let them eat cake ....ice-cream cake

March was insanely busy with a big work project, trips interstate and other things going on, so I’m only just getting around to loading some posts and photos from the past few weeks.

You may recall that I posted about my birthday and plans to make an ice-cream cake back here. Well, I’ve finally downloaded the photos so have the results to share!

My husband and I ended up making two separate choc-honeycomb ice-cream cakes, one for morning tea with my family and one for afternoon tea with my besties.



cake 1 - morning tea

cake 2 - afternoon tea.
I didn't realise until afterwards that we had forgotten to add the Maltesers. Oops! Oh well.. more for me!

Both cakes had three different layers - one with just plain ice-cream, one with pieces of chocolate covered honeycomb and one with pieces of chocolate cookies. Each cake was then topped with frozen raspberries, chocolate covered honeycomb pieces and Maltesers. 

It wasn't bad for a first attempt and they definitely tasted good... actually even better than they looked.

I was almost afraid that they would be too sweet, but the raspberries added the perfect balance to any overpowering sweetness.

Serving cake #1 at morning tea

 

serving cake #2 at afternoon tea

My husband found the recipe here on taste.com.au – so most of the credit goes to him.



My amazing hubby serving cake #2



This is one recipe I'll definitely be using again!

With baby bump (26 weeks)
- relaxing between my birthday morning and afternoon tea.

Michelle xx

from city to country

I spent most of last week in Melbourne for work and was fortunate to stay in the lovely Langham hotel in Southbank.

While the interior style of my room was a bit too traditional for my taste, there were so many little details about the hotel and the service which made it such a nice place to stay. Hello turndown service, slippers and bath robe!

Langham pool deck - unfortunately I was too busy to get to this.

The breakfast was ah-mazing. Easily the best I've ever come across. There was just so so much variety. And not just the usual suspects you'd expect like cereals, bacon and eggs, fruit salad etc.

Stand outs for me were the giant piece of fresh honeycomb hanging on a wooden rack, omelettes made to order, freshly cooked pancakes with all the trimmings (chocolate ganache, chocolate flakes, blueberry compote, smarties, fresh cream, maple syrup) and smoothies. Then there were glass stands (like you'd expect to see in an art gallery) filled with a bowl containing one type of fruit. I went crazy for the passion fruit one.

I'd definitely love to stay there again.

 Images via the Langham



Breakfast at the Langham - a nice start to a tough working day



It turned out to be an extremely busy week away from home, as my husband and I then spent Saturday and Sunday in South Australia’s Clare Valley, attending an event on Saturday night.

We stayed in a little B&B which was an old stone-walled stable converted to a one bedroom cottage. It was situated on a working farm with a vineyard, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to spend on the property to fully appreciate the surrounds.

On Sunday we went for a drive through historic Mintaro and stopped in the town of Auburn for coffee. Then I was ready to come home for a much needed nap.

We'll have to hit the Clare Valley wineries next time!

coffee shop exterior - Cygnets at Auburn



The cute interior of the coffee shop we popped into. Such a gorgeous French poster.

Coffe stop - in the town of Auburn

five-oh

Image via marthastewart.com

Another busy weekend.... 

My husband and I took part in a day long antenatal class at our hospital on Saturday, and then we attended to a joint 50th birthday party (or 100th as some people were calling it) at the amazing Assaggio Ristorante in Hyde Park on Sunday.

Speaking of 50th birthdays, how brilliant is the above concept for a party photo-board!  I just love how simple it looks. I’ll definitely be keeping this idea up my sleeve for the styling of any future milestone birthdays.

This event styling is by none other than Martha Stewart, which I stumbled across the other day via my friend Suneiah – someone who definitely needs to start her own blog!

Hope you had a lovely weekend and are having a good start to the week.

Michelle xx

Mad March mini-break

I know I’ve been a bit quiet lately. There’s just been so much going on. I’d love to say I’ve been gallivanting around town soaking in all the Adelaide Fringe festivities these past few weeks, but I honestly have not had the time!

