How good are Saturday mornings!!

My friends, what are you up to on this lovely Saturday morning?

I woke bright and early to bake a dozen Lemon & Raspberry muffins (a-la-Nigella). Ah, the simple pleasures - how {good} is the smell of freshly baked treats in the morning. The raspberries were so juicy and sweet, I couldn't wait to pop one in my mouth...

Life never stops for the Holden's, we were back in Oz last week to celebrate the nuptials of Kristy & Matt and Gen & Tim. Both weddings were amazing celebrations of LOVE...but mmoorree on that later...

No sooner did we arrive home, the house was filled with visitors. We have 2 of Will's brothers and one of their friends staying with us for 10 days. The boys are off to Macau for the day on a "boyz day" = go-carting, sight-seeing (not sure how much of that they will get done), big feed of Portuguese at the fabulous Fernando's and then on to the casino's. Watch out Macau - the Holden boys are on the loose...

I on the other hand am off to visit a lovely friend and her fam to enjoy mani/pedi's before packing the passport and heading over to the dark side (TST) to help a friend at the Food & Wine Festival. Last years event was H.U.G.E. and no doubt this year will be even bigger. If you are at a loose end (and happen to be in Hong Kong), come visit us at Booth D118 (Margaret River Wines).

Thankfully, we have been blessed with perfect weather today. The humidity is all but gone and the temperatures have dropped - the sky is even blue!

As the boys won't be back till late, I am SOOO looking forward to a quiet night in. I am planning on testing some recipes out of Jamie Oliver's {newish} recipe book Jamie does... I have my eye on the Spring & Summer Minestrone (my motherly instinct has kicked in and I feel compelled to feed the boys vege's), and the Beef Tagine. Full report to follow...

It's beginning to feel a lot like christmas

Whilst I didn't manage to achieve everything on my to do list over the weekend, I did manage to get a few pressies wrapped. I would like to say... wrapped, and under the tree - but alas, CoCo has decided that presents and ribbons are the best (I told you she takes after her mum), and last night we caught her in the corner quietly unwrapping one of them!

I also managed to complete my gift tags (sans string, which I will hopefully get a chance to do tonight!), made about 40 cards (only 20 more to go...), popped into Spotlight for a few last minute supplies (only to find out that Spotlight is closing in HK, whilst this meant 50% off, I would rather have it stay open and pay full price - majorly bummed about this!!), picked up some last minute Christmas shopping, lunched with Zoe and the pups on Saturday, lunched with James & Mary yesterday, had a lovely dinner with Nic & Gabs on Friday night and a fabulous dinner with friends at Louise's on Saturday night, took CoCo to the park on Saturday morning (I even managed to spend a bit of time reading in the sun), went to Ap Lei Chau to pick up some wares for next Saturdays Christmas lunch, and last night, soaked in the tub and then watched (half of) Julia and Julia. A pretty productive weekend all in all!

As a side note, I am absolutely hopeless at staying awake through an entire movie - it's like it is completely impossible for me. I have been wanting to see Julia and Julia ever since it came out. You would think this would have been enough motivation to keep me awake. Nope! I even had a row of projects (painting nails, putting string on gift tags, sticking things on my half made cards) in front of me to try and keep me occupied and awake through the whole thing, but that didn't work either... so annoying!!!!

Hope you had a good weekend!

xox

Weekend Flowers

Now that the weather is getting cooler we are starting to see some of the cool climate flowers coming into season. Hooray!

Lucky for me, there was one bunch of tulips left on Saturday morning when I did my weekly flower shop (I couldn't make it on Friday night cause we were meeting friends for dinner and picking CoCo up from the doggie spa where she spent her afternoon being pampered! What a life...).

I nabbed the tulips and a bunch of the most vibrant purple Asiatic lillies I have ever seen. Well, I tell a lie... they haven't opened yet but from the outside, it looks as though they will be the brightest most vibrant purple colour I have ever seen, and I can't wait.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend and getting on top of all the Christmas prep. So far I have managed to knock a few things off my list, as well as fitting in a little time for relaxation!

xox

Mastering the Art Of French Cooking

That's what Will and I are planning to do this afternoon/evening!

