Friday, July 29, 2011

Fun Friday Links

Did you know it's the END OF JULY this weekend? Thank goodness Winter is nearly over. I'm sick of driving home at 6pm and feeling like it's 10 o'clock at night.

I have a big weekend coming up. Well, mostly tonight and tomorrow as I'm attending the Nuffnang Blogopolis conference tomorrow, and the pre-drinks thing tonight. I'm trying to prepare myself for the drinks, mostly because I suck at small talk, mingling and all things related to it. Basically, I'm trying to think of things to say other than "So.....do you like....stuff?" Here's hoping I succeed!

Anyway, let's get stuck into some links:

- You know how weird dogs look when they shake their heads, with all their skin and saliva flying everywhere? Well, somone had the foresight to capture it with still photography. So funny! Although I think the last dog just looks like he's modelling for a dog food catalogue and has a giant fan blowing his fur artfully around.

- Finally, someone told off a cosmetic company for misleading images in their advertising. L'Oreal got told to pull two of its ads in the UK featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington due to their gigantic LIES about what the product will do to your face. I mean, do they really think that we believe our face will constantly look like it's being lit softly from above just by usuing their make up? We're not stupid, L'Oreal.

- You know how your Nanna always looked super stylish (well, mine always did, especially when she wore a beret)? Someone has started a gorgeous blog called Advanced Style, featuring senior citizen aged women with great style. These women are rocking my world right now.

- Jeopardy host Alex Trebek's hotel room got robbed in the middle of the night recently while he slept. He chased the robber down the hallway and she was caught and arrested. It's must be awesome to be such a bad-ass game show host. His resume could now read "Game show host and vigilante." I'm jealous. Mine just says "Adminstration" about eight different ways.

- I was browsing some interior design blogs on the weekend and found this beautiful one dedicated to the colour turquoise (and different shades of blue). I'm in love with it. My next house will be ALL TURQUOISE. Honestly, I'm so easily influenced.

- Don't forget to head over to the Boredom Abounds By Julia facebook page and hit the Like button for all the latest updates!

Happy weekend everyone! Pin It

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Retail Therapy - Handbag

I have been on the hunt for a new handbag for a few weeks now, since I realised just how ripped and torn and tatty my green Kate Hill bag had become. I really wanted a bag from Fossil, because I love the range of colours, but when I went there on Thursday last week I just couldn't find anything that appealed to me (what is with padlocks on everything these days?) So I decided to drive up to the hills on Friday and visit a little shop I only discovered on the Queen's Birthday weekend this year. I was in luck.


This is the bag I coveted when I first went in there that weekend in June. I decided I could live without it and moved on. Turns out I couldn't live without it, from both a necessity and a style perspective. It's gorgeous, soft leather in a beautiful dusty pink colour and I love it.

Best part? Only $115.

The shop I got it from is called Hob Nob and it's in Sassafrass up in the Dandenond Ranges. No website, unfortunately, so you'll just have to go up there and check it out for your self! It's just up a bit from Miss Marples on the other side of the road. They have a huge range of jewellry, bags, boots and shoes, scarves, gloves and clothing. It's definitely worth checking out - the prices are reasonable and the items are one of a kind. Pin It

Monday, July 25, 2011

Monday Morning Melody - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

I've heard a couple of songs by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros over Summer when they were out here and doing the rounds of the radio stations for interviews. But I saw this online last week and just had to share it.



I can't embed the offical video, but do check it out here - it's worth it, I promise. It's just one of those songs that is a toe tapping, rollicking good time. Pin It

Friday, July 22, 2011

Fun Friday Links

Has anyone else noticed the days are getting longer? Just a fraction. I arrive home at 6pm each night and I've noticed over the past two weeks that the sky isn't quite pitch black yet! Spring will be here in five weeks and I cannot wait. That's only forty one days away! Hooray!

Anyway, here are your Friday links:

- So instead of a regular movie poster, apparently there's something called a motion poster now. Because we all spend every waking minute with our eyes on a screen so we can no longer look at static images in real life anymore or something? This is the first time I've heard of it, and the first one I've seen is from The Hunger Games film adaptation. I have to say, it does look pretty cool. I love the tagline they've used, and the bird calls you can just hear in the background are a nice touch.