We travelled to Sydney last Friday for a friend’s wedding and then spent a few extra days in the city and the NSW Southern Highlands to celebrate our third wedding anniversary and last trip away before the baby arrives.

Luckily Sydney turned on the sunshine for the weekend and we had the most amazing time relaxing in the Southern Highlands. Here’s a little sneak peak of where we stayed in the country... a full update and more photos to come soon!  

Enjoy the weekend lovelies!

Michelle xx

Our deck and glorious view.
Image via Willabrook Retreat

The super-cute stable front door to our cottage
Image via Willabrook Retreat

well colour me happy!

ASOS chevron bangles

I stumbled across these gorgeous chevron bangles over on Julia's blog the other day.

I loved the colours, loved the chevrons, plus I think they look a touch like Kate Spade's gold and enamel idiom bangles (if Kate Spade made them in chevron shape), so I couldn’t resist snapping them up!

thirty (+ one)



Image via Pinterest

Yup – its my birthday. It feels like only yesterday I was celebrating my 30^th.

To celebrate my milestone birthday last year my gorgeous husband treated me to a degustation dinner (with about seven too many glasses of matching wines) at the stunning Magill Estate the night of my birthday, and then we celebrated with family and friends at a party in our backyard on the Saturday night.

We filled the huge tree, which sits in the centre of our backyard, with gorgeous white lanterns and fairy lights and I got my hands on as many long tables, bench seats and bits of wooden outdoor furniture as I could to create a beer garden-like atmosphere on the grassed areas of the yard. I made punch, jugs of pimms, little flags for all the straws - the whole shebang. It was lovely but definitely was hard work.

The only decent photo I managed to get of the garden set-up before most of the guests arrived.

With my amazing husband

With bub’s arrival just over three months away, this year’s planned celebrations are much more relaxed and low-key. My husband took me out for a surprise breakfast this morning, I had lunch in the city with a girlfriend and then dinner (alcohol free for me this time) with my parents and husband tonight. We’ve got a friend’s engagement on Saturday night and then we’re having our immediate family and my besties over for afternoon tea at our house on Sunday.

Image via Pinterest

I put in an early request with my husband for an icecream cake for afternoon tea. But rather than buying one, he’s convinced me that we can try and make one.  For a first attempt I’m not exactly sure how it is going to look. I’m going to aspire to making it look pretty next time, but for the first try I’m just hoping it all stays together - especially in the scorching 37 degree weather it looks like we’ll be having on Sunday. All I care about is that it tastes amazing. Considering that I’m planning on 'smooshing in' Caramello Koala chocolate bars throughout the icecream, I’m hoping we’ll be onto a winner. Stay tuned!

Once upon a time

Image via Matchbook magazine

Take uber-hunk Ryan Gosling - looking rather dashing in a classic tux, add a gorgeous little co-star in a super-sweet dress, and what do you get? ….a photo I couldn’t resist blogging about.

Ever since I saw Crazy Stupid Love, Ryan has shot from obscurity on my Hollywood hunks list straight to the top. To be fair, I don’t actually have a 'hunks list' – but if I did, Ryan would definitely be at the top. This sounds strange, but in the movie even his shoes look hot.

Plus from all accounts I’ve heard, Mr Gosling sounds to be just as dreamy as he looks – even being quoted as saying that his ultimate project would be to remake Roman Holiday with Natalie Portman playing Audrey Hepburn’s role. Swoon!

I also couldn’t go past the dress worn by Ryan’s gorgeous Blue Valentine co-star Faith Wladyka at the Cannes Film Festival. The dress with its ‘once upon a time’ wording beaded onto the latte silk really is the prettiest little thing.

If baby turns out to be a girl I might just need to try my hand at making something similar in a few years time. I’m thinking that the easiest way would be to apply navy glitter paint using the freezer paper stencil technique which Belinda from The Happy Home blogged about here last week rather than hand-sewing on the beads.

