Birthday weekend

As I reached the big 2-4 last Saturday (that's only a year away from quarter of a century!), I couldn't have asked for a better celebratory weekend to keep my mind off my aging woes (OK, I'm really not that bothered, but still.)

The celebrations started early(ish) on Saturday, with my brother (who was over from Dubai on leave) and the boy making our way to Comino for a day of sun, sand and the smallest amount of ice-cold sea. That evening, a bunch of us headed over to Coach & Horses for That Swing Thing and a bit of guilty pleasure Eurovision-watching. I was very happily surprised by gifts from friends consisting of a voucher for a Deep Tissue Massage and my own mix CD of ghetto-cruisin' tunes to accompany me now that I'm (finally) driving!

The following day, my mum, brother, Teo & I headed to Bugibba Square for a light lunch, before I made my way to Mgarr for a lovely girly picnic organised by Maria, Carla & Lara. The pretty location courtesy of a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-family-member (did I get this right?) coupled with a wide variety of yummy food (including homemade quiche, prawn & egg sandwiches and lots of sweets) and drinks (fresh rosewater lemonade & Bellinis) made for a wonderful afternoon.

Lara & Maria, nomming

Carla, making use of the swing

Me, opening presents! I should also add that the dress I'm wearing was also a present, from Teo.

This was made better by presents from the most in-tune gift givers, including a vintage magazine, cute storage boxes which I'll use for sewing paraphernelia & a pretty felt bow hairband. Spoiled, me?

 

PS. Did you notice the new blog design? It's been in the works for a while - what do you think?

Valentine's gift box & recent orders :)

I thought it's about time for a round up of recent projects! I've been working on a lot lately, albeit at a relatively slow (for me) pace due to the full time job I'm still doing my best to adjust to, as well as attempting to make room for a spot of exercise after work.

To start off with, here's a little gift box I put together for the boy for Valentine's day/our three year anniversary. The main item is, of course, the diary featuring an embroidered anatomical drawing of a human heart - as romantic as I'm going to get ;)



Another exciting event that took place this past month was Hey Birdie-Pie! & the Soap Cafe's KISS & MAKEUP event - a combined makeup launch & vintage pop-up shop. A little while ago, Lara of Hey Birdie-Pie had approached me to revamp a pair of 'blah' vintage skirts for this event, and here's the outcome. Coincidentally, the deep red skirt hadn't been out in the light of day for five minutes before the creepily colour co-ordinated Maria of Babettopolis snapped it up. It looked a treat on her, almost as if it was a custom order!


- Pimped pencil skirts :)


- The grey skirt looking gorgeous on a model for the event's promo shots by Daniel Vella
- Maria's insane colour co-ordinated tights & shoes - how could you deny fate?

Other miscellaneous orders included an embroidered compass diary, and not one but two piano notebooks! I can also disclose that there are some very exciting projects ahead, featuring a familiar collaborative partner - but that's all I'll say for now ;)


- embroidered compass diary for my air steward brother


- piano notebooks

-S

The last supper... for a while

Even though this is another food post - making that two in a row - it will probably be the last in a while, so I thought it'd be a shame not to share it with you! The reason why I won't be sharing photos of culinary escapades in the near future is a simple (and boring) one... you see, I aim to be on a health kick for the coming weeks, so any adventures in the kitchen will be understandably limited!

Seeing as healthy eating has been scheduled to start from tomorrow, this weekend I was (of course!) especially naughty ;) For lunch I whipped out this yummy tuna pasta bake that was a favourite of my brother's when he was on the island and went down a treat.



No naughty day is complete without dessert, so back I went to my new baking book and produced these vanilla cupcakes. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out to be the greatest tasting cupcakes to come of my cupcake-baking hands, and I think I'll stick to my other cupcake recipe book in future, but hey - they still look nice, and will certainly not last long regardless!



Happy Sunday everyone :)

- S

Testing out the new baking book

I know, I know - from nothing for a while to three posts in three days, but I've just decided to roll with it :) Today was the first chance I got to make use of part of my Christmas present from T - this book, which covers all manner of baking, sweet and savoury:



Seeing as I normally bake sweets (and very well, might I add :p), I decided to go for savoury this time round, and see if my amateur baking skills would stretch. I first started out with relatively simple crumpets for brunch. After a couple of casualties which stuck to the pan, I switched frying pan and viola! Behold delicious crumpets, which were eaten drizzled with butter (in my case) and smothered in rasperry jam (in fruit-loving Teo's case).



Next came lunch, for which I opted to make Scottish Forfar Bridies. Despite slight overstuffing, these turned out to be delicious - from the homemade dough (might aswell go the whole hog, right?) to the meaty stuffing... they were consumed with gusto. So far, so good, new baking book!



-S

An award and swap party acquisitions!

