Amazing house + Amazing Woman!

I stumbled across this article about this architect in the US who was sick of not being able to afford a mortgage on a full blown house, so came up with this amazingly beautiful alternative.

She built the whole 'mini' house herself, from wiring, construction and design and she is able to move the place around whereever she needs. Yes, it's small, but it really goes to show how little space we need in our lives.

Isn't it gorgeous, both inside and out? If you want to read more about it see the full article I read here. It has a pretty amusing article title too!

Office Secret Santa

Does anyone else hate workplace Secret Santa/Kris Kingle/Gift exchange things? I specifically mean the type where you pick a name at random and have to anonymously buy them a gift. It is so difficult and when you involve the workplace dynamics and price limits it gets so difficult trying to find something that is fun and novel, or useful and practical, or all of the above if you're just that awesome!

My group of friends used to do Christmas lunch/dinner where we would do Secret Santa where everyone would bring a random gift but then you got to choose from the pile at random and then 'steal' from each other. That is so much easier (and arguably more fun!) because there's no pressure as to who you're specifically buying for.

Anyway my workplace has decided to have quite a high budget of $30 per person which on one hand is great because there's scope to actually buy something useful, but on the other hand I'm at last minute having to find something practical and not too ridiculous! We only found out on Friday who we were buying for and we have 2 weeks eek.

Anyone have clever ideas for a male?

These are currently in my catchoftheday basket as potentials....

ASOS order!

It is somewhat hard for most people to believe, but I popped my ASOS cherry the other day, making use of the 30% off click frenzy discount code to purchase some snow bunny gear for my upcoming Christmas trip in the Northern Hemisphere.

Truthfully, I do have a lot of warm weather clothing and didn't really need to buy more but I have nothing that is lightweight, fashionable, windproof and also not too precious. I'm funny when I travel, I don't like to take anything too precious and delicate for fear of it getting damaged or lost. Any excuse, right? With the ASOS deal the puffy winter jackets I was looking started at well under the $100 mark which I think is great value for something that will keep you toasty warm in sub zero temps!

I figured if I was going to potentially have to return stuff anyway and pay for that, I might as well order more so I came out with three jackets that I loved the look of.

I'm being a bit lazy and not bothering to take more photos. I ended up loving two so much I kept them both because I'm torn!

This red one below was the one I returned purely because its too casual looking for my trip, but I actually love love love it! If I lived in a colder climate city I'd totally have kept it. It reminds me a bit of a snowfield jacket - like what ski instructors might wear?

And I mean who doesn't love a fur trimmed coat? LOVE the black one because of that factor. And this red one actually had a soft wooly hood too! <3

Anyway, at A$290 for all 3 I figured I had nothing to lose!

Hartsyard, Newtown

I've dined at the uber hip and happening Hartsyard twice in the last 3 months or so, which is quite an achievement given it is so popular now it can be ridiculously difficult to get a reservation (even on a weeknight!)

The first time I went was just as a table of 2 which meant I wasn't really able to try a lot of the dishes, which are designed to be shared as a 'seed' and 'feed' approach for dish sizes which roughly line up with an entree and main type size. We ended up overordering and walking out stuffed.

Last week I went again but this time was smarter about it, dining with a group of 4 and trying not to overorder so that I could at least try dessert this time, which is their signature! And who am I kidding, I love me a good dessert. Their smaller 'seed' sized dishes are my favourite, with each and everyone sounding amazing. Here are some iPhone pics (I've been lazy lately haha!)

School prawn popcorn with espelette pepper and sour cream and lemon

These were finger licking good and such a good 'appetizer' type starter - great to start the meal with some light finger food while we chatted away.

Oyster po-boy with englihs muffin and old bay mayo and slaw

Yummy, crispy, perfectly balanced flavours. Need I say more?

Fremantle octopus with potato skins, white corn and piquillo peppers

This was a gutsy dish which I actually really enjoyed, with the octopus perfectly crunchy (not chewy!)

Crispy pig tails butter milk dressing, pickles and hot sauce

So this wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but still tasty. Would I order it again? No, but it was definitely well executed.

Dessert special - lemon meringue pie with popcorn icecream and caramel

This was AMAZING! Perfect mix of soft and crunchy meringue, a zesty lemon curd with the popcorn ice cream absolutely amazing too. Every single item on the plate was well presented, and accompanied every other element on the plate perfectly. 

