Collection 14 | Cocktail Hour

1. Bar Cart | 2. Cocktail Shaker | 3. Bar Spoon | 4. Gold Jigger | 5. Ice Bucket

I'm all about having a cocktail in the evening, as a matter of fact I'm sat here drinking an ice cold vodka-soda with fresh lime... so what if it's only the beginning of the week!  It has been said to me on occasion, that you know you've come of age when you start craving a G&T around 5pm and have a fully stocked bar in your house (and I'm not talking about a sticky bottle of Malibu and a few old cans from parties past).  Sadly, or not, we do have a a few bottles of the good stuff (in my opinion) in the cupboard.  After all, dare I say it, I am turning 30 this year.  GULP. Literally.  Vodka down in one at the thought of that.  So whether you are coming of age or just fancy enough to have yourself a fully stocked bar, here are a few essentials and some yummy recipes to try.  Now, where's the rest of that bottle?!

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Colour Inspiration | Yellow Love

Even though 'June Gloom' is fully under way, the sun is managing to break through and reveal those blue skies.  I keep seeing lots of sunshine yellow accent pieces on my various internet journeys and actually starting to love it.  I've never really been into yellow until recently.  Maybe it's because I see the sun more now than I used to.  Either way it's a great accent piece for brightening up a space.  Here are a few of my favourite finds.

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Happy Priday

It's LA Pride this weekend and I'm heading there to watch the parade on Sunday.  Cannot wait!  This post is dedicated to all my gay friends back home.  Miss you guys xXx

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Things I Love Thursday

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White | Grey | Beige.

Back to neutral tones this week, I'm feeling natural materials like timber and soft fabrics like wool and cashmere.  With June gloom hitting LA this week I feel like I want to be wrapped up in a handmade jumper and eat homemade chips with plenty of salt and ketchup (for my American friends, when I say chips, I mean steak fries).  

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Collection 13 | Ice Cream

1. Ceramic ice cream bowl | 2. Wooden spoons | 3. Paper cups | 4. Ceramic ice cream cone | 5. Wooden scoop  

Ice cream season is upon us and LA has a couple of cool places to head to for that sweet icy fix.  Mostly known for its ice cream cookie sandwiches, Cool Haus is conveniently located a block away from our house and open until 10pm during the week.  With flavours like Olive Oil and Rosemary | Beer and Pretzels | Balsamic Fig and Mascarpone, I'll probably be going at least once a week.  Sprinkles, which is known for its amazing cupcakes, also does amazing looking ice cream with one of their flavours being Red Velvet.  The thought of Red Velvet cupcake and ice cream has me straight up salivating at the mouth!

If I haven't turned you off the thought of ice cream so far, check out some of the wonderful image links below.  There are so many super talented cooks and photographers out there.  I just hope my images for the photo styling challenge will be as good as these.  Eeeeek!

Oh and P.S. How cute are the ice cream waffle bowls from Anthropologie?

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Photography Styling Challenge

One of the fun things about blogging is that you end up connecting with people from all different walks of life.  A while back I was introduced to a very like-minded blogger, M of Redesigned By M.  Since we started chatting we realised we have very similar thoughts about design and, in particular, photography.  One day, M approached me over email to ask if I'd like to take part in a photography styling challenge she was setting for herself.  After hearing more about it and wanting to enhance my own photography skills, I decided to take her up on it.

I'm a total novice when it comes to working with a camera, I'm more of a point and shoot gal than  working out apertures and changing filters (unless it's on Instagram!).  I would, however, love to know more, so this challenge is the perfect excuse to break out the Nikon handbook (yawn). Not only that, but I do have a love of beautifully styled imagery so it will be fun, if a little daunting, to have a go myself.  The rules are set below and we're excited to post our first shoot on Monday 1st July which gives us a month to prepare our first challenge.  

Objective:

There are two, really. The first is to gain a better understanding of how to shoot with our camera, whether it is a point and shoot or a DSLR. Either way, we should get familiar with using all the functions and programs of our camera.

The second is to gain practice and experience with staging a photo shoot, using natural and artificial light, necessary props, color theory, and whatever it takes to make the final product look editorial.

Rules:

1. No editing is to be done of the photo other than cropping. No color touch-ups, no color enhancements, no light filters. Nothing, except cropping.

2. Camera equipment of any variety may be used to assist in the photography.

3. Select 1-5 of your best photos to be blogged.

4. Same concept must be blogged at the same time.

5. No text other than your watermark.

6. All shoots must be newly styled as of the first Monday of June 2013. 

Frequency: Once a month, on the first Monday.

Concepts to Complete*:

1. Food

2. Table setting

3. Wall vignette

4. Morning

5. Bedroom

6. Order (Organisation)

7. Chaos (Caveat: Must use at least 3 of the objects from “Order” photo shoot.)

8. Patterns

9. Fashion

10. Light

11. Living Room

12. Personal

*All concepts are open to interpretation to the photographer.

If anyone would like to participate then get involved!  Leave your name below and we'll be sure to include your blog in the first post.

Image credit | Redesigned By M

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