Let’s all eat cake

  You know what the best thing about a birthday is? The cake. With the boyfriend nearing his 30

30 for 30: Hand delivered

I thought it time to give you an update on the 30 for 30 present challenge (you can see previous p

Things to do: Brisbane in May

Autumn is a beautiful time of year to be in Brisbane. OK, so I’m biased and think that every

 

Let’s all eat cake

May 18, 2013 in Inspiration, Things We Love

 

You know what the best thing about a birthday is?

The cake.

With the boyfriend nearing his 30′s this week (OK, late 20′s – same same!), I thought it the perfect opportunity to stop just lounging about on pinterest and “pinning” the cakes that I might like to make, and actually just make one!  How amazing are some of the ideas out there? I could literally spend hours trawling through pictures on pinterest, but I always shy away from attempting anything, mainly because I fear this happening:

http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-pinterest-fails/

I’m not really a baker. I realised that I haven’t actually baked a thing since Eva left London (tissues please!).  I find it more of a social thing, is that the right way to approach it?   Even when I do bake – apart from those few months when I started making whoopie pies – I have never been adventurous in the cake department. I partly realised this when searching for my cake trays and finding I only owned cupcake trays… !!

I actually like to think I’m more of a decorator, a cake aesthetics expert perhaps?

There was this one time that Eva and I started experimenting with cake therapy (am I actually telling you this!?). The application of using cake to express our emotions through decorating them with swear words.  For censorship reasons I can’t show you pictures of those, however I can say that they are rather effective in making you feel much better if you’ve had a bad day at work, or your goldfish has died, etc.

Anyway, I digress.  You’re right who am I kidding? I’m just more of a cake eater.

Suffice to say, I’ve not yet reached my cake baking pinnacle – yet. So I decided that this year was special, and boyfriend deserved… drum roll…

A chocolate rainbow cake!

rainbow cake

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30 for 30: Hand delivered

May 16, 2013 in Inspiration, Things We Love

I thought it time to give you an update on the 30 for 30 present challenge (you can see previous presents here, here, here and here).

Mr Eva was in London town a couple of weeks ago, with a special delivery for me – a further 30 for 30 installment. I’m officially milking this birthday!!

 presentsPresents!!!!

clip#13 – Pretty hair clip

magnets#14 – Magnets

lipstick#15 – Awesome lipstick pen

Thanks Eva! Love them all!

Joy xx

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Things to do: Brisbane in May

May 15, 2013 in Brisbane, Eat & Drink, Explore, Living

Autumn is a beautiful time of year to be in Brisbane. OK, so I’m biased and think that every time of year is a good time to be in Brisbane. But in Autumn there are still sunny blue skies but there’s a crispness to the air in the early morning and late evening and none of the humidity. Perfect. At the moment, I’m sitting on my lovely deck typing this in a T-shirt enjoying the sun going down with a glass of wine.

So if you’ve decided to pack up your bags and move to Brisbane, here are some of the things you could do in May. I like to have a couple of things to look forward during the month so here is my list.

Brunch in Woolloongabba
I’ve never, ever been to Woolloongabba but now I hear that it’s the best new brunch spot in Brisbane. And I love brunch (if you haven’t figured that out from all my brunch reviews). I particularly have my eye on Pearl Cafe. And even though it’s on the ‘other side’ of Brisbane (usually a no go for us northsiders), it’s on the way to IKEA (that I desperately need to get to to buy exactly the same desk that I had in London) so surely that makes it OK.

pearl

via Weekend Edition

Go for a bushwalk
I love hiking and getting out into the countryside. But in the whole six months of being back I haven’t been. It might have been too hot up until now but really, May is the perfect time to pull on those hiking boots and head out for the day. Maleny is the bee’s knees around here but if I don’t get that far, I’m going to make the most of the beautiful walks around Brisbane.

Have a picnic at Roma Street Parklands
In London, my perfect day would involve some kind of picnic in Regent’s Park. You could usually find me at the spot right by the little stage on a particularly sunny weekend day. So now I think it’s time for a picnic in Brisbane. And yes, I’m afraid to say it, I’ve never been to Roma Street Parklands. It was new when I was in Brisbane last but the trees and plants have grown up since then and it’s now a beautiful spot to picnic in.

Roma Street Parkland

via Roma Street Parkland

Head to the Powerhouse
You know what I’m going to say. I’ve never been to the Powerhouse (all you Brisbanites have gasped in shock at this statement). And that’s fair enough. It’s a Brisbane institution and is somewhere you can go for anything creative. They even have lots of free events so I don’t even have an excuse. Powerhouse, I’ll be there soon.

Powerhouse

via Brisbane Powerhouse

See some Live Music
So, I can already tick this off my list. I saw the Kooks on Tuesday at the Tivoli. After being so sad about missing out on tickets to Splendour on the grass this year (see last week’s challenge), we thought it would be a good idea to get a quick fix of live music and luckily the Kooks were in town. Brisbane actually has quite a bit of live music and I’m looking forward to discovering the littler more intimate venues along with the big.

