Friday, December 31, 2010

Engagement Photos

I love the idea of a casual photo shoot to celebrate your engagement. It can be treated as a wedding pre shoot giving you a chance to test the waters with your choice of photographer and hair/make-up artist. It also makes for a great source of photos for use on your wedding day such as in the invitation or ceremony booklets. Polka Dot Bride has some lovely engagement photos, here are a couple of my favourites featuring a vintage picnic and a romantic stroll on the beach:




Wednesday, December 29, 2010

W Magazine

W Magazine features some of the world's most famous celebrities in high end fashion shoots. Here are some of my favourite cover shots:





Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas 2010

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone! After a long weekend of food, family and friends, I've finally had a chance to upload my photos and share with you my very first attempt at making Christmas dinner for my family:

Entree: Tuna & Cucumber Canapes

Side: Mango & Avocado Salad

Side: Roasted Carrots & Potatoes seasoned with Rosemary

Side: Tabouli Salad

Main: Lamb Cutlets with Caramelised Mushrooms and Onions

Main: Salmon Sashimi & Cocktail Prawns

Main: Herb and Mustard Roast Turkey Breast with Sage and Onion Stuffing Balls

Drinks: Anna's Secret Recipe Sangria

Dessert: Berry Tiramisu

After a week of planning and a whole day in the kitchen, our Christmas feast was a success! It was alot of fun and very rewarding so I can't wait to try some new recipes next year - I really wanna try making a traditional Christmas ham. 

I'd say the most important lesson I learnt was to plan ahead and stay organised. Some tips I found useful: prioritise your shopping list to buy dry ingredients first, use everything you already have in your pantry, buy fresh veges and seafood as late as possible, delegate dishes/courses (my sisters made the entree and dessert) and time your oven use well. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas weekend filled with lots of love and of course, food! Can't wait till next year!!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Interior Design for Dummies

Another Christmas present opened early! Law got me an Interior Design and an Interior Decorating book to kick start my future career change! Foundations of Interior Design is basically a whole course on the history, concepts and principles of Interior design while Downtown Chic is more about redecoration and renovating your home. Can't wait to get into them and start playing around with the ideas. Law said he'd also get me a program to design on the computer so hopefully I'll show you some stuff when I get my head around it.

Love Chloe

I just got some new perfume for Christmas and I absolutely love it! I've been faithful to Chloe for ages now and I still love it but never thought that their follow up fragrance could become a favourite as well! Mmm...smells so good! Thanks to my cousins for getting it for me!


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

4 Days till Christmas!

Just a quick post to share some Christmas spirit with you all! I went to Carols in the Domain on Saturday for the first time in years and it was alot of fun. The weather was great - sunny with a nice breeze and we spent the day picnic-ing and playing cards and games. It was so crowded - as always - but it was very well organised and we even got cardboard floor seats for free and an awesome show bag for $15! I went with some friends and family and had a great time singing carols by candlelight:


I painted my nails Christmas themed last night and now they keep distracting me! They're pretty bling but I love them because they feel like Christmas decorations on my hand - check them out (it was so hard to take a photo of my hand without it looking freaky and weird!)


I also made some Christmas cookies today and they made the house smell all festive and yummy! I tried to make the stain glass window cookies (above) but my oven was took hot and the lollies burned so I decided to use cashous instead:

Crushed lollies look so pretty

They looked so good before they went into the oven and failed!

My second batch with cashous

I hope you guys are enjoying your Christmas week! I can't wait for all the yummy food (and presents!!) this weekend! Stay tuned for more festive posts to come!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas Food

With only one week till Christmas, I'm getting geared up for a whole long weekend of Christmas cooking next week for the various Christmas dinners and parties I have lined up. It might be because it's the time for giving and feasting that I feel obliged to bring along a plate (or more) of food to each gathering but either way, the annual Coles and Woolies Christmas magazines as well as Taste online have really helped me find some great ideas for each course! Here are some of the things I'm thinking of making but I guess you'll have to wait till next month's December food blog to check out the results!







Baking Treats: Christmas Glass Cookies

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Royal Engagememt

I love weddings and with the announcement of Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton, there has been so much buzz about the modern Royal couple's upcoming nuptials. I think Kate has a very "princess" look and she always looks classy, classic and elegant. She actually reminds me of our very own Princess Mary of Denmark who has become a style icon since she married Prince Frederick.

Will and Kate just issued their official engagement shots by acclaimed photographer Mario Testino and I absolutely love their casual shot. It looks warm, sincere and shows their true love - making them so much more relatable to us 'common folk' than their predecessors ever were. I think it was a great idea to release both a casual and formal portrait of the couple, can't wait to see their wedding shots!


