Scared Weird Little Guys

Tonight Surfer Boy and I are actually going out TOGETHER!  We usually find that these days we end up going to things individually so someone is home with the kids but tonight we get to actually go on a date.

Our lovely (and hilarious) friend Rusty has invited us to see his final show at The Atheaneum Theatre.  Rusty is one half of the 'Scardies' who are performing their final tour after 21 years and four and a half thousand shows together! 

Enough Already is their farewell tour and I'm so rapt that we get to see it.

'I'll leave your names at the door'  Who doesn't want to hear that every now and then?

Post Script - We just got home and I can honestly say we have not had that much fun in a long long time.  The boys were in fantastic form and were hilarious.  They will be sorely missed.  You must see them if you can!

New Things

New Tables

New Paintings

New Blue and White Bone Inlay Boxes and Pink Inlay boxes too...

Another new painting

And another fabulous and very reasonably priced table

It really is like Christmas at Black & Spiro lately with all of the beautiful new things we have arriving from our overseas suppliers and also our wonderful Australian suppliers too.  Here are a few things which just arrived in this week.  I am finding it hard not to take things home.  I whisked one of the new pink inlaid trays home with me yesterday and I am obsessed with it...almost as much as my garden!!!

Eye Candy - Joseph Gordon Levitt

Garden Pots Inside

After planting a few little pots for my garden table on the weekend I have been thinking I might do a few more so that I can bring some inside to put on the table in our lounge room or to place down the centre of the dining table when we have people over for dinner.  I also love how they are placed on the bench in the bathroom I have posted above.  I think it would be a nice idea to find an old rack with perforated shelves {like Brooke's} so that I can store lots of potted up succulents and also my potted bulbs and herbs in the garden near our garden shed.  Lots to do!!

PS.  If anyone is wanting to plant up some of these traditional little terracotta pots, I purchased mine from Bunnings.  I think they were approximately $2.50 per pot.  And if you live in Brisbane and want to purchase some bulbs then head to Bunnings as well.  Bulbs can be a bit tricky to buy here in Brisbane due to them not really liking our climate.   Oh and one more thing, if you want to plant some sweet peas you need to get them in this week if you live here!!  Mine were planted yesterday.  I can't wait to see them grow and flower over the coming weeks.

PPS. I only know these things about when to plant etc. thanks to Merve, Uncle Robbie, my mother, my grandmother and the lovely man at Bunnings who is my new best friend.  What would I do without them!!


image 1 - via delight by design scanned from easy elegance, image 2 - http://brookegiannetti.typepad.com/ {thanks viera}

Link Party #7 with GIVEAWAY!

It's a new link party! So, go ahead, link up any project using SEI product. This is the perfect time to show us what you made for the March challenge. Need a reminder of what that is? Go here. Haven't finished yet? It's ok, you have until March 31st at 11:59 pm to finish and link up.

*****One lucky person who links up their project will win a $25 gift card to shopsei.com!*****

Don't forget to...
1. Add a link to your SEI project on our blog by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. Your project must use at least one SEI product to participate.
2. Link back to us by adding this button to the bottom of your blog post.


<a href="http://seilifestyle.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlR7quLjN9iN8OC8w8B8tTFu5yU1GUhAdCmViVbK2Xkspb-edZPBn16GYl06KdCd11DDU17iOXiYNPSykJ7LCINz-BuowuZqO5-_eBOEKgrNJBXeSE3o09EVw_CJHO03F01M-G5qQfwOA/s1600/link.jpg" /></a>3. Check each other's projects out & leave comments.

Party Time!!

Chair Heaven

When I was at a client's house a few weeks ago I spotted this fabulous image when she was showing me through her file of things she loves.  I took a photo of the tear sheet as I too love this chair.  I'm sorry I don't know the source of this photo so if anyone does then just let me know.  This image has now been slotted into my file of things I love...the file is bulging these days!

image source thanks to Make mine Mid-Century Blog - Home Beautiful May 2007 'Bohemian Rhapsody' p 72.

This Will Be Me One Day

Awww....

I know it's ridiculous but this photo has made me smile all day today.  Who knew baby hedgehogs were sooo cute!

Best lip balm! La Mer's The Lip Balm

I get dry lips all the time. I try not to use too much chapstick or balm because I feel like you get dependent on it. Nevertheless, I've tried about 20 different brands/types of lip products and none ever work quite like I hope. It always feels like the product just sits on the surface and somewhat moisturizes, but not really and I'll still have bits of dry skin on my lips and roughness - not attractive!

I was nearly resolved to the fact that nothing could be done, but then I finally decided to give one more a try. I really like La Mer products but they are spendy. I have been using Creme de La Mer off and on for years. Whenever finances are tight, I cut it out and go for the cheaper moisturizers. After our big project, I decided to finally "treat" myself to some La Mer products - specifically their Lip Balm (And the Radiant Infusion and a little pot of Creme de La Mer). I'd wondered about it for years, but could never justify the cost ($45 for lip balm!!!). I read really good reviews about it and thought - "heck! I'm going to get it!"

