No charmed life for us this weekend!

First of all thank you all so much for your Moving Day wishes... So kind.



We are in the new place and although not quite organised we are getting there.

Now, there are those who read this blog who accuse Mr SE and I of leading a charmed life and yes, I would agree with you that most of the time we do in a way, but not this weekend....!! Oh no.

We have spent all of Saturday (apart from 2 hours when I was released from duties - more about that later) and all of Sunday cleaning up and scrubbing our old place ready for inspection tomorrow when we hand back the key. Hence the non-charmed life this weekend and it's back to work tomorrow. Have to say though that Mr SE is not one to shirk housework and gladly gets stuck in too so at least we could toil away together. And that was exactly what we were doing when our friend C came knocking on the door - would I like to go to a Salvage Yard with him? Would I? - Yes please (and not just to get out of deep cleaning the bathroom!)



So off we went in the sunshine. I adore salvage yards wherever they are and I had some particular favourite ones in England too. This one was just as fun and had loads to rummage about in - just look at all the 'stuff' above and below photos.... You never know what you might find - half the fun.

Photograph below shows what we had mainly come to see and there was a huge selection happily. Gorgeous old pieces of wood - mainly old floorboards. Not that I am going to put any wood on the floor. Oh no, a much more exciting prospect. Dear friend C is going to make us a huge big dining table from old wooden floorboards and I am so excited! Mr SE is not quite as excited - he is not so into 'old things' and would rather like the idea of a nice clean new dining table I feel. BUT I'm sure he will love the table when it's finished.

We looked at all along the boards. Inspecting and discussing. Finally we found them.

These were the ones. Old Baltic pine - obviously had been a floor in a house once - lots of character and slightly bashed up. Nothing pretentious just good old honest boards. We picked the boards and I paid $100 for 10 - not bad for such lovely old wood. Coming back was fun - the boards stuck out of the back window of the car. C has them back at his house and in fact he has just called me to 'talk tables' - it's going to be around 3ft. wide and around 6ft 6" long (and in metric that is approx just under 1 metre by around 2 metres).

I cannot wait. (OK yes, perhaps I agree - maybe a little bit of the 'charmed life' again - all I know is that I feel very lucky that we know someone who will make me the table of my dreams!)

MOVING....

Today we are moving. Not sure how long we will have the internet for here (the removal men are taking furniture out of the house around me as I am perched in a corner typing this!) I am also not sure how long it will be before it's all set up and working at the new place..... So, if you don't see me for a few days visiting your blogs that's the reason!

Hope to be up and posting again by the end of the week!

Au revoir.

Bear Faced Chic

I have posted about these little fellows before - see HERE.


They are the most gorgeous, soft sheepskin Australian bears - they are one dimensional hence their name - 'FLATOUT BEARS'. I already own the two in the middle of this quartet and today have bought the koala one on the right to join the other two - three will look gorgeous on the bed.

Everyone in the family back in England LOVES them too. My sister now has a golden one and I sent my father a Koala one last birthday. (And no, Mr SE, I really don't think that they are just for children and that I am old enough to have grown out of such whims!). However, I have bought them to give as gifts to several new babies over the time we have been in Australia and they are always very well received. One baby girl we gave one to when she was born will not go to sleep unless she has her Flatout bear with her each night - she is now 2 and still adores it as much as ever. Another view below of the four furry friends together before the golden one (at the bottom of the four in this line up) goes off in a padded envelope to England. My mother wants to give this one to her sister, my Aunt, for Christmas and has asked me to buy one and send it to her.

I am sure she will love him. He has a particularly endearing little face - I had to inspect them all to pick out the cutest one.

Spreading the FLATOUT BEAR love......

Poppy Day (in more ways than one)

11th November - a special day of remembering....

I wore my Poppy to work today (see above photograph). It seems that not as many people wear them here in Australia at this time of year as they do in England but I do think it's important to stop and think sometimes about all those that have died in wars in years gone by and never forget the sacrifices made. Also of course about those who are are apart from their families fighting in countries far away. And especially about all those who have lost loved ones over the years through war.

As I said in the title of the post this is also for me a Poppy Day in more ways than one. My darling daughter, Poppy is 20 today. This is the first time I have not seen her on her birthday and I must admit to feeling more than a little sad as I sit here and type this.

Happy Birthday sweetheart.

Yes, she's back!

Hooray! I have had this date earmarked in my diary for months....