Monday, December 13, 2010

Style Watch: Red & Green Should Always Be Seen

There are so many beautiful red headed women in Hollywood who really know how to make the most of their gorgeous tresses. I've noticed a red carpet trend over the years with many fiery celebrities complimenting their hair with green designer gowns. I wish I could pull off this look - check out the amazing similarities between these lovely ladies - works every time!

                     Julianne Moore                                     Amy Adams

 Isla Fisher

 
                    Christina Hendricks                                Marcia Cross

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Christmas Gifts

With only 2 weeks till Christmas, everyone's busy with their Christmas shopping and sometimes it gets overwhelming trying to find the perfect present for all your family and friends. I love shopping for presents, especially for girls because it's always easier to buy something that I would want to receive myself! If you're having trouble trying to find a gift for your mum, aunt, cousin, sister, friend or girlfriend, here's a list of foolproof ideas that might be helpful...

Cool Stationary: Recipe Books, Travel Diaries, Calendars, Diaries etc
Ideas: Pre-decorate your gift with photos/magazine cut outs of memories/plans to make it more personal E.g. Decorate a travel diary with pictures of places they intend to visit
Where to find: Kikki-K, Borders, Typo, Myer, David Jones

Cute Pyjamas: Singlets, Shorts, Sleeping Dresses
Ideas: Matching sets are a great gift idea and sometimes come with cute extras such as eye masks!
Where to find: Peter Alexander, Bras N Things, Target, Myer, David Jones

Beauty Gift Sets: Make up, Perfume, Skin care
Ideas: Department stores usually have special discounts leading up to Christmas so shop around and take advantage of the offers
Where to find: Priceline, Myer, David Jones

Friday, December 10, 2010

Rocketeer

Just heard this song on the radio and fell in love with the melody. Pulling out my handy dandy android, I "Shazam"ed it and found that it was Rocketeer by Far East Movement ft. Ryan Tedder. I looked them up and realised that they are an Asian American electro hop band who also did the super catchy song that's been floody our radios: Like a G6. I knew I'd heard of this band and this song before so after some googling and youtubing I realised that they are affiliated with Wongfu Productions and Kevjumba also used their song in his video Shed a Tear. I think it's really cool that Asian Americans are having world wide success in their creative ventures. It's cool when normal people you see on youtube are appearing on our radios or tvs half way across the world. Just goes to show that the world is getting smaller everyday and maybe one day, you could be the person sharing your gift with the world too!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

November Food Adventures

I was taking photos off my camera today and realised how many food photos I've taken this past month. I did a food post in October to document the Sydney International Food Festival and my birthday so I thought I'd make it a monthly tradition to post photos of my food adventures! 

After eating out so much in October, I decided 'detox' this month and cooked at home more. With Christmas coming up, I'll sure be cooking up a storm in the next few weeks so tune in next month for some yummy Christmas treats. I hope these photos inspire you to try cooking some yummy, quick and easy dishes at home!

Hot Pot - Left: Carnivores, Right: Herbivores

Roast Beef, Sauteed Mushrooms, Spinach, Mashed Potato and Gravy

Eggplant Appetizer @ Fico Ristorante, Balmain

Turkey Burger in a Bowl @ The Counter Burger, Crows Nest

Grilled Salmon Salad

$3 Tacos & Tequila Shots @ Flying Fajita Sisters, Glebe

Strawberry Tart - Baking Day @ Em's

Beef Pot Pie - Beef, Mushrooms and Carrots
(Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the inside!)

Sushi Train @ Takumi, Market City

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Christmas Decorations

Yay! It's finally that festive time of year again! I love seeing Christmas lights and decorations go up at the beginning of December - from the city to shopping centres to your neighbours across the street, there's nothing like the exciting feeling of preparing to entertain your family and friends at Christmas. This year has really flown by for me and before I knew it, there's only 3 weeks till Christmas! What better way to count down than to do a dedicated Christmas blog every week until Christmas? I hope these ideas inspire you in your own decoration adventures this Christmas! 

Make you tree look full and festive by hanging a variety of ornaments.
You can add different shaped ornaments, candy canes and home made decorations to the tree too!

Colour themed Christmas decorations lets you have a different tree every year.
Complete the look with matching gift wrapping and wall features - I love the bauble wreath!

Christmas tree wall feature made from Christmas lights can be a nice change.
A perfect idea for those who are short of space and still want some Christmas spirit in your home!