friends in favourite places

a few weeks ago I asked my sweet friends if any of them would like to contribute their very own 'top five faves'.  here are two lovelies who have sent through their musts right now.

 

Contributed by Miss Tirra Tara

...wears berets with style, and grey coats like a crazy lady

ONE...My favourite thing right now is the sound of the rain kerplumping on the roof, and the swish of the car tyres on the street outside as they drive through it - while I am tucked up inside with a milo. Sydney in Autumn - stunning.

TWO...Our nieces and nephews! In Sydney we have five rugrats aged 3 and under, and there are three more due this year! They are delightful in so many ways, plus you get to hand them back!

THREE...Haighs chocolate frogs. They'll make this list again and again :)
FOUR...the Bondi to Bronte walk when the ocean is furious and crashing crazily on the rocks. Did that walk two weeks ago. Fabulous.
FIVE...Renovation shows! Love 'em. They have inspired me to upholster my dining room chairs... how hard can it be??

Contributed by Miss Casey C

...saves kittens in her spare time, and makes a mean magarita

ONE...TGI...T?  I think 5:30 on a Thursday in Dubai is sometimes more exciting than the last day at school before summer.

TWO...Cheeseburgers.  They are the perfect food - nuff said.
THREE...A job well done.  I think the personal satisfaction that comes from completing a really difficult task/project/chore/painting/mission, is one of the most rewarding things in the world.  We should all spend a bit more time congratulating ourselves for the good things and less time dwelling on the bad.
FOUR...Moms.  Last Sunday was mother's day in the states and I totally missed it.  The good news is I call my mom all the time to tell her I love her for no reason at all so she let me off the hook for forgetting mother's day - how rad is that.
FIVE...Deodorant.  Seriously, how much would life suck without it.  It's the unsung hero so I am going to represent for deodorant here.  Word!

too cool for school...

I love this photo of my grandfather, Jack Howard.  It was taken on Rundle Street in my home town of Adelaide where they would have 'papps' take your photo.  This street is still the place to be for great coffee and catching up with friends.  If only we could look as cool as he did.

home = pretty things

Recently I sent out invitations for a 'girls's dinner and cocktail night' at mine.  To personalise it a little, I decided to create the invitation from images taken around my home.  Here are some of the images that were taken 'selby style' for this little art project.  So much fun!

...I think this one will be used for the menus

fancy lamps in fancy places...part five

You know you've hit the big time when your friends start tagging images of lamp posts with your name, on facebook.  Here is another beautiful contribution from my fellow blogger, Miss Kelly Reynolds.  Taken in Barcelona.  Not seen one like this before, quite gothic, love it!

Paris, we love you!

Today is all about Paris, Such a beautiful, inspiring city.  Here are three lovely things that remind me of this french heaven.

sweet vintage...

The Marché aux Puces which literally means, ‘Market of the fleas’ has been going since 1885, with over 3,000 stalls, this is a great way to spend a day...or two...or three.

sweet music...

Listening to Vanessa Paradis always reminds me of this lovely city.  Check out her new live album or greatest hits which has just been released.

sweet friends and laughter...
The last time I went to Paris it was a eurostar adventure with two of my closest friends.  A visit to this beautiful city is not complete without people you love to share it with...and of course taking a few silly photos along the way.

it’s all in the courting

TOP FIVE FAVES  this week is all about old fashioned dating skills that I love.  Pretty basic for some of us, but for others…take note…you will never go wrong.

one
FLOWERS! FLOWERS!  we can never get enough fresh flowers.  no matter where you are in the world, send your girl flowers…

two
OPEN THE DOOR.  such a simple and old fashioned approach, but we love it. Wanna step it up a level?  then open our car door for us as well…

three
COOK FOR US.  even if you don’t know how to, give it a go…we will just love that you tried.  A friend of mine just moved in with her boyfriend, quite far away from the norm for her, but she agreed only after he promised to bake  her a cake for every week they lived together, which he has…sweetest thing ever…

four
LOOK US IN THE EYES. If you are European, you probably don’t need to be educated on this one.  But for the rest of us…when you  ‘cheers’ with that first glass of wine or pint of beer, look us in the eyes (basic manners to do this for both sexes), when it’s your girl (or someone you want to be your girl) you should look her in the eyes when you take your first sip as well.  this is an obvious giveaway that you are interested…and pretty sexy too…

five…last but not least
STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES.  Yes we know we are woman, we have what you want, and most times you will give in to get it.  But it’s a lot sexier when you don’t.  Stand your ground and keep your backbone in tact…

sold by a bunny

erm, is it wrong that the cover on this book makes me want to buy it? 
...nick cave
...a bunny
...what more could you possibly want?

I do love a good sleeve...