Soft Serve of the day - red velvet, baked cheesecake and chocolate coating

This was also amazing - I mean these are their signature desserts, just with the soft serve flavour changing regularly. The camera has been put in the photo in the background as reference for just how large this was! It was definitely better to be shared as the red velvet ice cream was a rich dark chocolate that came out looking bloody because of the inky red velvet colouring and slight flavouring.

As you probably already know, desserts are my weakness so any restaurant that can nail a good dessert is a winner for me. I would definitely suggest you try Hartsyard if you get the chance, but make sure you go with a group! Their cocktail menu is also great, and I don't think Hartsyard is uber expensive either so that's definitely a plus :)

Kirribilli Markets Stall this Saturday!

Once again I'll be having a market stall at the uber awesome Kirribilli Markets this Saturday 23 November from 7am to 4pm! If you've ever had a market stall before you'll understand why I've been so busy lately - clearing out stuff to sell is hard work!

Anyway I have a whole range of designer clothes, shoes, accessories, bags, make up and homewares. Denim brands include Tsubi (the original tsubi with a T!), Sass & Bide, Marcs and paperdenim&cloth. designer label threads from Marc Jacobs, BCBG, Wayne Cooper, Sass & Bide, Alice McCall, Akira and a whole host more cheap buys.

It is all stuff I just have never worn or won't wear so I will be clearing them out at cheapo prices so if you're in the area stop by and have a shop :)

Time Out Sydney even lists the Kirribilli Markets as amongst the best in Sydney, so maybe you'll find some other stuff there too!

Beyonce "Mrs Carter" Show

In the midst of the hecticness of life (I'm working on a deal at the moment at work which has the shortest turnaround and is consuming all my energy), I went to see the Beyonce concert a few weeks back. I've seen Beyonce many a time now - twice with Destiny's Child and again in her solo tour in 2007 when she still played at the smaller Entertainment Centre which I love. One of the Destiny's Child times was an up close and intimate filming for top of the pops where I was literally 3m away from her as she sung to a room of 100 people. When it came time to buy Beyonce tickets I wasn't going to, but all I kept on seeing and reading was everyone raving about the Mrs Carter tour. Well, I just had to see it for myself, right?

I'm glad I did, because while I wasn't as wow-ed as I thought I would be, I was glad to finally get to see her sing Single Ladies in the flesh. It made me wish I had gone to Glastonbury when she played - its just unfortunate I went to Glastonbury the year after. Anyway, here are my fave pics:

Awesome costumes for the opener!

Bey loves her pyrotechnic waterfalls! She did the same in 2007 too!

OK so I did like the screen imagery

How awesome is that second stage lighting to the right? From my knowledge of teching some shows, there was some serious $$ spent on that lighting and rigging!

Serenading us in a blue glitter jumpsuit, as only Bey can

To the left, to the left!

I was expecting more from the set than just digital screens actually - as awesome as they were, it was the only element of the whole set besides the second stage which I absolutely LOVED! 

Make Up Sale

So I've been spring cleaning a lot lately which is partially why I haven't been blogging as much as I should be! Does anyone else take ages to spring clean? I'm not even halfway through! Anyway, part of that is clearing out my wardrobe, shoes and make up stash. I did so well with saving in October and for November, I can't justify new purchases unless I clear some space and stuff.

So with that said, here are some things I've found that I really don't need seeing as I have never used them! Before they make it to ebay, I thought I would blog in case anyone was interested :)

A few points:
- All items are brand new in boxes and never used!
- Prices don't include postage which will be added on top based on your location
- All sales are final, and only within Australia :)

Guerlain Terracotta Lipgloss Trio $25
Three Guerlain neutral toned lip gloss trio - amber sun, nude sun and beige sun.
3 x 5ml, Made in France

Lancome Eyeshadow duo wet or dry $20
Gorgeous blue jewel tones - full sized eyeshadow duo palette.

Lancome Eyeshadow duo wet or dry $20
Same as above but pink/brown shades - full sized eyeshadow duo palette.

Lancome Quad Palette "Bronze Captive" $35
Neutral tones for a perfect daytime look, plus a pop of aqua colour for contrast. Can be used wet or dry and this is a fairly sizeeable palette.

 

China Glaze Ridge Filler $5
Self explanatory really - never used!

Contact me at ashoeaffair@gmail.com if you are interested or have any questions/need further photos!