Nigella Lawson is back on television with a new series 'Nigella's Kitchen' here in Australia. You can catch her tonight on the LIFESTYLE Channel at 7.30pm. It's her first full length series since 2007 when she recorded Nigella Express and I cannot wait. So looking forward to it.

Mr SE is out at some boring dinner or something in the City (he'll be sad to miss her, I know and not just for her cooking skills (!) but I will be kind and record the programme ). I am cooking myself roasted veggies with pesto and some pasta thrown in at the last minute. Large glass of red wine to drink too. What could be better?

How are you spending your Tuesday evening?

Perfect Day

Today was beautiful. A perfect Spring day in Melbourne - the temperature topped 23 degrees and the sun shone most of the day. Just look at the lovely blue sky with the little small wispy clouds. It was warm enough to be very comfortable but not overly hot - my absolute perfect weather.

Also perfect in that I had a day off and niece (Miss Sophs) came over for dinner this evening with her man - Mr Melbs. (I am ignoring the fact that the fly in the oinment is that I am working tomorrow - Saturday!)

Hope what ever you are doing you have a lovely weekend. What temperature / weather do you love the best and what time of the year? I have to say I think this is my favourite time of the year here in Melbourne.

Roses from two gardens

Here in Melbourne there is Cup Fever.

And, as the advertisements on the billboards around the City say, it's "The Celebration that stops a nation".... The Melbourne Cup is a famous racing cup and quite a few Melburnians will be either at the racecourse or glued to the television on Tuesday (it's a Public Holiday here in the Metropolitan area of Melbourne) hoping their horse romps home first!! The rest of us use it as an excuse for a lovely long weekend (or make sure that if they have a day off it falls on the Monday) so they get the weekend and Monday and Tuesday off too.... My niece, Miss Sophie from Regally Blonde blog is off to the races 'a la corporate stylee' - no doubt she will tell us all in a post in the next few days. She has bought a beautiful dress to wear too but quite frankly my daughter (her cousin) and I have a running joke in the family that she could wear a paper bag and still look stunning!! I worked Sunday but I have today and tomorrow off and Mr SE had a holiday today too. It was lovely to spend the day together. We did a little gardening and I picked this lovely bunch of roses (photo above and below).

And the rose in the photograph below is photographed from the garden of our NEW place. We move in a couple of weeks so as well as a little gardening we have done a LOT of tidying and sorting out. Mr SE and I rent a house here in Oz so if we feel like a change or feel that our house is no longer serving our needs we can 'upsticks' and search for another. Which is just what we have done. Liberating in a way. No mortgage and in a way, no responsibilities. Suppose this is weighed up against the thought that rent could be viewed as 'empty money' or throwing it away but we do get to live in a lovely neighbourhood here in Melbourne which we would never in a million years be able to afford to buy into. For the time being the only house we own (or half own with the bank!!) is our little cottage in England.

Anyway, I am very excited about the new place... It's in the same area as where we presently live but it is a little smaller in size and a bit more quirky - also there is more outside space and two large decks. And the outlook is gorgeous too. More photographs and information when we get there.

Wishing everyone a very good week.

Meeting Maggie

Last night I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Maggie Alderson (and others, more about that later) where she was at a local bookstore - 'Readings' in Hawthorn, Melbourne to launch her latest book - 'Shall We Dance'. She talked to us all first, telling us a little about the book - the main character of the novel - Loulou Landers is the Queen of Vintage Fashion and Maggie brought along a few of her vintage clothing treasures to show us too.

Maggie A. is everything I thought she would be - charming, talented and very lovely. I have read and adored everything she has ever written and the only trouble is I know that as soon as I begin this book I will be sad because I'll read it all too quickly and then it will come to an end. I think I will savour the pleasure of knowing it's here sitting on my bedside table waiting for me for a while before I open it and start to read.

It was also so very good to run into some other Melbourne bloggers too...Dear Carly from Tune in to Radio Carly who has already described the evening on her lovely blog... and there was also gorgeous M from She Wore It Well as well as my niece Miss Sophie from Regally Blonde (although I knew she was coming - I rang her and said come on over - she only lives around the corner!) Anyway, the four of us had a little chat too which was really nice.

And on a personal little note - a lovely lady whom I had never met before came up to me and said - 'Hello, it's Semi Expat, isn't it?! ' and told me she so enjoyed my blog although she is I think, in blog speak "a lurker" (!!) (one who always reads but does not comment apparently).... Well, I don't mind that at all, I was just blown away that someone came up to ME and said she read my blog!! I was very flattered I have to say - so sweet of you and if you are reading now -I forgot to ask you your name, - sorry!! Although maybe you did tell me and I didn't take it in, I was so surprised. Anyway, thank you - you made a wonderful evening even more special.