Hello all! Today's post is a two-in-one(r)! Firstly, I want to express my gratitude to Maria of Babettopolis, for awarding me the Liebster blog award! 'Liebster' is German for 'dearest' and the award is meant especially for those brilliant bloggers & blogettes with under 200 followers. Thanks so much for passing this on to me, dearest (see what I did there, hur hur, ahem) - I shall wield it with pride! Now, to award four blogs of my choice in turn... well, she's already awarded my obvious choices hah, save two other good reads: Capers and Olives & Rouge Reveries - thumbs up girls!



The second reason behind this post is to show off items acquired in last night's swap party. As you may remember, a group of lovely ladies and I got together for our first clothes swap party a few months ago - an evening which was a great success. After the first one, the decision to 'do this again' was made instantaneously, and what better time to organise a clothes swap than post-January spring cleaning? The second swap party was held at Claire Ciantar's cosy abode, which, after a funnily frightening drive around spooky night-time Mtarfa, served as welcoming shelter from the freezing cold and a perfect swapping spot; dotted with lovely nibbles including salmon sandwiches and lemony-cream stuffed tomatoes and the best mulled wine you've ever tasted (the secret ingredient was vodka - don't ask me how that works) .



The ladies involved were mostly the same as last time, with a few new faces (and fresh meat!). I trundled my specially assigned 'Swap' suitcase, waved goodbye to some items and welcomed a few new ones; ate my share of nibbles; guzzled more than my share of mulled wine and jelly shots (with real jelly beans!) and generally had an all-round good time, to the point of not noticing how late it had gotten - that's women and clothes for you, I suppose :p

Here are a few of my newly-acquired treasures...


A draped silky top with graphic pattern, previously Alexandra's


A dress with poof skirt & fancy collar (I can't remember the girl's name who previously owned this, just that she had gorgeous hair!) The neckline is slightly tight & the collar slightly much, so am considering recycling the collar, attaching it to a plain jumper & altering the top of the dress to make it a little more modern & comfy - maybe a boat neckline?


A really cute Asian-y tunic, previously Maria's


An embroidered linen top from Carla's collection


An elegant wrap-over cardigan, previously Alison's

Not bad, right? :)

-S

At the risk of being a douche...

Do you know that feeling you get when you do something you've been meaning to do for ages? Or cross something off your wishlist that's been there for the longest time? That's the feeling I have right now - so much so that I'm going to risk looking like a douche to the handful of people that read this blog. This is, in effect, a post declaring my love for a material item that I have recently acquired - namely a pair of sunglasses from Prada's Minimal Baroque line.


mine!

After that long-winded intro, I feel the need to explain myself. Having recently joined the ranks of full-time employment, I wanted to mark the occasion of having more than a few euros in my bank account at any given time (yes, I have grown accustomed to being a poor student) by purchasing something completely frivolous for myself.

I had first happened upon Prada's covetable Minimal Baroque eyewear line when researching for my fashion page on Vida magazine last summer. Of course, they went into the 'Label we love' section. Several months down the line and they remained toward the top of my wishlist, so when I spotted them across a crowded shop (yes, I do have a penchant for the dramatic, so sue me) I simply had to try them on. I did, they looked great (if I do say so myself) and that was it - match made in materialistic heaven.


my new babies & I, gone out for lunch :)

Friends and Felicitations

Welcome one and all to the first post of 2012! A lot has happened since I've last posted, and I feel I must apologise for the prolonged absence... still, I intend to make up for it (it's one of my resolutions - one of the long list actually).

These past couple of months have brought many happenings and changes, all of which have kept me so busy that I've barely had time to shut my eyes and take it all in. That's where the resolutions come in. I've never really been one for resolutions, but this year it seems strangely apt. I've started working full time at Vida - have been for just over a month now! - and following the departure of our much loved editor Richard Muscat Azzopardi, it now falls to me to take on the role (at least for the foreseeable future), and I intend to give it all I've got.



Other resolutions have come via natural progression, including the 'Great Spring Clean' which I'd been putting off (you never know when you might need those JC physics notes...); getting my driving license (after numerous lessons and one failed test, the time is NAO); saving up now that I have full-time wages (one hopes that by this time next year I'll be in a position to go house hunting!); not sacrificing that which makes me who I am for the benefit of others, even if I may be perceived as weird or, as I prefer to put it, eccentric; and generally being more organised and self-sufficient (this goes for The Secret Rose too, for which I intend to go onwards and upwards!)



And just so this post doesn't become too text heavy, I thought I'd regale you with some pretty photos taken at yesterday's posh girlie lunch at Maria's - a belated seasonal gathering of some of my favourite like-minded ladies! Instead of buying each other gifts as we normally do, we each contributed a monetary donation to the supremely capable host, who in turn provided us with a meal fit for a queen. Not a bad way to start the year...


Cream of chicken soup Seafood vol-au-vent

Duck breast in soy & citrus sauce Rhubarb crumble

Rachel & Carla, looking delightful

Alex, avec daisies

Gustav samples the crumble...

-S