Meet Arthur

If you don't follow me on instagram, you've probably missed my adorable Christmas present from my boyfriend... this guy!:

I initially had serious trouble thinking of a name for him and after almost a week considered naming him Lord Voldemort for fun. My bestie was not cool with that (and only one of my friends got the reference). I thought he would suit a 'Grandpa' name like Charlie, Harold or George, but they didn't quite have the right ring to them. Then I moved on to grey things. Pepper? No. Earl (like the tea)? No. Babar (the elephant - I loved that show as a kid)? Maybe. But Babar was too recognisable as being an elephant so I looked up other characters from the show and stumbled across this gem: 

"Arthur: Babar's mischief-making brother-in-law."

Perfect. And he's certainly lived up to it. The little scamp loves to chew and today hopped out of his play pen (makeshift from wire garden edging) and explored/raced around the back garden for an hour while I fretted that he could possibly get loose. After I managed to wrangle him and get him back inside, he happily rested on my bed and allowed me to take some glamour shots.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!

Because what would Christmas be without a little Home Alone? And what would Christmas in Australia be without a trip to the beach/other body of water to escape the heat?

We spent the morning at the gorgeous Yanchep Lagoon nomming on sweet summer fruit before the heat got to us and we retreated back to the house for naptime, tv and air conditioning.

I hope you all had a fantastic day wherever you are and whoever you spent it with.

<3

Get Baked: Gingerbread Men

What would Christmas be without gingerbread men, honestly? Well.. just a day that we overeat and give gifts really, but that's beside the point.

I whipped these up the other day using this recipe and in the spirit of Christmas, gave most of them away to friends (mostly so I wouldn't eat them all myself!)

This is probably the best gingerbread recipe I've used so far, and next year I'm definitely going to attempt a house from scratch :)

Lazy girls' guide to holiday decor.

If you're like me [read: lazy] and got to the week before Christmas without putting up a single bit of holiday paraphernalia [and considered not putting any up altogether since you'd just have to rip it all down in the next week] then this one is for you.

I'd left holiday decorating too late and didn't want to put up the full tree because that means taking down a full tree later. I'm calling this a modern, minimalistic approach to Christmas decor *cough*.

Step 1: Find a cool looking branch and spraypaint it white [or whatever colour you choose].
Step 2: 'Plant' your branch in a pot with enough sand so it doesn't tip over.
Step 3: Decorate with baubles.
Step 4: Step back and take in the awesomeness that is your DIY tree :)

Perfect for smaller houses/apartments without the room for a ginormous fir, and slightly better looking than a tabletop tree made entirely of tinsel.

Getting in the spirit

While browsing the interwebs the other night I came across this tutorial and since I'd already painted my nails red and silver for the holidays I figured I'd go (jingling) all the way. It's more fun anyways.

Just in case you can't tell what they are from my terrible attempt at photography this morning, there are some santa suits and a mish-mash of red/green/silver/gold designs.

Merry Christmas!

Big day is here! I hope you all have a fantastic day wherever you are, whatever you are doing and whoever you are spending it with :)

I'm about to head off to lunch and stuff my face.

Should have got Mozart some reindeer ears... hmmm, next year.

x

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Feeling pretty chuffed with myself right now, the bf and I managed to purchase all but 2 of our Christmas presents in less than 3 hours on Saturday and I picked up the remainder today. So aside from work for the next 2 days I can pretty much kick back and relax until the big day. U jelly?


I also finally got around to putting up the fairy lights out the front of the house and decorate a bottlebrush in the yard (note to self: purchase more large baubles for outdoor use in post Xmas sales). I also set up the tree because honestly, what's Christmas without one? And since the less I put up, the less I have to put away in the post Christmas hangover, I decided to wedge the tree in a corner so I would only have to put up a quarter of the branches (smart, I know).


And for those of you who don't follow me on instagram; as if making my dog get a haircut wasn't torture enough, I also subjected him to tinsel and santa hat abuse :P

A chocoholic's best friend

So last week the girls held a Kris Kringle exchange and we were all asked to bring a plate. Since I was working, I wanted something I could prepare the night before relatively easily and immediately thought Rocky Road (because what's easier than pouring a heap of melted chocolate over some random ingredients right?)


Trawling through the mass google results for the perfect recipe, I stumbled upon this one tucked away in a corner and thought you know what, I don't think I've ever had white choc rocky road. And thus my little adventure began.


Turns out white choc is a little more expensive than milk/dark choc (as are pistachios and cranberries over peanuts and cherries) but it's so worth it. The slight saltiness of the pistachios and macadamias are quite a nice surprise in contrast to the sweetness of marshmallows and chocolate (like mixing popcorn and M&Ms at the movies- yummmm). Did I mention they're super pretty too? 


I planned to cut them into gingerbread men shapes with cutters, however the tin was too small and the slab turned out too high to push the cutter all the way through. There was also too much filling/not enough chocolate and so the slice was quite puffy and not dense enough to cookie cut. Oh well, perfect excuse to make it again next year!