Merry Christmas! Enjoy the holiday season: eat, drink and be merry!

via Sweet Paul

via apartment therapy

fa la la laaaaaaaaaah!

image via vtwonen

Ahh, what a joyous day!

Thanks to my brother we finally have a functional oven. Can you believe it's only taken us 6 months!

In all that time I have deprived my self looking at recipes in magazines, and had put away all my cookbooks as not to think about it. Now, I'magonna make me some cake!!

and so the wrapping begins

A significant corner of our spare room houses rolls and bags of ribbons, twine, grosgrains I have accumulated over the years. This year I promised I would not add to it, but just use what's there. I pulled out the plastic table runner I bought from Dimmeys and cut it up into strips to spruce up some of the brown craft parcels...

It never occurred to me to over up our offensive heater until I saw the this lovely mantle over at Dottie Angel a few months ago. So now whilst one of our walls remains bare, our mantle is a little prettier this Christmas..

wanting, not really needing

I've already got myself a Frankie one... Hmm, you can never have too many calendars!

Perpetual Wall Calender via Kikki K

I've been furiously (well, that's an exaggeration) trying to finish up my Christmas shopping.. I'm struggling. Why is it I keep coming across more for me? It's becoming very distracting.

interior love: small space style

via remodelista

elk accessories

image via Elk

Lovely styling by Elk Accessories. How much do I adore these timber shadow boxes? I really need to pop by their store some time soon.

interior love

via emmas design blogg

me want cookie! me eat cookie!

Tove Hedman via Decor8

I want these Didoni font cookie cutters. Seriously, aren't they just the coolest? Yeah, he gets it....

On the weekend I did not get nearly half the things I had aimed to.

On Saturday we went for a yummy dinner with friends at Little Creatures. Hmmm, happily shared the pretty much everything on the menu.. So damn good!

happy friday

mitchanx via pretenious & pop

beginning to look alot like christmas..

Abit disorganize this year, normally I would have worked out my wrapping paper colours and made my cards by now. This year I've opted not to put up a tree and will stack the pressies around the tree stump I found from the road side.

I pulled out the left over Amy Butler craft paper from the engagement party and made some paper chains to hang randomly around the windows and disguise our ugly mantle. I think the last time I made paper chains I was about 5 yrs old... I might end up looking childish and naff. Meh, so what! 'Tis the silly season after all!

industrial lighting love

via the style files

lady, leave me alone

The weekend was lazy for some but for moi very productive:

: work party - kept my self pretty tame, being my 1st christmas party

: checked out my sisters new digs in north carlton: I'm love with her high ceilings: ornate fireplace and art deco furniture

: we shared big vegetarian brekky and smoked salmon, asparagus goats cheese omlette here and window shopped here and here

: I wandered around high st, northcote and drool over the amazing fabric and wallpapers at flashbacks

: made gourmet chicken burgers - still cooking with the bbq

: more christmas presents purchased!

girl crush: megan washington

via washington

anyone seen my diary?

Small A5 Yellow Kikki-K. Dammit where are you?

I mad list jotter. Religiously scribbling in my diary. I am a Virgo - nuf said.

In the meanwhile, our entrance hallway blackboard doors, normally reserved for shopping lists and 'nag' board will have to do.

More on our entry hallway when I've spruced it up a little.

daylesford: lark

On our way home we decided to take a detour to Daylesford. We got a little lost and ended up adding an extra 40 minutes to the drive.

Whilst the visit was short, it was worth the while just to finally visit Lark.. Oh my soooo CUUUUTE! A lovely start to my Christmas shopping, with now one person ticked off my list!

images via the Lark

home again

via la la lovely

Arrh, I had a lovely time in Queenscliff.

It rained, rained, and rained on Saturday but we ran the short distance to the festival to catch Little Birdy and then the Wailers.

On Sunday the sun came out and we saw Bertie Blackman, Bonjah, Whitley (again!) and Tim Finn.

We always start the Music Festival hopeful but always struggle to get through even half of the musicians we intend to see. Oh well there's always next year!

rain clouds

via audrey hepburn complex

What wild weather we've had the last week.. Heavy rain in humid, sticky, hot tropical heat.