Enjoy!
Michelle xx

Today

Polaroid heart. Image via Pinterest

A homewares and gift shop I pass on my way to and from work (which I blogged about here) currently has something similar in their window display.  Only they’ve used what looks like bright pink post-it-notes shaped into a love heart on a white canvas.  It looks so fun and the neon pink really makes it 'pop'.

I hope you are having a lovely day whatever your Valentines Day plans are. xx

Kate Spade and Florence Broadhurst

I blogged about the launch of this exciting collaboration a while back here, but I just couldn’t resist sharing these newly released pictures of Kate Spade’s stunning Spring 2012 campaign featuring the designs of Australia's own Florence Broadhurst.

Enjoy! xx

Images via Kate Spade and Kate Spade Tumblr

Audrey - style to match

If you haven’t read the latest edition of Matchbook Magazine, do yourself a favour and check it out online.

Matchbook's four page feature on the style of Audrey Hepburn – “reimagined for a new age” is a standout favourite for me. Love!

Images via Matchbook mag

Check out the full edition online here.

j'adore.. Adore home magazine

The latest edition of Adore home magazine is out.

It features so so many gorgeous interiors and products for the home that I’m hard pressed to pick a favourite.…but the overall stand-outs for me are:

KikkiK’s founder Kristina Karlsson and her super-organised study.

Would we expect anything less than perfection from the queen of office organisation products?

 

One of my favourite bloggers Jen Ramos and her latest online venture Cocoa & Hearts

 

 The workspace of another of my favourites in blog land – Claudia Lambert from Peep My Style

 

Pineapple Fever – so simple but just with the right amount of quirkiness.

Oooh I’d simply love to have the white porcelain pineapple displayed proudly on a sideboard, bookshelf or desk in my home, but with our house already packed to the brim and everything in our guest bedroom being cleared out to transform it into a nursery, I just don’t have any room.

You can read the full edition of the magazine here.

Images via Adore home magazine

Marie Claire lifestyle blog

One of my favourite Australian magazines, Marie Claire, has just launched its own lifestyle blog.

The blog promises to cover the lifestyle team’s favourite finds for your home, exciting new shops, the best places to eat and fabulous hotels around the world.

Check out the blog here.

Images via Marie Claire.

vintage Villemot

I’ve finally taken the vintage Villemot posters I bought last year in Paris to the framers. 

I simply can’t wait to get this Villemot Bally number and my Perrier poster back. I’ll be re-jigging some of my current artwork around and adding a few new picture hooks, but I'm really looking forward to having these beauties adorn the walls in our house.

My Bally poster at the framers

And seeing as we’ll be putting more hooks into our walls in the coming weeks, I’m also inspired to complete my cluster wall of wedding pictures and holiday snaps. I’ve had all the frames for longer than I’d care to admit and the wall has been earmarked for a cluster display pretty-much since our first day in the house, now all that is left for me to do is find the time to sit down and select the photos.

Australia day

Happy Australia day!

Hope you have a lovely day - whether it be at the beach, watching the cricket or tuning into to the Triple J Hottest 100 while throwing some lamb, prawns or snags on the BBQ.

Michelle xxx

Chanel: on a big jet plane

Chanel staged a unique Spring/Summer runway show yesterday in Paris. The elaborate setting for this season's couture show saw the Grand Palais transformed into a 'private jet' - complete with emergency exits, numbered seating, floor lighting and even a drinks trolley.

Creative director Karl Lagerfeld has built a reputation for hosting lavish shows, but this is being hailed as perhaps his most original production.

Where the airplane meets the runway



Isn't this the part where you put on your eyemask and try and get some shut eye?



Karl emerges from the 'cockpit' at the end of the show to greet the crowd of 'passengers'





Images via Getty Images



However in terms of my all-time favourite runway concepts, I can’t go past Louis Vitton’s Spring 2012 show in Paris. As the show commenced, the curtain went down to unveil a giant white carousel with models delicately perched on white horses.

Too stunning for words… so here are the pictures.







Images via Pinterest