- Ever wondered approximately how many words you know? Test your vocab here and it will give you an estimate. Mine wasn't as big as I thought, but seriously, who the hell knows what terpsichorean means? If you do (without googling!), you better leave a comment. I dare you.

- In case you missed it, someone wandered in to the Murdoch/News of the World hearing in the UK and cream pie'd Rupert Murdoch. Or shaving foamed him if you want to be accurate. Here's the footage, in case you missed it. My favourite part is when his wife reaches over to whack the guy. My only question is how did a guy walk into a hearing very obviously holding a cream pie without being stopped? Did people just look at him and think "Huh. Dude's got a cream pie. Wonder what's for lunch today" and ignore him? Also: security. Where the hell were you?

- Finally, have you "liked" the Boredom Abounds By Julia facebook page yet? If not, hop to it!

Have a good weekend everyone! Pin It

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Retail Therapy - A Wallet

Last year I bought this wallet. I love Olga Berg, and I loved the vintage, worn look that wallet had. But within a week of using it I realised just how unnecessarily big it was and just how much space it took up in my handbag. And yet I stuck with it for a whole 'nother year and a bit. Finally ozsale.com.au had a sale and I nabbed this chic number:


It's from Status Anxiety's Penelope collection, a brand I hadn't heard of before. But the colour grabbed me straight away, since I was looking for something that wasn't beige, brown or black. This is a nice, sophisticated colour, and the cross pattern gives it a really subtle texture, which I love. It retails at $69.95, which is understandable because it's real leather. I managed to grab it on ozsale.com.au for $30. Bargain!

Best part? My Olga Berg wallet was quite literally an inch and a half thick. This one? About 1.5 centimetres Such a difference!



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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Adventures in Cooking - Blondies

I had an incredibly busy and fun weekend - girlfriends came over for afternoon tea, we had lots of fun babysitting our one year old niece overnight for the first time (hello, 6am Sunday morning - I didn't know you existed), went to see the Building and Home Improvement show at the exhibition building and a family dinner Sunday night. Before my friends came over on Saturday for afternoon tea, I whipped up a batch of what is possibly the most delicious cake/slice treat ever. They're called Blondies, and they are the opposite of Brownies.

I first had these Blondies at a good friend's cellar tea in February. They were made by the bride-to-be's sister, and she very kindly emailed me the recipe during the week so I could add it to my recipe file. I've made them a couple of times since then and they never fail to impress  people - they're soft, moist and full of a delicious mix of flavours.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to photography the baking every step of the way like I usually do because I was pressed for time, but here is the result:



Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: Varies, depending on your oven. Roughly 30 to 40 minutes

Ingredients
125g butter, chopped
300g good quality white eating chocolate
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped coursely
150g raspberries
icing sugar for dusting

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170°C.

2. Grease 23cm sqaure cake pan/brownie tin.

3. Melt the butter and 200g of the chocolate over a saucepan of boiling water, stirring until it's melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes until it's warm rather than boiling hot. The mixture will appear to separate as it cools, but this isn't an issue, so don't worry too much about it.

4. Combine sugar, eggs, sifted flours, additional 100g of white chocolate, raspberries and macadamia nuts in a bowl. Pour the melted butter/chocolate into the bowl and mix it all together until just comined. The raspberries will break apart as you mix it, but that's fine.

5. Spread mixture evenly into the greased cake tin and make sure the surface is fairly evenly flat all over. Bang the tin on the bench once or twice to remove any air bubbles.

6. Bake in moderate oven for about 30 to 40 minutes (or until firm and just cooked the whole way through). Set aside to cool completely.

7. Remove from cake tin and cut into sqaures or triangles. Dust with icing sugar before serving. The Blondies have a lovely sweet and tart flavour, thanks to the mix of white chocolate and raspberry, which is absolutely divine.

8. Store in an air tight container once cooled and cut up - the Blondies will keep for about four days or so.

Et Voila!

Notes
- As I have a fan forced oven that gets extremely hot very quickly, I cooked mine at about 140°C for about 45 minutes. Basically, I cooked it at a lower temperature for longer. I would probably lower the temp to about 130°C next time and cook it for about 50 minutes because the top and bottom cooked too quickly, while the middle took a while to bake properly.

