Stamford Plaza Brisbane treat

Doesn't this room look inviting after travelling interstate with a long work day ahead of you?




And I had come prepared for pampering with these Lush babies:



Vanilla Fountain



& Marzibain

After work, I drew a lovely scented bubble bath from these dessert-inspired bars and enjoyed the soaking




Whilst sipping on Strawberries & Lime Kopparberg premium cider.




And watching Free-to-air tv on my room's bathroom TV.




A little extra luxury for my relaxed , baby smooth and cake-like scented skin: Chanel Ultra Correction Line Repair anti-wrinkle eye cream and the Day cream substituting night cream.




Now relaxed and blissfully almost comatose, I am going to slip between the luxurious sheets and fluff the pillows beneath my tired head and slip away into some restful sleep dreaming about ham and mushroom omelette or smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel room service for breakfast.


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Friends, food and facial

Sunday spent at the Fish Markets for an overdue catchup with friends, one laments the goverment, another whinges that the economy is flat, there is a broken heart and a hopeful one. All tucking into a lovely fresh meal of delicate oysters, sashimi that is firm to the bite, exquisite scallops and prawns, washed down with light sparkling wine or orange juice in the bright Sydney sun.

 
High Tea at home was next on my agenda and I tell you it's a force to be reckoned with. Imagine the usual fancy fare with dainty cakes, savoury bites and decadent tea, but the unrestrained comfort of being just yourself with the girls (Husband's been chased out of the house), throwing your heads back in shreiks of laughter and offering solace in strong support at the hint of one going through a tough time in her life. I didn't host this, but the girl who did has a real talent:

It was late when I begrudgingly hauled myself back home, showered and climbed into bed with Mockingjay, the last in the Hunger Games series. I finished that last night and am now hungry for more of the story. The ending appeases me somehow, knowing that Katniss ended up with the right lover, but the torment, the pain, the untold stories. I wish I knew more. The thing with reading books after watching the movie is that your lust to know more about the characters is often satiated, but not so if you've just finish reading a book. Other than email-stalking the author(which crossed my mind) or find forums of fans who might have created other paraphernalia to fill the voids.

But I won't end this post on that note, I'd prefer this cheery one. Look what arrived in the post yesterday! All for lurking on Twitter at an opportune time.











The La Prairie 15ml tub was a welcome treat when applied to the deep lines around my sagging eyebags from troubled dreams. It absorbs luxuriously and poses a significant improvement for the next morning. Thank you La Prairie for your generosity!

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!



Happy Friday!

It is always a good day to wake up to. And this week has been particularly big so sleep has been secondary in order to try and juggle and fit everything in.

I'm saying caught up with the girls and finding out one of them got married impromptu.
Over this dinner.

Or orchestrating the perfect office birthday celebration for the girl who put in every effort to organize my birthday this year:

Check out the balloon:






And organizing this kobe jones lunch with eleven of her closest and dearest at work:

I had the katsu tofu. A first time dish but certainly won't be my last.

She got a lot more gifts on the day too. We kid that her desk was a pop-up florist's

Just goes to show that it is worthwhile being nice and developing real friendships at work.

Who can forget it was fashion week too? I purposely tried out ombré nails in recognition of the fact:



 

Perhaps not quite ombré but certainly very attention grabbing.

Have been following many fabulous fashion bloggers' instagram's and tweets whilst mentally noting that peplums, neon colours, prints and sparkles seem to be the next season's choices. Gold eye makeup too according to Nikki from Styling You. A week ago i might have huffed at it, but i have fallen in love with the Hunger Games' characters this week, having devoured every page of the first book already of this Monday delivery:

So channeling Cinna's gold eyeliner seems to be understated chic to me now and i approve.

It wasn't just the fashion world that was celebrating in Sydney this week. TimTams had gone to town too with this Timtams-should-grow-on-trees get up:






I watched them set up late the night before and was pleased to see the final results:

But the week hasn't ended yet, no the weekend is yet to come where there are birthday drinks, reunion lunch and housewarming high tea.

Have a happy Friday my readers, and let today not be a hectic one!

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mussels in a pot

Brrr....it's turned cold at night. In winter there is hardly much more inspiration other than to cook nice hearty meals in a pot. I remember a colleague sharing with me once, many years ago that her favourite gourmet meal for about $5 was mussels in a pot.

Of course, the same lot of mussels nowadays would cost us about $10 to $11 nowadays (the price of inflation...grrr) but that's still a cheap eat for two grownups.

The hardest work in cooking mussels would be in the debearding and the scrubbing of the barnacles off the mussel shells. Beyond that, they are really easy to cook. I made mine one night with just onion, chillis, diced tomatoes, capsicum, coriander, champagne and a dash of cumin and salt. You can use about any combination of spices as it pleases your palate and make sure there is quite a bit of liquid and that the base 'stock' is well and truly simmering hot before you put in the mussels, stir through and close the lid on the pot for 10 to 15 minutes and let the hot steam cook the mussels. Discard the ones that aren't open and tuck in to the yummies that are cooked through.

I served my pot up with spaghetti, but you may substitute with bread, rice, whichever carb tickles your fancy. The best part is soaking up the yummy juices with your carb of choice.

The batch I made was so good it didn't last long enough for me to take any pictures, but I trawled the net for links to awesome recipes for you to follow if it is your first time. Trust me though, you can use your imagination with this one...

 Source: Home of Longevity Magazine
Source: Basil & Fig