Congratulations... with love.. xo

In my high school group of friends, two of them ended up marrying each other. It was rather sweet and they were so happily in love. To top it off they were best friends. It couldn't get much better really.

I'm wearing:

Dress: Lover the Label

Clutch: Vangoh Shoes and Accessories

Headband: Alannah Hill

Earrings: Gift from Aunty

Shoes: Wayne Cooper

The bride is one of my best girlfriends and to see her all dressed up with make up and all looked breathtakingly beautiful. I have also never seen her in any make up so it was also rather strange (she doesn't need it - she has immaculate skin, gorgeous smile, big brown eyes and lovely curls). The groom, well I can say he cleaned up ever so nicely and was dashingly handsome in his suit. 

with the groom 

With my love

Selfie photo in the lift on the way to the reception ballroom at the Hilton Hotel

This photo of these two lovely friends was too cute not to put up!

Selfie photos at the reception is almost compulsory

The happy newlyweds cutting the cake

I wish them endless happiness and love.

I also hope they catch up more often with us too!

Double dates are called for!

 much love xx

Unveiled - 200 years of wedding glamour @ Western Australia Museum

I went with a couple of workmates to a very glamourous exhibition at the WA Museum - 200 years of wedding fashion.

It was amazing to see dresses from 1828 right through to Dita Von Teese Vivienne Westwood wedding dress to the divine Christian Lacroix dress. To learn the evolution of the white dress and the start of a multi-billion dollar industry.

It's definitely worth a peak. Unfortunately no photos are allowed so this outfit - a wedding alternative by Aurelio Costello outside in the foyer will have to do.

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Head down to the WA Museum and make it a day by having tea (or lunch or breakfast) at the Muse cafe (on the grousa of the museum) under the trees or in their tea rooms.

The exhibition is on until 24 of March so check it out! Oh and there is a small fee involve but it's cheaper then movie ticket! You could even book online at museum.wa.gov.au

Happily Ever After

I just had the cutest sweetest and one of the most touching weddings. Yes, it's on a Tuesday, but today was their 7 year as a couple (anniversary) together.

It was on the banks of Matilda Bay overlooking the Swan River and our city. Beautiful sunny day, which cooled down to a lovely night by the bank of the river.

There was all these lovely personal touches and everything was DIY'd or friends helped do it/make it, such as the wedding cake, the celebrant and the hair. It was fantastic, it was intimate, it was heartfelt.

Congratulations to Katrina and David!

You deserve the very best and the happily ever after!

Birthday spoils

I had my birthday on Tuesday just passed and have been spoilt rotten with wonderful company in wonderful restaurants from the Loose Box with my man to Sandalford Wineries with the girls to Bistro Guillaume with the family.

It's been a week of eating and neglecting my exercise regimen. Only being able to put in 100% for one day on Thursday (I plan to go later this morning seeing as it's 2am Saturday now) and I'm starting to feel sluggish and yuck.

I know it'd only get worse once I jump onto a big jet plane. Although I'm hoping to hit the gym with my brother a few days a week, otherwise my favourite app, Nike Training club is going to get Used like crazy. It has 15minutes intense training so I should be able to fit it in.

So I will write about the wonderful foods once I get sometime to myself. But in the meantime bf got me a very nice surprise present whilst he was on holidays in Melbourne couple of months back (a miracle he even hid it from me for so long!). This is of course for my birthday and Christmas present... Introducing my very own..

CHANEL!!

It's dark red. It's a clutch bag. With straps. It's the classic cushion look. It's timeless. It's elegant.

I love it.

And I love him for getting it for me. And yet I'm really upset because he should not be spending so much money on me!! He should be saving up for that house and that car!

*sigh*

Luckiest girl ever.

Don't you just love it? I take more photos of it later, but for now you can contend with a iPhone photo.

915 days later

I love that you still have this effect, even after 900 odd days.

beautiful silence

Date night

Bf and I have date nights where we spend time together as a couple minus our friends and family (not that we mean that we don't love being in their company as a couple, but you know you need your own couple time). So a few weeks (to a month?) back we went to see the Mousetrap (a murder mystery) on stage, at His Majesty Theatre.

