another lovely wedding...

...photographed by the supremely talented folks at Bushturkey Studio. The location is 'allegedly' the Byron Bay hinterland... and I say allegedly because you would swear it looks like something straight out of Tuscany. How amazing is that long table and the chandelier?! The flaming bombe alaska is pretty special too. Such simple, rustic elegance is so lovely I think.

 

 

 

 

See more here. Photography by Bushturkey Studio.

have to love...

...a good inspiration board. They're always so interesting to look at. This one belongs to publishing queen Martine Assouline.

Via Pinterest, image from B is for Bonnie.

new york state of mind

Love this photo collage... can you tell yet that I am somewhat fixated on the idea of New York right now? Want to go. Really bad.

Photo from here.

lauren bush's wedding dress

I guess it is to be expected when you are marrying Ralph Lauren's son (and your dress is being designed by Ralph Lauren himself), but it still has to be said that Lauren Bush's wedding dress is utterly gorgeous. The top layer is antique tulle hand-embroidered with Swarovski Elements, beads and pearls, and apparently took a mere 100 craftspeople more than 3,000 hours to finish.

That open back with the long sleeves... wow. And the Rocky Mountains setting looks rather gorgeous as well. Images from Vogue.

a glimpse inside an interesting life

I really enjoyed this lovely short film by The Selby, about New York gallery director Lucy Chadwick's life. Created for Zara apparently (I think she may be wearing Zara clothing in the film). The only questions remaining now are how can I find myself: a) an apartment like that, b) a barn in upstate New York, and c) the coffee pot? I will take one of each, thank you.

Stills from the film, by The Selby. View the whole thing here. Found via Simple Lovely.

perfectly wrapped

Paper people that we are, we take gift-wrapping here pretty seriously. So I'm loving this rustic gift wrap from Anthropologie... love the neutral colours, metallics and different textures. So pretty. And I can think of a million uses for the vintage thread and felt ribbon. They ship to Australia too :)

 

Images all from Anthropologie.

inspiring workspaces

After a crazy busy weekend of work, and a desk that is covered in chaos, I would love to escape into any of these calm, clean and organised spaces right now...

I think the first one is my favourite.Images from top to bottom:  Style Files, Decor8, We Heart It, Decor8.
 

i would make these

...right now, were it not for the fact that my sister and I have promised to go chocolate-free for the month of November. One. Whole. Month. With no chocolate. In any of its many delicious forms. Eeeeehhhhhh. November is the month of 'no' you see (November, I hate you).

We are on day 10 and apart from a bad case of the shakes at 4pm every afternoon, we are hanging in there. Only 20 days to go. Please do not remind me. And I'm really not sure why I am torturing myself by trolling food blogs for chocolate recipes.

But maybe once our month of deprivation is over, we will make these. Amongst other things. All of which will, clearly, involve copious amounts of chocolate.

Chocolate & Hazelnut Financiers (scroll to bottom for recipe) from the always lovely La Tartine Gourmande. Images by La Tartine Gourmande.

a simply lovely wedding

Now this is my kind of wedding. I stumbled across this lovely Noosa wedding in my morning's blog travels, and there is nothing I do not love. The bride's incredible dress... the rustic charm and handmade touches... the simple, laidback country setting... the beautiful photography. It looks like it would have been such a fun wedding to attend.

Understated, simple and elegant. Perfect, really. And that dress is beyond perfect.

See more here.

Found via Chasing Rainbows, Kissing Frogs. Photography by the wonderful Bushturkey Studio.

paper art

Love this idea... artwork made out of used envelopes. A sweet way to re-use some special mail, and create something beautiful for your wall at the same time.

Found via Pinterest, image from Discover Paper

the best granola

I realise that making my own muesli puts me fairly and squarely in the 'too-hippy-for-Woodstock' category, but homemade muesli (or 'granola' as our American friends call it) is SO good. Once you've made that first batch, there's no going back to supermarket muesli.

We researched many a recipe, before stumbling on Nigella's, and tweaking it a little... to arrive at what we think is the perfect granola. This recipe uses apple puree instead of oil, making it lighter, crispier and healthier than you might expect. We make a huge batch that gets us through many a (delicious) morning.

OUR VERSION OF NIGELLA'S GRANOLA

500gm rolled oats (the wholegrain kind)

150gm oat bran

100gm sesame seeds

100gm sunflower seeds

75gm slivered almonds

350gm apple puree/compote (3 large apples)

4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp vanilla essence

100gm honey or golden syrup

1 tbsp olive oil

200gm raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Peel and core three apples, and chop into small pieces. Put into small saucepan with a splash of water and let cook until soft. Puree with a hand-held mixer or in a blender/food processor until smooth.

While apple puree is cooling, mix all of the dry ingredients together (except the raisins) in a big bowl. Next, mix all of the wet ingredients together and add wet to dry, stirring thoroughly until the apple puree mixture has soaked into all of the dry mixture.

Spread onto two large baking dishes (the kind you bake lasagnes in) and bake in a 170 degree oven for approx 1 hour, stirring several times throughout the baking process.

Once browned, pull from oven and let cool. Don't worry if the granola is still soft, it will crisp up as it cools.

Once cooled, add raisins.

Serve with yogurt or milk, or anything you like, and enjoy.

a year in new york

Love this five minute video compilation of a year spent living in New York, by film-maker Andrew Clancy. Beautifully done and the song is amazing. Makes me want to go to New York more than ever...

 

A Year in New York from Andrew Clancy.

Found via The Daily What. Song is 'We Don't Eat' by James Vincent McMorrow.

loving stripes

...at the moment. Can't get enough of them, wherever they may be. I fear it might be turning into a bit of a problem actually, and someone should probably stop me, before the entire house, myself and my child end up covered in them.

They do go nicely with our Cannes invitation however.

Images, from top to bottom: striped chair image from Elements of Style, striped cotton pillow cover by Be Still, gold stripe washi tape from Gift Wrap So Pretty, zebra-stripe ballet flats by Zara, billowy stripe dress image via Pinterest, Cannes wedding invitation by Simplethings Press.