Red Velvet Cupcakes & House Decorating!

So today the finance went off to the footy, so I took advantage of this and had a nice day to myself!

I did some shopping, took the puppy for an hour long walk, put together some new furniture and did some baking. And made pizza for dinner. Plus all the usual boring housework things. 

First up = Cupcakes!

The recipe I used was from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. 

It was relatively easy to make. Whatever you do don't spill the food colouring. Not that I did but I could see it being rather messy!

Finished product. I didn't take photos during, my kitchen was a bit messy!

They actually look darker than this photo shows. Taste yummy too!

I forgot to buy the cream cheese for the icing so I cheated and just made vanilla icing. Next time I'll remember to buy the ingredients and try the icing.

And now for my decorating. 

There was a corner in the dining room that has been driving me crazy for ages just being so empty and today I bought the perfect vase to go there.

I just had to go buy a table of some sort too. 

This is the vase. It's an aqua/blue and white colour, very nice. 

Only $54 from Aquire. 

The tables I ended up getting were actually "stackable cubes" from Kmart. 

$19 each and pretty easy to put together. 

I also got this little love sign for $9 from Kmart too. 

The middle shelf. An engraved frame my friends gave us for our engagement with a photo set from our engagement photo shoot. 

And this is the overall look. I'm rather happy with it. Hopefully the fiance will like it when he gets home!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Wedding Expo

So today I went to a Wedding Expo with one of my bridesmaids, who is also a fellow bride and who I'm going to be bridesmaid for too. 

Confusing label, yes?

Anyway wanting to beat the crowd (and score the bag of freebies) we got there nice and early.

I'm so glad we did, it was so busy and parking was nuts as we left.

On the way to the expo we were talking wedding locations for her and discussing the option of hiring a bus. The first thing we see at the expo? A bus all decked out for a wedding.

Surprisingly, it didn't look too bad.

They deck out the inside with white curtains, the flowers in the overheads (with fairy lights so it looks all cute at night) and the ribbons on which you can see on each isle seat. And on the outside a bouquet of flowers and some balloons.

Of course you can customise it all to what you want.

We don't need anything like that for our wedding, but it is an interesting option. Certainly beats all the buses I have seen on Four Weddings!

There were so many displays set up there was a lot to look at. Car/limo hire, decorators, jewellers, photographers, cake makers, videographers, celebrants!

Thankfully I have a couple of those booked already, but I still found some things I am interested in. AND discovered companies in the area I never knew existed.

For one - Poppy's Candy Buffets. 

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a sweet tooth; thus my wanting a candy buffet at the wedding was almost a given. And with goodies like this how could you say no?

Photo from Poppy's Candy Buffets Facebook page

So needless to say I will be doing some research into this!

The other really good thing we came across was a jewellery store booth with mens rings. Now the fiance had indicated he wasn't really wanting to get a wedding ring because he isn't allowed to wear one to work and thought it would be a waste of money.

He was under the impression the ring would be really expensive. 

The jewellers we met today proved that wrong. 

He's now getting a ring. Knowing the price he now agrees. He can wear it for special occasions and out for dinner and all that.

A titanium ring is actually not that expensive, we found nice ones for under $400.

Sold. I'll be keeping their flyer for when it comes time to buy his ring.

And some of the cakes we saw? AMAZING.

There was one literally shaped like the Eiffel Tower, a castle and a massive 10 tier cake.

I'd hate to see the pricetag attached to those when a three tier cake is at least $600 or more.

And of course, the freebie bag!

As well as the usual bunch of flyers, odd pen there were these goodies.

 Avon Anew Reversalist Night Renewal Cream

 Three Magazines!

WA Bride

Bride's Diary Perth (which is almost 2cm thick)

And WA Travel

And Roc Candy!

I've seen these used for bonbonnieres and I really like them. I dislike the prices I've found  however.

All in all it was well worth going and I've got some more ideas. 

It's definitely something anyone as a bride-to-be should attend.

Dress Inspiration

So I'm sure many of you will have seen all the headlines about the Duchess of Cambridge and it being the third event she had worn her hair in an updo and her flesh showing dress. 

The dress was GORGEOUS.

I'm thinking I might have to steal some ideas for my wedding dress. I love the lace detailing on the back. And the colour. Maybe a colour for my bridesmaids?

What do you all think?

Happy Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope you've all had a great week. Mine was flat out busy but good.

After a job interview Monday morning, I had a busy day baking and taking the dog for a very long walk. Just after 5pm I got a phone call that totally changed my week.

I got the job!

And I started Tuesday morning! 

So this week I've been back at work, learning lots, trying to remember names and have met a lot of lovely people. It's so good to be back at work. The hours are longer than my last workplace, but I get an hour lunch break which isn't too bad. 

Amongst that I've got in a walk with my friend Lee. Having to clean, cook, keep up with the things I've sold on ebay and grocery shopping. 

Needless to say I'm exhausted today, but I'll gladly accept that and have a job than to still be unemployed. 

