Sweetie!

I am obsessed with my new desserts recipe book by Melbourne illustrator Daniella Germain! A friend showed me her blog which resulted in me becoming a massive fan of her illustration style. So obviously when I discovered she had a recipe book I jumped right on it! Not only is the book filled with amazing and delicious dessert recipes, but it is also just so pretty to look at! Even if I didn't bake I think I would have gotten this just purely for looks!

Every page has a watercolour illustration to match the recipe. Daniella also has another recipe book out at the moment called My Abuela's Table, which is a Mexican cuisine cook book. Of course the illustrations in that are amazing as well! It is definitely on my to buy list.

I had a go at making macarons for the first time using a recipe from Sweetie. I made three kinds, strawberry and white chocolate, salted caramel, and (as featured above) blueberry. Considering it was my first attempt I was super happy! I've heard a lot of people comment on macarons being tricky to make, but the recipe was so simple and easy to follow that I didn't really have any trouble. I'd have to say the salted caramel was my favourite, so I will be baking them again soon!

As you can see from my blog, baking is defiantly a big part of my life lately, and I really hope to learn more once I have more time on my hands. My course is very full on and I attend uni five days a week, but I still manage to bake at least once a week, which keeps me content. It is my little delicious procrastination. I used to  bake just to enjoy the final product, but now I find myself simply enjoying the process, and I find it very relaxing.

I am hoping to do lots of little cooking classes next year, once I have finished my course. I want to master the perfect cupcake and be able to work more from mind than from recipe.  Hopefully my blog will help document my baking journey!

When The Sun Came Out

Melbourne finally got a little sun! It was the perfect day to have a play and share some lovely desserts with my friend Caitlin. 

We were quite lucky with the desserts because after painstakingly deciding to go with the Mars Bar cake, the woman asked us if we would also like the Bailey's cheesecakes for free as she was going to throw them out any. So we got three cakes for the price of one! Fair to say it made my day.

So we set off to Caitlin's house and sat around on some crates in the sun to enjoy our treats. 

I have to say I am in love with Caitlin's Converse flatforms! I have been looking around for a pair of flatforms/creepers for a while, and will not buy them online after having some bad luck lately. When buying shoes online I have found they are either not the right size or I am disappointed with the quality.  Hopefully I have some luck and find a pair I love! 

Gloomy Weather

Any of you living in Melbourne will understand when I say that the weather has been ridiculously cold and gloomy of late. This weather has gotten me in a blogging funk.

I just never feel motivated to take pretty pictures when there is literally no natural light in my house! It really doesn't help that my house is surrounded by trees, blocking the little light we do have. I have been doing lots of crafty things lately which I hope to blog about soon, so excuse my absence lately.

Cold and rainy weather also prevents me from galavanting around the city. I'm only just on holidays from uni, so after being forced to train it into the city on rainy days, being able to just stay in my bed has been so tempting!

I hope none of you are in a funk! I am going to try my best to get out and about this week. Good luck to you all powering through these gloomy days!

Image titled 'Winter'  found on Society 6

Obsession: Anka Zhuravleva

I stumbled across these photographs by Anka Zhuravleva, a part of her 'Distorted Gravity' series. I was captivated by every single one of them and felt the need to share them with you. The 30 year old Russian born Zhuravleva has worked as a tattoo artist, modelled for Playboy magazine, sung in a rock band and now seems to have found her niche as an artist and photographer.

I love the whimsical and fairytale like quality of this series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Daily Documentation

  

I have decided that I need to document my daily life a little bit more. 

I stubbled across this pretty cool iPhone app through the blog A Beautiful Mess called Hipstamatic (lame app name I know), that lets you take photos with a pretty cool filter. The thing I like about it is that you aren't allowed to look through the photos you have taken until you finish the 'roll of film', which is 24 photos. It's a really cool way to reflect on your day, because you can never remember what you took photos of.

It's also nice to be surprised with how they turn out. I've made my stance on digital photos pretty clear, but this strips it back a little. It lets you be a little less of a perfectionist because you aren't constantly checking the result of what you just took.

I've been trying to do this daily (although sometimes feel like I have days when there isn't much to take photos of), so I may be making this a regular thing on my blog. The above is just a glance at my life lately. 

Give the app a download, I can guarantee you won't be disappointed! And it's free!

Instant Film

I have been having a lot of fun with my instant film camera. I love the anticipation as you wait for the picture to develop in front of your eyes! I feel in these days of digital cameras people have become so wasteful with what they point their lens at. When I use my instant film camera every photo is treasured because the film only comes in a ten pack and it's are pretty darn expensive! 

Of course there are so many perks to digital cameras, the clarity, unlimited photos (practically) and size. But sometimes I hate that clarity, its as if the camera has picked up every aspect of my face (even the bits I don't like). Film just keeps things simple. I would take a whole lot more if it wasn't so expensive! 

I use the Fujifilm Instax Mini. It works just fine! It's a lot cheaper than the official Polaroid version and works just as well. Perfect if you aren't hung up on brand names and the "novelty" of having a Polaroid. I've pegged my film out in my room on some pretty twine so everyone can see them. There isn't the hassle of uploading the photos, looking through the 300 that you took, and go get them developed. It's all done for you.

I think they are a fun little way of preserving memories, rather than losing them all when your computer crashes.