20 Years - A Birthday Party!

On Friday evening we rushed back from work and then went out to a very special party. It was the 20th Birthday of the company I am working for and the party was called "20 Years in Fashion". The dress was 'Black and White Vogue' and, as you can see from the photograph below, everyone stuck to the theme and all looked very celebratory... Ark Clothing started 20 years ago by two friends - Jen Layton and Christine Metcalfe and they began with children's clothing - selling first of all 'party plan' style from their homes. As the business grew they branched into women's fashion instead and now 20 years later are still going strong (no mean feat in these economic times) with three stand alone boutiques in Melbourne as well as selling wholesale to many boutiques across Australia and internationally. I have to say that although I have only been with the company since July I already feel a valued staff member and it is great to be with a company that still has a fundamental family feel.

The waitresses below - all looking so cute in their black and white outfits.

The entertainment - a tap dancing troupe - extremely energetic and fun to watch!

Note, the party was held in the new company headquarters - you can see behind the tap dancers the sample boards and design plans ! All the clothing is not only designed in Melbourne but it is all also made here too and that in itself is unusual these days.

And here we both are with our outfits... I wore my black lace party dress and added the white by way of my pearl collection (remember I told you before that I mix my op. shop / charity shop pearls with my Chanel ones?!) We were also each given a pearl necklace too - a lovely touch.

Mr SE wore his dinner suit/tuxedo/DJ - very smart! He looks good in black and white..

So, - HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to The Ark.

For more information about The Ark - go to http://www.theark.com.au/ They also have a blog (top right of the home page) and I have been asked to write occasionally for them - I did the last post about furnishings in the new store.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

New suede shoes

I have been meaning to show you these for a while, well around 10 days or so now. I bought them the first weekend I got back to Melbourne and normally I buy NOTHING whilst jet lagged for fear of making wrong decisions. But these I am really very, very pleased with. A lovely colour - resembling the Chanel nail polish colour Particuliere that there was all the 'hoo-ha' about a few months ago. Otherwise known as taupe, or as it says on the box - cam.taupe (camel taupe?). Not sure.

They remind me of little moles. Cute.

They are Italian and I am told they are hand made (says so on the box too!). Extraordinary good value if they were - anyway, they are extremely comfortable and have leather soles with ridges in them (to prevent that 'leather sole slip' I'd imagine).

Above - mole shoes in the sunshine. And below:

Miss Kit Cat, aka Button, (the other girl in Mr SE's life) feels she looks FAR better on the shoe box than those silly shoes did in the first photograph!!

Shoes from : ZOMP http://www.zomp.com.au/ (and apparently they have just opened in Brisbane, FF!)

Turned out well - see previous post!

Sunday evening - supper a deux. Faux Fuschia's Parmiagana.

Staving off the Sundayitis too!!

Nothing nasty from the garden this weekend!

So, no photos of snake eggs to show you this weekend, just this gorgeous French Lavender which is flowering so beautifully in the front garden. There are three large shrubs including one each side of the front door. I would not say the scent is overpowering but the leaves are very aromatic when you brush by them and the bees love the flower heads too. Such a gorgeous colour, lavender.
However, if there were prizes given for fragrance in the garden then this one below would be high up on the list. Technically this is not actually in our garden but it is climbing over from next door and I am encouraging it ! Delicious jasmine. In the evening the scent seems to be even stronger especially when the day has been warm.....

It's heavenly.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. I was working Saturday and it looks as though I am working quite a few Saturdays until the end of November too. Am also suffering from a bit of "Sunday-itis" as it is back to work again tomorrow - Sunday has gone FAR TOO quickly.

I am off to make this recipe HERE from Faux Fuchsia. Am sure it will turn out well - she does great food.

Just whose birthday was it?!

As I said in an earlier post, last weekend was Mr SE's birthday but I also was given gifts from him. Very lucky.
If you remember Mr SE came to England briefly with me (via Paris for meetings) but then went off back to Australia by way of Singapore and the Grand Prix. Not only did he bring me back a beautiful pair of dark grey pearl earrings but also this lovely orange iconic carrier bag above....

which contained this beautiful be-ribboned box....

And inside the box a cotton carrier with a little drawstring top.