This weekend I'm going to the Groovin the Moo musical festival and on Sunday a wedding expo. I plan to take my camera to both so hopefully I will able to do a nice big post for you all.

Have a great weekend!

Recap of the week gone.

This week has been really weird not having to work. 

I've managed to be somewhat of a domestic goddess though. All the fiance's clothes were washed and folded. I made pumpkin soup (twice) from scratch, choc chip cookies and carrot cake. There was always something for dinner for when the fiance got home. I caught up on all my tv shows, applied for several jobs AND got all the grocery shopping done. 

Even with all that I still had far too much free time on my hands.

So I started picking projects for next week. I changed my hair appointment to daytime hours.

I received this book I ordered a while back after loving the sound of it on Lipstick & Cake.

The Hummingbird Bakery - Cake Days.

I still have pumpkin leftover so I want to try make pumpkin scones too. 

The fiance is going to get fat with all my baking. Lol.

On walking past Lovisa on my way to Coles I saw they had a buy two get one free sale. 

Call me a sucker but I bought these gorgeous necklaces. 

I also decided now would be a great time to do some wedding research so I got the newest edition of The Knot magazine. It came with a freebie of their 2011 Winter Edition. I'd never seen it before, so I'm happy with two for the price of one. 

In wandering through Target to kill some time before lunch with a friend I came across these leather gloves. Quite plain but I wanted something to keep my hands warm whilst driving on those chilly wintery mornings. For $4.83 I wasn't going to say no! 

This is a bit of a needs and want combo from Target and Priceline. 

Target had 25% off some of their beauty range so I got a new blush brush since my old one has just about died and another Maybelline lipstick in Pinkalicious. I fell in love with it so got a spare whilst it was so cheap. 

Priceline had a % off Australis so I got the gorgeous eyeshadow pallet in Choc-A-Block. It says it is for use wet or dry, but I've never used an eyeshadow like that wet before? 

And the boring essentials, a new shower cap and emery boards. 

I also had an appointment about getting my wisdom teeth out and had a not so nice experience in the waiting room. 

I got a couple of phone calls because our puppy had escaped and I was trying to deal with it (it didn't help I was over half an hours drive from home and the fiance was at work over an hour away). I was being very quiet on the phone. I didn't want to step outside because it was right on my appointment time and I didn't want to miss it. 

Some grumpy old fool literally told me off and made me go outside. 

As it turns out said grumpy old fool did not have an appointment and made ME have to wait longer because he demanded an appointment with the surgeon I was seeing. 

The ladies that worked there couldn't believe his behaviour to me, said they couldn't even hear me on the phone and then made him apologise to me for making me wait longer. I still wasn't impressed.

Lastly but certainly not least, the fiance's mother took me to Perth to see Mary Poppins. 

It was a ladies of the family affair with M's sister, aunt and two cousins. 

And Mary Poppins was amazing!

If you have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it. 

The singing was absolutely amazing and the dancing was perfect. 

Everything was so perfectly in time. I honestly have no idea how the children managed to keep up with how quick and precise all the movements were.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a very Happy Mother's Day to all the Mum's out there. 

The photos of Mary Poppins are from a WA Newspaper. Cameras weren't allowed at the show.

Jeanswest Haul

So last week Jeanswest had their 40% off friends and family sale.

Boy, did I score some bargains. 

Berry Super Skinny Jeans for $42. 

I've wanted to try the coloured jeans trend so I figured now was a good time. 

Skinny Jeans in Indigo, also $42

I already have a pair of these and love them, so decided to get a second. 

A cute little beret beanie. This photo does not do the cuteness justice at all. $10.49

"Marshall Peacoat" jacket which I got for $72. 

It's so warm and comfy. I like that I can dress it up or down.

I also got the cutest black top with white & red polka dots for $12. 

The photos are from the Jeanswest website.

Relfection

You know, up until the other day I'd never given a thought to how lucky I was to have a job. 

Now, I see just how lucky I was.

Why now? You ask. 

I was made redundant. Actually everyone was, my workplace closed down. 

It's been the most strange, surreal and emotional fiasco. 

It's like the end of an era.

And I'll miss my coworkers. 

In a way they were like a second family. 

The whole thing was done in just over 24 hours. I was called into a meeting and told the news. Close of business the next day was the end of it all.

Being unemployed is just weird too. My body clock still wakes me up at the time I'd get up for work. On the plus side my bank account is healthy with a payment in lieu of notice and my leave payout.

Now I just have to hope I can find a new job quickly. The resume got a revamp and I've applied for a few jobs so far. Wish me luck!

The fiance was so sweet and bought me a West Coast Eagles jumper as a cheer up/unemployment gift. 

He knew I wanted one for a while and wanted to surprise me. 

He even got the perfect size. 

Mind you it is a child's size 16. So I can now tell you that is pretty much an adult female size 8 equivalent.

The second part to the surprise? He is taking me up to Perth today go to the actual game!

I am a very lucky girl.