of us to copy, plus we were enouraged to bring along our own designs to create.

My designs were the ice-cream sundae and the little duck.

I really enjoyed unleashing my inner creative cupcake designer. I only wish I had more time to indulge in such fun more often.

I may even go back in December to do the course again. Surely The Cupcake Lady has more tricks to show me?

xx

This Bread is Literally Ba-Nanas

Banana bread is one of my comfort foods. Easy to make and always delicious.

Bananas have been hovering around the $10/kg mark for a while, so baking with them has not been high on my list of things to do. But I saw them for $6/kg today (which admittedly is still quite expensive) yet i suddenly had a craving for banana bread and couldn't not buy some.

Besides, you only need 2 for this recipe anyway, so it didn't quite break the bank.

Ingredients
2 bananas
2 tablespoons golden syrup
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour
pinch of salt

Heat oven to 180°C

Grease and line the base of a loaf pan (or if yours is boxed up in the garage somewhere and all you can find is a small round tin - that will work too)

In a medium bowl, mash bananas then add golden syrup.

Add sugar and stir in.

Add egg, sifted flour and salt and lightly mix until combined.

Pour into loaf pan/tin and cook for 30 minutes or until a skewer is inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to cool.

Enjoy it warm straight from the oven.

xx

Show Me The Sign

It's Official...

After over 3 months of tears, tantrums and panic attacks - My house is sold and the evidence is on the sign.

We celebrated with bubbles, ofcourse!

But surprisingly after such an emotional period I now feel a little numb.

I have packed up my kitchen, boxed up my belongings and sold my furniture - All in preparation for settlement which occurs in mid-November.

I think that's when the relief will hit me and the reality of my new beginning will set in.

Until then, all I can think about is how amazing my garden looks and smells right now!! Those roses are blooming gorgeous!

Good bye house.

xx

Corporate Barbie

Miss Pip has been known to refer to me as Corporate Barbie (I like to think she means it in an affectionate way).

Today I'm wearing colour - a rare event in the workplace - but a great opportunity to wear my pretty pink pumps!

xx

Totes Need This Tote

Ahhh, totes.

Teeny-bopper for 'totally' and current it word in the Cool Pod.

But also part of the new range of Kate Spade 2012 Spring Collection.. and I have my eye on one in particular ......

Image originally from here

If only Kate Spade shipped to Australia.

xx

Changing the World

Dear World,

Please don't take my smile.. I need it.

Sincerely, Andie
xx

Image found here

Melting Moments with Bree

OK, so the long weekend seems a distant memory now. But what a great memory to have. My big sis Bree was back home for a few days and I managed to squeeze in some baking, shopping, birthday celebrations for mum and a wedding.

Can you blame me for not posting sooner? I'm still recovering..

Here's the most important details :

The baking - It is 100% expected that I provide Bree with her quota of Melting Moments. So they were the first thing to come out of my oven on Saturday morning.

Can you believe that despite the number of times I have made these biscuits I've never written a post about them ? OOPS.

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

3/4 cup (115g) plain flour

1/4 cup (45g) icing sugar mixture

1/3 cup (50g) custard powder

60g butter, softened, extra

2/3 cup (110g) icing sugar mixture, extra

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind

1 tbs lemon juice

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Use an electric mixer to beat butter until pale and creamy. Add the flour, icing sugar and custard powder and use a wooden spoon to stir to combine.

Use your hands to roll teaspoonsful of the dough mixture into balls. Place the balls 3cm apart on the lined trays. Use a fork dusted in icing sugar to gently flatten. Bake in preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 15 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside for 30 minutes to cool.

Use an electric mixer to beat the extra butter and icing sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the lemon rind and juice and beat until combined. Spread the butter mixture over the flat side of half the biscuits and sandwich together with remaining biscuits.

Other party sweets were also whipped up in my kitchen - Chocolate mudslide cupcakes, triple choc chip cookies, lemon meringue tarts and orange cupcakes.

Come home soon Bree - I'll make another batch of Melting Moments, OK ?!

xx

Day Dream Believer

The first day back at work after a long weekend is always tough, but today my motivation seems to be at an all time low.

Rather than focussing on work that needs to be done I'm finding myself trawling through beautiful images on Pinterest and dreaming of being anywhere but here.

My day dreams see me travelling all over the world, but honestly I would even be happy relaxing on a porch with a cup of tea in hand... Surely that's not too much to ask!?

Images all pinned here

xx