Sunday OOTD

I have been dying to wear this dress eversince I picked it up in the markets at Brisbane. It's a nice little pleather skater cutout dress with an animal print, to keep it fun, but not too crayzee that I couldn't wear it to work. Friday afternoon I ran around Met Centre trying to complete the outfit.

I needed a belt having decided that I haven't got the time to get the Tory Burch skinny belt I really want (fast as shopbop might be in their delivery). A colleague had tipped me that Sheike was selling these lovely coloured skinny belts for only $20, so I was there in a jiffy. Not before this cute twill jacket from Ally's caught my eye though. It was only $40! Score! Much needed in this cold weather.

Modelling pics. The belt matches the colours in my Collete necklace perfectly

 I wore it to a darling friend's engagement party which was an intimate yet casual affair at Bondi Social, which overlooks the beach. Lovely house sparkling and a simple but tasteful selection of beer on tap. The food was really good too at this place. Great Fish and Chips, and I wish there was more of that vietnamese spring roll that was packed full of flavour. But I only got the one sadly...


We finished off the engagement party winding down at Moo's, a Black & White burger, washed down with a Berry Ripe Milkshake. Yummo!

 In a semi food-coma now so am just gonna knock off here and veg out...

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/70/1467257/restaurant/Sydney/Bondi-Bondi-Beach/MOO-Gourmet-Burgers-Bondi-Beach"><img alt="MOO Gourmet Burgers on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1467257/biglink.gif" style="border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>

Saturday in Manic May

Writing this in the sun rays streaming into my writing nook, reflecting flecks of crystal light onto the wall behind the whiskey trolley that bears my Husband's antique crystal decanter, listening to the boppy strains of Bic Runga's latest album Belle while recovering from Saturday.

Aside from the routine loads of laundry I had to run yesterday morning, I pulled together a brunch pizza for my beloved which we waffled down because he's looked up The Avengers Gold Class schedule and we are aiming to make it to the 12.15pm sesh.



Tomatoes, sausage, bacon, eggs and mozarella on a pizza, If that's not the perfect cure to Hubby's Baxter Inn hangover, then what is?



Events Cinema's Gold class in Bondi Junction is quite something, walking through the frosted sliding doors to a private lounge where the fully stocked bar and cosy couches make it difficult to remind yourself that you are here to watch a movie. The Avengers is a really good movie with a great hilarious script which takes time building rapport between the characters of the movie so that you can take in the teamwork that goes into the fight scenes. Everyone performs well except for the Robin-Scherbatsky chick who really should stick to How I Met Your Mother. We laid back in our reclining couches and are brought our frozen cokes when the movie starts and it was an intimate experience with all of only thirty pax in the theatre. It almost seems rude to laugh out loud in the movie.

We went home with plenty of time for a Grocery run and a fantastic dinner. I set a lamb rack in the oven and made a few random sides based on what else was in the pantry and the Cinco de Mayo forces must have been at play because I made a salsa of sorts and a mean jalapeno mince with El Paso nacho dip unknowingly to go with the lamb. A rather beserk combination but Mr.HEA laps it up anyways.

 

Then it was time to stick on the falsies and smouldering eyes, a fresh slick of lipstick and some cute Charles & Keith black party ankle boots and head out to The Beresford Hotel in Surry Hills for some serious partying. In my hazy, tipsy stupour I remembered I hadn't taken a proper shot of my OOTD all day so I did this in the bar. Does this make me a loo blogger? Why else do they put full length mirrors in cubicles? Oh to let you check you haven't got your skirt tucked into your hose. Why else?

Rules by Mary dress, Leona Edmiston stockings, LV epi electric Iena clutch



  Hmmm... it's time now for another day and I am a little worse for wear having knocked back a few vodka cranberries last night because it was so warm in the bar. The Birthday girl wore a goegeous peplum dress which makes me make a mental note to self that I will need to check out this style on me if it is as hot as all the Mercedes Benz Fashionistas during fashion week imply. The Beresford Hotel is a place for Hawt people seriously. At least last night it appeared to be like that. Just tons of beautiful people all having a great time, present company included of course.

Oh yeah, I was meant to wrap up in the start of the last paragraph, I do ramble on. Have a great day everyone! I most certainly intend to!



Perfect Pizzas and a lovely Anzac day

Having a mid week day off with all your friends is one of the best things sometimes. I hadn't had a chance since Christmas to properly catch up with this bunch and so when Anzac day came on a Wednesday and we had no other plans, we all jumped at the chance of a get together.

The idea was a pizza lunch party where I supplied the pizza dough and everyone else brought a different topping of choice and we made our own pizzas. It was great fun and also an opportunity to let our 'kids' get to know each other.  See, my other post about me not being at the stage of having kids, my friends are in the same boat I suppose, but they still wanted to have the companionship and be able to pour their love onto a little one and so, they have gone and acquired pets. One a full grown staffordshire terrier and the other, a fourteen week old 'spoodle' (Cocker spaniel cross poodle), both brought together at our place for the first time.

