A Date w/ Oscar

On the weekend we looked after our darling little bird of a nephew Oscar.

We baked marble cake, drank vanilla Earl Grey tea, snuggled in bed and played DS, picked up the laundry, took photos of the stuff on my desk, tore out pages from my much loved Fifi Lapin 'What should I wear today?' book and framed them, went to Manly and to the new Greenhouse by Joost cafe at the Rocks (don't bother the service was so bad we left...and no-one even noticed), the Vanilla Rose cocktail on a bright sunshiny day at lunchtime helped, had gelato (me - coconut & strawberry; him - vanilla & raspberry) and dined out at the local Thai place. What a little poppet.

Le Weekend Past

Handwashing dries in the summer sun.

Peonies in a Chinese teapot.

A touch of admin, oh how I hate filing...you feel so much better once it's done though.

I Shop / I Read / I Photograph

I started reading etcetera in a cafe and finished it off on the couch at home as the sun sank towards the earth / I like the way the words are crawling up the cup like ants / I bought a glittering B for my sister Brie / I fell in love with manual focus / I have always loved packaging, brown paper, stamped and embossed lettering

Full Spectrum

My favourite segments on Saturday consist of a sitting cafe in a courtyard in the sun. Good coffee is a given and the Spectrum lift-out from the paper is essential. Hours of coffee drinking and toast dipping follow. The afternoon is devoted to snuggling my baby nephews and niece.

Afternoon Delight

3pm lunch at Kawa with the best section of the paper. Ahh.

Saturday

Creamy corals. The last of the poppies. A morning full of sunshine. A summery dress on a winters day. A champagne hangover. A latte cure from fab new cafe.

Signs

Woke at noon, wandered around Darlinghurst and found myself at Merci. Not the real thing but a joyous reminder of what's to come. A Toby's Estate coffee and dense fruit toast with organic butter then to the bookstore.

I love Ariel Bookstore. Their shelves are beautifully layed out, never too crowded, full of fabulous design and photography books, staff reviewed novels and lots of stools and objects to perch on to pour through the pages. They stock hard to find magazines like Lula and Dumbo Feather and from their ceilings hang stacks of gorgeous Chinese lanterns.

Across the road I discovered the Artisan Guild & Curiosity Shop pop up store (here til 31 July only!). I think it's Sydney's most fascinating and original shop. A gorgeous men's brand and vintage broaches, ties, headpieces and luggage. Artisans offerings of silver rings and tiny bird skulls & feathers. There are plants attached to the wall as well as deer heads and bird cages.

Then homeward bound with my booty of books and some dish washing and laundry, then off to catch Coco Avant Chanel.

Strawberry Jam & Fresh Figs

deconstructed bouquet of baby green figs in glass juice bottles
behind the scenes

lovely long lilac table runner embroidered w/ birds & branches

vintage grater / glass juicer / market fresh figs and strawberry jam

I'm not usually a purple girl - it just turned out like this by way of weekend purchases and the tissue they were wrapped in.

Bazaar & Bizarre

Bazaar: The beautiful new weekly farmers' markets are housed on one side of the tracks of a heritage listed ex-railway workshop. On the other side is Carriageworks - an industrial, peely-paint warehouse space containing an art gallery, cafe and performance space. Pop over to my food blog for more details and images.

Bizarre: When I looked through the window into the Carriageworks building there was a bizarre giant deflated fluorescent pink bear and black & red balloons hanging from the rafters. Not one for being unfamilar with the wrong side of the tracks I ventured in - I promise to post these pics soon - I was amazed. To top off the bizarreness of the weekend, on a leisurely Sunday morning stroll along the esplanade at Cronulla Beach, there I was, minding my own business and what passes me but a family on penny farthings - I kid you not - dressed in all their olden day finery - even the little boy was on a mini penny farthing in a matching tie and waistcoat to his dad and all peddalling along wearing dead straight faces. Bizarre.

a little girl on her dad's shoulders : 'sold' hydrangeas
roses : the market's back wall

breakfast: banana streusel muffin & Toby's Estate coffee on the pages of Gourmet Traveller : a Sonoma baguette is taken from the basket

All images by concrete & honey - more images posted at Urban Nectar.

The Society Inc.

slept in til 12
went out and collected:
2 pots for my jasmine
a pink sea urchin
tiny blue fan
porcelain feather
piri piri starfish
cream linen cushion w/ white skull applique
chemistry bottle
more credit card debt

window display / painted floor boards at The Society Inc.

invitation to The Society Inc.'s 'Tradewinds opening / little purchases on a page of piri piri starfish

shelves / drawers the colours of the sea

porcelain feathers / purchases all wrapped up

All images by concrete & honey.

Sacred Saturday

I do love Saturday's. It's the day that is all mine to spend how I wish and this is how I spent the last one.

Images by concretehoney via the supermarket (baby pears), my garden (single hydrangea flower), the bathroom cupboard (tiny facial oil bottle discovered amongst many unused products) and my kitchen (a tuna salad packed for an afternoon at the beach).