And - Ta-Dah......!! A bottle of beautiful Rose Ikebana Hermessence fragrance. It is so beautiful - described as :

"A contrast of rose petal and crisp rhubarb. Airy, delicate, sparkling" ... quite unusual with the rhubarb notes but I really love it. It's green and uplifting - just the kind of fragrance that appeals to me.

Look how lovely the bottle is too with the leather top. Just gorgeous. I had only had a very small bottle before and finished it quite quickly I loved it so much. Am very happy and yup, I know....

Spoilt!

Beautiful basil - a quick dinner

Last night I made a basil pesto sauce.....

Nice and satisfying and quick too after what seemed like a very LONG first day back at work for me. (I am blaming it all on jet lag). Photograph below shows the finished dish complete with small basil leaf by way of "presentation" for a Monday night.

The photographs are a little out of sequence but anyway I am sure you will get the drift! Place two or three large handfuls of fresh basil into your whizzing machine... Also add a handful of grated parmesan cheese, a clove of fresh garlic and a handful of TOASTED (that is the secret, I feel) pine nuts.

Photo below shows the lovely fresh bunches of basil Mr SE and I bought from the market at the weekend - 2 huge ones for $3 - that's about $3 USA dollars now too, equivalent of, and around UK pounds 1.85 so quite a bargain I would say.

Whizz all the ingredients up in your mixer/chopper/whizzing machine and drip in olive oil (probably around 1/4 of a cup or so) from the top until you get a nice 'pesto-y' consistency... As illustrated in the photograph below... Add a little seasoning and a squeeze of lemon juice too if you feel so inclined.

I threw together rather a simple and rustic looking salad for us each with lettuce, fresh parsley and avocado.

It all went down rather well until Mr SE piped up that he really normally wasn't all that keen on pesto, however this he thought was "alright"!!

Snake eggs in the garden beds!

Well, I am back again in the beautiful city of Melbourne and the weekend has been quite eventful to say the least. It was Mr SE's birthday yesterday - we went out for breakfast to a new cafe, it's been very sunny, but also it has been a little bit scary too....!
Well, just LOOK what Mr SE unearthed this morning whilst doing a little gardening.... Yes, I know they do look a little like fungi or some kind of underground mushroom (they were buried just under the mulching) but we have looked them up on the internet they are..... SNAKE eggs! Their texture is quite leathery though I am pleased to report that their inhabitants have gone...

Look at the photograph above - there is the little hole that the baby snake makes in order to get out of the egg... Now I am a little worried in case they have decided that they would prefer to be INSIDE the SE's house. Fingers crossed they haven't and instead have slithered off to somewhere far more exciting.

Meanwhile talking of exciting things (or far less frightening!) this was how I spent the afternoon at my parents before I left to come back to Australia.... We took back my hire car and on the way back stopped here :

This watercress farm is near their home and they often go and buy a few bunches. My father makes a very good watercress soup.

Look how lovingly it is packed on ice. You leave the money in the box and take what you want - all done on trust.

The vital ingredient for growing watercress is, of course, water – mineral rich flowing water from which the peppery salad leaf takes its many nutrients

Above photograph shows the stream where the watercress is harvested...

My parents standing near the water's edge. The brighter green leaves in the stream are the watercress leaves.


As I said at the beginning of the post it has been a beautiful and sunny weekend - Melbourne has done me proud to welcome me back again after the sad round of saying my goodbyes yet again in England. And the lovely people at Qantas were very nice and with the help of Mr SE's kindly donated Qantas points I was upgraded to Business class....! A real treat over such a long journey.

Preparing for my return to Australia

Have to say I have done my fair share recently of going out for lunches, coffees and dinners and meeting friends.... Yesterday I met my friend M at this little snugly corner... we had a delicious light lunch and a good chat....

And last week before I went to Durham with daughter I met my friend S - we shared tea at MIPO at the Inner Yard... Click HERE for more information about this place when I went there last time.....

Above the dinner I shared a couple of nights ago with my friend C - see photo below... We have known each other since we were 11! A long time and each time we meet seems like only yesterday.

Well, I am rushing round doing a final check on the cottage and cleaning madly - just taken a break to read emails and do a little blogging... Have had a particularly pleasing email with news from a friend which has made my day this morning - lovely how something like that colours your whole day. Anyway, as I said, I am off in a few hours - first to my parents for a day and then flying back to Australia on Thursday arriving back late Friday night... A long flight but hopefully, hopefully I could be upgraded this time as Mr SE has put in a request and offered up some of his precious Qantas points for this privilege!!