What's on my mind at this moment

On WOMMATM, ignoring the stressful work and relationship stuff, is really a load of sweet treats and fashion. Something to do with the opening of a little pastel green kiosk in front of Mulberry at Westfield's?

I sacrificed my lunch hour to go buy these little babies...

How pretty is the box?!!

The colours, the perfect feet, the yield when you bite into the french almond biscuit. Le Sigh...

Of course, the hottest couple in Hollywood secretly married, which probably means steaming hot babies, if they make babies, if they last that long. But What obsessed me was the Marchesa Gown she wore at her wedding. Which made me have a 'I wonder if I got married all over again, would I wear this?' moment.

From Marchesa's New York Spring Fashion Week 2012

Marchesa from Shopbop

Marchesa from Shopbop; This one's on Sale ladies!

The Efflorescence of Barossa Valley

 Barossa was in full bloom when we were there last weekend. Plum and almond blossoms greeted us everywhere and it was just gorgeous whenever the petals fell softly from the branches in the gentle wind.

 Tip for any travellers renting a hire car. Before you drive off, no matter how tired, hungry, cold, excited you are for the trip about to begin, always inspect the condition of the car you have been handed thoroughly and check it off with the rental company. Europcar rorted us big time earlier this year when we rented from them and they never ended up sending us an invoice for the damages they claimed. They only reverted us to a quote. Super dodge....

 PSA aside, Barossa was all green and blue and welcoming for us last weekend. We of course went wine tasting galore, visitng both the commercial ones (we had some novices on board) such as Jacob's Creek, Wolf Blass and Penfolds, where we consoled ourselves with trying the cellar door releases, and then the more well knowned boutique wines, such as Rockford, Torbreck, Grant Burge, Henschke and Turkey Flat.

 We of course could not miss out on the farmer's market, especially being in the state of all these famous cookshow contestants that have made it to the finals, Poh, Adam Liaw, Marion Grasby, Callum Hanh of Masterchef ilk and my favourite finals of all MKR time: Nic & Rocco vs. Jen & Leigh. Something about the produce in this place must be the secret behind why they churn out so many fine chefs.

These were our spoils from 'pillaging' the market and vineyards in the one day.



 I am certainly a wine snob and wouldn't step foot in here if it wasn't for the bright sunny restaurant and the lure of the freshly shucked oysters. Picking a light moscato to accompany our equally light lunch, we tore into the baked-on-premises mushroom and blue cheese bread, Marinara pizza, pork belly and side of potatoes after slurping up greedily our slivers of oysters resting on beds of rock salt. Absolute divinity that makes one almost forgive the commerciality of the wine label.

This meal at the end of the day however was quite the one to cheer me up. We had great accompaniments to the gourmet produce and reservedly polished off only four and a half bottles amongst seven adults (of course one musn't count the ones consumed at the vineyards throughout the day).

Our starters were paired with Turkey Flat's; Fresh Olive bread dipped in Turkey Flat Olive Oil, Spiced Salami, Udder Delights Heysen Blue cheese, Adelaide Hills musky brie and Aged Barossa Port & Duck Pate, matched perfectly with Turkey Flat's Pedro Ximenez, a mellow classice sherry that took away the savoury tinge every time it got just a bit much. A brilliant aperitif if I've ever had one.

 Our delicious Saskia Beer roasted chicken was so juicy and tender, I dreamt of it that night when in bed. The tomatoes tossed in the mustard and lettuce greens were divine and the Pewsey Vale beef so awesome when paired with the Jacob's Creek Negro Amaro, we feasted like it was Thanksgiving dinner.

My favourite wine of the trip was from Torbreck. Money well spent I declare.

My favourite vineyard was Henschke Cellars, a famous brand albeit the humble, family-run production it is. And how cute is their cellar daschund - Lotte? They offered free freight for a case, so our purchases were shipped directly to Sydney instead of us having to worry about carrying the bottles onto the plane with us. This is also why you did not see those bottles on display in our array above.
A truly wonderful region to visit if you love Reislings and full-bodied Shirazs and GSMs. Our other great find from this region was the Frontignac, a floral and fruity light wine, which I coin, Cognac for the ladies. I may not have gone crazy with wine purchases due to the new living arrangements I have currently, but oh my, I would have run and hid in the valley to never come home just so that the weekend can repeat it self all over again.

Vogue fashion's night out 2012

This is my favorite annual city event. I have gone every year from when they first begun in the height of the GFC, and each year, the buzz just increases and more retailers and shoppers get involved each year.




This was my #vfno outfit, having decided on wearing nothing that was e-tail bought except for my Carvela booties from ASOS (well it completed the outfit), the Collette necklace,the Cue top, the Ally tweed jacket and the Zara petal print skirt were all items where I had touched, tried, pondered over, and lovingly exchanged for over a real cash counter. The real deal in shopping.

And so our night begun at Martin Place where the Vogue stage was all set up for a night of fashion, dance and fun.




We chanced upon the Palmolive freebies amongst these gorgeous flowers and fruit.




David Jones held catwalks with Rachel Finch as one of the hosts.




Retailers went all out with sweets galore: Lolly bars at Mimco, Ghermez Cupcakes at Ferragamo, pastel cake pops at T&Co, there were sparkling waters, wines and fizzy lemonades free flow too.