The Mousetrap, a Agatha Christie novel (not the mousetrap game nor the kid's movie!), was really quite a spectacular show. It has been running for 60 years (this is their 60th year!). Like I said before it's a murder mystery and the answer to "who dunnit?" question is asked to be kept as a secret after each show so that it can be enjoyed by others. You can't even Wikipedia it! Trust me! Anyway, the show is much faster paced that I imagined with bits of humour through all the seriousness of the murder. The best bit is trying to guess the twist (and believe it or not we got it right!). If it comes back to Perth you really should go and see it, otherwise it's still running on Broadway and West End and will be travelling to New Zealand.

  

The set of the Mousetrap @ His Majesty's Theatre

OLIVER'S RESTAURANT on James Street

 

Before the show the we had dinner at Oliver's Restaurant on James street in Northbridge, which was something bf wanted to go back and try and we really did enjoy it last time we were there. Unfortunately, this time around it was rather disappointing (and they still have this strange fascination with sprouts!!)

We ordered an entree special - a prawn ravioli dish. It came out and the presentation was rather clumsy. They gave us THREE huge pieces of ravioli and it looked like well.. something threw up, but I guess at least it smelt good.  

 

The prawn ravioli special.

But apart from the dish smelling beautiful, this was where it ended. The pasta was not cooked and you can clearly tell it wasn't by the fact that it still tasted like dough! and when you look at it, it was still that uncooked dough colour, EXCEPT they have tried to hide it with their yellow sauce. EPIC FAIL. 

 

I think it's rather unacceptable that this was to happen. But hoped that this was just a lapse (not that that's an excuse! especially seeing as it was the special!).

Our mains consisted of their regular a la carte menu of pork belly for the boy and the fish special for me. 

Pork belly

Bf enjoyed his dish although the crackling wasn't too crackled, the pork was succulent and the sauce matched well, although he did wish there was more.

The fish special of snapper with bacon pieces and scallops on the other hand, although cooked well, not overcooked, had this very strong fishy smell that you sometimes get when the fish is off or starting to be and I just hope that wasn't the case (I didn't get food poisoning so it wasn't the case!). I couldn't fish the meal though because of the smell, it just got to me too much.  The scallops on the other hand were cooked perfectly.

The fish special

It really was a disappointment that the meal was rather lack-luster and in fact bordering failing and to top it off the waiters tried to charge us for distilled water which we didn't have. Pity because we had such a good time the last two occasions we went to Oliver's.

THE MOON CAFE

 

After watching Mousetrap we hunted for a dessert place in the city, (not a cake place - because then we would have ventured to No. 44 King Street Cafe) which did not exist much to our disappointment.  So we drove into Northbridge and sat at the Moon and ordered our dessert of mud cake for the boy and the Afghan cookie for me. 

The Moon's chocolate mud cake with ice cream

The mud cake was rather heavenly and was not dense like it traditionally is but the hot chocolate sauce it came with was the perfect match to the ice cream and cake.

The Afghan Cookie

The Afghan cookie is a biscuit with a punch with pecan nuts mixed through it. It was crunchy and has this wonderful nutty flavour to it. It's divine with the chocolate sauce and ice cream. It made the night.

The great thing about the Moon is the fact that it provides hearty food in the dead of the night (and decent food at that) and has a great range of desserts including dessert pizza (big enough to satisfy all sweet tooth). It's chilled and filled with backpacker waiters. The service isn't the best but the vibe and love is there.

Overall, the night date was just the perfect bit of culture, excitement, disappointment and delight. The perfect way to spend it with my boy.

Happy Father's Day!

My dad loves seafood and when he gets a chance eating fish head is a delicacy and something that he enjoys.

This is the head of a tooth fish and he is greatly disappointed in it's lack of "meat" (most fish heads apparently are full of fish to eat).

Mum thinks it would have made better soup..

Personally I couldn't eat it..

Weekend delights

Weekend of delights...