- It's super important to melt chocolate in a saucepan over another saucepan of boiling water. The first time I made these I didn't, and while the butter melted fine, the chocolate got too hot and melted with quite a gritty texture. It was still usable, but it's really better to get it melted down as smoothly as possible. This applies to most reciped that call for melted chocolate.

- The macadamia nuts are optional and don't need to be included. I have left them out and the texture of the finished product is still great.

- This recipe is best served the day you make them as they're lovely and soft when they're first cut up, but serving them a day later is also fine as the density increases and they take on a subtle, fudgy texture which is also delicious.

- The mini milk bottle and the straw in my photo are both from The Little Big Company, a fabulous Australian party accessory supplier. I'm obsessed with nearly everything on their website. And they have an awesome blog with heaps of inspiration and style ideas!

Now I'm on the hunt for the perfect brownie recipe - I want something similar to Mrs Fields' double fudge brownies, but perhaps slightly less sickly sweet. They definitely have to have that lovely fugdy texture in the middle though - got any suggestions for me? Pin It

Monday, July 18, 2011

Monday Morning Melody - MoZella

I first discovered MoZella in about 2005 or 2006, I think, after hearing her either on a TV show or on a movie promo. Her voice is instantly distinctive, so I bought her album, I Will, from Amazon. She released a new album last year and this is one of the catchy songs from it.





You've probably heard her in shows like One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars or in a bunch of commericals if you're in the States.


Her music is just so cute and fun. I find it completely addictive and I need to buy her new album ASAP!

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Friday, July 15, 2011

Fun Friday Links

I spent most of this week feeling like someone was trapped inside my sinuses and was trying to punch their way out. Fun times, I tell you. But, I did come across some entertaining links to keep me distracted from the throbbing pain in my face.

Enjoy!

- So, apparently actors reading kids books is the new Thing. Here's a clip of Christopher Walken  reading The Three Little Pigs. I wonder what the weirdest celebrity reading would be. Bobcat Goldthwaite reading Guess How Much I Love You?  Maybe Gilbert Gottfried reading Peepo perhaps? The possibilites are endless.

- Noni Hazlehurst reads Go The Fuck To Sleep. I think I would find this funnier if I didn't know a really interesting and fairly accurate piece of gossip about Ms. Hazlehurst from the 1990s, which speaks VOLUMES about her as a person.

- More Jon Hamm - this time, he emotes. It is brilliant.

- Apparently Jon Hamm/Don Draper is becoming something of an internet....meme? Or something? Anyway, if you every find yourself in a sticky situation and you don't know what to how to handle it, just ask yourself "What would Don Draper do?"

- I saw this link about an hour after I posted last Friday's links, so you may have already seen it, but I think it merits posting. What your favourite 80s band says about you. I think the Wham! one is my favourite.

- Finally, don't forget to Like the Boredom Abounds By Julia facebook page and follow me on Twitter!

FYI - Emmy nominations are out today, yay! Who wants to bet January Jones wears something cracked out on the red carpet again?

Peace out, dudes. Pin It

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Beauty Spot - Direct from the USA

My sister just got back from two and a half weeks in the States. I only had one request: get me some make up. 

One item in particular:

If you saw my post on Twitter last night, you'll know exactly what it is....


Exciting, yes?

I'm not a beauty blogger, so I'm not going to swatch it up or go into extensive detail (mostly because I haven't had time to properly apply any of it, but here's another picture of it:


A few of the colours on the left half of the palette are actually more gold than they appear in the photo. I played around with it last night and the pigment is pretty good - it goes on smoothly and the colours are lovely.

It cost me $51AUD. I've seen some on ebay going for $85, so I'm pretty happy with that price. Oh, and apparently my sister walked into a Sephora, didn't see any on the shelf, asked the sales assistant and he declared he was "going to take care of her" (but not in a creepy, mob way - more in a very camp male sales assistant way thank goodness) and ran out the back to get a couple for her. Easy peasy!

Oh, and that last colour, the blue at the far right? AMAZEBALLS.

There. How's that?



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Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Morning Melody - Mat Kearney

Well, this is becoming something of an occurence, isn't it? On a Monday morning everyone needs a pick me up, so why not do it with music. Especially with this catchy tune!