Not sure how it will go, but I'm sure if we involve a nice bottle of French wine it won't be too bad.

Reports to follow, I promise...

What have you got planned for the weekend?

The weather is just glorious here today, planning on making a few Chrissy cards this morning, taking CoCo and her brother Ari to the park and then commencing our foray into french cooking this afternoon.

Have fun whatever you are up to!

xox

Birthday gal

Yesterday was our very dear friend Zoe's Birthday! We spent the day together celebrating in style, a little dom in the morning, a yummy roast beef for lunch (Zoe's favourite), a long afternoon with friends, and a party last night.

Happy Birthday Zoe - hope you had a fabulous day!

Stacey's Baby Shower

This weekend a very good friend of mine had her baby shower. Not being a mummy yet myself (well except to little CoCo that is) I couldn't quite get my head around buying her a breast pump, rear view baby car mirror or any of those very useful (but quite strange baby necessities). Instead, I bought her a voucher for a foot massage (every mummy needs pampering after all), and made her a set of little baby announcement cards.

I can't wait to meet the little one in a few weeks time!

Top of the morning to you

Don't you just LOVE Saturday mornings!

It's my favourite time of the week. I love the moment when I first wake up and realise that it's not a work day and I am free free free to do whatever I like. It's like a rush of adrenaline...

I have to confess that whilst I love my husband to bits, he usually works Saturday mornings (one of the bad things about living in Hong Kong) so I get a whole morning of 'ME' time. I totally cherish this time, and always like to spend it doing something I love. Usually that involves taking CoCo to the park for a play whilst I sit sipping coffee and reading my latest mag (today I will be reading the new Red* that's out) and then doing something creative.

This week after the park, I want to get moving on my Christmas cards (yikes I have about 80 to make!) and Christmas decorations. I am also embarking on a little project, which I will tell you about anon.

I do wish I could spend the day in the garden pictured above though - isn't it divine!! Imagine the gorgeous lunches/tea parties that you could host in this space! Not to mention a lazy relaxing afternoon reading a book up the back with a nic glass of rose. Now I am dreaming, one day...

However you spend your weekend, make sure it's a good one!

Ciao for now
xox

* For those who haven't heard of Red (not sure how widely distributed it is in Oz?), it is a fantastic mag filled with interesting and inspirational stories for women about my age;-) That adorable husband I mentioned just before happened to buy me a subscription for Chrissy a few years back and I am totally addicted. It doesn't contain all of those crappy stories that you just aren't interested in, or can't relate to - they are real life, down to earth honest stories about REAL women. I would highly recommend you sampling an issue if you haven't already. Let me know if you like it!

I'm truly sorry I can't remember where this image came from - if it's yours please let me know.

Weekends just come and go so fast!

I feel like this past weekend just flew by, and now I am once again sitting here procrastinating about getting ready for work on Monday morning. Don't get me wrong, I love my job - but not as much as I love my weekends!!

This past weekend was spent in the park with CoCo and catching up with friends. On Friday night, after taking CoCo for a play in the park, we had a quiet BBQ at home with Lou. Saturday I took CoCo to the park again (I love that place, can you tell!), Lou and I had a ladies lunch followed by mani/pedi's and Saturday night our lovely friends Stacey & Paul came for dinner. Whilst Lou and I pampered ourselves, Will was out hiking the Maclehose Trail (too much energy that boy!).

Yesterday we caught up with Tom & Lucy for lunch, and then had an afternoon tipple with Nic T, Gabs, Nic B, Tom & Lucy at the SoHo Village Festival. Oh, and then we went to the park again (she is spoilt isn't she), and popped in to see Ross & Grace at the cute little Margaret River wine shop on St Francis St (our old street) before heading home and crashing.