Looks like I'll have to rustle up a poncho and some gumboots for the music festival I'm off to on the weekend. I've scammed Monday off work so I can slowly mosey back home. Yay!

Have a lovely weekend!

mantle envy

via anson smart

Typically I suffer mantle envy all year round but it gets sever closer to December. Ours is plain and boring and my heater is so old and uuuuurgly.. Oh I dream of a lovely romantic ornate one.

my happy place

via v. paper planes

Weird but it's in my car on a Friday morning listening to the Triple J's like a version segment.

So many talented artists have performed amazing covers and that has had me beaming in smiles or covered in goose bumps. Sometimes both.

Megan Washington's cover of Sublime's Santeria did not make this years compilation and neither did Metrics cover of the Strokes the End has no end. None the less it will still make my Christmas wish list solely on Ben Harpers cover of David Bowies Under Pressure.

i think it's time i cut my hair short again..

via audrey hepburn complex

mast brothers chocolate

via design is mine

I know the Mast Brothers Chocolate have done the blog rounds but I don't care I adore the pretty floral packaging.

oh christmas tree

I dragged this in off the side of the road on the weekend.

I have visions of how this can turn out brilliantly or.... hmmm, we'll see!

new dust collectors

I kept telling myself no more, but I couldn't resist. The op-shop was having a half price bric-a-brac sale, and this ceramic vase has such lovely texture. The oil landscape is only 9cm x 20cm and is a cute addition to my growing collection.

Speaking of dust, I spent the whole of today vacuuming, mopping and got lots of housework done. A pretty darn good effort given the big Saturday night that was had.

interior love

via Bliss

hello weekend

via automatism

What's plans for the weekend?

We have friend's birthday drinks in St Kilda tonight which I am already finding difficult to muster up the energy for - I'm such a nanna.

Might go to an open for inspection for a house nearby up for auction. We do this from time to time, sometimes just for hell of it but sometimes half serious. When not blogging or ebaying I'm trawling realestate.com pipe dreaming. Not long ago we got a little serious we even went to the bank manager - errgh!

I may start my Christmas shopping. We do kris kringle (secret santa?) for both families. I'm stuck with the most annoyingly hard people to buy for and I need some inspiration.

Have a lovely weekend!

stockings, tights, socks and the like...

Today during one Melbourne is hottest November days, I purchase two lovely pairs of ribbed tights. It was scorching hot yet I dreamed of wearing them with gum boots. I can't explain it. Perhaps I'm not much of a summer person.

14 standard via the english muse

sensing owls via pretentious and pop

light baubles

image via west elm

ebay: pigeon holes

I'm dreaming of how many ways one could use this candy coloured pigeon hole cubicles.. Office space or kids room? Ebayers residing in Brisbane should consider..

damn it

via Loafing Odysseys

Right now my sister and two younger brothers are in Tokyo.

As a treat for our youngest brother for completing his high school VCE exams (abit of an age gap between us - 10 years) rather than under age drinking in Byron Bay for schoolies, my sister offered to take him to Japan - yes, she is clearly miles ahead of me as the cool big sister. And with such cheap airfares going around my other brother and his girlfriend decided to join them.

I tried but couldn't get the time off, being at a new job and during the busiest period of the year I couldn't make it. I feel crap, I know as time goes on family holidays will become scarce. Oh, Tokyo would have been so friggin' cool. Well then, I'll be expecting some pretty amazing christmas gifts coming my way.. wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

the weekend

doiley cuteness via mossy bones

Saturday more flat stuff done..

Painted over the grey feature wall in the living room back to crisp fresh white. In an ideal world I would love to wall paper it but I'm way too indecisive..

I did a spot of op shopping; found a retro stripey dress and cute cross stitch table cloth. I was on a mission to find some more oil paintings or some thing to hang on my freshly painted walls. No such luck.

Today we went to a friends place for bbq, basked in the warm afternoon sun, and started mapping out festivities for the summer.

emma mitchell photography

via emma mitchell photography

melting

I need some relief from this sweltering heat...

image via this is glamorous

playsuits

Not the super short and not the maxi length... This one is just right.

via Topshop

papier mache

Online magazine Papier Mache is incredibly adorable. Issue one has got this big kid squirming - More peeease!

More cuteness in their blog

papier mache found via kee & fi