We need a montage

What do you get when Meegan and Katie tell the bartender to make whatever cocktail he thinks you will fancy and to follow it up with a shot? You get delicious scotch cocktails with a cherry on top, shots that were on fire and tasted like warm chocolate and a hilarious montage of photos! Thank you to the cute bartender at Lady Lamington who was right, a good cocktail is much cheaper than a shrink.

xo

Mini Quiches

This is one of my all time favourite dishes. It's super easy to make, quick and often can be made with just what you have in the cupboard and the crisper. I've adapted my own recipe for these delicious little mini quichies from the 'Self Crusting Zucchini Quiche' recipe in the awesome Day to Day Cookery book (thanks again, Mum, this really is one of the most handy cook books imaginable!)


Ingredients

• 2 medium size zucchinis
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup grated cheese, lightly packed
• 1/4 olive oil
• 1/2 self raising flour
• pinch of cracked pepper

Method

• Grease a 12 cup muffin tin and preheat the oven to a moderate temperature. 
• Grate zucchinis and carrots into a large bowl.
• Stir in onion, eggs, cheese, olive oil, flour and a pinch of pepper.
• Divide the mixture evenly between the cups in the muffin tin (sometimes you might get a few extra depending on the size of the veggies).
• Bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until the quiches are golden on top.
• Cool, and devour still warm or cold the next day.

Super easy, healthy and delicious! For meat lovers, a few bacon rashers added to the mixture is also good, but try the vego option - it really is delicious!

xo

Ruby Slippers

In my opinion, every girl needs a pair of classic red heels in her wardrobe. However my favourite Old Faithful red heels have been looking a little worse for wear lately - so much so that I had already mentally said goodbye to them and had put them with other old items in wardrobe ready to donate to the op shop/chuck. 

That was until, I saw this rather brilliant tutorial on how to fix ruined heels, and had a little brainwave of my own to breath fabulous new life into Old Faithfuls. I went one step further that the tutorial, and instead of just painting glitter on the heels of the shoe, I did the whole thing. Admittedly, my red shoes were a lot more worse for wear than the original shoes in the tutorial, and who doesn't secretly want a pair of red ruby slippers, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz?

Before:

After:

Creating ruby slippers/fixing my Old Faithfuls was actually easier than you think. All you need is:

• glitter (to match your shoe colour)
• glue (I used Mod Podge)
• paintbrush
• paper plate

Simply mix your glitter with the glue and paint on! It's actually that easy. Give your shoes a few coats, and try to keep the glitter glue as even as possible to avoid lumps and bumps. Mine did turn out a little bumpy but that was only because my heals were so hacked up to start with. Don't stress too much, because on your feet, no one will notice any little imperfections.

Ta-da! Now I have my very own ruby slippers. Now if I click my heels together three times and wish for my hearts desire do you think it will come true? Who knows, but Dorothy was certainly right about one thing: there's no place like home AND ruby slippers are super cute!
xo

Mirror Mirror on the wall...

... who's the prettiest of them all?
Mirror: Have you SEEN me? I am, of course!

Op shop find, lick of paint on a lazy afternoon with Nik, and hey-presto, the perfect mirror for above her bed in her beautiful new apartment. This mirror was the one Nikki has been searching for!

Before:

After:

xo

Parties: Urban Family Christmas

I love parties. 

I love throwing them.

I love attending them.

I love planning them.

Best of all I love the memories they leave with you. 

Don't get me wrong, I am also a big fan of the impromptu gatherings and spur of the moment decisions to go out with friends, and sometimes these turn out to be the best nights ever. But there is something magical about the bittersweet anticipation of a party. I spend weeks planning like crazy and get so excited for the night to happen, but I also end up having so much fun in the process of creating the party, I almost don't want it to actually happen.

I had a lot of fun planning our Urban Family Christmas last year. I think we decided in about April it would be me that would have Christmas for all of our friends, which was also bittersweet, since our fabulous 2010 hosts would no longer be living in Brisbane by Christmas time. My place (aka The Prince Street Palace) was chosen pretty much because out of everyone in the group I had the most space.

I also may have gone a little overboard, but damn it was fun! I spent ages collecting mismatched floral plates from op shops so we could use 'real' plates and not paper ones. Mum and I went on a mad dash trip to Ikea for a few extra supplies, and I had a brain wave to make everyone a bonbon with their name on it for place settings. Also a very cute party favour! 

A big thanks to my wonderful mum who pretty much decorated the tree, since I was off on a mission to get more chairs! And also to Peter and Smiley, my wonderful house mates, for helping to blow up 40 odd balloons because I could not located the two (yes, two!) balloon pumps that I do actually own! Also thanks, Meegs, for the photos!

Last but certainly not least, thanks to my wonderful friends, who have become my Urban Family in Brisbane. The family you choose for yourself really does become just as important as your real family. 

For the delicious food, wonderful company, so much love and a great Christmas, this one is for the Urban Family. (Sorry it's late guys, I needed a rest after this epic evening!) 

Without further ado, I give you: Urban Family Christmas 2011 (aka UFXMAS aka FUXMAS, it's an acronym, so it's not rude!)

xo

You know you have taste when...

I was just watching 'The First Time' one of the new episodes of Glee and I noticed something rather familiar hanging on the wall in Blaine's bedroom behind Kurt.

I have the exact same vintage map of Europe currently hanging in my lounge room. Clearly I must have good taste if I picked the same map as a fictional gay guy who loves singing, is in show choir and wears bow ties almost as good as Chuck Bass.

Just another reason to <3 Glee!
xo

Special Others: Suzie Blue

Susan Hatchett is not only an intelligent, wise, sexy, talented woman and the artist behind my Knight in Shining Armour picture, she's also a special kind of friend.

I've known and loved my other best mates since we had cooties (Callan: besties from day one of grade one,) for more than half my life (Nikki: bonkers together since '99,) or from the days of the high school yard (Meegs and Milly: fellow trashbag winos). But Suz and I found each other as I was easing in to my 20s and she was ever so gracefully easing out of hers.

Becoming really close friends with someone new in your 20s is a special thing and one that I had never previously experienced. Sure, I had made friends with people other than my high school crowd, but they were work friends, party friends, travelling friends or friends of friends. That's not to say they aren't all amazing, interesting individuals, but none of them really got me like my other besties.

The best friendships you make are the ones that hum quietly in the background of your life without creating too much interfering noise. Bit by bit, the melody of the friendship grows louder and clearer until one day the music swells to a crescendo and one of you wonders aloud: how did we even get to be so close? You both pause for a second to think about it, but neither of you really know the answer, it all just sort of happened.

Then it's like you have known each other forever and as far as you can see into the future, you will always know this person. Before you know it you're each others' 'Knight in Shining Armour' and no matter what you've made a friend for life.
xo