So then the Universe Directed Me to Bake. Again.

This afternoon I received an order from the Universe directing me to bake a nectarine cake. Which in itself is weird because I've never made one before. Anyway, as you know, I do as I'm told, so I found myself chopping 6 nectarines into 8ths.
and actioning a batter
and lining a tin with with baking paper

I got the recipe from this month's Woman's Weekly. It's the one with Nicole on the cover. Old Nicole provokes strong reactions and polarises the masses- people either love or loathe her. Why do you think?

It was Boiling hot and humid today. I wore this non maternity dress that I bought from a surf shoppe at Nooooosa sometime last year. It's got a bit of pseudo Grecian drapey stuff going on.

When I was looking for a lipstick I found Grandma's old Chanel lipstick that my Grandfather gave me when she died last year. It's called English Rose, and I gave it to her as a gift. Grandma loved this shade.

I hate to introduce a sad note, but I think about her all the time.

I miss her so much.

I met the Hungarian to the Stars for brunch and caught up on all her news

and then I went back to her house where I saw this spooky varmint in her garden:

Like me, she is gardening in Hardcore Scary Old Testament Conditions.

Apparently it's a harmless carpet snake.

Let's hope it doesn't figure out how to get indoors.

Have a lovely week

xxxx

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Wondering where I've been? Well these spooky and sinister beehive ginger flowers had nothing to do with my absence. I've been sick. Really sick. Too sick to even watch tv. I know. My friends were shocked too.

Ok enough of that. Let's play a Fun Game of One of These things is Not Like the Other. Because it's my Blog and I make the rules.

Look at these items Carefully:

Bronze YSl clutch

red YSL clutch
YSL YMail clutch
Gold Bally bag

black and white Bally bag

OiOi Nappy bag

We're Through the Looking Glass Bag-wise People.

Apparently babies are not Minimalists, they are Maximalists. So a small clutch Will Not Do.

I know. I'm Scared too.

You have to admit the orange interior is the Absolute Bomb.

Meanwhile here I was channeling a giant purple grape earlier on in the week

This lipstick is chanel's Kabuki. It looks quite nice with OPI's No Spain No Gain.

It's not a maternity dress. I found it in the Fuller Figure Frock Section of Big W on sale for $11.

The baby continues to be spoilt- the lovely Linda in Chile and her beautiful girls sent me these fantastic baby books. Thank you so much for your thoughtful gift- I've actioned a thank you note!

The other day there was a rerun of Our Domestic and Gardening Leader Martha on Oprah. Her house Skylands in Maine featured heavily-naturally it was Perfection. I noticed she had not 1 but 2 chefs at her disposal. Lucky.

Am addicted to this shade lately. I wonder why?

This was me this morning at brunch at Anouk in an old Milly top that Mr FF gave me Back in the Day.

Continuing the Green theme I had these zucchini and horse radish fritters

Essentially, I was channeling a giant green pea.

This was the only rose in the FF garden to survived unscathed by greedy bud eating varmints.

and in case you're wondering, I wore these old Miu Miu flats.

You know how Babies are the new Black? Well look how good Georgina Chapman looked pregnant:

Apparently Ivanka Trump's having a baby too. So is Kate Hudson. And Penelope Cruz just had a son. And Rachel Zoe's apparently expecting a boy.

That's about it really.

Edited to Add: I taped the Oprah show about her half sister. Don't Patricia and Vernita and Oprah all look so alike?

xxxx

Pavlova-tastic

Happy Australia Day!

I hope you actioned your patriotic duty and made or at least ate a pavlova.
I use Stephanie Alexander's recipe- 4 egg whites, 250g sugar, cornflour, white vinegar and vanilla. Bake it at 150 degrees for an hour and a quarter but have your oven at 180 1st but then turn it down to 150 the second you shove it in. I add booze to my whipped cream. Do you? Did you have a barbecue?

So you could eat something like this?

In recent years Australia Day theming has really taken off. You can buy all sorts of stuff motifed with the flag like this paper napkin. All worryingly made not here but in China. Nationalism is huge these days. I don't remember it being so in my childhood last century....

Meanwhile, here are some snaps of what I've been wearing to the Coalface lately. This is By Malene Birger:

and in the Spirit of mixing chain store stuff with high end designer clobber I wore this brooch with this el cheapo smock thingamy from Forecast

Don's Party was on this morning. I for one never get sick of it and think it's the seminal movie to watch on either Election day or Australia Day. It's aged badly but has some great one liners. Plus the house is interesting and so are the hairdos and outfits. Apparently there's talk of a remake.

The FF garden is looking kind of ok despite being overgrown and full'o'weeds and leaf eating varmints

look how tall my Mr Lincoln rose is (it's the tall thing in the middle. It's about 2.5 metres high)

cordylines have such pretty leaves

isn't this porcelain ginger flower perfection? It was grown from a cutting from Zsa Zsa's garden

Hope your Australia Day was lovely.

xxxxx