Friday night watching Pixars latest animation, Brave with my younger cousins at the kids session, which was actually filled with adults and then my 10 year old cousin. Pixar didn't disappoint in it's animation, amazing! But unlike other pixar films it is a little childish and the story ended so quickly, felt as though the story could have been developed more (as other pixar films the characters were definitely more interesting and 3D).

Then the awesome waffle at Superstar waffles on Saturday afternoon with JJ. Sweet milk flavour - condense milk goodness with yummy warm waffles and lovely latte.



This was then followed by dinner at Steve's Cafe before laughing my head off at "Wilarious" Will Anderson show with Wells, MM, JJ and bf. Or as my mum says "OH the ABC guy from spicks and specks..." with me going "mm..no.. gruen transfer".... and then she goes.. "oh right from my generation game show on channel ten..he moved to channel 10 right"...Me; "umm.. no still on ABC.." OH dear.. all comedians look like Will Anderson??.. T_T

Then headed to my aunty's were we watched Liv wedding video. Finally! 6 months later. It was however, very well edited and very beautiful and sweet (and totally not boring at all!).

Of course my cold is getting worse.. Sniffles cough and sneezes!

But nothing bets cake after lunch on Sunday! Can even somewhat cure a cold. Red velvet cake for me and a lemon slice for the boy from Sherbet! yummo! Although boy ended up eating majority of my slice! Heh I am suppose to on a diet so he is helping.


Weekends like the one just past are amazing. Relaxing, indulgent and filled to the brim with friends and family.

100 years of family

Bf and I drove down a few Friday afternoons ago, after work to go to Manjimup for a massive family reunion for his family. A hundreds years since his family migrated to Australia from England. Not a bad achievement!

So before spending time with bf's family and before the festivities of the main event, we did a few quick "touristy" things. Mainly at my need to stock up on red wine (which I am ashamed to say is now down to one bottle - mostly because I didn't buy a lot and mostly because I have taken them along to friends' and family dinner parties). 

We ventured to Silkwood wineries. Amazing views from their cafe, which also doubles as their tasting area (I think it's great marketing! - you wine taste - you get whoozy so you stay a while and fill up on food - in our case coffee/milkshake).

Silkwood wineries was a rather peaceful, pretty and serene place. And as the cafe lady said, a favourite wedding venues, especially now that they have completed their gardens. We didn't see their garden because after tasting, buying of wine then having a coffee enjoying the views we had to make our way to our next destination - Wine and Truffle Co. for some truffle-filled lunch at their cafe, which I will talk about at a later time. 

Then the day ended with visiting bf's brother's house and watching Captain America, while the temperature outside dropped, but luckily there was a fireplace. God I love fireplaces on cold winter's nights. They just add a touch of romance and coziness. All that was needed was hot chocolate.

So, the next day, was the main event. I learnt a fair bit about bf's family history and I think he did too. His uncle did an awesome job finding the "descendants" of the family members that migrated to Australia. There was at least 70+ people. Luckily it didn't rain, although it threatened, because I don't think the marquee would have held if it pelted down. 

It makes me wonder what it would be like if my whole entire family were to gather. I know a few years ago there was a sort of family reunion and that was already like 70+ and it was still "immediate" family and people we know. If my family traced back the family tree I wonder what we would find. 

There was so much food, but I would have to say the thing that impressed me most was bf's cousin cooking BBQ on an open wood fire (of course there was a metal tray on top which held the meat). 

 

 

It gave the meat a bit of a woody flavour through it, which made the steak fantastic. I was a little disappointed in myself for not having more meat, or at least having the lamb. 

 

I have to say thought, the person or rather an animal stole the show, and it was a little golden Labrador puppy. So fluffy and such a cutie! Also rather into play fighting with another adolescent dog which was about five times the pup's size. He hasn't got a name yet though.

He is the softest thing you ever felt! So adorable. Totally like the toilet paper ad! Cuddly!

But before we knew it, it was time for us to head back home. With the colour of the sky changing as we drove home, we were both tired and yet felt slightly refreshed to have gotten away from work and everything else for at least 48 hours. Nevertheless, the colours were rather lovely.