holiday packing: a how to guide.

I've always been quite a conscientious packer; i'm the girl who makes lists weeks in advance and draws out individual items on paper so i can imagine what it would be like to live with those items for the impending holiday... yes. that girl.

Last week, my housemate Pip went home to Perth for Christmas. She was leaving at 9am (as in, her plane left at 9am, meaning she needed to be up-n-at-em at 5am...) and started packing at about 11pm the night before. this stressed me out to the point of almost needing to sit down and breathe into a paper bag... gosh. imagine!? She was going through draws and sort of throwing random things towards her suitcase. i was like a hideous beast of disapproving and tut-tutting and provided helpful encouragement like "i cannot belieeeeeve you haven't thought through what you'll wear" and "oh gosh, this is horrible. i'm going to die.". helpful emily. yep.

So, spurred on by that episode, i've had a list of items i need to take on my christmas snow holiday (weeeeee!) for weeks. i've drawn them out, culled, relisted, culled again, started packing last sunday and now am finished. 

when did i become this person?!!

But, on a cooler note (would prob be hard to be less cool at this point) i space-bagged my giant michelin-man jacket. And LOOK HOW SMALL IT GOES! ha.

the jacket barely fits in an overhead locker... but now i could put it in my pocket!?

amazing.

(have just realised that the use of space bags may not have actually have made this cooler. oh)

oh michelin man, you so small now.

To add context.... TINY jacket! 

In all fairness, a snowboarding holiday which includes Christmas, New Years as well as time in Zurich does require a LOT of items... and it would be risky to do that at the last minute for fear of putting in the wrong number of j...

oh, forget it.

xoxo

wednesday's wisdom

gosh, this just makes everything better again
xx

snow cookies

Look at these amazing cookies that my boss gave me last week! So fabulous. Mine was themed apres ski (which makes me even more excited about my ski trip this friiiiday... wooot!) but apparently you can get all sorts of themes, or even request your own designs. awesome. Wish I'd discovered them ages ago!

There were skis and ice-skates and goggles and mittens and glorious jumper cookies in my box. Such fun. And, awesomely, they tasted as good as they looked.

I know what you're all getting for christmas next year... xoxo

small hat for a lady with a big head

Dainty skates for louise.

Merry Christmas from london xx

ella's wedding

This week I have discovered two amazing things: 

1. My friends Allie and Chris were the creative genius (geniuses?, geniui? hmmmm) behind the beautiful photography/flowers/styling for our friend Ella's wedding last month. I've waited ages to see the photos and am gobsmacked by,

a) how beautiful ella and damien both look
b) how gorgeous the flowers (collected/arranged/styled by my lady love Allie) were
c) how talented a photographer Chris is… she may have just nominated herself as resident photographer for ALL events now!

love

The artist at work

Allie and chis

the boys' buttonholes... cute!

2. My friend Mark revealed he has lived next door to Brax from Home and Away for the past year. How did I not know this?? Up until he MOVED OUT LAST WEEK, mark had occasionally referenced his 'good-looking-neighbour' which I didn't really pay much attention to. (I was prob too busy watching Home and Away and being in love with Brax to listen) why didn't I listen??

This, is Brax. 

Yep. I really hope he has moved from living next to Mark straight to London.

xoxo

fruit mince pies

My mama makes fantastic fruit mince pies. the best. i've never attempted to make them myself... and tonight, i proved why.
Here in London, we don't exactly have a luxury kitchen... why would you own scales or muffin tins or even a rolling pin when there are so many great cafes and restaurants to eat out at every day? right? oh.

My mama's pastry is the best part of her pies and the recipe is:
240g plain flour
120g self raising flour
20g cornflour
60g custard powder
30g icing sugar
240g butter
water

It took me SIX different stores to find custard powder in east london (weird?) but maybe what i should have hunted for instead is measuring cups and scales... so when it came to measuring these out i sort of guessed, based on how much i could fit in a mug (?) and then, THEN i discovered that we do not own a rolling pin (not all that problematic given how much wine we have laying around!) nor do we have cutters. in true british form, i used a mug with kate n wills on it as a template... win.

The result was not ideal.
I wish i could say they tasted better than they look.
They didn't.

Next year, i am definitely going to Perth and eating mum's pies instead. bah.

At least our tree is awesome, right?

tuesday wisdom

secret santa

For the last few years my family has done a Secret Santa arrangement for christmas gifts. Last year we did handmade gifts, which basically meant that in the lead up to christmas, with no actual gifts to purchase i continually bought myself little gifts and treats. prob defeated the purpose, but it was a stress-free festive season and i highly recommend it.

I had my aunt, Erika in the draw and i spend a good part of 3 months learning to knit and creating a masterpiece* scarf for her, which she wore proudly on christmas day despite the 45 degree heat. bless.

My mum is super clever and made a Gingerbread House for her secret santa. it was awesome. i really wanted her to start a gingerbread house business and make us all rich. what fun.

My dad made me a horse. yep.
He drew a horse head on a piece of cardboard and attached it to a stick which he found in the garden. After I 'unwrapped' it, mum made him take the stick outside as it was still covered in garden dirt. oh.
it was awesome.

An added part of my family Christmas is PRIZES. yes, there are COMPETITIONS with PRIIIIZES. Last year, the entries in 'best wrapped gift' was highly contested... the one in the background had a light inside that flashed and made it look like a giant candle. it didn't win. ha.

This year however, the challenge is Rhyming Gifts... yep. The rules are that the gift you give has to rhyme with a Christmas word. like star = car, or jesus christ = cheeses n mice?? indeed. Today I found my gift (and creeped out the shop assistant when explaining the joy of the rhyme i had invented...) it's even better than the fly swat i was thinking of buying (to fit the rhyme 'fruit mince pie' - 'swat the fly'.... yes...)

I'm excited to give it (or, send it to 45 degree heat, while i go skiing!)

Merry Christmas! xoxo

*may not have actually been a masterpiece.

eleanor

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan"
 (eleanor roosevelt)

my all time favourite image. via lustlostlove.tumblr.com x