Why do you let me stay here?

Guess who just bought two tickets to see She & Him at the Hollywood Bowl in July? Yes - that would be me! They're supporting The Swell Season which will be pretty magical I think. And all for the sum of $40 USD. What?! As if we'd ever get such a sweet line-up here in Australia, let alone for that kind of price (okay admittedly they aren't GREAT seats but I'll take what I can get). Taking my darlin' mama with me so it will be great!

I've been preparing by watching some She & Him live videos on YouTube and Zooey looks like she's concentrating so hard when she sings. I think that it's kind of cute that she's so seemingly nervous!

City love

Hello hello! I'm so hooked on this teapot thing - I made a new one with a city scape around it. It's up for sale on Made It in my little store hey, emmaline! I'm such a wanna be perfectionist that I kept re-doing it, but I like it now - with all its imperfections.

Gone campin'

Tomorrow I'm going camping! It's a rarity that I use exclamation marks in the same sentence as camping except perhaps to say - I don't want to go camping! But this time I'm genuinely excited because I'm camping overnight on Cockatoo Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour.

My mumma bought a camping gift voucher for me at Christmas. It includes your tent, bed and chairs so it's minimal fuss, which is great for someone like me who has is more likely to lose an eye than successfully pitch a tent. And guess what? There is a cafe as well, so no potato salad in a can for this girl!

I can't wait to explore the island (which actually used to be a convict gaol/jail) and enjoy time with some of my very favourite people. Oh and enjoy this gorgeous view

All the nice girls love a sailor

I'm really diggin' Mod Cloth's recent foray into nautical themed dresses! Not sure if I could actually pull any of them off, but it's fun to dream. I love that sailor look - perhaps harking back to my die-hard Sailor Moon fan days... yes I was that girl who still dreamed about Tuxedo Mask when I was 17.
What about you? Would you go for the sailor girl look in day to day fashion or do you think it slips into costume territory?

You'll need a cup for that tea

Em, I love love love your teapots. How coincidental that I spent the weekend scouring Vinnies stores for teacups. But these aren't to drink out of, these are to make candles for my "high tea" themed engagement party. I was lucky enough to visit one Vinnies store on half price day. Woo hoo, I went beserk.

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

I'm so hooked on this teapot thing! I'm thinking about trying to sell a few to some friends for Mother's Day. I'll customise to whatever text and I have a few different tea-pot shapes to choose from! Let me know if you're keen! xx

...but you can have my milk!

The humble popper. Sure, it looks innocent enough - a box full of juice, or that weird UHT milk, with a very cute but practical straw glued to the front. The perfect thirst quencher after a double period of Geography, spent studiously writing notes to the friend who sat directly next to me (carefully decoding hidden meaning in all those completely meaningless things adolescent boys say). But how many times would I reach into my backpack, hand fossicking around for that box, only to find it deflated at the bottom of my bag, while my science textbook greedily drank it all up? More than I care to remember. The night would be spent with hairdrying in hand, holding each warpled page apart so that they didn't stick together. Your science textbook never looked quite the same and always smelt faintly of oranges.

How my problems could have been solved if I'd had a log cabin in my bag! Okay, well a log cabin lunchbag. This lunchbag/cooler would be perfect for a little one's backpack - not only would it have saved my science texbook, it would have kept it cool as well. Made 590, you've done it again! I don't understand how one place can have so much stuff I want... but they do, clearly with no regard for my savings plan.

Just quietly, how gross is the thought of drinking warm milk that's been in your backpack all day? And yes... I still drank poppers in year 12.

These shoes were made for dancing

Maybe it's because Angelina Ballerina was my favourite book when I was little, or maybe it's because my attempts to learn even jazz ballet were foiled by my lack of coordination, or maybe it's because now I look at girls who did ballet when they were younger and envy their long limbs and perfect posture... whatever it is, I am officially obsessed with Ballet flats. It could have something to do with the fact that I'm already tall enough for a girl and that when I wear stilletos I walk like a drunk wombat on a rocking boat, but it's not just any flat shoe I love, it is specifically the ballet flat. Bloch does a lovely ballet flat with a twist and in an array of rainbow colours. I just wanted to share their styles that are on my shopping list!

Put the slice down and your hands above your head...

The only bad thing about a four day week is that you still have to squeeze the full five days in! Which is why it's taken me so long to get to this incredible masterpiece made by my brother's gorgeous and incredibly talented girlfriend, Rachel.

Words fail me at this point. When Rachel normally makes a caramel slice, it pretty much needs a police guard to keep me away. But adding chocolate easter eggs on top? I'm sorry, but you all need to step back from the slice and leave us for some alone time. A week later, it's no surprise it's all gone really. I miss it terribly, all those happy little egg heads looking up at me, begging to be eaten. But I look forward to next year when we can be happily reunited... right Rachel? x

Three thirtyitis

The best thing about working in advertising is having magazine sales reps bring in afternoon snacks. This is also the worst thing because it means an expanding waistline and a dependency on a three-thirty sugar hit. Today Donna Hay Magazine brought in their 50th Issue with a picture of an amazing four layered chocolate cake on the cover...and they also brought in the cake itself. It's taking all my self control not to run back into the kitchen and stuff the rest of the cake into my mouth. The chocolate cream cheese icing is to die for.

Ladies who lunch...

It's a beautiful day in Sydney and although I'm cooped up in an office for the majority of it, I'm excited to be catching up with my favourite girl called e tonight. We're headed to Mamak to eat a tonne of roti and catch up because we haven't seen each other at all this decade. Shameful huh?

One of the things I miss about my old job is being able to see Liz daily and gab over lunch. There were quite a few long Friday yum chas and dirty Shark Bar lunches, followed by desserts of Puffy or bags of freckles. Lunch is a great!So are lunch boxes (wow... great segue hey?)

How sweet are these little lunch boxes by Shinzi Katoh? They're 1,260YEN and from memory the YEN to AUD exchange rate is pretty ideal at the moment. Tempting... but remember my spending strike? Boo-urns.

I'm wondering if Owen will recognise that very cute tree lunch box-  it looks an awful lot like the one he broke two years ago and promised to replace... funny that?

With a little sweet and simple numbing me...

Forget chocolate (okay, maybe don't go that far...) - it's all about marshmallows this Easter. My very sweet Papa bought me a delicious bag of Sweetness marshmallows. Above we've got raspberry, lime, mango, strawberry and passionfruit and I can safely assure you they taste as good as they look. Do yourself a favour and track some of these down. Their gingerbread range at Christmas is amazing - think Chai Latte flavoured pillows. Happy Easter! x

Once upon a fold...

If you click on this link, you will be taken to a website full of the most beautiful and fantastical paper creations. If you love paper then you cannot go past Upon a Fold. The stock in their online store is absolutely lovely and so different. It will definitely make you thin twice about buying a card at a newsagent's and then it will make you think twice about even buying a card. Why buy a flat card when you can give someone a pop up castle, or a jack in the box, or a build your own London/New York/Tokyo postcard?
If you look on their blog then you'll see that paper is somewhat of an obsession of theirs. As an Easter gift they've created two sheets to download with instructions on how to make your own origami bunny or chick. Thanks!