One of my weaknesses...wearing flowy, pretty, sheer sleeves that make you want to frolic in the woods like an Elvin princess!  
Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) is the star this week, not only is her style fab, but sleeves baby...it's all about the sleeves.

top five favs this week

top five favs this week...

one
becoming an aunt again…
My brother’s wife gave birth to a beautiful little girl called Sophia Ing Evans this week. She is sooo beautiful, makes me all gooey, that’s Aunty Gooey to you.

two
music to make your heart sing…
I cannot stop playing Mumford & Sons beautiful album…songs ‘awake my soul’ and ‘dustbowl dance’ have worn out the old repeat button. Such young lads, so soulful, so pretty.

three
strawberries mmm…
For some reason the strawberries stocked in my local supermarket are tasting amazing at the moment. It’s hard sometimes to find ‘fruit that tastes like fruit’ in this desert. These little beauties are definitely worth celebrating.

four
cooking for the people you love…
This week I got to cook for some lovely friends of mine (or as I like to call them ‘the married ones’). Good old chicken stew with olives, red wine, good music, and lots of silly banter. Lovely.

five
television is for losers…
This week I will be handing in the old satellite receiver and cancelling my television. There is something freeing about not having T.V. This will now be replaced permanently by the 22nd storey view and lots of sweet music baby…yay!

we love Prague!

A friend of mine just got back from running a marathon in Prague. In celebration of this amazing fete, I have delved into my photos and found some lovely pics taken a couple of years ago while visiting this beautiful city. I cannot wait to return!

the lovley old town square...
not photo tricks here, just a beautiful sunset

view of charles bridge from a paddle boat...beer in hand...aahh lovely

a backpackers best friend...the metro

no matter where you are in the world...

there is always time for a kartwheel or two

we were unable to use this crossing due to our lack of fedoras

little bit of proof of moi leaving a bit of history on lennons wall

green bike pretty

seriously, you walk down stairs when you could dance instead?

fresh rasberries that taste like rasberries...oh my god

locals

erm, more locals...

never travel without playing cards

heart heart

old town dress code

mmm recipe time...

I cooked this up the other night for some friends.  The original recipe comes from the sophie dahl cookbook, but I have changed it a little to add some extra zing.  It is such an easy, tasty recipe.  Great for winter and summer.  Enjoy xxx

chicken stew with green olives

ingredients
- one chicken, cut into pieces, or chicken breasts (small chicken breasts cut into two pieces, for large chicken breasts, cut them into three)
- olive oil
- two cloves of garlic
- one fennel bulb, cleaned and peeled then roughly chopped
- one cup white wine
- one can of chopped tomatoes
- one cup of chicken stock. try and fine ‘reduced salt’ as most chicken stock cubes, including ‘reduced salt’ here are quite salty.
Note: this bit about 'salty' stock cubes is for Dubai peops, as most supermarkets here stock very salty stock cubes.
- one cup of pitted green olives. either freshly bought or in a jar (I used waitrose pitted olives)
- handful of fresh chopped basil

The night before…
Cut the chicken up into pieces and place in a flat deep dish. Chop up one of the garlic cloves, finely and throw into the dish. Add a few lobs of olive oil and a dash of the white wine, then mix it into the chicken with your hands. Cover the dish with cling film and place in the fridge to marinate overnight.

Approx forty minutes before serving…
In a large pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and add the chicken (poor any liquid from the dish into the pan as well), cooking until it has browned. Remove from the pan and set aside in a covered bowl. In the same pan, sweat the garlic and fennel in a little more oil for a few minutes. Pour the wine over, add the tomatoes and cook for another ten minutes on low. Put the chicken back in to the pan and cook on low for around thirty minutes, adding the chicken stock little by little. Season with pepper. Put the olives and basil in for approx ten minutes, then serve with crusty bread.

For an extra taste of summer, cut up some lemon pieces and place in a bowl on the table for guests to drizzle on the stew.

kitsch in the kitchen...

I went on a mini adventure to a place called dragonmart on the weekend in search of a tagine.   I didn't find any tagines, but managed to score this little kitsch beauty.  It's a china teapot that is actually an electric kettle.  It's sooo cute...I may even name her.

fancy lamps in fancy places...part four

Is it time for another lamp post?  I believe so!  this one (which I am sure loads of people have taken over the years)...not very hard to work out, Paris of course.   I can never get enought of that beautiful city xxx

vintage love of a butterfly...

just found this one in my closet.  I picked it up almost ten years ago at one of my favourite vintage store for next to nothing.  I think I have around five or six of these type of tops, they are all so beautiful, but this one is my favourite...everybody needs a little sparkle in their day.

lovely front

lovely back...

so many pretty dresses!

so the MET Ball has just happened, and I decided to pick my favourites...

chloe sevigny in proenza schouler, this is my favourite,

she rocks everything

naomi watts in lanvin, not normally a fan,

but this is just way too pretty

sarah jessica parker in halston, I would totally wear this...

I am soo still stuck in the 70s

sienna miller in emilio pucci, kind of rock chich-bohemia,

 plus its a pretty midnight blue colour

blake lively in marchesa, I only like this because it's short

and kind of crazy,I like someone who has the guts to wear

something like this, plus the shoes are fab!

last but never least, alexa chung in phillip lim, would I wear this? never.

but I don't think anyone else could get away with it either,

miss chung you seem to be able to carry anything off, very cool