Every now and then we would chance upon a dressed up model/ immaculately dressed staff asking if we'd like to have our Polaroid taken. I collected from Forever New, Mimco, Mulberry and my favorite one at Gucci, where you get to try on Gucci's gorgeous merchandise for the Polaroid shoot and the lady that went after me politely asked if she could try on my necklace too for the shoot. lol! As if my cheapie necklace could ever compare with Gucci's luxury.

 
Peter Philips, Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, created a new makeup collection exclusively for Vogue Fashion's Night Out. The Les Twin-Sets de Chanel is a collection of three beautiful matching lip and nail duos available exclusively on the night from the Chanel Makeup Studio in Myer Sydney.

The swatches from left to right:
Rouge Allure Velvet 'La Provocante' with Le Vernis 'Provocation' - the perfect Autumn plum colour combination.

Rouge Allure Velvet 'L'Infidèle' with Le Vernis 'Infidèle' - intense pink shades bursting with energy.

Rouge Allure Velvet 'La Délicate' with Le Vernis 'Délicatesse' - embodies sophistication and refinement in variations of beige.

Guess which one I bought? I was intrigued by the Provocation, as most the girls in there wore that, but I decided to go safe in the end, I chose the Delicate, my only purchase for the night.

Well, it might not be the last of it, I scored 20% off both ASOS and Shopbop. With the Ultimate Closet items, Shopbop managed to quench my longstanding desire to hold the Phillip Lim Pashli Satchel in real life and tried it before I go home to buy it. I am still swooning over the bag, but am choosing my priorities wisely and so have not immediately popped on and gone crazy on Shopbop. Don't worry, I will let you all know when I decide.

*Please excuse the crappity of the picture resolution. I have downgraded to the iphone 3 since Mr.HEA moved to London with my iphone 4. The plan is for me to await the iphone 5 release here and pounce on it then I will. Until then my dears, I am so sorry. *

The 18th Biennale of Sydney

I visited Pier 2/3 a while back and I must admit that I was awed by the artworks ( there were only two there, but they were very large scale pieces). I contemplated the pieces and the host that night, PwC, had explained the concepts behind the art and escorted us through, but I didn't fully grasp it all until I came across an article on the inflight Jetstar article on my recent trip to Melbourne.

Artist Tiffany Singh's piece was the more colorful Piece in the space and it was called 'Knock on the sky listen to the sound' referring to a Buddhist proverb and this interview in the magazine reveals for me, Tiffany's take on the proverb. This metaphor for her work, is the way she perceives how the sky becomes an active part of the second part of this work which will be at Cockatoo Island. The full extent of it could not be fully appreciated housed at Pier2/3's site, because I realise now that component of the art is meant to be silent, to 'instigate the sound within your own mind in a longing to hear the sound of the chimes.'

In Asian culture, the sound of windchimes is haunting because that sound in the absence of natural elements reflect the presence of spirits. This ethereal existence, one that I once believed in, was thankfully absent on the night I visited. We were encouraged by the host to interact with the art and make the chimes sing to us by moving through it. The man-made sound is not quite the same as if the wind passes through it. Certainly I now perceive Tiffany means to show you how the chimes can be the voice of the sky when you remove the warehouse and place it on the island. Well, I haven't been to Cockatoo island so that's only my interpretation of what the interaction there will be.

The chimes need to travel from the pier to the island, and my understanding is that selected humans are to adopt a chime each, personalize it and record the process of the decorating before they return the work to the Bowing Crane on Cockatoo Island. That interaction with the community, I thought I got, but now that I wonder if there is an element of Buddhism behind it, I wonder if the purpose is to also capture the living spirits of these fabulous beings and contain it somehow in one place to represent the beautiful souls that Are in existence in our world right now. Again, my interpretation of the piece.

The article doesn't mention the other piece being housed at the Pier, and it is this one,

I was delighted at first to see the bottles of wine and bowls of real nuts and the thrill of free refreshments piqued my engagement levels. Very quickly though I was told that whilst that was the original intention of the artist, to get people to interact and feedback on the paper looms he had created, the sponsors have locked the very interactive bits with cable tie in order to preserve the art and that the public was encouraged to write on the pads on the clipboards instead. Bah Humbug. There was also rather strict traffic control that night to see the art, and I really wondered, something with such great potential and such noble intentions, was it really an oversight of the artist that his works might be so broken from the use he intended for it? I even got to thinking if the work was a woman, built to serve a purpose but then, sheltered so quickly. Did she even ask to be protected? Possibly not.

Anyhow, the exhibition lasts until the 16th of September so make your way around Sydney to observe the various pieces and engage with the ones the artists intended you to, for what is art if it doesn't speak to you?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Play Melbourne

Am out and about Melbourne for work today. With my manager and I we are sort of covering our client base simultaneously.

The plan is for him to start at Federation Square and move across to Collins Street and Queens Bridge. I am starting from Bourke Street and moving south to Southbank. In the middle of the day we are having a business lunch at The Merchant restaurant by Guy Grossi and possibly end the day at a bar somewhere.

Phew, a tough day ahead. I hope I get to take pics of the rush, but if not... I leave you with the video Visit Victoria's campaign's put together, very aptly portraying what I am envisioning my day will be like.