The Royal Wedding - my verdict

Well, it was great, wasn't it?

Molly was very impressed...

And no, of course I wasn't holding her favourite treat to make her pose nicely...

For any of you that might have missed it, I took some piccys off my ancient little tv. Hah ha!

Didn't you love the trees inside the abbey?

I went there about 12 years ago but I don't remember it being so vast.

Gorgeousness!

Those beautiful horses!

Wasn't she so lovely and smiley?

And the kiss!!

I'd have liked it to be a bit more smoochy, but with 2.5 billion people watching... no pressure :)

My verdict?

Well, of course I loved it!

William and Harry  - so handsome!

Pippa the bridesmaid - gorgeous dress, very stylish

Kate - loved the McQueen, such a great choice. Loved the silhouette, loved the lace.

Loved the expressions on the choir boys' faces.

Posh - what a stunning, if not somewhat kooky hat, but she looked remarkably stylish

Princess Eugenie - seriously, did she look in a mirror? What was she thinking? I'm all for avant garde hats but her ensemble was a bit odd. :)

PM Julia Gillard - not a bad ensemble, despite wearing yet another cream jacket!

And for anyone watching the Australian broadcast...Edna Everedge - did she seem a little tipsy to you?

All in all, a great event.

Loved it!

Have a great weekend peeps :)

xx

Friday flowers

Some lovely Iceberg blooms from my front yard first thing this morning.

It seems a little early in the year for Earlicheer, but it's out in the garden here amongst the salvia.

I also have an 'eggs and bacon' as well. Are these called eggs and bacon, or is that just the orangey ones?

Either way, it smells amazing!

Happy Friday peeps and Happy Royal Wedding day too. I need to get my tiara organised for this evening's tv viewing. History in the making :)

Take care xx

Dinosaur Designs and Ikea goodies

I have been very slow with this post, but finally, here are the little goodies I acquired from the Dinosaur Designs Extinct store.

I resisted all the jewellery to buy a small resin plate, bowl and vase to go with the blue vase I picked up recently.

I think they're lovely, especially when the sun shines through them.

You might remember I had a quick stopover in Melbourne. I took the chance to run into Ikea for a  very quick looksee. I was hoping to pick up some more Ribba square frames but they didn't have any!

I had only about half an hour in store (how cruel). Given I also had very limited space in which to pack anything I purchased I decided on these three vases.

Those two larger ones were only $2.99 each! How crazy is that? Of course if you add in the cost of the shuttle bus to and from the airport, baggage storage and tram fare, they cost a lot more than $2.99.

Oh well.

Can you see a bit of a colour theme? I just can't help myself when it comes to blue glass. Blue anything for that matter.

ps. thinking I should have ironed my old tablecloth...

xx

Easter wishes + a sweet childhood memory

Hello friends, wishing you all a very happy Easter, whatever it means for you.

Whoops, one egg didn't survive. It was very cracked so I thought it best to eat it.

So, my little Easter memory...

When my sister and I were very young we went with my parents to visit some of their friends who lived in a timber cottage in the forest just outside of Hobart. They had a toilet in an old phone box and their bath was outside, over a fire. There was a stream flowing by the house.

Rachael and I decided to go exploring and couldn't believe our eyes when we found a trail of Easter eggs! We collected as many as we could find and ran excitedly back to the house to be told that they were in fact hidden for the children who lived in the house. We were devastated as we seriously thought the Easter bunny had left them for us. We were told to return them and I have to admit, they went back in a very haphazard manner. For memory, we were so upset we threw quite a few of them! Do you remember that Rachael?

Keep safe everyone :)

xx

Balmain + Adriano Zumbo patisserie

As a fan of chef Adriano Zumbo, I was hoping to visit his patisserie whilst in Sydney.

Well, as luck would have it, the store is just up the road from the Balmain East ferry terminal. We jumped off the ferry and jumped on a bus and there I was in his store, surrounded by amazing cakes, fresh bread and his famous macarons. Yum!

I chose macarons in the flavours...grapefruit, smarties, raspberry/chocolate and green apple. Yum.

I also treated myself to a piece of cake. I don't remember the name but it was a raspberry and chai tea concoction. I wasn't keen on one of the layers (it had a strange consistency) but the chai, vanilla and raspberry parts were yummy :)

Well, that's Sydney done and dusted. It was fun.

Back to regular programming :)

xx

Sydney from the water

Catching the ferries around Sydney Harbour has to be one of the best activities to do in Sydney, especially when you have a nice sunny day to enjoy. I like the different perspective you get on the sights.

That would be the Sydney Opera House.

Here's Luna Park.  I'd have liked a ride on the ferris wheel, but we just didn't have the time.

And of course the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I'd never sailed under it before so that was great.

We could see people doing a Bridge Climb. Have any of you ever done it? It looks like a lot of fun.

Well, the Sydney mini-break is almost over...

xx

Taronga Zoo visit

No mini-break to Sydney is complete without a trip to Taronga Zoo.

After the miserable weather the evening before, we were delighted to see clear, sunny skies for our trip to the zoo.

Here's Lyndon, the man of mystery in the chairlift.

What a stunning view.

Look, there's an elephant below!

The giraffes are one of my favourites.

But I think the elephants are my absolute favourites.

They had just been fed and were close to where we stood. There were three youngsters at varying ages. The smallest, Tukta was born in November 2010. I honestly believe that the zoo keepers who get to work with these animals have the best job EVER.

Look in the water, there's little Pathi Harn. He was playing with a toy in the water. That little guy is adorable beyond all belief. I could have watched him (and the others) for a long, long time.

Dodgy pic, but there's the lions.

And a stunning snow leopard. These are under threat of extinction due to hunters poaching them for their incredibly soft, spotty tail. I have to say, the tail was impressive, but much nicer attached to an alive animal me thinks. Why do humans do these things?

We watched the bird flight show which was amazing - birds swooping low over the crowd's heads. It was so fascinating.

Then, back on the ferry to do some more exploring!

xx

Sydney Maritime Museum

Just recently Lyndon and I spent a night in Sydney. That first afternoon we visited the Maritime Museum.

We visited a naval ship and a submarine. Those submariners really earn their wage. I couldn't live like that.

It was all very interesting. So was the weather when we emerged. It was starting to cloud up but we decided to walk into the Rocks for a look anyway. By the time we got there we were both drenched to our skin and freezing! We managed to get a taxi home, dried off and then had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant on King's Pier. A nice day.

xx