Pear and cinnamon upside-down cake

Baked in the searing heat this afternoon in preparation for John's birthday tomorrow...

Thank you: Peppermint magazine, Mina + Oli and Quiet Paws!

Over the past week or so lady luck has been smiling on my yet again. First off, I won this beautiful Mina + Oli wristlet from Peppermint magazine! The lovely Laura selected this blue number for me, which is made from a recycled leather jacket. I really, really love it!

Then, I was most excited (and amused!) to learn that I'd won a HUGE prize pool over at Tracey's blog Quiet Paws. Tracey has won a few Flying Ducks giveaways, so I guess what goes around comes around! I won all this awesome stuff (including the scarf, which is from Tracey's personal collection), plus a $25 donation in my name to the RSPCA flood appeal, which means an awful lot to me as an animal lover.

Image: Quiet Paws

I'm also very patiently awaiting the arrival of a Cocolo chocolate pack, courtesy of a Twitter giveaway from Fair Trade Australia. I am a big Cocolo fan, as I usually buy chocolate 'bricks' through Project 18 to help raise funds for an orphanage in Indonesia.

Clearly I'm a very lucky girl lately!

Movie ticket winners! Plus preview passes to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

The winners of the Certified Copy in-season passes are Thea, Brismod, BrissieMum2, Claire and Online Tutor! I have postal addresses for Thea and Brismod, but if everyone else can please email me their postal address that would be grand.

Now, I have five more passes to give away to lucky readers! Thanks to Rialto, these are valid for a preview screening of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest at Dendy Portside on 2 March at 6.30pm. To win, please leave a comment and your email address before 5.00pm next Wednesday (23 February).

Please note: This is not a sponsored post, and I have received no payment for running this giveaway.

Pears in sunlight

Remember the cute little pyrex bowl I acquired last week? Here it is holding my fresh organic pears as they ripen on the windowsill.

New shots of the living area

I realised this morning that I haven't taken any overall room shots for a while, so I snapped a few whilst indulging in the latest Go! Team album...

Movie ticket giveaway: Certified Copy

Thanks to Madman Entertainment, I have five in-season double passes for Certified Copy to give away (valid at participating cinemas across Australia from 17 February). Just leave a comment before 5.00pm Wednesday (16 February) and I'll randomly draw the winners. If you don't have a blog, please leave an email address as well.

Academy Award-winner Juliette Binoche stars as an antique dealer, living in the Tuscan countryside. One day she sits in on a talk by visiting English cultural commentator (opera baritone William Shimell) on the value of copies in art. At the end of the talk they meet, and over the course of a single afternoon, they drive into the sun-dappled countryside, have lunch, wander around galleries, discussing the nature of love, art and life. But what really is the nature of their relationship? Have they met before? Are they are a couple, or in fact perfect strangers?


Please note: This is not a sponsored post, and I have received no payment for running this giveaway.

Valentine Pyrex

You see this pretty little Pyrex bowl?

Image: Kit & Nancy

The lovely Laura intended to sell it at Suitcase Rummage on the weekend. But she didn't. It didn't make it there. Because I hurriedly emailed Laura and asked her to pretty please keep it for me. Today, she brought it in to work, and our transaction was complete. Hurrah!

Laura's Suitcase Rummage efforts raised a fabulous $245 for the RSPCA flood appeal - everyone wins!

More photos soon of my lovely bowl in its new home...

More apples! And an owl...

A few weeks ago John and I purchased a stylish-looking new stereo with some gift vouchers we received as wedding gifts. Previously, we had a rather chunky system that I bought about nine years ago. For those who haven't trawled back through our 'before' pictures, here it is on the left. The previous owner's choice of paint colour still amazes me today...

As our new system is a lot smaller, I decided to sew a table runner to cover the veneer of the shelves. I was recently given a HUGE stash of fabric (thanks Irene!), so I started rummaging through. It was then I realised that the apple calico I printed at the Thea & Sami workshop would probably fit perfectly! All I needed to do was cut some red fabric from my stash to use as backing. It is a little shorter than I would have liked (and I did have to trim the bottom off some of the pears that were printed a little too close to the apples), but it does the job!

Did you notice my new little red owl friend? He was purchased from Little Shop Of... during the recent flood fundraising, and sits with his larger buddy on the top shelf.

Thrift store treasure

For the third trip to Toowoomba in a row, I didn't make it to the St Vinnies store that I desperately wanted to visit. I've had some amazing success there in the past, but it closes at 11.30 on a Saturday morning! We left early enough, but didn't account for all the traffic backed up to get onto the range (which currently has a lane closed after the floods). Consequently, we took the Murphy's Creek detour instead, which added 40 minutes to our journey. (But, it did give us the opportunity to see how well the army and emergency services are progressing with the clean-up.)

However, I did manage to stop off at the Lifeline around the corner, which I've had limited success with in the past (such as getting my hands on the ceramic pie dish I used to bake my pavlova). This time, I had one lucky find: this pretty little carafe for $1.50.

I decided to put away the brown bowl that had been sitting on the bench holding pens and rubber bands and other bits and pieces, and it's been replaced with spotty cups and saucers that have been hiding away. My little display sits under the microwave in the right side of the kitchen, which means it's visible from the living area. It's nice to finally have an arrangement there that I'm happy with!