I hope this week flies by as fast as the weekend just did!

Image from Home Beautiful (June 2007 edition)

Bath time

I am happy to report that I survived the 'adventure' day - and whilst I am loathe to admit it, I actually quite enjoyed myself! After a day at the Food & Wine Festival on Saturday (OMG - it was crazy, our little stall was 4 rows deep in peeps waiting to try Ross' lurverly wine) and the 'adventure' day yesterday, we were well and truly pooped come Sunday night.

Aside from the oven and the balcony (which I have already mentioned), the other great thing about our new apartment is that we now have a bath! Squeal!!! And, it is the perfect size - not one of those tiny tubs that you have to sit cross legged in, which are very common in Honkers.

Sooooo, last night I drew myself a bath and soaked for a good hour! Then I took myself off to the couch and didn't last 10 mins before lights were out (and it was only 7.30pm)!!

Whilst I am extremely happy and content (for the time being anyhow) with my lovely bath, wouldn't you just love to be sitting in this bath! OMG - isn't it just delicious. I would be well and truly wrinkled by the time I emerged from this bathroom.

Image via Dransfield & Ross

The weekend's here (already)

I can't believe how fast the weeks have been going by lately - it feels as though one minute you are dragging yourself out of bed to face the week on a Monday morning and no sooner have you done that, you are walking out the office door on Friday afternoon! Unfortunately the weekends seem to be moving at the same speed:(

This weekend will be no exception, cause we are so darn busy it's not funny. Today we are helping a friend of ours out at the Food & Wine Fair that's on in Hong Kong. He owns a gorgeous little boutique wine store selling Margaret River wines in our favourite street (St Francis St in Wanchai), and tomorrow we crazily agreed to join a group of friends on an adventure day! This apparently involves a ride on the black mamba (whatever that is, but apparently it's fast), kayaking, snorkel ling (didn't anyone tell James the water is going to be chilly at this time of the year), some beach-going (this, I can handle), and finishing up with a seafood lunch on a remote little island somewhere in Hong Kong. The worst bit is we have to be at the pier at 8.30am, and it will take us an hour to get there! The things we do!

Thankfully I have a little 'me' time set aside for this morning cause Will has gone into the office for a couple of hours. Think I might get cracking on making some more Chrippy cards, and perhaps some little handmade gifts (can't tell ya what they are cause ya might just be getting one for Chrissy this year!), oh, and if I have time, I might soak in the tub for a while and lather myself up with some new products I purchased yesterday from Crabtree & Evelyn. I know most people think that C&E is a little grandma'ish, but they have some divine products that I just adore - my favourites being the La Source range (yum!), and the India Hicks range, which I just can't get enough of - especially their hand wash and divine bath salts. Go on, spoil yourself, you know you want to!

The new products I bought come from 'The Noel Collection' and the fragrance is Pomegranate, Citron & Mistletoe - how Christmassy! I couldn't stop at just the body wash, so I also bought the body cream, hand wash, and hand lotion (oh, and a gorgeous set of red Christmassy candles)! Boy I hope Will isn't reading this...

Anyhow, I had better be off otherwise there will be no 'me' time left! Before I do, I must say happy birthday to my adorable nanna who celebrated her birthday last Thursday, to Emily who turned 40 on the same day, and to my sister-in-law Kathy, who is celebrating her birthday today! Hope you all have/had a wonderful birthday!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ciao Bella's
xox

Image via Paper Pony - Flickr

A day on the water

Last Sunday we went out on Nicholas' boat for a day on the ocean. The weather was absolutely perfect ... and a good day was had by all :)

Saf taking the plunge...

Saffron's Birthday - Junk trip

Yesterday we went on a Jaspas Junk trip to Tai Long Wan to celebrate Saf's birthday (which is actually today) - Happy Birthday Saf!!!

It was the most beautiful day, and we all ended up very sunburnt and sore - but feeling very content after a great day out in the sun, surf and sand. Gotta love Hong Kong summers...