Farmyard Days

hat-similar here | dress- vintage | socks- glassons | necklace- diva | jelly wellies- onceit

Making the most of the beautiful Canterbury weather, yesterday my brother and I went on a little day excursion to Willowbank wildlife reserve. One of my favorite parts of Willowbank is the farm yard, so it seemed appropriate to shoot some fun filled outfit photo's there! I absolutely adore Pigs, especially fat Kune Kune's, hence the multiple photo's of Pigs.

Cliff also had a go at taking my pictures, as my "photographer" is on leave. Such a good little brother! I'm sure he got his kicks out of watching all of the animals slobbering all over me, which he definitely did catch on camera!...I might, just might put them up on the facebook page!

I love this dress! Andrew's lovely mum found it for me in a little vintage clothes shop in Greytown in the Wairarapa, and couldn't resist bringing it home! I love how country chic I feel when I'm wearing it! The hat was a lucky find last week at a Cotton On outlet store, for $2.50! I seem to have such luck finding ridiculously cheep hats! My Vivienne Westwood Bowknot Jelly Wellies (what a mothful! haha) are absolutely my favourite footwear purchase this year. I had been on the hunt for so long for gumboots that I could actually pair with pretty dresses...sounds impossible right? until I found my jelly wellies! (I found these similar boots that I would love in my Christmas stocking! hehe) I do an awful lot of wandering through mud and puddles in pretty outfits, so these were just too fitting!

I really enjoy myself any time I get to be around animals! I didn't grow up on a farm like many of my other friends, so going to feed boring old farm animals excites me as if I were 3 years old again!, Which I am just fine with! Are any of you like that too?!

Curious George Turns Two

So today was a little out of the ordinary for George; New toys, lots of playing in the garden, extra attention from mum, and a tin of fancy feast! Today it was George's second birthday!

As dorky as this is, he's pretty special to us! When George was a kitten we fostered him, and we discovered that somehow before he came to us, his pelvis was completely broken in half...the poor wee thing was still managing to run and jump around on it?! The foster manager and vets were pretty adamant that he was going to be put down, but we said no way, we would take him on and adopt him whatever  it took or cost! It took 2 months of keeping him in a crate with as little movement as possible to heal his broken bones (seriously, try keeping a 3 month old spastic kitten in a cage!) Every minute of it broke my heart; but he was eventually okay! So celebrating George's second birthday after he was destined to be put down is pretty awesome, especially because he is such a kooky weird little dude...So happy birthday my Curious George!

Between the Roses

I'm super lucky to have my little brother (Well, not so little any more when he's almost 20!), staying with me for a few weeks. I've been trying to show him out and about here in Christchurch, which has actually been great for me too, because even after living here for 4 years, I've discovered some new beautiful parts of the city I'd never explored before!

Earlier this week, we hopped on our bikes for a leisurely ride down to Mona Vale, which is a beautiful historic mansion (Unfortunately damaged by the earthquake, but being repaired) ...Best of all the mansion is surrounded by stunning gardens which make you feel miles away from the city. We spent most of our time frolicking around in the rose gardens! It reminded me of when we were kids running around being rat-bags;  me being bossy big sis,  him being stubborn little bro...Nothing much has changed!

You can tell I'm still feeling a bit ill, because of the giant oversized grandma cardi I'm wearing ($5 score from an op-shop, Yuss!) It's been keeping warm and snug while I've been recuperating! Those pictures make me laugh, because it reminds me of what grandma's probably do wear while smelling their roses!

Old Fashioned Silverbeet and Feta Quiche

We've been trying our hand at growing vegetables, and one of the few things we've actually been able to grow in abundance has been Silverbeet! I found myself with too much to know what to do with, and a quiche seemed like the perfect option! 

