More wedding rings

On the weekend while I was visiting my family in Bundaberg John collected my wedding ring. It was designed and made by David Phillips at Bentley De Lisle in Brisbane.

My original engagement ring from John was not actually the silver 'diamond' designed by Eliza Tee seen here, but a porcelain Kiss X ring by Danish designer Anne Black. Being a very clumsy person, I knew it wouldn't take long for me to break it, so I opted for a silver design as well.

For my wedding ring, I wanted to have something inspired by Anne's design, so I asked David to make me a silver band with the 'x' symbol printed all the way around.

My mum has made a lovely ring cushion for the ceremony (inspired by the design of my wedding dress), which will be carried by my sister.

Mmmm... caketude...

Ok, I admit that it's a packet mix, but I still had to add eggs, butter and milk and then bake it. And I'm sure it tastes great.

Yummo...

Cooking up a storm

I haven't made a kitchen post in a little while, so I thought I'd share a few of the new little kitchen accessories that have made it into our home.

Firstly, I have acquired a teapot-shaped blackboard sticker for inside the pantry. The aim is for me to become a little more organised with cooking the evening meals. It's not working so far, but that's because I forget it's there. And I need to buy some more chalk.

Next, we have the incredible Qualy wine cell purchased as a wedding gift from my work colleagues before I went on leave. It came from the fantastic Brisbane store Mod-Cons. This thing can be completely pulled apart and reconfigured, which I did to make it fit nicely above the fridge.

Then we have the very heavy Salter salt grinder that I picked up at a Toowoomba thrift store a few months back. I don't think I'll actually use it for grinding salt, but I may use it as a weapon against intruders if need be.

And, finally, the new red silicone bakeware I'm going to use to create something for afternoon tea tomorrow (when the lovely Lisa from My Vintage Treats comes to visit!). I got these from Aldi in Bundaberg, of all places.

It looks like my Russian nesting dolls will be coming out of semi-retirement for another baking session!

Wedding rings

Yesterday John's wedding ring finally arrived, all the way from Portland in the United States! Lindsay Jo Holmes from MapleXO specialises in making jewellery from recycled skateboards. As neither John or myself are into the traditional gold and diamonds, we had a challenge on our hands to find something suitable for the both of us. After some research we discovered Lindsay's work, and decided that her Boyfriend Ring would be perfect for John.

Lindsay worked with us via email to choose the colours and finish that we wanted, and this is the result.

Lindsay was also kind enough to send me one of her recycled skateboard bangles, which I love to death.

This Saturday John is collecting my own wedding band, created for us by the lovely David and Heidi Phillips at Bentley De Lisle. Until I can show pictures of that, here are some pictures of my custom-made engagement ring, which we commissioned from local designer Eliza Tee.

Shutter love: Bedroom

Our bedroom shutters are identical to the living room ones, and they make a massive difference in terms of the morning light that comes through the glass door. That, and we no longer have to put up with the vertical blinds 'flitting' every time the wind picks up! Cosmopolitan will be coming back next week to assess some repairs that need to be done in the bedroom - one of the mechanisms on the blades is a bit loose, and there was some minor scrape damage when the neighbour's garage door collided with one of the panels being carried.

A huge thanks to mum and dad for the best wedding present we could have asked for. I thought we were going to be stuck with those hideous blinds for at least another five years!

Thanks also to Tim, as well the installers Tommy and George, at Cosmopolitan Shutters. I can highly recommend them for price, quality and excellent service.

Shutter love: Living room

They're finally here! Yesterday Cosmopolitan Shutters arrived to remove our ugly old beige verticals and replace them with something MUCH more appealing. The installation for the living room and bedroom took a lot longer than I expected (about five hours), but it was totally worth the wait!

Firstly, here are some pictures of our entirely modernised living room.

I'll post some pictures of the bedroom shutters separately to avoid photo overload in this post - stay tuned!

Rearranged office space

It dawned on me not long after we bought our new Kartell Componbilli unit that we didn't really have anywhere to put it. John declared that he'd like it in the office (as he spends a lot of time in there sculpting and drawing), and I agreed.

There was no way the unit would fit in the office as is, so this morning I decided to see whether putting the desk against the window would work. Thankfully, it did work, so now we have our second lovely Kartell piece in the office to help John with organising his art stuff. Here is a peek at how the office looks now.

A few weeks ago I also decided to print out the 'favour-of-the-month' poster that was being uploaded to blogs all over the world, because it just seemed fitting that John should keep it nearby when he's working on his art. 

New purchases from last weekend

Although our trip to the Gold Coast didn't go entirely as planned (with one of the ladies unable to come due to a dental emergency), it was still fabulous, with another friend filling in for a day.

In addition to the great food, bluebottle stings and creepy apartment manager, there was our visit to Found Furniture at Palm Beach. This place is amazing, and I wanted to buy every piece of furniture in the place. The Arco lamp. The red Eames rockers. The sideboards. Everything was stunning, and everything was to my taste. Alas, I knew what kind of discussion would ensue if I brought ANY furniture home, so I decided to compromise with some cushions. Big, fat white and red ones.

They are incredibly beautiful, and incredibly comfortable. I love them to death.

Our trip is going to be rescheduled hopefully for sometime in late April or early May - after I get this wedding business out of the way! I will definitely be returning to Found, and maybe I'll just find the courage to check the price tag on that Arco lamp. How I'll get it home I have now idea...

Another sneaky look at our wedding. Ssshhh...

I thought I’d share another sneak peek of our wedding. Some time ago I stumbled across the amazing images of Laura and Ben’s much blogged-about Brooklyn wedding on the Martha Stewart Wedding website, and straight away I wanted to design my own version of the butterfly bouquet. Orange and black feather monarch butterflies would fit perfectly with our colour scheme, so I placed an order with Floral Trims.

Over Christmas, my mum and I got to work creating the bouquet, and this is the result. I’m very happy with how it turned out, and I can’t wait to show it off in a few weeks’ time. It’s pictured here with some of my other accessories — the most adorable shoes in the world from Camper, and a black 1960s peyton handbag that I found just two weeks ago in the Vintage Rose window on my way to the train station.

I also ordered some large clip-on butterflies from Floral Trims, and I’ve used those to pretty up the table numbers I made for the reception (which simply consist of offcuts of black cardboard I found behind the office futon and silver stickers from the dollar store).

As little thank you gifts for our guests, or ordered persinalised pencils from the UK on eBay. A very cute but relatively inexpensive wedding favour!

Gold Coast... NAKED

This weekend I'm heading to the Gold Coast with two very special ladies. All three of us are in the process of undergoing significant change in our lives which, in short, means we all need a weekend tropical vacation. It looks like we may be in for a rainy weekend, but that will sure as hell not stop me from swimming in the heated pool just so I can wear my new bathing suit.

Yesterday this amazing little booklet was brought to my attention: Naked City Guide. It is all about the COOL side of the Gold Coast, not the tacky, Ugg boot, gambling, dark-roots-with-white-hair side of the Gold Coast. Check it out. I think I might track down a copy of this $10 beast and see what low-cost and fun adventures we can find.

Images: Naked City Guide

Oh, and Naked was designed by the talented Bec Worth - a Gold Coast resident and former colleague of mine. Check out her portfolio at You Would Love This.