I went with the "free" super slow shipping and patiently waited for a week and it arrived about an hour ago and I totally love it. After warming with my fingers and patting on my lips, I could feel all the dry skin melt away... That never happens! It also has a pleasant smell and tastes like sugar. I would have been completely sold on just the dryness being fixed, but it actually filled in fine lines and made my lips plumper. Bonus! Roughness and fine lines - gone. :)

I'm so excited to have finally found "the" product of all products for my lips - the cost is still a bummer but the results make it well worth it. Sorry for this long post on a simple product! I just thought that maybe someone else out there might stumble on this and find it beneficial. ;)

Available at La Mer's website HERE.

Garden Ramblings

This is our garden yesterday with the round garden table Harry and I filled

with pots and also our vegetable garden to the left.

If my ramblings about my garden are becoming annoying just take me off your google reader or stop reading because I am thoroughly enjoying the excitement my garden is bringing me and I hope that these posts might inspire you to get your gloves on too.  I am actually quite a highly-strung, stressed-out maniac most of time however, I am finding that my garden is a place where I can relax.  I tend to drift off into another world when I am out there.  So, this is what I got up to on the weekend.

Harry and I planted up 10 little pots with succulents, herbs, pansies and another little plant which I can't remember the name of.  We arranged them on a round wire garden table which I placed near our vegetable garden.  I think this idea is such a great idea for interest in a large garden like ours but also would be wonderful on a verandah in an apartment or in a courtyard in a small garden.  I originally got the idea from a story on Deborah Needleman in Lonny magazine.  I think it was in one of their first issues...

We also started planting up some terracotta pots with Hyacinth bulbs which won't flower now until Spring but we are prepared and I think I might plant a few more this weekend as they will make nice gifts when Spring comes around. We also planted 30 Daffodil bulbs into the garden.  This weekend we will plant the Ranunculus, Freesias and tulips {which are currently in the fridge}.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will like it here in our red soil and will flower in Spring.

On Saturday we spotted 2 capsicum growing in our vegetable garden along with some corn.  We collected a small basket full of beans and cherry tomatoes which I cooked up on Saturday night.  This week we are planting some pretty sweet peas...this is the perfect time here for planting them.

And just to prove that I am making some headway in the garden compare the top photo in this post to this photo above as this is what one area of our garden looked like just before Christmas last year.  What a difference some effort can make and some help from my Uncle Robbie and Merv our lovely 84 year old gardener.  I can't claim all the accolades although if I didn't work I think I might be out there 24-7!

PS...One day she will be painted white but for the meantime we endure the red, green and yellow...xx

Ann - Margret

Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy. Her later career includes character roles in Grumpy Old Men, Any Given Sunday, The Santa Clause 3, and The Break-Up.

She has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards. On August 21, 2010, she won her first Emmy Award for her guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU. (Wikipedia)

On top of all this she dated Elvis Presley and is one of the cutest sex kittens ever to grace the screen.

If you don't believe me then watch this....

Caravan Inspiration - O.T.T.

Sometimes someone needs to take you aside and tell you when you've gone too far!

This is a perfect example of this not happening.

Maybe this van looks better from a distance but at the moment it is giving me a sugar rush.

LOVE.

Photography: Elizabeth Messina
Event Production & Design: Lisa Vorce
Floral & Event Design: Mindy Rice
Hair & Makeup: Erin Skipley
Wedding Gowns: Claire Pettibone
Headpiece: twigs & honey
Model: Ashlyn Pearce
via: Style Me Pretty

Thanks Goodness it's Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where did the week go?  I have no idea but I am glad it's Friday.  I am thrilled to advise that our 2 back rooms at Black & Spiro are now open again.  We've had a lot of customers waiting for the doors to open so thank you for your patience with us.  It takes time to make things beautiful!!!  I thought I'd share a few pictures as above.  We also have lots of blue and white in again which is great.  We actually have a brand new supplier of  blue and white so the pieces are all a bit different to the ones we've had in the past.  Oh and we just got in some more I love New York cushions too.

I think it's time I left the office.  I'm heading home to the garden...hopefully it won't be raining this weekend.  See you next week.
xx
Anna

It's Here

The caravan arrived yesterday - Surfer Boy took the day off to go and pick it up and then drove past my shop so I could see it - hilarious. 

When I got home from work he had already started working on it - it was absolutely filthy and unfortunately smells rather strongly of dog!  Not my favourite aroma.

The poor girl is in a sorry state but I noticed there were measurements for sheets of ply on the dining table this morning so I'm tipping that by the end of the weekend she will have at least one spanking new panel.    I'll have to make sure I take lots of photos of her transformation.

I have to make a decision as to whether I cover over the current (original but gross and beyond saving) upholstery or if I splurge and get the seats recovered.  I'm leaning towards the latter as I don't think that dog wee smell is ever going to leave if I don't.  I've already removed the hideous curtains and binned them - tempted to make new ones tonight but think I should wait until everything is sparkling again.

So much to do - so fun.  Grab a pair of gloves, some Spray & Wipe and join us for a weekend of scrubbing....

Spring Photo Journal

Kate made this spring photo journal with the Couture collection. She used spring photos and poetry throughout to highlight some of her favorite things about the season.

Peeping In....

Let's check out how Demi and Ashton live their lives..

courtesy of Architectural Digest

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor was an icon in the truest sense of the word long before she passed away yesterday at the age of 79.

Elizabeth Taylor Sunning Herself on the Set of Giant (1955); photograph by Sid Avery. 

 I think this is my favourite photo of Liz - candid, relaxed and relishing the sun on her face.  Perfect.

Just Ace.