 Old Fashioned Silverbeet and Feta Quiche 

Prep time: 15 min 

Cooking time: 45 min- 60 min 

Ingredients: Frozen reduced fat flaky puff pastry- 1 and a half sheets (Or just normal flaky puff pastry) Silverbeet- about 10-12 large leaves, chopped roughly

Onion- medium, diced 

Feta cheese- 200g (1 average package) 

Garlic- 3 cloves, minced 

Vegetable oil- 2 Tbsp Milk- 1 cup 

Eggs- 3 

Egg yolks- 2

Nutmeg- 1/2 tsp 

Salt & pepper- to taste 

How to make: 

1) Turn oven on to 190 degrees Celsius 

2)Take 1 and a half sheets of frozen flaky puff pastry out to thaw 10-15 min before starting to prepare the rest of your ingredients. 

3) Line a quiche tin with baking paper/ spray with cooking oil. 

4)Press pastry into your quiche tin, you may have to chop random bits of the half sheet and press into the main sheet of pastry to cover the whole tin. Place in the fridge until your just about to put your mixture in.

5) Heat your vegetable oil in a fry pan, cook onions and garlic for 5-10 minutes until translucent. 

6) Add silverbeet to the fry pan and continue to cook until the silverbeet just starts to reduce in size. Take off heat, set aside. 

7) Crumble feta into the silverbeet/ onion mixture. 

8) Place your silverbeet/ feta mixture into the pastry lined quiche tin. 

9) In a new bowl, whisk together eggs, yolk milk, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Pour over the back of a spoon, over the top of the silverbeet mixture. 

10) Fold down the corners of your pastry for an old fashioned look. 

11) Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes until pastry is golden brown and the mixture has cooked right through....just make sure you keep checking after about 45-minutes!

12)....And ENJOY!!

Vintage and recycled organisation for jewellery and other pretties!

So lately my Jewellery and accessory collection has been overflowing, and I really needed to do something about it cluttering up my dressers!Here's a few tips to get you started too if you're feeling a little like me! A necklace tree which was tall enough to hold my long necklaces was hard to find, but I found this at a vintage market for cheap as chips! If you need more length, position it so it is overhanging over the edge of your dresser, just be aware how tantalising this may be to cats. It's important to not double up your necklaces per "branch", because trust me- they get tangled...If your at the point of needing to double up, you need to cull some jewellery, or invest in another necklace stand!... It's great to recycle old bottles and turn them into pretty bracelet holders! even better, they can double as vases. I like to layer them in different heights and use different glass textures to add some difference. On a single dresser or table, I try to match the colours of whatever items I'm using to display my jewellery...and because the pattern on the plate is so pretty, I chose to display only a few brooches on it, to let the pattern show through, and help tie the colours of the stands together.  This jewellery stand was the perfect purchase for my smaller necklaces, dangley earrings, and hippie headbands. It's freed up a lot of space on the dresser! I keep most of my beauty products tucked away in drawers, but my daily necessities have earned a spot on the dresser! I like to keep my makeup brushes and tools stored out in the air so they can stay dry and bacteria free. teacups and retro cups of all kind are the perfect holders! Yes, that is a spice rack holding my nail polish! I found like for $1 at an op shop, filled with gorgeous little glass spice bottles (Which are being prepped for another project, so watch this space!) I'd like to paint it white, to match the rest of my jewellery stands. I'm terribly slack at actually putting my nail polish on, because I can't handle the drying time, but this way when I have to look at them every day, it forces me to get use out of them! The little rail at the front also doubles as the perfect place to hang my scarf from!, which are also every colour of the rainbow. I have quite the collection of vintage clip on earrings, which belonged to my Grandma, which I treasure! This old candy bowl was perfectly suited to being able to clip the earrings into the little holes. I find it easiest to keep one particular type of jewellery in one place, so its easy to find what your looking for! So you'll see there are lots of creative ways to organise and display your beautiful adornments, and the creative possibilities are endless! I'm always seeing great DIY or re purpose ideas popping up on pinterest for storing jewellery, and when I get around to some of those projects, I'll be sure to show you! Do you have any creative ways that you like to store your jewellery and accessories?