The fruits of my fiance's labour

So over Christmas Michael built me a herb garden on our balcony. Originally I wanted this massive over-engineered vertical construction - in the end, he convinced me that shelves and pots would be fine :)

He's so talented - I'm so lucky :)

It turned out so pretty!! I love the little black pots and all our gorgeous herbs. I love to cook as you know, and I had previously been quite frustrated at the inconvenience and cost of buying herbs at the supermarket on a per use kind of basis. Firstly, the amount you can get is always way too much for one recipe (and yeah, throw that basil in a glass of water in the fridge, make it last - $10 says you still don't use it again  and throw it out all wilted and nasty in a week's time). Secondly, it's so expensive for what you're actually using, $3 for a handful of sage? As if!

Sidebar: look at me being all indignant and frugal :)

By far the most amazing thing about having your very own herb garden on your balcony is that you can dash out spontaneously to the balcony in the mornings and pick just enough fresh gorgeous basil to make a delicious salad like so:

And you can pick heavenly fresh mint for your morning green smoothie - but more on those later :) xo

Working Week: Outfit of the Day

It's a style reprieve for Tuesday!!

At the start of every month, there's a lot of financial review and budgeting work that needs to  be done, looking over the last month and planning for the next. I have meetings today so my fabulous team did rescheduling like you've never seen and got me a free day for just my normal work - go team!!

So I get to dress how I like today and I'm actually working the peplum:

Top: Pierre Balmain
Pants: David Lawrence
Shoes: Bally

Bag: Louis Vuitton

I only bought this top recently. I've always liked a peplum but I haven't worn one as dramatic as this before. I'm grounding the look with slim-fit black cropped trousers and classic accessories.

What I love about this outfit is it's so perfect for work in summer. The monochrome tones, delicate texture of the fabric, the camel patent pumps and the sleeveless top with light cotton trousers, it's comfortable and chic for 28C temps outside - perfection! xo

Working Week: Outfit of the Day

Hello!

One of the reasons I've been so harried recently is because work is a bit out of control - we've been quite short staffed despite our best efforts - so at the moment I'm starting early, doing multiple site visits each day and stepping into multiple roles. As a result, I need to dress a bit more practically (read: sensible shoes) than I usually do. Normally I'm quite corporate so my natural aesthetic is a little frustrated at the moment!  This is an outfit I would normally wear on a weekend, probably not to work but, well, work needs take precedence over any style quibbles...

Witchery tee
Country Road blush zip pants
Tods camel loafers
Louis Vuitton Speedy B

But it's not all bad - I'm still rocking a great bag and a good colour combo and I actually enjoy the confidence that comes from knowing I'm heading off to a frantically busy day at 7am but I will be comfortable and ready for anything all day!

I can save the heels for Friday night at the moment :) xo

Consider yourself engaged!

News! In between me dropping off the edge of the earth in September last year and me reigniting the blog yesterday, M and I became affianced, pledged our troth, made known our intention...however you say it, we got engaged :)

Put a ring on it!

Obviously, like any couple heading down that path, we had discussed getting engaged (ever since M had a few too many beers out with friends one night and blew up my phone repeatedly after midnight wanting to know if I would ever wear his ring!? #awkwardmorningafter)

Then we went through the embarrassing "Why haven't you asked me already?!" phase when I momentarily went completely insane and let the crazy girl well and truly out of the bag. I managed to get the reins on her but still, it was not a proud time for me #shamespiral

Still, even though we had discussed it and I knew it was imminent, it was still really lovely when he actually asked me, on New Year's Eve, with our dog Leo, walking in the park watching the fireworks over the city skyline.

Complete life and style overhaul - Part 1

Hi everyone *sheepishgrin*

So I sort of dropped  of the face of the earth there, blog-wise, for a while. I recognise that this is not exactly what one is aiming for when one has taken the step of publishing a blog but still, it happened. I can't make it un-happen. However, I can provide context.

I got really sick in the last quarter of last year. It was one of those pervasive nasty viral things where you feel awful, you look awful, you act awful to all your loved ones, friends and work colleagues...and yet no-one says anything and you don't connect the dots to the point of asking "Hey, could there be something wrong with me?"

I finally went to see my GP in December after a trip away with M where I woke up every night crying because I was in too much pain to even roll over in bed and I had to ask him to roll me and sit me up so I could get up and go to the toilet. My GP (whom I love) asked me about my symptoms and when I told her how I had been feeling, she looked at me like I was a moron. She looked especially like this as me when I told her I had been feeling this way for more than 2 months.

So anyway, she took blood (props to my GP for her efforts: I do not like giving blood, or being the vicinity of needles or any of that sort of thing) and it turns out, aha! I was actually seriously seriously sick. So sick, she told me to take a month off immediately and spend every day in bed.

Of course, this isn't 1905 and we ladies unfortunately can't just pop off on a sea voyage with our companions whenever it suits us - have to  pay bills, amiright?

So I kept working but dropped back my hours to leave every day at 5pm, took a brief but very necessary break over Christmas/New Years and returned to work determined to  make 2014 my year - the year I lose weight and get back to my goal weight, the year I build my running fitness to 12km, the year I eat well, look great and feel amazing!

Anyway, it hasn't been like that the whole of this year. Work is still stressful, people don't always play fair or make sensible decisions and some of us will always have to be there on-call to pick up the pieces. But I am in  a better place, a new place,  where I feel allowed to prioritise myself more and take better care of myself. I no longer feel tired every day at 10am. I can get out of bed at 6:15am and not cry in the shower. I am exercising and eating well and really enjoying all of that as I slowly regain my energy and positivity.

So, all of that navel-gazing introspection out of the way, I wanted to get back posting because I read over all of them up to September last year and I felt like it was fun, what that girl was getting up to. I want to get back into that.

I hope you're all having happy and healthy 2014's so far :)  xo