Engrave your Tech

 How cool does this look! My laptop deserves to look good too. I will admit I spend an un-natural amount of time typing away and reading things online and my computer is the most valuable possession in my home by far. It houses all my music and photos, keeps track of all my favourite sites, gives me a rolling up to date weather report but most importantly allows me to talk face to face with my family spread all around the globe. I honestly don't know how people could stand living away from their family in the old days when calling long distance was super expensive and letters were the only way of writing. My trusty laptop is a saviour to me and I think she ( I just decided it was a she) deserves a little makeover too. 

The company that can pimp your laptop is called engrave your tech and they can personalise everything from your ipod to notebooks to laptops. Very cool indeed.

So the weekend is again upon us. The temperature is slowly dipping and I think the end of summer has most definitely arrived. I, of course, am in denial. Not that I don't enjoy the cooler days, on the contrary, Autumn is actually my favourite season. The clothes are way cuter and the evenings are beautiful, but the rainy grey winter does not appeal at all. So I have prepared a couple of travel brochures for Sam and I to eyeball when he gets home from work. I am thinking Samoa in June! Genius if I do say so myself!

Till next time

Sx

I realised a clothing post is long overdue so I took to my trusty laptop for some inspiration and ultimate frustration for things I cannot have. Yes, I will take a moment once again to complain about the lack of shopping and general cool shizzle in NZ. I know I live in a beautiful, safe and clean place but seriously...a girl needs retail therapy. On my return to the land of consumerism and material things I intend to embrace the madness and go nuts! Watch out y'all...in the words of posh spice, it's gonna be major!

So here are a few bit I came across today. The first is a gorgeous jacket by Nanette Lepore which is available at Nordstroms. I love many of Nanette Lepore's collection and have for a long time now...and saying that, I choose not to look at the prices. It's an old habit from my days working at Chloe Lane when I knew if I thought about how much I was spending on my clothes I would shudder with guilt and glutton. Oh how I miss those days...good times.

The dress is a good balance. It is from Urban Outfitters and has a much more palatable price. I am still loving bows...I thought I would have grown out of that trend by now but no, it's still cool in my book.

The swimsuit or for you kiwi's out there, togs, are also Urban Outfitters. It's totally not the season here to be looking at swim attire but a late honeymoon is in the works and I am digging the one pieces these days. This looks so cute and vintage to me!

And the last tunic is completely a 70's throw back by Marc Jacobs and I found it at Saks. Maybe not the easiest to wear but I love it. Hot hot hot.

So there is today's wish list. I will file it with the rest of them.

Till tomorrow....turrah x

Keep calm and carry on

I can't believe it has been a week since my last post. Where has the time gone!? We had a visitor staying with us which I mainly blame for my lack of computer time. Sam and I did our very best to give him a kiwi experience that he will fondly remember. I think we succeeded but in the meantime we wore ourselves out to the point that the last few nights have been spent staring at the boob tube and eating instant meals.
I have yet again found another print that I want to buy for our home which we one day will own. Of course I found this at etsy at a shop called sfgirlbybay. These reproductions of the vintage print come in a handful of colours and are easily framed. Having the message "keep calm and carry on" can only be beneficial to me. Keeping calm in order to carry on is often a real challenge and this poster will be perfect for when Sam is not around to tell me.
Yet again..I heart etsy. Almost as much as chocolate pudding.

We are on the cusp of Easter and oh what a yummy holiday it is! I have just been to the store to stock up on hot cross buns and chocolate for my hunnybun. The sun is still shining on us so the weekend looks to be filled with fishing, beach, food and frolicking.

I know Easter isn't directly related to cupcakes but I saw this one on Martha's website today and thought it was the cutest thing ever! You can click here to get the recipe. There has been a lot of cupcake chat over the last few months. Face it, everybody loves them and they are pretty much guilt free because if their tinsy tiny size. I made some just the other week to take to a dinner party that were inspired by the famous L.A. pioneers of cupcakes, Sprinkles. You can now buy sprinkle cupcake kits at William Sonoma. They make you look like a baking genius with practically no effort at all.

On that note I hope everyone has a good good friday. I will be sure to take a picture and post it if I happen to catch and impressive snapper tomorrow!

mugs need hugs

Now these may seem a little silly to some...not me! I want to give the person who made these a big bear hug and beg them to make me one in every colour. Mugs need hugs too! And these cosy little covers are taking care of it. These are available from a website called H is for Home. It's a great site that sells vintage finds and shows you how they can work in your home. I have long been pondering a similar venture. I love second hand shopping and believe you can get way cooler old stuff than half of the new crap around. Especially in New Zealand I have struggled to be inspired in retail stores. Shopping isn't on the consumers side here. 

As I get older I think my taste is closer to becoming described as "quirky". That's cool...until I start collecting ceramic cats and wearing my bra on the outside of my clothes. Then somebody, I beg you, please stop me.

It's Saturday and for some reason everything in this town feels sleepy. There is more of a Sunday vibe going on. I am quite happy about it, happy to be lazy and shuffle around all day. We haven't been completely boring, we did attend a ethnic food festival earlier on. Sam was like a kid in a candy store. I could see him salivating at every stall we walked by and he carefully calculated every bit of food he tried. I don't think I have ever met anyone who is so turned on by food...he loves it! I myself was a little adventurous for once and tried some Nepalese cuisine which was very good indeed. Yay for me stepping outside of my salad and potato box.