I really enjoyed the day, simple as it is, cooking with close friends, sharing a lovely meal and a few cuppas, having the dogs run around beserk, going to a park in the sunshine, all lent themselves to another beautiful memory creation.

I didn't take many pictures of the day, but here's what I got:

Pizzas! Made with the perfect pizza dough recipe which I share below

OOTD: A lovely boutique stripped top with cascading ruffles from the markets paired with zigzag stockings

And then layered with my tan Misonni scarf and a beige Portmans pleather jacket

My Darling friends gave me a very belated birthday present: A Mystique candle and...

Leona Edminston stockings! Perfect for the wintry weather we are coming into!

 Now, for the Perfect Pizza dough recipe (No kidding, this really is the perfect pizza dough).

It makes 4 thin-crust italian-style pizzas.

1. Sift 500g of "00" or strong white flour into a bowl, and add a pinch of salt, and a 7g sachet of dried yeast. Make a well in the centre of the flour and then slowly add 360ml of warm water, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon or the dough beaters of a food mixer. After you've added in half of the water and the dough is coming together, you can begin adding in 60ml of olive oil too. Keep mixing until all the oil and water has been mix in with the dry ingredients and it forms a soft dough.

2. Place the dough on a clean floured surfacem and knead firmly, using the heel of your hand, folding the dough over as you go. Do this for about 10 minutes, until it become soft and spongy.

3. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place (you can preheat the oven to about 50 degrees celcius and leave the bowl in there) for about 30-40 minutes or until it has doubled in size.

4. Turn the dough out onto the floured surface again and knead with your knuckles for a couple of minutes to knock out the air. Divide the dough into four and roll each piece out as thinly as you can, rolling away from you and turning as you do so that it is round. It does tend to spring back a little too.

5. Transfer onto a hot, lightly oiled baking tray and fill with your toppings of choice. Bake in oven at 250 degrees celcius for 15 minutes.

6. Serve Hot!

New fixation with animal prints just got worse

I know you have seen these from earlier this week, but since then it's gotten just a tad more nagging.

I have gone off the rockers with my obessession with exotic print. Sped along of course by gorgeous fashion bloggers' impeccable tastes: Crashing Red's outfit to the Emporio Armani store launch had me floored and so walking in to my health care provider today and faced with the unbearable prospects of potentially losing out on claiming my full $200 eye care benefits, I decided the only way to salvage the situation was to buy oneself a pair of designer frames.
I had to cover a significant gap of $292 for these, so I am really hoping that the obsession will last me at least until the end of the year to justify the spend

These Fendi Snake skin glasses are a bit out there considering I intend to wear them to work. However, I have always been conservative with the eyewear so I figure this would be a welcome change to spice things up.
I have also got my eye on these pants from Zara to satiate my appetite should I be able to find them and pull off the look:

Source: Zara

Leaving you with an OOTD for good measure:

 wearing Burberry Blue Label Jacket in Black, Gap skinny jeans, Forever New Metallic tank, open toed wedges by Wittner and Black Abbey tote from Gucci. And rocking the Rebecca Minkoff iPhone cover.

What I'd rather be doing

I am sure most people are familiar with that feeling.

Today at work we get an email soliciting a volunteer actress for a training video about risk. The attached script named the part as Chris, and I thought, well, interesting they are only looking for females as this could be a gender-neutral role. Until I read further down. The scene is about a female boss who lunches and leisures and leaves her trusted staff to run her business with no acumen to put in any check points over cash withdrawals made by staff.

Hrrrrmmph... Why did Chris need to be a woman? After my initial wave of anger bubbled in me and then subsided, the inner diva in me from high school drama classes began to mentally act out the part of Chris.

I'd have immaculate makeup, bouncy well styled curls, carry my designer bag (oooh fun I get to choose which one I'd showcase) and oh my nails will of course be manicured with my favorite colour of the moment: O.P.I's Hong Kong Sunrise Source: makeupalley

Oh but I'd need to shape up, so that my bum will look good in the tight pencil skirt I will be wearing. I'd need to do a few songs on Kinect's Dance Central 2 (which I have not turned on since my post Xmas workout btw) and burn some unnecessary calories that way.

 

Then reality crashed and I realized with my current role they'd never allow me the time to run off to do another training shoot (even though I did get my last volunteer video shot within only three takes the last time). Plus who has time to get manicures and dancercise when one has to cook and do laundry?


So I very quickly crashed back down to reality. You know what else is reality but I am denying vehemently? That indian summer isn't coming. It is blistering cold outside. I haven't fully given in though. Even though I caved and put on stockings, and changed my bag to one that will fit over my  jacketted-shoulder I am still boldly sporting my Nine west cotton shawl.

OOTD