So hope you have a happy May everyone. What are you up to?

Eva x

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Things I Love: settling in

May 12, 2013 in Inspiration, Things We Love

Hi there everyone and happy Sunday to you all! Sorry, if you are reading this on Monday! Although, this week is the week that I’m going to enjoy my Monday! Apparently, organising to do something fun on Monday night takes away Mondayitis!

It’s been a bit showery this weekend (I was kind of missing that refreshing smell of rain). It’s even cool enough to wear socks! I’m enjoying the fact that I get to stay indoors, lay on the sofa with my lovely Frankie magazine and relax this afternoon. Ok, I might be also having a couple of stressful ebay moments but that’s all in the name of getting some furniture for my outside space. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s coming into Winter. I’ll be rugged up in everything I own just to spend more time outside.

This morning I even did some gardening. Yes, that’s right, I gardened. See evidence below.

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And my makeshift outdoor setting.

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In the past, I have owned a couple of plants but there were usually one of two fates that all of my plants suffered: they were either smothered with too much love (watered way too much) or were completely forgotten about (watered way too little). This time I’ve got a bit of advice about the plants that I’ve bought so hopefully that will keep them alive. I’ve also bought a baby lemon tree as it reminds me of a happy place in London.

And check out these cute place mats I got this week (last house mention I promise – this week anyway):

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This week, I also decided it was time to leave my new place! On Tuesday night we headed out to see the Kooks at the Tivoli. The Tivoli reminded me of an old opera theatre and I know I shouldn’t compare but it reminded me of places that you would go to in London. That old, retro, chilled out vibe.

Another big event here in Australia this week was Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day mums! Luckily mum and the rest of my family agree with me that brunch is the best meal of the day. We headed over to my new local – Willow and Spoon. Nothing like Brisbane’s best brunch spot being just down the road – though may be dangerous for my Chai Latte intake.

Other things I loved this week:

  • Time to myself. There’s nothing like having the house all to yourself to do whatever you like. Cook, sleep, read, bath, stretch, vacuum. The choice is all mine!!
  • Trying new recipes – I’m loving Sarah Wilson‘s I Quit Sugar book (check out the book on the right hand side over there). It’s nice to make treats that aren’t full of sugar. Watch this space for my new challenge – Quitting Sugar!
  • Reading Frankie! I just love the cover. I want to have it on display because it really is so cool.
  • New opportunities. This week, something happened that prompted me to think differently about the way I view work. And you know what sometimes changes can help you to discover exciting new opportunities (might have to Ask Joy about this one).

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So, what are your plans for this week?

Eva x

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What we wore – Over the top

May 10, 2013 in Fashion, What We Wore

what we wore 1

Shirt: Topshop

Dress: Primark

Sunglasses: Vintage

DSC08994

Top: H&M

Singlet: Witchery

Shorts: Glassons

What we wore 090513

 

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The Happiness Challenge #48 – Festival time

May 9, 2013 in Challenge, Inspiration, The Happiness Challenge

This week’s challenge: Choose a festival (SXSW? Burning Man? Coachella? Wave-Gotik-Treffen?) to go to, invite some friends, & start making plans.

Last week I couldn’t wait to write this post! I’ve actually been looking forward to this challenge for weeks (yes, I take a sneak peak ahead every now and then). I made myself wait patiently before writing this – I wanted to wait until the big day. The big day I talk about is the day that Splendour in the Grass tickets came out. But before I go on and on, telling you about all the amazing bands that will be playing, the new amazing campgrounds (with showers!) and the fact that it’s in Byron Bay, I have to mention that there was an incy wincy problem with my excellent plan.

I didn’t get a ticket.

Yes, I was one of the many millions and trillions of unlucky people that didn’t get a ticket (did everyone in Australia try?). Afterwards I found out that you need to cross your fingers, wear all your lucky charms and witness a miracle to get tickets.

So, after moping around for the rest of the day (it took a few glasses of wine and the purchase of some Kooks tickets to make me feel better), I realised that no, this isn’t going to be the end of the festival challenge for me. There are plenty more festivals out there!

Screen Shot 2013-05-09 at 8.50.43 PM

And I have to say that since I’ve heard there is going to be a resale of tickets for Splendour on the 5 June, I have again put all of my hopes in that basket. Please, please festival gods give me a ticket.

But, if there are any other good festivals that I’ve overlooked in Australia (anywhere!) then let me know. My gumboots and I are ready to go!

Eva x

Next week’s challenge: Add diamantes to your manicure.

Challenges Complete: 48/100 challenges

The List: http://galadarling.com/article/100-things-to-do-when-youre-upset-the-sad-trombone-list

The search for extra icing on the cake happiness started by trying something new – it was refreshing. I needed something to push me outside my comfort zone. Now I’m working my way through a list of 100 things that will make me even more happy – posted by blogger Gala Darling. Some are hard, some are fun and the majority are challenging.

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