I am trying to appreciate the sunny weather while we still have it. It won't be long till we are huddled around the space heater in our little flat watching mindless TV every night. Till then I vow to visit the beach as much as I can and get a little vitamin d while I'm at it.

The photo of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys is just lovely. It sums up my feeling about the weekend...minus the cat. Will post again tomorrow.

Toodles

Random Act of Kindness

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4436390a10.html

Sometimes you come across stories about animals that are just amazing. Thanks to Danielle for this one! It is a lovely little story about the coolest dolphin ever that helped save a couple of beached sperm whales.

Read it and then notice the smile it brings to your face.  Makes me want to do a random act of kindness. Last night at the supermarket a guy in front of me had to take off the new socks he wanted to buy because he didn't have enough money. I should have bought them for him...that's what the dolphin would have done. Lesson learnt...sometimes you need a little reminder.

Book 'em

At the moment I am not working much at all. It sounds very cushy I know...but in reality it does get a little boring. Luckily I am easily occupied with the internet and all the wonders it offers. Don't be worried, I still get outside to see the day and squeeze in a little pilates too.

This picture makes me want to organise all of our books in stacks of colour. Who knew it would look so cool. In fact it makes me want to buy books purely for the colour of the cover and how it will look in its relevant stack ( I guarantee you this will subconsciously somehow affect my choices). Lord knows i will have to sift though all of the embarrassing titles though. Admit it...you also to put the cool ones closer to eye level so all your visitors are wowed by your intellectual taste and cultured life. 

p.s. I love the little bird on top of the white stack.

Toodles

Get me one of these!

I know I am a total geek but is this not the best invention since the retractable sharpee?! I love highlighters and flag post its and now being able to use them both at once is a magical thing.

The people at post it are genius! I want the three pack...did I mention they are refillable?

I know you all want them now too! Go buy them on Amazon

That's all for now. 

A little precipitation preparation

Rain, rain go away...at least until May please. It's been raining all weekend and is finally letting up. I know I can't complain, we have had an amazing summer and things are really dry so a little moisture is what the flowers need but I am just not prepared yet. I have been looking for some rain boots/wellies/gumboots for a wee while, of course for the practical reasons and because they look cute and dainty with skirts. As I get older I definitely am steering away from any edgy/minimalistic looks and am more attracted to pretty/girly items. Sam sometimes refers to me as "grandma" because of my homebody ways, love of loose teas and second hand stores but I am fine and comfortable with that. I have a sneaky feeling my rain boots are going to cement my new nickname further. Whatever...Grandma is the new black.

I found the rain boots above at Target. They are only 20 bucks and awfully spiffy. I am steering towards the orange ones ( I have been obsessed with the colour orange for about 6 months). There are so many options online though my decision could take sometime. 

Now I am off to drink tea in my slippers, out of my new tea cup and saucer, put my feet up and watch some TV. Holla to all the other 30 year old "grandmas" out there! Represent! 

I am on the internet later than normal tonight. We generally try and get to bed by 10.30 after my long routine of washes and tonics and the tribal ceremony of removing the various throw pillows off our bed. This of course is followed by my nightly bout of verbal diarrea in where I feel the need to share with Sam all of my thoughts of the day and my latest wisdom of life while he tries to keep his eyes open and pretend to care. I don't even mind his lack of enthusiasm in my rant...I love bedtime and sleeping. I could happily sleep in late everyday, I am not one of those people who feel obligated to get up. The world can wait as far as I'm concerned. Life is rarely as peaceful as when your wrapped up in your duvet, snuggled next to your honey bun!

At the moment we rent an early 80's style granny flat near to the beach. I wouldn't exactly call it inspiring or glamorous but it is fine for now and enables us to live in one of the best locations in NZ. I plot and plan everyday of how I will design and decorate my own home one day. How I (I mean we) will ever eventually decide on what to do I don't know, but I love collecting ideas along the way. Since I am on the subject of bedtime I thought I would share this photo I found on design sponge. I am really drawn to how serene and sweet this bedroom looks. I love the letter plaque on the wall...I may keep my eye out for an S for us. At the moment I am a big fan of that eclectic look of mixing different contexts like paintings, prints, photos and objects to make a very personal collage-like area on the wall. This room has achieved it perfectly without looking cluttered and fussy. I imagine that room to smell like sweet pea and lemongrass and be really quiet except for the light hint of birds chirping outside. Magic.

Anyhoo...off to the land of nod for me. 

ta ta for now!

Maybe if I clicked my heels three times.

This Saturday we are going to a wedding for some friends of ours and I am completely underwhelmed by my wardrobe. I am really tired of my clothes at the moment. All of my best pieces are from 2 years ago and no matter how hard I try to find cool interesting clothing here...it feels impossible. So in order to make myself feel even worse, I go online and drool over clothes I can't get. Above is what I wish I was wearing this weekend. This gorgeous dress by Diane Von Furstenburg would be so perfect. I love the colour and the fact I could gorge myself at the reception and still feel skinny. After all, the last wedding I went to was my own and it's safe to say there wasn't a lot of space for food in the bitch tight corset I wore underneath my dress...so the plan is to live it up at other peoples big day.
So, if someone out there is smart enough to want to buy this I found it at Saks. Let it be known I will be green with envy...