When I heard this on the radio last night I honestly thought it was a new Coldplay song. I had forgotten how much Mat Kearney can sound like Chris Martin. I first discovered Mat Kearney about four years ago when I heard this gorgeously bittersweet song and this song by Mat. His voice is just lovely. Pin It

Friday, July 8, 2011

Friday Night Drinks

I remembered I had an unopened bottle of peach vodka in the cupboard, so I thought last night would be perfect for a cocktail.

Some quick Googling turned up a few recipes, but this one seemed the easiest and required the least amount of effort.

Pavlova Peach Cocktail
1 1/2 oz Peach Vodka
2 oz cranberry juice
2 oz orange juice
1 oz lemonade (Sprite)
Garnish with a slice of peach or orange

So I whipped one up, cooked some burgers and listened to some oldies on the radio. It was perfect.

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Fun Friday Links

Half day today, WOOT. I'm getting some microdermabrasion done this afternoon, which basically means I get to lie in a warm, cosy room and have a machine blow warm steam on my face while soothing music plays in the background and a beautician prods at my fave. I CANNOT WAIT.

If you're in Melbourne, how gross is this weather?

Here are your Friday links!

- Have a look at this slideshow of abandoned cities around the world. It's kind of creepy.


- You know how there was that whole Swarley thing on How I Met Your Mother? Well, someone started an actual website that documents all the incorrect spellings of people's names on their Starbucks cups. I bet somewhere out there, some parents-to-be are reading it thinking "I LOVE the way they spelled Katy - let's totally use that for our unborn child's name!" 'Creative' spelling of baby names is not okay, people.

- This book shop worker has a great blog that chronicles the crazy ass things people say to her while browsing in the shop. I bet there are many, many retail workers that could add to this, from all types of shops.

- Most people know about The Selby, but it's worth another mention. It's basically a website that offers a view inside the workspaces of creative people all over the world. I'd love to be featured on a website like this, but the photo would just be me in my pyjamas sitting on the couch with my laptop, which isn't that exciting (FOR SOME. For me it's quite pleasant).

- Allow yourself to be soothed by this beautiful youtube clip of some people in Poland who
set the world record for most amount of floating lanterns. How lovely is it? I recommend turning the volume on the clip down and playing it with your slow song of choice - it's really mesmerising.

- At a U2 concert this week, Bono saw a sign in the audience that said "Blind Guitar Player." The guy holding the sign wanted to play a song for his wife. So what does Bono do? He invites the guy up onto the stage to accompany them.
Check out the video here.

- Finally, it was the Fourth of July in the States this week, and My Drunk Kitchen has a
patriotic video up to celebrate. Enjoy! Pin It

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Winter Bloom


I downloaded the Hipstamatic app on my new phone and yesterday as I walked out of the house to go to work I noticed that the large Camellia bush had one single bloom on it. Although it's actually a red colour, for some reason it photographed as this pink shade. 

It's not my favourite flower by any means, but this single bloom on a freezing cold Winter morning where there's nothing but grey sky and drizzle was something nice to see of as I got in the car to drive to work.
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Monday, July 4, 2011

Monday Morning Melody - Joshua Radin

Since posting my review of Joshua Radin's Melbourne show, I thought I'd pop up a clip of his new single, I Missed You. If you're not familiar with his music, enjoy!



It's just honest to goodness feel-good music for your Monday morning. Pin It

Friday, July 1, 2011

Fun Friday Links

What a busy, busy week. It felt slow, but whipped by at the same time. Let's jump straight into the links, shall we?

- I just know you're going to want to start off your Friday by enjoying this clip of all the Jon Hamm cameos jezebel put together. The Unadulterated Joy of The Jon Hammeo.

- I feel so out of the loop, but did you all know that TopShop is coming to Australia? Apparently they're opening on Chapel Street. Here's hoping they don't overprice things in comparison to their UK stores/online prices (ZARA and THE GAP I'm looking at YOU. We're not stupid, you know). Hopefully H & M and Urban Outfitters/Anthrolpologie will eventually make their way here too.

- I found this Australian website during the week when I was searching for miniature glass milk bottles online. How adorably retro is their party stuff? I've ordered these, these and these.

- Check out this funny trailer for every Oscar winning film ever.

Happy weekend everyone! Pin It