Wild & Windy Weekend Picnic at Strickland House, Vaucluse

Nathan and I celebrated our fourth year of being married with a picnic at Strickland House, Vaucluse. The sun managed to sneak out for a little while, but I quite liked the blusteriness of the day. There was very little company and we felt like we had the whole of the foreshore to ourselves.

We had a custom made hamper from The Sydney Picnic Company and it was more than delicious... olives, cheese, lovely salad and brownies ta boot! Lovely touches of craftiness swathed the basket and inside were hidden brown boxes tied with string, polka dote napkins, cutlery tied with flowers... the perfect combination of aesthetic yumminess, which I think reflected quite well our two loves... food and design.

Be My Valentine...

My beloved and I take turns in planning little Valentine's events for each other - this year I'm the lucky one to get a treat - hurrah!

I'm particularly fortunate that NP is the world's leading surprise expert (WLSE for short) so I'm looking forward to what he comes up with... last year (even though it wasn't his turn) he sent me a bunch of fruit flowers dipped in chocolate from this nice place... everyone in the studio was quite happy to help me enjoy them!

I came across this amazing team in a magazine (which, I do not know)  - The Sydney Picnic Co. If I was in charge of Valentine's day this year I'd ring them up and immediately order one of their amazing hampers... yum! They look so good! Hop onto it pronto if you want to take them up on their lovely Valentine's Hamper...

All images are from the Sydney Picnic Co Website

Why hello there...

I've been away a little while with the busy-ness of off-line life... this little blog gets particularly neglected from time to time and I hope you are not offended.

One of the more exciting things that has been happening is my return to University. Not as a student this time (though I still get mistaken for one - though I'm not complaining!), but as a teacher. I have a lovely class of design students completing their graduating project, with me as one of their tutors. I finished the same degree 6 years ago and it is fascinating to see how much more advanced my students are than I was at this stage of their burgeoning careers (just had to sneak that word in!). Their technical skill, knowledge, social and environmental awareness and passion have me wrapped in their chosen projects. There's nothing like a room full of people excited about what they're working on. Of course there are moments of self-doubt, creative blocks and exhaustion but all their hard work will be worth it...

Next week they will be presenting their "pin-ups" - visual mood boards that communicate all their ideas, concepts and reserach. I quite enjoy a mood board so decided to put one together for my upcoming Birthday Picnic...

Images from:
1. Nectar and Light
2. The Sartorialist
3. Aymujer
4. Elsea Chelsea
5. Elsea Chelsea
6. Roland Bello

Hello Stranger!

It's been a while my friends, but I'm back on board! 

We had a day out last week with some great friends... a picnic at Shark Island to celebrate the impending arrival of Sarah + Bob's baby. The weather was glorious, and we'd never ventured out to this particular island in the middle of Sydney Harbour before. It has lovely shady areas to throw blankets down, and place to paddle and explore. A highlight was the commentary of the sights of Sydney with a very Sale of the Century-esque manner.